My Rolfing experience (so far)

Oh....here's what I had written about my first session.

All righty then!

I got my first session yesterday, and all I can say is WOW!!!

The immediate effect I felt when we were finished was feeling this incredible feeling of balance, a feeling of being solidly placed where I was standing or sitting.

For instance, when I was sitting chatting with the rolfer while processing my payment, there was a definite improvement in posture, which was effortless, and a feeling of easy control of my limbs.

I said to her "I feel like the trunk of a big tree, and my arms are branches." she smiled and said "yep"
You know how when you are sitting or standing and gestulating with your arms, your body feels pulled or influenced by the movement of your arms? Not any more. It's like my torso is solidly placed, and my arms are moving and swinging away from my body with greater ease.

My neck? OMG....This was an area I wanted to specifically address. Over the years I developed this angle to my head that caused the back of my skull to tilt back into my top vertebrae. Even when I was mindful to lower my head, it felt unnatural, and if I stopped thinking about it, it would tilt back on its own in a minute.

Now? My head is level. When I tilt my head back to try to put it in it's old position (just to test), that "place" isn't even there any longer.

When I look at myself in profile...before, my legs were slighty bent at the point they meet my torso, and where they met the knee. If I straightened them, again, it was a conscious effort, and although I looked better, it wasn't a position one could hold for long, walk around with, etc.

Now, my legs are naturally in this unbent position.

Pain during the rolfing? Absolutely NOT.

OK, a qualifier...as she was working my body, she'd ask me if it was too intense....I'd say "no" Sometimes it felt good, sometimes, well hard to describe, but you knew something was happening deep in your muscles.
At one point, I'm on my right side and she's working on my left hip leg, and we're talking away, and suddenly I grunted "AAAHHHGG" There was an intense spot of extreme pressure, and associated with that, pain. Not pain like sharp, but again, from some deep place. She just chuckled and said "Heh...I just hit one of your hot spots....you'll be surprised where I find others" Then she immediatly adjusted her technique and all was fine.

What the coolest part was when she'd be working on a body part, and suddenly, you'd feel those bones, joints, all the connective stuff just open up.
When working on a chest shoulder area, it felt good, but you could tell there was resistance of movement. Then, the only way I can describe it is like when you're cutting the drumstick off a Thanksgiving turkey. You know how if someone who knows how to really carve a turky makes just one little cut, and the drumstick will just fall away? That's what it was like. Suddenly, the points around the shoulder, roter cup, just, well, "release" and my arm fell open into this new open position which you realized was it's natural position, and felt totally marvelous....ahhhhhh.....

Anyway, sitting her typing this, the effects from yesterday are no less. I got out of bed and was surprised at the difference in how I made my way across the room to turn off the alarm.

I go for my next session in I think a week and a half.

I will say, the effects are subtle...like if you're the type of person who can't figure out if they are hungry, or tired, you probably would think nothing happened. But, if you pay attention, these subtle changes end up effecting everything as a whole.

Each session is supposed to build on the last, so I can't wait to see what's next.

Third session.

This time worked on both sides of body...hips, sides of ribs, sides of thighs and shoulder work

My left side was a lot more "stuck" or tensed than the right. That's the side I carried a shoulder bag on for so many years....Now I'm using one one those cross over your chest bags and that makes a big difference

It's true that working on my left hip did hurt. It's like a pressure sort of pain. After working on the left hip, she went to the right, then, back to the left again. However, it's a productive type of pain, especially when immedialty afterwards your body shows such increased balance.

I actually measured my height when I got home, I've been 5' 2 and just shy of a half inch for years, when I measured at home, and at the end of the day, I was actually just shy of 5'3". That may not sound like a lot, but that's from having the muscles put at their proper length.

My hip mobility is great, no more feeling like I can just bend at the waist, and because my hips work better, my knees don't have to lift any weight when I'm straightening up.

I haven't had a neck ache or a headache since I started. My neck would get stiff often.

Re: hips

Last night when I got in bed, I relaxed by stretching out my legs, and turning my hips outwards, one at a time. Also, my quads were feeling, well, not sore, but this feeling like they needed stretching. It seemed to get them alighned. My right hip, when giving it a gentle stretch, gave this nice pop, and I could feel a tendon move back into place...nothing similar from the left hip, either doesn't need it or is still stiff.

today when I'm standing brushing teeth, etc. I would left one leg up and rotate it back. Can't believe the range of motion I'm getting. God it feels sooooo good.

4th session.

Worked on the inner legs, from the foot to the nether regions, then some work on the backs of my hips. Back of the hips, just the area I'd been waiting for.

Working on the inside of the calves actually did get pretty intense and some pain. The inner thighs though were marvelous....felt like I could drift off to sleep a few times.

When Sandy said, roll onto your back, I said "no"

Well, yeah of course I did.

She had me sitting up and worked on my lower back/back of hips......oooooooooooohhhhhhh.....my hips are not only tilted back because of my pulling my hips/buttocks back, but because the rest of my back is stuck pulling up that same area.

She's going to be doing more on that in another session.

My stride is longer now, and smoother.

good stuff.

This has been a fascinating read!

Rolfing is also known here as vomiting esp in relation to a big night out.

Here too, dadpad.

