Christian LeebyCertified Rolfer® · Golden, CO

How Rolfing® Works

Over time our bodies get stuck in crooked patterns, which cause pain and dysfunction.

Rolfing fixes that by re-aligning the whole body.

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To see why it works, try to answer the question below...

Gravity

Christian balancing a pole in his studio

Question:

If you balance a pole in the center of the room...what holds it up?

Think about it, then tap

Answer:Gravity pressing DOWN holds the pole up.

And what happens to the pole when it's tilted to one side?

Tap to see

Gravity quickly crushes it to the floor.

We know walls have to be straight.

You'd never walk in a building that was crooked.

But we don't realize it's the same with our bodies.

Most people don't even know they're in a fight with gravity.

Let alone that they're losing it.

Gravity is pushing down on all of us, all the time.

But it never lets up, so we never notice it. You can't feel something that's always there.

The more crooked your body, the harder you have to fight it.

When your body gets straighter, gravity stops pushing you down...

...and starts holding you up, just like the pole.

That's what Rolfing is all about.

Fascia

So what holds a body crooked?

Fascia.

Fascia is the connective tissue that wraps every muscle, every bone and every organ in your body.

It's one continuous web, from your head to your feet.

Pull on it in one place and you feel it somewhere else.

Fallsand old injuries

Long daysat a desk or in a car

Habitshow you stand, sit and carry things

Stressbracing you don't even notice

Each of these leaves a little strain in the fascia.

Over the years it adds up to a pattern, and the fascia holds your body in it.

That's the tilted pole.

Rolfing is hands-on fascia work. Slow, precise pressure that releases the stress patterns in the fascial system, layer by layer.

Christian doing Rolfing fascia work in his Golden studio

Rolfing in my studio in Golden

Who actually does the work

My first client taught me the most important thing

Boulder, Colorado. 1991.

I'd hardly done any Rolfing yet.

This is the result he got from 10 sessions.

My first Rolfing client, 1991: before and after, side view — My first client, 1991

Look at his head, his chest, how much taller he's standing.

Absolutely dramatic. And I was a beginner.

So it couldn't have been my skill.

It's the body's intelligence that makes the big changes.

The Rolfer simply releases stress patterns in the fascial system.

The body's intelligence makes it get straighter in the field of gravity.

Remember the pole? Once the fascia lets go, gravity stops crushing you down and starts holding you up.

The 10-session series

Why ten sessions?

Over 10 sessions of Rolfing your body will get straighter, your movement will become easier, and you will feel a new lightness as you "line up" with gravity's downward force instead of being pummeled down by it.

The classic Rolfing series is a specific progression.

It's the optimal order for restructuring a body, one layer of fascia at a time.

Tap each stage to open it.

1–3The surface layersSessions 1, 2 and 3

We start on the outside. These sessions free the superficial layers of fascia, so the deeper work naturally becomes available.

1Opening up. Starting to open the whole body: head and neck, shoulders, back, arms, and the sides and backs of the legs.
2Your foundation. Feet and lower legs, so you stand on a solid base.
3The sides. Lengthening and balancing the side of the body, from hip to shoulder.

4–7The coreSessions 4, 5, 6 and 7

Now we go deeper, into the core structures that hold the deeper patterns.

4The inner legs, starting with the arches of the feet.
5The front: between the ribs, and the deep structures that link your spine to your legs.
6The backs of the legs and hips.
7A whole hour on the head, neck and shoulders.