Good question. And, perfectly understandable. A lot of people have the same concern. Even some who have been "Rolfed" say it's painful. What they don't usually mention is that the experience is about pain leaving. Or, that there can be occasional intensity, but not something hurtful. But, as a client you are in charge. Everything proceeds with your permission and acceptance. That's the plain fact.
Have you ever had an experience of pain leaving? Or, moving into a place of discomfort and discovering just out of being willing to go there it transforms from pain to pleasure? Try it, you'll like it.
This will answer the big question to your complete satisfaction. You don't want to miss choosing to do something good for youself out of a simple misunderstanding. Wrong information. Do you?
Okay? Let's unpack the question ...
But it does depend on three things:
What do you mean by is?
What do you mean by Rolfing?
And, what do you mean by painful?
That may sound like a smart-ass answer, but a few things need to be cleared up and given the necessary context. That understanding will settle the question. Promise.
"Is"
What is the "is" in question? What's the "is-sue"?
Your body. Every Human body. Any Human body.
We're talking about the individual Human being and their condition in simple, basic bodily terms. In this case, it's about its condition in respect to how it stacks architecturally. What it takes for that arrangement to live in a normal healthy relationship to the constant and ever present force of Gravity. It's that simple.
Let's take a look. There's balance, and there's out of balance? Frankly, usually a mix of both. Typical patterns: head forward ... one shoulder higher ... ministry of funny walks. Those imbalances, though ... ouch! They can be painful. Not to mention the compensations necessary to keep everything together.
How do we look at the body as a structure? What do we look for?
The body has an anatomical design, its natural and healthy architectural arrangment. There is a set of definite relationships of the many segmented parts; that is ... feet, legs, hips, belly, chest, shoulders, hands, arms, neck, head. This arrangment as a whole stacks up and operates under the influence of Gravity. Just like any physical structure on Earth. We know the rules of Gravity for our buildings. Same for the Human body. Vertical, symmetrical, even. Bada bing!
Imbalances often occur. Bad habits, unresolved accidents and traumas, lack of training, no training — we're self-taught mostly [who taught you how to stand, to sit, to walk?] — modelling significant others who may not have been themselves good examples of balance in the makeup of their own bodies.
These arrangements accumulate over time, and unless resolved or corrected, they get set into the fabric of the flesh. Such imbalances report themselves as chronic pains and stress. Limited range, sub-par performance, lack of creativity.
This is what the orginator, Dr. Ida P. Rolf said about that: "Some individuals may perceive their losing fight with gravity as a sharp pain in their back, others as the unflattering contour of their body, others as constant fatigue, yet others as an unrelentingly threatening environment. Those over forty may call it old age. And yet all these signals may be pointing to a single problem so prominent in their own structure, as well as others, that it has been ignored: they are off balance, they are at war with Gravity."
It's plain to see looking at any individual's body in terms of how well it stacks up along the straight line vertical; also looking for necessary symmetries, and levels-evenness front to back.
In summary, the "is" in Rolfing is your body and it's alignment in respect to the dictates of Gravity.
"Rolfing"
Rolfing is a legal service mark name held by the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute. It's one of the schools in the field known as Structural Integration. While the question was put regarding "Rolfing" this answers for the entire field of Structural Integration.
Structural Integration is a definitive and peerless approach to Human balance. Unique in that its main goal is to balance the body with the Gravitational field of the Earth. As such. Sure, anything you do that's good for you contributes to balance. But, bodily balance as such, that's the whole Enchilada in Structural Integration. While we have the innate ability to heal and become whole, other than Structural Integration there is no other formal method designed to address whole body balance along the lines of the demands of Gravity. Repeating ... as such.
Dr. Rolf, put it this way: "This is the gospel of Rolfing®: When the body gets working appropriately, the force of Gravity can flow through. Then, spontaneously, the body heals itself."
As is well known, the Human body takes its shape over time through lived experience. On average it's a random bag. We arrive at adulthood with a mix of balance and imbalance fixed into our flesh.
Balance is normal and healthy. Imbalances require compensations. "Dis-ease." These, unless resolved, set in and we find ourselves living in patterns which are inefficient, limiting performance and creativity, and sapping vital energy to maintain. Ouch! That's painful! Yet, we can be seduced to accepting this as "Just the way I am". That there is no alternative.
Well ...
Good News! The Human body has a plastic quality. It has taken the shape you're in, and it can be reshaped.
You may be wondering if that's the "painful" part. The reshaping. Stay tuned. No problemo.
Structural Integration offers individualized assistance to bring the body to a naturally effortless, graceful upright stance; with ease, flexibility, and fluidity. As Dr. Rolf put it, "So you should be easy in your harness".
So much more could be said, but this should suffice. When you decide to do something constructive to bring this kind of balance into your life, all your other questions can be answered. You can add a comment/question below this post.
So now, let's talk about the Elephant in the room.
"Painful"
"Just what do I have to do today to get you into a balanced body?"
Most people look at things like Structural Integration as a therapy. I got a problem; I need it fixed. I've tried everything, maybe this'll do it? With medical attention and therapies typically something is done to you. You're a passive recipient. You take your medicine. You take the shot. Get a procedure done to you. Go under the knife.
Strutural Integration is a system using manual touch and guided self-movement. Rather than "fixing" a symptom, chronic problems get resolved out of fostering that head to toe balance in the whole body. And, the big difference is that in terms of dealing with "painful" in Structural Integration you are in control*.
If at any time the contact in a session of Structural Integration is unacceptable, for any reason — whether it be the manual touch itself or the movement instruction — the process works best when you speak up for yourself. Then the practitioner can change the pace, ease up, slow down, or stop. Net, net ... you are in control. It's your body after all. Your limits are always respected.
That should settle the question on "painful".
But maybe a little more about what is pain. It's a big subject.
We all know pain. It can vary in intensity. An itch, temporary annoyance, a twinge, a chonic persistent ache, to a stop-the-world-I-want-to-get-off 10 on a 10 point scale.
Pain is first a physical sensation. Yet, we give it meaning, have pictures for it. Have stories that tell how it got there. Have situations, places and people who trigger painful feelings. In other words, pain comes packaged. There's the physical felt sense, and the psychological/mental and emotional components too. Getting rid of pain sometimes depends on where to open that package.
This is important to mention since Structural Integration is what's called a "somatic" method. As such, it addresses the whole Human being, but grounded in Anatomy and Physics. There may be a psychological/emotional component but we can get our hands on the body. Knock on wood. Balance the body, balance the mind. The body/mind apparatus is a unity; it all goes together.
*Structural Integration is taught in schools recognized by the International Association of Structural Integrators. An important distinction about this approach is that it is not a therapy. That said, yes, bringing a higher order of balance into the makeup of the Human body may have therapeutic effects. But, the work is a teaching. A training, to learn to live in balance in tangible, and noticeable ways. This is something you take away from the process. As an experience. It's not just intellectual, conceptual. It's perceptual. You own it much in the same way you own how to ride a bike, swim, juggle. Or anything else you've learned to do, and now it's set in muscle memory.
And, since the method is instructional, you participate. You learn. You put in effort. That's very different from many of the things you can do for yourself therapeutically.
It takes doing. An effort on your part.
So, what are you waiting for?
