Rolf Blog - Rolfing’s Blog

A study done at the Center for Cardiovascular Repair at the University of Minnesota was able to create (re-create) a beating rat heart. They took out all the cells other than the fascia (the matrix Rolfers work with). Then they put the cells back in the fascia form. The injected cells knew where to go and what to do once there. You can read more about it here.

This experiment supports Rolfer’s proposition that the fascia is a determiner of cell function, there by life.

This post is an article that was published in the Rolf Institute’s journal by Gael Ohlgren, a Rolfer and her teaching partner Robert Litman about the body, exercise, breathing and staying young. They discuss Continuum, a body and movement therapy which is the a beautiful compliment to Rolfing with its teaching the body about deep organic movements.

All beings, grass and trees, when alive, are soft and bending

When dead they are dry and brittle.

Therefore the hard and unyielding are companions of death,

The soft and yielding are companions of life.

Under heaven nothing is more soft and yielding than water.

Yet for attacking the solid and strong, nothing is better;

It has no equal.

The weak can overcome the strong;

The supple can overcome the stiff.

Lao Tzu

There was once an efficiency expert who visited a chocolate factory and watched the women hand dipping chocolates. Their gestures always included various spirals and twirls in order to prevent drips as they lifted the chocolate from the vat to the paper.

Considering this a loss of time and efficiency, these women were taught to make a more direct in, out, over, down pathway. Within a week they were complaining of wrist pain (carpal tunnel symptoms). Having fallen out of interplay with their core creativity, the small, ingenious variations within each repetitive task were eliminated, and the women became more prone to fatigue and damage.

In the accelerated pace of our nanosecond world, if our goal is truly to be one with the nature of the Tao, we must be mindful to never lose the fluid, water-like language of the body. For in Taoism, the closest thing in nature to pure effectiveness is water. Water is the communicator, the informer and the transporter all in one.

The capacity to stay healthy and release stress while feeling and looking youthful is desired at every level of our society. As we seek the optimum in pursuit of health, we often understandably grab the most convenient workout option that promises definite results while causing the least intrusion into an already hectic schedule.

Strength-building machines have become a norm for accelerating results. Most 21st century workouts are at least semi-reliant upon them. A linear approach to working and stretching isolated muscle groups is the status quo; it infuses our workouts, from physical therapy to dance classes and even to yoga.

Embracing a different view of the body, that is consistent with the ancient concept of the Tao, could revolutionize the process of staying fit and vital. In giving fresh perspective to our view of the human body, it is good to begin by remembering our ancient, biomorphic lineage. We have more in common with the earthworm than with any machine we interact with. The human organism is one of millions of life’s experiments. We contain within our being the best of creative ideas and we share those ideas in variations with other species.

The spine first appeared in fish, perhaps as a means to store minerals in order to move from salt water to fresh. Our human spine has adapted to serve very different purposes, but still it has the ability to move like a fish. To recognize our ’species inclusive body’ would immediately give access to new freedom of movement possibilities, allowing an adaptability that rarely gets touched past childhood.

Yet exploring our fluid capacities, which can involve moving in play more like an octopus or a snake, simply isn’t current protocol in the gym atmosphere; nor is hanging at upside-down or sideways angles to gravity. Though enormously invigorating and strengthening, in adult public exercise venues these unusual positions and co-ordinations will definitely not be commonplace.

Most adult exercise is upright, organized around an up/down midline and primarily focused on forward thrust. This is so, even when we’re not standing up, when we’re swimming or lying on a mat. While a good thing for efficiency in daily life, continually repeated, this orientation limits an infinite number of possibilities for our well-being physically, emotionally and perceptually. And, health involves a balance of all three.

Within the current perspective, if one has the misfortune to have a “bad” hip, back, or any type of physical challenge, she/he is indoctrinated to believe that exercise is suddenly off limits or greatly curtailed. Since the body is movement, we always have the ability to move. Take note, if we look at the body’s truth, the body is not designed for rigidity. However the movement patterns we practice tend to encourage rigidity. It is our “adult” tendency to segment between the limbs and torso that leads to excessive stabilization over time. “All beings…when alive are soft and bending, when dead are dry and brittle.”