I entered cautiously, thinking that I know we all share a lot with each other here, sometimes things we wouldn't share with our best friend, but I just had to see what she was talking about.

Pleasantly surprised. This is actually cool.

Agree I paused a while before I posted cause I didn't want to derail the thread. but thought I'd let you all know about rolfing slang.

Interesting thread Chai

ok littlek, I can't tell you how glad you posted. Thank you.

I was thinking that everyone was looking at this briefly and thinking "What a wingnut" before and moving on.

whew....now I feel freer to describe in more detail.

While this is a truly holistic thing, everything effecting eveything else (it's your entire body for heavens sake) it's in no way all "out there" no waving smoking sage over me or discussing my chakras.

Before each session starts, Sandy has me stand/walk around to see how I'm moving. I said to her yesterday "there's parts of me that I feel some strain on (lower back) that I didn't before and find myself on purpose moving a part of my body you've worked on back into it's former position to relieve it. It takes a conscious effort to let's say, slightly bend my left knee again, and it doesn't really help the back that much. It feels like my lower back is saying it wants my knee to return to the wrong position, because it's in the wrong position."

"That's really close" she said.

One thing I like about this is the education she gives. I'm someone who likes to visualize what's going on. I asked her how she can get everything in the right place when, basically, everything effects everything....I kinda knew some of the answer, as when she's working on one side, she then examines me....goes to the other side....examines her work...then goes back to refine the first again...kinda like cooking...a little of this, a little of that...now I have to go back and add a little more of this.

She explain the your body has multiple layers, and just because something is wrong in "layer 2" on one side, "layer 4" might be compensating on the other.
OK, that gets to sound kinda weird, but just think about it...

(these are my words)
If you hurt let's say your right ankle, well your left hip might compensate. Because your left hip is compensating, your right shoulder compensates for the left hip....then, later on, you hurt your left knee...your right shoulder wants to compensate, but it's already busy compensating for your left hip, so it goes to another layer to compensate for itself, the hip and the knee.
I know, wacky. But as things get opened up, you really see changes in a totally (you thought) unrelated area.

The word "open" is important. You know how when you stretch a leg or your back you think stretching the muscle is like pulling on a rubber band? Well, here's where the rolfing is completely different. It's not stretching the muscle, it's opening it from the facia....I visualize it like an accordian.

This morning, I worked on stretching my back, but really, I've got to change that term in my mind...it was definately more like "opening" my back.

Picture a closed accordian file with one end at the top of you back, and the other end on you tail bone. As you move, bend I can feel the muscle opening up, like the accordian file would, creating more space.

Every morning when I get out of bed, I've been facing the grabbing the underside of the bed frame, crouching and trying to get my hips to drop. Even after the little bit she did on my back yesterday, there's a big difference. Today, when I crouched, my back opened up, and my butt/hips literally just "dropped", because the back doesn't have such a tight grip on the hips, it's accordioning open, creating the length.

One other thing. Each time I go, at some point I thing "wow, I'm gonna have a bruise there." Yesterday, working up and down my inner thighs, pressing on the inside of the knees, I was sure I'd be black and blue....not a mark.

The purpose of the inner thigh work, as near as I can make it....your inner knee has tendons/muscles that all start at one point, then radiate upwards into a fan going into the groin/hip area. She was working on opening the fan.

She said this last session, the 4th, was really the beginning of the true Core work.

Chai, I've been reading with interest. It sounds marvelous. (I think you should add some burning sage though, for atmosphere .)

Chai, you're such a wing-nut!

poopity head!



OK, one more thing that changed as of yesterday....my method of locomotion.

My stride has always been short...too short. My ex-husband used to accuse me of taking "baby steps" on purpose. When I would try to step out more, I couldn't keep it up for more than a few dozen steps, and each one was an effort.

In fact, during the last year, it would even get into my dreams. I'd be in a dream trying to walk from one place to the next, down a street, and I realize I couldn't move my legs foward. I'd feel in my dream that each step was like walking underwater with weights on my ankles.

I've mentioned in other posts that my stride was getting better, could move my hips, but I realized this morning how it's all come together (maybe not fully yet, who knows how good it'll get) after the inner thigh work.

The best way I can describe it is I feel like I'm being propelled by my entire body, rather than just by my legs moving forward. It feels like my feet are mostly there to keep me attached to the earth every couple of seconds, but the movement is coming from my hips, torso and even my shoulders. Like I'm hover craft moving foward from 2 1/2 feet above the ground, and my feet are being used to maintain contact to the path I'm on.

God, even I sound crazy to myself now.

Who cares what you sound like! Listen to how you feel! This is great! I was rolfed just once (chirpractored many times), but now I'm considering it again.

Prana is now flowing through your feet and legs to your Muladhara chakra, where it is converted to kundalini.

yeah....I kinda thought that's what it was, but I didn't want to say.


for those not "in the know" I think drewdad is saying I'm pooping snakes.


umm....HEY! wait a minute! I know what you're saying!

Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall give you qi.

seriously drew dad, from what I've described so far, it does sound different from PT, doesn't it? I am seriously not making these changes up.

snort....I just reread what I wrote a couple of posts back....

I'm a hovercraft.....snort

My SIL has described the domino effect of a problem in one's foot causing a problem in the back or neck.