Rolfing

Cultural diversity in body types is beginning to be embraced.

Body Beautiful

What makes a women’s body beautiful? How do the standards of beauty affect self image, identity and shape our sense of what is possible?

Nature and biology dictate the huge variety of shapes and sizes that women have. Culture defines and imposes a particular set of standards for what female beauty is.

These standards change, depending on the era and decade that one is born into. Women may have a sense of failure or a sense of success regarding their own beauty and their own particular physique.

Knowing one’s weight is a relatively new phenomenon. Bathroom scales were invented in the 1920’s. A voluptuous and well nourished figure was popular 25,000 years ago. For the past 8 generations, women have been encouraged to become progressively smaller. The 1980’s fostered extreme thinness as an ideal, and since then the culture has been creeping back to a more nourished ideal body type for worship.

Currently diversity in body types are beginning to be embraced.

Contemporary culture, media, art, the cosmetics, fashion and plastic surgery industry play a crucial role in our perception of what we consider to be attractive. It is no longer unusual to to see an ad for underwear featuring a group of vital healthy women representing the spectrum of sizes that women encompass. This sends a powerful message of inclusion pertaining to whatever size one is.

How do our biases about what is, versus what is not beautiful shape our opinions of and interactions with others?

As the culture sets the standards of what is beautiful, it also teaches us to evaluate how the women in our world measure up to this ideal. Our judgments may prevent us from really “seeing” the individual.

Now that the media is beginning to embrace a variety of body types as attractive, our vision and perception of beauty can shift. Perhaps this trend creates an opportunity for us to discover our own ideal of physical beauty rather than accepting the cultural norms.

When Rolfers look at a body they envision a structure which breathes fully, moves with ease and reflects the unique and wondrous being within. They gaze past the surface and visualize how the person in front of them would look minus the remnants of physical/ psychological injuries that drag them down and eke away at their self image.

Both emotional and physical stress can prematurely disable and age an otherwise healthy body. Physical manifestations of stress can be experienced as aches and pains, limited mobility, exhaustion and sometimes depression. Emotional trauma can also leave its mark on the body. Rolfers help their clients to process both the physical and emotional remnants of stress by removing the longstanding tensions and myofascial shortenings that have taken residence in the structure. Both the body and the person inside have the opportunity to change.

A beautiful body is one that is fully alive and expresses the essence of the person within. While Rolfers are working directly with the connective tissue on a structural level they are also striving to bring out the beauty in each person they work with. Maybe it’s the industrial standard of beauty that prevents us from celebrating each person’s magnificence. Perhaps our differences are what make us truly beautiful. 2019 is the year for us to begin redefining what is a beautiful body.

By David Frome • Physical Therapy, Rolfing • • Tags: Beauty, diversity, emotional stress, extreme thinness, female beauty, identity, inclusion, physical stress, rolfers, rolfing, self image, standards of beauty, structure, Women's bodies

Beauty and Extreme Fitness – A Rolfer’s View

Extreme fitness has become increasingly popular in our culture. Crossfit and Bootcamp classes are designed to push us beyond our limits and prepare us for an Armageddon like disaster. Sledgehammers, kettle bells, heavy weights, martial arts and sprinting with backpacks full of rocks are often activities that are on the menu. Exercise protocols often borrow heavily from training programs for the Navy Seals and other military organizations.

The credo of extreme fitness is that we should all be ready at any moment to face danger, be it fire, tsunami or terrorism. With a gladiator body, you are ready to face anything. Images of hard, chiseled bodies beckon us to join the culture of fitness. They have come to represent an elite team of athletes that anyone can join with hard work and dedication.

Our posture and body alignment can be shaped by the exercises we do.

Here’s what happens with extreme exercise: As muscles become bulkier, they shorten. That’s why serious bodybuilders often become muscle bound. Their bodies become more compressed forfeiting length for the strength.

Exercising to create a six pack belly is a surefire recipe for shortening the muscle and fascia (myofascia) of the belly, waistline and ultimately, the overall structure. Crunches and leg lifts not only reduce the length of the rectus abdominis, they also shorten the hip flexor or psoas muscle. As the abdominal and hip flexor muscles become shortened, the height of the waistline is reduced and the lumbar spine becomes compressed. This distortion of the structure inevitably leads to back pain.

Over time, flexibility diminishes. As the muscles and their fascial wrappings shorten movement becomes labored and efficiency is lost. Many people exercise to improve their appearance. Ironically, extreme fitness yields a shorter stockier structure.

As the body shortens it loses organization around the vertical line. Length helps you to stay more organized around a vertical axis. This length is available to everyone, whether you are short or tall, thin or full figured.

Rolfers aspire to help you become as vertical as possible within the gravity field.Since humans are bipeds they are uniquely challenged to develop a harmonious relationship with gravity.

How then can we cultivate length in our bodies?

