From a book by Veronique Raskin on Rolfing.
As you may know, Rolfing is a form of deep tissue massage and there are many parallels between it and what we are doing in Block Therapy. I found these insights to be interesting:
As Dr. Ida P. Rolf often said, "Rolfing is not a psychotherapeutic treatment, but its effect on the human psyche is so remarkable that many would like to consider it as such. Rolfing is an approach to the personality through the myofascial system.
It integrates and rebalances the other 'bodies' of man, which are today called psychological, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects. The psychological changes that appear in rolfed individuals are unexpected. These changes inevitably suggest that behavior, at whatever level, directly reflects the physical energy level of the structure that initiates it. The psychological effect is infinitely greater than what could be expected in the 10 hours of work that constitute the normal cycle of structural integration. This effect can be understood if we consider it the emergence of a different behavior pattern that results from an improved competence of the myofascial system.
Rolfing postulates from observations that man is first and foremost an energy field functioning within the energy field of the Earth. This energy, or gravitational field, is particularly significant. As such, an individual's energy field can expand or deplete depending on its spatial relationship to the Earth's. It would seem appropriate to state at this point that after being rolfed, an individual's more sensitized consciousness will suggest that their energy level is higher. Rolfing has only liberated it. Greater structural competence will allow them to use it more effectively."
