Rolfing® has taught me to view my body as my companion

By professional dancer Judit Ruiz Onandi

Fascia treatment

It actually took me quite some time to discover Rolfing Structural Integration. I followed anatomy of movement workshops, and it was through them that I discovered about fascia. The teacher explained that it is an organ that both connects and separates structures, that envelopes not only muscles, but also organs and bones. It could happen, that a person who had a muscle injury, for example, still feels discomfort after being declared recovered by the doctors. This could be because fascia was not recovered, or that it was stuck together. That was an "aha!" moment for me.

I could really identify myself with that experience of medical professionals saying that everything was well but me feeling that something was still not recovered, that I was hesitating when I needed that part of my body that suffered an old injury.”

I had the feeling that I needed more help, but I didn't know where to go. Then, I started searching for therapies that treated fascia, but didn't find anything on the web. Some months later, I bought a book about the mind, body, and spirit connection, and it was there that I read about Rolfing for the first time. Everything afterwards went pretty fast.

Rolfing to meet the demands of professional dancing

As a professional dancer, I relied a lot especially on osteopaths before I knew Rolfing. Whenever I had discomfort or pain I would go to an osteopath, and it helped enormously. I also found a sport physiotherapist that helped me a lot to recover several sprains I suffered.

Nevertheless, those were sessions to recuperate something that was injured or close to an injury. After those sessions I noticed that the specific part of the body was not in pain anymore, but that my overall feeling of sensing the body was the same as before the session.

After I took up Rolfing, I got an overall feeling of sensing the body much more adaptable and able to deal with extreme physical demands."

I also had chronic lower back pain from an old dance injury that lasted 5 years until I started having Rolfing sessions. My body feels much more alive and awake now than 20 years ago.

Positive attitude towards body

A lot of discomfort went away pretty fast, but what took my attention was the feeling of space and buoyancy in my body and my mind, together with feeling clearer in my life and feeling more positive in general. I had a different internal feeling in my body that I didn't know it could be changed.

Rolfing offers the unique point of view that our bodies are not simple machines that are "faulty". It looks at the body from the view that it is wise and wants to help me:

As a dancer, Rolfing gave me the feeling that my body is more than an instrument, it is my companion. I started to treat my body with more respect, listening to it more, and that helped me alleviate discomfort or pain that I would have had otherwise."

Author: Certified Advanced Rolfer®, Rolf Movement™ Practitioner Judit Ruiz Onandi - Ireland

Photo Credit: Nikola Kostic (dancing photos), Kerstin Mauersberger (Rolfing photos)

Visit Judit Ruiz Onandi’s website