The First Session of Rolfing is not meant to go deep
Most often, returning clients tell me that they notice significant signals from their bodies that help them make different movement choices that feel easier, lighter and more connected. That’s integration. That is what makes Rolfing Rolfing. It doesn’t mean just fixing something in pain. It means understanding why the pain is happening by the way we carry ourselves and engage in the world. To heal this, we are using everything present: body, mind and surroundings, yes surroundings, in order to create new and functional patterns of movement and perception.
Sometimes people move on after the first session because they thought it would be like deep tissue. But, it’s not just going deep without listening to the rest of the system and noticing how the body responds. Therefore it’s important to help you expand your body’s biosphere to a sensory dial, and follow a greater sensory process. As you turn your dial, it starts making sense….right away.
Session 1 of Rolfing opens up the diaphragm, the ribs and the lungs. When we get more oxygen and space in the diaphragm, there is more uprightness in the chest and more capacity for integration of what is to come in the rest of the ten series of Rolfing.
If you’re struggling with something like anxiety or stress, for example, then, right from the start Rolfing can help you resolve fight/flight or distress patterns by making better choices in how you meet gravity and the world around you. We start by observing how you breath. Then using gentle cues and a warm, slow and listening touch, I gently coax open and ease the outer ‘sleeve' of the ribs and shoulders and legs in order to release the pelvis and prepare for what needs addressing later in the core.
What people think Rolfing is, it isn’t. It’s not massage and it’s not deep tissue, though it eventually goes deep. There’s a somatic architectural logic that helps bring a client slowly toward becoming consciously more upright, more prepared, more present, more available, and more clear.