If our assumptions about old age are inaccurate, and fluid movement can be present throughout life, what else should we be examining? What facilitates regeneration and what contributes to the wearing out of parts? What is strength? What is the difference between brute force and the ability to sustain? Is it tone and muscle bulk that equals strength and does the lack of it denote weakness? Is the tone of a relaxed cat an equally desirable form of strength?

If we look at several mainstream assumptions underlying modern exercise theory, we discover that subtle as it may first appear, within its parameters, rigidity is predictable. Most approaches make a trade-off between strength and flexibility. The best results for creating muscle bulk seem to be produced by linear repetitive action and pushing a muscle’s capacity past its limit. This creates micro tears in the tissue and it is this scarring over time that creates bulk. While this hard tone is much sought after, denser tissue, like any scar tissue, loses flexibility. Science is now finding that the lactic acid produced after this type of exercise is the body’s attempt to dissolve hardening of the tissue. Why? Because the movement of nutrients, fluids and neural information requires sufficient suppleness in human tissue. It’s not just that we’re stiff, our passageways are impaired.

We seek suppleness by stretching our muscles. After asking them to shorten, we usually ask them to lengthen. Running back and forth between shortening and hardening tissue and then stretching and lengthening is a subtle contradiction for the body.

When targeting quads, hamstrings or specific muscle groups, lengthening occurs by positioning the body in such a way as to lever a specific muscle in two directions. If you were to take a rubber tube and pull it in two directions, it would lengthen and it would also narrow. If the force of these positions were increased enough, joints would tear apart. Vigorous stretching forces ligaments (whose job it is to hold joints together) to go into overdrive. Their fatigue is a threat to the joints.

We can begin to set ourselves free from the potential risk of this struggle and effort by shedding light on the little explored fact that our tissues have the ability to relax, open and lengthen of their own accord. This expansion is not so much the two way stretching of a rope, as it is more like loosening the strands of a braid in all directions. For this type of tissue opening to occur the body needs to be deeply relaxed while in movement.

Bringing the inner alertness of meditation and mindfulness to bear on free-flowing movement is what allows tissue to open of its own accord. This entails receiving and responding to the body’s intelligence as it communicates through sensation.

That we can change the quality of our tissue by changing the context of our engagement is an extra-ordinary reality. Slowing down maximizes the exchange of information between cells. Just as one notices more details in nature when walking a path, rather than driving a car, sensation increases as movement slows.

If you sit on a log, the ant parade appears. Thus within the body, slowing down; slower than the pace of machines, slower than the pace of walking, allows another world of information to make itself known. This context seems to be the key to allowing the braid of the fibers of tissue to unravel and lengthen in their own way, and for nutrients to pass unencumbered.

The idea that speed benefits a workout is based on the assumption that velocity enhances cardio-vascular health and/or makes up for the stagnation of a sedentary lifestyle. What we often don’t realize is that during fast repetitive movement a numbing dissociation occurs. Speed actually diminishes sensation. No longer are our senses enlisted to keep muscles and nerves attuned to subtler nuances of balance and harmony. Frequently we forget that speed and pushing through are designed for survival and single focused efficiency. Although we need those responses in an emergency, most of us have plenty of stress and speed in our daily lives. The bio-chemistry produced by speed and stress are not beneficial for our health as a steady norm.

We need to realize that our autonomic nervous system is regulated by the way we ingest breath. When our speed outstrips our nervous system’s ability to handle the input, we switch from nose breathing to mouth breathing. In a regulated system the sympathetic and the parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system are balanced. Neither is overpowering the other. Using the mouth for breathing triggers an escalation in our sympathetic nervous system’s responses; in lay terms called the “fight or flight” response. Breathing tempos increase. This causes a shift in the body’s physiology which triggers a cascade of internal events. The blood is diverted to the muscles and away from the organs, while the mind becomes highly alert. Digestion slows and the sphincter muscles in the bowel and bladder close. The blood thickens to increase clotting ability and to reduce bleeding in case of injury. Airways widen to let in more air and sweating increases to cool the body down. The liver releases sugar to provide instant energy and muscles tense in readiness for action. Our immune response decreases to allow massive preparation for immediate threat.

