A conversation with Konrad Obermeier, Certified Advanced Rolfer® and CE Workshop Teacher
What does it truly mean to understand the human body? For many, anatomy starts with the atlas: muscles, bones, Latin terms. Yet for those who work deeply with the body, this purely structural view often falls short.
Konrad Obermeier, a Rolfer® with over 30 years of experience, anatomy teacher at the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute® Europe, and expert in embryology, offers a different perspective: for him, anatomy is not just biology but a living relationship - to the environment, to culture, and to our own personal history.
Layers of the Body: More than Biology
The foundation of anatomy is undoubtedly biological. Anyone working with the body should know and be able to palpate the basic structures. But beyond this, as Obermeier emphasises, we also carry a “cultural anatomy”: our movements and postures are shaped by cultural norms, family patterns, and individual experiences.
“When you work with the body, you never touch only biology - you always touch culture and biography.”
- Konrad Obermeier
How we handle, use and perceive our bodies develops within a relational field. Whether a child is learning the violin or a craftsman is lifting heavy beams, both develop their own unique anatomical patterns shaped by their experiences.
Movement as a Balance of Stability and Freedom
A central question in Rolfing® Structural Integration is: how much stability does the body need, and how much freedom is possible?
For example, when a child learns to walk, it is not only about what must move, but also about what must not move in order to create the necessary stability. Through this conscious inhibition, freedom of movement can arise.
Every movement is based on our relationship to gravity. It requires stabilisation - and the art is to allow as much freedom as possible while providing as much stability as necessary.”
- Konrad Obermeier
This fine interplay is fundamental for economical, effortless movement - whether walking, dancing or in daily life.
Anatomy as Process: Learning from Embryology
Obermeier places special emphasis on embryology. Here, the body is not shown as a finished, static structure, but as an ongoing process shaped in relationship with its environment.
In the early weeks, the human embryo is almost entirely fluid; only through forces of pressure and tension do tissues, fascia and bones begin to form. Obermeier calls the embryo a “template of potential”: every adult body retains a memory of this formative state and can therefore continue to reorganise throughout life.
Structure is not a rigid architecture, but a very slow movement, extending from fertilisation to old age.”
- Konrad Obermeier
From the very beginning, the body develops in dialogue: with the mother, with its own sensations, with hormonal and emotional influences. This original fluidity reminds us that we are never “finished”. We remain malleable, dynamic, in motion.
Perception as Key
A frequently underestimated aspect is the role of perception. Our ability to sense ourselves and our surroundings strongly determines how we move and hold ourselves.
Whether it is visual orientation, inner sensations or emotional responses: only when perception is free can movement become economical and authentic. Restrictions in sensory awareness, for example through a fixed, narrowed gaze, can block the musculoskeletal system - regardless of how “strong” or “trained” a muscle might be.
Rolfing® Structural Integration therefore increasingly integrates tools to expand peripheral vision, deep body awareness and body image.
Rolfing® as a Path to Autonomy
The aim of Rolfing® Structural Integration is not to impose an ideal posture. Rather, it supports individuals in experiencing more freedom and autonomy within their own bodies.
Becoming more embodied into oneself, recognising old movement patterns, exploring new spaces - or, as Obermeier puts it:
Rolfing Structural Integration can help you get closer to home.”
Here, the focus is not on correction, but on relationship: to gravity, to space, to one’s own history and to the environment. Fascia work is not understood as pure tension correction, but as working with forces of compression and tension, always resonating with the body’s inherent fluidity.
Conclusion: Anatomy as Relationship
Anatomy is more than memorising muscle origins. It is a multi-layered interplay of biology, culture, experience and perception. When we understand anatomy as a living, relational process, our therapeutic and pedagogical possibilities expand enormously.
Engaging with embryology, movement development and fascia opens new perspectives: on our own bodies, on working with clients, and on life itself as a continuous process of change. This is what Konrad Obermeier embodies in his teaching: Structural Integration is not a rigid technique, but a dialogical process addressing the whole person and their history.
Source:
This blog article is based on a conversation with Konrad Obermeier. The full interview is available as an audio recording in the “Fluid Realities” podcast, hosted by Anna Mischel and Stephanie Aimée Poole.
Interview partner: Konrad Obermeier, Certified Advanced Rolfer® and CE Workshop Teacher – Munich and Huldsessen, Germany
Interviewer: Stephanie Aimée Poole, Certified Rolfer® - Gmunden, Austria
Edited and translated by: Sabine Becker
Konrad Obermeier’s website
Stephanie Aimée Poole’s Website
Stephanie Aimée Poole’s social channels: LinkedIn, Instagram.
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