I've grown an inch!

That's amazing Chai - most people get shorter

I remember reading about your rolfing

Very impressive

Your doctor may have an ointment to get rid of it. I had an itch once and a little cream cleared it right up.

...and all these years I thought the saying at birthdays "a pinch to grow an inch" was just made up.

Yeah, because your spine compresses on itself.

I'm separtating them outwards.

After a those few months of yoga, I was able to identify parts of me that where keeping me from bending as far as I need to.
Yesterday I took a complete "chai day" off from work. Went to practice, then I was loose and went to see Sandy. She worked on my lower back, butt, hamstrings, also my sides. You don't realize how the area above your waist effects the length of your hips.
At the end of the session, I said "you know, we've talked about this before, but I really hate the way the back of my neck/very top of my back looks."

I'd started to get that horrible "hump", which I used to think was from the spine curving, but had learned it was because the muscles up there were all bound up into a mass.

Sandy said "you know, I'd like to work with you for one entire session on just your spine. There a muscles all up your (meaning anyone's) back, and working right on the spine will enable it to become more flexible, it'll take away the platform those neck muscles are sitting on, and then I can release them from both below and above.

I said...."well, I took the whole day off, and the only other thing I have to do is a doctors appointment. Do you want me to come back?"

We agreed on a time, and that's when I went to the doctor and had my height taken.

I went back and she commenced to work on every single vertebrae. She worked all the areas she talked about above, and also worked on my sternum, which allowed my shoulders to drop even more. I've learned from rolfing that while you may see results right then (I did, my shoulders were lower, looser), most of the changes will come within the next week, as your body intergrates itself.

I've learned how to relax different muscles, but this back of neck, very upper back thing is tricky. Laying in bed that night, I could feel those muscles wanted to relax, but didn't know how. That'll come, this is a really new landscape for them to travel over.
This morning, getting dressed, I looked at myself from the side and thought, "hmmm, it seems that hump isn't as big"
I put on a blazer, and off to work.
The mirrors in the ladies room at work are at angles so you can see yourself in 3/4's turned away position in you want, and a complete side view without turning your head. When I glanced up at myself while washing my hands, and saw myself with that unobstructed side view, I was shocked!!!

The back of my jacket, right below where the collar ends, there was always that ugly hump. I stood there and looked, and looked.....the back of the jacket below the collar was absolutely FLAT!!! My neck was longer, and there was now room there for it to form an entirely different curve. Much nicer.

Mostly though, it's knowing how much better I'll function in my body.

From experience, I know it'll stay that way. When you release your muscles they want to go back to where they belong.

I was all ready to give you my heart-felt sorrys, as I felt maybe you had bumped your head.

I'm with reign on this, sorry about your head. personally I'm into Primal Scream, Rolfing is just to weird.

I told you , you seem to 'fill yourself out more'

much more elongated, much more comfortable in your stance, much more.. apparent.. and not stooped.

If I get tall enough I could be the perfect weight for my height without dieting!

Well thanks!

I bought this really cool book yesterday, while on my travels....



I just glanced at it last night, and I can't wait to get into it. It seems pretty technical with it's terms, and the illustrations are fabulous, showing you exactly what muscles you're using.

Gads, wish I had Sandy here!

Tell me true, is Sandy/Rolfing expensive?

Not that I need to be Taller, at 5'9", but my posture basically sucks.

You know, SheWolf, I kinda wondered whether, in those Rolfing before & after photos, whether the photographer just said, in the "after" photo, "Now stand up straight!"

Apparently NOT, eh?

I once had a free "demo" with a Chiropractor, at work of all places. He told me, "Stand up straight!" I could only reply, "Don't you think I Would if I Could?"

I can honestly tell you, no, you are NOT standing up straight, like doing it on purpose.

In fact, in the BEFORE photo, the person is probably doing their best to "stand up straight".
After, the way you are standing is just the way their body is, without any effort whatsoever. It's just "there"

I said this before, but I can tell you what happened the day after the very first session I ever had...

There was a a routine task I would perform at work, where every so often I'd have to reach foward to take a pen out of the penholder. Like anyone, I would just reach out, lean foward a bit and take the pen.

The next day, I remember thinking how much better my posture felt, how balanced I felt, like I was really planted where I wanted to be....I was working, and I reached out.....and took the pen. All of sudden it hit me that not only did I NOT lean foward to take the pen, I didn't even stretch my arm out to take it.
What had happened was my roter cup in my shoulder had been released, and when I picked up my arm and put it out, it wasn't moving away from my body, my entire shoulder had engaged in the movement, and it was separating away from my body, the rest of my arm being propelled foward.

Right before I went the first time, I noted how when I tried to step down this particular curb at a store I went to, I just couldn't do it. The curb was probably 3 times the normal height. I had to turn sideways to lower my leg. If I had done it with my leg facing foward, I would have fallen, because I could get my foot to descend that much, and keep my other foot on the step above. That made me very sad.
The next time I went to that store, some time after my first session, I went out of my way to walk over to that high section of the curb, and just...

stepped....

right......

down.....

while carry a few bulky packages.

It was really this huge victory for me, and now I find myself doing things I couldn't even do as a teenager, like sit crossed legged on the floor.