Rolfing and ashtanga?

[Guest guest]

Hi Kafe--<br>I tried Rolfing for the first time a

couple years ago, and got great results (so great, in

fact that I decided to become a Rolfer). Rolfing did

wonders for the chronic tension in my body--it is

possible that Rolfing could help your hips. These days

Rolfing isn't necessarily as painful as it is reputed to

be from the good old days. It is taught a bit

differently now--deep work is done without forcing the

tissue. In my own experience, none of my Rolfers have

ever hurt me and I have recieved some profoundly

transformative work. As TLSlade says, Rolfers can vary greatly

in how they work; similarly clients vary in what

kind of work they benefit from. Some people love the

good old fashioned heavy handed rolfers, some get

great results from a lighter touch. If you can find a

good Rolfer that you click with great things can

happen. <br>I've felt from the beginning that Rolfing is

a wonderful complement to my Ashtanga practice. I'd

be happy to talk about it more if you have any

questions.<br><br>Vita

[Guest guest]

Kafe,<br>I was a sceptic to bodywork for years,

and rarely indulged in massage believing that it was

non-yogic and not self-sufficient. Then a friend of mine

begged me to get rolfed... and the results have been

profound. <br> There is a book the TSlade mentioned that

shows amazing changes in the subjects. My practice has

changed for the better as well. <br> I'm about to finish

my 10 series.<br> If you only get one session the

first one opens the chest and the breath is just

nothing short of amazing. I left my first session, went

to a local park and fell in love with this georgious

tree and watched it breath. Time just slowed down.<br>

People have a lot of emotional tension in the hips and

when that session came a lot of old emotional/sexual

issues and garbage came up. Certainly expeditious. <br>

Hedblown says Primary opens the hips and it does, but I

have to add that one should use more hip opening

postures: samakonasana, hanumanasana, ekapada

rajakapotasan, anjaniansana (sp) and other variations. It seems

that primary was designed by people who, as we all

know, sit on the floor.<br><br>Good luck,<br>GL

[Guest guest]

A beginner to the practice, I have been

investigating rolfing to help me with some SERIOUS tightness in

my hips.<br>A former competitive athlete, the yars

of strenght training has made me extremely tight.

Not looking ofr a magic cure--just a complement.

<br><br>Has any of you tried rolfing?<br><br>Thanks!<br>Happy

new year!<br>Kafe

[Guest guest]

I would say - Well, it can't hurt! - but that

probably would not be accurate.<br><br>I had a couple of

Rolfing sessions about 25 years ago and had to stop

halfway through the second one. The Rolfer said if it

hurt too much we could stop, they actually expect

that. Later I went through 10 sessions with another

Rolfer who I did not think was very good. He barely made

a dent in me. If someone pays the thousands for

training they will get certified. So Rolfers vary quite a

bit. I'm sure that some are miracle workers, and

others a waste of money. Normally, they want you to

commit to the ten basic sessions. But some Rolfers may

just do a session now and then to work on a problem

area. I think they charge up to $100 per session or

even more. You may also want to look into Hellerwork.

Joseph Heller was one of the first Rolfers and a

president of the Rolf Institute. He thought that Rolfing

did not have to be painful so he started his own

school of bodywork called Hellerwork. They also like to

go through a standard program of 11 sessions. There

are many other approaches to bodywork. See

Discovering the Body's Wisdom by Mirka Knaster for

descriptions of many practices. There may be all kinds of

bodyworkers in your area that could be helpful. I think that

bodywork can be a very good compliment to yoga practice.

There is even a book on Rolfing and Yoga. I haven't

seen it and don't know if it is any good. Here's an

Amazon

link:<br><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0963782401/

target=new>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0963782401/</a><br>I had some

deep tissue bodywork recently and

started to think that gentler massage may have been

better. It was pretty painful to be putting a lot of

pressure on some of the smaller muscles up against bones

and it seemed like this could cause more tension. One

thing that did seem to be very effective was lots of

pressure (with elbows!) into the glutes, where there is

plenty of muscle tissue and lots of deep tension can be

accessed. I came out of there walking differently after

that.<br><br>I tend to want to think that anything that can be

accomplished through bodywork/massage can be accomplished

through yoga. It may speed things up to integrate some

other practices in or it may not. You may even find a

yoga teacher who is very therapeutically oriented and

may have some ideas on more effective yoga practice

for a particular condition. Theoretically its all

contained within Ashtanga and you may find some postures

worth spending a lot more time with. Personally, I

think it is good to work with lots of practices and I

think they can all compliment each other. But I also

believe that any one practice may be all you need. Lately

I also have a bias towards not having to spent

money to fix my body. I do think that Ida Rolf's book,

Rolfing, is good for anyone to read, whether they have any

interest in Rolfing (or other bodywork) or not. You can

learn a lot from that book about what we are trying to

do with our bodies in asana practice. One thing that

is important with Rolfing (or any type of bodywork)

and also with yoga (or any practice that we use to

make big changes in our bodies) is that the changes

have to be integrated. That is as we reawaken unused

muscles we have to start using them or they will go back

to being tense or weak. So this is another reason I

think it is good to do a variety of things. I like to

do some light weight training. Guy Donahaye once

made the comment here that the best way to integrate

changes from asana practice is walking. This may be an

especially important thing when making big changes to the

hips.<br><br>Amazon link to Mirka Knaster's

book:<br><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553373277/

target=new>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553373277/</a><br><br>Amazon

link to Rolfing

book:<br><a href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0892813350/

target=new>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0892813350/</a><br><br>Rolf

Institute: <a href=http:

[Guest guest]

Looks like I exceeded the maximum length on that

last one and got the last couple of lines cut off.

Links for more info on Rolfing and

Hellerwork:<br><br>Rolf Institute: <a href=http://www.rolf.org

target=new>http://www.rolf.org</a><br><br>Rolf Guild:

<a href=http://www.rolfguild.org

target=new>http://www.rolfguild.org</a><br><br>(I think the Rolfers have split

into 2 camps. Don't

know the whole story on that. You can find different

Rolfers through the 2 sites above).<br><br>Hellerwork:

<a href=http://www.hellerwork.com target=new>http://www.hellerwork.com</a>

[Guest guest]

I wouldn't let a rolfer anywhere near me. The

most incredible system I have found for opening

seriously tight hips is the primary series of astanga

yoga.<br>Anyhow, usually rolfing is designed to supposedly correct

structural imbalances, and whether that would cause an

overall loosening of your hips is debatable.<br>From my

own experience, I would not recommend rolfing to

anyone.