Your body needs attention
Your body has accumulated numerous physical impacts over the years that are depleting your agility, strength and stature and you no longer move the way you once did. It weighs on you emotionally as well. Despite wishing you could rest and heal, you notice that life demands you to keep moving, and the pain gets worse and sinks deeper into the body. It becomes chronic. Your movement starts feeling more bound muscularly; you feel stiff and limited and that impacts your sense of self and how you are in your world. You can’t perform the way you hope to. This pain is starting to feel pretty intrusive and what is worse, it distracts you from feeling present and engaged in your life.
And you’ve tried many modalities of care
Despite your exercise routines, yoga classes, the gym and regular visits to the chiropractor, physical therapists and massage therapist, you continue to live with chronic tension and pain and is getting worse. You catch a glimpse of yourself in a window and you think that you could certainly stand more upright but it feels like a burden to do so and besides, the thought is gone the moment the window has vanished. You’re feeling disconnected from your body again and you’re struggling because you sense there must be something that will help this, something that makes sense of it all. You’re searching and you may have heard about Rolfing.
I help people daily who struggle with pain; their posture aches, their physical choices are discouragingly limited and they desire a better experience with their bodies.
Rolfing® joins together the precision of structure and the embodiment of function, bringing a modality that balances and nourishes the whole person.
Testimonial about working with Liesje as a practitioner.
“Your use of the term ‘being met’ gives me the idea that this somatic work is unwinding through an exploration resonates with me very deeply. I want to meet myself and give myself permission to be and also to express”
-Diane West
Why has nothing worked for you yet?
If you are stressed mentally, then you’re holding tension physically and your nervous system is agitated and running at a chronic disadvantage. That’s costly. It does not matter what age you are or what your circumstances are. Posture can be debilitating at any age or phase in life. Posture is a measure of attention and engagement in the world. To behold your posture in your awareness can be highly significant. It’s a great asset. It’s my wish to help you to understand this.
What you may not yet have discovered is your inherent ability to continual sense the connection that you’re having with the gravitational system: a felt awareness of the ground beneath your feet and the sky that draws your attention upward and the open space in between that calls out to you. Sensing the living power of gravity as it anchors you into presence is the foundation of Rolfing. It generates not only the presence of feeling grounded, solid and steady but also it’s healthy complimentary and opposing feelings of lightness, flow and a sense of rising up.
When you pay attention to gravity and deal with its reality in your life, you can live and grow with it. Sensing space through your whole body will help you access more good information and respond with less wasted effort.
When you make postures and movements while paying very little attention to what you’re relating to in that moment, you’re not getting enough information, and it causes you to feel limited, stifled, dull and rigid. Imagine moving your arm with bound muscles, like lifting heavy limp bones and putting them elsewhere. There’s no connection and therefore there is no support. Movements become increasingly harder to perform.
What you really need
Why not try a little imagination and notice that your bones actually act as vectors that can generate spaces in-between joints and help organize and move your body with length and ease.
Rolfing Structural Integration gives you ten 75-90 minute sessions to guide and support you through a process that can unwind emotionally bound tensions and restore clear, natural and easeful alignment using hands on myofascial manipulation but also movement education.
You’ll discover that the Rolfing approach to embodiment is key to healthy, integrative movement that can empower you with a sense of curiosity, intention, clarity, boundaries and attention. Rolfing has been proven to resolve long-lasting, effective changes in alignment, posture, and movement and greatly reduce pain. It can keep you from falling off balance or feeling stuck in the restrictions of a body that only has so little access.
-
What is Rolfing® Structural Integration?
Rolfing is an integrative approach to bodywork centered around resolving "hang-ups" in the body. Some specific problems addressed by Rolfing include: poor posture, chronic pain conditions, general tension, high stress levels, acute injuries, and recovery from surgery or injury.
The practitioners' touch can range from light/superficial to deeper tissue work, depending on which layer and system of the body is being addressed. Rolfers see the fascia and soft tissue as a container of relationships that dynamically interface with our bodily systems. A Rolfer's job is to recognize what the body prioritizes and which systems have become congested, overworked, or under-supported. Rolfers assess which systems are carrying the most load or demand, and then we works to support the body’s natural hierarchy.Rolfing was named after Dr. Ida P. Rolf, an American biochemist, who also coined the name "structural integration." Dr. Rolf was ahead of her time and recognized that fascia is plastic by nature and will change shape, adapt, and even hold memories. But, it takes patience, understanding, and sometimes a shift in our beliefs. Rolfing is not a quick fix. This therapeutic approach distinguishes itself from the massage because it's designed as a process, or program of ten or twelve separate sessions, systematically and methodically working through the whole body to provide true, deep and lasting integration. This is experienced not only physically, but also for most people, psychologically and emotionally.
-
Massage typically addresses symptoms -- tension, soreness, stress -- in individual sessions that feel great but don't necessarily create lasting structural change. ROlfing is a process. It's designed as a series of sessions that systematically work through the whole body, addressing why patterns exist rather than just where they hurt. The goal is lasting integration, not necessarily temporary relief.
-
Your first session is a 120-minute intake and Session 1. We'll talk through your history, goals, and what's brought you in. I'll assess how you're organized in gravity -- how you stand, walk, breathe -- and we'll begin session one together from there. You'll leave with a clearer picture of what's going on in your body and a plan for how to address it.
Bring water and wear clothes that are comfortable to move around in. -
It can be intense at times, but "painful" isn't quite the right word... My touch ranges from light and superficial to deeper tissue work depending on what the body needs. Most people describe it as a productive sensation -- pressure that feels like it's doing something. I always work within your window of tolerance and communication throughout the session is part of the process.
-
Anyone who lives in their body -- which is everyone, but especially people who've tried physical therapy, chiropractic, or massage and still feel like something isn't resolving. Athletes who want to move more efficiently. People dealing with chronic tension, postural habits, or pain that doesn't have a clear diagnosis. And people who are simply curious about what's possible when you start working with your body instead of managing it.
-
Rolfing is traditionally structured as a series of 10 sessions, each building on the last. That said, I can also do a three session introductory -- some come in for a specific issue and feel significant resolution in a handful of sessions and then stop, but for best results, it’s ideal to not stop somewhere in the middle. Typically, I suggest that you consider committing to the full series and then continue with maintenance work after that intermetenly. We'll figure out what makes sense for your body and life. em description
Liesje Smith Certified Advance Rolfer™ Athens, GA
So many things can happen in a session and everyone has different goals when coming to Rolfing. I’m here to help your body flow better, have more support, have better range of motion and less pain. You can have a whole new opportunity that you never thought was possible and I have the skill and the experience to help you make it truly transformational.
In only ten sessions, we can accomplish a lot!
I’m so glad you’re here!!
I truly love working with people who want to have a better experience with their bodies….
BLOG
Whether you come for classes or private sessions, you can access a better internal view of yourself with greater inner peace in the world.