Rolfing is the name given to the system of body manipulation originated by Dr. Ida P. Rolf, PhD in biochemistry. Dr. Rolf had a child who had a health problem, and searched for a way, outside of conventional medicine, to solve it. She went to work on the child with her hands and with a good measure of success, discovered that she could restore the child’s body to a more balanced shape and alignment, ease of movement, by working with the connective tissue in the body. This evolved then, into working on friends, and friends of friends, until she had quite a reputation for being able to “fix” things for people in their bodies. Rolfing is a way of working with the fascia that balances the body in gravity. In its most simply expressed form, Rolfers work with the body as a system of inter-related segments to restore these segments to proper alignment in the vertical and horizontal grid of gravity. Thus for example, the Rolfer will determine the shift and tilt of the pelvis and its relationship to each leg in order to bring them into better vertical and horizontal balance with each other, while working with all other body segments, so that further balance, rather than strain, is induced through the whole body.
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