the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

Has anyone tried it? What are the benefits IYO? What should one look for in a practitioner?
Thanks

I had the complete 10 series done, it was great, painful but great. I did it when I first started training internal martial arts after years of external training. I kept being told about structure and alignment and relax and feel what's going on and I kept asking myself "how can I know where to begin to feel and understand what is correct?".

Rolfing is basically doing a reset on your muscle/fascia connections. You usually have a treatment, then wait 2-3 weeks for the next. So what I did was get a treatment, then work on all the basic internal exercises to reinforce proper body mechanics and alignment, etc. In short, treat the whole thing as a means to work on re-wiring your body.

My thought on practitioner is the treatment is intense deep tissue manipulation. So if you're muscled or large bodied you're going to want someone who has the size to really dig into your tissue. I was fortunate in that the guy I went to also had been doing Rolfing for 30+ years and also was a professional power lifting coach and had trained in TaiChi for while. So he understood what I was going for.

My understanding is that there are two main schools of Rolfing- one that sticks to the prescribed series of 10 sessions originally laid out by Ida Rolf, and another that uses the same basic methods but takes a more individualized approach. Maybe that's the difference between "Rolfing" and "Structural Integration"?

Also, the science doesn't seem to fit with the theory usually presented about why Rolfing works. That doesn't mean the method won't work wonders, it just means that maybe the explanation for *why* it works is a bit off.

Yugen's experience sounds like the ideal scenario. I don't think most people who've done it have had such exceellent and specific results, especially if they didn't have some significant problems that could be alleviated by what I consider to be a very limited system of knowledge, one which may be very effective for a particular patient, but quite limited nonetheless.

It would really come down to the skill of the practitioner and I would look for someone like what Yugen described, or someone who personally expresses the characteristics that Rolfing claims: freedom from loss of energy due to structural inefficiency. There are all sorts of body and movement types of people who could express that principle differently, but I got rolfed by someone with serious knee issues he developed as a rolfer because of sitting on his knees in order to give treatments, and although that could be considered the result of injury, the fact he had no technique to help himself and the problem continued worsen through a multi-decade career of rolfing was kind of telling.

I had the prescribed 10 sessions and then an extra few by a top practitioner who was a teacher at the Ida Rolfe institute in Germany before moving to the UK and she was good. First she would watch me standing and then walking in my underpants and do a some various movements to check alignments and stiffnesses and then go to work. Everything she said and did worked in accordance with my Tai Chi knowledge and the 10 also seemed to align with the myofascial chains explained by Tom Myers in 'Anatomy Trains'. There were some great releases, I had a rib popped back in place and a great release from what felt like tension or misplacement around my liver that for at least a day I could smell the anaesthetic in my piss from a surgery some months previous. It really helped tension in my shoulders and neck and with problems with my hips and legs because she was able to reach places others couldn't. Some of the sessions were 'unusual' the massages up my nose and around my gums and the roof of my mouth were a first for me but did make a difference. Expensive but worth it for me. I've been massaged by many different types of practitioners but I'd rate her as the best.

I would also add that it's not like you get Rolfing done and your body is reset and you go on with a new you. I had injuries as well and Rolfing was just one part of many year process to heal a back injury. It was just one tool of many, but I think well worth it. My sessions went as Steve Rowe described too.

I had Rolfing treatment in the 70's when I tried out many physical therapies and fads[Alexander, biofeedback etc etc] From what I can recall it was rather painful but certainly loosened up my body. I had a similar effect with Thai massage[the real thing not the happy ending type] where I felt my body had been pulled apart and put together again, painful at times but well worth the experience

Definitely worth it.

As many have pointed out it is particularly good for the deeper soft tissue injuries that are old.

When well done it is fairly uncomfortable/painful.

It’s not really meant for newer injuries, but again it was great for older stuff that chiropractic, tui na and internal soft tissue work failed to rectify.

I personally consider it an “external” school of fasciae training in the martial arts paridigm. Versus “bone marrow washing” as an internal approach.

To a degree this kind of work is indispensable and works as an accompanying half to an internal approach.

Not had Rolfing specifically, but would absolutely +1 to the benefits of massage, be it deep tissue or any other. Even a simple back walk a couple of times a week is a great way of maintaining spinal health

My bias is that I think the lighter the touch, the higher the skill. Probably just a personal preference prejudicing me against rolfing.

The lightest touch I ever had was from a McTimony Chiropracter and that was also very effective. The most painful was Trigger Point Therapy. But sometimes you just gotta go deep to get to where the problem is.

I had mh first treatment last night. Impressed. I felt much taller afterwards, chest much more open, sternam released, and increased capacity to breathe.
He used a mixture of very light and very strong touch. I asked about this and he said he wants to work with responses of the nervous system, and not work as if pulling a piece of meat appart. I will go back in two weeks for another session. Session two apparently work more on feet and legs

Look forward to hear some more about your experience. I've been having some issues myself (pyriformis syndrome/ sciatic pain) and someone from Yi Zong reccomended rolfing to me - one of those funny coincidences I guess. Are you a UK guy too ? Seem to recall that you are.

Several months ago I had an excellent Thai traditional massage locally which was pretty excrutiating for me and awesome in equal measure. Didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I promised myself I'd start going bi monthly and haven't been back since!

KEND wrote:I had Rolfing treatment in the 70's when I tried out many physical therapies and fads[Alexander, biofeedback etc etc] From what I can recall it was rather painful but certainly loosened up my body. I had a similar effect with Thai massage[the real thing not the happy ending type] where I felt my body had been pulled apart and put together again, painful at times but well worth the experience

Was this Thai massage the one known as a thai 'mud massage'? I think they do this in india for medicinal purposes as well.