Why Fascia Matters..

Posted: January 1, 2015

Brooke Thomas has written an excellent article about fascia, the tensional, fluid, springy, sensing organ that organizes the shape of your entire body called "The Top 5 Ways Fascia Matters to...

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Posted: December 9, 2014

Fabulous!  A well written, positive article about structural bodywork from the New York Times.  The practitioner described in the piece practices Rolfing and Source Point Therapy which has roots in...

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Straightening out a crooked tent.

Posted: December 3, 2014

Imagine the fabric of a tent.  It's up but something is not right.  The clip and zipper in the front won't close correctly.  You look and feel around the whole tent and find there is pinch down in...

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Help with knee pain leads to new happiness..

Posted: December 1, 2014

I received a text  from a client who came in with pain in her knees - one knee had been replaced two years ago and still hurt, one just hurt. She had just completed her sixth Rolfing session:...

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Keeping Moving at Work

Posted: November 24, 2014

Finding ways to keep moving, to stay active and free while at work, is a challenge for many people.  Gregory Ferenstein has written a playful an informative article about recovering his health while...

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Cerebral Palsy & Rolfing

Posted: November 10, 2014

Rolfing Practitioners sometimes work with individuals with cerebral palsy.  A small study in California tracked the benefits of Rolfing with a group of children with cerebral palsy with very...

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Your Body Expresses Your Life.

Posted: November 7, 2014

Rolfing sees the body as an expression of your immediate life and patterns of movement, posture and holding that have accrued over time. By addressing those patterns in a methodical and sensitive...

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Inner Critic & Inner Peace

Posted: November 4, 2014

Freeing oneself includes many elements.  One of the first and most important is learning to recognize, understand and disengage from inner judgment, that internal critical pattern that binds and...

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Doing Yoga in an X-Ray Machine

Posted: November 3, 2014

Check out this video of what your bones are doing when you do yoga, or any stretching and moving for that matter. Doing Yoga in an X-Ray...

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Kids Need to Move...Even When They Don't

Posted: September 10, 2014

We are all bundles of energy.  In fact, we are never not moving. We are never totally still.  There is always some shifting, some swaying, some pulsing, some sighing, some movement somewhere in our...

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"What Does it Mean to 'Throw Like a Girl'?"

Posted: August 27, 2014

In this excellent article from the New York Times, Eric Anthamatten explores what lies behind the phrase, "You throw like a girl," exploring what it means to not only have a body, but own the space...

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Just 5 Minutes? Nice.

Posted: July 31, 2014

"Running for as little as five minutes a day could significantly lower a person’s risk of dying prematurely, according to a large-scale new study of exercise and mortality. The findings suggest...

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"A Mysterious Body Part Called Fascia"

Posted: July 30, 2014

It's hard to find well written articles on the current thinking and research into fascia.  But, lo! here is one:  How a Mysterious Body Part Called Fascia is Challenging Medicine. It's wonky and...

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Land Like a Dancer

Posted: July 16, 2014

We have so much to learn about movement.  In this video, researchers have done an amazing job comparing dancers and sports athletes, and looking at how they land after a jump.  "Dancers decelerate...

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The Physical Demands on a Performer's Body

Posted: June 21, 2014

Many high level athletes, musicians and performers use Rolfing to keep their body open and aligned, reduce the wear and tear of training, and recover more quickly from injuries.  In this video,...

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Move Like an Adult Moving Like a Baby

Posted: June 19, 2014

Enjoy this little movie. Move like a baby. Move like an adult moving like a baby. Be moved like an adult watching adults moving like a baby. Rolfing in Boston/Watertown and East...

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Growing Up Into An Adult Body

Posted: June 18, 2014

"Watch a child carefully; you'll see that he seems to move with an outer layer of his body.  His bones don't seem stabilized.  Children go on this way until they get to adolescence.  They operate...

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We are Vulnerable Creatures

Posted: June 14, 2014

When you have chronic illness your attitude toward what affirms your life can shift. One person's understanding of that: "We are vulnerable creatures; that is what we share as humans.  Being...

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Underrated Pain Contributor? Fascia

Posted: June 13, 2014

Although Rolfing Practitioners have been making a life study of fascia for decades, we are still learning a great deal about it, how it functions, how it relates to the nervous system and pain. ...

