tructural ntegration S ® I THE JOURNAL OF THE ROLF INSTITUTE MARCH 2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION: THE JOURNAL OF - - 2 THE ROLF INSTITUTE ® FROM THE EDITOR IN CHIEF March 2018 COLUMNS Vol. 46, No. 1 Ask the Faculty: About Feet 3 Rolf Movement® Faculty Perspective: The Feet – Learning and Landing 7 PUBLISHER Rebecca Carli-Mills The Rolf Institute of Structural Integration CONSIDERNG THE FEET 5055 Chaparral Ct., Ste. 103 Boulder, CO 80301 USA Sentient Foundations 9 Mary Bond (303) 449-5903 (303) 449-5978 Fax Freewheelin’ with Jan Sultan: The Feet and More 12 Michael Boblett and Jan Sultan EDITORIAL BOARD Maps of the Feet: A Window into Subjective Experience, 16 Anne F. Hoff, Editor-in-Chief a Tool for Therapeutic Evaluation Shonnie Carson, Lineage Editor Beatriz Pacheco Szaja Gottlieb, Research/Science Editor The Three-Dimensional Foot, Part 3: Opening the Generous Sole 19 Linda Loggins, Movement Editor Michael Boblett Heidi Massa, Latin America Editor The Psychobiology of the Feet 23 Keren’Or Pézard, Arts Editor Anne Hoff John Schewe, Faculty Liason Feet from Another Perspective: An Interview with Naturopathic Doctor 29 Matt Walker, Asia/Pacific Editor and Regenerative Orthopedic Specialist Samuel Oltman Naomi Wynter-Vincent, Europe Editor Michael Boblett and Samuel Oltman Diana Cary Lynn Cohen Minimalism: Put Your Shoes to the Test 32 Craig Ellis Karin Edwards Wagner Lina Hack The Three-Dimensional Animal, Part 2: Archicebus Achilles, 35 Dorothy Miller Metatarsals, and the Generous Sole Meg Maurer Michael Boblett Deanna Melnychuk Max Leyf Treinen PERSPECTIVES An Abundance of Riches 38 LAYOUT AND Michael Salveson GRAPHIC DESIGN Navigating Between Technical Refinement and the Vast Dimensions 39 Susan Winter of the Soul: An Interview with Peter Schwind Allan Kaplan and Peter Schwind Articles in Structural Integration: The Working with Ma: Further Refinement of the Yielding Approach 44 ® Journal of The Rolf Institute represent the through Time, Space, and Intersubjectivity views and opinions of the authors and Hiroyoshi Tahata do not necessarily represent the official Fascia Without Gravity: An Interview with David Lesondak, 51 positions or teachings of the Rolf Institute Author of Fascia: What It Is and Why It Matters of Structural Integration. The Rolf Institute Szaja Charles Gottlieb and David Lesondak reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to accept or reject any article Remembering Hadidjah Lamas 54 for publication in Structural Integration: The Mary Bond Journal of The Rolf Institute. REVIEWS Structural Integration: The Journal of The A Very Fine Book About Fascia —That Forgets to Thank Dr. Rolf: 54 Rolf Institute® (ISBN-13: 978-0997956962, A Review of Fascia: What It Is and Why It Matters by David Lesondak ISSN 1538-3784) is published by the Rolf Szaja Charles Gottlieb Institute, 5055 Chaparral Ct., Ste. 103, Boulder, CO 80301. Robert Toporek Shares His Life Legacy: A Review of 57 Hands-on Parenting: A Practical Guide to Massage for Happier, Copyright ©2018 Rolf Institute. All rights Healthier, Smarter Kids by Robert Toporek reserved. Duplication in whole or in part Lina Hack in any form is prohibited without written permission from the publisher. CONTACTS 58 “Rolfing®,” “Rolf Movement®,” “Rolfer™,” and the Little Boy Logo are service marks of the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration. FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

In this issue of Structural Integration: The Journal of the Rolf Institute® we explore the topic of feet. I invited San Diego Rolfer™ Michael Boblett to be Guest Editor; he seemed the perfect person, having written about feet in previous issues. I’ll let him first introduce the articles and interviews he so carefully shepherded, before returning to discuss the material in our Perspectives section. From Michael Boblett, Guest Editor, “Considering the Feet”: We last had a Journal theme devoted to the feet in June 2011 (Vol. 39, No. 1), with some follow-up in the December 2011 issue (Vol. 39, No. 2). All of those articles still bear relevance – so I invite you to revisit them – yet there is more to be said. As feet and support in the field of gravity are particularly relevant in the field of Rolfing® Structural Integration (SI), we are now circling back to this topic. We start with two Rolfing ‘lineage holders’, Mary Bond and Jan Sultan. Bond shares an excerpt from her forthcoming book,Your Body Mandala: Posture as a Path to Presence, and takes the reader from a mechanistic view of the foot to an understanding based on the flow of information back and forth between feet and the rest of the body. My interview with Sultan is a free-range romp through many aspects of the foot – from the role of the ‘eye of the foot’ in Chinese medicine to eccentric vs. concentric muscle movement in different approaches to exercise. Our dialogue was hardly linear, but the principle of holism in Rolfing SI informs us that a broad view is intrinsic to our work. We then get down to practical tools and advice in articles by Beatriz Pacheco, Michael Boblett (yours truly), and Anne Hoff. In her essay “Maps of the Feet,” Pacheco shares a new frontier – a tool she has developed for client education, engagement, and assessment. Adding in her professional knowledge as a speech therapist, she explores the effects of oral reflex functions, such as chewing and sucking, on clients’ weight bearing through the feet and their perceptions of the same. I continue my earlier work with “The Three-Dimensional Foot, Part 3,” focusing on practical exercises for all foot typologies, as well as larger questions of managing client expectations and client demographics. Hoff’s “The Psychobiology of Feet – With Particular Attention to Childhood Issues” shows how traumas and medical interventions to feet and lower legs can greatly impact clients’ embodiment as well as biomechanics. The next two pieces focus on the natural state of our feet, and regaining that state through barefoot walking and minimalist shoes. My interview with Samuel Oltman, ND (of Northwest Foot and Ankle in Portland, Oregon) focused on foot ‘rehab’ from a lifetime of wearing shoes, ranging into proprioception, interoception, and a discussion of joint inflammation. Karin Edwards Wagner’s article guides readers concerning shoes and minimalist footwear, providing a great resource for both practitioners and clients. This is not just a list of brand or style recommendations. It’s a comprehensive guide to evaluating your shoes. We close the theme with “The Three Dimensional Animal, Part 2,” where I draw on my background in anthropology to go back to the roots of the anthropoid primate lineage to discuss the continuing balance between articulation and stability in the human foot. Following this sprawling selection of articles, we have our Perspectives section, which is also wide-ranging. We start with two luminaries in our community. Michael Salveson, another lineage holder, uses his article to explicate an important point: Rolfers love to learn other modalities (craniosacral work, nerve work, etc.), but it is important that we practice these within an over-arching methodology of Rolfing SI so as to not lose sight of our own uniqueness. We then have another one of our Advanced Faculty interviews, this time with Peter Schwind, a thought leader in the field of bodywork. In this interview we learn a whole lot more about Schwind, and particularly his important contributions in bridging between Rolfing SI and osteopathy. Then we learn from Hiroyoshi Tahata about the unique Japanese concept of ma – which relates to both time and space, particularly emptiness in space and intervals in time. Tahata brings ma into the ‘yielding’ work he and fellow Rolf Movement® faculty member Carol Agneessens developed, again pioneering new territory and showing us how the subtlest aspects of our work can in and of themselves support phenomenal structural changes. Next, Szaja Gottlieb interviews David Lesondak, author of Fascia – What It Is and Why It Matters. Gottlieb reviewed Lesondak’s book for this issue, both lauding it for its exceptional and accessible roundup on the current state of fascia research and taking issue that Lesondak – perplexingly for an SI practitioner – seems to dispense with the idea of gravity, a hallmark of SI from its inception with Rolf. Their feisty dialogue looks at this point in great detail. Rounding out our Perspectives section, we have a tribute to Hadidjah Lamas, a very early student of Dr. Rolf. We close the issue with two book reviews. The aforementioned review of Fascia: What It Is and Why It Matters, and a review of Hands-on Parenting: A Practical Guide to Massage for Happier, Healthier, Smarter Kids, Robert Toporek’s legacy contribution on the importance of bodywork for the optimal structural (and broader) development of infants and children. We hope you enjoy these many and varied contributions to our field.

Anne F. Hoff Editor-in-Chief Michael Boblett Guest Editor

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the client in terms of feeling how the foot Ask the Faculty can yield to the floor and to the weight that comes through from above. About Feet If the foot tends towards valgus and the

® medial and transverse arches tend to Q: Looking at our theme on the feet from the viewpoint of Rolfing collapse, I will work to help organize Structural Integration (SI), what can you share with us about any of these: the plantar fascia (since the pattern of 1) assessment (e.g., is there a foot typology or model you use in assessment?); collapse will be present there); work with 2) hands-on work (e.g., how much do you find that foot issues require foot work, the interosseous membrane to help get versus tracking problems into the lower and upper leg and pelvis – and elsewhere?; differentiation and aliveness in the long 3) movement (e.g., what foot movement exercises do you like to teach your clients?); muscles that have their superior insertions 4) psychobiological issues (e.g., the meaning of different morphologies and in the interosseous membrane and on the tibia and fibula; and I will do a lot of work function to clients and the process of transformation). with coordination.

A: For me, the foot is one of the very the gait cycle (desirable), or does it get When the transverse metatarsal arch important places in the body to address. pulled up by a collapsing medial arch? collapses, a large part of the work of By function of its many small bones and restoring it is perceptive and coordinative • Does the lateral arch have elasticity and joints, ligaments and muscles, both intrinsic (functional). the capacity to lengthen and spring back? and extrinsic, it can and does adapt to [In my article “The Arches of the Feet in any imbalances in the body above it and Transverse Arches Standing and Walking, Part 1,” published irregularities in the ground below it. The in the June 2011 (Vol. 39, No. 1) edition of ‘principle of support’ states that for the • What do you see in the midfoot (subtalar and mid-tarsal joints) when the client this journal, I give instructions for three client to be able to reach a higher level of different coordinative interventions for order in the body there must first be support does a shallow knee bend or is in the stance phase of the gait cycle? A shallow clients who have a tendency to collapse in for that higher level of order, and the feet the arches of the feet.] are one of the big go-to places from which knee bend gives you an idea of how the we can obtain that support. feet act when they are weight-bearing, As with anywhere in the body, feet are with the advantage of happening a little never just feet – they are part of a global When I look at feet I am very curious about more slowly so that you have time to relationship that must always be taken the relationship of the arches of the feet. see it. into consideration, be it in the alignment Well-functioning arches with a harmonious of the major joints of the leg, the spine, up relationship to each other and the rest of the ‒‒ Can the midfoot widen as the weight comes through it? into the head and eyes, or down into the body are the basis for an alive and springy arms. And since body/mind/psyche/spirit diaphragm system, for transmission of the ‒‒ Does the midfoot maintain its stability is an inseparable unit, the psychobiological impulse of the walk throughout the rest of or does the medial arch ‘fall’ off the aspect will always be present in working the body and transmission of the weight of lateral arch? with the feet, or anywhere else in the body. the body to the ground, and for a healthy Although generalizations are invariably too spine. Here are some of the questions I ask ‒‒ Does the midfoot have flexibility or is it rigid with no give? limited to encompass the mystery that is a myself when I look at the arches. human being, often what we find in the feet Longitudinal Arches • What do you see in the metatarsal arch? has something to do with the way we relate to issues of support and grounding. The feet • Are the longitudinal arches dynamic, ‒‒ Is it able to maintain its arch-like structure or does it collapse? Does it are also highly responsive to compensations being able to lengthen and flatten and coming from the upper body (descending spring back throughout the cycle of collapse medially? Does it collapse in the middle? issues) where we make adaptions having movement of the foot? to do with our relationship to other people • Is the medial arch well supported on the ‒‒ Do you see a bunion joint? (Bunion and to our environment. lateral arch and able to become soft and joints emerge when the healthy relationships of the transverse arches In short, the feet are adaptable and long at push-off and high and stable in responsive structures that have a potent the stance phase? break down, both at Chopart’s joint and in the metatarsal arch.) effect on the rest of the body and are always ‒‒ Does it show a preference for one phase worth the time and effort of further study. When I work with the feet, I think both more than the other? (i.e. high and Lael Katharine Keen fixed or low and flat?) in terms of coordinative techniques and tissue techniques. Basic & Advanced Rolfing Instructor ‒‒ Does it collapse when the client goes Rolf Movement® Instructor into weight bearing or does a shallow If the foot tends towards being a high, A: Over the years I have seen patterns knee bend? fixated structure, I will do mobilization work with the joints of the foot; help to repeat themselves in our structures that led • Is the lateral arch able to stay in contact soften the plantar fascia, retinacula, and me to create my workshop on Structural with the ground through all phases of interosseous membrane; and work with Aging. The feet were a crucial part of this.

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I remember a quote from Ida Rolf about how A: My answer to this quesion is a look First, the physical structure. For the proper the feet should feel like a bag of bones or a at sprained ankles and the possible transition of forces through all participating bag of marbles. Many clients walk as if their implications for the structural organization parts of the foot and lower leg, we need to feet are blocks of cement, and this translates of the lower limb. Trauma in the ankle – in carefully analyze how the individual parts into a shuffle, a loss of ankle movement most cases, a sprain is in the area of the are working together and allow a safe that transmits as a loss of full range of hip lateral ligaments – very often goes along transition from heel strike to weight bearing movement and onward up the body. with instability of the joint, particularly if to push-off phase. In my clinical experience there are multiple traumas. This manifests with clients with traumatized ankles and Feet should be ‘juicy paws’ that sense the in physical instability, and/or in a subjective ligamentous instability (mainly lateral), earth and our place on it no matter the feeling of insecurity. Both lead to a kind of I often observe restrictions of flexibility terrain. So yes, I assess the ‘juiciness’ of the specific compensation pattern, as follows. and adaptability in the tarsus-metatarsus foot. Can I literally wring it out and feel relationship, which I would interpret the bones, the tarsals, the metatarsals, and • The weight of the body tends to be as a compensation for instability in the the calcaneus, move in various directions? distributed into the lateral arch, which ankle joint. Can the navicular and the cuboid move increases the possibility of repetitive and translate the foot into pronation and trauma and ongoing destabilization of Hands-on work to mobilize this relationship supination in order to respond to uneven the lateral ligament and retinacula. involves opening the fascial beds of all terrain? Can each joint of the toes flex and participating bones and joints, particularly • The medial arch is inactive regarding extend to use the full range of the toe hinge? the tarsus and the five metatarsals. This weightbearing and push off. The weight Without the toe hinge, full leg extension is opens space for ankle pronation and ‘remains’ on the lateral side of the foot. going to be near impossible, thus locking up reestablishes the appropriate participation the anterior/posterior tilting of the pelvis. • Over time, this mechanism can lead into of fibular muscles and a balanced and arthrosis of the ankle joint, knee, and/ differentiated relationship of agonists and Another Rolf quote is “the foot is in the lower or hip. antagonists for pronation-supination. leg and vice versa.” However, unless we can get the foot to rock and roll through all its Some observations are that the instability Change in the physical structure has bones, ligaments, and joints, the lower leg, of the ankle joint seems to be accompanied implications for coordinative structure – the interosseous membrane, and the fibula by a structural limitation of flexibility and coordination and balance in walking and a can’t translate the spiraling movement we adaptability 1) in the tarsus itself, 2) in the regulatory effect on the tonicity of the whole need up to the inner and outer hip joint. transition from tarsus to metatarsus and, lower leg. The work I have described leads 3) in the relationship of the metatarsals. In to a ‘medialization’ of force distribution and Ida’s “toes up, ankle up, knee up” is still the detail, from heel strike to push off, proper very often – in my observations with clients best movement and tracking exercise we can transition of forces through the tarsus – proper inward rotation and extension teach our clients. From the very beginning, towards the medial arch requires a certain in the hip. This is reflected in improved I like to teach clients the awareness that flexibility regarding tibial-talar glide and push-off and balanced support of the whole feet, knees, and ankles need to talk to each a balanced relationship of the navicular foot. There is also an effect onperception – other. I also like teaching abduction of the and cuboid bones. Limited flexibility clients report improved resiliency in their big toe to help resolve bunions. (A tango- of the tarsus can disturb the navicular- daily activities and security and support dancer client showed me how she cured cuboid balance and is the first step for the from below – and a psychobiological her bunion by constantly abducting her big lateralization of weight. Subsequently, impact as feelings like insecurity or fear of toe.) Also, it seems many people don’t let the balance of the cuneiforms and the repeated trauma are reduced and the joint the big toe land as they walk and push off. metatarsals can be disturbed as described feels increasingly reliable. I call this “let the nose of the plane land.” above. As already mentioned, limited This translates into opening the front of the tibial-talar glide accompanied by limited Jörg Ahrend-Löns pelvis, getting a longer stride, and creating dorsiflexion can be part of what ‘forces’ the Rolfing Instructor the necessary spiral for the spinal rotations foot into its lateral components. we need. Fluid youthful movement starts A: I’d like to offer a perspective on the 1 or ends in the feet. The cause of limited dorsiflexion very often foot from the viewpoint of yielding work, is based in ‘cranialization’ of the fibula. Let using a case study. A person may lose With all the padded and athletic me explain what I mean by this. The fibula trust in his or her sense of ground through performance shoes on the market, many is like a ‘connnecting rod’, meaning that it the feet – for example through an injury, people have lost their sensing of the earth moves caudally in dorsiflexion of the foot such as stepping on a nail, or through below us. I always mention support to and cranially in plantar flexion. Particularly experiencing a big earthquake. In such clients as a big psychobiological issue – when the fibula is pulled cranially by cases, the person’s body may not allow What is the support in their bodies? What high tonus of the biceps femoris, the yielding through the foot into the ground, supports their life? Can they ‘let down’ lateral ligament is elongated and limits even when the scar tissue is completely for support? But mostly I find that with dorsiflexion. I assume that it’s not just healed or when there is no more shaking, juicy paws the entire body takes on a new limited due to mechanical restrictions, but because the foot or feet may still feel that youthful feel and walk that transforms the also to proprioceptive ones. the ground or a downward orientation is whole structure. insecure. This might decrease the capacity Now let’s look at my suggestions for work of support – one of the Rolfing principles Valerie Berg and the implications at different levels. of intervention – even if there is no Rolfing Instructor structural problem. 4 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org COLUMNS

My case study is a typical one about a problem of the foot’s ‘perception’ in relation to the ground. In this case, a male client undergoing a five-session series of Rolf Movement work stepped on a nail with his left foot after his fourth session, so he favored that foot over the other for a while. As he over time began to notice tension in his right hamstrings while walking, he came back in six months later for a follow-up session. Remembering the nail incident, I felt that we had to enhance his capacity to yield to the ground through the left foot. Further, he told me of another factor that may be related – that in childhood he had suffered from asthma and was in and out of the hospital. While we don’t know if it was the case with this individual, sometimes in the medical treatment of babies and infants, blood samples are Before After Before After taken from the bottom of the foot around Figure 2: Client after one session of yield work, primarily to the left foot, with some the calcaneal arterial network (CAN) and integrating work to the right. Working with the foot can affect the whole structure. plantar venous network (PVN), meaning that the area (see Figure 1) could have method further below.) I focused on the the body to let go of compensatory holding been subject to needling. (This was the left foot – the area that had been punctured in the upper body. Thus, I will discuss this case for my friend’s son when he was in by the nail, and around the calcaneus intervention in general terms, so that you an intensive care unit being treated for for the possible needling in childhood. I can apply it with your own clients. The work heart disease.) My speculation is that such then worked with the right foot briefly for is done with the client supine on the table. medical intervention to the foot at an early integration. My hypothesis was that the developmental stage could impact not only • After conditioning (the settling process foot would derive more capacity to yield the local area, but the whole body. of yielding), wait until the client’s body to the ‘scaffoldings’, and then recognize the invites you with a sense of ‘comfort’ I could have tried to release the client’s ground as a safe matrix, allowing the body’s (‘good ma’). right hamstrings in a direct intervention, system to settle. Although the process but I judged that it would have only a sounds rather simple, the results can be • Ask the client to draw his/her knees temporary effect. As the nail injury seemed profound: as seen in Figure 2, working with up, and place a sheet of slip-resistant to be the causal restriction, my assessment yield through the foot created more balance material such as Dycem®2 underneath was that the left foot needed more support. side to side for my client, and his body also the feet. I thus decided to use a ‘yielding’ approach, organized around the midline. Further, he • Provide touch as ‘anchorage’ underneath also incorporating ‘ma’. (I will discuss this reported that he felt safe and had no tension the foot. in his right hamstrings. ‒‒ The foot will start yielding into your I will now describe the yielding intervention hand. that I used, which draws on a refinement to that technique that is based in the ‒‒ You may observe decompression of Japanese concept of ma. Ma relates to space the hip joint. and time, and particularly to negative space and to intervals. When I talk about • Consider the overall quality of yielding ‘good ma’, you could in some sense draw to the ground through the whole sole. a comparison to ‘good feng shui’. (The • Ask the client to find the optimal concept of ma and its application in Rolfing placement for his feet, to have a sense SI is discussed in my article “Working with of ground. (The joint decompression and Ma” on page 44. There you will find greater core expansion that tends to come with discussion of terms used in yielding such as the yielding process means that the client ‘conditioning’, ‘scaffolding’, and ‘comfort’ can find a new, more stable, relationship or ‘good ma’.) to the ground. With the client supine on Figure 1: Target area for needling for While my client had a particular injury to the table with knees up, it is usually a blood draws in infants on the plantar his foot, I believe that working with the sole wider and more matched stance of the surface of the foot (shaded area of the foot in this application of yielding feet into the Dycem sheet. Although in drawing on left) and related this is a very simple intervention, it vascularization (drawing on right). could also be generally effective to enhance support, which for some clients might allow sometimes has dramatic effects.)

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Notes begin to include a perceptual/coordination the notion of the “center of her foot” being model of working with the feet, my way of the place from which her core ignited left 1. For more on yielding, see the following considering their importance to the human her feeling delighted and energized. She left articles, both in Structural Integration: The system in gravity develops yet further, her session with a huge smile, and at least Journal of the Rolf Institute®: “Yielding” bringing the foot firmly into the orientating something of that uniform brilliance we by H. Tahata and C. Agneesens, June mechanism of the person, not just a base on look for in the tenth hour of the Ten Series. 2012 [40(1):10-16]; “Rolf Movement® which the rest of the structure is placed. Faculty Perspectives: The Art of Yield – An I made a number of choices in this session Interview with Hiroyoshi Tahata” by K. A good example of this occurred in my to restrain my physical contact to her feet McConnell and H. Tahata, November 2015 office recently. I’ll report the session as a and lower legs, but also to include her [43(3):3-4] case study of what can happen when we whole being – the rest of her physical approach the feet from a place of radical structure, emotional range, perceptual and 2. More on Dycem nonslip material: I want inclusion of the whole system, rather than a coordinative structures – in the session. to thank Jonathan Martin, who introduced limited construct of anatomy or a model of What happened, by honoring the meta this material in his Neural Mobilization the body, one in which the power of Rolfing principle of holism, is that she found a new class in Japan. Used in yielding, it is quite SI and Rolf Movement can show up. relationship with gravity as well as with a useful tool for the client to feel safe as its herself. This, I think, is a way to potentiate tacky surface provides traction under the I was working with a young woman who my understanding of the anatomical feet that prevents any sense of slippage. experiences depression and anxiety. She relationships into a transformative session. After decompressing joints, the body needs is very active in her body, in theater and safe scaffolding to find a new relationship dance, and also on a moment-to-moment Duffy Allen with the ground and how to stand. Putting basis. As we talked, she continually shifted Rolfing Instructor a Dycem sheet underneath the feet may also her thoracic spine, shoulders and arms, stimulate blood vessels around the plantar looking for a way to find support and ease. A: Feet: our ‘bipedal’ paws, transporting area through tactile contact with the tacky She found lying on the table – and even earthlings over and through the surfaces surface. I find this particularly powerful sitting – made her feel “vulnerable” across and spaces of our lives. Feet are shaped by working with clients who experienced the top of her thighs, her pelvis, and her the shoes and paths we tread in and upon the earthquake in Fukushima, and always belly. We worked to find a way for her to feel as well as the attention and care we give use this material in my workshops there. safe by using a stuffed animal to cover her them. In my ‘auditing’ phase of Rolfing It seems that, with the Dycem ‘ground’, inguinal area and keeping at least one foot in training, Jim Asher spoke of feet as a reflection people regain a sense of stability in nature. contact with the table while she was supine. of the aging process. I remember the elegant You can order Dycem nonslip material Working very slowly, within her capacity to stride of my grandfather slowly devolving on Amazon by searching for “Dycem.” It adapt to the hands on-work by continually into a slow shuffle. comes in rolls that can be cut into sheets of orienting visually, through her feet, and Feet: a complex relationship of bones, the desired size, as well as in mats and other through the safe contact with her pelvis, she ligaments, joint functions, and essential forms. When the material loses its tacky was able to notice some length through her articulations. Anatomically the toe hinge, quality, rinse it in soapy water, allow it to low back, pelvis, and leg. Along the way, lisfranc (the joint at which the metatarsal air dry, and reuse. she experienced sadness as well as a series bones/cuniform bones connect), and of memories about her feet, including some ankle joint are necessary participants in Hiroyoshi Tahata lovely ones about having her feet in contact cultivating the movement from foot to knee, Rolf Movement Instructor with various surfaces (the earth, her mother) femur through hip joint, sacroiliac joint, A: The multiple levels of the question that she found pleasing. We included pelvis, with the essential transmission via reflect the richness of both Rolfing SI and those memories to help anchor her as the the push-off carried by the psoas and lift Rolf Movement Integration as well as the uncomfortable feelings of vulnerability and through to the heart/ thorax. Without good feet. Many of us have had the opportunity sadness passed through her. I worked with articulation of these joints, the transmission to reflect on the mechanical relationships traditional, ‘grippy’ contact in the structures needed for contralateral flow is unlikely to of the feet and lower legs via the question of her feet and lower legs only. occur naturally. from our current curriculum about the We then moved to sitting. The only input Guiding a client into his/her feet feet and the structures that support the I gave her was to notice the texture of the during manipulative work various arches (this was formerly part of the mat under her feet. From that, she was written questions required for enrollment spontaneously able to organize herself in When the client is supine, try these cues: in Unit 2 of the Rolfing training). From that a new way. She found that by using her • -“Breathe into your legs /feet as if they exploration of the basic anatomy, we begin feet to explore the floor, she was able to are lungs.” to explore relationships in the lower leg actively use her legs to support herself and beyond. and found that not only was she more • -“Flex your feet toward your nose – lengthening through the underside of In my Rolf Movement training, I was comfortable, not needing to constantly shift, your foot and toes.” encouraged to consider the reflection of looking for support for her thoracic area and should girdle and arms, but that she the movement through the arches and the • -“Sense the back of your legs. Allow also felt she was “not trapped,” and had pelvic floor (and vice versa). I find both of your heel to drop into the table, lengthen “choices” about where she was and what these helpful in beginning to expand my through the back of your knee and she could do. She found that in walking, way of thinking about the feet. When I through the heel.”

6 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org COLUMNS Or, supine with knees bent, feet flat on the ® table, have the client press into his/her feet, Rolf Movement especially through the big toe engaging pelvic floor. As you work, keep in mind the image of a fan. The plantar fascia of the foot Faculty Perspectives spreads like a fan and imitates the ‘double fanning’ of the pelvic floor on either side of The Feet – Learning and Landing the perineum. By Rebecca Carli-Mills, Certified Advanced Rolfer™, Rolf Movement Instructor Engaging the feet in back work As the practitioner, sense the client’s In 1980, foot, ankle, and lower-leg issues the wide variety of people with issues that connection through to his/her feet. Have brought me to a Rolfer’s office. A week walk into our offices. When any of these the client imprint / press his/her feet into before, an orthopedist told me that I would relationships are missing, dysfunctional, the floor. have to stop doing what I loved, dancing, or restricted, motion or stability must if I wanted to live without pain. My first be restored for optimal function, or an • You may sense the client ‘present’ in one Ten Series enabled a brighter future, and I alternative solution found. For example, in heel and the ball of the opposite foot. have been interested in healthy lower-limb the case of hallux limitus, whereby there is Have the client press into the ‘missing’ function ever since. Throughout my years restricted movement available to the first heel or ball area. Sense this connection in private practice, I have benefitted from MTP joint, a rocker type of soled shoe may through his/her legs into the low back. study with a wide variety of wonderful be helpful in providing hip extension and • Have the client press into the balls of his/ teachers, authors, and colleagues and fluidity in G’. But there isn’t one ideal that her feet. What sensation is there? I link my lower-limb function has continued to we can apply to everyone. For example, this connection to feet with patterns in evolve and actually improve. I remember some people are well suited to ‘barefoot’ the client’s driving. when Hubert Godard said that often we or five-finger shoes, while others are not, begin to age by losing proprioception perhaps for physical reasons or because From sitting to standing through our feet and ankles. By offering our their worldview doesn’t allow them to be Have the client place one foot in front of the clients an alternative path to this common comfortable with this footwear. progression of aging, we can contribute other, lean forward from the hip joints and However, no matter which techniques you greatly to the quality of their life experience. press (not push) his/her feet into the floor as employ or what footwear you recommend, he/she rises. This is simple to teach clients, Lines of Inquiry my sense is that what underlies success and then we practice and it gets carried for clients in sustaining the changes and through to their everyday life. Usually the There are many key lower-limb relationships achieving lasting corrections is reawakening response is “I haven’t been using my feet that are essential to understand in order to their capacity for sensing and relating to the and legs.” This little exercise gets reinforced facilitate ease in human uprightness and ground through their feet and ankles. This with each session. locomotion; the following list is very brief, needs to be a primary embodiment goal. but includes some of my current favorite Feet and self-image To live in one’s feet and ankles and value topics for research and exploration: them as primary conduits of connection Many women prize small feet. I look for the • The role of the soleus muscle in postural to the earth makes our work more potent, relation between their height and the size/ equilibrium and metabolic rate. lasting, and transformative. Having a felt support coming from below – their feet. sensory experience such that we can relate Sometimes the shoes a person wears speak • The importance of the ability to find the to and resource the ground allows us to to a desire to appear taller or feel sexier or center of mass/gravity (G) directly over be more adaptable and orientated; stress more fashionable. When I see the work that the transverse tarsal (Chopart) joint. becomes less debilitating because we have the session has gained backslide due to the • The synergy of the Chopart and subtalar an avenue for support and action. Our choice of footwear, it becomes a teaching joints to facilitate elastic foot motion and ongoing capacity for proprioception in our moment keyed to the client’s sensation and resilient adaptation to varied terrain. feet and ankles directly relates to our ease connection to her feet, stride, and sense in uprightness and locomotion. of ground. And I invite a curiosity to her • The efficacy of the proximal and distal experience, breath, connection to ground, first and second metatarsophalangeal Arriving in Our Feet (MTP) joints in the propulsive phase of etc. when in her shoes. And then I let it go. How do we help our clients cultivate their gait and in support of hip extension and ability to move into their feet – arriving, Carol A. Agneessens fluidity in G’ (the upper gravity center). yielding, connecting, being responsive to the Rolfing Instructor ground, transmitting energy and propelling Rolf Movement Instructor • The abundance of proprioceptors in the feet and ankles. them through space with ease? How do we facilitate an experience that allows For all of these relationships, there are for a perceptual, psychobiological shift in many manual techniques for restoring meeting and receiving the ground? How do motion and movement exercises to re- we cultivate a body image that doesn’t stop pattern coordination. Thus, it is important somewhere above the ground, but includes to develop an ample repertory to address our relationship with the ground, so that gravity truly becomes the therapist? www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 7 COLUMNS

