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STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION / JUNE 2007 www.rolf.org 51 TABLE OF CONTENTS STRUCTURAL IntegratiON: COLUMNS THE JOURNAL OF Ask the Advanced Faculty 2 THE ROLF INSTITUTE® Ask the Movement Faculty 4 December 2007 Vol. 35, No. 4 COMMEMORATIVE SPEECHES A Brief Talk About Ida Rolf 5 PUBLISHER Alan Demmerle The Rolf Institute® of ® Memories of an Exceptional Pioneer 7 Structural Integration Richard Demmerle 5055 Chaparral Ct., Ste. 103 Boulder, CO 80301 USA THOUGHTS ON MOVEMENT (303) 449-5903 The Tao of Exercise and Self-care 9 (303) 449-5978 Fax Gael Ohlgren (800) 530-8875 The Pelvic Lift: Theme and Variations 13 Mary Bond EDITORIAL BOARD Eva Bucher Finding the Pelvic Floor 17 Craig Ellis Pauline Kidd Szaja Gottlieb The Swingwalkers of Zambia 20 Anne F. Hoff, Editor-in-Chief Adjo Zorn Linda Loggins Heidi Massa Rob McWilliams RESEARCH FROM BRAZIL Deanna Melchynuk The Making of a Science of Rolfing: From an Individual Path Maggie Ragatz to a Collective Activity 22 Susan Seecof, Managing Editor Pedro Prado Dave Sheldon Profiles and Evaluations of Rolfing Clients Process LayOUT AND in NAPER Brazil 26 Yeda Bocaletto GRAPHIC DESIGN Mercedes Hernández FURTHER PERSPECTIVES Articles in Structural Integration: The Healing the Horse 33 Journal of The Rolf Institute® represent the Suzanna Baxter views and opinions of the authors and The Shumann Syndrome 38 do not necessarily represent the official Ray Bishop positions or teachings of the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration. The Rolf Institute reserves the right, in its sole and absolute BOOK REVIEWS discretion, to accept or reject any article for Yoga for the Core: Finding Stability in an Unstable Environment publication in Structural Integration: The and Anatomy and Asana: Preventing Yoga Injuries 42 Journal of The Rolf Institute. Reviewed by Mary Kimberlin Structural Integration: The Journal of The Rolf Life on Land 43 Institute® (USPS 0005-122, ISSN 1538-3784) Reviewed by Gael Ohlgren is published quarterly by the Rolf Institute, 5055 Chaparral Ct., Ste. 103, Boulder, MEMORIAL CO 80301. Periodicals Postage Paid at Boulder, Colorado. POSTMASTER: Send Jeff Galper 45 address changes to Structural Integration: The Journal of The Rolf Institute®, 5055 INSTITUTE NEWS Chaparral Ct., Ste. 103, Boulder, CO 80301. Graduates 47 Copyright ©2007 Rolf Institute. All rights reserved. Duplication in whole or in part 2008-2009 Schedule 48 in any form is prohibited without written Contacts 49 permission from the publisher. Rolfing® is a service mark of the Rolf Cover Photo Credit: iStockPhoto Institute of Structural Integration. COLUMNS posterior ribs suggests that perhaps G´ is posterior to G, which would compromise the dynamic line. From the psychobiologi- cal perspective, the question presents the hypothesis that the client has assumed an attitude of guarding the heart area, repre- Ask the Advanced Faculty senting a held emotion. Rolfing Strategy: Not Where, What, or When, But How A pattern both manifests and can be ap- proached in various aspects of the being. By Pedro Prado, Ph.D., Certified Advanced Rolfer™ Currently, the assessment taxonomies we teach may be classified as physical (com- Many of my Ten-Series clients exhibit a particular quality of emotional prising the structural/biomechanical and Q tension and holding that is evident in their structure and movement pat- functional) and psychobiological (com- terns. This pattern involves the shoulders rolled forward and contracted toward prising the emotional, energetic, cultural and existential/spiritual). These categories the front, the head pulled forward and down into the cervicals, and the posterior reflect the holistic nature of our being and ribs hardened – all seemingly in an effort to protect the heart. In the first session have implications in how we understand of the Ten Series, when rapport is just starting to be established and we are still the client’s presenting goals. Therefore, they largely strangers, we begin opening this closely guarded and emotionally charged inform the design of strategies, the choice area. My question is, with clients holding their main event in this area, is it a of techniques, and the management of the therapeutic relationship. good idea to start here in the first session? It seems that in some cases it might be better to wait until the client has developed a level of trust, a few sessions down How a personal pattern is either established or changed depends on the subjective the road. Would you comment on this? meaning the client attributes to both the experiences that generated the pattern and At first glance, this is a strategic ques- THE RECIPE VS. A the experience of addressing the patterns A tion: where should we touch in a first NON-FORMULISTIC APPROACH through the Rolfing process. We now have session; when should we contact a highly abundant theoretical support for the propo- Ida Rolf’s Recipe has always been a reliable charged area; how should we approach this sition that subjective experience