An exploration of how embryological growth patterns and developmental forces shape anatomical structures, joints, and the torsional design of the foot.
The article discusses a bodywork approach that emphasizes reconnecting with ancient, evolutionary patterns of movement.
This article commemorates the late Dr. Wolf Wagner and his legacy alongside Dr. Hans Flury and Willi Harder, pioneers of structural integration influenced by Dr. Ida Rolf’s work.
Larry Koliha (1953–2024) was a beloved Rolfing® practitioner, instructor, and former engineer known for his intuitive bodywork, creative teaching, and dedication to helping others connect with breath and movement.
Jeffrey Maitland was a philosopher, Zen monk, and Advanced Rolfer who brought a unique blend of intellectual rigor, spirituality, and somatic insight to the field of Rolfing Structural Integration (SI).
This case study explores how a five-session Rolfing® Structural Integration therapy helped a 39-year-old breast cancer survivor, JD, improve mobility and alleviate pain after multiple surgeries and radiation.
This article contrasts holism and reductionism in healthcare, using Rolfing® Structural Integration as a case study.
The article explores Elisa Jane Noel’s career as a structural integration practitioner and her mentor Emmett Hutchins, focusing on his teaching style, legacy, and dedication to preserving Dr. Ida Rolf's work.
The "Admonition for 1977" stresses critical thinking and personal empowerment, urging belief only in what reason and consciousness support.
Jeffrey Burch's book, Assessment and Treatment Methods for Manual Therapists (2023), offers significant insights into the history and techniques of manual therapy, drawing from osteopathy and structural integration.
Marius Strydom discusses his journey into Rolfing, emphasizing the importance of subjective spatial awareness in structural integration.
The article by Jörg Ahrend-Löns explores the concept of structural integration, focusing on how the human body organizes itself in response to gravity through the vestibular, visual, and sensory systems, particularly the feet.
Sultan discusses how Rolf used the concept of the "Line" as a symbolic representation of the relationship between the Earth and the human body, helping practitioners understand gravity's influence on human structure and movement.
The article explores nerve work from a structural perspective, emphasizing the role of neural connective tissue manipulation in alleviating chronic pain.
Dr. Ida Rolf emphasized gravity's impact on the body, while introducing "ma," a Japanese concept of spatial-temporal balance.
Dean Bergstrom transitioned from logging to becoming a Rolfer in Terrace, BC. He and his wife Sue offer Rolfing and Skillful Touch Massage through their business, Four Hands Body Renewal.
Researchers Andreas Brandl, DO, and Robert Schleip, PhD, published a 2023 study in the Journal of Clinical Medicine showing that myofascial release significantly increases microcirculation in the thoracolumbar fascia.
Research is a complex and challenging field. In this article, I will provide an overview of basic research definitions and offer strategies for effectively researching bodywork.
Scientific research starts with unbiased observations. Valid experimental studies are needed to confirm any relationships between fascial interventions and client outcomes.
In Brazil, NAPER exemplifies community-building for Rolfing research, creating valuable client data for study. Integrating research into RISI training fosters a scientific attitude.
Felisa Holmberg, a Certified Rolfer since 2005, blends Rolfing Structural Integration with her lifelong connection to horses. Her intuitive approach enhances healing for both humans and horses.
This article discusses integrating psychotherapy with Rolfing SI, the impact of the unconscious and cell membranes on tissue changes, encouraging Rolfers to pursue psychotherapy for self-awareness.
The authors discuss their personal experiences with scoliosis and its impact on their lives, highlighting how they've used self-experimentation to develop Rolfing Structural Integration and Rolf Movement techniques.
Rolf Movement Integration complements Rolfing® Structural Integration by emphasizing movement, addressing perception, coordination, autonomic regulation, and expressivity.
Dr. Edward Maupin recounts his journey from Zen meditation to Rolfing, revealing the transformative power of body-oriented psychotherapy.
Conducted during the Fourth International Fascia Research Congress in Washington DC on September 20, 2015, this interview with Robert provides insights despite his busy schedule.
The article examines two interventions: homeopathy with acupuncture and mirror therapy for phantom-limb pain.
The article explores Structural Integration's (SI) transformative effects on various layers of being. It emphasizes connective tissue and gravity's role in facilitating shifts in physical, emotional, and cognitive realms.
This paper discusses teaching somatics in higher education and professional settings. The author examines his background in somatics, dance, and Rolfing® Structural Integration, as well as his research about phenomenoloogies.
The author continues to develop his body of work with the Art of Yield (Tahata and Agneesens 2012) and the role of ma.
Explore Dr. Hans Flury's pioneering journey in Rolfing® and Structural Integration, from his certification to groundbreaking research, teachings, and lasting impact on the global community. An insightful tribute to his legacy.
Relating her Rolfing practice with her musical practice, Lynn Cohen explores her journey of acquiring structural integration expertise alongside a relationship with her cello.
Advanced Rolfer® Dan Somers interviews his client, Amy Shinneman, who is the 2023 National Ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), about her life with a type of muscular dystrophy called Bethlem myopathy.
Physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist Dr. Tina Wang discusses her appreciation for the profession of structural integration for putting fascia research on the map in this article with Rolfer® Lu Muller-Kaul.
Understand at a deeper level the impact of tension in the superficial layer, the role of yielding and ma in the ‘superficial’ sessions of the Ten Series, and the elements that support the receptivity of the client’s body.
Interviewer and Hellerworker Greer Bailey asks Joseph Heller to tell the story of creating the structural integration school, Hellerwork® International.