As Rolfers, we need to consider our clients’ sensation of your feet on ground as a baseline: transverse arch, which is necessary for effective relationship with the ground in our body notice what parts of the foot meet the ground, propulsion in gait. reading or movement analysis. When they perhaps there are images that come to mind to Slowly release from the ball and stand with both stand, do they allow the ground to support capture felt experience. Place one foot on the feet on the ground – note awareness of sensation them or do they brace elsewhere? Do their ball with knee bent and keep the other leg with and differences. We learn by engagement with feet understand that their primary role is a straight knee and foot on the ground. experience, which includes comparison; what to meet and relate to the ground? What is Begin with the ball underneath the Chopart does this sensation teach you about where your the quality of the footstep – does it slap the joint, slightly anterior to the talus; find a spot foot started? ground – barely disturb it – rush past it? Use between the navicular and cuboid where the your imagination: if you were the ground, You may move the ball to another spot, perhaps ball seems to ‘fit’. Both your heel and forefoot how would it feel to have this person walk towards the lateral arch if the foot is locked in will be off the floor. Steadily increase pressure across you? Would you feel welcomed and supination and you want to encourage more on the ball until your knee is straight and that included? Perhaps these questions sound awareness of the lateral arch. Or in the case of side of the body is entirely supported by the ridiculous, but I encourage you to give hammertoes, this exercise can be done with the ball. The Franklin ball will give, as you see in them a try. By allowing ourselves to ask forefoot melting into the ball, phalanges reaching Figure 1, yet stay sensually interesting because these types of questions, along with all the toward ground in plantar flexion; use the opposite of the facets. You may find yourself progressively technical and biomechanical ones, we may foot on top as gentle pressure to increase the shifting more of your weight to the ball side, avail ourselves of information that shapes tissue adaptability of the extensor tendons. Keep which is fine. Images are useful, such as: warm our interactions with clients in new ways, the foot weighted into the ball throughout. If one melting through the ball, curiosity about the offering depth and potency. has diminished or collapsed arches, this promotes ground underneath the ball, releasing into the resiliency by awakening proprioception and An important place to start is with landing: ball, or sensing the ball touching you as you increasing sensory awareness; the small twisting we need to arrive – actually land during touch it. There is very little visible movement – actions are especially beneficial in these cases. the landing phase of gait so that our joints this is a continual state of melting. Think of enhancing function through learning can unlock and our proprioceptors can To receive full benefit throughout the body, and awareness. There are no rules, except that awaken and send signals to our brain keep your body upright with head aligned, gaze this is not a mindless rolling experience or a quick about necessary adjustments relevant to fix. This is an awareness experience with specific the terrain. parameters to speak to one’s ongoing sense of Somatic Exercise weight connecting to the ground. One of my favorite experiences for the Try (or with a client, guide) walking after landing phase of gait follows, but first a completing one foot to notice differences. note on the ‘equipment’ used. Many clients However if a person’s sacrum alignment is have been taught to roll around on a tennis vulnerable, I recommend completing both sides or lacrosse ball; some do this mindlessly prior to walking. while watching TV or keep one under their If you try walking, notice the beneficial effect of desk. Some have been instructed to press this landing exercise on the propulsion phase hard, use a lacrosse ball, and “work those of gait through the action across the transverse tight spots out.” These approaches will do arch along the axis of the first and second rays. nothing toward cultivating a felt sense of Figure 1: Somatic exercise using the feet or renewing one’s relationship with Franklin Textured Ball. I encourage you to be creative with this the ground. As an alternative, I recommend exercise once you embody and understand the Franklin Textured Ball™ (see even and soft. Stay for about thirty to sixty the intention behind it. You can give it as http://bit.ly/2FgFwgA) – the green faceted seconds. Notice potential shifts in breathing, client homework, use aspects in table work balls designed by Eric Franklin. (Certainly, diaphragm, jaw, and eyes. Make sure you are not and tracking, teach it during a movement there are other options; the criteria is that blocking the effects by holding the pelvic floor group, and, of course, use it for self-care. the object needs to provide some reciprocity or shoulder girdle. This should not be painful. Rebecca Carli-Mills holds BA and MFA degrees in give, have textural interest, and not If it is, perhaps more cushioning is needed in in dance. She earned certification in Rolf create discomfort.) the beginning. Movement Integration in 1987, became a Try this somatic exercise for yourself, or use Create increased interest by inquiring about Certified Rolfer in 1989, and a Certified Advanced these instructions to guide a client. the felt sense of the temperature, shape, and Rolfer in 1992. Rebecca graduated from the texture of the experience. After thirty to sixty Pennsylvania Gestalt Center and joined the Rolf Stand barefoot with one hand lightly holding seconds, you can slowly twist a bit to slightly Movement faculty of the Rolf Institute® in 1994. onto a dresser or something at about waist pronate, supinate, evert, and invert the foot on Rebecca’s understanding of gravity and human level for balance. In the beginning, doing this the ball. However, these movements are done movement potential has been enriched by her without holding on makes it less effective. with continuous foot melting in relationship to studies with Hubert Godard. Additionally, she It is not intended to be a balance challenge; the ball, they are not biomechanical movements draws from her interest in the work of Laban/ it is about going deeper into sensation to that happen above the ball. Spend some time Bartineff, Sensory Awareness, qi gong, and awaken proprioception. with each movement to notice the effects. This yoga. Rebecca has a full-time Rolfing® Structural Stand with feet hip-joint distance apart, and will cultivate the foot’s natural pronation/ Integration and Rolf Movement practice in start by guiding awareness to register the supination action and transition across the Chevy Chase, Maryland. 8 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org CONSIDERING THE FEET

With each step your foot’s adaptation to Sentient Foundations the ground is transmitted upward through the fascia of the leg into the pelvis and ® By Mary Bond, Certified Advanced Rolfer™, Rolf Movement Instructor Emeritus lower back. This means there’s a direct Editor’s Note: What follows are introductory passages from Chapter Eight of Mary Bond’s new relationship between movements your feet book, Your Body Mandala: Posture as a Path to Presence (Mill City Press). The book will be make and the mobility of your body as a available in July on Amazon and through Bond’s website, healyourposture.com. At the point in the whole. Each foot is a complex tensegrity book that this chapter appears, themes of fascial connectivity and intelligence, biotensegrity, and structure in and of itself, as well as being interoception have already been introduced. Online audio and video files link the reader to Mary’s integral to the tensegrity of the body recorded presentations of the somatic meditations. The book is intended more for the general public above. If the foot is too lax or too stiff, then than for professionals, yet the rich somatic exercises will benefit any of us as well as our clients. tensegrity is cut off at the ankles. Because biologic structure is dynamic – They paved paradise relationship to the ground. In your brain, not a stacking of objects, but a constantly And put up a parking lot. the sensory representation of your feet is morphing interplay of tensional almost as great as that of your hands, lips, relationships – it’s only logical that structural Joni Mitchell and genitals. Feet can gauge terrain for foundations must also be dynamic. What Is a Foot? secure purchase, respond to thorns and pebbles with tiny adjustments to balance, Ancestral Feet It’s a common assumption that the foot is and gather other sensory information that For nearly six million years human feet poorly designed – that it’s too rigid and we wearers of shoes can hardly imagine. walked through grassy meadows, across too delicate to form the human body’s Eons ago a bare foot meeting the earth pine-needle forest floors, and over volcanic foundation. This seems to be born out by might read the morning news through rock. But, for the last several millennia, our the statistic that 75% of people in the US touch, literally sensing the activities of other feet have been shod, encased in what my have foot pain at some time in their lives creatures in the neighborhood. colleague, Dr. Phillip Beach (2010, 3), calls (The New York Times Health Guide). But it’s “sensory deprivation chambers.” Further, the mechanical view of body structure that There are twenty-six bones in each foot thanks to the industrial revolution and relegates feet to the bottom of the block pile. (see Figure 1), each tiny bone suspended the automobile, feet have been further The conception of the body as a biotensegrity in a thin layer of gel-like fascia. Interstices desensitized by the convenience of walking requires that we also adjust our assumptions between the bones make up thirty-three on hard, flat, unvarying surfaces. Rarely do about our feet. This will also change our joints – in each foot. More than a hundred modern feet have opportunity to express understanding of foot problems. muscles, tendons, and ligaments give these joints potential to move. The sole of the foot their innate potential for mobility and When you’ve been standing on them all is cushioned with a fat-infused fascial layer, sensory intelligence. day long, it can be all too evident that your the so-called ‘fat pad’ that helps dampen Sensitivity Training feet are structural support elements. But both vertical impact and lateral pressures for Your Feet they are not platforms propping up a stack on the sole of the foot. The complexity of of blocks. Inherent in, and crucial to your the foot’s design suggests that it should be The adaptability of your structure as a whole tensional integrity, they communicate with able to conform to the contours and textures is married to the adaptability of your feet. your entire structure as you walk and move. of varied terrains. Given the intercommunicative nature of Underactive, toneless feet put a drag on the your fascial system, heightening awareness whole tensegrity structure; rigid feet keep in your feet will beneficially affect the tone it strung too tightly. and function of your entire body. Indeed, Poorly supportive feet aren’t necessarily finding your footing – embodying your sore feet, however. Because your fascial footing – is essential to maintaining healthy network is adaptive, poor foot support posture and movement. can be expressed in other areas of the Practices in this chapter help you sense the body. Tight shoulders, for example, can profound relationship between your feet and be a way of lifting the body up from feet the rest of your body. You begin by using the that don’t provide a good foundation. sensitivity of your hands to remind your feet Imbalance and pain in the neck can result how much they, too, can feel. from an imbalanced or non-resilient foot. Conversely, mobility and resilience in the Interoceptive Hands Meditation feet contribute to body-wide fascial balance, Standing comfortably, bring your palms and to the ease and freedom of everything together at waist level, thumbs and fingers above them. pointing away from your body (Figure 2). In addition to their supportive role, feet Without pressing hard, make complete contact are complex sense organs. There are 200,000 between the entire skin surface of your fingers nerve endings in the soles of your feet. That and palms. Your eyes may be closed, or open with means that your body is equipped to receive a soft focus. As you become aware of the ebb and a great deal of information through your Figure 1: The bones of the foot. flow of your breathing throughout your body,

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When you are ready, relax your hands at When humans stopped walking on dirt, your sides, letting them remain present in the we stopped using our feet as sense organs. background of your awareness. This seems to have changed the collective body image of our species – feet became less While offered as preparation for the foot integral to the body as a whole. practice that follows, you may want to take some time to integrate the Interoceptive The distinction between the perception that Hands Meditation. It’s fine to postpone the your feet are on the floor and the perception foot meditation for another session. Take that your feet are receiving the floor may be a walk. Appreciate the effect that sensory elusive at first. If so, keep coming back to awakening of your hands has had on your this meditation. If receiving support from posture, your coordination, and your point the ground is to become felt experience of view. rather than a concept, your brain has some changes to make. You may even be aware of Interoceptive Feet Meditation a mild struggle in your brain, or moments Stand comfortably in bare feet. Remember your of awkwardness when you move. Such midline. Let your eyes have a soft focus. moments indicate that your nervous system is trying to incorporate new sensations With hands together, briefly refresh your sense and movements. What your feet are of sensory communication between your hands. learning challenges your brain’s plasticity. Now, transfer the experience of your hands to Awkwardness can be a sign that your brain the contact between your feet and the ground. maps are being revised. Figure 2: Position of hands for Become aware of the way each foot touches the Interoceptive Hands Meditation. The new map takes time to develop. But you ground. can practice at odd moments throughout you can begin to imagine your bones gliding in Let your feet feel generous – all toes present, arches the day – standing in a line, for example. their bed of fascia. They float inside your body, present, heels present. As you inhale, your soles And be sure to incorporate your newly and yet they have weight. Sense the weight of seem to spread into the ground as the rest of your receptive feet into your yoga practice or your pelvic bones, your shins, and the weight body opens. gym workout. of the knobs on both sides of each ankle. These As you exhale, each foot senses the certainty are your malleoli – feel how heavy they are. Minimal Shoes of the ground, and simultaneously receives the Feel the broad footprints your feet are making I love wearing my “five finger” barefoot weight of your body. Savor these impressions. on the floor. shoes (Figure 3) when I hike on local trails. Continue for several breathing cycles – touching The shoes’ minimal foot beds let my feet Feel your rib cage as it widens and settles with and receiving with your feet. your breathing. Feel the weight of your shoulder respond to the varying surface of the path, From there, begin a gentle sideways sway. Let blades and let them slide down along your back. and that invites the rest of my body to adapt your midline drift an inch or two to the right. Become aware of the aliveness of your hands. and respond. My feet, legs, hips, and spine Your body’s weight shifts into the outside edge all feel in tune with one another. Of course, Now, appreciate the obvious – that your right of your right foot and the inside edge of your it helps that the tall pines urge my midline hand is touching the left, and that your left left foot. Feel the effects of this small movement to join them in praise of the sky. hand is receiving sensation from the right. in your legs, hips, pelvis, and spine. Go slowly I love the feeling that each of my toes is You feel this as a flow of sensation rather than to sense the details of the shifting fascial independently awake. The shoes make my as muscular activity. Consider whether the relationships. direction of that sensory flow from right to left toe pads want to investigate the ground. Slowly reverse the motion, now settling your feels familiar. When my toes press down onto the ground, weight into the outer edge of your left foot, and activating the inner springs of my arches, Now reverse the flow. Become aware that your inner edge of your right foot. Feel the response I appreciate how delicious it feels to walk. left hand can give sensation to the right, and of your body as a whole. Perhaps you can feel My friend, Harmony, wears her finger shoes that your right hand can be receptive. There’s the shifting tensions as far upward as your neck. every day and tells me how free it makes her no muscular effort in your arms or shoulders Then bring yourself back to center. because the tactile exchange takes place in your feel. One morning I decide to wear the shoes When you walk around after this practice, you brain. But there’s an expanding sensation in on my neighborhood walk. Ouch! Going may notice that the ground seems to rise up to your left arm as your hands connect. Your right semi-barefoot on concrete feels nothing meet your feet. This can be the beginning of a hand is open and relaxed as it receives sensation. like walking on a trail. The concrete offers new relationship between the presence of the Observe whether the sensory flow from left to no ‘give’, and the impact of each step jars ground and the capacity of your feet to receive right feels familiar. my lower spine. My feet are incredibly sore that reality. after only half an hour. Focus on the communication of aliveness Restoring sensory awareness to your feet between your hands as they take turns giving My experience differs from Harmony’s can be a challenging process. Modern and receiving sensation. Pause briefly each time because, being a millennial, she still has feet are sensation-deprived because they you reverse the flow. As your hands trade roles, fat pads on her soles. Thanks to seventy walk entirely on flat surfaces, and because you may sense subtle changes elsewhere in your years of living on concrete, mine have of the sensation-dulling effect of shoes. fascial body. worn away. So, while there are benefits 10 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org CONSIDERING THE FEET

The Digital Age is making many people Mary Bond trained with Dr. Ida P. Rolf in 1969. increasingly reliant on vision, and Formerly Chair of the Movement Faculty of the urbanization has all but deafened our Rolf Institute® of Structural Integration, Mary collective feet. teaches workshops tailored to the interests of Pilates, yoga, and fitness instructors, dancers, Your developing body consciousness is an bodyworkers, and anyone afflicted with posture- investment in your future. How will you related pain. She is the author of Balancing look and feel fifty years from now? Your Body, The New Rules of Posture, and Seek Uneven Surfaces Your Body Mandala. She lives in California and blogs at healyourposture.com. The benefits of barefoot walking and running have been in the news since Bibliography the 1990s when a study showed that Beach, P. 2010. Muscles and Meridians. barefoot athletes running on natural Figure 3: “Five-finger” barefoot shoes. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier. terrain had fewer running-related injuries to wearing minimal footgear, the benefits than Western runners sporting high-tech New York Times Health Guide vary depending on the terrain in which footgear (Robbins and Hanna 1987). The www.nytimes.com/health/guides/ they’re worn, and on the adaptability of sole of a bare foot responds protectively symptoms/foot-pain/in-depth-report.html the feet wearing them. I wonder whether to small pebbles. This involves contraction (retrieved 8/16/ 2016). of deep layers of foot muscles that feet in my ‘Paleo’ ancestors suffered from fat-pad Oregon Research Institute 2005. shoes don’t have to make. Because layers atrophy. Since they lived only to about the “Oregon Study Confirms Health of rubber in the shoes mask sensation age of thirty, probably not. Benefits of Cobblestone Walking for and eliminate the protective behavior of Older Adults.” ScienceDaily®, June 30, Aging Feet the foot, the shod foot functions with less 2005. Available at www.sciencedaily. refinement. It was in the wake of these Our ability to stand upright depends on a com/releases/2005/06/050630055256.htm findings that shoe manufacturers began triune balancing system that involves our (retrieved 8/19/2016). eyes, the vestibular system of the ears, and developing minimalist shoes to replicate the the sensory nerve endings in the soles of experience of bare feet. But even if your feet Robbins, S.E. and A.M. Hanna 1987 Apr. our feet and ankles. and whole body are well-toned, resilient, “Running-related Injury Prevention and adaptable, repeated impact of bare feet Through Barefoot Adaptations.” Humans have become increasingly visually on pavement is likely to result in injury to Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise oriented since the development of printed feet, knees, hips, or spine. 19(2):148-156. language and reading, and most people unconsciously over-rely on vision to stay How, then, can we re-mobilize our feet upright. At the same time our feet have and restore their sensory intelligence? lost both resilience and sensory capacity. Because we’ve spread pavement over The relationship between impressions the world, there are no quick answers. coming from eyes and feet is skewed even Most of us can’t relocate our busy lives in childhood. As we age, the triune balance to a rural setting. But we can seek as system degrades further. many opportunities as possible to walk on uneven ground. One study of people Poor balance is one of the reasons elderly walking barefoot on cobblestones showed people look and feel unstable. Their heads significant improvements to balance and crane forward as they strain to hang onto mobility, as well as lower blood pressure the world with increasingly poor visual and (Oregon Research Institute 2005). Can it be auditory systems. Imagine walking around that the perceptual experiences of your feet wearing blinders and a noise-cancelling affect how you manage stress? In Memoriam headset: you’d need to rely more on your I try to give my feet as much variety of Structural Integration: The Journal of feet to find secure purchase on the ground. the Rolf Institute® notes the passing angles and textures as I can. During walks, But what if your ankles are shaky and your of the following member of our I step on grass or pebbled surfaces in the feet are numb? community: strips between sidewalk and curb to offer As we age – and you don’t need to be old to my feet – and my body as a whole – the Judith Roberts, be aging – we need to be as conscientious micromovements that help keep fascia Certified Advanced Rolfer™, in our care of the feet as we are of our eyes healthy. I’ve put a pebble doormat at my Rolf Movement® Practitioner and ears. We notice right away when our kitchen sink and another at my standing eyesight or hearing worsens. But because desk. I fantasize about carpeting my kitchen the feet are not understood to be sensory with stones. Imagine toning your feet while organs, their contribution to balance is you cook dinner. ignored and their problems are addressed with mechanical solutions like orthotics and surgery.

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thinking the same thing that you’re saying. Freewheelin’ with Jan Sultan I guess that means I don’t give the little toe its anatomical credit. At one point, while The Feet and More thinking about the function of the little toe, I began to think of it as analogous to a By Michael Boblett, Certified Advanced Rolfer™ and Jan Sultan, Advanced cat’s whiskers. When a cat is going to enter ® Rolfing Instructor a space, the tension or the pressure of the whiskers tells the cat whether or not it can Michael Boblett: Jan, I am interested in there isn’t necessarily ‘someone reading the fit in the space. I think that the little toe tells the human foot as a sense organ. Mary Bond gauges’.” It’s all integrated. What I love is us where our edge is. Where the little toe is, writes about the foot as having almost as that while we can train motor activity until is the boundary of your space, in a way. If much sensory representation in the brain it’s highly developed, once you put it in there were a drop off, your little toe would as the hand. The other day, I was talking motion, you don’t think about it. The skaters feel that there’s nothing under it and that to a naturopath at Northwest Foot and at the Olympics are a perfect example: what care is needed. I think the little toe guides Ankle in Portland, Oregon. [Editor’s note: looks like perfect coordination is in fact an the foot quite a bit. see interview on page 29]. He talked about example of thousands of practice hours MB: I like the idea of toes as whiskers, and how you can literally train the sensory unfolding into fine performance. the little toe is that outer whisker. What else homunculus and make its map of the feet MB: You talked about the thumb and the can you say about perception and the foot? more defined. In my own stuff, I write homunculus. What about the toe? What about toes functioning more like antennae JS: At one time in my life, I was involved about the big toe? than biomechanical units. What are your in the shooting sports a lot. I took courses thoughts about all of this? JS: I know you have some ideas about in pistol shooting for accuracy from an the big toe, but I haven’t thought about it Olympic coach, and he pointed out that Jan Sultan: Well, one of the things discretely. The motor homunculus diagram the handle of the gun has got to be long about that homunculus (the map of the I was looking at simply showed the thumb enough for the little finger to grip in order distribution of motor and sensory areas bigger than the leg, including the foot. for you to shoot accurately. Stubby handled in the brain) that I found fascinating was small guns like a Saturday Night Special are that the thumb has as much motor sensory MB: Okay. inherently inaccurate, because the shooter dedicated hardware as the whole leg. JS: Having said that, Dr. Rolf was more can’t get his little finger around the handle. That gave me a pause. Functionally, our interested in the lateral arch than the The little finger is the one that traps the perceptual thumb is huge relative to the medial. Dr. Rolf had an old anatomy book, barrel, in a sense, from the other end and foot. Having said that about proportion, it’s Plastische Anatomie, from an anatomist really allows you to be accurate. That was safe to say that the brain also devotes a fair named Mollier, illustrating the way that the launch point for me to begin thinking amount of perceptual function to “Where the two arches are structured. The medial about the little toe, and wondering . . . If is my foot?” I’m very interested in the eye- arch is layered on the lateral arch, with the little finger is a guide for where you’re foot, eye-hand connections, and the way the calcaneous being the common origin pointing a gun, how does the little toe that those flow together in coordination and and the first and fifth metatarsals being function in orienting the foot? – given that gesture. A lot of what happens in the foot the anterior projections of the arches. the link between the eye and hand, and foot is actually unconscious or below the level Moreover, there is a third arch that is the and eye, are both profound in terms of how of consciousness. It’s in a motor part of the hollow sole of the foot, and it lays transverse we occupy space. brain that doesn’t normally come under to the two long arches. As I work with feet, direct control, unless there is an active MB: What you just said opened up for me I’m interested in getting that lateral arch learning process going on – like learning the whole idea of the lateral line and how into its correct relationship to the stuff a new dance step. It can be trained but we orient in space. People in our culture around it. In one of Ron Murray’s courses, it doesn’t ‘think’ while you’re in motion. orient primarily front and back (sagittal he showed some excellent techniques for We don’t control our feet once we are plane). I remember a guy who’d worked working with the relationship between the really dancing. for American intelligence in the Middle two longitudinal arches. Dr. Rolf would East telling me that one of the dead ringers Imagine a soccer player running down the say that if you want to get around like the for figuring out that somebody is not from field and the ball is coming on a diagonal Greek messenger Mercury, with wings on the Middle East – even though he dresses across his path. Watch the length of the your feet, get your lateral arches up. right, and talks right, and looks right – is stride. As the player gets closer to the ball, MB: For a while my favorite muscle was if he walks without looking side to side. he starts shortening the stride and making the abductor digiti minimi because it falls Americans tend to go from point A to point small adjustment steps so that when he asleep in a lot of people. How do you feel B, and we don’t look from side to side. and ball are in the same space he can kick about that muscle and how do you work That’s one of the reasons why Americans it into the goal, at a dead run. That whole with that muscle to get the little toe to act are so easy to pickpocket: we just don’t have calibration, at a dead run, and the ball like it’s independent? that 360° awareness. In contrast, he said, moving at a diagonal trajectory, all happens Middle Eastern people are always scanning, in the motor cortex. It doesn’t go up and JS: Well, I don’t think of it that way. I and for them to get from point A to point B figure itself out. When you say that the mean, truly, Michael, I’d have to open an may take quite a zigzag course. toes are antennae, I agree with you. But anatomy book and make sure that I was

12 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org CONSIDERING THE FEET

JS: My very first thought is we spend the legs, entering at the pelvic floor, and MB: Yeah, they never lost it. We got it back. a lot of time in automobiles, and our flowing up both immediately in front of Plus our stereoscopic focus is partly about locomotion is very often moving fast: and immediately behind the spine. That jumping from tree to tree. The eyes moved thirty-five miles an hour looking straight rising earth energy coming up our dorsum, to the front of the head and started backing out through a windshield. Your peripheral behind us, then goes extra-somatic into the each other up, kind of like a telescope or vision may be operating but your head is space above us, meeting heaven. Heaven, whatever, and we also rediscovered how not scanning. If you think about the Middle meanwhile, is pouring down, coming down to see in color. As I see it, the foot and East, among many things, there aren’t as the front of our face and inside our skull, the hand, as articulate structures, have a many cars for the amount of people. If and the circuit closes where the tongue lot to do with living in a world in which you’re going anywhere, chances are you’re touches right behind the front teeth. If you we say, “Oh, that fruit is green. I’m not either walking or riding a bus, rather want to bring heaven down, you put your going to reach for that. That fruit is red, than driving. tongue there and then that heaven qi comes I’m going to grab a hold of that with my down. Certain organs are nourished by the long fingers.” But I’m also talking about MB: I’m also thinking about the foot as a heaven side and others are nourished by the the foot as grabbing and releasing objects dome or a diaphragm. One of a series of rising earth side. That’s the ‘microcosmic and energy. I think of it biomechanically domes or bowls up through the body – the orbit’ if you’re just looking at the torso, or in terms of stored energy: I grab a hold of a pelvic bowl, the diaphragm, the roof of the ‘macrocosmic orbit’ if you’re looking piece of gravity with my foot when it comes the mouth, and of course the ‘eye of the at the body inclusive of the legs in its down, and then I throw it away when my foot’. I often feel like the ‘eye’ isn’t dilating immediate space or environment. foot goes back. How much of this opening properly, or it’s getting too narrow . . . Or it’s and closing is eccentric versus concentric opening up front and back, or side to side, MB: Okay. motion of the muscles? but not in three dimensions. What do you JS: Now, consider Western physiology, think about that? JS: It brings to mind Robert Schleip’s and we see that arterial blood is pumped development of Fascial Fitness, a gym JS: First thought is that in Chinese medicine, out to the perimeter and the legs under the program to develop the elasticity and that eye of the foot, the acupuncture point pressure of a flowing wave of a heartbeat. density of the fascia, so that it is used as there, is called the ‘bubbling well’. There’s To return, it needs the squeezing of the leg a spring. Imagine jumping, so that on a recognition that that is the place where muscles, and there are a set of one-way landing the plantar fascia behaves like a the body is actually taking earth energy valves in the veins, so that as you walk, you spring. When the compression phase of from the ground up into the body. In that squeeze blood up progressively and that the gait happens, that arch is lengthening perspective, heaven and earth, above and pumps the blood back up across the pelvis. earthward, and then just at the point where below, form the energetic field that we are A certain amount of the return blood from it passes under you, and the load comes off in, and as heaven descends and earth rises the legs, which is oxygen-depleted, goes of it, it also catapults you as stored energy they mix in the body to form an alloy with around the small intestine and becomes that is appropriated for locomotion. Schleip your life force. Heaven and earth mix in the the portal circulation loop. Here is where has really tuned in on this. His whole cauldron at the abdomen (the dan tien) and the digested nutrients are picked up from system is not about developing muscles, strengthen the ancestral energy called jing. the small intestine and taken to the liver. but developing fascial tone. Quite elegant. Back to the bubbling well: each time you Hence, the great value of a walk after you take a step you compress that point/region, eat as an aid to digestion. MB: It’s interesting, in terms of tonic and as you release it, it sucks up earth qi. It’s versus phasic. Just how as a culture we’re MB: Something that fascinates me is that very much an energy pump in the context very sagittal, we’re also very phasic. We we primates and a few marsupials are the of the Chinese medicine system. see that in these sculpted bodies. It’s all only mammals who have rediscovered how about concentric motion, like my gastrocs MB: Wow. That’s got my mind going a to see in color (something that was lost in should be enormous, shaped like footballs, mile a minute, and you’ll understand when the roughly 200-million year period when and oh that little weak soleus, I don’t care you read my article on early primates. our mammal ancestors were nocturnal). about that! [Editor’s note: see page 35.] I’m going The return of color vision coincided with back about 55 million years to when our mother nature putting out all this big fruit. JS: Let’s look at Joe Pilates’s work. Pilates little mammal primate ancestors were You talked a little bit about the eye and the came online right after World War I and going out and saying, “Wow, it’s safe to hand, and the eye and the foot. Say more was inspired partly by the ideal bodies that go out in the daytime. We don’t need to be about that. were coming to the first Olympics. If you nocturnal anymore.” The foot is something look at the art from around that time (this JS: I had always assumed (without that grasps but also yields, that throws is also close to where Dr. Rolf was getting examining it) that color vision came with energy away, but also sucks it in. Can you her inspiration), there was this eccentric basic human hardware . . . Obviously say anything else about the foot from the expression, moving forward into space with certain fruits being brightly colored would Chinese medicine perspective? the arms extended, the eye focused on a far be attractive to the eye, and a carnivore horizon . . . JS: The leap I would make it that typically would not be looking for that as food, but heaven descends through the ventral part of perhaps as the location to find the prey that MB: Step forward into the future. the body, into the legs and feet. You would feeds on the fruit. If you extend the logic, JS: Precisely, but that’s eccentric rightfully assume that it would come down birds can perceive color, or at least they movement. Pilates developed this whole there, and then the earth energy comes have a version of it in the ability to perceive system that set the body up to be able up more dorsally, rising up the back of certain frequencies.

www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 13 CONSIDERING THE FEET to lengthen under load. It’s largely been stuff, picking stuff up . . . it might be doing MB: Yes. eclipsed by the ‘gym body’, which is a a bunch of different motions over a long JS: There are anterior and posterior contraction body like you’re talking about. period of time. That’s the other difference nodding movements of the ilia, so that It’s a concentric body. It packs muscle I see between eccentric and concentric when you’re in your push phase, the ilium around the joints as a way to theoretically motion: very often even when we do on that side has come to its full anterior stabilize, but it also has an aesthetic hiding eccentric motion, we do it very few times, nutation (which is Latin for ‘nod’), and in it, which is that “I’m strong this way, I as opposed to quite a few times in the then as you un-weight the leg and swing, look strong.” I’m lucky enough to be in this course of regular activities. What are your the ilium, in a sense, cocks back and is place in LA where there is a particular kind thoughts on that? prepared then for the next heel strike when of athlete – the volleyball player. Knotted- JS: There’s several layers of it. This is as it begins its conversion back forward again. up, veiny, contracted bodies don’t do very I understand it, so I could be not quite Let’s say in a well-organized body the ilia well at volleyball. Volleyball is a jumping accurate, but the fast-twitch fibers are contribute massively to the effectiveness of and extending sport. Surfing, same thing – largely part of the phasic muscular activity. the gait. In people whose ilia are relatively if you’re knotted up and chunky, you can’t The slow-twitch are more the tonic side. fixed in the pelvic ring, so the sacroiliac move gracefully on a wave. I get to see a Fast-twitch fibers tend to consume more joints are tight and bound up, you don’t lot of athletes who are eccentrically strong glucose, and the slow-twitch ones are more see movement flow through. You see the and they’re actually cultivating eccentric proportionally oxygen-burners. I think that heel strike harder, they use more muscular strength in motion. I’m going to guess certain kinds of yoga and Pilates train slow- effort to pull themselves along, rather than that this is culturally derived. Yoga has twitch fibers, which are fundamentally that beautiful part of walking that looks become really popular in the last fifteen, postural muscles. Robert Schleip once gave like falling and recovery, giving a sense twenty years. Before that, it was around in us a presentation about tonic and phasic of almost floating. I pin that down to the pockets in the 60s. Yoga has exploded in my at a faculty meeting, which is written function of the pelvis, and the way that the neighborhood. I mean there’s yoga studio up in some obscure article, probably in ilium is both leg on one side and pelvis on on every corner in West LA. Hans Flury’s original Notes on Structural the other. I like this idea. When I’m working Interestingly enough, although I think that Integration. Schleip said that if you took on people, I study that. What happens to Rolf and Joe Pilates did not have an overlap, ten different psoas muscles, you would the ilium when you are pushing off from they both came up with geometry. Rolf’s find quite a wide range of how much red the foot? What happens to the ilium as you version was expressed by ‘the Line’ and the or white fiber was in any given psoas. In land on your heel strike? horizontals. Joe didn’t say it out loud, but some people, the psoas is highly tonic, MB: That reminds me of seeing Haile I’ve been doing his exercises for a couple of and in other people it’s a lot more phasic. I Gebrselassie winning gold in 2008. Like all years, and it definitely organizes my spatial began to think of it like this: tonic function of the top ten marathoners, he’s sub-Saharan geometry toward the way Rolf was trying had to do with the shape of the body, literal African. He looks like he’s shuffling, like, to make happen. It has been a revelation to form; phasic is the activity of the form. The “Whatever, I don’t care.” Several miles feel the geometry emerge through Pilates. tonic becomes a kind of scaffolding, and the behind him are all these white people doing I’m going to call it eccentricity, but I don’t phasic is all the ladders and platforms that what we’ve been doing since the first 26.2 mean behavioral eccentricity; it’s moving are built around this tonic scaffold. Gesture marathon in 1908 – we’re goose-stepping in a way that is radial, from the center, has its base in tonic function, and we push really, really fast. It doesn’t work. and produces a graceful gesture. Typically the tonic body around with phasic activity you’re less strong as you get further from and our feet and legs, for example. JS: I’m with you. The book Born to Run, center. If your arm is extended, you’re not which is an absolutely revolutionary MB: Yeah. nearly as strong as when it’s close to you. statement, talks about the Tarahumara I think Pilates was trying to get strength JS: To circle back to legs and feet, because I people who come up to run the century at the limit of range of motion. A typically know we’re going a little far afield . . . Okay. marathons. They are indigenous runners concentric body gets its strength close to the We have this support principle embedded who don’t train really hard but they live in body, and not at the limit at all. in Rolfing Structural Integration (SI): that if a terrain that has huge elevation changes. If you’re going to try to get, let’s say, a better they’re going to the market, they might be MB: That’s interesting in terms of something positional organization, you need to have carrying a load of produce on their back and I was thinking about. Take short, fast-twitch support available for it on one end, and climb 4,000 feet to get out of the canyon to muscles, those that tend to have a larger you need to have adaptability available on set up in the market place in Creel, which is percentage of fast-twitch fibers. In our the other. The support side then takes me at the top of the Barrancas del Cobre. They society people tend to train those much to the legs and the whole thing about the go up and down those hills all the time. more, to the exclusion of slow-twitch return of circulation by contraction, and What the author of Born to Run points out fibers that are still there, albeit in smaller the veins with their one-way valves and is that they tend to run on their forefoot. percentages. Whether it’s in a tonic or a the whole bit. But I got up to the pelvis, and In walking, they heel strike, but as they phasic muscle, why do we prefer rapid have had a long meditation on the nature begin to pick up speed, they move until movement? You know what I mean? A of the ilium, and how in, let’s say, ‘normal’ they are basically running on the forefoot, biceps isn’t just meant to contract ten times walking the ilium actually behaves like part and that’s the same gait that you see in the while you are at the gym. In real life, at of the leg. The acetabulum is not the end of sub-Saharan guys. Up until this information least in terms of our evolution, you’d be the leg, but rather the sacroiliac joint is the was in the field, [runners in our culture] moving around, climbing trees, throwing end of the leg. were pretty much heel strikers. That’s the

