For the last 30-some years, yoga and The Rolf Method of Structural Integration also commonly known
as Rolfing have enjoyed a unique and vibrant relationship; teachers and practitioners from one
discipline immersing themselves in the other, in order to magnify and deepen their bodily transformation.
This is because the two combined. create a synergy that is far greater than the sum of its parts.
Together, Rolfing and yoga create a dance of rich somatic opening; sharing the same fundamental
principles and goals, only their methods differ.
Both yoga and Rolfing emphasize structural alignment and whole-body integration. Both involve
balancing the joints in the body, creating space in the joints (rather than compression), and
differentiating the various bodily segments. In general terms, yoga and Rolfing are both about
freeing up, opening up and lengthening the body. Both disciplines result in expanded range
of motion, increased circulation and energy flow, more grace and fluidity of motion, and a body
that’s more resilient to injury.
Yoga actually had an early influence in the birth of Structural Integration. Dr. Ida P Rolf, the PhD.
biochemist who researched and formulated the Rolf Method, studied yoga and drew upon its
principles along with those of osteopathy, homeopathy, and the Alexander Technique. Dr. Rolf
believed yoga was the best exercise system ever devised if done with the right teacher. She also
believed that hands-on manipulation was needed to fully free the structure and to achieve ultimate
length and separation in the joints.
In yoga, you move through precise postures with full consciousness and Intent. In Rolfing, too
practitioner’s hands directly release restrictions and unbind myofascial tissues in your body.
white you participate with full consciousness and intent. Rolfing can lengthen, release and reorganize
tissues with a specificity that even years of yoga cannot approximate. And yoga delivers many
benefits that no bodywork system could ever accomplish.
Yogis have long been noticing the effects of Structural Integration as they find they are able to reach
new depths and levels of ease both in mind and body. At the same time yoga is one of the best ways
to support and maintain the benefits of SI. Rolfing, like yoga, simply brings you more and more deeply
into the experience of resonant embodiment. Coming to live more fully in the body allows a silent
but dynamic stillness of mind and a relaxing out into life. The combination of the two is a rich
opportunity to broaden your sense of self thereby allowing the chance to transform limiting patterns
of movement, thinking and behavior.
As a Rolfer, I work mindfully and reverently with the fascia; the connective tissue that wraps every
muscle, organ, nerve, blood vessel and bone in the body and which, like living packing material,
literally gives us our shape. I listen with my hands as I lengthen tissues, soften bodily armor, unwind
patterns, and overall integrate and align the body in gravity. Simply put. the same natural laws that
inform yoga inform my work. as well. Combined the two reinforce each other – a real Dynamic Duo!