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The Neck - Balancing the Whole Body.

Posted: May 30, 2014

"There are schools of chiropractic that work only in the neck.  What they are implying is that any imbalance in the lower part of the body will manifest as imbalance up above.  That far, they're...

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The Work.. And the Inspiration

Posted: May 20, 2014

"Over and over again, people come to me, and they tell me 'You just don't know how strong I am.'  They say 'strength' and I want to hear 'balance.'  The strength idea has effort in it; this is not...

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Chronic Pain and Movement

Posted: May 14, 2014

When you are in chronic pain, nerves that are part the signaling process have become irritated, overly sensitized, constrained by protective tightening in surrounding soft tissues, and restricted...

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Manipulating the Brain's Image of the Body

Posted: May 13, 2014

Check out this wonderful  video that illustrates how changing maps we carry in our brain and nervous system about our body effects how our body feels: "Illusions could halve the pain of arthritis"....

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What is Surface? What is Deep?

Posted: May 7, 2014

"In the first hour, the fact is that a Rolfer is working only superficially, but this is not what the man's body tells him.  It's telling that individual that we're working down to his soul.  We're...

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Sacroiliac Joint in Motion

Posted: May 4, 2014

This a very good video about how the sacrum moves and how the position of the pelvis and lumbar spine affect the stability of the sacroiliac joint.  Note though! The sacrum does not move quite as...

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"I am amazed!"

Posted: April 23, 2014

Always nice to get a great, unexpected email like this from a client: "I am amazed! I used the trick you taught me yesterday when I was sitting at the dining room table doing some work that...

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Embodied Spirit: See How You Feel.

Posted: April 22, 2014

Follow this advice..do the parts you can do..imagine and sense the other parts..and see how you feel. "Put your feet on the ground Spread your toes a little bit Take a good breath or two Reach...

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Emile Conrad Da'oud

Posted: April 19, 2014

Emile Conrad Da'oud died recently.  She was a true pioneer of movement awareness, exploration and embodiment. I had the great pleasure to do a training with her twenty years and it profoundly...

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"It's all in the hips."

Posted: April 18, 2014

It seems that every few weeks I come across another article with another point of view on what makes for good running/walking/sitting, etc. I don't see this as necessarily a bad thing actually.  It...

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Peanuts

Posted: April 15, 2014

A cartoon Dr. Rolf included in one of her books. Charlie Brown had it hard, but he had some wisdom to show for it....

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When is Change Good..

Posted: April 14, 2014

"To most people, change is necessarily good.  It isn't, necessarily.  It has just a good chance, if applied randomly, of being bad.  It is possible to change a joint by many means, including...

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Avoiding "Slow Motion" Injuries

Posted: April 13, 2014

For athletes, the activities we love are also hard on our bodies, particularly if we have underlying structural problems.  As a consequence, we have injuries that accumulate in "slow motion". These...

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Rolfing and Professional Athletes

Posted: April 9, 2014

By restoring and improving the alignment of the body, Rolfing increases the efficiency of how you move.  This is helpful for daily living, of course, but also for the professional or "hard core"...

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Your Lower Spine's Two Corsets

Posted: April 8, 2014

Your lower spine is supported by many structures.  It's deepest support comes in part from a system of muscle and fascia that wrap your lower spine and the internal organs in front of it like a...

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Table Talk: "I'm more upright. It's weird!"

Posted: April 4, 2014

A first session with a new client.  He has had a lot of physical trauma, bad falls, some surgeries that were good, some that were not so good.  He has pain in lots of places.  So, we began with a...

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"This One Moment in Movement."

Posted: April 2, 2014

"All that is important is this one moment in movement.  Make the moment important, vital and worth living.  Do not let it slip away unnoticed and unused." - Martha Graham...

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Ending the binding and holding

Posted: March 31, 2014

When you have chronic pain, it means your body is out of alignment with gravity, fighting against itself and creating chronic strain. When pain becomes chronic, the cause is no longer one specific...

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A pound of flesh.. How much fascia is that?

Posted: March 27, 2014

Fascia is the connective tissue organ of your body.  Your body's organ of shape and structure.  A three dimensional web with pockets and tubes that surrounds and penetrates all your muscles, organs...

