Rolfing is a form of body education in which tissue is reorganized to maximize form, function, and fluidity.

---- also known as Structural Integration.

This type of bodywork loosens up and reorganizes the soft tissue of the body, including muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia, to bring relief from chronic pain.

Rolfing was developed by Dr. Ida B. Rolf, a biochemist who found she could achieve changes in posture and structure by manipulating the body's connective tissue. She called her work Structural Integration, but it was nicknamed "Rolfing" by clients and practitioners.
She started working with injured members of her community. She found that the concept of gravity and length in the body was critical to support a person being on their line. She discovered it was possible to put injured tissue back to where it is supposed to be when working with the fascia in a person’s body.

Dr. Rolf was successful at bringing back body movement and function to people who had given up after many years of disabling pain. This is how she developed the principals necessary to have consistent results with her Structural Integration work. She began teaching her work in the 1950s and soon found herself with a school (The Rolf Institute®) in Boulder, Colorado, giving training to many others to continue her work after she passed away in 1979.

What is Fascia?
"Fascia" --the fibrous layers covering muscles--stiffens, shortens, and loses its elasticity after prolonged poor posture and mental and
emotional stress. Fascia describes connective tissue that wraps muscle fibers and is elastic to respond to muscular movement. Fascia is found everywhere in the body- it surrounds cells, tissue, organs and body systems; it is tendons and ligaments. Fascia is a continuous matrix of the body.

The science of Rolfing spans from the knowledge of gravity to the profound understanding of three dimensional anatomy. Many events pull us off our line like chronic pain, repetition of movement patterns, emotional distress, and trauma. Rolfing is rooted deeply in anatomical language and where the Rolfer works is determined by how a person moves his or her body. Rolfing involves experiencing release from muscular patterns that no longer serve us. This frees up energy and truly can offer a new world view of being.

What does the Rolfing contact feel like?
It is dynamic, from light to deep touch. Rolfing can be intense at times due to the nature of changing structural patterns in the body.

Changes of the magnitude discussed above do not occur in just one session. Rolfing is designed as a series of ten sessions where each session is focused on a particular part of the body. One session offers a taste of the power and possibilities for change.