I’m sure most of you can attest to having some sort of posture strain due to looking down on your cell phone or working on a computer all day. You have a kink in your neck or have back problems, but I’ve had trouble with posture and mechanics even before the digital age. When I started to learn about the body and alignment, I assessed myself and realized that my body was not close to the ideal anatomical positions of a normal body. I started incorporating Chiropractics to my regime, however I still find myself reliant on regular adjustments to feel “straight.” After a couple months of following my Chriropractor’s advice on posture, I always fell back into old patterns when standing, sitting, and living life, and my neck/back pain would return. I then started to really focus on training with correct posture to promote better everyday posture, but even that has proven tough to stick to. What I found works best for me is a good balance of strength training, corrective exercises, foam rolling and stretching, yoga, and some sort of cardio vascular activity every week. I felt really great, until I measured myself and found myself standing at almost 2 inches under my normal height of 6’3”. What happened?
I first heard about Rolfing from a friend who tried it after a bad motorcycle accident. He had a great experience so I decided to do some research and see if it was right for me. A few hours of Yelp! Research later, I found Sasha at Inline Bodies. http://www.inlinebodies.com/ She was a pro, had a strong web presence with great reviews and immediately made me feel at ease and confident in her skills.
What is Rolfing?
“Rolfing® Structural Integration is a health care practice that uses intentional touch to reshape, align, and balance the body. Rolfing uses a whole-body approach to enhance ease of movement, body efficiency, and general well being. Through this process, individuals learn more about their body and how it functions.
More specifically, Rolfing systematically addresses the entire body by manipulating its network of soft connective tissue. This tissue, known as fascia, gives the body its form. Over time, gravity, injuries, and day-to-day use often cause patterns of tension and strain. Undesirable patterns can lead to discomfort and pain that range from annoying to disabling. These pattern are released as the practitioner slowly applies directed pressure through hands-on touch and by requesting specific movements. The body, through its own wisdom, reorganizes! Alignment improves throughout the Rolfing series as the practitioner and client together release and reposition the connective tissue network.”
Over the course of 10 sessions, using different techniques over your entire body, Rolfing will re-align you in every sense of the word.
http://www.inlinebodies.com/the-rolfing-ten-series
MY EXPERIENCE
At the beginning of each session, she would assess my posture from a static natural posture andwatched my mechanics as I walked. Then she dug in. She went through each week with a very systematic approach and taught me about each joint she was working on -- how much range I had in each joint and where neutral position was. At the end of each session, she assessed my mechanics as I walked again. Each time I felt as if I was weightless or floating within the area she worked on. It was my responsibility to practice and be mindful of the new info and advice she gave me until our next session. Each session would build off the last. To my surprise, at every re-assessment, I was moving more fluidly. Right around week 3 I really started feeling more control of my body, more stacked up and more aligned. As we kept pushing through I noticed in the mirror that I was getting more vertical. My mom, who always nagged me about my posture, noticed I was looking BIG during our family vacation in Tahoe! That made me happy. By the last session I felt pretty great, and happily measured in at 189cm or 6.2’
Check her out here and tell her Jay sent you! - http://www.inlinebodies.com/
Week 1 | Week 3 | Week 10