Now, while these responses are part of the normal activity of the body for dealing with a short term situation, a long term activation of the sympathetic nervous system will cause it to become overworked leading to adrenal fatigue and a break down of the systems involved in preparing for the threat.
These can include a long term decline of the immune system making one susceptible to colds, allergies and asthma. Constantly tight muscles will begin to show wear and tear not only within themselves but on the bones and joints that support them. Incessant tension can lead to chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. Since the bowel and bladder are compromised in their function, chronic tension and system alert can result in poor digestion and elimination as well as long term mal-absorption of nutrients. With the brain always on alert, it can be hard to get a good nights rest. Insomnia and restlessness result. The high demand of this type of activation can cause the heart rate to elevate. Should it become erratic or pound while at rest, anxiety tends to mount, perhaps leading to panic attacks. Smooth muscles of the organs remain tight which can increase blood pressure. And constant thickening of the blood set the body up for possible strokes. The list goes on to include forgetfulness, skin ailments, and chest pains that are not related to heart problems. In short, the body is being suffocated - isolated from life giving information and nutrients.
If mouth breathing becomes a chronic condition a tendency will develop for dry air passages, nose congestion, and a feeling of restriction and air hunger in the upper chest. The point is that pushing oneself in the name of cardio-vascular health may backfire without a pacing that allows the nervous system to stay balanced. In order to know that pace, we need to follow the cues of our breath, our nose breath.
Right above the mouth we have the nose which is the preferred orifice for breathing. Even during extreme levels of effort the body can be trained to continue to use the nose for breathing. The nose, unlike the mouth, is able to filter, moisturize and warm the air and air passages. One of the balancing advantages of nose breathing is that the oxygen is delivered to all five lobes of the lungs. While we might feel as if we are taking in more oxygen with our mouths open, actually we are only using the top two lobes for breathing. A good deal of our capacity to take in more air is dependent upon a flexibility of the diaphragm and rib basket. A relaxed respiratory process that is fostered by breathing through the nose has a better chance of increasing chest mobility.
The biggest problem in developing a habit of mouth breathing is that our respiratory gases become unbalanced and oxygen delivery becomes compromised. The two main gas components of respiration are oxygen and carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, carbon dioxide has been misnamed as a waste gas so we think of it as something to rid ourselves of. The truth is that we need a certain amount of co2 to keep our body healthy. It makes logical sense that this would be true, the body always has to have balance. At the most basic level the co2 that are body produces is a by-product of cellular respiration occurring in the mitochondria of our cells and necessary for keeping our blood Ph normal. This in turn regulates the release of oxygen from the hemoglobin in the red blood cells in order to feed the rest of the cells of the body. There is not enough co2 in our atmosphere to accomplish this, we must make our own and retain it for proper respiratory functioning.

If we have a habit of mouth breathing or of over breathing (breathing too fast for our body’s needs) then we give off too much co2. This imbalance of our respiratory gases results in a decrease in the efficiency of oxygen delivery to the cells. Since the production of energy in our body in the form of ATP is a metabolism (at the simplest level) of oxygen and sugar, when there is a decrease in the flow of oxygen then there is a decrease in the amount of energy produced by our cells; hence fatigue and the breakdown of other systems. As a result it can take longer to recover from exercise. Recovery means that breathe and heart rate can return to normal and we can “rest and settle” within seconds or minutes.
The feeling that you must open your mouth in order to get enough air is a clear sign that you are moving faster than your body’s ability to maintain internal balance. This is ok on a short term basis but not as a long term, everyday habit. In other words, you are moving too fast for your body to catch up in a healthy way. While discipline and will are excellent traits, if they override the natural rhythms of our body, we are in trouble.
After an exertion that involves pushing the limit, fatigue or lassitude ensue. As Lao Tzu, the father of Taoism, said, “Force is followed by loss of strength.” In the intensity of our lives, many of us welcome the release of tension that occurs with this fatigue phase. But are our bodies being nourished or worn-out? Is the chosen method counter-productive?

With machines, even at a slower pace, the mechanical rhythm of a stair master, treadmill or other apparatus creates movement without organic variation. Entropy, a slide into wearing down, is the only option for a machine. When we follow the lead of a machine, our parts have a greater possibility of wearing out as well. Set routines lack creative variations. The women of the chocolate factory were naturally creative in their motions - they intuitively trusted their inner wisdom.

