Interested in Rolfing? Here's What Working With Me is Like

Author’s note: No time to read? Listen to this blog & more on-the-go in the Soma Sapien Audio Journal!

Let’s cover some basics here.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably interested in trying Rolfing (or, you’re a Rolfer or bodyworker who’s curious about what I’ve written!) Maybe someone you know told you about how it helped them solve their chronic pain when nothing else could. You may even have some ideas about what it’s like.

Problem is, as you’re doing your research, you still might not really know what to expect in your sessions. And, you may find that it can be tough to tell Rolfers apart, or to know who’s going to be the best fit for you.

Most Rolfers’ websites talk a LOT about Ida Rolf, the wonders of fascia, and the 10 Series (if you’re interested in those basics, head on over to the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute’s website for more). Solid basics for sure, but I don’t think it tells you much about what your specific experience will be, and it can make it hard for you to differentiate between practitioners. Or you might even think we’re interchangeable and that a session with me will be just like a session with any other Rolfer.

So, here are some nuts and bolts about what it’ll be like if you choose to try Rolfing with me to help you get the most out of your body and solve your chronic pain or movement challenges. In fact, what I’ve written below reflects the conversations I usually have onboarding new clients into my practice. Hopefully it’ll help you get clear on what it’ll be like working together so you can make an empowered decision on your healing and personal growth journey!

Why I Became a Rolfer in the First Place

Nearly everyone wants to experience Rolfing because they’re in a challenging pain situation, maybe they have been for years. The folks I’ve seen tend to have multiple symptoms or complaints, and most often they’ve tried nearly everything before finally making their way to me – OTC pain relief, physical therapy, massage, acupuncture, corticosteroid injections, and maybe even surgery.

If you take a look at most Rolfers’ bios, you’ll see stories about how Rolfing helped them solve situations exactly like that. It is powerful medicine for complex pain situations, and a lot of people go on to become Rolfers because of the inspiration they receive while healing as a result the work.

Now, there’s another set of people out there that approach Rolfing partially or fully from their interest in understanding more about how the mind & body work together as part of their self-discovery path. That was me.

I was in a radical life-redefining phase when I found Rolfing, and I was drawn to the raw, transformative potential of the work. My excitement about the work, then and now, has been in the question, “If you can improve the organization and movement of someone’s body, and help them create an entirely different relationship with it along the way, what kind of potential do you create for their life?” That draw completely made sense in the context of the change I was affecting in my own life.

So, I’ve always got that question in the background when I’m working. Whether you’re in need of chronic pain relief or are interested in Rolfing as part of your personal growth journey, our work together will absolutely include ways for you to reimagine how you relate to and move your physical Self so you can not only get free from pain, but also create a platform to do something radically different for yourself going forward.

How I View What’s Happening in Your Body

Rolfing is bodywork that’s holistic in nature. Yes, we’re aiming to help eliminate your symptoms, but we’re working to reorganize and balance the entire body to resolve them; we’re not just hammering away at the sore spots. It’s pretty common for a Rolfing client to wonder aloud why their Rolfer is working on their legs or feet when they’ve come in for neck pain.

Here’s the deal:  the human body has evolved to conserve energy and creates efficient patterns so it can do just that. If you have a bad habit or set of habits, like regularly curling up in a ball to scroll through your social feed for hours on end, it takes a concerted effort to put your body in that position. Eventually, your body will get the clue that you plan on doing that for the long-run, so it’ll lay down connective tissue to “hold” you in that posture so you don’t have to expend much effort to do it. As a result, your overall posture will begin to look like that curled-up position rather than a balanced, upright, typical human form.

Comfortable? No. Efficient? Yes.

Similarly, with the combined history of injury, habits, aging, trauma, mindset, psychology, etc., your body will form its shape and movement to support you in what you do. Pretty cool, right?

Yes! Except when the result, as it often is, is pain and discomfort (it hurts to curl up in that little social media ball for hours, doesn’t it?).

So, Rolfing aims to help unravel the whole-body patterns you’ve created over time in order to create a more-balanced posture and easier, more-efficient movement. If you’re trying to solve your text-neck pain, you can’t just work on the neck and expect long-term improvement – you have to address how the shoulders, ribs, hips, etc. have all helped build your curled-up posture. Generally, that’s a multi-session process vs. a one-off, first-aid type situation (although occasionally Rolfing can work well with that too).

I often say we’re aiming to get you back to a more “neutral” posture. Boring-sounding I know, but more natural to be sure and it generally feels a whole heck of a lot better than otherwise.

It Hurts, Right?

Lots of folks think Rolfing is like a “really deep-tissue massage” or that it’s really painful. There are certainly practitioners out there that’ll indulge you in that experience if that’s what you want, but the truth is it it doesn’t have to be that way.

Fact is, you will feel something, it’s not feathers and unicorns. But the idea in my practice is “work smarter, not harder.” You’re likely feeling your pain in the “hardware” of the tissues of your body. But those whole-body patterns creating the pain we talked about? 100% driven by how the “software” of your nervous system has told your body what to do and how to do it.

So, ultimately, we’re talking to the software through the hardware, giving it better information, helping it understand that it has better options now and encouraging it to remember the ease it can naturally have. And, your nervous system generally prefers respectful communication of new information and reminders like that over someone screaming in its face.

How it All Unfolds

A major difference you’ll experience in my practice is the focus on engaging you in the development of your self-awareness of sensation, movement, and places where thoughts or emotions interact with your body. This reflects my years of personal and professional focus on mindfulness, the movement arts, trauma-informed bodywork, and somatic psychology. 

We’re working together to make changes to the software that built where you find yourself now, so it’s critical to help you get eyes on that source code if you want long-term relief and transformation. So, as we work together, you’ll be an active participant in the process. You won’t simply be lying back on my table and letting me do all the work to “fix” you.

Here are a few different ways this might look for you in a session. These are often simple-but-not-easy things we do as we’re working with how you’re subconsciously wired to move without even noticing:

• I ask you to do a simple, specific movement as we’re working, like lifting just your left knee. I notice that you tense your shoulders as you move. In order to help your nervous system differentiate the parts that should be efforting, we take a minute for you to focus on fully relaxing your body, “melting” into the table’s support. Then, while purposefully staying relaxed everywhere else, I have you lift that knee.

• I may have you imagine how it’d feel if someone (or something) else were moving your body for you, while you’re simply being dead weight. Then it’s your turn to as gently as possible let your body create movement that feels exactly like that. This type of exercise is designed to fire completely different muscles than your norm.

• Before, during, and after a session a huge focus of mine is integration – helping your body put it all together so it can take what’s new home with you. So at the end of a session we’ll often spend time off the table noticing together where or how your body has new sensation or movement possibilities, and creatively finding ways together to help you aim into that space vs. falling back into old habit sets that result in pain or limited movement.

• Home practices (better than “homework” right?) are a huge part of my work. Nearly every session will conclude with something for you to practice on your own to help integrate the work back into your life. These aren’t run-of-the-mill PT-type exercises where you need to rep out a bunch of stretches or strengtheners on your Theraband. They’re moments – maybe just seconds! – of awareness-based practices designed to help you remind yourself of the rabbit holes of pain and dysfunction your System has fallen into and create new and better habits for the long run.

What I love about working this way is that, as a team, we’re putting together the “story” of your structure and nervous system and how they work and interact. Over time, that story helps us optimize our work together for greater effectiveness and impact on your life. 

For even more about how I approach my work, head on over to the My Practice page on my website.

Questions? Inspired to give it a try for yourself? Schedule your free Exploratory Call and let’s get started!