I recently had a really enjoyable conversation with a prospective client who, like many prospective Rolfing clients, was drawn to the work out of the (dated) idea that it’s “really intense bodywork.” That’s a myth, one I’ve written about quite a bit over the years. And it’s always worth revisiting as those questions are a consistent part of Rolfing lore.

(If you’re reading this, thank you for a genuinely enjoyable conversation and for the inspiration to sit down and write this all out!)

So, let’s discuss two of the main reasons I think the “no pain no gain” method of bodywork is misguided (at least if you’re seeking long-term results) – (1) holism, and (2) the nature of your fascia.

One of the core principles of my practice is Holism. The mind & body are interconnected and you can’t separate the two. If you want to resolve a challenge in one realm, you have to include & consider what’s happening in the other.

For someone that has an incredibly tight & painful body, or complains of knots that just won’t go away, it’s not a simple matter of me as a practitioner working stronger or harder, or having a magical technique that’ll disappear that tension from your body permanently.

There’s software to consider.

Your nervous system, and the signals it sends your musculoskeletal system, is the primary operator here. The uniquely complex constellation of habits, personality, practices, personal history, and genetics that informs the ways you do you signals your body in every moment to do what it does, and how it does it.

Those signals, over time, manifest as patterns in your hardware – your physical body – that can then lead to the symptoms you experience.

And there’s an important point to drive home here, so I’m putting it in bold: these patterns are working FOR you, 100% of the time. Grounded in your personal history, they’ve mainly been developed by you to help you get your needs meet in one way or another, whether that need is safety, belonging, a sense of freedom or personal power, feelings of self-worth, or even the basics of stability and mobility in the face of injury or trauma.

So remember, there is a Whole You that is at work – mind & body – taking in information and responding to it. And also giving you information & feedback about those often unconscious responses. This feedback often takes the form of your symptoms (knots in your shoulders that won’t go away, etc.).

That tension you’re experiencing then? It’s an output of a complex system at work.

So, trying to just beat it out of yourself with harder bodywork or the Theracane, while it might “hurt so good,” is a band-aid. That’s it. You’re just aiming at the symptoms by doing that, and you’re working against your software, rather than with it. You may get some short-term relief, yes. But if you aren’t considering the “Why?” underneath that feedback, and then working to change those habitual patterns in your nervous system, you’ll never fully resolve your symptoms.

And then there’s the fascia - or connective tissue - itself. The “stuff” we’re working with.

Fascia doesn’t change under the force of my hands, or anyone else’s. You can’t “break up” scar tissue. That’s a myth. Period.

One of fascia’s jobs is to keep you stable and steady, while another is to give you enough adaptability to flex, stretch, and move in response to the dynamic demands of gravity and movement. It needs to be strong, sturdy, and supple and elastic all at once.

Just think about it for a moment. If your connective tissue matrix could be remodeled, changed, broken down or forced into submission somehow with the pressure I exert on your body for an hour or less – even if I’m the most intelligent, skillful or powerful bodyworker on the planet – your body would be in serious trouble. Consider the force our bodies undergo doing everyday things like driving a car, flying in a plane, riding a rollercoaster. And perhaps especially those of us that take these activities to extremes – racecar drivers and jet pilots that subject their bodies to multiple G’s of force regularly.

Bonus points to anyone who can name this movie! -MW

They walk out of their vehicles, right?

If I, as a human, could force your connective tissue to change in my office, imagine what the body of a pilot or astronaut would look like post-flight.

Fascia’s designed to be elastic and strong, simultaneously, creating a balanced tensional integrity (“tensegrity”) to support and stabilize our bodies, while allowing us adaptability of movement.

And it can change. Over time. As best as we understand it currently, that looks like six to 24 months. How does it change? Sustained movement habits over a period of time.

Well, what’s a Rolfer doing then with the hands-on work they do, and what good is it for this whole process?

What science tells us now is that Rolfing (and other skillful bodywork) facilitates a process known as “descending modulation” in the nervous system. That is, as a result of the work, the nervous system modifies information it’s perceiving in the body and through the five senses so that the perception and reactions to this information is altered, resulting in less pain.

That’s a little bit nerdy, but essentially your brain treats the bodywork as new information coming in that then helps relax and create ease - and potentially pain relief - in your body.

And guess what, that information doesn’t need to be extra loud, intense, or really painful. In fact, it’s better if it isn’t (you want to turn down the volume in the nervous system here, not turn it up). This builds improved sensory, movement & postural awareness, and alongside new movement habits to support that awareness, you now have some major parts of the puzzle falling in place that will help you resolve your pain and improve your posture or mobility for the long-term.

I approach this work as an experiential education process that’s one part skillful manual therapy, one part movement re-education, and many parts awareness building. It’s all about clients taking in novel information in the form of sensation & movement, and doing something new with it. Consistently.

So, why not just try and smash your pain away?

If I’m trying to exert more and more force to change your body, or you’re seeking a practitioner that can just work hard enough to mash the tension out of you, we’re working against your biology. We’re fighting your nervous system and your fascia, things that are innately trying to work for you.

And in my opinion, that’s a fight YOU should win, not me. Those are systems to be worked with, not against.

So let’s work smarter, not harder, shall we?

You Can't Smash Your Tension Away