Topic Articles
In-depth, fully-cited studies — each a scholarly read on a single subject, in Ida's own words. For a quick answer instead, use Ask the Archive above.
Fascia & Connective Tissue27
What is fascia Fascia as the organ of structure Fascia vs muscle Superficial vs deep fascia Crystalline–colloidal shift Cotton to silk Fascia and gravity Fascial planes foot-to-head The myofascial continuum Surgical fascia Tissue tone and quality Hydration of tissue How fascia changes over time Fascia and emotion Reading tissue history Fascia at depth Compartments and septa Adhesions and restrictions Fiber direction Fascia and breath Fascia and movement Aging fascia Injured fascia and scars Stuck fascia and how it releases Fascia in evolution Collagen and sol-gel states Sliding fascial planes
The Recipe — The Ten Sessions26
First hour Second hour Third hour and the twelfth rib Fourth hour and the medial line Fifth hour Sixth hour and the gluteus Seventh hour and the head Eighth hour and gross change Ninth hour Tenth hour The pelvic lift Why hours don't repeat The recipe is more than a recipe Recipe as continuation Closing sessions Junctions between hours Periphery to center Walking back through the recipe Advanced recipe work Recipe at depth The lotus position Hour-by-hour goals Recipe as response to the body Recipe sequencing Why ten sessions Bottom-to-top alternation
Body Regions & Anatomy37
The pelvis The pelvic floor Sacrum and SI joint Horizontal pelvis The psoas The psoas family Quadratus lumborum The diaphragm The lumbars The spine The dorsal curve The cervicals The neck Platysma and surgical fascia Shoulder girdle The arms and hands Ribs and rib cage The face and jaw The cranium The legs and knees The feet Arches of the foot Foot and ground Hamstrings Adductors Gluteus maximus Piriformis The acetabulum and hip joint The discrete joint Carrying the head Flexion vs extension Intrinsic vs extrinsic muscles Cerebrospinal fluid and sacral respiration Tongue and hyoid Abdominal wall layers and obliques Thorax as opposing helixes Bursae, synovial membranes and joint anatomy
Patterns, Pathology & Conditions27
Scoliosis Idiopathic scoliosis Swayback and lordosis Hip imbalance Pelvic tilt Chronic back pain Disc problems and sciatica Whiplash and neck trauma Athletes and athletic injuries Pregnancy and postpartum Children's bodies Aging body Childhood postures, adult patterns Forward head Rounded shoulders Flat feet and high arches Knock knees and bow legs Frozen shoulder TMJ dysfunction Tension headaches Chronic compensation patterns Breathing problems Pathology vs structure Disease and the psoas Autonomic nervous system Shoe lifts and leg length Cancer contraindication
Gravity, Line & Verticality28
Gravity is the tool Gravity as therapist The vertical line Body in gravity Static vs dynamic organization Verticality vs tension The plumb line Centerline and legs Anti-gravity musculature Gravity-entropy Hinges, axes, gravity Length and span Three-dimensional vs planar Loss of length Energy mass in gravity The horizontal Vertical organization Joint space Symmetry and the line Walking and gravity Standing and balance Falling and gravity Structure and gravity Gravity and aging Body as segmented blocks Structure vs posture vs balance Linus, Lucy and the sidewalk Verticality and the nervous system
Touch, Technique & Pressure36
Feeling tissue When to go deep Pressure and pain The manipulator's hand Elbow, finger, knuckle How to use the elbows and fingers The hand at depth The elbow at depth Working without force Direction of work Layer by layer Practitioner's body Practitioner's posture Rhythm of a session Pacing the advanced session Working with breath Working with movement Slow vs fast work Working with the experienced body Intention and felt sense When the body is open Practitioner self-care Tracking session-to-session Quality of touch Force vs sensitivity We do not lay prone Client screening and readiness Stretching as stimulus Energy and adding energy to tissue Difficult clients and practitioner authority Gravity cannot mend a nerve Chronic only, never acute Least expenditure of energy Scope of practice Appropriate direction Mother-in-law story
The Practitioner's Eye & Pedagogy30