Libby Eason, Chair of the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute® (DIRI), takes us through Rolf’s early years, highlighting the benchmark experiences that led to her developing her ‘Recipe’ of the Ten Series and starting her school, DIRI.
Phoenix L. Quetzal DeLeón explores the concept of working across difference as an expansion of perceptual awareness and observational skills.
Jan H. Sultan reflects on learning Rolfing® Structural Integration from Dr. Rolf at Esalen Institute alongside Emmett Hutchins, Judith Aston, and Peter Melchior.
An Interview with Jan H. Sultan
Words we hear, read, speak, or even think can evoke reactions in our bodies. In this interview, Rolfer Monica Canducci discusses the embodiment of words.
In this article, Rolfers® Andrew Rosenstock and Nikki Olsen interview Johnson about the role of the body in human meaning.
The tongue and voice are inextricably linked, as Rolfing SI Instructor Ellen Freed discovered firsthand when her tongue temporarily swelled for a few days preventing speech.
This interview with Rolf Movement® faculty member, Kevin Frank, focuses on gravity orientation and its relevance to structural integration and somatic movement education.
Dr. Ida Rolf Institute® faculty member, Pierpaola Volpones, describes the gravity journey, some of the common experiences gravity brings to each of us as human beings.
Auto immune disorders and the considerations that structural integration (SI) practitioners, in particular, need to consider when working with people with any of these issues.
Current research describes the consequences of microgravity on the human body and its tissues, making space exploration research an area that Rolfers and structural integration (SI) practitioners might want to read more of.
In this ‘Business of Rolfing SI column’, practitioners are asked to consider inflation when they make pricing decisions for their Rolfing sessions.
In this article, Dr. Carla Stecco describes the application of cadaver studies for manual therapy, the histology of fascia, and the innervation of fascia.
Polyvagal theory is reviewed in a short introduction, followed by a conversation with Dr. Stephen Porges. Porges’s history as research director with the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute® is discussed.
In this interview with Jan Sultan, he talks about Dr. Rolf’s Seventh Hour philosophy and practical execution of ‘putting the head back on’.
Tom Findley – medical doctor, research scientist, and Rolfer – is interviewed by Jason DeFilippis about his biography and his work with structural integration (SI) and fascia research.
In this interview, Robert Litman shares the story of breath and integration, drawing on his deep background in breath and movement studies.
This article comes from the author’s experience of a trauma to her hands and arm. She discusses the fingers and how three-dimensional (3D), multiplanar movement is necessary for a fully functioning hand and arm.
Bias-Free Language in the Pages of Structure, Function, Integration
In this interview, osteopath Isabell Gilbert discusses her 2022 peer-reviewed article, “Exploring the Effects of Standardized Soft Tissue Mobilization on the Viscoelastic Properties, Pressure Pain Thresholds, and Tactile Pressure
In the first Caution Column, pregnancy is discussed as a condition that is commonly found on contraindication lists for manual therapy.
This paper discusses aesthetic and phenomenological philosophies as a lens to understand and discuss Rolfing Structural Integration (SI) and its relationship to orientation, neutrality, and Whiteness.
Lina Amy Hack interviews anatomist Gil Hedley, PhD, about the pelvic floor. Hedley proposes a new and inclusive term for the intimate structures of the pelvic floor – the pars intima.
Larry Koliha and Bethany Ward, Rolfing Structural Integration (SI) instructors and also a couple, share thoughts about the Ten Series, both in teaching and in practice.
Rolfing Structural Integration instructor Lu Mueller-Kaul interviews colleague, Advanced Rolfing Instructor Tessy Brungardt, about how Rolfers® think about the pelvis throughout the 'Ten Series'.
In this interview, conducted in September 2018 when he was in the U.S. to present at the Rolf Institute® Membership Conference, Peter Schwind discusses his ongoing work with harmonizing the cavities of the body and their contents.
The author broadly reviews the domain of scoliosis, from etymology to diagnosis to psychobiological issues and conventional corrective measures.
IDA president, Theres Maibach, describes the history of IDA and how the Swiss SI professionals came together to be recognized by the government as a profession within the complementary therapy category.
The tonic function model is an inquiry into how human beings orient themselves and organize their movement within the earth’s gravitational field.
This interview took place late Sunday afternoon in Washington DC on September 20, 2015 at end of the third day of the Fourth International Fascia Research Congress (FRC).
How ERA is supporting its members and the new format in which the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute® Europe is teaching Rolfing® Structural Integration and Rolf Movement Integration.
Internal-external is a perception of the nature of human structure and how people adapt their inherited form (genotype) to the demands of their lives (phenotype).
Rasmussen and Hack discuss the significance of this first independent measurement of what could be the craniosacral rhythm, how it compares to the previous palpation studies of the craniosacral rhythm.
During my years of practice as a Rolfer®, I have come to think of scoliosis as a way of growing. There are trees that grow straight toward the sky and others that twist and torque: bamboo and olive trees. Both are beautiful.
A huge question for us Rolfers is “what is integration?” I was assisting a Basic Rolfing Training and the instructor asked if someone would define what integration was.
In this article, faculty members of the Dr.Ida Rolf Institute® Christoph Sommer and Dr. Peter Schwind discuss their investigations of palpating and treating the brain.
We find our breath at the center of movement where conscious and unconscious meet and in the place where function creates structure
Berg invites us to consider the psychobiological elements involved with our hands and arms and how SI’s fascial work supports clients to truly spread their wings.