It’s easy to mistakenly assume that all bodies have the same needs and even that one’s body has the same needs day to day. When experimentation is traded for constant certitude, the body loses its ability to nurture the immediate. Our bodies need change. Without it we become rigid and bored. Like the rhythm of a metronome, a machine is constant and inorganic. The bio-circuitry of our system is ever so different, slower and varied.

Our bodies seek attunement with the rhythms of the biosphere in order to heal and regenerate. We are so much more than static entities to endlessly be run through the same routine, in the hopes that we will not slide into decrepitude while we aren’t looking.

The inner listening that adds up to kinesthetic intelligence, intuition or personal wisdom is such an important life skill. Courting well-being by surrendering to the pace of the creative intelligence of the body is at the heart of the most advanced ancient and ageless health philosophies. At this time, in our culture, we could use some remembering and reminding.

THE DANCE OF THE NATURE OF WATER

Can we slow down enough to ask just what is the ‘dance of the nature of water’ and its impact in terms of exercise, physical strength and toning? When we think of the water element in movement terms, we think of a fluid quality of smooth, effortless motion. It is the description of grace.

In the Tao of well-being, practicing the nature of water may not only lead to a less strained and fatiguing form of exercise, it also may be the key to the kind of deep cellular health and strength that persists into old age. Infinitely adaptable to all manner of circumstances, water sees no duality between strong and supple.

Every culture has a form of dance expression. Dance is a sensuous enjoyment of movement and music. We can not assume that movement without pleasure adds up to the same life force enhancement. Just as stress creates an internal bio-chemistry, pleasure creates a very different body chemistry. Our cultural tendency is to derive pleasure from achieving goals, making progress, and getting things done. But the power of sensual pleasure as a nutrient for vitality and regeneration has not been adequately explored. All manner of poor self-image, neurosis, and personal discomfort can be ameliorated simply by feeling good inside. Conversely, the more we live apart from our own physical experience, the more prone we are to anxiety, cravings, and someone else’s authority.

Creativity in movement explorations assures presence with the moment. Exploration without set expectations requires experiencing the moment. This fluid state of being brings us home to our bodies.

Aspects of this fluid state of body/mind are often exquisitely captured by professional athletes who learn to trust their bodies. Referred to as “being in the zone”; the body intuitively knows where to go of its own accord in seemingly effortless, effective action.

Mastery in sports requires presence, spontaneity, fluidity, trust, a willingness to be present with the unknown right now. Contained dignity is never called for. Unpredictability is the norm. Seeing the power of the water principle in sports, a form of self-care fitness that incorporates these attributes becomes highly attractive.

CONTINUUM

Revolutionary on the fitness scale, Continuum takes the healing power of movement to a higher octave. Continuum is a call to life that honors the language of the body: one with source, that language is creative. The human body and spirit are designed for the creative act of regeneration. This does not require invention. The cells of the body already know.

In Continuum, people find a safe space of surrender that allows the intelligence that goes beyond thought to be received. Embodying the water principle, Continuum explores the harmonies between human beings, movement, and the Tao. This truly can regenerate vitality without depletion.

Imagine an organism relaxed, in spontaneous play. Minute sensations spread and amplify as we attend to them. Wave motions bring the body away from a segmented awareness. At times the body suspends with a sense of lightness that seems to defy gravity. The whole organism begins to move as one coordinated whole. This is the context that allows tissue to open of its own accord, restoring suppleness.

For the participant, the sensation is to be on the cusp of BECOMING without a goal of arriving or staying. The next impulse can arrive from any vector or angle of the body taking it again as a whole into a new configuration. It is hard to describe the pleasure of these slow transformations in which the dissolving of one form is the same as the creation of another. It is a deep peace of being exactly in the moment and richly informed without a need to know what comes next or what it all means.

We often associate this sense of stillness with meditation, the polar opposite of action. For this state to emerge, the directing, goal driven mind must take the back seat. Because the neo-cortex is not directing the process of this movement, there is a sense of participating in the unfolding of a mystery. Within incremental movements, cells of our body are awakened to a relationship of oneness with the quantum field. Honoring the wisdom of the body’s cellular intelligence, we reawaken humanity’s link to the ancient dance of life.