Hatha yoga is a form of exercise that helps you maintain length and flexibility. Yoga asanas both stretch and strengthen your muscles while cultivating alignment around the vertical axis. Tai Chi and Chi gong are also practices that promote strength, flexibility, verticality and inner peace.

The Rolfing Technique of Structural Integration releases chronic shortenings within the myofascial network. As the tensions become more equal throughout the body, the structure moves towards length and symmetry. This balance within the structure makes for highly efficient, graceful, elegant body, a beautiful body.

Better Breathing With Rolfing – The First Hour

Breath marks both the beginning and end of life. Our breath not only helps to keep us alive, it helps us to stay connected to ourselves. We are often told, “take a deep breath” or “take a moment to breathe”, but this is not always so easy.

Our breath is often shallow. Tensions in the ribcage and throat can restrict and impede breathing. Over time, slouching may become recorded in our bodies and the upper trunk often becomes habitually stooped or kyphotic. Taking a deep breath is not always so simple!

Do you want to breathe easier? The first Rolfing session opens the breath. The ribs wrap around the trunk, connect to with the spine in the back, and the sternum in the front to form the rib cage. This bony structure houses and protects the organs of respiration.

During the first hour of treatment, the connective tissue wrappings that surround the muscles that span from rib to rib and overlay the chest are released. This allows for fuller inspiration and expiration.

Clients often feel like a tight corset has been removed. Breathing becomes freer and easier. Chronic tensions in the anterior trunk, shoulder, neck and back are encouraged to release. With each Rolfing session the initial work of the first session is enhanced as the deep muscles of the back and scapula are released from their chronic patterns of bracing.

Before the Rolfing session begins, the Rolfer observes how a person appears in a standing position. Are the shoulders at the same height? Do they roll inward and forward? Is the head forward of the trunk? Do the ribs move with the breath? How does the person look as he rises from a chair and walks across the room? Everyone’s structure tells a story. The Rolfer watches carefully to discover areas of restriction and imbalance in the body.

The Rolfing Technique of Structural Integration is a technique for improving posture and alignment. The Rolfer uses deep pressure to release chronic shortenings in the myofascial network. The goal is to improve alignment within the gravity field. By realigning the body, gravity becomes a supportive factor rather than a force that drags one down. The result is a person who stands taller, breathes easier and moves with greater efficiency and ease.

Taking a good breath has a multitude of benefits. The brain receives oxygen and the nervous system relaxes. Breathing deeply renews and energizes the body and spirit. When taking a deep breath we have the chance to come back to ourselves and to be fully present. When one is frightened breathing tends to become quick. When one is depressed and in pain breathing tends toward shallow. Breath is reflective of our physical and emotional state.

Stress of any type tends to compromise breathing. Over the course of time shallow breathing becomes habitual. This results in a lack of oxygen flow throughout the system. The Rolfing Technique of Structural Integration provides a way back to breath that is spontaneous and full.

Also Read:

The Basic Ten Session Rolfing Series

By David Frome • Rolfing • • Tags: Breathing, rolfing

Rolfing for Tweens – Nine to Twelve Year Olds

From birth to death our bodies are in constant transition. The soft tissues of our bodies, including muscle, bones, ligaments and fascial coverings change throughout our lives. Concurrently, there are age related developmental milestones that occur between birth and late adolescence.

As we develop motor skills and agility our structure forms. During this formative period our bodies are most malleable and open to change.

As we approach puberty, we become aware of how our bodies are similar and different from our peers. Preteen children often feel awkward, gangly and clumsy. They can be moody and self absorbed, uncomfortable in their own skins. It’s not uncommon that the body grows faster than the child can keep up with. As boys and girls develop into young men and women, secondary sex characteristics are sometimes a cause for embarrassment. Children often feel that they are changing too much or too little in contrast to their peers. Read More

By Rebekah Frome • Rolfing • • Tags: rolfing, Tweens

First Rolfing Session – What To Expect?

Many people arrive for their first Rolfing session with apprehension. New clients wonder if Rolfing can help them to overcome a particular problem. Often, people wonder how Rolfing will feel.

Here’s what you can expect to happen during your first Rolfing session.

We begin by sitting down together. We are curious to know where you have been, how you are currently, and what you would like to happen in your future. Your health history, the physical, emotional challenges you are facing are of interest to us. We want to know what brings you to Rolfing, and what you would like to receive from the process.

A visual assessment is next.

While you stand with your feet together we will take note of how your structure is organized. Each person has a unique way of holding themselves together to cope with their life experience, and accomplish all they need to do. We are looking to see how your body lines up within the gravity field. How your body parts relate to the vertical axis in front of your spine has bearing upon the stresses and strains that you experience on a daily basis. We will note whether your head sits directly over the shoulders, whether your shoulders are over your hips, as well as the hips and knees over the ankles. Read More

By David Frome • Rolfing • • Tags: First Session, rolfing