Reading the body The practitioner's seeing Drawing as a tool Reading body history Quality of seeing Embodied teaching Practical anatomy Practice vs theory Why some students get it Competent Rolfer Transmitting the work Apprenticeship Hours of practice Standards of practice Mentorship Studying the recipe Practitioner in the wilderness Theory in service of practice Self-care for the teacher Legal and licensing status of Rolfers Why 'why' is forbidden Suggestibility and verbal impact on clients Demonstrating Rolfing scientifically Communicating Rolfing to the public See better with clothes on Take a body apart Body screams at you Now I sleep more comfortably Susie and Papa Five years to mature
Mind, Emotion & Character30
Body and personality Body and mind Emotional release Psychological change Character armor There ain't no psychology Body memory Trauma in tissue Protective postures Emotional tone and structure Self-awareness through structure Felt sense Embodiment Sensory awareness Identity and structure Marriage counselors Emotional unlocking Integration of feeling Affect and posture Somatopsychic Sensory organs and perception changes Pain as teacher Rolfing and higher consciousness Emotional release is not the goal Survival records and the mind Negative emotion with age Psychic experiences post-Rolfing Disagreeing with Schutz Spirit as intangible increment Stored anger in groin
Origins, Philosophy & Evolution45
How Rolfing began Her training Esalen Boulder years Pigeon Cay three premises Premises and randomness Holism Aristotle and modern thought Science and healing arts Pasteur vs Beauchamp Allopathic vs nature cure The exciting cause of disease The unfinished human Lifelong embryonic development Evolution and the body The mosaic body Sensory systems in evolution The law of cure Energy systems and meridians Vital energy The road of the work Lineage and institute The work's continuation Why didn't somebody know this Aura-amplitude Mesoderm and embryonic tissue origins Egyptian statuary and historical body ideals Bachelard and epistemology Tao of Physics and modern physics Never took anatomy Sister Ethel and the piano teacher Wöhler and anti-vitalism Shoulders back, gut in Frederick the Great and Lund The template Heredity vs learned Chef material behind me Man as energy field Pierre Bernard and tantric yoga American thought as tantric Schrödinger train story The mug projection Rockefeller and Solvarsan Cycles in the affairs of men Entropy is just common sense
Other Methods & Modalities26
Chiropractic Osteopathy Massage Yoga Acupuncture and meridians Psychotherapy Reich and bioenergetics Alexander Technique Feldenkrais and the ovoid body Why not other methods Surgery Pharmaceuticals and drugs Nutrition Homeopathy Naturopathy Cranial work Movement therapies Meditation and pranayama Body typing: Sheldon and somatotypes Patterning and movement education Aikido, martial arts and structure Mary Baker Eddy Swedenborg as cranial precursor Sutherland and ten-finger osteopaths Edgar Cayce and psychic ability Chakras as nervous-structure
Voices in the Archive18
Bob Beck Werner Erhard Valerie Hunt Marcus Bach Ethel Longstreet Tomi Haas Al Drucker Julian Silverman Emmett Hutchins Dick Demerle Bill Schultz and the perineometer Lewis Schultz Roy Elkins (Mayo) Don Hanlon Johnson Valerie Hunt's EMG research Aura readers and chakra measurements Tiller, Burr and L-fields George Liedke
Signature Concepts & Quotes43
The body is one The joyous hour The line Élan vital Three-dimensional tissue Hinges and axes Pathology is physiology The body is the man Ovoid body Put it where it belongs Get the hell out Where you think it is Demand, don't beg Body as plastic medium More ways to kill a cat Self-image of standing Not yet upright Not religion, not spirit Ground substance and protein spiral Mensendieck contrast Form and function Education, not therapy At war with gravity The Santa Monica dancer Christmas presents image Grandpa's premises Wings on the outer arch Tensegrity and octet truss Korzybski Bones as spacers, tension drives movement Body as a shopping bag How human is the human Citizen of a more open universe Change is not necessarily good The body talks about it Chase the scream Cook vs chef Normal is not the average The middle line, the knowable line All movement widens the back The random body The Gospel of SI When I find disorder, I introduce order