It is after one of these explorations that one often recognizes the wisdom of the choices that are made by the organism when it is freed from linear, problem solving modes of assessing. Without having any destination, the body seems to know exactly how it needs to go in order to open more space and volume and to release tensions. Given half a chance, it will re-balance at a higher level of order. This becomes evident as one notices an increase of circulation, more relaxation, pleasurable sensations, and an opening of breath. Usually one feels invigorated, refreshed, and freer.

Surprisingly, Continuum brings together the super athlete, the dancer, and the physically impaired. This is particularly meaningful for someone who has lost the ability to pursue a beloved activity. Once again, a duality crumbles. It turns out that level of fitness has nothing to do with one’s ability to participate with movement in a creative and enlivening fashion. Organic explorations which follow natural impulses take the body into a plentitude of varied relationships with gravity, far from our usual center line equilibrium. Since many injuries, such as sprains and tears, occur with sudden divergences from the mid-line, the ability to holistically co-ordinate and sustain in unusual positions that are far from equilibrium is a key to building both strength and adaptability.

Even for those who recognize the realm just described, it is a leap to imagine that this form would ever produce strength. Of course, it could never replace the training required to run a marathon, or any other specialized performance, for that matter. Specific skills need practice. But then, the Tao of self-care is just as crucial. Renewal after specialized or extreme activities is essential for the longevity of our capacities. To refresh the world of possibilities after any repetitive use will restore balance to the whole.

Sound has been used in many meditations over the centuries because it is one of the fastest ways to enrich an inner state of dynamic relaxation. Thus, in Continuum, sound is employed as another form of movement. It helps us to feel from the inside out as a sort of bio-feedback to the system. We can feel the vibration of sound as it literally communicates through bone and tissue. When we become interested in the sensations and movement of sound, it has a way of organically opening and slowing breathing. As it goes with breath, so it goes with the nervous system.

WU WEI - WHERE MOVEMENT AND NON-MOVEMENT MEET

In Taoism, the term ‘wu wei’ sums up the context of engagement being discussed. Also referred to as ‘the action of non-action.’ Huston Smith, author of The World Religions, calls wu wei, “pure effectiveness” or “creative quietude”.

“Creative quietude combines within a single individual two seemingly incompatible conditions - supreme activity and supreme relaxation. The seeming incompatibles can coexist because human beings are not self-enclosed entities. They ride an unbounded sea of Tao that sustains them, as we would say, through their subliminal minds…

One way to create is through following the calculated directives of the conscious mind. The results of this mode of action, however, are seldom impressive; they tend to smack more of sorting and arranging than of inspiration.

Genuine creation, as every artist knows, comes when the more abundant resources of the subliminal self are somehow taped. But for this to happen a certain disassociation from the surface self is needed. The conscious mind must relax, stop standing in its own light, let go. Only so is it possible to break through the law of reversed effort in which the more we try the more our efforts boomerang.”

This is the inner context that changes everything. It requires a state change from our everyday action mode in which we are getting things done to what Aldous Huxley called, “dynamic relaxation.” When this state is courted during moving explorations, the body seems to guide while the mind appreciates the unfolding. Pleasurable movement could be seen as a nutrient that is vital for our organism’s harmony. Again, to quote Smith; “Infinitely supple, yet incomparably strong - these virtues of water are precisely those of wu wei as well. The person who embodies this condition…acts without strain.”

When our bodies need energy, whether it’s physical or emotional, a workout that enhances awareness and sensation, is what inspires. Aligned with the same principles that revitalize water when it can flow freely, it can access spontaneity, freedom, and an agility that is completely unexpected. Self-care and healing are most effective when in harmony and resonance with the bio-sphere.

Gael Ohlgren

303-530-2992

www.gaelohlgren.com

Contribution on the physiology of breath by Robert Litman
Certified Practitioner of the Buteyko Institute Method of Breathing Retraining
Authorized Continuum Movement Teacher
520-326-9775

www.thebreathablebody.com

A recent MSNBC article writes about how doing exercise or yoga can cause spontaneous emotional releases. The article relates many anecdotes of people breaking into tears from just moving. The article does not give any explanation why this happens.

