"For me, the most important thing is not a specific Rolfing session, it's the evolution from one session to the next"

Rolf, Ida Pauline 1978

The legacy left by Dr. Ida Rolf was the recipe of 10 sessions.

Structural integrating professionals know that going through the 10 sessions of the recipe means that the client will undergo profound physical and emotional changes.

At the end of each session you can immediately see changes in the shape and contours of the body as well as better structural alignment.

The science bases and explains these alterations by the properties of the connective tissue (Thixotropy, piezoelectricity, viscoelasticity, tensegrity).

Apparently magical results are nothing more than physiological events.

What we do not see

The time between the sessions is strategic and necessary for the processing of the mechanical and neurological stimuli that lead to the plastic adaptation of the tissues, generating new neuro-motor patterns.

Between one session and another the body continues processing the sensory information received. This process is experienced particularly by the customer. His perception is subjective and known as interoceptive perception (consciousness of bodily sensations).

Structural changes settle as the body moves. They are modeled by the continuous presence of gravitational mechanical force.

"Recent brain imaging studies have shown that when one learns a new pattern of movement, it is recorded in the prefrontal areas of the cerebral cortex. In the next 6 hours this changes to more dorsal (motor, parietal, and cerebellar) areas for consolidation"  (Science, 1977 Aug 8, pp.821-825)

Once consolidated, it needs to be trained, repeated and fixed.

Maria Eugenia Ortiz
Structural Integration Practitioner - GSI
Advanced Structural Integration Practitioner