14 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org CONSIDERING THE FEET goose-step look because you got to hear the MB: It’s still enforced. MB: Often people who have that kind of hobnail boots on the pavement. foot structure also have a metabolism that JS: Very much so. is very frugal, they kind of drag their feet a MB: Just this morning, I was talking to MB: That’s one of the things about the little bit when they walk. It’s part of a whole a client who is trying to figure out how limits of the plasticity of the foot. There is posture than tends to trudge. to walk in Vibram® minimalist shoes, in a shape of foot that I would call high-heel shoes that don’t tell her feet what to do, but JS: If you were measuring physiologically foot – if I look at the foot from the top, there she’s a European-American upper-middle- – and we have no clinical data on this, so is this triangle that I want to open up. But class white lady, and she’s got all these this is purely speculation – I would expect if I look at the foot from the side, where the generations telling her, “No, no. Your feet to see slow pulse, low blood pressure, metatarsals and phalanges come together, are supposed to be little and narrow, and and constipation. that is often stuck at a right angle. I can’t pretty.” Let’s talk about women and shoes. open up the toes until I can straighten MB: That makes a lot of sense. I think about JS: First off, you might remember that that out. the clients that I see with those feet and in the court of Louis XIV, men wore high very often their spines are stuck in kind of JS: You’re talking about a plantar-flexed heels – those stubby high heels with the a C-curve pattern. foot that has a high fixed arch? big buckle on the front. High heels first Well, this has been an incredible pleasure. appear for riding horses, as a way to hook MB: Yes. The journey that you have taken us on your foot in the stirrup. In a sense, then, JS: Ida Rolf used to say that flat feet were today dovetails with not only the theme of the nobility had horses, and so the style of actually flat shins: that they were a failure the feet, but I would say with the aesthetics the elegant gentlemen with the heel then of tone of the muscles in the lower leg. In of what we are doing in this particular issue started working its way into, let’s say, order to get a flat foot rehabilitated, you of the Journal. Thank you. fashion culture as supposed to functional have to get better tonus and circulation in culture. Then somewhere in there the men JS: Thank you. the peroneals, gastrocs, tibialis posterior, gave up the high heels and the women got the whole bunch. But if you’re trying to get Jan Sultan currently lives in Manhattan Beach, them. I don’t know how that happened. a rigid foot mobilized, you’ve got to work California, and maintains a full-time practice MB: Actually, I read an article about this. on the little tendons between the individual there. He also travels to Santa Fe, New Mexico It was almost like a cross-dressing thing foot bones. That’s where you have to get to work with his clients there. He teaches where some women would go, “Hey, the hydration. Truthfully, it hurts people Advanced Rolfing classes and offers continuing I’m wearing high heels like I’m riding to do it. You got to get in there enough to education for structural integrators on a regular a horse.” pick at it. I often actually end up using my basis. In addition to holding a direct lineage to fingernails in order to reach and grab that Ida Rolf, he works to deepen Rolfing SI as it is JS: The question remains, how do high tough stuff. So high fixed arches as you practiced today. Jan’s studies include various heels affect feet? You only have to look described, you’ve got to work locally in aspects of the nature of structure, including at women who come into your practice. the foot, make the bones wiggle again on craniosacral work, visceral manipulation with Many are in their fifties and say, “I was in each other. Flat feet, you take on the tonus Jean-Pierre Barral, nerve mobilization in all its corporate life for many years and I wore of the whole lower leg and the peroneals, variations, and journeys to the sacred spaces. high heels forty hours a week because that and even the neural stuff – tibial, sural was the protocol at the office.” They will Michael Boblett works in San Diego, California. nerves. It’s a soft-tissue job. Well, both of mostly say it’s very rare to ever put on a He has been a Certified Rolfer since 2003 them involve nerve work, but one is in the high-heel shoe anymore. Their feet often and a Certified Advanced Rolfer since 2008. foot and the other is in the lower leg. have bunions, their toes are jammed up, you Michael is a retired Unitarian minister. His see a funny development of the forefoot, MB: This is very helpful, because the other advanced degrees (MA, MDiv, and DMin) and the heel cords are short. I think wearing thing that I see is the floppy foot where are from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, high heels as regular footwear is crazy. there’s a big space between the big toe and California. At seminary, he focused on the Maybe for fashion, maybe for dancing – the other toes because the person’s been anthropology of religion, with experiential certain kinds of dance, flamenco or tango using their foot to hold flip flops on. The training under Michael Harner, author of The because they became part of the style – but foot just keeps flopping down like a dead Way of the Shaman. Michael runs marathons in terms of regular footwear, well it isn’t fish landing on a concrete counter. You and hikes up mountains wearing Vibram Five good for people. No way. While I might see the arch, and it’s nice and wide, but Fingers. His website is www.rolfer.biz. appreciate the aesthetic of a woman in high it’s asleep because the toes are doing a job. heels, the legs look pretty, as a Rolfer I can There’s no back strap on those sandals, so only say, “Don’t wear high heels unless you the toes are just doing that, and nothing have to or unless it’s a special occasion.” I else is going on. ask them, “Why do you accept that value? JS: They’re gripping the shoe. If you You’re in corporate life, why aren’t you consider the return of fluids against gravity, wearing a flat? A nice looking shoe, but a that sloppy foot is also not working as the flat?” “Oh, I couldn’t do that.” second heart to drive the blood back out of MB: Yeah, yeah. the legs. You would perhaps anticipate a boggy leg that goes with that foot, or edema, JS: That would be like a guy not wearing that sort of thing. a tie. www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 15 CONSIDERING THE FEET

and after the session to reveal which parts Maps of the Feet of the feet make contact with the ground in standing and walking, and what changes A Window into Subjective Experience, came about from the session. a Tool for Therapeutic Evaluation In the Third Hour, when our concern is with the lateral line, I suggest to the client By Beatriz Pacheco, Certified Advanced Rolfer™, Rolf Movement® Practitioner, another experience — to bite down evenly Speech Therapist, Psychomotrician and methodically on a length of rubber surgical tubing. 1) This ameliorates the Introducing Foot Maps of his or her felt sense of which parts of distribution of weight over the feet because the feet are active for support, receipt of the muscles of mastication are intrinsically To evaluate the effects of the Rolfing® weight, and propulsion. To facilitate use of connected to stress-driven heightening of Structural Integration (SI) process, we the maps to track changes over time, it is muscular tonus generally. The powerful normally use the client’s sensation in relation helpful to have pencils or pens of various flexors of the mandible effect an antigravity to particular complaints; still photographs or colors. (As this journal’s images are in black action throughout the entire body through videos of the client in motion; and the client’s and white, the foot maps show in this article the lateral line. 2) The action of chewing, as subjective reports. This article presents will incorporate bold, crosshatching, and it passes through the phases of working side another instrument of evaluation – the foot other means to show changes over time.) and balancing side, neutralizes excessive map – that may be used throughout a series tonus in the muscles of mastication and to track the client’s relationship with gravity For the client, the experience of sensing brings better support to the cuboid and the in standing and walking. and drawing the areas of the feet that make contact with the ground, both at rest and in entire lateral aspect of the foot — including The foot map also demonstrates the walking, generates a symbolization of the the fourth and fifth toes, which, according importance of the oral functions to the client’s relationship with gravity. To observe to Tom Myers, stabilize the body weight. gravity relationship. After having practiced from the outside the representation of what (The muscle chain of the lateral line is SI for twenty years, I directed my attention s/he is feeling from the inside can offer the described in his Anatomy Trains materials.) to the science of speech therapy to gain client valuable insights as to how the s/he is In my own practice, I often notice that a better understanding of the powerful organized in gravity; and how the client uses clients have lost the support of the lateral connection between the mouth and the feet. the map can be an additional reference point toes, which compromises the weight This connection has a clear evolutionary for recognizing changes. For the practitioner stabilization that must start in the feet and basis, as the locomotor system developed as well, the foot maps gather various data ankles. This compromise, in turn, transfers to facilitate the pursuit and capture of food. points about the client’s organization: the task of supporting the body weight to I also undertook a program of postgraduate other more proximal joints, which then study in psychomotricity, which is the • The distribution of weight over the feet, become overloaded, and subject to strain, study of the relationship of physical and the client’s perception of the same. excess wear and tear, and lesions. See Figure movement to cognitive, affective, and • The intensity with which the weight 5 and commentary. psychosocial behaviors. lands on the feet (compare Figures 3 Often, the antigravity muscles exert more As a means of therapeutic evaluation, the and 4). force on one side than on the other, which foot map serves the following functions: • The way the foot receives and propels can produce various lateral asymmetries, e.g., differences in the height of the shoulders • Improving the client’s proprioception. the body weight in walking, and which of these two phases is most apparent or iliac crests or between the malleoli, as • Demonstrating the quality of the client’s or comfortable for the client (compare well as inclinations of the head. Following proprioception. Figures 4 and 10). manipulations to address these lateral asymmetries, we are likely to observe • Informing the practitioner as to the • Any incongruence between what the greater symmetry and balance in the distribution of the client’s weight over client perceives and what is indicated by distribution of weight over the feet. I also the feet, and how the client perceives other means of body reading. use specific chewing exercises to address the same. lateral asymmetries: since the muscles • A basis from which to hypothesize which of mastication are key to the antigravity • Serving as a reference, for both the muscles are blocking the ideal path of response, balancing the tonus of these practitioner and the client, from which weight transfer. to evaluate the gains achieved in muscles tends to carry through to other the process. • A clue as to how the distribution of antigravity muscles. See Figures 6 through 9 the client’s weight over the feet might and commentary. [My earlier article (Pacheco Making the map is simple, and begins with be related to the client’s presenting 2010) discusses the oral reflex functions and asking the client to notice in standing which complaints. the benefits of exercises to improve them.] parts of the feet support the weight, and in walking which parts receive weight and Interventions The Fourth-Hour work equilibrates the which push off. Next, the client stands on a tonus of the entire muscular chain that begins The Second Hour of a Ten Series is an ideal piece of paper while the practitioner draws with the hallux and runs through the medial time to introduce the foot map. I generally an outline around each foot. Then the client line of the leg, iliopsoas, diaphragmatic ask the client to map his/her feet before draws onto the outlines a representation crura, transverse musculature of the thorax,

16 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org CONSIDERING THE FEET and the infrahyoid muscles and hyoglossus like to add another one to differentiate (which originates in the tongue), which and strengthen the interossei. With legs insert to the hyoid bone. Here, I often extended, the seated client is given an elastic suggest to the client another oral exercise band to wrap around one toe at a time (see that acts on the entire medial line, with the Figure 2). The client tugs on the band to goal of increasing the propulsive force of the apply tension to the toe, and then plantar- feet through better use of the psoas. These flexes the toe, against resistance from the are exercises to coordinate and strengthen band, at the metatarso-phalangeal joint. the internal and external musculature of the tongue and lips. They are rhythmic and are executed with tonic musculature, which brings connection and good tone to the deep medial line. See Figures 7 and 10. As a direct intervention with the feet, I also use exercises for differentiation and integration of various structures. For example, I ask the client to stand with one foot on a slender stick (about one-half inch in diameter), which I place lengthwise under either successive metatarsal interspaces Figure 3 or successive metatarsal bones (see Figure 1), starting at the lateral foot and working functional balance in both standing and medial. The client is asked to raise the walking: he drew the bold lines on the opposite foot; flex and extend the knee on the Figure 2: Plantar flexion at the map after that process. Observe also that supported foot; and then return the opposite metatarsophalangeal joint, resisted with Sandro’s map reflects a better sense of his foot to the ground. The sequence is repeated elastic band. own body weight than Valeria’s (Figure 3). three times for each placement of the stick. This helps to differentiate the rays of the Case Study Discussions toes, and also to create space between them. Figures 3-10 will be used for brief case Another exercise that helps the client to studies to show the maps in use. Each map differentiate and activate the metatarsal includes various temporal elements, drawn interosseus muscles is to place a pen or with different lines, as discussed below. pencil between the seated client’s toes and ask the client to discard the object with In Figure 3, Valeria’s complaint was pain movement of the toes only. in the left shoulder. On the initial map (the fine lines in the drawing), we can see Along with these exercises — especially how the lateral aspect of the left foot is for clients with diminished arches — I suspended. This caused me to hypothesize that the painful shoulder was holding the weight of the body out of the left foot; and this hypothesis helped me to organize the Rolfing series. The area in bold was drawn after manipulation along with oral- function exercises. Even after our work was complete, the dotted lines on Valeria’s maps suggest that she senses only weakly Figure 4 her body weight arriving to the ground. Sandro (Figure 4) is a runner, and presented João’s complaint was pain in the left with complaints of body pain in many temporomandibular joint (TMJ). The oral locations. On Sandro’s map, the areas exercises released tension that had been drawn lightly were the ones he identified suspending the left lateral line and throwing initially, and from those it appeared that he the arch of the foot medially in walking was tilting over to the right side, with more (Figure 5). In João’s case, after the lateral weight in the right lateral foot and stronger line was released, he gained greater support push-off through the right foot than from the lateral foot. This, in turn, amplified through the left. Foot exercises – to open his push-off and brought the left transverse the interosseus spaces of the foot, lengthen arch more lateral. At the same time, his the lateral and posterior muscle chains, and sensation of pain in the left TMJ diminished. Figure 1: Stick placed under third mobilize the ankles – improved Sandro’s Observe also how a shift in the balance of metatarsal.

www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 17 CONSIDERING THE FEET the autonomic nervous system was followed able to relieve his pain through organizing by greater symmetry in João’s felt sense of his understanding of the relationship of his his two feet. The bold area was drawn after center to the ground. mastication exercises; the crosshatched areas came into awareness following a parasympathetic surge that included vomiting and diarrhea.

Figure 6

support (which indicates more functional arches). By the end of the session, she no longer felt pain in her neck and did not complain of neck pain thereafter.

Figure 5 Figure 8

Rodrigo (Figure 6) complained of multiple Mauricio (Figure 9) presented with low pains in his back. Both iterations of back pain. Based on his initial foot map (fine drawings on Rodrigo’s map were made lines), it appeared that a pelvic rotation had on the same day — during the Third thrown his weight to the lateral left foot. This Hour, but before and after he performed rotation was barely visible when Mauricio mastication exercises. This technique helps was standing, though he presented with a the practitioner to evaluate the degree straightened lumbar lordosis and his pelvis to which the muscles of mastication are tilted anterior. There was a compensation: involved in the client’s postural pattern. his right leg and foot were abducted out The areas in fine lines were those identified Figure 7 into an open diagonal, such that on the at the outset, when we could see both that right he used only a small portion of the Rodrigo’s axis was inclined to the right, Breno complained of pain in his right hip and forefoot both to receive his body weight and that his weight was distributed over presented with his axis inclined to the right. and to propel it forward. The mastication his right foot. The bold lines drawn after In his initial drawing, indicated in the lighter exercises brought him additional areas of the mastication exercises show that the lines in Figure 8, he sensed only weakly: the support (bold lines), while the Fourth Hour lateral aspect of the left foot could then line on the left foot connecting the heel to (effect drawn in circles) was key in letting take support from the ground, which the metatarsal heads and toes was drawn to his midline access support over the feet. allowed Rodrigo’s weight to be more evenly suggest weak sensation, allowing his weight Because the map was a visible, external distributed over both feet. to fall more over the right foot, and making representation of Mauricio’s subjective his weight shift over to the right side. There sensations, it allowed him to communicate Karol (Figure 7) complained of great pain was a great deal of tension on the right in his those sensations. It also brought him the in her neck, particularly on the right side. rotators, psoas, and quadratus lumborum, ability to perceive the support available to Observe from the light lines that before while on the left side, his lateral line was him, and also to visualize those areas of the Karol performed the mastication exercises, suspended by the muscles of mastication. foot he was not using. Finally, he was able to there was no place on the right foot for Breno benefitted from the mastication relate the improved support to the absence her weight to arrive, nor was there any exercises, and shortly after he had practiced of low back pain. He found the process to possibility of shock absorption on that them, he drew the new points of contact that be enormously valuable. side; moreover, it looked as if the right foot he perceived (bold lines) as he sensed more was suspended through the medial line. In strongly. Throughout the process, his hip Maxime arrived on the advice of his this Fourth Hour, the left medial line was pain returned from time to time; at those psychotherapist, who was treating him addressed only lightly. After manipulation times, he would show me on the foot map for depression. For Maxime, the foot map of the right medial line followed by the places where he had lost support. The (Figure 10) – which brought his attention mastication exercises, the bold areas map was very important to Breno’s process to the use of his feet – was an important indicate that her foot found someplace to because it kept him hopeful that he would be reference throughout his process. Following receive her weight, as well as greater medial the mastication exercises, when he added

18 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org CONSIDERING THE FEET

and regularly performed exercises for the Beatriz Pacheco is a Certified Advanced Rolfer, oral functions of both mastication and Rolf Movement practitioner, speech therapist, sucking. Gradually, he recovered the ability and psychomotrician with a practice in São to move forward – both in walking and in Paulo, Brazil. his life. Bibliography Conclusion Pacheco, B. 2010 Jun. “Including Functional Mapping the feet brings different Exercises in the Seventh Hour.” Structural improvements in sensation and perception Integration: The Journal of The Rolf Institute® to different clients. Sometimes the maps 38(1):36-40. bring improved sensation at a particular point in the process, while for other clients the maps help to orient the process as a whole. But for me as a Rolfer, the maps reveal treasures for the Rolfing process every time.

Figure 9 The Three-Dimensional the bold lines to the map, he perceived that there was a large area of his feet that Foot, Part 3 he had not been using, and he connected this to his lack of propulsion in life. The Opening the Generous Sole map helped direct his attention and action toward occupying previously unused areas By Michael Boblett, Certified Advanced Rolfer™ of his feet, including the metatarsals and toes. He found the proprioception-based Elitism has become a dirty word, and it noticed that my best talk-therapists are graphic representation of his situation to is a pity. Elitism is reprehensible only often the ones who make me squirm. Why be an organizing mechanism for him to when it is snobbish and exclusive. The is this? We all know about the disconnect understand the process as a whole. During best sort of elitism tries to expand the between various levels of the human brain. the time we were working together, he élite by encouraging more and more In my other article in this issue (see page 35), climbed a mountain and began bicycling, people to join it.” I used the brain as an example of how our cobbled-together system of old and Richard Dawkins (2015) new structures can produce conflicts. This article has three parts. I put them Our reptilian brains, our limbic systems, together in one article because they dovetail and our neocortices all argue with each with each other. other. These committee meetings can be contentious. They can break down. Some The first section is a general reflection on voices are banished to silence. The process pain in Rolfing® Structural Integration of bringing the whole argument back into (SI). I don’t think we can write about foot consciousness is often – painful. work without some honest communication about pain. Same with the foot. I always warn my clients: “What’s the first thing a foot does The second section is a reflection specifically when it wakes up? Often, it complains!” I on the foot cramping that can arise when confess – this warning is not always effective. the body – and specifically the feet – change, Sometimes clients freak out anyway. But but now in the context of growing and most of the time, my clients understand ethically maintaining a consistent client that the emergence of new symptoms isn’t a base. Short version: my exercises aren’t cause for alarm, but rather that hitherto silent for everybody. parts of the body are waking up. The third section is an addition to my Again, why is this? I have written before previous lists of specific foot exercises about a simple difference between the (Boblett 2014, 2015b). metatarsals of a dog and those of a human: Pain cut in cross-section, the metatarsals of a dog look relatively squared-off; ours are Figure 10 Recovery is not always a painless process, round in cross-section (Boblett 2015a). In whether in the foot or elsewhere. I have other words, our metatarsals are designed

www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 19 CONSIDERING THE FEET to rotate, whereas a dog’s aren’t. But the How do I deal with this? I start with trust. Specific Exercises tissues between our rounded metatarsals Open communication is part of this. So is are often so fixed and, more important, the managing expectations. But underlying With the above caveats, it’s time to get nerves so deadened, that a return to healthy these things is a series of choices on my specific. In previous articles (Boblett 2014, rotation can really hurt! part, going back to the beginning of my 2015b), I assigned different exercises to practice fifteen years ago. Ultimately, different foot typologies. In contrast, the If the client is receptive, and addressing dealing honestly with foot cramping is exercises in this article are useful for all foot it verbally at the time seems appropriate, about consistency in my own choice of types, at least in our shoe-wearing culture. I might use the analogy of a frustrated clients, consistency between what I do and But be warned: I would never assign just bureaucrat sitting in a branch office the kinds of clients I serve. I urge you to these exercises to any client. I combine them somewhere. For decades, she has submitted consider this carefully in deciding whether with other kinds of work. reports about a serious problem in her area. to use many of my ideas in your own Because of some glitch, the head office has The first exercise, Evoking Gravity in Foot practice. Are you prepared to deal with ignored her. Finally, she gets a call: “We Work, is more general than most of my cramping, among many other such issues? haven’t heard from you for a long time! How exercises, and it has a story behind it. When are you?” The caller needn’t be surprised if My own clients fit a specific demographic. Ed Maupin first freed my metatarsals in the worker launches into a tirade: “How am As my practice matures, my demographic 2003, my first experience in walking was I? You want a @#$%^&* list?!” is more restricted, not less. My clients are euphoric – but that was in Ed’s carpeted active, not sedentary. They are educated, office! Then I took those new feet outside I take the time for this (depending on very few lacking a baccalaureate. A large in the real world, and walking around my the client and the timing), not just to percentage of them have advanced degrees. neighborhood carrying a heavy load of cover my own derrière, but to reinforce Many are in biotech. Many are health groceries, I suddenly felt as if I’d stepped trust with honesty. Prospective clients professionals. I always have some nurses, on a nail. I staggered home and sat down. often ask: “Does Rolfing SI hurt?” I have chiropractors, medical doctors, hospital But wriggling my toes and rotating my good success with an honest answer. I administrators, and biotech entrepreneurs ankles only made things worse. Eventually express my willingness to vary my touch in my pipeline. Some of my clients are I realized that taking my feet out of gravity depending on feedback. But I find that professional or semiprofessional athletes. would only prolong my suffering. Instead, further prevaricating either 1) puts people The rest are weekend warriors. Happily I slipped off my shoes. They were kung-fu off, or 2) gets me clients I don’t really want. for me, there is no shortage of such people shoes, but they were still too protective for More important, I take this opportunity to in San Diego. what I had in mind. In my stocking feet, explain pain between sessions as well. But I went back outside and walked all the above all, acknowledging pain is a way So my focus tends to be on keeping active way around the block on the pavement. of screening out clients who wouldn’t be bodies active. I do not avoid clients in their Admittedly, I wasn’t carrying groceries, a good fit. 80s and 90s; I welcome them. As I enter but gravity quickly soothed my feet, as I my mid-sixties, conscious aging is a vested somehow intuited it would. It was as if a The necessity of screening clients leads into interest of mine. But in my advertising, my learning process had to be completed for my next section. networking, even my choice of location, the cramping in my feet to let go. I focus on some kinds of issues to the Foot Work and Now I do a version of this in my office Developing a Client Base conscious exclusion of others. This does not mean that I avoid clients with serious health when clients on the table experience I want to make a point about all my issues, as long as Rolfing SI is not specifically foot-cramping. Sometimes I have them suggestions, previous and future: they contraindicated. But even here I must make stand up or do gait work, but much more aren’t for everyone. I don’t just mean that honest choices based on my own areas of commonly I have them press their soles they aren’t for all clients. They’re not for training, or lack thereof. I have worked into the palms of my hands. This doesn’t every Rolfer. Let me explain: my clients’ successfully on mobility issues on clients always work, but often enough it serves as a feet cramp a lot. They cramp during manual with polio, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, first-response tool. work. They cramp during movement cerebral palsy, and rheumatoid arthritis. I The next exercises all have illustrative exercises. They cramp in my office. They am less successful with achieving Rolfing photos, so for readers’ ease in trying these cramp between visits. I can minimize this. SI goals with clients who are also dealing exercises, I have put the detailed exercise I can’t stop it entirely. My own feet cramp with anorexia, addiction, or sexual trauma. descriptions in the image captions. Here I as well. Sometimes they cramp when will give general comments. I’m demonstrating exercises. Not exactly So I ask you to reflect on this in the context good advertising. of your own work. Every Rolfer is a Figure 1 shows Namaste with Feet. This specialist. I can’t imagine the difficulty of exercise has two levels, Basic (steps A and Why is this? Like other parts of the body, being the only practitioner in an isolated B in the photos), while Advanced adds step but perhaps a bit more, our feet are full area. For the rest of us, the option of C. I never show the Advanced form until the of nerves and muscles that don’t know referring to colleagues is an essential part of client has mastered the Basic, which I define what to do. They are asleep, but they ethical practice. Just as there is no shortage as holding the pose in step B for a count of are powerful. Waking up these neural of people in San Diego who can benefit from forty with at least the big toe and second toe pathways sometimes brings a strong my approach, there is no shortage of Rolfers touching. I find that the Basic form of the response. It hurts. Worse than the pain, who can work with issues I know less about. exercise gets the transverse arch to rotate in there’s a loss of control. It’s scary. a way that I can’t otherwise achieve, while

20 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org CONSIDERING THE FEET the Advanced is superlative for mobilizing Next, I present two exercises for freeing big the navicular. toes: Big Toe Up, Other Toes Down (shown in Figure 2) and Big Toe Down, Other Toes Up Namaste with Feet is a good guide for future (shown in Figure 3). Breaking up a manual work, since it stresses the areas that monolithic toe box means breaking up need work. Get client feedback on where the habit of toes to flex or extend as a the stretch and/or tension is felt. In the unit. I have referred to this elsewhere Basic version, various clients have reported as ‘the tyranny of the big toe’. I am tension in gastrocnemius, peroneals, tibiali indebted to Nikki Corona for her help in (both anterior and posterior), navicular, developing the following two exercises, the triangle between the first and second which I find useful in freeing feet from metatarsals, and tissues around the the illusion that toes must always follow lateral metatarsals. each other. As clients move into the Advanced version, When I compare these two exercises, I am again, client feedback on the location of struck by how different my clients’ feet are tension is important. Stress will often Figure 2: Big Toe Up, Other Toes Down. in expressing these two movements. Some move to the navicular, especially when This exercise is done in gravity. It is best clients will find the first exercise easy and the navicular is stuck up. Progress in the done on a surface that is not hard, and the second difficult. Some will experience Advanced exercise is measured in two where there is something for the client the opposite. Some show opposite patterns often contradictory ways. First and more to lean on for support. Ask the client to in the two feet. How can we use these obvious is the amount of movement in the balance on one foot, then extend the big arc of plantar-flexing and pointing. But toe and flex the other toes of his other foot and gently presses it into the ‘floor’ second – and less easy to keep track of – is surface as shown in the photo. Pain in the number of toes that remain in contact. I the toenails is often a problem, which am willing to see a client explore both kinds can sometimes be solved with a softer of progress, but I prefer not to see the arc surface. Good measures of success are: of movement dominate the sensation of 1) how many phalanges of the second toes touching. and third toes touch the floor, and 2) how little space there is between the juncture of the first two toes and the floor. Figure 1: Namaste with Feet. Start with the Basic version, which is steps A and B only. A – The client lies supine, heels hanging A off the edge of the table. It is important that the feet do not hang off too far, as there’s considerable extra work involved in keeping the legs straight when even part of the lower leg is left hanging. B – The client puts his knees together, with the backs of the knees flat on the table (in clients with strong lateral femoral rotation, this will involve activation of the glute muscles), and no arching of the back. The client then rotates the outer edges of the feet down, and brings the big toes together, as well as the rest of Figure 3: Big Toe Down, Other Toes Up. the toes if possible. The goal is to have at The setup is as with the previous exercise least the first and second toes touching – the client stands on one foot, usually and to work up to holding the pose for B leaning on something, and gently presses a count of forty before adding step C, the other foot into a surface that is not which takes the exercise to the Advanced hard. The difference from the previous version. exercise is that the toe pattern is reversed – the big toe is flexed while the other (Advanced) – Point and plantar-flex the C toes are extended. Progress is harder feet without losing the contact between to measure according to the number the first and second toes. It’s important of phalanges on floor, since a plantar- to emphasize that a tiny micromovement flexed big toe very rarely fully plants more with the toes touching is better than a than one of its phalanges on the ‘floor’. larger movement that pulls the toes apart. Here, the second measure is better: the Among other things, this will be a chance distance from the juncture of the first two to wake up sensation in the toe pads, C toes to the floor. which is often a new idea for clients. www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 21 CONSIDERING THE FEET observations in the assessment of foot The final exercise is Sidelying Foot patterns? I confess I haven’t tried to figure Pronation, which can address stuck-up this out. Try it and tell me. navicular, stuck-down cuboid, and fibular restrictions. Clients report tension at the navicular, the peroneal nerve, tibialis anterior and posterior, and the head of Advanced Training the fibula. As with the previous exercises, you can learn a lot about where to do Take It to the Next Level manual work from what the client reports about tension. AT1.18 Conclusion with Tessy Brungardt As with my previous work, I welcome feedback. In this article, I have combined & Valerie Berg general ideas with specific suggestions in an unprecedented way. If you disagree with my ideas about pain or screening of clients, October 1-18, 2018 & I hope that it won’t put you off my exercises January 21 – February 7, 2019 – provided they fit your client base. San Francisco, CA Michael Boblett works in San Diego, California. He has been a Certified Rolfer since 2003 and a Certified Advanced Rolfer since 2008. AT2.18 A Michael is a retired Unitarian minister. His advanced degrees (MA, MDiv, and DMin) with Pedro Prado are from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, & Sally Klemm California. At seminary, he focused on the anthropology of religion, with experiential training under Michael Harner, author of The October 27 – November 4, 2018, Way of the Shaman. Michael runs marathons February 23 – March 3, 2019 & and hikes up mountains wearing Vibram® Five Fingers. His website is www.rolfer.biz. June 22-30, 2019 B Bibliography Boulder, CO Boblett, M. 2015a Nov. “The Three- Dimensional Animal: Changing Views of Bipedalism and Its Limitations.” Structural Register Now Integration: The Journal of the Rolf Institute® 43(3):28-31. www.rolf.org for more info Boblett, M. 2015b Nov. “The Three- Dimensional Foot, Part 2: Evoking Pattern- Consistent Competency.” Structural Integration: The Journal of the Rolf Institute® 43(3):55-57. C Boblett, M. 2014 Dec. “The Three- Dimensional Foot: The Role of the Toes and Figure 4: Sidelying Foot Pronation. Metatarsals in a Typology of Transverse- Arch Rotations.” Structural Integration: The A – The client lies on his side with the top Journal of the Rolf Institute® 42(2):33-38. leg bent up and the bottom leg straight. Dawkins, R. 2015. Brief Candle in the Dark: – Keeping the ankle of the B & C My Life in Science. NewYork: Transworld extended leg at a 90º angle, the client Publishers, Ltd. rotates his toes into pronation, until the big toe touches the table, without plantar flexing the foot (shown in close-up in C). The temptation to point the foot will be strong, but will render the exercise useless.