Essentially, when emotions are unable to be expressed they are stored in our soft tissue – not much different than us storing our crap in the garage. One day you decide to clean out the garage. As you pick up every piece of what now has become junk you remember why you stuffed it in the garage.

Often when we move our bodies in a way it has not moved for a long time, we experience the junk that we stored in it. This flash back can be scary. It also can be tremendously healing. For more than 30 years, I have supported clients and students in allowing themselves to have these spontaneous releases. In every case, some good came from the release.

It is after one of these releases that our mind and body is able to move on to a better place. Old pain often disappears and as the MSNBC article mentioned, allowing joy to return.

Seek out safe places to allow your old junk to release. Honor your mind and body’s innate healing process. Release.

Conclusion 

From many of my own healing crises and thousands of Rolfing clients, as well along with clients in other settings, I can say that no matter how intense a healing crisis is, it will pass. If you or any friend of yours has any concern about what is occurring, seek medical advice. 

As strange as this may sound, enjoy the healing crisis as much as you can. It is your gift to your body to help it get well. Avoid  turning from one who thinks all this is New Age hyperbole to the fanatic on a constant cycle of purging him- or herself. Allow your body to travel its own path; your job is to support it. 

Your body has an amazing ability to heal itself. Deep within, it knows how to do its job to breakup of what is preventing that natural process of healing, and then support it once it starts. As a Rolfer, I don’t see myself as a healer, I see myself as the instigator who stirs up things so you and your Creator can do the healing. This healing energy is what will renew your body and keep you young. 

The process of experiencing a healing crisis becomes a process of where you begin to see yourself being in a defining moment – where on some level you are committing to a new depth of wellness. The crisis evolves to be portal where you step through to a new place of health. Once on the other side, not only are you different, you do not want to go back. 

I strongly encourage you to speak to your Rolfer about your feelings and experiences; he or she can be a great resource. Use this blog as an adjunct resource to assist you in your Rolfing and healing journey. I wish you the best on this journey.

Preventing a healing crisis 

Anticipate that your body/mind will detox. Create a network of support using what I mentioned earlier. Be proactive with your communications and your detoxing; don’t wait until you are in a position where you have to do it. 

Also, investigate detoxing programs. There are many of these programs available. They may include cleansing herbs, bulking and cleansing agents for the colon, and a whole protocol of how to use them. Using a complete program or working with a holistic health professional to supervise the program can make a difference in your overall health and the effect Rolfing has on your body. 

Develop your own ways to release your emotions. It may mean finding a good therapist or a good group that focuses on emotional maturity. One network I have used and recommend is the ManKind Project (MKP). The MKP is an international, non-profit men’s training organization which has a network of local groups.  

Others will tell you keeping your body alkaline can prevent illness. Junk food and stress make your body acidic, which allows infections and disease to fester. Again, rest and sleep are in order. You can be doing all the right things, but if you are not resting, you can’t rejuvenate.

Social and emotional support 

Social support can be a key to reducing healing crises. Finding people or a group that understands what it is to travel the healing journey may take some work. Many “support groups” focus on an illness. These groups aren’t focused on the process of getting well. I have seen instances when a person in one of these groups who is really committed to getting well becomes ostracized. 

Realize that getting well and addressing old issues is, unfortunately, not the norm. That said, there are people and groups that have gone through what you have gone through. One aspect of this site is the forum section that is meant to be a virtual support group. You may have to start your own group. I did. 

It bears mentioning that you may go through a period where you feel reclusive. That is normal – allow it. You may also find that you are drifting away from some of your friends. This social healing crisis is a strange one. It like discovering what was once your favorite food is no longer your favorite food. You may find yourself less tolerant of some of your friends’ behaviors.  It is uncomfortable. I can say  however, from my personal and professional experience that in the long run you will have relationships that are even more enjoyable. 

