The hallmark of Rolfing Structural Integration is a standardized “recipe” known as the Ten Series, the goal of which is to systematically balance and optimize both the structure (shape) and function (movement) of the entire body over the course of ten Rolfing sessions. Each session focuses on freeing restrictions or holding patterns trapped in a particular region of the body. A practitioner also maintains a holistic view of the client’s entire system during each session, thus ensuring that the transformational process evolves in a comfortable and harmonious way.
Many Rolfers describe each session as having three elements: One is “The Recipe”, in which Dr. Rolf did not prescribe techniques but an overall “territory” to address, and goals to accomplish. Another is what this particular client brings to the session, what goals and problems are important to the individual, and what they have experienced so far. The third is the Rolfer’s plan for this particular session and this particular client, based on specific assessments and notes from previous sessions.
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The Rolfing Ten Series can be divided into three themes: Sleeve, Core, Integration.
Rolfing Ten Series Sessions 1-3Called the "sleeve” sessions, numbers one through three strive to loosen and balance surface layers of connective tissue. Specifically, the first session is devoted to enhancing the quality of breath with work on the ribcage and diaphragm, sometimes the upper arms if they affect the thorax. “Opening the Sleeve” is started along the thigh ,particularly over quads and hamstrings, balancing drag on the pelvis between front and back.
Every session has work on the neck and spine, in the first one that is also related to the breath . The second session gives the whole system a stable foundation by addressing the 33 joints, 26 bones, and more than a hundred muscles, tendons, and ligaments that comprise the foot. An effective Rolfer can soften high, stiff arches and activate fallen ones, and give the client a sensation of grounding while achieving “Lift” through differentiated muscle compartments in the low legs. The work on spine and neck is helping the client feel the length of their whole body balanced over and through the three arches of each foot. Number three typically involves a “side view” for an understanding of how the head, shoulder girdle, and hips are positionaly related to one another when standing under the influence of gravity. Then, the body is addressed within the context of this new vision, and the client is invited to feel the span between “front” and “back” as a space they inhabit. For many, this opens the third dimension of their perception, and they start feeling that there’s not only “belly” and “back” but the “core” space within.
Rolfing Ten Series Sessions 4-7Four through seven are referred to as “core” sessions and relate to the terrain between the bottom of the pelvis and the top of the head. The idea of “core” in Rolfing includes the deep layers of the legs, and the inner thighs for their importance in supporting the thorax and head starting from the feet.
Session four begins from the inside arch of the foot and up the inner leg, to the bottom of the pelvis. As in every session, there is work around the spine and the neck which introduces the idea of supporting the front of the spine from the inner leg through the pelvic floor. Clients have started feeling their “core” through the work in Session 3, and now connect the support built in 2 all the way up through the pelvis to the big vertebrae of their low back. When guided by a good Rolfer, they sense the front of these vertebrae balancing easily over the pelvis, without needing tension in the back to lift their head over their shoulders.
The shoulder blades start hanging back and down easily without being pulled back, which sometimes helps long-standing pain in the shoulder girdle. The fifth session is concerned with balancing surface and deep abdominal muscles to the curve of the back, it is known to be the session about the “psoas” muscle, but really helps to continue the work of lengthening the whole spine and giving mobility to the joints in the low back. Session six is the “back part” to where #5 opened the front, Rolfers say session #6 is to “free the sacrum”. Here there’s often permanent relief from imbalances around the SI-joint, and the easier gait patterns from previous sessions now reach over sacrum and lumbar vertebrae into the whole spine. Support and adaptability from the feet through the inner line to the front of the spine results in a light rotation of the whole spine with every step. All that’s left for the seventh session is, as Dr. Rolf put it, “put the head on”. The territory here in the smallest of the whole series, often just the uppermost ribs, neck, and the whole head. After session #7, the Rolfer likes to see the head participating in the movement of the spine. For the client, this often feels pleasantly like a “bobble head”, literally as if their head has less weight, which is understandable when you consider how much weight used to pull on neck and back when the head was further forward of the “Line” that Rolfers imagine as gravity’s influence on the structure.
Rolfing Ten Series Sessions 8-10While previous sessions each had their own areas, themes, and goals, they primarily were about “differentiation” between layers, compartments, joints. Now in the last three we need to make the results we achieved long-lasting. “Integration” is the priority, we’re not taking the body apart any longer, we want to put it together as a whole system.
During sessions eight and nine, the practitioner determines how best to achieve this integration into natural, easy coordination of posture and motion. The protocol is unique for each individual, and the “Recipe” is less prescriptive. Most Rolfers determine whether shoulder girdle (that’s hands, arms, shoulder blades and clavicles) or pelvic girdle (feet, legs, pelvis) needs to be addressed first, so there is an “Upper” and a “Lower” session #8 and #9. Some clients don’t show a clear need here, and their integration sessions might be more about the relationship of spine to limbs. Either way, the result after session nine should be that the client feels that movements in arms and legs start from the core, not from shoulders or pelvis. This is important because it gives stabilizing muscle groups more activation, and muscles necessary for short, strong action are not strained as supporters any longer.
The tenth and final session is also one of integration and serves to inspire order and balance. Once completed, the wisdom of the Rolfing Ten Series will drive and support the body with health for years to come.
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