What is the Rolf Method of Structural Integration?

Rolfing structural integration is an original and scientifically validated system of body restructuring and movement education. It releases the body's segments; legs, torso, arms etc.; from life long patterns of tension and bracing and permits gravity to realign them. By doing so, it balances the body. People of all ages come to Rolfing for help with neck pain, back problems, joint pains, impaired mobility and other difficulties, which originate with internal strains. Misalignment of the body caused by old injuries results in chronic pain, lowered vitality and impaired functioning. Rolfing has been shown to be an effective method of relieving pain and increasing a person's felling of well being. Of all the forces affecting the human body, gravity is among the most powerful. Gravity exerts its force evenly; it tends to create strain in unbalanced bodies and to support balanced ones. Because the body is better-balanced after Rolfing, it expends less of its vital energies against gravity. This biological energy-efficiency is often experienced as a higher level of alertness and vitality. Pain levels are dramatically reduced. Movement becomes easier and overall personal functioning tends to improve.

Rolfing results in a feeling of fitness and wholeness. After Rolfing, people stand and move with more surety and grace than before. Rolfing improves appearance, relieves pain, enhances athletic performance, and leaves people feeling capable of a fuller realization of their potential.

Benefits of Rolfing
Your body holds itself erect with pairs of muscle groups functioning within a network of fascial sheaths. These pairs normally function in an antagonist relationship with one another. That is, when one pair contracts, the other extends to maintain proper balance. If that relationship is impaired through injury or chronic tension in one of the groups, the fascia conforms to the shortening and the rest of your body compensates to maintain balance.

Rolfing frees the shortened fascia, allowing your muscles to return to their natural length and to assist your body in releasing compensatory patterns. As this happens, your body returns to a more vertical alignment. Many benefits can result, including:

• Relief from chronic pain
• Improved posture
• Increased energy
• Greater range of motion
• Increases in physical strength
• Feeling lightness and looseness

Who gets Rolfed?
Persons who experience the following:

• Acute or chronic musculoskeletal pain and discomfort
• Involvement in a motor vehicle accident (whiplash)
• Injury from sports activity (extremity pain)
• Occupational/work related injuries (low back pain)
• Chronic pain due to poor postural habits
• Persons seeking to achieve optimal health and wellness

Frequently Asked Questions

Does The Rolf Method of Structural Integration last?
YES! Photographs taken of patients years after the Basic Ten Series show that changes are still present and structure often improved. Keep in mind however, as life changes, bodies change in response. Injuries, accidents, lengthy illnesses, lack of practicing good postural tone and emotional stress may necessitate additional work.

How long is the session?
Sessions generally last 60 to 90 min.

What do I wear?
Clients can wear undergarments, or a swimsuit (two piece for women).

How does it feel?
The treatment itself is a series of manipulations accomplished by the pressure of the Rolfer’s hands, fingers, knuckles, and elbows on your body. You may feel this as an electrical sensation on the skin, deep pressure, or a variety of other sensations during the process; however, these sensations pass shortly after the pressure is released. The most dramatic feeling of the treatment is a sense of increased ease and lightness as the session progresses.

What others are saying about Structural Integration
Athletes:

Michelle Kwan and Elvis Stojko, 1998 Olympic Silver Medalists, find they have a competitive advantage by working with a team of specialists that includes Rolfing. Elvis Stojko introduced Rolfing to Michelle Kwan in July during the Campbell Soup Tour of World Figure Skating Champions. Stojko, who has benefited Rolfing since 1995 says, "Rolfing helped me to find my center of balance for competition; it puts my body in place.

Bob Tewksbury, pitcher for the Minnesota Twins says, "I have received many benefits from Rolfing. In 1991, my massage therapist recommended it as a way to get a deeper level of work. Although the benefits of muscle work come and go depending on when and how regularly I get Rolfing work, I have noticed long lasting benefits with regard to my breathing, my posture and my body awareness. I have used Rolfing mainly in two areas, for my lower and upper back to help with flexibility and stiffness and to enhance my performance. I plan to use it again."

Alex O’Brien professional tennis player. In the year 2000 he was ranked #1 in the world in doubles. Alex has been receiving Structural Integration work for the past two years. He states, “after Structural Integration my body seemed more at ease, my serve was stronger, I had improved range of motion, I had increased agility and I used less energy getting to the ball- it was incredible.”

Medical Professionals:

Dr. Mary Kay Brewster is an OB GYN, Medical Doctor in Carmel, California. She tried Structural Integration to alleviate low back pain and sciatica. She states, “I was in pain 90% of the time and now I am pain free. Everyday I recommend Structural Integration to friends, family, colleagues and patients.”

Larry Dossey, M.D., best-selling author: "There is one major reason to take Rolfing seriously: it works. Not only can it dramatically change people's bodies, it can transform their lives as well. Rolfing is powerful stuff."

Dr. Irene Grant is an Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease Specialist in New York City. She had a very bad whiplash injury when she was a child, which created problems in her neck, similar to scoliosis. Irene says, "After ten sessions I noticed that my posture improved, my chronic neck pain was significantly relieved, and I had much more energy. Further treatments brought progressive freedom. I experienced major changes. The most amazing thing is that I am now pain free."

More Quotes from Dr. Ida P. Rolf
“Some individuals may perceive their losing fight with gravity as a sharp pain in their back, others as the unflattering contour of their body, others as constant fatigue, yet others as an unrelentingly threatening environment. Those over forty may call it old age. And yet all these signals may be pointing to a single problem so prominent in their own structure, as well as others, that it has been ignored: they are off balance, they are at war with gravity.”

“Go around the problem; get the system sufficiently resilient so that it is able to change, and it will change, It doesn't have to be forced. It's that forcing that you have to avoid at all costs.”

" If you can imagine how it feels to have a fluid, light, balanced body, free of pain, stiffness and chronic stress, at ease with itself and the earth's gravitational field, then you will understand the goals of structural integration. "
- Dr. Ida P. Rolf

For more information on how to receive the Rolf Method of Structural Integration Contact:
Karen Ayash, H.H.P, LMT
949-244-4607
Located inside Fitness Elite
647 Camino de Los Mares
San Clemente, CA 92673