Here are some suggestions on where to start your communication with your friends and family to get the energy moving: 

• speak about what you are going through, as best as your can tell the person your experience and listen to them respond
• communicate your feelings and needs
• set your boundaries, tell others what is not okay for you. This can be the most difficult thing to do
• share with them your commitment to being well
• share with them this post on the process
• share with them that they may be at the effect of old emotions coming out
  • I call this co-lateral damage - often old anger that was not okay to express as a child will be directed towards your spouse
  • warn them - it is not about them
  • you are releasing old emotions and learning that it is okay to do so
  • the fact they are the target represents your trust in them.  That may not be a significant consolation, but it’s true
  • I have always seen this work out for the best

Support through expressing emotions 

I discovered if you could take what was emotional stress stored in the body and convert it back to expressed emotions, healing crises could be avoided or reduced in intensity. To facilitate this I have recommended to clients that they go out and rent a set of movies that represent the five basic emotions: fear, anger, sadness, worry and pretense (false happiness). I have added sexual passion to the list if I believed that was some stored sexual energy. The goal here is to prime your emotional expression. 

We are meant to give with our emotions and hold with our bodies, as Swift Deer, a Native American elder/shaman would say. When we can begin to give with our emotions our bodies no longer have to do what they are not designed to do, and we begin to relax. 

In some Native American traditions, the second direction on the Medicine Wheel is the south, the place of water and emotions. This is the place where we give with our emotions, our waters – our tears. Our tears heal us. These tears actually contain toxins from the release of emotions. 

You can also catalyze the giving of your emotions to avoid a healing crisis by calling an old friend or lover and getting honest with them. If it means making amends, do it – you will feel great afterwards. Or, it maybe it could involve telling this person how much he or she means to you. 

For others, going into a reflective space can help. Praying, mediating or doing a ceremony may help move you through a healing crisis. In the midst of the chaos of the crisis, you may find a calm you never experienced. The eye of the storm can bring fabulous insights. 

Reducing how you tax your body, and particularly your detoxing systems, will lessen the crisis. Don’t give your body more than it can handle; support it with rest and good food. I have also suggested to clients that they back off on their Rolfing if they are in a healing crisis. That would also hold true for other catalyzing therapies. 

It can be helpful to receive therapies that support the body’s elimination and rest – for some it may be colon therapy, for others a massage or an acupuncture treatment. 

You can research blood cleansing herbs that assist the body in minimizing the effects of detoxing. Enzymes, principally systemic (proteolytic) enzymes can help break up what the body is attempting to rid itself of. Fasting or eating a raw food diet might assist. My warning here is if you are run down, weak, or thin a fast might not be right for you. If you are considering fasting, please do some research on how to do it right. 

There are activities that can support your body in detoxing in a more graceful way. Saunas and steam baths, particularly if you brush your skin, can help your skin to detox. Soaking in an Epson salt bath can help. Lying in the sun can be rejuvenating. Yes, I know that the sun has a bad rap, but that is changing. There is more research out that is saying the sun in moderation is much better for us than once believed.

Support 

Now that you understand the concept of the healing crisis, you can know what is occurring and can be familiar with the symptoms. Lets discuss what you can do to support yourself through the process. 

Creating the new frame for your reactions, and how this can generate a healing crisis in itself, can be significant. When I take a few minutes to outline what a healing crisis actually is, the client then starts to relax and often gets excited about getting well. It is like some part of them knew that a good thing was happening, but there was no one supporting that belief in their world. 

My first suggestion is always to allow – to surrender to the process. This does not mean suffering – it means attempting to accept that your body/mind is healing itself. We live in a society that doesn’t encourage us to slow down. Allowing our body and its health to be the priority can be the most difficult aspect of a healing crisis. 

Frequently, my clients come to realize their biggest reason for developing the symptoms that brought themselves to me was how they were tense from always being on the go. Their healing crisis can be their bodies’ attempt to rest their internal gyro. 

For us Type-A’s, slowing down or resting is sacrilege. I have struggled with “walking my talk” of slowing down. My head can come up with all the reasons why I need to do something as I continue to deny my body’s voice. For those who are athletes this can mean not training. I know athletes have many reasons why they must train – I have heard them all. I have also seen hundreds of clients come back and tell me that slowing down their workouts or suspending them for a period of time was the best thing they did. I had a few men come back to me after a month of not lifting to tell me they weren’t weaker – they were stronger. With a confused look on their face, they asked how that was possible. It is possible because Rolfing made their structure stronger, their muscles had more circulation and they were more relaxed. 

