I have been re-listening to a podcast issued some time ago by a Rolfer who ran an excellent series of podcasts, inviting many guests over a few years to discuss elements of Rolfing, embodiement, and other body-mind approaches. The host, Brook Thomas, ran the podcast from June 2014 - Jan 2022, so there is a wonderful library of well edited and informative material out there if you would like to dip in. However, one episode stuck in my mind very strongly and I recently re-listened to it. The guest is Will Johnson, who trained directly under Rolf and developed what he had learnt through her, and dovetailed the principles into his Buddhist meditation. If you would like to hear the episode there link is here: https://liberatedbody.libsyn.com/ep-51-discovering-the-line-with-will-johnson
What I love about this discussion between two people who took so much from the world of Rolfing is how they cover major elements of what Rolfing is uncovering in those receiving the work. What it might feel like to unpack the tensions which block a balanced body, what might emerge in them as a result, and in particular the sheer sense of happiness experienced as the body gets back the ability to play with our weight. Gravity becomes the reference point in our sense of the world - it is the one force which we cannot escape or turn off, and it can become the resource which brings us support and lift. Lift through the body is a very strange idea for some, but it is a sense that the body is supported everywhere, no longer stacking weight upon weight and compressing, but instead feeling as if a helping hand is giving each part of you a little upwards nudge, still feeling your weight but that weight no longer requiring any effort to sustain it. The body is no longer resisting the 'fall' of its weight, that's just being taken care of by the body with no real effort or cost. Will and Brooke also focus on breath, and how it can be a body-wide experience not just a localised inhale/exhale.
Will brings out the commonality between what the Buddhist teachings cover and how these can line up with Rolf's teachings. That the Rolfing series is not a 'treatment' but it is an education which should set you on a journey to a better relationship within your own body and therefore to the wider world. He also mentioned the Rolf's metaphor of the body as an onion, where you uncover more layers as you go deeper. He's very eloquent.
I'm not sure if I could have so fully felt the truth of this discussion prior to being Rolfed. But from what I have directly learnt from my own body and my client's responses, it is true. It's just so difficult to put the sensation of Rolfing into words. It would be like describing being cold to someone who had never experienced being cold. It is a feeling 'in the body', not a thing. So I am passing this particular podcast on with a recommendation that it covers a lot of ground which gets to the centre of what Rolfing can deliver, from two people who are very good at trying to put it into words.
Have a listen, in the car or out walking or just while having a lie down. Feel how your body responds to what is being said. Does it feel intriguing or something which you would like to begin working towards? I hope so. It's certainly worth your time.
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