22 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org CONSIDERING THE FEET The Developmental The Psychobiology of the Feet Framework in Childhood With Particular Attention to Childhood Issues The events of our lives impact us emotionally, psychologically, even spiritually. By Anne Hoff, Certified Advanced Rolfer™, Teacher of the Diamond Approach® Psychobiological material can relate to any time in one’s life, but I believe that the feet/ legs often contain early history, for two the instructor’s assistance on how to Introduction interrelated (because co-emergent) reasons. proceed with these recalcitrant feet. Now The first reason is that the child is not a ‘Psychobiology’ is a term used to connect there was no personal friction between us, coherent ‘self’ at birth but rather develops a issues of the mind and biological processes. and I understood that her frustration was sense of self over time. There are many views This is right up my alley, so to speak, because with the learning process of how to become about this, from Freud onward, but here I’ll I’ve been a Rolfer for twenty-one years now, an effective Rolfer, yet my immediatebody use the terms delineated by groundbreaking and a student (and later teacher) of the response to her statement was a felt sense ego psychologist Margaret Mahler (Mahler, Diamond Approach, a path of consciousness of my feet responding with something like, Pine, and Bergman 1975). As we will see with work, for an equivalent amount of time (Hoff “Well if that’s how you feel, fuck you, I’m a more detailed discussion of the phases, the and Knight 2017). Keystones of psychology not cooperating any more.” In my mind and child’s identity, such as it is, is initially fused and consciousness – who we take ourselves intention I continued with the Series as if with mother and only gradually becomes to be (sense of self, self-image), how we nothing had happened. But how did my feet differentiated as the months progress as part interact with others (object relations), feel? How did my soma feel? How well will of the overall process that Mahler termed what meaning we attribute to different Rolfing sessions proceed when the body, or ‘separation-individuation’. experiences – are intricately interrelated part of it, has gone on strike or won’t/can’t with our sense of the body because the engage because of some historical impasse Second, this does not happen in a vacuum, mind and body develop in tandem in or impression? but rather is concurrent with, and no doubt infancy. In Rolfing® Structural Integration dependent upon, the development of body (SI) we often use the term ‘embodiment’. This article will be more client stories than capacity and motor skills and the increasing To me the state of embodiment is mind/ any particular advice on how to work with capacity to manipulate objects. Between psyche/consciousness well-integrated with feet – particularly in terms of hands-on around six to twelve months, the infant body in a way that expresses the maturity work. But I hope that these shared stories starts to creep (crawl), then to stand, then and presence of the individual at his/her of feet, of bodies, of beings in this intimate to move towards taking steps, culminating current age and life stage. This will hopefully psychobiological territory gives you some in independent walking (see Figure 1). become clearer in the course of this article. inspiration for an added dimension that can (and will) show up in your sessions. Framing the Territory Psychobiological material can weave into a Rolfing session for better or worse. Recognizing when it arises, and allowing it room to breathe – often just by acknowledging it, and occasionally by working it more explicitly – will support the goals of Rolfing SI. The fact that the psychobiological is one of our taxonomies of Rolfing SI (along with structural, geometric, energetic, and functional) speaks to its importance as a domain where change can happen – or be held back. Although I will mostly be discussing the childhood histories of clients and friends with foot issues, and how that has shown up on the psychobiological level when doing Rolfing sessions, I will start with a personal story from adulthood to give some context. In Unit 2 of the Basic Training, each student is taken through the Ten Series by another student. One day about mid-Series, the student who was my practitioner took issue with my feet. My memory is that she called the instructor over to say something to the effect of, “I’ve fixed Anne’s feet twice Figure 1: Schema of developmental movement milestones; ages are approximate and already and they are flat again!” – asking vary child to child.

www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 23 CONSIDERING THE FEET

Let’s look at the stages of this progression. locomotion” (Mahler et al. 1975, 65). The relief or assistance merely by feeling the Note that when I refer to ‘mother’, I mean the timing will vary, but perhaps will begin need for it, or even by giving voice to that ‘mothering person’ or ‘primary caretaker’ around seven months. Looking at the motor need” (an earlier paper by Mahler, quoted regardless of age or gender – it could capacities that are developing (Figure 1), in Mahler et al. 1975, 78). Thus, while he be the father, a grandmother, one of the we can see why this ushers in a period of is more and more capable of independent male parents in a gay couple, etc. I use great exploration – the ‘world’ now extends motion and action, he also is more aware ‘mother’ because that is the convention in past mother and the infant has the capacity of needing mother’s love and support. The the literature as well as the archetype for that to fully explore through all the senses as child’s great developmental achievement role in art and imagery through the millenia. well as locomotion. This is exhilarating, of being a separate (locomoting) self brings giving the child a sense of omnipotence: with it a dilemma – “I need you / I don’t Initially after birth, there’s the normal the world is his oyster! Why wouldn’t it be need you” – and this gives rise to behavior autistic phase where “the infant spends when you can begin to manipulate your characteristic of this period: ‘shadowing (of most of his day in a half-sleeping half- body through space? Mahler et al. (1975, mother) and darting-away (from mother)’ waking state” responding to physiological 72) write that, “the importance of walking (Mahler et al. 1975, 77). To the degree that stimuli such as hunger or other tensions for the emotional development of the child mother is tolerant of both behaviors – (Mahler et al. 1975, 41). This moves toward cannot be overestimated. Walking gives responsive when the child needs to cling the symbiotic stage with the arising “of dim the toddler an enormous increase in reality to her, and willing to let go when the child awareness that need satisfaction cannot discovery and testing of the world at his needs to be autonomous – the infant psyche be provided by oneself, but comes from own control and magic mastery.” In her will successfully navigate this phase, which somewhere outside the self” (Mahler et al. observational studies of mother-child pairs, ends around twenty-four months, and 1975, 42-43), which initiates movements like Mahler observed that, “mothers usually integrate capacities for both autonomy turning toward the breast, visual following, became very interested in, but sometimes and connection with a personally preferred rooting, sucking, and grasping. also critical of, their children’s functioning ‘optimal distance’ for relating. Around two months of age is the start of at this point” (Mahler et al. 1975, 73). The final phase of the separation- the symbiotic phase, where the baby’s Although I am focusing on the development individuation process in Mahler’s schema, consciousness seems to be very fused with of the psychological self and motor skills, consolidation of individuality and mother in a sort of ‘me-mommy’ unit; particularly locomotion, there are other the beginnings of emotional object according to Mahler et al. (1975, 44), “the developmental trajectories going on. constancy, begins about two years of infant behaves and functions as though In the practicing phase, at about ten age. The developmental goals are “1) he and his mother were an omnipotent months, the child will often speak his first the achievement of a definite, in certain system – a dual unity with one common word, and this developing capacity for aspects lifelong, individuality, and 2) the boundary.” In this state, “the ’I’ is not yet language will continue through the next attainment of a certain degree of object differentiated from the ‘not-I’ . . . and inside phase to about 250 words by twenty-four constancy” (Mahler et al. 1975, 109). What and outside are only gradually coming to months (Columbia University, undated this means is that there is a sense of being be sensed as different.” A vague “feeling presentation). Then there’s a whole other an individual, separate from but in relation of self” is beginning to coalesce based on level of bodily control that represents a to others, and that the child knows that an inner sensation, and it is hypothesized that sort of mastery and independence from ‘object’ (that is, a thing or a person – and sensations of pleasure are vital constituents mother, particularly concerning bladder this can be extended to the world) has for the developing body image (Mahler et and bowel function. There is no control permanency. Because a sense of mother al. 1975, 49). before twelve months, very little control is internalized, he can tolerate being At about four to five months, the between twelve and eighteen months, and apart from mother without a threat to his differentiation phase begins, touch begins actual control sometime between twenty- own identity. to form a sense of boundary, which four and thirty months (Johns Hopkins begins to coalesce the development of Medicine, undated). These both overlap Individual Considerations body image, and the infant’s attention some of Mahler’s phases, so I will leave it We have so far looked at developmental becomes more outwardly oriented. There to the reader to interpolate. trajectories common to all humans. Now is new “alertness, persistence, and goal Around fifteen months, the child enters the let’s get personal. directedness” (Mahler et al. 1975, 53-54), rapprochment phase. He can move freely as well as the recognition of strangers (with Ida Rolf has a chapter in Rolfing: The and that combined with further cognitive curiosity and/or anxiety). Not surprisingly, Integration of Human Structures called “Feet: development signifies “psychological birth this coincides with the child gaining more The First Challenge” (Rolf 1977, 45). She is . . . the first level of identity – that of being control over his orientation in space (see referring to the challenge of being upright, a separate individual entity” (Mahler et al. Figure 1), which is going to give a whole and the challenge the Rolfer faces in his 1975, 76). However, he also begins to realize new perspective on the world. work, but she may as well also be referring that he is not omnipotent and impervious to the child’s developmental challenge to Next comes the practicing phase, “ushered to harm, as he felt in the practicing phase. stand up and move in the world, something in by the infant’s earliest ability to move “The world is not his oyster . . . he must we all went through, and which as the earlier away physically from mother by crawling, cope with it more or less ‘on his own’, very psychological material shows is concurrent paddling, climbing, and righting himself” often as a relatively helpless, small, and with the development of a sense of body and gradually moving into “free, upright separate individual, unable to command image and, ultimately, individuality.

24 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org CONSIDERING THE FEET

So, how was it for you? What can you feels great!” As the work continued, it with weekly, gentle manipulations.” After remember of this time of your life, or what changed her physical form, letting that casting, the feet are braced in position using stories have been passed down? Were leg lengthen, and it also evoked emotion shoes that are connected by a bar (see Figure there issues with feet, legs, movement, – particularly nonspecific anger at her 2), full time for two to three months, then and walking that affected your developing father. She also derived intense joy and overnight until up to five years of age. By sense of self and capacity to individuate satisfaction when after each session she my rough math, these periods of full-time and operate in the world? Such history can could whittle down more of the support casting and bracing would finish by the be from many factors, some physical, some on her shoe. We don’t know, but I time the child was beginning to stand and psychological. For example: would speculate that this early medical crawl, but they would have some impact intervention in some sense deprived on earlier motor capacity, as both casts • In the practicing phase, when you felt her of a sense of agency and control and bracing would add weight so that the omnipotent, did you get seriously hurt vis-à-vis her parents. The work, which child would need greater muscular effort to in a way that may have conditioned your brought her into a new relationship to move his/her legs, and any bracing would view about your own capacities? her shorter leg, and began to change it, limit differentiated movement between • When you tried to move away from returned some of that agency, both in the limbs. mother in the rapprochement phase, was free-flowing emotion toward the parent that allowed, or did she cling to you? and in her sense of control over how own body. • And in the same phase, when you tried to return for love and support, did Braces she welcome you, affirming that your autonomy was good, and that you didn’t I’ve also had a number of clients who wore have to develop too fast? Or did she seem some kind of foot or leg braces in childhood. indifferent, forcing you to develop a sense Most of them couldn’t give me a detailed Figure 2: The Denis Browne Bar used in of fending for yourself prematurely? history, but I imagine they were generally to treat conditions like clubfoot. Like Louise, treatment of clubfoot and used as part of • Were there physical injuries or congenital what the clients ‘knew’ came from what the Ponseti method. By Dolmanrg (Own issues that affected your developing they had later heard from family members, work),via Wikimedia Commons. mobility as an infant, like illnesses that rather than from medical records or direct kept you confined, leg braces that limited conversation with medical providers. In corresponding with Liz Gaggini as I your free movement, castings for broken In my experience, it seems that parents prepared this article, she related this story: bones, or surgeries to correct problems? often do not give children (or the adults I [had] a client who had had casts from those children became) complete medical I don’t probe my clients for information legs through hips from about three information about early events. This may they don’t volunteer, but whenever they months old to about one year old for what be because the parents themselves did not relate some issue around feet or legs, or was thought to be excessive turnout. understand the diagnosis or procedures. some medical history from childhood that What was remarkable was that she had It may be because the situation was may have affected their development, my very little refined kinesthetic perception explained at a young age in unsophisticated, antennae go up and I pay attention for in her legs. If she was not looking, she nonmedical terms (or even metaphors). It material from the psychobiological realm. could not tell which foot or leg I was may be that the parent had forgotten the touching and was also unsure of where I got a taste of how significant this can be details by the time the older child or adult on the foot or leg I was touching. very early in my career as a Rolfer, when a asked. Or it may be that the parent glossed young woman (who I will here call Louise, over what happened – either in the way Consider the developmental psychology for privacy) came in for a Ten Series: our society tends to undervalue childhood of the time – the symbiotic phase, injury (e.g., “He’ll get over it” or “She won’t Louise was in her twenties and had a differentiation phase, into the early remember”), or because the parent in some significant leg-length discrepancy, at practicing phase. Consider that the casts way sensed how difficult the child’s early least half an inch, which required her are on just at the time a young baby spends experience may have been and was unable shoe on one side to have extra height a lot of time on its back waving those little to hold that. added to the sole. She related that as arms and legs. Casting would either limit or prevent leg mobility, or add significant a young child something was wrong So let’s consider the treatment of clubfoot. weight for the infant to overcome to be from birth with one of her feet, and that I’m not a doctor, and I don’t know if there able to move, surely having some impact necessitated it being broken and cast are variant treatments, but in preparing this on the developing sense of self or body to heal in the right shape. (She had no article I came across a children’s hospital image. Likewise, there may well have more information than that, and who website with an article on the treatment been pain or discomfort. As Mahler and knows how correct that was.) That was of clubfoot (Ponseti 2017). The author, a other psychologists theorize that touch the shorter leg, and as I worked on it I physician, indicates that treatment should and pleasurable sensation help form body felt like I was trying to transform wood, ideally begin at two weeks of age, with image, and we can imagine how the casts not fascia. Working on this ‘wooden’ a series of five to nine plaster casts worn were a hindering factor to pleasurable calf, I was sure I was hurting her, but each for a week, and the last one(s) for touch and pleasurable sensation, so it each time I checked in on whether the three weeks. As the casts are changed, is little wonder the client had difficulty sensations were okay, she said, “It the baby’s affected limb(s) are “stretched

www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 25 CONSIDERING THE FEET with kinesthetic perception and a sense of would lead to crying and emotional I was born with a femoral anteversion embodiment through her legs. distress. He remembers his father’s which was treated by metal leg braces anger at the crying, and that his dad that I wore at night in an effort to correct On this note, let’s go back to Ponseti, would come in, pick him up by the brace, the way my legs caused my toes to point the doctor describing the casting and and roughly flip him over to make him inward. This summer I completed a Ten bracing protocol, who says: “The baby may stop crying. An articulate man with a Series of Rolfing [SI] that completely feel uncomfortable at first when trying developed sensing capacity and trained changed my relationship with my legs to alternatively kick the legs. However, in somatic practices, Bill is aware of how and feet. Once the structural change the baby soon learns to kick both legs the bracing is likely the cause of ongoing occurred it took about a month for my simultaneously and feels comfortable.” He hip and sacral issues. His somatic brain to catch up, but now I’m able further notes, the “shoes attached to the bar sense is that there is limited ‘flow’ in to stand in a new way. The healing I may cause pressure blisters and sores,” and his left hip and that his legs hang from received through Rolfing [SI] has not that “difficulties with compliance of bracing” his diaphragm. only changed my body but helped me may occur. While the doctor is optimistic to feel more grounded in general. It’s about (or glosses over?) the baby’s felt Work with Bill initially is to unwind quite remarkable and noticeable to my sense, the tissue damage he notes, and the these old physical patterns, as well as partner too. difficulties with compliance suggests that to deal with later injuries. We focus on either some children fight it, or that some the pelvis and viscera, and that leads Later Childhood parents recognize distress in their children to work into the neck and midback and Considerations and are reluctant to follow the methodology. a sense of how stuck his neck feels. As the work progresses over some sessions, Now let’s look at foot issues in a nonmedical Let’s try a thought experiment to what he feels he’s getting into the deeper context, and related to periods after early the infant may feel. Imagine what that emotional side of the childhood trauma. childhood, but still during impressionable experience is when those little feet and times. I’ll start with what my Rolfing legs are, at least one of them, encased in Another Rolfer – I can’t remember who – colleague Michael Boblett shared with plaster that limits mobility except at the once theorized that foot or leg braces to me about his childhood experience with hip. Imagine the extra effort to move that correct strong internal or external leg his feet. If you read the Editor’s Letter additional weight, the limits on free and rotation are effectively trying to force that prefaces this issue, you’ll know that graceful exploratory movement. Now change on the soft tissue, and may corkscrew I asked Michael to be the Guest Editor for imagine the brief weekly respite as the tension up into the sacrum and lumbars. this theme because I knew of what I can plaster casts are removed for the “gentle Bill describes a pelvic issue that could be affectionately call his ‘foot fetish’. Over the manipulations.” It must be exquisite relief from that or from his injury history, but years, Michael has written for this Journal and at the same time perhaps painful, the I also remember another client who had three times, and each time his topic has been brief liberation and movement of those experienced braces as a kid, and who as the feet. Now, knowing his story, I see why muscles and joints that have been under an adult presented with ongoing sacral he has this fascination. I am very grateful for unrelenting stress. Now imagine the next difficulties. I’ll call him George. Although his evocative writing, which shows us how stage, the feet in shoes fixed to a bar. Perhaps George didn’t offer any psychobiological even past the early developmental stages now the knees and ankles can move some, material, I found it interesting that he of infancy, there are still many ways that but the legs cannot move independently, presented in a childlike way (his house – psychobiological material and the feet can and the baby may not be able to turn where I saw him for outcall – was decorated become intertwined. over without assistance. Feel those little with a lot of Mickey Mouse items, even feet encased in shoes, those shoes under though he was in his twenties or thirties). When I was seven years old, my pressure, fixating the legs into a position Work with George focused on both legs and parents took me to my mother’s that carries tension – enough to cause pelvis to relieve his sacral issues. podiatrist. I never asked them why pressure sores – either all day or all night . . . they did this. I was already an active Another client, who I will call Kathy, And all of this as the child is developing, boy, fond of long walks in our small reported in her initial intake that she wore not yet a formed sense of self, not yet in town of Riverside, California. I also leg braces at night as a child for femur mastery of his or her world. Imagine the enjoyed our family hikes in the nearby anterversion. Besides this there’s injury inner experience, and compare it to what deserts and mountains. My mother history affecting her pelvis. She came in for somatic experience would be for a child already saw a podiatrist as part of her a second Ten Series. Her earlier Series was a innocent of these medical interventions. ongoing treatment for childhood-onset positive experience, but she was curious to rheumatoid arthritis, which had left one Here is another story from one of my clients, repeat it with a female practitioner, thinking leg three inches shorter than the other. a man in his thirties who I will call Bill: it would go further. Kathy was familiar with My mother worked very hard not to let both therapy and meditation, making her Bill related that he experienced some type this slow her down. Perhaps she just quite open to the psychobiological level. We of foot braces as a child. He remembers wanted to spare me a similar struggle. did not need to process it at all explicitly; being a child in the crib, unable to turn Her concern might have been my own it was a straight-up Ten Series, but her over because the brace connecting his feet bout with osteomyelitis when I was two, familiarity with her interiority and personal prevented that movement (or he had not which left porosities in both acetabula process allowed her to take the work into a developed that motor control yet). So he and femoral heads. place that began to undo that early history. would be terribly uncomfortable, which In her own words:

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In any case, my impression is that the Another client, who I’ll call Renee, presents heavily but well, although her left hip, podiatrist took one look at my anxious with strong medial rotation in both legs, that the longer side, is starting to ache. In her parents and saw dollar signs! In 1959, she corrects at the knees and feet. Initially Second Hour, I give her Valerie Berg’s the standard fix for foot problems was she would come in once or twice a year, ‘juicy paw’ metaphor as a description not today’s expensive customized wanting some targeted work, then increased of where we are headed, and do pretty insole. Instead, it was an even pricier the frequency of her visits some. The standard work but suited to what each custom shoe. He was already making predominant pattern was always stubborn. leg needs. When I work with the right good money with my mother’s shoes, foot, she reports that she feels like she One session, the ninth time we had so this was gravy. has ‘virtual’ toes where the physical toes worked together and about two and a are missing, and that those toes want to He declared that I had “fallen arches.” half years after she initially came in, I spring out, like her car key from its fob, He drew up a design for heavy black was working on her in the Fourth-Hour relating to the work I’m doing at the ‘eye wing tips with stiff leather soles. The position, and she relates for the first time of the foot’. I encourage her to go with soles were reinforced with a high steel an interesting childhood story. There this sensation, to trust her virtual toes. rod that dug up into my longitudinal was a time, around age seven or eight, She reports that as a child she would ask arch, coming to a sharp peak at my when she persisted in wearing shoes that her parents when those toes would grow, transverse arch. The soles were also were too small – to the point that her feet as she was convinced that they would. designed for dress wear, not for sports, turned purple. I ask her what was going Feeling virtual toes seems to connect so they were smooth and had no on at the time, and she says it was a time her to this inner confidence that was traction. I was expected to wear this of frustration, feeling stuck and confined, stunted by conventional medical views. shoe for all activities, including hiking and that she remembers that she didn’t My sense as a practitioner is that just and running. want to tell her dad that her shoes were as amputees can have phantom limbs, too small, even though he asked her if For fourteen years, from age seven and it can be beneficial to acknowledge she needed new ones . . . Then there was to twenty-one, these were my only them, it is useful to acknowledge the a later period in her life, during junior shoes. As I grew, they were replaced sense of virtual toes wanting to emerge. high school, where she intentionally every year. The design never varied. wore shoes that were too big, perhaps in She comes in for her Third Hour a week I remember falling down a lot. I reaction to the earlier confinement, she later and reports that the leg and foot remember developing a fear of heights, says. This material came up at a time work has been integrating well, that of being knocked over by accident, and when the client was actively envisioning she notices her right foot more when of anything that involved climbing. her future, how she wanted to move walking, and takes more time with I stopped climbing trees. I stopped forward. While I continued working walking, loving her juicy paws. In this dancing. I had foot cramps. The ones at with her body, I invited her to connect to session, I add in some extra attention night were the worst. her sense of herself as a child, and to her to the right foot in particular, and – At twenty-one, I moved to Jerusalem current self, and to the future self she is related to what she had said in her intake as an exchange student, met my first moving toward. about everything in her life feeling Rolfer, and bought my first pair of new – I give her the image of a butterfly In this case I just described, I stayed focused tennis shoes. The feeling of freedom was emerging from the chrysalis. It had gone on the Rolfing task of organizing fascia, astonishing. At twenty-two, back in in a caterpillar, and transmuted into but gave the client a pretty minimalist the States, I began experimenting with something completely new. She loves suggestion of a way she could invite in an sandals, kung fu shoes, and even bare this, and tells me that in the chrysalis inner process around the psychobiological feet. The old shoes gravitated to the back the caterpillar actually turns to goo material, if that called to her. of my closet. Finally, I threw the shoes before reconstituting as a butterfly. in the dumpster. I remember feeling I do have other clients where the These images – the virtual toes, the afraid because they were so expensive. interweaving of fascial work with a dialogue butterfly – become important parts of I also felt ungrateful to my parents. about the psychobiological has been both her articulation of the new sensations These were my only concerns. I wasn’t more explicit and an ongoing thread in our she is feeling and the context of meaning worried about the effect on my feet. My work. Recently, I’ve been doing a Ten Series for them in her life. feet were ready for freedom. with a woman I’ll call Jane. Further work: In session four, she realizes My recovery process has involved over Jane is in her early fifties and for a few that while her right leg loves the work, four decades of excellent manual and years has been in the midst of both her left leg feels self-pity and tired. (Note: movement work. In the process, I have relationship and career transitions, and I feel such mismatches are important developed a healthy respect for the other significant emotionally impactful to recognize, and to treat each side as ability of the human foot to recover from events. In her intake she says that she the individuality that it expresses.) In severe trauma. As well, I have become is “heading back into the light and feels session five, besides the traditional work, passionate about ‘paying forward’ different, like everything is new,” and I budget time for lots of further work to the good work I have received, so that that she “needs structural support.” her right foot. Jane ‘realizes’ that she “has functional feet can once again be the rule From birth she is missing three toes on five toes on her right foot, two physical rather than the exception. her right foot, which is much smaller and three invisible.” and that leg is shorter. She compensates www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 27 CONSIDERING THE FEET

We have not yet completed her Ten doorway, holding her purse and maybe of that work in 2015, following eight years Series, but it’s been wonderful to witness some groceries, as she greeted us. of seminary training. She currently works her unfolding. She found her assigned with private students in that path, which But these memories are new retrievals role at work a bit boring, but was inspired offers another way to address psychobiological in my personal archives. They came to to create a whole new role for herself material and egoic versus authentic identity. me slowly, then in a rush, as I worked with the company, and that has really She offers workshops in material related with Anne on addressing some foot pain opened up her career and brought her a to the Diamond Approach logos. See and leg tension in my bodywork. Anne lot of validation. It seems that the work www.wholebodyintegration.com for Anne’s had asked me to allow my legs to tell me of becoming more whole and connecting Rolfing practice and www.innerworkforourtimes. what they needed, and as she held my her inner sense of transformation with com for her Diamond Approach activities. feet, gently, I felt something unwind, both the physical work and powerful and kick free, and present itself. I shared Diamond Approach is a registered trademark of metaphors has allowed her a new kind these images with Anne, and as she held The Ridhwan Foundation in the U.S., Europe, of ground in her life that is both physical my feet steady, I shared the images of and various other countries. and psychobiological. my childhood from the point of view of I’d like to close with some words from a my legs. Since that session, I have been Bibliography client I’ll call Kim. We all have favorite in a relationship of compassion with Columbia University, “Survey of Modern clients, and Kim is one of mine. I’ve worked my feet and legs. They have carried Psychology: Developmental Psychology” with her over more than seven years, me forward, steadfast and determined, (Powerpoint slide show). Available at initially a fix-it session then both basic and to a place of safety and privilege, and http://bit.ly/2GGyuRZ (retrieved 1/25/18). advanced series and other post-ten work. their reward now is quiet gratitude and Kim is deeply in touch with her intuition attention through continued bodywork Hoff, A. and G. Knight 2017 Mar. “Body ® and interiority, and highly creative. Her and self-appreciation. As ‘Portal’: An Exploration of Rolfing SI ® legs have been a theme throughout our and the Diamond Approach . Structural ® work, and the dialectic between us has Conclusion Integration: The Journal of the Rolf Institute 45(1):16-19. allowed both traditional work as well as I believe the psychobiological dimension a lot of experimental play with things like is critical to our lives and to a sense of Mahler, M., F. Pine, and A. Bergman 1975. unwinding. An educator and writer, Kim’s interiority, meaning, and fruition. Equally, The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant: evocative description of her process with I believe that as Rolfers it is not up to us to Symbiosis and Individuation. New York: relating to her legs through this unwinding force anyone to go there. Ida Rolf believed Basic Books. seems like a fitting closing story of the that our work had psychological benefit, but Johns Hopkins Medicine, undated. “Toilet transformation that is possible when we that the benefit was obtained by working Training.” Available at http://bit.ly/2FxhnTo include the psychobiological realm. with what we could touch. So when I (retrieved 2/25/2018). My legs have always been a feature work as a Rolfer (rather than as a Diamond of my own physical meta-awareness. Approach teacher), that is always my entry Ponseti, I. 2017 May. “To Parents of Some of my earliest memories are of point: the fascia and the goals of Rolfing SI. Children Born with Clubfeet.” University becoming aware of the strength of my However, I find that for some percentage of of Iowa, Stead Family Children’s Hospital. legs as I learned to ride a bike, or climb my clients, the psychobiological is explicit https://uichildrens.org/health-library/ one of the many trees in my backyard – in their histories, in their articulation of parents-children-born-clubfeet. Retrieved growing up. I also remember noticing their experience, and in their experience 1/2/2018. of the work. With those clients, I step how brown they turned in the summer Rolfing: The Integration of tentatively into that terrain, and see if Rolf, I.P. 1977. sun after only an afternoon, and how Human Structures there’s uptake. Most process those offerings . New York: Harper they never let me down as I would & Row. run from neighborhood bullies. As in their own time at home between sessions, I moved through my childhood, and and some dive right in during sessions to my family life became more complex great effect. It is always in the client’s hands, with younger siblings and a slowly and always grounded in our primary work unraveling relationship between my of organizing the fascial system in gravity. parents, my body lengthened and Anne Hoff is a Certified Advanced Rolfer stretched to meet the energetic demands with more than twenty years in practice. She of being the oldest child, the one with has a practice in Seattle, Washington and the most capacity to help carry some of makes occasional forays over to Port Orchard, the domestic burdens. I have memories Washington. She was drawn to Rolfing SI of my father, seated at his favorite perch as a client in a quest to sync up body, mind, in the house, a hand-rolled cigarette emotions, and spirit, and the co-emergence in one hand, and a cup of coffee in the of these realms has always been the guiding other, his legs braided around each other. principle of her own process. Her understanding I have memories of my mother, walking of the body is deeply informed by the Diamond in the door from a long day at work, her Approach, a spiritual teaching she has been a legs firm and rooted as she stood in the student of since 1995. She became a teacher

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ties in, in the ability to tap into present- Feet from Another Perspective moment awareness of a certain part of your body. That’s essentially what mindfulness An Interview with Naturopathic Doctor and is. [Through practice you can] make the homunculus in your brain more detailed. Regenerative Orthopedic Specialist Samuel Oltman If you are barefoot more, you’re waking By Michael Boblett, Certified Advanced Rolfer™ and Samuel Oltman, ND up your body’s ability to pay attention to the foot, and it makes more and more detailed delineations. Michael Boblett: Dr. Samuel Oltman SO: Minimalist shoes have four basic works at Northwest Foot and Ankle in properties: wide in the toe box (so they As someone who practices Vipassana Portland, Oregon, where he focuses on allow your toes to spread out); no external meditation, [where you] simply observe orthopedics and sports medicine. We arch support; no raised heel; and no toe your moment-to-moment bodily sensations wanted to speak to someone from this spring (toe spring is where, when the nonjudgmentally, that’s literally the practice of practice after Rolfer Karin Edwards Wagner shoes is flat on the ground, the toes are interoception in a structured and disciplined told us about the good work done there pointed upward, sort of lifting the toes up manner. It really sharpens your homunculus by Ray McClanahan, a sports podiatrist, off the ground). When you get in shoes in your brain. Because of a steady practice of and his team. Sam, I’m going to start that have a wide toe box, that don’t have developing one’s interoceptive techniques, with general stuff. In Rolfing® Structural arch support, that have a flat heel (what’s you can immediately place your awareness Integration, we refer to ‘interoception’, called zero drop), and don’t have toe spring, [anywhere in the body], given the requisite which is the client’s awareness of his or her biomechanically your feet are functioning anatomy knowledge, and just feel whatever own body. Obviously an important part of in a way that evolution produced over sensations happen to be going on in foot rehabilitation is waking up sensory millions of years. The foot is an incredible that area. awareness that was previously lacking. feat of anatomy and physiology; being in So the same thing goes with the feet and What are your thoughts about this? minimalist shoes allows all of those internal with barefoot activity; [you] wake up your or intrinsic support mechanisms of the foot Samuel Oltman: So proprioception is a foot and wake up your brain’s awareness to work as they should and work naturally. huge factor in the benefits of ‘going barefoot’ of your foot, and there’s this constant or minimalism in terms of minimalist MB: So what happens with barefoot feedback between those things. [This will footwear. There’s actually a distinction in walking or minimalist shoes, in your view? help people who get] chronic ankle sprains my mind at least between proprioception or feel clumsy. SO: [There’s] the proprioception benefit and interoception. Proprioception describes of going barefoot. When you’re in shoes MB: You mentioned anatomical awareness, one’s awareness of body position in space, or in minimal shoes, your foot is still from and this leads me to a question about and interoception means awareness of one’s a biomechanical perspective behaving demographics. I don’t generally work with bodily sensations. [These] are obviously as if you didn’t have shoes on. Now the sedentary people. I prefer to work with very closely related, but if you take a simple next step of actually being barefoot adds people who are physically active. What is the example of your hand, you have the sense another layer – you’re getting all of the demographic that you tend to serve and how that your hand is in a location, in space biomechanical benefits, but you’re getting does that affect foot work in your practice? out in front of your face, a certain distance even more feedback from the soles of your to your body. But there’s also sensation, SO: [In my] orthopedic practice at Oregon feet in terms of the texture of the ground. the temperature of it, the different actual Regenerative Medicine, it’s [people in I’m a big fan of earthing and bare feet – sensations inside the hand; that’s the their] thirties, forties, who are very active walking in the grass, walking on the beach, interoception piece of it. Both are woken – running marathons, doing Crossfit®, walking through the forest, anywhere up when you are barefoot and when you playing in different sports leagues, rock where it’s safe. You get massively greater are more habitually in minimalist shoes. climbing, surfing . . . people who are of a input in terms of nerve endings and also in The sole of the foot has more sensitive proficiency level in a certain activity [and] terms of proprioception, even [compared nerve endings per square centimeter than are pushing their bodies. A group like that to] when you’re in minimalist shoes. any other part of the body. So your contact tends to be much more preventatively Actually being barefoot really teaches your with the ground is giving your body an focused because they are active. They want feet to behave exactly as they should given immense amount of information. Being in to stay active, right? So it’s not what can our evolutionary background. So all those footwear that allows your feet to receive that I do to avoid arthritis when I’m seventy; things add into proprioception because information is very important for balance as it’s what can I do so that I can do my you’re activating and sort of waking up the it relates to proprioception, and the ability to thing next week. So they tend to be more nerves in your feet. know what your foot is doing at any given motivated, [and it] is always nice to work time. Shoes that are overly supportive and A big part of proprioception is your brain’s with people who are highly motivated. In overly cushioned sort of homogenize all reconstruction of what’s going on in the that group, the types of things that we see those nerve endings so you don’t really have joint. The homunculus can be more or less are obviously much more acute injuries a sense of where your foot is in space; there’s detailed. Our brain, we know through – different sprains and strains, actual toe no specificity of data coming from your feet neuroplasticity, is just like a muscle. We fractures, Achilles and heel issues, and then when you’re walking on a pillow essentially. can make it stronger in some areas if we your ankle injuries. And in a broader sense, practice. This is where interoception really knee injuries, meniscal stuff, MCL, shoulder MB: I’m a big fan of minimalist footwear! injuries, back pain.