You may prevent a healing crisis if you immediately slow down, rest and support your body. This may mean canceling a few activities, going to bed early, not having those three beers and generally vegging-out.

Emotions

When clients tell me what the biggest benefits to being Rolfed were, they usually say that it’s not that the symptoms that brought them in are long gone, but that their emotional/stress state is much better. I was naïve as to how much stress impacted my body and its tension level, and how much my unexpressed emotions caused that tension until months after I completed my Rolfing.

A trick to avoiding or lessening healing crises is to express those emotions you haven’t felt or thought you couldn’t express.

This connection between our emotions and our bodies isn’t as “out there” as it was 30 years ago. We are beginning to understand this connection. Rolfing was a crash course in embodying this understanding. Simply put, when we had emotions that we could not express as a child – getting mad at our parents is a common one – we turned that emotion into physical tension. The father of stress research, Hans Selye, M.D in his book The Stress of Life, calls fascia the “organ of stress.” It is where stress goes. It is the primary organ of the body for holding our emotions. The facial network engulfs all muscles and organs of our body – it is every where just as our stress is.

As the fascial system releases, so do the old stored emotions. It is as if someone de-encrypted a hard disc that stored old data. Stored emotions held in the body still need to express what they were unable to completed or express when their trigger first occurred. For example, as kids we could not tell our parents we were mad at them. I have heard from clients how they went through a period where they were irritated or angry at things they had not been angry at before being Rolfed.

The emotional healing crises can be the most perplexing aspect of Rolfing for clients, particularly for us men. People using control as a survival strategy can initially feel a little challenged by having their emotions take over. For some, it can get intense as they travel through what Joseph Campbell called the “Hero’s Journey.” For these fortunate clients, I say this sincerely, since it will prove to be a huge gift to those who experience this journey. It will be unlike anything they have ever experienced. At some point in this journey, you will encounter “The Dark Night of the Soul.” You will feel you are stepping off an edge into the abyss. The void that you are stepping into is the completion of parts of your life, the places you have avoided – consciously or unconsciously.

This step into the void is a leap of faith. I know it may feel as though you are being pushed. Yet, you can step back into the life you have. It will take a conscious decision to allow the process to take you over the edge. I know that it feels like you will die. Carl Jung, MD would claim that your ego was dying or its dominant control of you was dying. It does not want to lose control – it will fight.

For the chosen few who experience this journey, it will change your life forever. You will never be the same. Rolfing is by no means the only way to catalyze this transformation. I have seen other therapies do this along with spiritual ceremonies, and life crises break open this process.

A special note: no matter how great you may feel after traveling through a healing crisis, allow for some time to integrate the changes into your life. Do not make any important decisions until you are rested.

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 Symptoms

Symptoms range from the most subtle physical release to the occasional, intense emotional release. Here is list of some of the most common healing crisis reactions I’ve observed in the past 30 years:

• extreme fatigue
• listlessness, feeling “spaced-out” and/or confusion
• restlessness
• emotional sensitivity
• melancholy
• neediness and/or wanting to be left alone
• outbursts of emotions such as: anger, fear/anxiety, sadness/grief
• dizziness, a feeling of spinning
• cramps and deep aches
• diarrhea and nausea
• insomnia
• cold- and flu-like symptoms
• food poisoning symptoms
• fever and/or chills
• mucus discharge, sinus congestion
• frequent urination and/or urinary tract discharges
• strong body order and bad breath
• skin eruptions, such as: pimples, boils, hives, and rashes
• strange dreams
• at times may feel stronger and generally better in some ways during the healing crisis

After reading this list you may ask yourself, why would I want to get Rolfed? – I would. It is not as bad as it may sound. Actually, I find that people do not complain about healing crises. They are much more likely to simply want to know what is happening. It is as if on some level they know they are getting better. These healing crises can be likened to what women experience when giving birth. In the midst of the delivery they may say “I will never do this again,” yet they may have several more kids.

We have a skewed perspective on pain in this culture. We spend billions of dollars a year lessening our pain. When we are committed to restoring our health, our focus changes to doing what it takes to heal the cause of the pain. Athletes learn that the pain of a workout is a means to a good end. Rolfing clients start to see the effects of their Rolfing in the same light.