Movement Education

Rolfing Movement® Integration is a unique system of work, which advances the goals of Rolfing® Structural Integration. While the latter changes structure directly through fascial manipulation, Rolfing Movement influences long-term structural change by altering well established movement patterns.

Life is motion. Where normal motion is limited, tension eventually results. Over time, limited motion results in structural imbalance, aching muscles, low energy, and feelings of stress.

Movement inhibition results from injury, emotional trauma, learned habits, overuse, and misuse. Although they originally develop because they serve us, patterns can outlive their usefulness. Limiting the movement in our hips as we walk is a pattern that might have benefited us when we were self-conscious teenagers. But it may not communicate who we are today, and it might be contributing to tightness and chronic lower back pain. Movement work doesn’t demand that you get rid of old patterns but, rather, introduces alternatives to increase your movement options.

Rolfing Movement techniques are often sprinkled “as needed” into structural sessions. Rolfers commonly apply Movement work at the end of a Rolfing session to help clients explore new options made available by fascial manipulations. Without Movement training, greater range of motion may be ignored due to old neurological, psychological and historical patterns. Movement “homework” helps clients incorporate these changes in their response repertoire.

Rolfing Movement sessions
Entire sessions devoted to Rolfing Movement are valuable—whether used stand-alone or in conjunction with structural manipulation. Rolfing Movement sessions can focus on any area or issue that improves function.

Sessions might focus on developing greater support and ease in sitting; refining walking gait to use muscles more efficiently; or customizing a clients’ workspace to reduce effects of repetitive stress. A pregnant woman might use Rolfing Movement sessions to help her adjust to the ongoing shift in her center of gravity. Athletes use Movement work to improve performance—a sprinter might want to explore ways to leave the block faster; a golfer may want to find ways to use more of her body when she swings a club. Movement work can be done in groups or in private.

During a ten-series, a client may become aware of movements that are particularly challenging or areas of chronic holding. For a client with deeply ingrained patterns, additional sessions devoted to Movement integration can be extremely effective. Furthermore, movement develops greater body awareness—an important goal for anyone.