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The best way to keep moving is to prevent ‘Diabetes of the joint’ doesn’t quite capture blood and it can diminish potentially the injuries in the first place, so that’s where it all, but it’s sort of a good sort of synopsis effect that PRP has for someone. counseling around healthy footwear and of the connection between the degeneration So getting people on an anti-inflammatory getting your feet in shape [comes in]. One in the joint and the metabolic processes that diet; low low-glycemic, plant-based, basically of the big things about making a transition are happening throughout the whole body a Mediterranean diet. As a naturopathic to more minimalist shoes is that you’re because generally in something like that physician, I have been exposed to diets asking your feet to do something very there’s rarely ever arthritis in only one joint. that are really all over the map, and pretty differently than what they’ve been doing in In my practice at Northwest Foot and Ankle, extreme restrictive diets for a lot of different the past and you’re activating muscles that that demographic is bunions, hammertoes, conditions. But I think, in general, just eating have previously been lulled to sleep. It’s heel pain, and – across the board regardless a common-sense plant-based diet – I really like training any other part of your body, of age – ankle instability. Chronic ankle like what Michael Pollan summarizes, eat you have to give yourself time for your sprains, in my opinion, a lot of times are real food, mostly plants, not too much. That’s muscles to adapt for you to get stronger. It through the use of improper footwear. essentially what the Mediterranean diet is; can take a long time, especially for runners, If you think about how an ankle sprain it’s the most scientifically valid. There’s some to fully transition to barefoot running to happens, you have to have something to roll cases where eating paleo can be helpful, get to an equivalent level of distance – not your foot off of. [Putting] yourself on a big there’s some cases where going vegan can because it’s harder to run barefoot, but heel increases the likelihood that your ankle be helpful, and everything in between. [For] just because you are recruiting a whole can roll off of the heel of the shoe, which is the insulin resistance that is the basis of different biomechanical pattern. There’s basically acting like a fulcrum for the kind diabetes, just eating real food is a pretty big a really great website through Harvard, of sprain to happen. I’ve found that being shift for a lot of people. And so I find that an anthropologist who studied different barefoot and having the heel actually on keeping it simpler is usually better for most cultures’ running forms. It’s essentially the ground, having the whole foot on the people. In terms of joint health and doing the difference between doing a heel strike ground, really decreases the amount rolled different injection therapies and working [or doing] a forefoot or mid-foot strike. ankles that I’ve seen in my patients. with people’s feet, diet always comes up. It changes your biomechanics and your ankles, knees, and hips pretty dramatically. MB: This is really helpful. I am totally And it’s actually a special interest working So approaching all of that from [an injury- stealing that metaphor, if that’s what it is, in podiatry because of things like diabetic prevention] standpoint is really important, of diabetes of the joints. That is really good. neuropathy. The foot is, in most cases, especially in that younger group. the first area of the body that tends to be SO: It’s not mine so go ahead and steal it. symptomatic for diabetes. That comes up And then the second demographic that MB: I have so many clients where one of the fairly regularly at my practice at Northwest I see a lot of is people with osteoarthritis first things I say is, “I’m not going to see you Foot and Ankle. There’s some supplements who are sixty, seventy, sometimes eighty, if you don’t also see a nutritionist because I that can be helpful. Pharmaceuticals have [but] sometimes fifties. And there’s a lot can’t keep putting out fires where you keep their place, but pharmaceuticals – especially of ancillary or secondary conditions that on setting off fireworks.” for lifestyle diseases – are really just kind come along with that. Essentially the person of plugging holes in the boat as it springs who’s sixty-five and has osteoarthritis in the SO: It’s a primary point of emphasis a leak somewhere else. So the conversation big toe along with a bunion and some knee that I use with all my patients. A big about diet never ends and it’s almost always osteoarthritis and some hip [issues]. That’s modality that I use in both my practices is relevant. Everything that your joint is doing a demographic that’s not necessarily active. regenerative injection therapies – dextrose and everything that your feet are doing, it prolotherapy, platelet rich plasma (PRP). Part of the connecting piece between those all is made up of the stuff that you’re eating. These are therapies that help to induce two demographics is that it’s very, very clear Every molecule of it. And it just so happens your body’s healing response; you inject through the evidence now that any acute that insulin resistance is the most prevalent PRP into a joint that has osteoarthritis and injury increases your risk of osteoarthritis metabolic dysfunction in this country right your body is activated to rebuild cartilage, in that joint down the road. So a lot of now due to processed foods and sugars and repair the connective tissue, the ligaments, times you have people who are in their artificial sweeteners and everything like that. the tendons in that area where the injection sixties who are in phenomenal shape, very is done. But those injections don’t have the MB: Beautiful. And you totally had me, active, but have osteoarthritis because they same kind of durability if the person is Michael Pollan happens to be the Bible have a history of injuries. So we know that continuing detrimental lifestyle factors – writer of our particular family religion. osteoarthritis isn’t just a case of a sedentary especially with PRP, because PRP is made Eating mindfully and eating with joy. life and metabolic decline, it can also be from the patient’s own blood, right? We post-traumatic. So there’s a mix for that SO: A lot of times in medical nutrition it’s take the patient’s blood, spin it down, and older demographic between people who really over-emphasized about calories and extract and concentrate the growth factors have had traumatic injuries and develop macronutrient distributions and eating a that are in the blood. You’re PRP is only as osteoarthritis, and people who essentially prescribed diet. There’s places for those good as the blood your body is making. have ‘diabetes of the joint’ – which is in large things for sure. But for most people, I’ve With PRP you really are making your own part what osteoarthritis is, a sort of insulin- found that creates another neurosis around medicine. It makes a lot of intuitive sense to dependent degradation of the joint surface food. One of the things I really appreciate use your body’s own growth factors, sort of having to do with inflammation related to about Michael Pollan is he emphasizes the in a concentrated form, to put back into the high blood sugar and metabolic syndrome. fact that food and eating are really essential joint. But a lot of people have inflammatory

30 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org CONSIDERING THE FEET to the social fabric, not just an event, but your body, whatever happens to be there. [when we were riding] horses around. And a ritual, something to really enjoy and And a lot of times what happens to be those aspects of footwear have persisted to take pride in. So the eating alone in your there is discomfort. And so I think that can an incredible degree, to the point where now car during rush hour is so antithetical to definitely be a part of it, from a more basic athletic shoes are made with pointed toes, for what healthy digestion is in terms of your kind of physical or physiological level, no reason other than people are used to it. nervous system and digestive activity, and when people use their feet more. When Reversing that takes a lot of the time. When is sort of the opposite end of the spectrum you wear more minimal shoes, when you’re you transition to bare feet, the Correct Toes from eating a long relaxed dinner with loved barefoot more often, your feet are working spread out your toes and reverse what ones in the comfort of your own home. And harder. They’re going to feel like they got a narrow-toed shoes have done in terms of so those things are, even if you’re eating good workout. I talk a lot with my patients compressing the toes together. So they re- the same substance, massively different in about trying to distinguish the difference spread your toes out so that the ends of your terms of the way you digest them and your between good pain and bad pain. toes are again the widest part of your feet. response to those foods. There’s actually One of the primary tools that I use at And doing that’s a pretty big change. Take been really interesting studies where they Northwest Foot and Ankle is called Correct that older demographic with bunions, for take two groups of people and they feed Toes® (see Figure 1). They are a toe spacer example, they’ve spent fifty or sixty years them the exact same milkshake, except product made to be used with activity. getting their toes compressed on a daily basis they tell one group that the milkshake is [Most shoes have] a tapered toe box; not to the point where they now have pretty like an indulgence dessert milkshake, and just high heels and cowboy boots but severe deformities in their feet. If you think they tell the other group that the milkshake pretty much 95% of shoes on the market. If about how long it took your feet to get to this is a diet, sort of like a lean shake thing. you look at a baby’s foot, the widest part point, it sort of gives you an idea of how long And people’s attitude toward what they’re is at the ends of the toes, but if you look it will take to get complete reversal. The big eating changes their hormonal response to at most American adult feet, the widest delineation is a lot of people want their feet to that food and changes the insulin response. part is down at the metatarsal heads and look different. As a doctor I’m less concerned So the attitudes about your food and the MTP joints because all the toes have been with aesthetics and more concerned with state of consciousness and the state of squished together by wearing shoes that are pain-free function. Aesthetically it’s hard to mental activity that you’re in while you eat forcing them to conform to fashion. reverse a lot of the soft-tissue changes over a also play another role. short period of time. It does happen over the You would think that running shoes would MB: Let’s talk about client expectations and years – it happened with my feet, it happens be made purely for foot performance. Most managing expectations, managing how the with patients’ feet all the time. But it takes companies are marketing foot performance client responds. And this I find happens years to really change the resting position of but under the guise of current fashion in both the demographics that you talked your big toe so that it’s more in line with the standards [of] having slender, pointed about – the younger more athletic and the first metatarsal. However, from a functional toes. And that’s a carryover [of the] cultural older, more sedentary. I find that when feet perspective, getting your feet to feel better evolution of footwear and other related wake up, one of the first things they do is and to function naturally and well is a much, clothing or adornments. We had heels on complaint. And this happens in session, it much shorter rate of change. Wearing the our shoes so they would fit in the stirrup happens between sessions. All of a sudden Correct Toes is powerful because they kind a metatarsal that has never rotated starts to artificially align them without having to wait rotate. A toe that has never said anything for your feet to realign themselves over the suddenly has said, “I haven’t said anything next couple decades. for sixteen years, so ergo, I’ve got some All of those changes can cause some either stuff I have to say.” So with clients whose previously unknown [pains] or [cause] past arches, for example, are starting to open pains to come back up. The fact that you up, or whose toes are beginning to develop maybe have a new sort of soreness in your some independence from each other, how foot that you’ve never felt before is a sign do you handle this? of your foot changing, and getting stronger. SO: That’s a really good observation. I And that happens a lot with other joints definitely tell patients [we are] asking too, like when we’re doing regenerative your feet to do something very differently, injections for knee arthritis. When the knees and so within that, new things might feel better, you start to notice maybe other come up along the way. There are going joints in your body that you didn’t really to be different sensations, and part of notice before, that are hurting you now. I that may have to do with waking up the think that’s a part of it as well, when you proprioception ability. Simply becoming have one part of your body that’s in severe more aware can open up some unpleasant pain, you don’t notice the other parts, or at sensations. We talk about increasing least you’re more apathetic to them. So when Figure 1: Correct Toes®, toe spacers awareness, or increasing body awareness. you resolve the major pain, then you become developed by Dr. Ray McClanahan, the When you increase your body awareness, founder of Northwest Foot and Ankle; see aware of smaller pains. That’s the continual you don’t get to choose what to be aware https://www.correcttoes.com. journey of optimization, just continuing to of, right? You’re just being more aware of address whatever happens to be at the top of the list in terms of pain and dysfunction.

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MB: Do you work with pregnant clients find that I can get really pretty distinctly injection therapies. Dr. Oltman treats patients and what happens with that? verifiable results in terms of orthopedic tests with the underlying presumption that the body and symptoms within several treatments. So contains the wisdom to heal itself – with the SO: Women’s health isn’t something that that’s the main thing I use for ligament laxity. requisite inputs for enhanced healing and the I focus in. But I do see a lot of women But in terms of pregnant women, ligament removal of barriers that prevent healing. He who develop soft-tissue dysfunction post- laxity is definitely the biggest thing from a views symptoms are nature pointing to where pregnancy. The hormonal changes that musculoskeletal perspective that I see. imbalance lies. A lifelong athlete, Dr. Oltman happen in pregnancy are geared towards is interested in how to optimize performance making soft tissue more pliable. To get MB: Excellent. Well, you’ve been extremely and physical fitness. Restoring natural foot the body prepared to deliver a child, the helpful. I’m very grateful. function to his own feet made him a true believer connective tissue has to be pliable so the SO: I really appreciate you reaching out, in the barefoot lifestyle. He is on the staff of baby can pass through the pelvis. Those Michael, it’s been really nice chatting with Northwest Foot and Ankle in Portland, Oregon changes happen not just in the pelvis, and you today. If you have any questions let (https://www.nwfootankle.com) and has a not just locally where they really need to me know. second practice, Oregon Regenerative Medicine, happen. They happen systemically. So in Lake Oswego, Oregon. women who have just delivered have more MB: I do know that I will be selling Correct pliable and sort of loose connective tissue. Toes now through my practice, and I’m Michael Boblett works in San Diego, California. That can cause different issues, especially grateful to learn about the various kinds He has been a Certified Rolfer since 2003 in terms of foot and ankle issues. Chronic of injections that you mentioned as well. and a Certified Advanced Rolfer since 2008. ankle sprains and ankle instability are Michael is a retired Unitarian minister. His SO: Excellent. pretty common in pregnant women, also advanced degrees (MA, MDiv, and DMin) knee or hip symptoms through valgus Samuel Oltman graduated with a BS in are from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, deformities and things like that. Having the exercise and sport science and then obtained his California. At seminary, he focused on the connective tissue more pliable throughout Naturopathic Doctorate (ND) from the National anthropology of religion, with experiential the whole body sets them up for increased College of Natural Medicine. He completed training under Michael Harner, author of The risk of injury through ligament laxity. a rigorous two-year primary care residency Way of the Shaman. Michael runs marathons at Grain Integrative Health in southeast and hikes up mountains wearing Vibram® Five Even if it doesn’t come down to a full ankle Portland and has advanced training in pain Fingers. His website is www.rolfer.biz. sprain, just the sensation of instability is management, orthopedics, and regenerative something that I find to be fairly common post-pregnancy. A lot of times it’s not a big enough issue to where people will need treatment per se. If someone’s already living more of a barefoot kind of lifestyle, so to speak, then they’re going to be in Minimalism a better position when those changes do happen to not have them cause any injury. Put Your Shoes to the Test If there is chronic ankle instability and that’s By Karin Edwards Wagner, Certified Advanced Rolfer™ manifesting as ankle sprains, using dextrose prolotherapy is my go-to; that’s a type of Author’s Note: This is an update to my article, “Barefoot Walking Inspires Healthier Shoe Choices,” injection therapy that utilizes dextrose, published in the June 2011 issue [39(1):31-32] of this Journal. just a simple sugar solution mixed with anesthetic at a certain concentration to make Have you ever finished a Second Hour of the having a look at Figure 1, which shows it a hyperosmotic solution. When you inject Rolfing® Structural Integration (SI) Ten Series examples of minimalist shoes compared to that into the ligament attachment points only to watch your client bind up her feet in conventional shoes. on the bones, it attracts white blood cells heavy, restrictive shoes? Do clients ask you and fibroblast activity among other things what shoes will support their SI experience, Test 1: Flexibility in a controlled inflammatory response. It and you aren’t sure? This article will explain Take off your shoe, turn it sole-side up, grab it helps to build and strengthen collagen and the principles of healthy footwear and give at the heel and in the middle of the shoe, and can essentially shrinkwrap the joint and you seven hands-on tests you can do for twist.* Avoid ‘torsional rigidity’, a trend in make it more stable through strengthening yourself and teach your clients, as well as shoes that locks down the mobility of the tarsal the ligaments. a guide to shopping for minimalist shoes. bones. Make sure it can twist at least a small amount, specifically at the tarsal area. Essentially what prolotherapy does is mimic Note: An asterisk in the text indicates that tissue injury without injuring the tissue. So there is a short video of the test available on my Our feet need stability for standing and it mimics on a chemical level what would website (see Additional Resources at the end of mobility for movement. Most footwear errs happen when you have an acute injury, the article). on the side of stability, largely immobilizing except with the injections there’s no actual the foot. The joints between each of the tissue damage. So you’re getting the healing Shoe Tests tarsal bones, metatarsals, and phalanges response from your body in the absence of This section will give you tests to see if (toe bones) have slight movements that any actual injuries. You can help to strengthen your shoes meet the criteria for minimalism allow the foot to adapt to the ground and up specific areas through these injections. I and good foot biomechanics. Start by create a responsive base of support for the

32 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org CONSIDERING THE FEET

it helps limit pronation. See my website for A B a short video of this demonstration, which I perform on clients to help them feel why their toes need so much toe-box space.* Don’t neglect the pinkie toe when selecting a toe box. If the pinkie toe is compressed inward, it disrupts the lateral arch. Dr. Rolf put a lot of value on the lateral arch: in a 1976 training she said, “In all pictures of Hermes, or Mercury, the wings are on the outside of the feet. And what they’re Figure 1: A – examples of minimalist shoes; B – examples of stiff, over-supportive shoes. Photos by David Wagner. saying was if you want transportation, you must walk as though you had wings on the outside of your feet.” The lateral arch is the rest of the body. Do your shoes have the connective tissue of the Achilles tendon foundation for the medial arch, and toe flexibility to allow for natural foot motion? weakens and can be at risk for injury. spacing is intimately related to these arches. Test 2: Ground-feel When making footwear suggestions to clients, keep in mind that switching to a While wearing your shoes, step on a rock the neutral heel abruptly has its challenges. One size of a marble. Can you clearly feel the rock of my clients, an ultramarathoner, regularly through your shoe? If not, the sole of the shoe wore conventional athletic shoes with no is either stiff or too pillowy. apparent ill effect. But spending a single Shock absorption: Shoes that are stiff day barefoot at a water park triggered or overly cushioned interfere with lasting plantar fasciitis. His shortened proprioceptive sensing of the ground. calves became overstretched by trying to When walking barefoot or in lightweight move naturally. My approach was to calm Figure 2: A view inside the toe box. Photo and free the tibial/plantar nerve and artery, shoes, your gait naturally adjusts to avoid by Lems Shoes (www.lemsshoes.com), discomfort from heavy landing. Research to lengthen the calf muscles and fascia, and used with permission. shows that conventional sneakers and to have him gradually transition to footwear stiff-soled clogs cause harder foot-strikes, with a neutral heel. Toes will expand to fill the space if allowed increasing joint shock and the risk for Test 4: Wide at the End of the Toes enough room, so try sizing up from the size knee osteoarthritis (Shakoor and Block you normally wear. If you have a wide-toed 2006). When your feet can feel the ground Remove the insole and stand on it, spacing out shoe but you need even more space, try through your shoes, you will tend to land your toes a bit. Does your big toe or pinkie toe removing the insole liner. Avoid sandal more softly. If your feet feel too sensitive, overlap the edge of the insole? If so, you need straps that cross the toes and compress it’s okay to add a thin flexible insole to your more space in your toe box. either the big toe or the fifth toe. minimalist shoe. The toe box should be foot-shaped, which Test 5: Avoid Loose Slip-ons Muscle firing: Sensory feedback from the means the toe box needs to be wide at the feet is essential for the correct firing of end of the toes instead of tapering from Grab your sandals and put them on. Shake your motor nerves. The nervous system demands the ball of the foot to the toes (Figure 2). foot. Is the sandal secure, or does it feel like it quite a bit of sensory data, but if that data is Narrow toe boxes cause bunions, neuromas, could come off? lacking, the muscles may fire late or weakly. distorted toes, weak arches, and many other While it makes sense that tight shoes can For example, the tibialis posterior muscle problems. Athletic shoes are often wide at deform toes, loose shoes can have a similar does the job of lifting the arch of the foot, the ball of the foot but narrow at the tips impact. If shoes are loose enough that the but it will tend to be lazy if the ground-feel of the toes. Tapered toe boxes are a sneaky toes need to grip them in order to stay on, is muted by overly padded or stiff shoes. contributor to over-pronation. If the big toe it can result in a habitual curling or lifting is pushed toward the other toes, the foot is of the toes that contributes to hammertoe, Test 3: Neutral Heel more likely to over-pronate. claw toe, and generally squished-together This test involves a bit of research. For athletic As an experiment, while standing, use your toes. For shoes that tend to be loose, such shoes, look online for the ‘heel-to-toe drop’. Five hand to pull your big toe away from your as flip-flops, Crocs™, or Birkenstock® shoes, millimeters or less is acceptable. ‘Zero-drop’ is other toes. Then try to collapse your medial select a version with a heel strap or ankle perfectly flat but may feel too extreme initially. arch. Feel that there is a natural resistance strap. Most footwear, even ‘flat’ dress shoes, has a that tells the arch where to stop? Then Test 6: Avoid Toe Spring half-inch heel. The heel prevents a full range contrast it to the toe position in a tapered of motion while walking or exercising, toe box, by pushing your big toe in toward Put the shoe on a flat surface and look at it from resulting in shortened calf muscles. Over your other toes. This time, can you collapse the side. Does the toe curve upward about 15°? time, this limits ankle freedom, contributes your medial arch much farther? You might That’s ‘toe spring’ (see Figure 3). to tight hamstrings, and pulls into the even feel a twinge in your medial knee. lower back (and even up to the neck). The When the big toe is in its natural position,

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Athletic shoe companies started engineering arch support, focus on toe-spreading (Test If you want a more significant corrective toe spring into their shoes two decades ago. 4) and correct firing of the arch muscles by device to space your toes, Correct Toes® Their idea was to aid the rocker motion of improving proprioception (Test 2). ($65/pair) are the safest and most effective the foot in running and to look appealing option. They are the only toe spreader that in store display windows. However, this Shopping Guide is safe to use in shoes and during exercise, change was completely unnecessary, as our If your shoes fail the tests, it may be time which is exactly when it is most beneficial legs naturally perform this motion without to go shopping. Keep these principles in – to retrain the foot to move correctly. There a change to shoe shape. Toe spring holds mind as you shop, and you will find many are inexpensive ‘bunion toe spacers’ that the toes in a lifted position, which limits the minimalist shoes for $80-$140. Excellent only correct the big toe position; for some ability of the flexors and extensors of the brands include Lems, Vivo Barefoot, Softstar people those are adequate. In either case, toes to work properly, and contributes to Shoes, and Altra (choose only the Altra they should be worn with shoes that are deformed toes. Dress shoes also sometimes models with the thinnest sole). Merrell® very wide at the end of the toes, with no have toe spring. Barefoot and New Balance Minimus are tapering, and preferably sized up a half or full size from what you normally wear. Stretching the top of the foot and toes after specific lines that are minimalist, though exercise can help restore correct alignment. I do not recommend other shoes by Metatarsal pads are a helpful addition If the shoe is flexible, a modest toe spring those manufacturers. to a minimalist shoe. They support the can be removed by bending the shoe in the The most important characteristic is the metatarsal arch, also called the transverse other direction for a half hour. wide toe box, so don’t compromise on that. arch. Why support the metatarsal arch and not the medial arch? The medial arch is Test 7: Minimal Arch Support If you find yourself needing even more toe room, here are some quick strategies. meant to rise and lower during walking, Stand in your shoes. Can you feel the shoe arch Ideally, choose a larger size. If that isn’t while the metatarsal arch is meant to pressing up into your foot? That’s too much an option, remove the insole and try the be always lifted. In clients who have arch support. Do a slow knee bend. Does your shoe without it. Re-lace the shoe, skipping chronically lifted toes (that is, when their foot lengthen and your arch spread and lower the first pair of eyelets, which will give foot is relaxed, their toes are bent upward), slightly, or does your shoe prevent that motion? you some more room at the toes. You the metatarsal arch is frequently dropped. can also do a web search for “alternative Gently push up on the bottom of their The medial arch is meant to be supported by lacing patterns” for methods that change metatarsal area to see if that straightens the the bone structure, ligaments, and muscles. how your shoe fits. A technique I have toe alignment. If so, show this to the client A stiff arch support, and especially an used successfully is to stretch the leather so s/he can understand why this product orthotic, undermine both the pronation and in specific places by soaking it in rubbing would be beneficial.* Metatarsal pads supination of the foot. In the weight-bearing alcohol and using a tool such as the blunt can help neuromas and many other foot phase of a stride, the peroneal muscles will end of a pen. ailments, especially when used with Correct attempt to pronate the foot. If there is an Toes in a very-wide-toe shoe. I prefer arch support interfering with this function, If the toe box is spacious but your toes need Pedag® brand, $10/pair, which have peel-off it can result in peroneal tendonitis and more help learning to spread out, you can backings so they can adhere directly onto even strain in the lower IT band. The arch wake them up by wearing ‘toe socks’, which the liner or footbed of the shoe. Start with muscles (tibialis posterior, flexor hallucis, have a separate pocket for each toe, like a one pair of shoes to get used to them, then and flexor digitorum longus) are further glove instead of a mitten. This stimulation add them into the other shoes. Gradually weakened by wearing shoes with too much will increase sensory information coming transition into using them during sports. arch support. from your toes and help you learn to use Many clients get ongoing benefit from using them. Some brands such as Injini® offer Many clients are concerned that their ‘flat metatarsal pads. There is no need to wean wicking fibers appropriate for sports. Many feet’ require arch support. Low arches and off of them, and they will not make the foot options are available from online companies ‘over-pronation’ have been incorrectly dependent on them. such as Sock Dreams. A more daring style pathologized. In fact, many people have option is toe shoes, such as Vibram® Five A couple of other considerations for helping arches that are low but ‘functional’, meaning Fingers. I suggest the leather type because clients improve their footwear: that the arch is going through a range of they are more comfortable and more motion that is performing some shock • Look closely at shoes and socks. Perform adaptable in fit than the synthetic options. absorption. To build natural arch function ‘fascial release’ on the toe seam of tight and safely transition from using artificial socks, and teach clients to do it. Simply pinch and stretch.* • Encourage clients to cut, stretch, and otherwise modify their shoes to fit their feet and optimize their foot function. If a client has foot pain, examine shoes for a seam or a fabric pill that might be rubbing.

Figure 3: Two examples of toe spring.

34 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org CONSIDERING THE FEET Natural Movement Additional Resources *For short videos of these concepts, please Using Minimalist Footwear visit my website www.portlandrolfer.com/ Dicharry, J., 2012. Anatomy for Runners. Feet. In minimalist footwear, experiment with Brattleboro, Vermont: Skyhorse Publishing. your stride by allowing your back foot to A great resource for running biomechanics, Bibliography stay on the ground longer, rolling through anatomy, and exercises, written by a physical Rolf, I.P. 1976. Audio recording of an to the tips of the toes, then swing your leg therapist. Advanced Training, A6Side2. Available forward only to the point where it is just a Shakoor, N. and J. Block 2006 Sep. “Walking at www.rolfguild.org/av/A6Side2.html little in front of your body. Contrast this to Barefoot Decreases Loading on Lower (requires member access). reaching the foot far in front of the body, Extremity Joints in Knee Osteoarthritis.” striking the heel, and pulling the rest of the Arthritis & Rheumatism 54(9):2923-2927. body forward. Lieberman, D.E. et al. 2010 Jan 28. “Foot This new stride will be shorter but with a Strike Patterns and Collision Forces in faster cadence. Each step will feel lighter, Habitually Barefoot Versus Shod Runners.” minimizing both impact and effort. Keep Nature 463(7280):531-535. the feet fairly close to your midline, over your center of gravity. This prevents side- to-side rocking, for reduced impact and improved balance. Don’t tuck your tailbone, as that puts pressure on the lumbar discs The Three-Dimensional and also makes it difficult for the gluteus maximus to fire. For those who run, the transition to running Animal, Part 2 in reduced heels and then neutral heels should occur over the course of months. Archicebus Achilles, Metatarsals, and the Generous Sole During this time, careful warm-up and By Michael Boblett, Certified Advanced Rolfer™ stretching will help prevent injury. Ankle circles – twenty in each direction – are a safe Things exist either because they have of all of the different structures, the foot and effective warm-up for the foot, ankle, recently come into existence or because is the best example of adaptive ingenuity. Achilles, and calf. Then follow with light they have qualities that made them I will make this case, and support it with bouncing and then one-legged bouncing unlikely to be destroyed in the past. evidence, but who knows? This is not for a minute on each side.* Gradually, the a rhetorical question: I honestly invite Achilles tendon will respond and remodel Richard Dawkins1 every reader to present a similar case for to have more spring and resiliency. I like old things. Most of my furniture is your favorite body part. (The diaphragm, Static (isometric) stretching should only be inherited. So are many of my books and anyone?) The modern human foot is a lot performed after exercise that fully warms even a surprising number of my pieces of older than the modern human hand, the the muscle tissue. I advocate for a more clothing. I also like old structures in the pelvis, the spine, or the rib cage, etc. The sensitive approach to stretching than is human body. I am increasingly convinced foot is certainly far older than that cranky often taught. Stretch the calf by dropping that the evolutionary age of a biological and bug-ridden piece of new technology the heel off the edge of a curb. Start slowly, component is a sign of its reliability. Newer that we call our brain. Anyone who wishes feeling for the first place of resistance, anatomical equipment is less tried and to celebrate a structure other than the foot pausing for ten to twenty seconds to let that true – more apt to break down. Old stuff as the pinnacle of evolutionary intelligence resistance soften. Sink deeper and look for survives because it works. would be hard-pressed to find one with the next resistance. Once in the full stretch, such a perfect balance of ancient stability But what has this to do with Rolfing® hold the position for sixty seconds or more. and timely adaptability. Structural Integration (SI)? This measured approach to stretching will prevent injury and support the calf in Well, old structures often survive because The Pioneer Foot adjusting to shoes with a neutral sole. they can be repurposed. Old things can In my earlier article, “The Three- serve new ends. Also, and more relevant Dimensional Animal: Changing Views of Author’s Note: This article is indebted to to the diversity of movement patterns, Bipedalism and Its Limitations” (Boblett the work of Dr. Ray McClanahan, DPM, old things can serve multiple ends. In 2015), I speculated (unwisely) about the www.nwfootankle.com, the inventor of Correct few animals is this as true as in Homo age of Homo naledi. Like far more qualified Toes. Thanks to David Wagner for help with sapiens. Biomechanically, we humans people, I considered this animal a likely writing and editing this article. specialize in not specializing. Using the early member of our genus, an intermediate Karin Edwards Wagner is a Certified Advanced same structure in different ways is essential species in the transition from arboreal to Rolfer with fourteen years of experience and a to our adaptability. terrestrial life. I presumed that Homo naledi blackbelt in Ki Aikido. As a teen she invented was genetic to the entire Homo lineage. What is the best example of this? The ‘toe tricks’ such as flipping a cassette tape to side Homo naledi is now known, however, to reader may be skeptical when I claim that, B and hitting play. be only 335,000 to 235,000 years old. The

www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 35 CONSIDERING THE FEET youth of this species is, therefore, proof complete skeleton allows me to repeat my the remains of these older primate skeletons of how recently our seemingly monolithic motto: “The foot often evolves first; other are so fragmentary that they do not fit into genus maintained a remarkable diversity body parts catch up.” Then the foot retains my narrative of feet retaining strikingly of movement patterns – but with strikingly its initially modern form as the rest of the similar features over time to support similar feet. body (to employ a teleological perspective) radically changing bodies. ‘catches up’. Mind you, the Homo naledi foot probably Second, I am more interested in grasping differed from your foot in several As with Homo naledi, the foot of Archicebus (and the movements that evolve out of important ways. For instance, the former emerges as a surprisingly modern structure grasping) than in leaping. Yes, leaping is was evidently more robust than that in juxtaposition with less evolved traits: deeply incorporated into our repertoire of modern Homo sapiens, and it would of available movements. This happens Archicebus differs radically from have furthermore borne slightly curved in several ways, mostly through the any other primate, living or fossil, phalanges for climbing. But one writer incorporation of leaping into bipedal gait, known to science. It looks like an on Homo naledi, Andrew Howley (2015) at especially in running. But my focus here odd hybrid with the feet of a small National Geographic® Magazine, points out is on the possibility of evoking, in Rolf monkey, the arms, legs, and teeth that naledi’s foot structure is well within Movement™ work, what I will stipulatively of a very primitive primate, and a the variation found in Homo sapiens, if you call ‘the generous foot’ or ‘the generous primitive skull bearing surprisingly include Khoi-San people: “If you found sole’. More ‘handy’ even than leaping for small eyes (Ni et al. 2013). just this foot, you’d think it belonged to the evolutionary fitness of Homo sapiens is a bushman.” (As I have written before, I compare this with my previous article’s grasping. And as we shall see, the child of anthropologists in Africa pray fiercely for description of Homo naledi, in which I grasping is giving. a skull to go with other human fossils, since quoted William Harcourt-Smith of the As I turn to the repurposing of the act of otherwise the anatomical details of this Paleontology Department of the American grasping, I must describe the ecological species remain uncertain.) Museum of Natural History (2015) saying context of Archicebus and its descendants. I that “Quite obviously, having a very So, in this apparent outlier to human must now sound rather like a high school human-life foot was an advantage to this evolution, I am still struck by the biology teacher, so I invite you to skip creature because it was the foot that lost its juxtaposition of ‘primitive’ and ‘advanced’ this next section if it repeats stuff you primitive, or ape-like, features first.” traits. On the one hand, Homo naledi had already know. remarkably modern feet. On the other In these two cases, the relative modernity hand (pun intended), its hands were of the foot differs, because it supports The Fruits of Perception beyond human range in their adaptation to two different breakthroughs in primate Terrence McKenna once remarked that climbing. Naledi also had a round, ape-like development. Archicebus displays the “Animals are something invented by plants waistline incapable of our own rotational beginning of precisely the ‘ape-like’, or in to move seeds around.” On this planet, independence of rib cage and ilia. So I repeat fact monkey-like, grasping foot that then ‘de- plants call the shots. That’s not news to me. my assertion that this odd combination apes’ by narrowing and stabilizing in Homo I try humbly to know my place as a mere of stable and derived traits points to the naledi. But in both transitions, the relevance vertebrate and act accordingly. But even I availability of the human foot to support a for Homo sapiens is the survival through all was surprised, when I first learned of it, just great variety of movement patterns. three species of repurposed old structures: how deeply and directly the needs of plants our long calcanei and long metatarsals. In this new article, I go back even further. manipulated our early primate evolution. In my previous essay, I went back beyond Why Metatarsals? Fifty-five million years ago, the Earth that Homo naledi to speculate a bit about the supported Archicebus was still coming to Why then do I focus on the metatarsals transition from monkey to ape. Now I go terms with one of its greatest extinction instead of calcanei? After all, the species to the emergence of monkey-like traits – events, the KT Event a mere ten or eleven I use as an example of old-and-new in mostly in the foot. This occurs in Archicebus millions years earlier. The web of life was juxtaposition was named “achilles” after achilles, a tiny primate from 55 million years still vibrating. Seventy-five percent of all the character from The Iliad whose heel was ago that lived in China during the early species had died out. But the Manhattan- famously vulnerable – a clear reference to Eocene. This creature weighed twenty sized asteroid that hit our planet, Archicebus’ strikingly modern calcaneus. to thirty grams (i.e., about one ounce). apparently preceded by some fierce volcanic It was smaller than most mouse lemurs, I choose metatarsals for two reasons. activity, introduced new problems . . . which are today’s smallest primates. On and opportunities. the phylogenetic tree, Archicebus achilles First, our long primate metatarsals are even lies near the juncture between nocturnal older than our elongated calcanei. Simply As usual, the plants were quick to respond, tarsiers and the diurnal anthropoids. The put, our primate habit of grasping is even giving animals new opportunities. Call it a latter include monkeys, apes in general, and older than our tarsier- or monkey-like ‘job-creation program’. The problem was an the particular bipedal ape who’s writing habit of leaping. (I put the supporting old one: how to deliver packages of DNA? 2 this very article. argument for this in an endnote because it For tens of millions of years, angiosperms slows down the flow of an already-dense had excelled at bribing various DNA- Archicebus is not the oldest primate fossil. argument.) Briefly, primates even older than carrying critters with pollen and relatively But it is by far the oldest primate fossil with Archicebus display long metatarsals without small fruits. Flowering plants, which by anything like its level of completeness. This its specificcalcaneal leaping adaptation. But definition are also fruiting plants whether