shapes per- formula for bringing the client to a higher client; and how do we best start the process. ception of both internal and external events level of integration. However, the Principles To me, the key concern is not where or when and conditions, and that it plays a defining of Integration (adaptability, support, palin- – but how. role in how we adapt to gravity. tonicity and closure) indicate that strategies This inquiry brings in many of the layers can be developed according to a client’s and dimensions of our work, and provides specific needs. In formulating any strategy, THE THERAPEUTIC an opportunity to explore the complexity the Principles must be observed on each of RelatiONSHIP of their relationships. It also raises matters the physical, functional and psychobiologi- The therapeutic relationship is the fourth that our profession has been wrestling cal levels, and balance must be maintained dimension, ever present in any therapeutic with during the past thirty to forty years: among these levels. The strategy must allow event. It arises between two persons – prac- The Ten-Series protocol (or ”Recipe”) ver- for integration within each level, among the titioner and client. As a result, the impact sus a non-formulistic approach (whether levels, and with gravity. Just how flexible of the event goes beyond the effects on first-hour territory should necessarily be individual Rolfers can be with respect to the spatial arrangement of body parts and addressed in the first session delivered to designing efficient and effective strategies their movements in space and time; this the client); the fact that a pattern must be for particular clients depends on their abil- fourth dimension brings in the relationship understood on several layers – as a physical ity, experience and training; but all of us can between human beings. It gives meaning configuration (shoulders rolled forward), as improve our work by adjusting the Recipe to the event relative to the environment; a functional aspect (holding, clearly present in degrees appropriate to our expertise. in the case of Rolfing, it brings it back to in movement patterns), and an emotional gravity and affects perception, feelings, dimension (an effort to protect the heart); Pattern IDentificatiON and function in gravity. The outcome of the nature of the therapeutic relationship each Rolfer/client encounter is unique, and how important it is to the success of our The question describes the pattern structur- and synchronic in time – a moment in the work (rapport is just starting to be estab- ally, functionally and psychobiologically. personal processes of each participant that lished and we are still largely strangers). The structural analysis was perhaps based will change the course of all their relation- on the line (not vertical), the blocks (head ships going forward, including the ripples These issues are all implicated in a single held forward and down into cervicals, it will produce in their interpersonal rela- event – a Rolfing® series– and we need to front compressed) and the five elements tionships. address all of them to answer the question taxonomy (the shoulders rolled forward properly. and contracted toward the front, head for- Tracking the therapeutic relationship is es- ward and jamming into the cervical spine). sential for the success of any strategy, any In functional terms, the hardening of the technique, any session – and, ultimately, 2 www.rolf.org STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION / DECEMBER 2007 COLUMNS the entire process. Because the charac- we can work consciously: the client knows EXAMPLES OF teristics of each participant influence the what is being addressed; understands the FIRST-HOUR Strategies process, practitioners must monitor their meaning of the pattern and the challenges own characteristics, as well as those of the that changing it will bring. Here, the client You might begin by exploring the meaning client. This includes the practitioner’s body is engaged in conscious exploration. the pattern has for the client. Just asking use and posture, the feelings the practitio- “What’s your take on this?” or “How do The Recipe, with its sequence of structural ner has when touching the client, how the you account for this pattern?” or “What and functional goals, represents a gradual practitioner conceptualizes the situation, does this pattern mean to you?” might be approach to a client’s pattern. First, we etc. Over the years, the Rolf Institute of sufficient impetus for the pattern to begin release the more superficial tissue to open Structural Integration® has devoted more to unfold and make room for the integra- the territory, which allows the breath to and more curriculum hours and assigned tion of the physical changes from the tissue respond. In functional terms, you may en- greater importance to the therapeutic re- manipulation to follow. courage the client to notice the breathing as lationship; and it is now addressed in all it is, to let go of holding patterns and allow Or, you might begin by developing the training units.