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Fascia: thin, translucent and Strong!

Posted: March 23, 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaDldYuvZ3o&feature=youtu.be Fascia is the tensional organ that surrounds and supports all of your body's pieces and parts, every muscle, every bone, every...

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Ten Series: Seventh Hour

Posted: March 22, 2014

After almost any session of Rolfing, the client will tend to feel a bit more grounded and a little bit taller, like there is more space above and more room below. The seventh hour of the Rolfing...

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Inside Your Body: The Diaphragm

Posted: March 20, 2014

Let's explore the inner sense of our bodies, specifically our diaphragm, the primary mover of air in and out of our bodies. Trace your fingers very slowly along the lower border of your rib cage....

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Before & After Ten Session Series

Posted: March 17, 2014

  This is a series of pictures of a boy before receiving Rolfing and after the 10 session Rolfing series.  Like the movie "Sliding Doors", imagine two different lives, one with the point...

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Walking Through a Room

Posted: March 17, 2014

The way you walk through a room is the way you walk through the world. Our grand life is made up of daily activities.  Take time to discover the space and ease within your body, to learn how to...

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Length in the front and back

Posted: March 15, 2014

Good posture is not a matter of pulling your shoulders back and lifting your chest.  You may have lengthened your front, but to do it you have shortened your back.  You want a balance of space and...

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"Go around the problem.."

Posted: March 15, 2014

"Go around the problem; get the system sufficiently resilient so that it is able to change, and it will change, It doesn't have to be forced.  It's that forcing that you have to avoid at all costs."...

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What foam rollers can and can't do..

Posted: March 12, 2014

Foam rollers are incredibly popular right now.  And they can be useful.. for increasing circulation, reducing some of the tightness in muscles, increasing sensory awareness, and just play.  But...

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Before & After the Ten Series

Posted: March 8, 2014

These photos are of the same woman before her first and after her last session of the Ten Series of Rolfing. Imagine how it feels to be in the first body versus the second.  Transformation is...

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Table Talk: "Free fascia"

Posted: March 3, 2014

During a session today, a client said, in an off hand, as though it were no big deal, "I'm taller since doing Rolfing."  Pause.  "Is it because I am straighter, or because there is more space...

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The Ten Series: The Whole View

Posted: March 2, 2014

Rolfing is different than most forms of bodywork.  Rolfing aims to improve the organization of your body's entire structure and how it is aligned in gravity.  Rather than focusing only on a place...

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Don't go to sleep with tension.

Posted: February 26, 2014

When we experience short bursts of stress, we naturally go into a fight or flight response.  If we are chronically stressed, that response becomes fixed, lowering our natural immunity.  Try this. ...

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The deeper impact of Rolfing

Posted: February 23, 2014

Good bodywork, good movement work doesn't just do something to you.  It does something with you and in you.  You learn things. Rolfing does do things to you.  But it's deeper intent and impact...

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Musings: My spine said thank you

Posted: February 22, 2014

My spine said thank you today. I've taken good care of it over the last many years. As a kid, I ran around bonkers for hours at a time, rolling, twisting, pressing, pulling, wrestling, stretching,...

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Movement: freeing the pelvis

Posted: February 21, 2014

Dr. Rolf recognized that the position of your pelvis is the fundamental for the organization of your whole body. You need both flexibility and proper alignment all around your pelvis: in the...

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"Roaring Hippo Gapes at the Playful Monkey"

Posted: February 17, 2014

Freeing Chronic Tension Around the Face and Jaw The physical tensions we carry in our bodies pull us out of alignment. Being well aligned in gravity requires that we free these chronic patterns...

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Article for Natural Awakenings Magazine

Posted: December 2, 2013

Some relationships come and go; others last a lifetime. One relationship we have our whole lives but rarely think of is our relationship to gravity. From birth, our bodies are in a constant, dynamic...

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Ten sessions of Rolfing

Posted: November 15, 2013

These images were made from photographs of a woman undergoing ten sessions of the Rolfing technique. Some things to notice through the progression of the images. Her head is more balanced...

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Recommended Readings and Related Sites

Posted: November 15, 2013

These are some of the books and web sites I recommend to my clients and people who are interested in finding out more about Rolfing, the human body and mind, and how we can best heal them both to...

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