36 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org CONSIDERING THE FEET or not we humans eat the fruit, had done cortical space as primates is taken up with something more like poetry. Here’s the a good job of taking over a lot of land and social relations. But the brain is not the only poetic version. In running or, indeed, in a lot of light from their drab gymnosperm organ that supports – and is shaped by – our mindful walking – in negotiating the literal competitors. But most of the pollinators, increasingly large and complicated groups. give-and-take of moving over tough terrain which tend to be specific to the plants they I hope that I tickled you before with the – the foot must learn not only to grasp, but serve, had gone extinct. Once again, land idea that ‘the child of grasping is giving’. I also to give. This act of giving, of offering, and light were up for grabs. First come, believe that grasping and giving are linked may be hard to differentiate from the also- first served. in the social organization at the root of pre- important act of pushing-off, which is lithic specialization of hands. By this I mean really a throwing-back of collected gravity. To address this, some plants made their that long before our ancestors used their But if we merely grasp-and-throw in our fruits especially big and attractive. Highly hands to make an increasingly complex stride, we miss the relaxation aspect that specialized pollination was still useful for array of stone tools, they used them for must underlie intelligent, information-rich some flowering plants, but the free-for-all the far more basic tasks of carrying food or grasping, which can be a form of accepting. competition for these big new goodies was babies, as well as picking ripe fruit without The shock of a log or a boulder meeting the an advantage in a world where everything wrecking it so badly that we couldn’t give sole of the foot is better met lightly than was changing rapidly. In the fierce scramble, it to others. In other words, we switched tightly. This collected-and-stored gravity birds predominated. (That’s when they from catching things with our claws to (and knowledge) can thereby be gathered weren’t trying to become the top predators an increased sensory awareness through softly, gracefully, gratefully, the force in the new ecosystem, which they nearly our nailed digits. The two processes – radiating with equal gratitude up into the succeeded in accomplishing.) After all, birds sensing and serving – evolved in tandem. whole rest of the balancing system. had one advantage denied to mammals: they Likewise, hands and feet seem to diverge could see color. They quickly developed For one thing, this goes back to what I in Homo sapiens, but in fact their separate the ability to discern when these new fruits have written before: that the primary specializations support and, to put it in an were at their ripest. Mammals, by contrast, function of toes is not biomechanical, but open-ended way, ‘enlighten’ each other. had lost color-vision. Even before dinosaurs sensory. They are our antennae, designed took over, our remote ancestors had carved Palms and Soles: to prepare the ‘eye of the foot’ itself to be a out a nocturnal niche. The long night took The Dance of Opposites perceiver more than an actor. But there is its toll. But Archicebus, with its small eyes, still a biomechanical component to all this: was already emerging into the light. We Down the road toward us, the specialization relaxation, which is simply eccentric rather don’t actually know whether Archicebus of the human hand goes in one direction, than concentric movement of muscles. In a saw in color. We only know that most of its and the specialization of the human foot sense, the ‘pupil’ of the foot’s ‘eye’ dilates to descendants can do this, almost uniquely for seems to go in the opposite direction. receive force and information at the same mammals. (Some marsupials see in color.) But, paradoxically, these two seemingly time . . . provided that force and perception opposite developments at opposing ends are differentiated with sufficient nuance. With its large canines and the sharp crests of the appendicular complex contribute (or on its premolars, Archicebus was still a bug- have the potential to contribute) to mutual From catching to caressing, from merely cruncher. Actual fruit-eating probably can learning. How many of us use hand or grasping to what Ed Maupin has called “the be detected in the genus Apidium a mere wrist exercises to foster coronal awareness curious touch,” the foot and the hand both 30 million years ago, with its more derived down below? How many of us have noticed express two aspects or rather stages of one dentition, its narrower phalanges, and its that increased freedom in toes, arches, and seamless act. Our hands and feet express replacement of claws with fingernails ankles can lead to unexpected changes something deeply rooted in how we relate and toenails. But the increased flexibility in limitations on hands and wrists? All I to each other as social primates and to an permitted by the longmetatarsals of Archicebus have added here is a bit of time-depth, a bit ever-widening network of other partners in was certainly a useful preadaptation for the of context. the world of movement. further specialization of its descendants (or Again, what has this to do with us? What great-times-millions nieces or nephews) in Now I will go further. I want to add an has this to do with easing the path of the fruit-eating. Although not everybody accepts aspect that is not only biomechanical or pregnant mother, the polio survivor, the the fruit-color-vision theory of primate even perceptual, but what I might call running addict? Sometimes the larger evolution, it remains a dominant explanation ‘interpersonal’ – if among ‘persons’ we context is more helpful than the specific for the evidence from the fossil record. include things not always human but certainly in relationship with us. We symptom or its easing. I hope I have Again, what has this to do with Rolfing exist within a web. To negotiate that provided that here. If I’ve been too vague SI? Well, it led to a newer shift anterior to web consciously is to negotiate our own and you’re hoping for something more the metatarsals, which leads to our own proprioceptive web mindfully. specific, that’s what my other article narrow and sensitive fingertips – and toe- (page 19) is about. If I’ve simply lost you tips. Now I’m going way out on a limb. In another article in this issue (Boblett 2018; on this journey, I hope you’ve wandered Wanna join me? see page 19), “The Three-Dimensional somewhere useful and beautiful. I thank Foot, Part 3: Opening the Generous Sole,” I you for your time. I welcome your ideas. The role of fruit in primate evolution is pursue specific ways of waking up a foot so often traced in our large brains and our that it senses, receives, and gives. You might Michael Boblett works in San Diego, California. complex social networks. I consider the call that other article the prose of waking He has been a Certified Rolfer since 2003 latter as more basic, since so much of our up the foot, while this article is written in and a Certified Advanced Rolfer since 2008. Michael is a retired Unitarian minister. His

www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 37 PERSPECTIVES advanced degrees (MA, MDiv, and DMin) org/2015/09/16/homo-naledis-nike-ready- Moyà-Solà, S., M. Köhler, D. Alba, and are from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, foot/ (retrieved 2/20/2018). I. Roig 2012 Jan. “Calcaneal proportions California. At seminary, he focused on the in primates and locomotor inferences American Museum of Natural History anthropology of religion, with experiential in Anchomomys and other Paleogene 2015. “Foot fossils of human relative training under Michael Harner, author of The Euprimates.” Swiss Journal of Paleontology illustrate evolutionary ‘messiness’ of Way of the Shaman. Michael runs marathons 131(1):147-159. bipedal walking: Study of Homo naledi and hikes up mountains wearing Vibram® Five suggests that new species walked upright Ni, X. et al. 2013. “The Oldest Known Fingers. His website is www.rolfer.biz. and also climbed trees.” ScienceDaily® Primate Skeleton and Early Haplorhine Endnotes 10/6/ 2015. www.sciencedaily.com/ Evolution.” Nature 498:60-64 (5 June, 2013). releases/2015/10/151006131938.htm Available at www.nature.com/articles/ 1. From The Blind Watchmaker: Why the (retrieved 2/18/2017). nature12200 (retrieved 2/20/2018). Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design, by Richard Dawkins. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1986. 2. According to Moyà-Solà et al. (2012), “this analysis reveals that primates as a group An Abundance of Riches display a relatively longer distal calcaneus, relative to both total calcaneal length and Are We Forgetting Our Unique Contribution? body mass, when compared with other By Michael J. Salveson, Advanced Rolfing® Instructor mammals. Contrary to current expectations, morphofunctional analysis indicates that a moderate degree of calcaneal elongation is It is obvious that these days we can access Gaggini may have taken some preliminary not an adaptation to leaping, but merely a tissue layers in the body that were not steps in this direction, as they point out compensatory mechanism to recover the part of Dr. Rolf’s ‘Recipe’. Our ability to how examining for visceral restrictions lost load arm (metatarsal length) when sense and use the mobility of the cranium, in the areas associated with certain stages the foot adopts a grasping function in the inherent motility in the membranous or goals of the Recipe may support a order to maintain locomotor efficiency. system of the central nervous system, useful outcome. However, in general Leaping can be inferred only when anterior and the fluidic matrix have come to the indication for their use is usually calcaneal length departs from the scaling us via the American osteopaths. The the presence of a perceived restriction of non-specialized primate groups.” In French osteopaths have developed ways to mobility, irrespective of structural other words, the calcaneus of Archicebus of mobilizing viscera and the sheaths considerations. While biodynamic work achilles displays not only the distal but also around peripheral and cranial nerves that has no structural theory, it does propose anterior elongation consistent with leaping, give us valuable tools for relieving pain a self-organizing model of the organism. thereby setting Archicebus apart from even and supporting our goal of structural The degree to which the outcome of this more primitive Paleogene primates like integration (SI). For all this we are grateful. self-organizing activity accords with our view of SI is an open question. Anchomomys, which even then showed However, this abundance brings with it a calcaneal adaptation to the grasping serious challenges regarding the appropriate What seems to be happening is that motion allowed by elongated metatarsals. use of this knowledge. The theoretical practitioners are learning biodynamic, The reason I don’t use Anchomomys for this and practical formulations pioneered by craniosacral, visceral, and nerve-release article is because that species only shows Dr. Rolf regarding the role of connective techniques without a framework to assist in fragmented remains, thereby not giving tissue in human structure, the systemic them in making decisions about when to me the interesting pattern of juxtaposed interconnectedness of structural elements of employ these techniques in the course of ‘primitive’ and ‘evolved’ traits that I find the body, and the importance of an economic a Rolfing session. This can unfortunately, useful in making my case about feet. and optimal relationship to gravity continue result in a technique-based practice. Bibliography to be the touchstones of the practice of Simply releasing all the visceral or nerve Rolfing SI. Biodynamic, craniosacral work, restrictions or contacting the inherent Boblett, M. 2018 Mar. “The Three- visceral work, and nerve work, if they are to organizing capacity of the biodynamic Dimensional Foot, Part 3: Opening the be incorporated into the practice of Rolfing system without considering whether the Generous Sole.” Structural Integration: The SI, will have to fit into our existing theoretical time is better spent organizing fascia or Journal of the Rolf Institute® 46(1):19-22. and technical framework. releasing joint restrictions does not produce the most profound outcomes Rolfing SI is Boblett, M. 2015 Nov. “The Three- It is important to remember that visceral and capable of producing. It is always a question Dimensional Animal: Changing Views of nerve release work are techniques. There is of how the time with our client is best utilized Bipedalism and Its Limitations.” Structural no theory of structure associated with their to produce an optimal result. I have seen Integration: The Journal of the Rolf Institute® application. While it is acknowledged that occasions when a practitioner chooses 43(3):28-31. releasing visceral restrictions and nerve to release perceived nerve restrictions, compressions has structural implications, Howley, A. 2015. “Homo naledi’s Nike Ready while the client complains of not being there is no thought yet as to the sequencing Foot.” National Geographic’s “Changing able to take a deep breath. The obvious of this release to promote optimal structure. Planet” blog, September 16, 2015. Available structural limitations to the free movement Bruce Schonfeld, Peter Schwind, and Liz at https://blog.nationalgeographic. of the diaphragm were overlooked and not

38 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org PERSPECTIVES addressed: the practitioner was focused on the biodynamic, craniosacral system is Michael Salveson was educated in philosophy nerve release, ignoring obvious significant necessary and useful. To what extent is and religion, trained as a Rolfer by Dr. Rolf structural problems, which if dealt with the use of ancillary techniques directly in 1969, trained as an Advanced Rolfer in would have benefitted the client much more supportive of the goal the practitioner the first Advanced Training Rolf taught, and than the effects of the nerve release. defines for the session? To just apply the trained by Rolf to be one of the five instructors techniques without a structural framework of Rolfing SI she trained in her lifetime. Michael We have a limited time with each client. is not Rolfing SI and will not produce the was president of the Rolf Institute® from 1978 The most important decision we make in a most profound outcome. These decisions to 1982. He has been a practitioner of Taoist session is how to spend that time in a way would have to reflect the fact that choosing chi gong for twenty-six years. He is currently that will create maximum benefit for the not to work in the myofascial network working to develop a coherent Rolfing approach client. It was Dr. Rolf’s assertion – and it is would produce a better result than one to the ligamentous bed that controls movement my experience – that our unique perspective would get by working there. We have and position of the articular surfaces of the body. and skills in managing the organization of done a great deal of work to articulate the the connective-tissue system should be the qualities of the result we expect from good starting point of our inquiry. Doing what we Rolfing SI, so we should know what we are can to improve continuity in this system is looking for. It is a question of how we best usually a good use of our time and is our use our time to get the result. unique contribution to the well-being of our client. There are certainly times when conditions warrant releasing a visceral restriction around the liver to free the diaphragm, Navigating Between Technical for instance, or releasing a tight nerve sheath around the medial malleolus to mobilize the talus. It is very common Refinement and the Vast for me, particularly when dealing with a disorganized pelvis or lower lumbar vertebrae and the associated thickened Dimensions of the Soul connective tissue, to spend significant time at the end of the session using the inherent An Interview with Peter Schwind motion of the craniosacral system to make By Allan Kaplan, Certified Advanced Rolfer™ and Peter Schwind, Advanced subtle and precise final adjustments in the Rolfing® Instructor segments that I have been working with and to promote integration within the spine and Allan Kaplan: So, I’m glad to see you. Just Reichian therapies. It was the seventies . . . its membranes. to set a general context of things, how did Lots of new ideas. Sometimes not that Rolfing SI is hard work. Practitioners are you come to become interested in Rolfing realistic but full of adventures. always free to find easier ways to spend Structural Integration (SI) and how long I was on the way to become a psychotherapist their time. Whether they produce the have you been practicing? when I had the chance to hear about Rolfing most beneficial results for their clients is Peter Schwind: I’ve been practicing now SI the first time. It happened through my the question. for thirty-seven years. Before I was trained Mexican colleague, Armando, who was also We are not able to monitor how practitioners in Rolfing SI, I had been in contact with on the way to become a psychotherapist. He practice once they have completed the work already over a period of let’s say was a mathematician originally and quite a their training. They may choose to call four or five years. I worked at a center for brilliant philosopher. He had traveled for themselves Rolfers and practice mainly psychotherapy during the time of the so- three months’ training, sort of continuous from a technique-based system of nerve or called Human Potential Movement. CE, to California, and he came back and told visceral release, etc. We have no real input me about Rolfing SI. He was so fascinated. AK: You have a degree in psychology, into this situation. We do have input into His reports stimulated me to make the don’t you? how we train them and how we articulate suggestion to our psychotherapy center in the practice of Rolfing SI. We need to PS: No. I have a degree in philosophy. Munich that we invite his Rolfer. He came. articulate a point of view that accounts for the In those days, you were able to train as He stayed at our center. He lived there benefits of using ancillary techniques within a a psychotherapist if you had a PhD in with his family for quite a long period, and myofascial, structural context. philosophy. Or if you had a PhD in theology, he did the ten sessions with, I remember you could also enter psychotherapy exactly, ninety-four of our clients. Our task will be to determine when to training. So I got into psychoanalysis first, use these ‘ancillary’ techniques. We may AK: Oh, my gosh! and then all the emotional therapies, and be able to identify where in the Recipe started training with a psychoanalyst for PS: He did a lot of Rolfing sessions. Most we should look to see if visceral or nerve three years in Munich. Got in contact with of the people, more than I think ninety or restrictions are significant issues and Gestalt therapy, Bioenergetic Analysis, ninety-one people, were totally enthusiastic how to determine this. Likewise, we will Primal Therapy [aka Primal Scream], about his work. He was one of the very early need to demonstrate when contact with

www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 39 PERSPECTIVES

from a perspective of good old American bone-setting. The community in New Mexico didn’t have that much money and when people were in trouble they appreciated if you could help out them with their back pain, with their damaged knees. Jan’s model for the class was a mercenary soldier. He had been a professional boxer before that, then he went to fight in Africa. This guy had been blowing up bridges every day, had been tortured, had really been to some of the dark edges of life. Jan, in his work with this guy, taught me many things that I still feel grateful for nowadays. Allan Kaplan Peter Schwind ©Tachi Jan was not the only one. When I left the class, I visited Michael Salveson in Rolfers, he had studied in Ida’s first class John Lodge as my teacher and Charles Berkeley, and Michael connected me with and in her two Advanced Tranings. His Siemers from LA was a brilliant assistant. Peter Levine. I had the chance to stay for name was Lloyd Kaechele. In those days John Lodge was a very, very serious and two weeks with Peter at Esalen. We started he lived in Topanga Canyon. impressive, colorful personality who had a dialogue that was continued many done very important things in his life. He years later, when Peter came to Europe AK: Oh! I knew him in Japan. worked as an actor for a TV series but also to teach Somatic Experiencing®. As for PS: Yeah. Later on he lived in Guam. He in movies with great Hollywood people, like Michael, he started with me, I would say, was a great guy. Originally he worked as for example Greta Garbo. He was a pilot and on an intellectual and conceptual level, an a scientist for NASA. He had met Ida by he bombed the German city of Frankfurt exchange of ideas that was like the other chance at a breakfast place. She was sitting into ash and fire as a bomber pilot. He was side of the practical door that Jan opened for next to his table and they started to talk a great painter and painting instructor. He me as an incredible craftsman and tinkerer. together. After that talk he skipped his had prepared for the class that I audited Michael was and is always a lesson for me well-paying career at NASA and became a for almost a year. He took it very seriously. whenever I want to think and rethink our Rolfer. A brilliant man. I think the experience He had shut down his practice for a year to concepts. We started a friendship through of the first ten hours with him had a collect all the notes from the early teachers, the connection of his European wife, tremendous impact on my physical and to collect all the notes from Ida’s classes, and Georgette, that later led to the first European psychological well-being. I still remember he did a great class. classes. I organized these classes when I how he performed the traditional pelvic lift. At the end of the class, he took me aside was the European representative of the It was an almost transcendental experience and said, “Listen, Peter. You are different. Rolf Institute®, only responsible to Richard to feel, how something inside the spinal You are from Europe. There is only one Stenstadvold and the Board of Directors – a channel and inside the cranium released. teacher who will be able to teach you.” representative who could do whatever he Later I understood that he was able to release The class was full, but those were days of liked to do, like a Bavarian king in a tiny little the dura mater by doing an old-style pelvic political and administrative incorrectness kingdom of Rolfing SI in Munich! lift. During those days I had no idea that [chuckles]. So he asked the administration there is something like an envelope of the AK: Oh boy . . . Then after that initial to remove one person from the class he was spinal cord and the brain. Nevertheless – period, you struck out and studied with a talking about – a class in Santa Fe with Jan the experience was – for me – of a unique number of different people. You spent time Sultan. He said, “You need to study with Jan depth. Today it reminds me of William G. with Dick Demmerle? [Editor’s note: Dick Sultan.” He did me a great favor, because Sutherland’s concept of the pelvic lift, that Demmerle, one of Ida Rolf’s sons, was a the atmosphere of studying with Jan in he had taught during his first course about Rolfer who lived in Switzerland.] Santa Fe was completely different from craniosacral osteopathy. We had an exchange the atmosphere in Boulder. It’s not that I PS: A considerable amount of time. I think of letters all the way up to Lloyd’s death. want to put down the Boulder experience: that the instruction I got from Richard AK: That’s fascinating. I met him in Japan it was great, and I enjoyed it tremendously, Demmerle was a meaningful continuation and I actually did a session on him there, but we were basically working on healthy of the beginning times with Jan and the many years ago. So, you were inspired to teenagers as models. With Jan’s work, I talks with Michael. Richard Demmerle’s become a Rolfer, and then launched on entered a different world. He took some way of doing body reading was a milestone a long career. Who were your influences of us aside, he showed us quite a few for me. I traveled over a period of two along the way and what was your vision techniques that were not allowed in Boulder years to Zurich to spend time alone with of Rolfing SI for yourself? in a standard class [more chuckling]. him, and with incredible love and care he really helped me to develop a very PS: When I look back, I remember one He inspired me, with his incredible manual significant capacity of seeing, to figure out experience. In those days we had two Basic creativity, to really fall in love with Rolfing that there are only maybe two very deep Training phases, the so-called auditing and SI from another perspective. Not only from places of holding in the organism. This is the practitioning. I did my auditing with the perspective of human potential, but still a keystone for me today. There are two,

40 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org PERSPECTIVES maybe three, sometimes there is just one 1982, the first cranial class for us in Europe, I think that the concepts of Ida Rolf and place. I started to understand that those with only seven participants: a chiropractor, Barral are almost opposite to each other – at significant places are a dynamic, three- a dentist, myself, Robert Schleip, and another least at first glance. Ida Rolf worked far away dimensional reality. I realized that it is not two or three people. I continued my basic from the deepest problem, trying to resolve so much ‘lines’, it is not layers, it is, to quote cranial studies together with one of the the problem from somewhere else, saying, our colleague Jeff Maitland, the reality of first French osteopaths, who practiced in “Go where it ain’t.” Barral goes where it is, the spacious body. It reminds me of the Munich. No school, no college, all unofficial there, where we find the deepest motion osteopathic concept of the primary lesion. and one-on-one. restriction – right away – and does not let go until the whole organism responds. What I think Richard Demmerle inherited this Then, later, I got in contact with Lawrence I try to do is to bring these two different vision from his mother. She trained him Jones and studied two weeks with him perspectives, these two different approaches, when he was a twelve-year-old boy. He tried about his Strain Counterstrain method, but I together. That seemed to be impossible for to give that vision to me; he’d say, “Peter, was still, I would say, a very classical Rolfer. me for a long time. For a long time I thought look, it’s not that; it’s not that; it’s that. Now Very, very faithful to that what Emmett had I would have to say goodbye to Rolfing SI. go and show me how to do it.” It was not taught – to not do too many other things. The osteopaths always wanted to make a real without stress to study with him, but it was The truth was, Emmett was incredibly osteopath out of me. They wanted to found a great, great privilege. Peter Melchior once supportive of any kind of innovation I was a school with me, you know, but finally we was at a workshop that I organized for the trying to do. I was really a bloody beginner decided I wouldn’t do it. two of them in Munich, and afterwards he who had no idea, but he supported me in took me aside and said, “You know, Peter the most outstanding way, and we had a Barral once told me, “You know, Peter, there Schwind, this man, the son of Ida Rolf, he fantastic dialogue. is no doubt that Ida Rolf was very good, truly loves you.” but nobody knows what she was doing. We So most of it I think I learned based on the only have interpretations of that.” I got quite AK: That’s great. Then, after Dick, you great practical knowledge of Jan Sultan, different interpretations from the teachers of became acquainted with osteopathy and and also much of what is important for the first generation, but somehow Barral’s also discovered Jean-Pierre Barral and me nowadays I learned during endless statement gave me, for the first time, the Didier Prat. evenings with Peter Melchior in the freedom to go for my own interpretation Bavarian beer gardens. I assisted him in PS: That was ten years later, the story with and to stimulate in the brains and in the two Basic Trainings, then another with Barral. I was asked very early, after one year hands of my students and colleagues their Stacy Mills. Then, later, I assisted Jan in of practice, that I should prepare myself to own interpretation of the work of Ida Rolf. two Advanced Trainings. Then I finally become an instructor, and I should come For a long, long time, for twenty years, I got to know my great friend and creative very early to the Advanced Training. I only taught Rolfers. Jean-Pierre told me co-teacher, Jeff Maitland, who taught two did an Advanced Training with Peter and once, “You have an ethical obligation to other Advanced Trainings with me. Because Emmett Hutchins very early, after one year teach your practical knowledge, which is of the philosophy background that we of practice, and then I assisted Peter in not necessarily classic Rolfing SI. You teach share, that’s another very, very important several Basic Trainings. I assisted Emmett, that to everybody who wants to study with piece. And all my studies happened in a Tom Wing, Peter, Stacy Mills, Jan – all those you.” That has given me a lot of freedom. dialogue with my Swiss friend Hans Flury. people in several workshops and classes. At The clarity – and productive radicalism – of AK: That’s fascinating. It really gives an the same time I had a good friend, a German his thoughts about structural integration interesting perspective on the work itself. MD, who had started at Kirksville in were another milestone. Some articles of his I think what you’ve said is very valuable. osteopathy – there were osteopathy schools journal – Notes on Structural Integration – are These days, what do you feel is the most in England, but not in Germany or France essential for all my teachings nowadays. valuable dimension of the manual Rolfing yet. He started to teach me some basic work? Where is your work, and where do knowledge about joint function tests and So I would say that I had a lot of influences, you see it going? all this kind of thing. We worked together from teachers, from colleagues like Bill for many, many years. That was my first Smythe, but to tell you the truth, it was PS: For me personally, it is important to contact with osteopathy. just the concepts of Ida, again and again, underline all the time that the work has that kept me busy . . . and I tried to keep two dimensions. One dimension helps the Then, I arranged the first European classes it as pure as possible. Then there was my person in a way that is very personal to his that Michael Salveson taught in Europe, encounter with Jean-Pierre Barral that or her identity. For example, it may make a assisted by my friend Michel Ginoulhac almost threw me out of the saddle – that musician play better. It may make a person (who some know as Vandan) from France. was after ten years of practice. I have now more at peace with himself. So it’s things Michel and I stared to explore cranial work. been a friend and student of Barral over that are not true for all people but are true And when I heard that John Upledger left a period of twenty-eight years, and have for some people, and it’s very personal. I the cranial academy, I immediately wrote assisted him almost every year on two or sometime hesitate to talk about this. and asked if he would come to Munich three courses. That has certainly influenced and teach a small group. He wrote that he For example, I have a client who is a young my work more than anything else. I believe had no time because he had just started his musician, a conductor. I originally worked that it is not so easy to connect his approach institute, but he sent one of his assistants – with him because he couldn’t raise his arm with classical Rolfing SI. Charlie Swenson, a Rolfer who used to teach anymore. That was not such a big problem anatomy for us. I organized, I think it was in to resolve, but then he asked me, “Could you help me so that I conduct differently?

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So that I conduct like so and so” – a famous my colleagues see it completely differently. We co-taught the sessions four to seven conductor from Germany. I said, “You know, It’s just my view that these are the two ways of a Basic Training a few years ago. It it takes a while but we can try and do that.” to destroy Rolfing SI, and I would rather was a privilege to study with such a fine, So I studied how this famous conductor, not see it destroyed. I would rather see it intelligent, and creative person as Hubert. I the old one, conducts. But how do you do refined within its own capacity. feel my understanding benefitted a lot from that with your hands as a Rolfer? How do working with Hubert. And I do include AK: Yes. What do you see being you make another conductor out of a young some of Hans Flury’s ideas about ‘Normal a relationship between Rolfing SI and American? That’s a big, big challenge. He Function’ in my work. I am not very good psychotherapy? traveled to Europe a few times for that, and at it, but I do not want to miss this valuable we are on the way. So that’s a personal thing. PS: I treated a world-famous movement work in my everyday practice. psychotherapist who had her Rolfing The other dimension, for me, is the potential My own – very small – contribution to sessions under Ida personally, way back, of Rolfing SI, like other manual disciplines movement work is many times a sort of and we have been in dialogue twenty- also, to do what bone-setters were doing: mini-session where I try to watch clients six years or more. I think that there is no you just offer solutions for simple – and in their everyday activities and give them doubt that Rolfing SI has an underlying sometimes severe – physical problems. We little cues. Or I send them to a movement psychotherapeutic dimension for some cannot make miracles happen all the time, teacher. I must say that my own history with people, and that’s why we have to apply our but if you cannot raise your arm for half movement is more rooted outside of our approach very, very carefully. Of course, a year, if you cannot get into your most community because I have been studying when we do bodywork we get in touch beautiful Italian jacket anymore, you will with very different schools – first oriental with more than the body. And we make it start to appreciate this second dimension martial arts, later different styles of Tai Chi. easier for the soul, if we are able to treat the of Rolfing SI. This dimension, the so-called I’ve studied Tai Chi for more than forty years physical reality in a good way. Some of my fixing things, was almost forbidden during now with different people, and practice very colleagues are better trained in psychology the old days of our discipline. I always regularly. For me, this adds to that what I do than I am and they may do something thought that fixing things is an honor and manually. I’m now going to teach for the first that is close to body-psychotherapy, but it is an obligation. I don’t want somebody time a two-day workshop, not movement, I always see a danger – because the body messing around with standard Rolfing SI let’s say exercise, for the Munich Group in has so much its own dynamics and it’s so on my personality if he is not even able to 2018. It’s a two-day program of how to do complex, when we go too much into the fix my knee – do you know what I mean? movement work on yourself for your organs. psychological direction, I lose some of the It’s based on certain oriental exercises. I AK: Right. refinement on the physical level, which is realized not everybody in the West wants to part of what characterizes Rolfing SI. PS: Some people are more talented in one study Tai Chi or yoga for forty years, several dimension or the other, but for me both And it’s the same for any other modality hours a day. I always asked myself what dimensions are very, very essential. It is that we try to add on. I had to say goodbye Westerners can benefit from, people who simply important that we understand that to psychotherapy after five years of study, do not have much time. My workshop will the old Rolfing SI was focused too much just because I realized that Rolfing SI is its own be called “Fascial Training for the Organs.” on the fascia of the muscles. There was very field and I really had to focus and had so AK: What are your interests these days? I little understanding from the membranous much to learn. If I want to cross that bridge know you have written a number of books subdivisions inside the thorax, inside the from the body all the way over to the soul, and you’ve got a brand-new book out. cranium, even inside the extremities. If it’s a very, very different field, it’s a very we wanted to work with the interosseous huge field. I probably need to study that PS: This book is my favorite. It’s a popular membrane in the lower leg, we would make much more than I studied Rolfing SI to be book – meaning it’s for everybody. It’s a the sessions longer or push harder, but we really comfortable with it. little bit in the tradition of Oliver Sacks, could push for another twenty years on the the neurologist. I have always adored his AK: How about movement? How do you lower leg and never get the interosseous writings and had been too shy to try to write involve that in your practice? You were membrane to open, unless we interact in something in that direction. Finally, I had talking about working with the conductor. an indirect way with the inherent tension the courage. The book is called The Croissant Was that more movement oriented? Or how of forces of that very dense tissue. Inside the Brain and it will be published in the do you approach that sort of thing? United States in 2018. It’s about the work that So what is important for me in the manual PS: Well, first of all, I think if we do manual Jean-Pierre Barral does on the human brain part of our work (the movement part is still work intelligently on a person, we can use and that he taught me eight years ago. He another dimension) is that we don’t lose active micromovement or other motions of hasn’t yet taught a workshop about this, but our identity. There are two ways to lose the client. We can actually use the person’s he will start in two years to teach it. He told our identity. One way is fundamentalism awareness. I think a lot of movement work me that right now he doesn’t have enough and orthodoxy, what I like to call ‘Recipe can be done without teaching movement. knowledge about the brain to talk about it, fetishism’. That’s one way to destroy Rolfing That’s the first thing. Then the other thing I but he gave me individual instruction on SI. The other way to lose our identity is to must say is that I was very, very impressed how to do this work, and I’ve experimented add different modalities of work that have with the contribution that Hubert Godard with it now for almost eight years, to try to nothing to do with the authentic concept made to the whole movement concept apply this work on people who are victims and the typical quality of touch of our around Rolfing SI. I went through a of severe strokes and have lost their capacity discipline. This is my understanding, and whole series of workshops with Hubert. to talk, or who are half paralyzed. The book I feel absolutely comfortable that some of

