Describe how Ida’s words have inspired your work and life…
‘I was first inspired by Dr Rolf before I even knew who she was. Actually, I was inspired by the effects of the work that she created. Receiving Rolfing made such a profound impact on me that it changed the course of my life. It made me want to become a Rolfer and as I prepared to study at the Rolf Institute, I had the distinct feeling that I was choosing a professional path that would not only invite and allow for but would also require continuous learning, development and growth. Somehow, I knew that Rolfing was a form that could never be completely mastered, that there would always be room to learn and grow. So, I am happy to say that I was right about that and over the years, I’ve realised that the creativity I use to express Rolfing is also an essential part of bringing the benefits of Rolfing to the people I work with. I can’t say enough what a gift it is and how fortune I I feel to have work that helps people every day. Thank you, Dr Rolf ‘.
How does Ida’s work continue to be relevant in the 21st century?
‘There are so many ways to talk about how Dr Rolf’s legacy is relevant in the 21st century. To cover them all in detail would take way more time than this format allows. So, I would like to just briefly touch on a couple of them. At the top of the list, has to be Fascia. It is everywhere these days and she brought it to the world stage by making it a central focus of her method. Her emphasis on the importance of Fascia to the structure and function of the human form was decades ahead of her time. Today, anywhere we look to find out information about the body is likely to include Fascia in some way as a tissue of importance. Before Dr Rolf, it was largely ignored. Another reason I believe Dr Rolf’s work is important today concerns the very basic fact that, no matter how advanced we become technologically, we will always live in our bodies. And as long as people live in bodies on earth, they will have to contend with living in the gravitational filed. This is simply inescapable, and it mean that imbalances and the exacerbation of those imbalances; injuries, traumas and the like, will always have impacts on the body that Rolfing is uniquely capable of addressing. So, no matter how technologically advanced we become, people are always going to have bodies that need help. It seems unlikely that technology will be able to solve some of the problems that come with living in a body. Maybe it would be more accurate to say that as the world becomes more technologically focused, the importance of not losing the benefits of human touch becomes greater too. At any rate, this combination of human touch mixed with Dr Rolf’s theory of form and function has given the world a gift that I believe will, as long as we have bodies, always play a role in helping people live better in their body’.
