BODYWORK

    My goal in doing bodywork is to work with the whole person, to help a person find greater ease of movement, and greater freedom of expression and awareness.

    I continue to be fascinated by how our body adapts to life - to strain and injuries, to habits of movement and posture.  We are remarkably dynamic, continually integrating new experiences, adjusting to our limitations, open to healing and discovery.   As much as our body can strain, shorten and tighten, it also retains a remarkable capacity to open, expand and lengthen.

 

    People come to see me for a variety of reasons.  Commonly, people come because they have some kind of chronic pain.  Over the years, I have helped people with many kinds of problems:

• neck and shoulder pain

• repetitive stress injuries

1. •sciatica and pain in the hip, knee and foot
   

2. •headaches, jaw (TMJ) pain
   

3. •scar tissue and compensation from surgeries 
   

    Athletes and performers come to enhance the quality and efficiency of their movement.  Some people come for help with more psychologically oriented issues - a chronic sense of stuckness, anxiety or a lack of feeling of openness and/or rootedness.  Whether someone is coming to see me for a bad back, or help with their running or to feel less bound, I am always oriented toward what will bring that person into greater ease and balance, with more capacity to feel and move.  I feel that the way I work is both direct and highly respectful and attuned to the client. 

 

    In a typical Rolfing session, I begin by evaluating client’s structure and habits of movement. The work itself is usually done lying down, or sometimes sitting or standing.  The session involves techniques that give a client time to adjust to the work that is being done.   The touch varies from so light that it can feel like nothing is happening to very strong and intense. There can be discomfort - especially when the tissue is particularly tight - but if there is discomfort it only lasts for the few seconds that the particular technique is being done. Most often the work simply feels like pressure on the body, with people enjoying the experience as their body becomes more open and relaxed.

    Sessions last about an hour and are usually spaced one to two weeks apart. The work is done in a series of sessions, with each session building on the work accomplished in the previous one.   The number of sessions vary from two or three to ten or more. I tell clients to come in for a first session only and see how they respond to the work.

 

    This work can have far reaching effects on the whole person, affecting one's attitudes, emotions, and perception of one's body and oneself.  However, nothing will happen on an "emotional" level unless you are willing to let it and want it to.  Whereas some people come to simply have their back "fixed", others come to access patterns of holding in themselves that are emotional as well as physical.   For these reasons, my work is an excellent complement to psychotherapy and other personal development work.