42 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org PERSPECTIVES is really dedicated to Barral’s great creativity. before I was ready to make some interesting Michael Salveson especially. I hope I didn’t It’s a sort of biography of our friendship at conclusions. Maybe somewhere down the forget too many. Also, Louis Schultz as an the same time. It is a case study of a man who road I will be able to do more detailed anatomist and a Rolfer was important. had lost the capacity of speech through a writing about it. So far I have been teaching I could have done a few other things in my stroke, and in how he’s able to talk again after people in three-day special workshops how life. I won several scholarships very young, the two of us together treated his brain. It’s a to treat scoliosis manually, how to help with already in high school, to study at the Mozart very exciting story. I try to be very modest, exercises. I have also started a very intense Conservatory as a violinist, and I did a few with a lot of doubts about me, ourselves, dialogue with surgeons, because there things that I enjoyed tremendously when our approach. are some scoliosis where after a certain I was a young man. I am still happy that I number of years they go into total collapse The book was published in Germany a said goodbye to those different professional and the heart gets so much pressure that year or so ago, and it has brought quite a worlds that I was just getting involved with one lung cannot function any more and few people to me who are in a desperate as a young man. Except to the world of you have to do surgery. I’ve started to situation of life. So that’s the challenge and music, that I did not totally say goodbye take care of those people after the surgery that’s my greatest joy at the moment, to to. That’s perhaps the last thing I want to was done, and that has also improved my work with people who have severe brain say. I just had an email from my colleague perspective of what scoliosis really means. damage. Of course I studied quite a bit the and friend, Harvey Burns, who is also an Because now the surgery has improved thinking of Moshe Feldenkrais, and had ex-musician – or a musician, because you incredibly, there’s no rod anymore, they great Feldenkrais® people work on my own are never an ‘ex-musician’. He shared with are just small units of titanium that you body. That has influenced me a lot. Basically, me a very beautiful statement that the singer fit very well. It shows that the surgery can I try to understand what Barral’s work is on Sting made. It has something to do with align the spine, but the surgery is not able the brain. A part of what I do in practice silence. I’m sure most of us know the Fifth to balance the pressure changes inside the may be a misunderstanding, but I hope it Symphony of Beethoven, the da-da-da-dum at cavities of the body. So it shows me again may be a productive misunderstanding. the beginning. What Sting said was that the that scoliosis has very little to do with the pause after those first four tones is probably AK: Well, let’s hope so. I know scoliosis was spine and spinal curvature. Rather scoliosis what’s most important, what’s revolutionary a big interest of yours in the past. Are you is a genetically conditioned, individual in what Beethoven did. Before him that sort still charging ahead with that? solution to spatial, inner imbalances, which of meaningful pause didn’t exist in that is not always productive. Sorry about these PS: Oh yes. I’ve been invited a lot by way. What I want to share is that the silence philosophical statements. scoliotic experts, clinics and so on, trying to during the session is what is most important. liberate a new concept, a new typology of AK: No. It sounds to me exactly relevant. The moment after we did something with scoliosis. It is encouraging that my favorite our hands, and the moment we withdraw PS: There are some other surgeons in Italy idea – that most scoliosis has a very clear our hands and wait in silence, may be the who do very interesting microsurgery genetic disposition – was confirmed by most important. at the end of the scoliosis, close to the some research in Japan last year, where they filum terminale where the dura comes out AK: Yes. Thank you very much. actually found a very specific gene that is towards the coccyx. It’s micro-interventions, responsible for the development. PS: Thank you very much for the great and you have a tremendous impact on questions. AK: Oh, really! the dura. Anyway, it’s really an exciting adventure with scoliosis now, that started Peter Schwind has worked in private practice PS: Yes. The truth is I was very disappointed for me many, many years ago with my in Munich, Germany since 1980. He teaches about the results I had in the first ten years disappointment with the results of the advanced Rolfing classes for the European of my work with scoliotic people. Some standard Recipe for scoliotic people. Still, I Rolfing Association and Fascial and Membrane of my first scoliotic clients I have now tell you, the truth is I feel at the beginning. Technique at the Munich-Group (www.munich- observed since they were teenagers many, There is an international society for research group.com) and for postgraduate students in the many years ago. I have observed them over with scoliosis. They’ve invited me all the field of osteopathy. He is also an instructor for thirty-five years. I have tried to observe how time these past years, and I’ve never gone visceral manipulation at the Barral Institute the scoliosis develops in the membranous because I have the feeling it’s premature – and the director of Munich-Group-Media system of the newborn infant – when you I am still not able to make my statements (www.munich-group-media.com), dedicated cannot see anything on X-ray, where the clear enough. But I have enough practical to produce teaching DVDs about the work of spine is totally straight, but you still can see experience now to start to bring more order Jean-Pierre Barral. how the cavities inside the trunk or inside into my thinking about it. the cranium show the scoliotic pattern. Allan Kaplan became a Certified Rolfer in 1988. I have tried to make clear distinctions of AK: Do you have you anything else you Since then, he’s done the Advanced Training types of scoliosis that are, for example, want to add for the readers? twice, assisted both Basic Rolfing Trainings related to a certain development, how the in Boulder and visceral manipulation classes PS: The only thing I want to add is that I organs find their places inside the cavities with Didier Prat, DO, and studied osteopathy feel so privileged that I could study with of the embryo when the embryo is only like in Canada. He now continues his visceral so many teachers: Jim Asher, Jan Sultan, three inches tall. manipulation studies with Jean-Pierre Barral, Michael Salveson, Tom Wing, Emmett DO in Europe. I followed some of the babies from the age Hutchins, Stacey Mills, Peter Melchior – all of four weeks up to the age of eighteen those people of the first generation, and

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very sensitive to where the practitioner Working with Ma stood. Particular arrangements between the practitioner and the client could result Further Refinement of the Yielding Approach in the client, or both client and practitioner, feeling uncomfortable or unable to settle. through Time, Space, and Intersubjectivity Some clients would feel different qualities By Hiroyoshi Tahata, Certified Advanced Rolfer™, Rolf Movement® Instructor dependent upon where the practitioner stood, and they would give feedback such as, “too close,” “I’m feeling pressure,” When we see conditioning, sometimes Introduction “[some part] is starting to react,” “I’m feeling in a responsive client whatever process settled down,” “something is flowing,” etc., The ‘Art of Yield’ demonstrates that effective is currently needed will occur as an according to the different arrangements. structural change can be achieved through autonomic response, before the practitioner When the client and I could find the specific gentle and brief, but precisely timed, touch intentionally touches her/his body. In place that allowed settling into mutual (Agneessens and Tahata 2012, McConnell setting up this field, sessions are done with comfort, the client could allow herself/ and Tahata 2015). This approach can the sense of ‘less is more’. This is a sense I himself to yield into the massage table with facilitate drastic structural change as shown aspire to in all of my sessions. in Figure 1. ease, even if I remained in my position The Art of Yield is a living practice that without making physical contact. I came to ‘Yielding touch’ effectively provides a continues to develop in refinement. This realize that this phenomenon is related to ma. ‘scaffolding’ underneath the body, which article discusses a recent refinement allows it to yield to gravity – whether into – awareness of what we call ma in Japanese – Ma the table or the ground. When the body finds that greatly enhances conditioning. As a practitioner, you may have experienced these places of scaffolding, it settles, yielding. times when you get more change in a I call this settling ‘conditioning’ and view Further Refinement client’s structure after you disengage it as the indicator that the body is ready to of the Art of Yield or step back, as opposed to firm touch change. The concept of this art of yielding or further addressing of the same area. places emphasis on conditioning or setting The first glimmer of insight for this As a client in session with your own the ‘field’ as the basis for transformation, refinement came from noticing that some practitioner, you may have occasionally felt rather than manipulation. clients lying on the massage table were that the practitioner’s touch was coercive, compressive, or just too much pressure, and that such conditions disallowed the sense of expansion or of making more space that is frequently a hallmark of our work. In all of these situations, ma is involved, as ma in the field of bodywork would include timing of interventions, the pacing of touch, titration of intervention, distance from the client, etc. Ma is a traditional Japanese concept that relates to both space and time. Ninia Sverdrup (2006), an artist who went to Tokyo specifically to understand ma, gives this wonderful description based on her experiences and perception. Ma; the empty space, the in between, the silence, the pause, the emptiness, the interval, the distance, the timing etc. is something that is present throughout the entire Japanese society, but it’s predominantly in the traditional arts that you usually refer to the concept of ma. Space and time exist in all phenomena in our world, including Rolfing sessions. Considering the concept of ma, attending Before After Before After to it, cultivating ‘good ma’ could lead to further refinement in our practice, whether Figure 1: Case study 1 of a Rolfing® Structural Integration series with Yielding. The client we are working with yielding specifically had a tendency of hyper-extended knees and O-legs before the series. The body was or any other element of Rolfing SI or Rolf integrated structurally after the ten sessions, which did not include any myofascial release. Movement. In fact, a skillful practitioner

44 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org PERSPECTIVES may already have a good sense of ma, and therefore be pacing and arranging herself/ himself with the client in the session room. This may be conscious or unconscious. (For some people, elements of this are conscious, such as the ‘negotiation of space and contact’ taught in biodynamic craniosacral work.) My proposition is that there’s a greater possibility for enhancing the quality of the session by using ma consciously. Affinity to Space Rolfing SI is an education process of the body seeking to improve the body’s relationship with gravity. The affinity of the body not only to the ground, but also to three-dimensional space, is important for human integration. Many kinds of trauma caused by accidents, injury, and medical treatment can create a deviation in spatial Figure 2. Ma is inherent in the relationship between the practitioner and the client in the recognition, and such deviations can have space. There is a specific arrangement for each session that has ‘good ma’, which I define an effect on human structure and function. as both being able to settle, creating ‘conditioning’. In the schema of this illustration, the [Hubert Godard notes this in relation practitioner finds good ma standing at location A. In contrast, the client experienced the to scoliosis in an interview with Caryn practitioner standing at A’ to be too close; with him in location B, the client felt slight tension McHose (2006).] in some area of the body; at location C, the practitioner felt reluctant and, similarly, the client felt uncomfortable. A Somatic Experiencing® or EMDR™ session has the possibility of correcting these deviations by working with visual Application of Ma Finding good ma requires of the practitioner sensation, as vision can be coupled with in Somatic Practice somatic resonance, interoception, and spatial perception. However, other primitive inclusion of the field surrounding both I have led a few workshops to see the sensory facilities linked to the perception of practitioner and client. As most beginners effect of ma on structure, without touch. space might be available as other avenues in my workshops could feel qualitative My conclusion is that there are often for the work. After all, most Rolf Movement differences standing in various locations, suitable arrangements of position between practitioners are able to find the boundary it seems that the ability to sense changes in practitioner and client that create ‘good ma’, around the body called the ‘kinesphere’, ma must be universal. whereby both feel safe and comfortable. and this capacity may operate independent Think of it as being like ‘good feng shui’. Sustainable Change of sight. No matter how the client regains Other arrangements might cause tension with Ma the missing perception, whether visually or feelings of pressure for the client, and or otherwise, we can assume that it would I said earlier that ma has both spatial and those positions would not be an appropriate facilitate the body in improving one’s temporal dimensions, so a natural line place to start (Figure 2). These positionings affinity to space. Such changes could shift of inquiry is whether the changes from will be unique to each client, each client- the quality of her/his relationship to the working with ma continue through time practitioner pairing, or even to each session. circumstances of past trauma. (i.e., are sustainable). Obviously, a practitioner is not going to be For instance, if the client’s birth involved As described elsewhere (Agneessens able to do hands-on work from a distance, delivery by forceps, s/he may sense a lack of and Tahata 2012; Tahata 2014), yielding but this exercise in determining good ma safety at the top of the head, and that may has a lasting effect. Here, I was curious indicates that there is some quality related affect development or the experience of the whether the effects achieved through to a sense of space that should underlie space above the head even into adulthood. client-practitioner placement for good the fundamental relationship between the Because of the trauma, we could say that ma alone – without touch – would last. I practitioner and the client so that both feel the head has less affinity to that space. Even was able to make one observation when safe and are able to settle. Interestingly, in commonplace medical treatments, such as a participant from a ma workshop visited dozens of workshops, the participants and vaccinations, could have an impact on the my office four days later to receive a Rolf I witnessed that the establishment of good body in relation to space. I observe that many Movement session. The two photos on the ma could facilitate the client undergoing of my clients have less affinity to the space left in Figure 4 show changes that came structural change from a distance, merely around their deltoid muscles, a common about in the workshop. The third photo, through the spatial arrangement of client injection site. Thus, for some the experience four days later, shows that the changes are and practitioner in good ma, as shown with of vaccinations in this area may set up a sort holding. This client had earlier received the client in Figure 3. This was true even of psychological boundary. Saleh et al. (2015) the basic Ten Series from a Certified Rolfer, with nonprofessional beginners in the role have gone so far as to implicate vaccination and an Advanced Rolfing Series from an of practitioner. as a cause of frozen shoulder. Advanced Rolfing instructor, and no doubt www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 45 PERSPECTIVES

Before After Before After Before After Before After Figure 3: The effect of the work with ma on the body. The sessions were from beginner-level somatic practitioners, yet in both cases the use of the concept of ma had an effect, with the core space in the abdominal area looking more open after the session. The client on the left had no experience of Rolfing sessions. The client on the right had done a ten-session series within the past five years. those sessions have supported his body with the distance, safety or a lack of safety, more ease). If they do not comment on responsiveness and resources. The photos settled or not settled, etc. what is happening, it is usually possible suggest that the work with ma was able to see a shift in the breath, transmission 3. Choose the most comfortable (settled) place to build on that, allowing further change, of micromovements, a motile response in (‘Location A’). Based on your own sensations particularly expanding his core space. the tissue, joint repositioning, or some and the client’s feedback, we will infer it has other phenomena. How to Work with Ma the best ma. Take time to settle. 5. After the client process from this setup of 4. Staying in this location, with no hands-on This section will provide some guidelines good ma has finished, move to places that you contact or other cues, wait for a response in the for working with ma. Initially you will just had tried earlier, and ask for feedback at each. client’s body. Skillful clients can give feedback be sensing ma – what feels good, what The client may now feel differences in the feels uncomfortable – and the impact of (e.g., discharge, elongation, breathing with good ma on structure without any hands- on work. After that exploration, we will discuss incorporating the concept of ma into yielding touch. Exploring Ma in Its Purity For this first exercise, find a partner to explore with, with one of you taking the role of practitioner and one the role of client. Then change roles, so you each experience 4 Days 5 Rolf Mvmt ma as both practitioner and client. sessions with Ma 1. As the practitioner, explore the space and find an initial comfortable place to be in relation to the client. As a cue to comfort, find a location where it is easy to feel your hara (the movement center in the abdomen, a bit below the umbilicus) and where your hara expands easily into the field, requiring no effort. 2. Explore the space to find other comfortable Before After 4 Days Later After 5 Rolf Mvmt Sessions places, and also note locations where you are uncomfortable and cannot settle. At each Figure 4: The effect from work with ma alone (no touch) is shown in the two photos at left. location, ask your client how he or she feels in The client’s abdominal area has opened and there is more side-to-side balance. Four days response to the ma of that position. There may later, the work is holding, as seen in the third photo. The final photo shows the client after be physical sensations, comfort or discomfort he also completed five sessions of Rolf Movement integration that included the concept of ma in the work.

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ma of these relative positions, in most cases feels something difficult with a particular impinging disc material, she was not able becoming more tolerant of them. client, looking to introduce (or restore) ma to use her right leg. The surgery removed might open the way. Similarly, consider the approximately 3/4 inch of bone in the right 6. Go back to Location A and settle element of time. When you feel difficulty in sides of the L3 and L4 vertebral bodies, again, allowing time for the process to approaching an area that you recognize as a removed the associated facets on the right feel complete. primary restriction, the ma of the situation side, and parts of the discs. After surgery, Exploring Ma with Yielding might be telling you that the area is not neurological flow along the spinal cord ready to change. One way you may feel returned and she regained partial use of The first article on yielding (Agneessens this in your interoception is as a kind of her leg and began to learn to walk again. and Tahata 2012) gave guidelines for the reluctance to approach the area. Because of the surgery, however, there was approach. Please refer to that for the basics new instability and different, flatter spinal Again, this is a living dialectic between of yield touch, so you have a sense of that curves. In the subsequent three years, Lisa the practitioner, the client, and the field. approach, to which I will now discuss the gained feeling and strength, but also broke Another practitioner might find a different addition of the concept of ma. her right leg three different times in three starting location, and his or her approach different places. In my initial work with yielding touch, might be different. All these are closely I applied it to the whole of the client’s related with the order of intervention and Now, here’s how the session went from body, working toward the settling we call each practitioner’s uniqueness. We do not Lisa’s perspective. From her description, a state of ‘conditioning’. I did not give have to do something the same way as you will see how many of the sensations any particular attention to my feelings someone else who has a different perceptual that occurred seem to relate to her injury as a practitioner – things such as when I system and a different felt relationship in history and its sequelae. You will also see would feel a ‘reluctance’. My sensing was the field with the client. that her deep experience has opened some more attuned to timing around waiting to deeper understanding of other dimensions address the next area, or staying in a place A Case Study of ma, a word that is so multifaceted as to until I had a sense that the space around Now, to see how ma is brought in, let’s be untranslatable. the client’s body gave me permission to look at a case study. I worked on my approach by coming into some sort of I am grateful that I stepped forward fellow faculty member Lisa Fairman affinity with various vectors in the space. for the opportunity to be your for a demonstration at the 2017 Rolf demonstration client. This was a ® With ma, the operational principle for the Institute faculty meeting (see Figure 5). courageous act for me – sharing myself practitioner is to arrange himself or herself I did not expect any particular results in this way in front of a group – as I in specific positions in the room according from the demonstration. I was motivated am a rather private individual. My to somatic resonance felt in the hara. This to share the concept of ma with my curiosity to understand and experience kinespheric sensation does not depend faculty colleagues because, after exploring the work that Hiro brings forward on visual orientation; you can perceive ma, I considered that perhaps it was a was compelling. I wanted a felt-sense differences with eyes closed. This sensation phenomenon inherent to our work, perhaps exploration. The session proved to be of ma will guide and help you to understand related to the therapeutic relationship and one of my more profound Rolfing® the order of intervention. Keeping suitable the nonformulistic approach. Working Structural Integration experiences. ma means maintaining a comfortable with ma is a nonlinear model; processes sensation. When you feel reluctant to stay happen according to the body’s needs. If As I stood in front of the group at the or touch, it might be a cue that you should ma is not needed, nothing would happen. beginning of the session, I verbally not stay or you should not touch there. So my stance in this session was simply shared that I felt a notable and long- By yielding to these guiding sensations, to yield to the whole process. I put my lived discomfort deep in my right hip the order of intervention is determined. body in a position with good ma and then and that I felt more weight in my left Moreover, by keeping the sense of ma, the waited with no strategy, no analysis, and side and through my left leg. When practitioner does not force change on the no expectations. walking, I felt more ease, fluidity, and client, as good ma is always determined by more anterior-posterior motion of my Before sharing Lisa’s comments about her their mutual sensation of agreed comfort. left ilia relative to my right. There was experience, I’m going to start by giving you a ‘hitch in my giddy-up’ on my right From workshops, I found that each some background information – that I myself side and my low back ached. practitioner-client setup had its own unique was unaware of at the time. I only learned position of good ma. We are all unique this from Lisa in later communications. I will While lying supine on the table, eyes presences with different perceptions and give it to you first, so that you will be able to softly closed, I gradual became more kinespheres, so it is natural that the ma identify the organic intelligence operating in peaceful and much more aware. The positional arrangement of the practitioner the field of good ma. growing rich awareness included the and the client should be uniquely arising in physicality of my body, the spaciousness Lisa had a spinal cord injury about eleven the moment and fluctuating. of my being, and a novel type of dialog. I years ago: all of her lumbar discs herniated, remember a gentle curiosity as I felt into When working with a client who exhibits and the L5-S1 disc shattered and migrated and within my cells. I noticed the space good responsiveness, you do not have to up to push on the spinal cord. From the and texture between cells. There was pay such explicit attention to ma. You could injury she was not able to walk, sit, or stand [a] time of discomfort around the left say that you are already ‘in the groove’ for more than five minutes and until she side of my peritoneal bag – internally or ‘in the zone’. However, if you start to had surgery, a month later, to removed the with organs and also with visceral

www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 47 PERSPECTIVES

Before After Before After

Figure 5: The effect of working withma on structure. In the before and after photos, we see that from the work her body is more uplifted than before. Her face, after the session, expresses the “joy” she describes feeling. The photo at right shows the session in process.

connections inside and outside of the Standing, you asked me what I was feelings I experienced in a near-death peritoneal bag. Some time passed and noticing . . . I mentioned feeling more drowning episode years ago . . . when what I remember next were very intense ease, more anterior-posterior movement I realized that, no matter how much I connections and attentions at my right of my right illia, more of a lumbar curve, struggled, I could not free myself of the side in and around L3 to L5 and the clearer connection to earth, and more ropes that held me under water, I became associated areas of my spinal cord and open . . . and what was most significant very clear. I let go. I felt free and fluid. dural tube. It felt like very specific and for me was the prominent sense of joy. I felt a sense of connectiveness within refined palpations that keenly invited I clearly remembering sharing that I and around me. A profound sense of my attention. The refined ‘palpations’, wanted to dance – an expression of my joy enveloped me. It was lovely. I do connections and attention had a quality joy. Right then! Dance! The sense of joy not know how [that] relates to our ma of accuracy, clarity and refinement that was deep, profound, and gentle. It was a Rolfing session. I image it may be in I do not remember ever experiencing sense of joy within me and around me. the commonality of fundamentally before when touched. I recall a feeling A feeling of connection and belonging – experiencing profound joy and ease, of building focus and sense of sorting physically, spiritually, and emotionally. albeit in different manners. Or perhaps, that brought ease and relief. During as I am just beginning to understand, Months after the session, I continue to this entire time lying supine I believe it is ma – the pause, the space, the play with, embody, and evolve the work. you physically, hands on, lightly and relationship – that is the commonality. I re-visit that ‘lying supine with knees briefly touched me once on my leg. bent, Hiro touching my feet . . . flow of The session with Lisa showed me greater The second time I remember you connection and shift of lumbar curve’. I possibilities for working with ma – physically touching me was near the end feel even more the vitality it brought and that it has more potential to facilitate of the session, when you asked me to bend still brings. I continue to welcome back transformation than I had thought. While my knees so my feet were on the table. my lumbar curve. I remind myself of the I lacked information about her medical You adjusted the placement of my feet joy, the letting go, the allowing. Over history before the session, nevertheless and then touched the bottoms of my feet. these months, I notice that a constant the area in question around L3 to L5 was What happened then, was an amazing systemic static is diminishing. I feel ‘palpated’ during the session. Her profound feeling of a flow from my left visceral more peaceful. I feel more at ease being experience of working with ma tells us a side, diagonally across connecting with seen, being in front of people. I bring lot – yet remains mysterious. a flow around L3 down the spine and into my practice, and into my life in through my pelvis and into my right general, the concept of ma. Yielding with Ma leg, flowing down and through the entire Titrates Accelerated Work I’d also like to share of how the feelings I leg. My lumbar curve shifted, increasing experienced during and after our session Using ‘good ma’, it should be possible to – returning to its more natural way, (those of connection and belonging – design a more intensive series of sessions and with it a beautiful sense of relief, physically, spiritually, and emotionally; without risk of too much too fast, because welcoming and ease. I felt more sinuous and the deep, profound sense of joy and work with ma does not force change from like a stream in its natural course. I felt peacefulness) were very similar to the the outside. Rather, it can facilitate an very whole and integrated. 48 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org PERSPECTIVES

‘autonomic orchestration’ with coherency. condition as soon as possible in preparation and neck, and it also ended the spontaneous In a sense, titration is a built-in feature. for trying to become pregnant. Her own movement of the shoulder. birth had been difficult, and she had a I have already held several Rolf Movement This case study seems to confirm my view history of whiplash from a car accident, workshops with yielding where the that it is possible to accelerate the series so she had chronic neck and upper and participants received daily sessions (Fourth, when the approach is yield in a context low back pain for twenty years. I decided Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Hours) over four of ma. Similarly to Somatic Experiencing to adopt a more intensive schedule for her days, and even some workshops where practitioners, who sometimes give sessions series, as follows: session one, followed by they received eight sessions over ten days. on successive days, it seems possible to do five days off; sessions two through five over I witnessed that all participants had the an intensive series where the intervention the course of four days, then two days off; necessary adaptability to receive those has sufficient built-in titratation for there sessions six through ten over four days. interventions without becoming overloaded. to be a safe matrix. If appropriate, this type In this way, she completed ten sessions in In contrast, when I used fascial release of accelerated series could be particularly roughly two weeks. The work was done technique for the Rolfing series in the early beneficial to an injured athlete wanting to entirely through yielding touch and ma, days of my practice, I experienced that the get back in form as quickly as possible, or with no fascial release. tissues of the client’s body seemed to resist to a client who comes from out of town to my intervention the day after a session had We see that her cervical spine is receive work. been received. From this, I understand the decompressed after the Ten Series. She The one element that I would watch for in reason behind the recommended Rolfing reported that the series released most of her an intensive series is whether it might be scheduling standard ranging from one pain, especially in her neck, and that she did necessary for the client to balance his or her session every two weeks up to two sessions not find the schedule to be too intense or perception of convergence and expansion. per week: the client can only digest so much too much in any way. She visited my office Working with ma seems to make clients input and have time to integrate the work in one week after completing her series, and more aware of space around the body her/his body and its process. On the other we see that her cranium has become even (expansion preference), which then calls hand, long intervals may add extra stress more aligned on the midline, suggesting forth the need for more containment to for some clients. If they already have enough that the changes are sustainable. Her reason maintain palantonic harmony of spacious adaptability for an intensive series, there is for coming in again was that she was getting perception. For the practitioner, it is the possibility to minimize the period of spontaneous movements in her shoulder important to utilize dynamic perception – suffering or rehabilitation, e.g., for injured during her daily meditation, suggesting perception that includes both interoception, athletes. So an intensive schedule that relies that her body had become more responsive. exteroception, or what we could call on yielding with ma as its foundation might I advised her to find resource by focusing perceptual palintonicity. This can be be an option for these clients. on her hara rather than on any negative enhanced by orienting from one’s sensation. This helped her to not worry The client you see in Figure 6 came for surroundings to the hara convergence about residual discomfort in her shoulders sessions with the request to improve her point, and from the hara into three-

Before After 10 1 Week Later Before After 10 1 Week Later Figure 6: Sustained effects on structure of an intensive Ten Series over sixteen days, based entirely in yielding and ma.

www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 49 PERSPECTIVES dimensional space, thus both containment (convergence) and expansion (divergence). Establish good ma between client and practitioner Hypothesis for the Ma + Yield Process Allow the client to yield into the scaffolding These case studies suggest that good ma creates a condition of safety that enhances body responsiveness, thus facilitating structural change. My hypothesis for the Cytoskeletal dynamics (motility) mechanism of the process, where good ma is added to the components of yield, is shown in Figure 7. The downward arrows Coherency show the basic cascading flow of the process. The upward return arrows indicate the augmentation that happens at each Affinity of the body to 3-D space stage. The movement is not just one way, it is always interrelated. A discussion of the elements of yield (scaffolding, motility, etc.) Decompression can be found in the original yield article by Agneesens and Tahata (2012). Key Points for This Work Figure 7: It is hypothesized that yielding in conjunction with good ma allows a sequential yielding response. Good ma creates the condition where there is safety to transform. Looking back to the guidelines for working with ma (page 46), step three, choosing the other locations had shifted in tone. Consider and death, or at the least have a substantial single most comfortable place in which to those other places, the ones that are not impact on the quality of life. settle – based on your own sense as well initially the best, to be ‘reluctant’. When it Ma is already in our lives in many ways, just as the client’s feedback if he is sensitive to is time to go to one of them – when it is able look for it, where it is implicit or explicit. In his felt sense and kinesphere – is the most to accept the next intervention – then its Japanese culture, we see it in the practice important element for this work. This may ma will have changed and it will no longer of martial arts, or in flower arrangement. initially go against the grain as most Rolfing seem reluctant. So you are waiting for the Our sense of movement in space, our sense practitioners tend to be be off and running field to become more tolerant for the next of aesthetics, and many other domains once they find a strong response to work intervention before you move into it. with, but I encourage starting with this step, of life, are governed and influenced by and taking the time to settle in the good ma, Until you become familiar with the sense our perception, our kinesphere, and our even if it seems more elusive. This creates the of ma, I recommend that you ask the client interaction with others and our environment. if she/he also feels an internal settling. The state of conditioning, settling in both you and In the application of ma to bodywork, we first positioning may determine the context the client, that is one important piece of the are looking to our perception through the and flow of the session. Besides the client’s jigsaw puzzle fitting together. somatic resonance of the hara to guide feedback, you may notice there are some us in our particular position in the room When you find just the right place for good places where your body feels reluctant to to set up conditioning, and in our sense ma with that client, in that moment, neither orient or move. Asking the client about his of location and timing for the order of too close to the client nor too far way, both or her different perception of these places intervention. I believe each practitioner you and the client should be able to yield can give you feedback. Try to find matched finds his or her own sense of good ma and settle into a state that is neither driven places where you both feel good ma. by excitement nor sunk in boredom. It is and can create good ma that is flexible to similar to the famous Zen rock garden at Conclusion different clients. If you want to explore Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto, where the ma is both your own interoception (subjectivity) As I learned from my workshops with and the intersubjective field, the concept such that each rock fits in the space in which nonprofessionals, most people have an innate it sits. This is a reminder that good ma is of ma could be instrumental for your ability to perceive ma and recognize where it practice. Working with ma is the art of akin to feng shui, where the arrangement is optimal. Further, in my experience, most of elements in and around a house is critical seeking coexistence with each other, finding people receiving this work are responsive to harmony in time and space. for the flow of energy. it. This indicates that what happens under Another point is that the practitioner must conditions of good ma is reproducible in Acknowledgements: A number of individuals relax as much as possible. If you cannot most circumstances. Perhaps the sensing were inspirational in my developing the work relax, you are not in the right location to be of ma is derived from primitive biological with ma. My perception of space has been able to settle. There will be an appropriate sensations related to the ability to locate cultivated by studying with Rolf Movement interval of time for each location – remember predators, making it directly connected to instructor Carol Agneessens. My demonstration that time is a component of ma, equal to survival. Where the organism puts down with Kosei Hayashi as the model in the class I space. In the practice exercise, you stayed in roots can make the difference between life taught, assisted by Carol, in 2016 inspired me your best ma location, then tested to see if to further exploration of ma. Yojiro Katayama,

50 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org PERSPECTIVES founder of Migamama Seitai, a modality of in Today’s Tokyo.” Available at Octogenarians.” Structural Integration: The Japanese bodywork, gave me clues to explore the http://niniasverdrup.com/ma-and-the-four- Journal of the Rolf Institute® 42(2):13-16. dynamic perception of space in our collaborative dimensional-concept-of-reality-in-todays- Tahata, H. and K. McConnell 2015 Nov. workshops. Kathy McConnell shared with me tokyo/. (Retrieved 2/19/2018.) “Rolf Movement® Faculty Perspectives: The Sverdrup’s article on Ma, and her own article Tahata, H. 2014 Dec. “Case Studies Art of Yield – An Interview with Hiroyoshi about “Intuition and Intention” invited me with Yielding, Part 2: Application for Tahata.” Structural Integration: The Journal of to start writing this article. Special thanks to the Rolf Institute® 43(3):3-4. Rolfing instructor Lisa Fairman for sharing her experience of our session in 2017. Hiroyoshi Tahata has worked as a Rolfer since 1998. He joined the Rolf Institute faculty in 2009. As a Rolf Movement Instructor he Fascia Without Gravity brings to this work a depth of creativity and understanding that integrates the principles An Interview with David Lesondak, of structure and function through a gentle and non-invasive approach to transformation. His Author of Fascia: What It Is and Why It Matters background in biochemistry clearly bridges the By Szaja Charles Gottlieb, Certified Advanced Rolfer™ and David Lesondak, BCSI inquiry between science and art. Hiro’s work is grounded through experience and enriched by a Author’s note: This interview took place on February 11th, 2018. My review of David Lesondak’s thriving practice. His unique approach promotes book Fascia: What It Is and Why It Matters was completed and the author given the courtesy of profound experience and physical geometric reading it. I suggest you read the review first (see page 54), then the discussion dominated by the balance. He was certified as a Master Healer by role of gravity in structural integration (SI) is more comprehensible.) Dr. Ken Kobayashi, a master healing minister living in New York. Szaja Gottlieb: So David, I have done old Sufi story about the elephant inside the a number of book reviews for Structural dark tent and they all have their hands on Hiro offers workshops on yielding and ma Integration: The Journal of the Rolf Institute®, one part of the elephant but no one knows in Japan, which provide credits toward and I try very hard to get the author’s view that it is an elephant. Sometimes, I think, Rolf Movement certification. Details are at from inside out. Like Guimberteau’s book, collectively, we don’t realize we are in the https://yielding.work/workshop.html. He and he writes as a surgeon, and the chapters same tent. So, I felt I really had to take that Yasushi Fujimoto will also be assisting Carol I’ve read by Robert Schleip, he writes as a part of my brain and push it to the side so Agneessens in an upcoming class in Kyoto, fascia researcher. Your book kind of threw that I could write from a global perspective. Japan November 2-4, 2018, which will be a great me because I expected a book about fascia opportunity to cultivate spacious perception and To the question of how it affected me and written by a structural integration (SI) embryological understanding in relation to ma. my practice, I came to this work looking practitioner, since you are an SI practitioner. for a more effective way to treat people Bibliography David Lesondak: Yeah, I could sense who were in pain. I discovered this work Agneessens, C. and H. Tahata 2012 Jun. that you were expecting something . . . through a Hellerworker, and it was an “Yielding: Engaging Touch, Presence, and I was thinking about people who were immediate firework in my brain and body, the Physiology of Wholeness.” Structural disappointed in The Last Jedi. They went saying this is exactly what my body needs. Integration: The Journal of the Rolf Institute® in expecting one thing and got something This is what I need to learn next. I thought 40(1):10-16. very different. sometimes that I’m doing this without really knowing what I am doing, because SG: I thought to myself as I was reading McHose, C. 2006. “Phenomenological the feeling just seemed to be, “Yeah, I felt your book, maybe I’m coming at things Space: Interview with Hubert Godard.” this before when I was working on people from what you might call a classical SI point Contact Quarterly Summer/Fall 2006:32-38. as a clinical massage therapist.” Available at http://resourcesinmovement. of view, and you have been exposed to this com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ huge amount of research, in terms of fascia, SG: So David, you said global perspective. Phenomenological-Space-CQ-Article-1. and perhaps things have changed in a way, I understand that. But don’t you think – and pdf (retrieved 2/25/2018). in the process for you, or your point of view obviously this is my opinion, a Rolfer’s has changed. How has your experience of opinion – the subject of gravity has to be McConnell, K. 2017 Jun. “Intuition and this research has affected your practice? broached in a book about fascia? Intention: The Yin and Yang of Subtle Energy.” Structural Integration: The Journal DL: That’s an excellent place to start. When DL: I’ve been thinking about this subject a of the Rolf Institute® 45(2):24-26. I set up to write this book, I felt I had to be lot since [reading] your review. I do mention Switzerland as much as possible. gravity on page 135. The truth is that if we Saleh, Z.M., S. Faruqui, and A. Foad 2015 look at gravity according to Einstein, space SG: Neutrality – I get that. Dec. “Onset of Frozen Shoulder Following is curved, and therefore gravity pushes Pneumococcal and Influenza Vaccinations.” DL: Yes, because you are going to have your us down. And while writing this book, Journal of Chiropractic Medicine 14(4):285-289. viewpoint from the Rolf Institute, the Barnes they finally discovered a way to measure Sverdrup, N. 2006 Feb. “Ma and the people are going to have their point of view, gravitational waves. So, the body in gravity Four Dimensional Concept of Reality and so on and so forth. I felt like it was the could have been a whole separate chapter,

www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 51 PERSPECTIVES and one that I was not prepared to write to SG: I usually think of SI as split between gravity with him wherever he goes and meet the deadline for the book. bodywork and education, so how does that whatever he does. work with you? SG: David, I can’t let you off that easily. DL: I would say probably 50% of the people DL: That’s a lot to unpack. I see the work as that I treat get some version of what I call DL: That’s ok. a relationship of the person to their body, ‘sitting 101’, where I start with their ischial SG: Because you are a structural integrator. first and foremost, a relationship within tuberosities and build it up from there. To their fascia whether it’s in the ligaments, me gravity is like air in that it’s so obvious. DL: Right. ‘dynaments’, bones, and the way they It’s like air. I don’t need to explain to you SG: I know you are going to say the book move. [Interviewer’s note: ‘dyanments’ what air is to breathe more. You understand is not about gravity, it’s about fascia, but is Jaap Van Der Wal’s word to express gravity affects every single thing on this you discuss mechanotransduction and your ‘dynamic ligaments’ because the ligaments planet. I don’t need to explain that to you book is all about the tensional network. The move and adjust like tendons.] I rarely talk other than to show, okay, here’s a better way elephant in the room is not acknowledged. about gravity. I know this is heresy to some to sit, here’s a better way to move. but I don’t find it useful. DL: So you are saying the elephant is SG: From my experience, most people who gravity? SG: Well, that explains a lot in terms of the walk in my office cannot find themselves difference in our points of view. in true balance in gravity without being SG: Yes, gravity is the elephant in the room taught. I’m talking about just standing in DL: The time that I spent immersing myself and it should have been discussed at some space, not even sitting or moving. If I ask in the science of it, I was very fortunate. I level or some place. them to feel balance, they have no idea what just happened to be in the right place, in I am talking about. DL: And I am saying the bigger issue for me the right time, and usually with a camera, – I always go back to the Clinton years, “It’s whether it was with Tom Myers in the DL: I never ask that question. If you ‘put the economy stupid”. . . In this case, it’s the dissection lab or Robert Schleip at the it where it belongs and ask for movement’ fascia. I am not saying you are wrong, I am Fascia Summer School in Germany. So – which I think is one of the most brilliant saying, this is my point of view. If you go to I had the opportunity to not just take in ideas ever – I can engage the person in a PubMed and type in fascia in gravity, you these scientific presentations, but videotape proprioceptive event between what I am will get only two hits that are relevant. Even them, edit them for clarity, put the slides in doing with my hands and what they are Fascia: The Tensional in the big textbooks or the right place, and just sit with this material doing with their movement, the experience Network of the Human Body , gravity is only until I thought the videos were watchable. winds up being a profound moment, either mentioned in association with SI. when they get up or later after they have My quest to understand what’s really gone home. In this case, I’m thinking of SG: I would say then that your approach going on, what happens during people who have no relationship with their is a clinical one whose main focus is to get mechanotransduction? If I can tell the quadratus lumborum or that whole area, rid of pain, which from an SI perspective is [client], “Well, ok, so you can move your and what that can do for them in terms of sometimes referred to as fix-it work. arm a little further now, right?”, and they movement, stabilization, sitting, standing, say, “Yeah I can feel feel that, that’s great,” DL: You can use the F word. getting out of their car. In between sessions now those cells have the message to eat I give people awareness pieces so that when SG: Well, we all do fix it work. I guess away a little more collagen every time [he they come back with what they have felt and my question is whether the fix-it work is moves] that arm a little further. So all I am observed, we can keep working and build done in the larger frame of SI, relating the doing is putting into motion a process that’s from there. That’s how I go about building gravitational field? Or . . . ? going to continue . . . . And maybe I will give resilience. DL: It depends on the circumstance. I’ve got him one or two things to help accelerate that Anatomy Trains SI training, I’ve got some process. So that’s one of the models that I SG: I guess my issue is I believe SI is about training with Chris and Ann Frederick’s find I can use to good impact in explaining gravity. If we are not teaching gravity, [Stretch to Win®] Fascia Stretch Therapy. what it is that we are actually doing. how are we, SI, different than all the other therapies you have in Chapter 8 of your I’ve done visceral training, both with SG: David, I can really appreciate where book? German teachers and the Barral Institute. you are coming from, getting someone out The question I ask myself, especially if there of pain is not a small thing. But still to my DL: That’s a good question. And I’m are financial considerations, is what do I way of thinking, it is half the job because thinking, well, either we’re all doing it or need to most do to make it last? situating an individual in the gravitational none of us are doing it because it’s inherent SG: But when you do a series, ten, twelve field merits an understanding, for example, in the material itself. So, in my mind, it’s sessions – I am just asking out of curiosity, of balance. So, if we haven’t educated about about teaching people about fascia in their because that is what I was asking myself gravity in terms of, “This is you as a physical bodies. It’s not teaching them about gravity. body in space,” we, client and practitioner, reading your book – how much of a role SG: That worries me. does gravity play in that situation? have lost out on an opportunity to create a new level of consciousness as to how in DL: I think sometimes people obsess too DL: Are you talking about my verbally particular the client relates to the earth in a much about gravity, it’s not something discussing gravity with the [client]? physical way. If the client is educated into people relate to. It’s not something that they that consciousness, then he can self-correct go, ”Oh, that, I get it, it makes me feel better and maintain, then he takes that lesson of

52 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org PERSPECTIVES and move better,” which then becomes a Despite my criticisms, I think your book living tissue and system.” This is supported door to a much deeper education. is incredibly valuable, a big contribution by Moseley’s excellent study showing that to the SI and manual therapy community. tactile discrimination gets better results than SG: Not if you show them the right way. just tactile stimulation alone. It seems to What does balance mean? Simply alignment DL: You have been very clear about that me an easy association to make that slow, in the gravitational field so that you use the from the beginning and I thank you. active, mindful movement should enhance least amount of energy to stabilize your SG: Where do you see the research going neuroplasticity, via the mechanoreceptors, body to do a dynamic movement. now? The Fascia Research Congress in and rewire the parietal lobe. Certainly I DL: OK. That’s a good definition. Berlin is coming up in a few months. Is it notice overall quicker responses and overall going to be pretty much the same or is there better results when the person on the table SG: Balance is basic, primordial . . . We something different going to be happening? is active. exist on the physical planet and you can’t talk about balance if you don’t talk about DL: I hope it’s going to be different in Berlin. SG: David, I just want to say that despite gravity. I’m excited. The first three were so rich with our different view, I have great respect material, and I felt like the last one kind of for what you have done. You have made DL: I do yoga, lots of it. For the many years lost some of the more clinical aspects. A lot a substantial contribution to our field. If I I have been doing it, when I do it, I am not of it was presented in terms in terms of pure were going to teach a course on SI, I would thinking about gravity. research and didn’t seem to have clinical use both of Dr. Rolf’s books, Tom Myer’s SG: But when you do a pose like Tadasana, relevance. I am also submitting something Anatomy Trains, and your book on fascia. you are expressing the ‘Line’, from earth to that I hope may be accepted. DL: Well, thank you. I really appreciate sky, and that is gravity. But the frontier that I would like to see that. I really do. If I could say one thing. DL: Here’s the difference in your education mined, and I kind of lay that out in chapter SG: Sure. and my education. I got educated with five, is the mind-body frontier. Because twelve different lines. I don’t spend a lot there are seventy integrative medicine DL: You called me the ‘point man’ in the of time thinking about the Line, and I centers that are affiliated with university fascia world for us folks, so I think that the understand that from your point of view hospitals or research hospitals around North good thing about being the point man is to that is a tremendous loss. America. That’s where you find things like always know that you are a student and to chiropractic, massage therapy, acupuncture, know that you are trying to accrue more SG: David, I read an article recently that EMDR™, SI, and other fascial modalities, and refine. would blow your mind. It is an article all that stuff. I think the missing piece in written by two pediatricians in 2016 entitled SG: Understood. I am really looking the mind-body relationship is fascia – it is “Mechanotransduction as an Adaptation forward to your next edition, particularly what connects and what communicates. to Gravity” (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ the changes. There are portable EEG devices that are now articles/PMC5183626/). affordable, so we could do the same session DL: I have already been thinking about it. DL: That sounds amazing! on ten people and see what lights up in their SG: Thank you, again. brains. I am talking about pure research. SG: The authors said that when life forms Look at the results and see where do we go David Lesondak, BCSI (Anatomy Trains first lived in the ocean, buoyancy was the from here. Recently, we redid a study on SI), has for the past ten years practiced SI at primary response to gravity, but when life mindfulness meditation and perception of the University of Pittsburg Medical Center forms moved to land, there was a whole low-back pain with a much larger sampling, (UPMC). He has produced and directed a new problem of how to deal with the that will probably be in the next edition. number of important media productions gravitational force. Plants, according to involving fascia research such as Fascia them, were the first to solve this problem by SG: Sounds interesting. Academy 3 (a five-DVD set) and Fascia & Sports sinking roots into the ground as they grew DL: These are the areas that I would like Medicine Volume 1 (Nov 2013) and Fascia & upwards. There’s your Line. There’s Ida Rolf. to see explored, but where it is going in the Sports Medicine Volume 2 (May 2017). He DL: I can see that, I really can, very clearly. future I have no idea. was a presenter at the fifth International Fascia But I really think we do the same thing but Research Congress in September 2015 and has SG: Another point I was wondering about we use very different semantics about how lectured on fascia- and myofascial-related issues was how your work was affected by being we do it. including Fascia and Low Back Pain at the exposed to the new information from Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine SG: I don’t think so, but I think I will leave researchers. I asked Robert Schleip the same and Health in Las Vegas in May 2016. For more the reader to make up his or her own mind question when I interviewed him a couple extensive information about David, please go to about it. I think we have beaten this dead of years ago. http://www.davidlesondak.com. horse long enough. DL: Well, one thing I certainly learned is that Szaja Gottlieb is a Certified Advanced Rolfer DL: But you know what, we are enjoying the direction of the tissue and the underlying living and working in San Luis Obispo, beating it to hell! matrix does matter. Also, movement. So if California. He is the Research/Science editor fibroblasts respond to the direction of the for this Journal. SG: David, I consider you the point man underlying matrix, collagen will grow like in the fascia field right now, for the rest of weeds without any stimulation. I write us who don’t know or are not up to date about this in the first chapter, “Fascia, the with fascia research. Don’t get me wrong.

www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 53 PERSPECTIVES/REVIEWS Remembering Hadidjah Lamas By Mary Bond, Certified Advanced Rolfer™, Rolf Movement® Practitioner

One of Ida Rolf’s first protégés, Hadidjah Hadidjah’s daughter, Halimah Fielding, Lamas, passed away on December 4, 2016 was not able to tell me how Hadidjah met at the age of eighty-four. She was one of the Dr. Rolf, but she did share many interesting early practitioners trained by Dr. Rolf. facets of her mother’s career as a healer. Throughout her life, Hadidjah’s interest in Hadidjah was practicing in Los Angeles the body led her to study human dissection. when I met her in 1968. I received the Ten In time, she branched off from doing the Series lying on a mat on her living room floor. Rolfing Ten-Series to work directly with program when she was a young adult and The experience was mysterious, the more so the nerves. She called her work “Body the work with frequencies resonated with because Hadidjah didn’t seem to want to Harmonics.” An inspiration to work with the her mental brilliance. speak about what she was doing. I didn’t body at the cellular level arose when she was even know what the process was called, only An exceedingly beautiful and compassionate treating a young child whose growth had that it was a method my college roommate woman, Hadidjah Lamas was responsible stopped for a year. Hadidjah’s work restored enthused about. Because Hadidjah’s touch for introducing both myself and Emmett the child to health so that she continued to was steady and her presence assured, I was Hutchins to Rolfing® Structural Integration. develop normally. In the 1970s, Hadidjah able to trust in the beneficence of what was She was a beloved mentor. was pioneering the subtle aspects of Rolf’s happening, even during painful moments. legacy that many practitioners today are The results included absence of chronic discovering. neck pain, better balance in ballet class, and some striking before-and-after photos. After recovering from a serious illness Once I myself had been trained by Dr. Rolf, through Radionics treatment, Hadidjah Hadidjah mentored me through a client’s incorporated work with energetic series, helping me gain my footing by frequencies in her healing approach. She sharing the fruits of her experience. had been a mathematician on the space

A Very Fine Book About Fascia – That Forgets to Thank Dr. Rolf A Review of Fascia: What It Is and Why It Matters by David Lesondak

Reviewed by Szaja Charles Gottlieb, Certified Advanced Rolfer™

Reviewer’s Note: I want to acknowledge the author, David Lesondak, for encouraging the completion of this review, despite my criticisms.

David Lesondak, the author of Fascia: What somewhere nearby when I hear a discussion It Is and Why It Matters (Handspring Press on the subject of fascia. I sometimes worry 2017), has written a very fine book about that fascia research, some of it inspired “I think if they [Dr. Still and the fascia, but ironically, since he is a structural by Dr. Rolf, will unwittingly result in a osteopaths] had had one more idea integration (SI) practitioner [an Anatomy disconnect or decoupling between the back in the eighties we would be Trains SI (formerly KMI) graduate], and concepts of gravity and fascia. To my way out of business: the idea which because it is a book written for structural of thinking, the uniqueness of SI is in the we have and they didn’t. This is integrators as well as prospective students relationship between the two, and that the idea of gravity. They did not of SI, it is not so fine from an SI point of view. is what makes us structural integrators study the body as it is influenced rather than, for example, osteopaths or Perhaps I am ‘old school’ or old-fashioned, by gravity. They studied the body to practitioners of myofascial release. Rolf but as an SI practitioner and a graduate of see if the joints worked and which (1978/1990, 167) felt as much when she said: the Rolf Institute® I like the word ‘gravity’ joints didn’t work, and how to make them move.” 54 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org REVIEWS

The second chapter in Fascia: What It Is and critical aspects of the voluminous amount of and the reader is continually intrigued by Why It Matters, discussing fascia, tensegrity, research that has been published (and much details that hold interest – like his reference and the cell, would have been the correct of which has been presented at the FRCs). to and pictures of artificial limbs from the place for a discussion of gravity. This For practitioners who have complained that 1700s to begin his discussion of Giovanni chapter includes biotensegrity as proposed they lack the time to keep up with current Alfonso Borelli, the father of biomechanics; by Stephen Levin and mechanotransduction research and to catch up to the new ideas or, the revelation, in his discussion of and tensegrity as discussed by cellular concerning fascia, this book will obviate all tensegrity, that sculptor Kenneth Snelson, biologist Donald Ingber. The author excuses. Purchase of this book will end the often cited as its progenitor, did not like emphasizes the close connections between need to purchase any other, unless more the name ‘tensegrity’ because he likened these discoveries, but to me he misses the specialized knowledge is desired. It also it to “the name of a bad breakfast cereal.” essential point. Whether the discussion is comes at a perfect time since the next FRC Andreas Vesalius, the sixteenth-century about biotensegrity or mechanotransduction is in November in Berlin; the book will thus ‘father of anatomy’ is introduced as “A man or even Guimberteau’s multimicrovacuolar bring practitioners up to date before new from Padua” in chapter three “Fascia and collagenic absorbing system (MCAS), we and hopefully important information about Anatomy,” while thirty pages later in the are, it turns out, really talking about only fascia is presented in the fall. same chapter fascia researcher Carla Stecco one critical issue: how life maintains its (present chair of the Department of Anatomy The book serves as a primer on fascia to structure in the gravitational field under at the University of Padua) is introduced as the immediate community of manual the stresses of mechanical force. This is why “the woman from Padua.” And then there therapists but will certainly appeal to Rolf called fascia ‘the organ of support’ and are the wonderful details about Einstein’s other communities such as acupuncturists, why Tom Myers referred to it as the ‘organ brain in chapter five (“Fascia and the chiropractors, physical therapists, and of form’. A discussion of gravity is thus Brain”) and the role of glia in intelligence. especially to teachers/students in anatomy unavoidable if the reader is to get the full These asides, solid science, and instructive, classes, even at universities. To my picture of the fascial system at work. And, stimulating diagrams throughout the book, knowledge, there has not been a book if one then discusses fascia and gravity, it with a mix of humor, personal experience, published solely dedicated to fascia whose is impossible to avoid acknowledging the wry comments, and vignettes, humanize purpose was to simply give the state of singular contribution made by Rolf – even what could otherwise be considered dry present knowledge and to reach a wider though she never wrote a single academic boring science: they make the book a audience of nonspecialists. Fascia: What It paper about fascia! This lack of discussion compelling and entertaining read. The high Is and Why It Matters admirably fills that of gravity as related to fascia in in the point for me were the experiments done void. Ultimately, the chief beneficiaries, second chapter, as well as the disappointing in 2010 by Melzer, demonstrating how perhaps, are our clients. Having read this treatment of Rolf’s contribution in the third repetitive motion causes apoptosis (cell book, a practitioner can, during manual chapter, and factual errors in describing death) and the efficacy of manual therapy, therapy sessions, better explain what the development of Rolfing® SI in the specifically myofascial release, to quickly is happening to their bodies under our last chapter, chapter eight (which I will reverse apoptosis, something to certainly hands. Undoubtedly there will be many discuss later in this review) prevent me crow about to our clientele. future editions to keep those interested in from giving Fascia: What It Is and Why It new findings and discoveries up to date, While not breaking any new ground itself in Matters a wholehearted endorsement in its and thus the book will continue to be a the field of fascia research, the book reports present form. significant contribution in the somatic field many of the provocative discoveries that Fascia: What It Is and Why It Matters is a as research continues. have recently been made by researchers. The significant contribution to the literature of role of integrin for example; these receptors Organizationally, Fascia: What It Is and Why what might be called the Fascial Revolution, are sensitive to changes in mechanical It Matters can be divided into three sections. the stream of articles and books in the force, which then create electrochemical The first two chapters discuss some of the past twenty years, much of it as a result changes at the cellular level. A discussion controversy surrounding fascia, whether of the Fascia Research Congresses (FRCs), of this in the first chapter helps the reader it is tissue or system, and its architecture which were, in fact, partially inspired comprehend the critically important as it pertains to tensegrity or biotensegrity by Rolf’s work. The book locates itself process of mechanotransduction. Or, the structures. Chapters three to six cover fascia between highly academic books – such as news that the myodural bridge between in terms of systems in the body, thus fascia Fascia: The Tensional Network of the Human the posterior aspects of the atlas and axis, and anatomy (the fasciomusculoskeletal Body; Biotensegrity; and The Architecture of connecting dura to the myofascial system, system), fascia and the nervous system, Human Living Fascia – and books using new possibly regulates not only dural tension fascia and the brain, and fascia and the information from fascia research to create but also the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. organs. Chapter seven discusses fascial new modalities, such as Stretch to Win or This is certainly exciting and relevant for conditions and problems associated with MELT. I should mention that I have been those who practice craniosacral work. Or, diminished fascial function, and lastly fortunate enough to read and review all the fact that the thickened fascia of the chapter eight indexes fascial therapies these books for this Journal. Fascia: What retinacula of the ankle should be considered available, including SI. It Is and Why It Matters holds a unique proprioceptive, rather than stabilizing: it position among these published works. There is a great deal to laud in this book. serves to better sense movement of foot and Neither strictly academic nor written for Lesondak is blessed with an engaging writing ankle joint and potentially transmits that the average layman, Lesondak’s book style, which is rare for someone writing sensory information to the knee, hip, and functions as a clearing house, distilling the about science. He has a gift for storytelling brain. There are many other similar nuggets throughout the book. www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 55 REVIEWS

Chapter three is the largest chapter and move in the gravity field, implying fascial Alignment and Structural Integration of the gives a lesson in fascia’s anatomical history functional lines of force – what Myers Human Body for Vitality and Well Being, was starting with Galen, and continuing with added to and made explicit with Anatomy listed at the end of the chapter not under Vesalius, Dr. A.T. Still, Frederick Wood Trains. Critically, SI was an expression of “Reading” but later as “Further Reading.” Jones, Dr. Kurt Tittel, Tom Myers, and Rolf’s holistic vision which placed emphasis Dr. Rolf’s other book, Rolfing and Physical Carla Stecco. Sadly, Rolf is included under on anatomical relationships rather than Reality, is not listed at all. the heading of “Tom Myers,” and there searching for the traditional cause and effect Thus, no matter how praiseworthy is this is a one-paragraph description of her of allopathic medicine. book, for me, the experience of reading it contribution on page 58 – which is, in my Third, she inspired a whole generation of was marred by these omissions, slights, opinion, insufficient: fascial researchers who were structural and mistakes. Informed of these factual Thomas Myers was a practitioner integrators and who had major roles in shortcomings, the author assured me that of Rolfing® Structural Integration, initiating the FRCs. Note that three of those they would be corrected in forthcoming a type of fascial bodywork. As researchers – Myers, Robert Schleip, and editions, and I am sure they will. But this developed by Ida P. Rolf (see Chapter Thomas Findley – wrote the foreword and episode brings up the larger problem of 8), Rolfing ® revolved around afterword for this book. Rolf’s legacy after almost fifty years, as it the recipe of a fixed number of becomes smaller and smaller in the rear- In the last chapter, entitled “Fascia Oriented treatments that, while individually view mirror of history. As fascial research Therapies,” the author once again discusses tailored, were nonetheless delivered continues, as SI schools increase in number, Rolf and the history of SI. Despite taking in a very specific order. Myers was and as practitioners proliferate, I fear a loss most of the information from the monograph impressed with how well the system of ground and a loss of moorings if Rolf on Rolf written by Rolfer Eric Jacobson worked for most people. He was and her work, particularly the primacy of (2011), Lesondak manages to make egregious equally obsessed with finding out the gravitational field in SI, are neglected mistakes as this sentence indicates: “She the underlying anatomical reasons or short-shrifted. I am of the opinion that studied homeopathy in Europe and was as to why this should be so. her work is of a high order, visionary, and strong influenced by somatic pioneers Alfred holds the potential for a richness that brings As I was writing this review, I also was Korzybski and Hubert Godard as well as a new insights and new understandings with taking notes for a scheduled interview with number of osteopaths, including William each reading and rereading, particularly for Lesondak. [Editor’s Note: The interview Sutherland.” Clearly, there are factual future structural integrators. appears on page 51 of this issue.] I felt errors. Alfred Korzybski was not a somatic compelled to email him and stated my pioneer but a groundbreaking linguist who This problem of Rolf’s legacy has been on objections as follows: “Your treatment of developed the field of general semantics. my mind lately. Recently, I decided to make her [Rolf] as a stepping stone to Anatomy His ideas influenced Rolf’s thinking about a new sign for my office. It bothered me that Trains rather than pivot point and pioneer the nature of language (“the map is not the after every session the client would thank in viewing fascia as a tensional system territory”) in relation to physical reality me and walk out the door. Something felt responding to mechanical forces in the (Agneessens 2015). Second, Lesondak missing. So I ordered a sign, a small one, to gravitational field is incomprehensible to somehow joins Hubert Godard at the hip be put on the wall where clients will see it me.” I think most, if not all, Rolfers would with Korzybski even though they were as they as depart – just to remind them and agree with me on this. While not taking not contemporaries, and he erroneously myself as well. The sign reads, “Don’t thank away anything from Myer’s achievement of states that Godard was an influence on me, thank Dr. Ida Rolf.” I think I am going Anatomy Trains, Rolf deserves to be noted Rolf. Godard became a Rolfer in 1986. I to order one for David Lesondak as well. in her own right for her contribution in checked with Jacobson and Aline Newton, the conceptual development of fascia and who interviewed him many times, and no Bibliography the present interest in fascia – and for the one has any knowledge of Rolf and Godard Agneesens, C. 2015 July. “’The Map is Not fact that her work of Rolfing SI can pretty ever having met. Moreover, it was Godard, a the Territory’ – ‘The Word is Not the Thing’: much claim to be the mother of all modern dancer, who was influenced by Rolf’s work, Exploring the Use of Language in the Art of fascial bodywork therapies. I would list her not the other way around. Godard became a Rolfing® Structural Integration.” Structural contributions as threefold. Rolfer because he was impressed that Rolfing Integration: The Journal of the Rolf Institute® SI as a bodywork system included gravity as First, her coupling of fascia and the 43(2):37-41. its fundamental conceptualization. (I should concept of gravity anticipated the later add that Godard’s ideas about tonic function Jacobson, E. 2011 Sept. “Structural concepts of biotensegrity (Levin) and even are relevant to discussions of gravity; one Integration: Origins and Development.” mechanotransduction (Ingber), though could give credit to Godard for integrating Journal of Alternative and Complementary ironically (since she was a biochemist) she the structural and movement wings of the Medicine 17(9):775-780. Available at did not consider biochemical responses to Rolf Institute® so they both were aligned www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ gravity. She was thus the first to correctly around the same concept, gravity). PMC3162380/ (retrieved 2/26/2018). present fascia as an anatomical system responding to changes in mechanical force. I must say that these types of mistakes Rolf, I.P. 1978/1990. Rolfing and Physical made me question the author’s familiarity Reality. Edited by Rosemary Feitis. Second, the ten-session series, known as the with Rolf’s work and the history of SI. It did Rochester, Vermont: Healing Arts Press. ‘Recipe’ in SI, which I consider a masterwork, not help that Rolf’s major work concerning codified the relationships of how bodies Rolfing SI,Rolfing: Reestablishing the Natural

56 Structural Integration / March 2018 www.rolf.org REVIEWS

and the sides of the body inviting flexibility Robert Toporek into our lives and so on. Each of Toporek’s ten massage instructions have a specific guide for how to work with a baby and how Shares His Life Legacy to work with a child, with clear steps and accompanying images that make this book A Review of Hands-on Parenting: A Practical Guide to a clear guide for parents to reference often. Massage for Happier, Healthier, Smarter Kids The images accompanying this book are by Robert Toporek excellent, my favorite being those of Toporek and Rolf working with children (see Figure 1) Reviewed by Lina Hack, B.Sc., B.A., Certified Advanced Rolfer™, Somatic and the families that have benefitted already Experiencing® Practitioner from the information in this guide. The illustrations accompanying the instructions “Never underestimate the intelligence conversation about the benefits of parental are very clear and accomplish the goal of of your baby!” massage in early childhood development. guiding the reader through each step. And While written with parents in mind, no the reader also can see photos of children Robert Toporek (pg. 10) doubt the material will be valuable to Rolfers benefitting from SI work with Toporek. Robert Toporek is on a mission to teach working with children in their practices. The before and after pictures of children parents, caregivers, and fellow Rolfers who are the best I have ever seen, and this Toporek takes his time to help the reader get are parents manual therapy for infants and photographic evidence makes the point that started: whether the person has never given children. His book, Hands-on Parenting: structural interventions during childhood a massage or perhaps has only received a A Practical Guide to Massage for Happier, and adolescence allow the person’s form to massage, the book gets the reader thinking Healthier, Smarter Kids (TeamChildren self-actualize into a balanced upright adult. about how to begin. Tips include keeping 2018) holds the legacy and the passion that the touch age-appropriate and simple, and In the literature review of parental touch, Dr. Rolf had for touch interventions to help common sense ideas about how to have Toporek talks about the major researchers children grow into balanced bodies. Toporek fun with our children while including who have made the most significant worked with Rolf in the last four years of massage as a part of our communication contributions to studying massage in her life, together they started a Rolfing® time. Toporek keeps his advice practical, childhood, yet there was more that could Structural Integration (SI) with children inviting parents to first feel their own tension have been mentioned regarding animal program, and she intended this work to be patterns and emotional experience. The studies and attachment theory benchmarks. part of what the SI profession is about as guide to massaging children starts with the This is easy to forgive when the author is so a whole. Toporek takes the reader step by parent supporting his or her own body to be clear about who this book is for and what it step through an SI-informed massage, with at ease, with strategies to let go of built-up is about: it is for every parent everywhere informational essays to support the process. tensions before working with the child. and it is about supporting all parent-child I recommend this book for all parents, pairs to have positive massage experiences caregivers, and Rolfers; informed touch is The massage instruction follows Rolf’s that will enhance natural growth for our birthright, and Toporek has offered us Ten Series adapted for the parental touch the whole span of infancy, childhood, the needed instructions to support children to be general, age-appropriate, warm, and adolescence, and beyond. Toporek anchors to have healthy growth and resilient bonds comforting for the child. The book educates his guide with stories from his own life as for a lifetime relating to gravity with a the reader about themes of the body that we a parent and SI practitioner; he has lived balanced body. know well as Rolfers: breath as the essence of this advice and work, and he offers his best life, feet as expressions of personal strength, The reader really gets to meet Toporek in this knowledge to us in this book. book, his friendly voice is clear on the page and his life story bookends the instructional material. We learn that Toporek has had an incredible life journey, from his tours of duty in Vietnam to his studies with Rolf, his over forty years of SI work with families and children, and his personal story as a father. What the reader finds on the page is a down-to-earth narrative in a conversational style and a wealth of information. Toporek states right away he does not have child psychology degrees or a background in medicine, yet what he does have is an informed mind, a humble tone, and a heart that wants to help. This book is intended to help parents deepen their relationships with their children and also to stimulate the global Figure 1: Dr. Ida P. Rolf and Roberk Toporek (image provided by author). www.rolf.org Structural Integration / March 2018 57 CONTACTS

OFFICERS & THE ROLF INSTITUTE ® AUSTRALIAN GROUP BOARD OF DIRECTORS 5055 Chaparral Ct., Ste. 103 The Rolf Institute Boulder, CO 80301 5055 Chaparral Ct., Ste. 103 Richard Ennis (At-large/Chairperson) (303) 449-5903 Boulder, CO 80301 [email protected] (303) 449-5978 fax USA www.rolf.org (303) 449-5903 Nicole Black-Gonthier (At-large/Secretary) [email protected] (303) 449-5978 fax [email protected] www.rolfing.org.au Hubert Ritter (Europe/Treasurer) [email protected] [email protected] ROLF INSTITUTE STAFF [email protected] Christina Howe, Executive Director/ Libby Eason (Faculty) Chief Academic Officer [email protected] Stephanie Bradley, Executive Assistant BRAZILIAN ROLFING ® Les Kertay (Central USA) for Education ASSOCIATION [email protected] Emily Jarvis, Office Manager Dayane Paschoal, Administrator Jeannine Lee, Clinic Coordinator R. Cel. Arthur de Godoy, 83 Larry Koliha (Faculty) Colette Cole, Director of Membership Vila Mariana [email protected] & Placement Services 04018-050-São Paulo-SP Mary Contreras, Director of Admissions Cosper Scafidi (Eastern USA) Brazil & Recruitment [email protected] +55-11-5574-5827 Pat Heckmann, Director of Education Services +55-11-5539-8075 fax Keiji Takada (International/CID) Samantha Sherwin, Director of Financial Aid www.rolfing.com.br [email protected] Susan Winter, Director of Communications [email protected] & Education Systems

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