Rolfing
Release the tension in your muscles to help realign and provide lasting stability to a body.
Rolfing Colorado Springs
What is Rolfing?
In short, Rolfing is a hands-on healing modality which corrects posture and offers pain relief by releasing the tension in the connective tissues that surround the muscles to align and provide lasting stability to the body.
How does Rolfing Work?
Rolfing uses physical pressure (with hands and fingers) to lengthen and return the entire body’s connective tissue to its original symmetry and balance. This whole-body treatment is necessary in order to enable the changes to be integrated throughout.
The aim is to achieve the optimal alignment for that person that gives a lasting stability, with no need for constant return visits.
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What clients have to say
"I have recently finished the 10 session Rolfing treatment with Dick Larson. I am very pleased with what resulted. Instead of my legs toeing out when I walk or stand, I now can walk naturally straight ahead. My balance is much improved. My shoulders now are lower and set further back rather than being rounded and right. My whole system is less tense and much looser."
S.P.
"Rolfing with the ten session series proved to be a most remarkable transforming bodywork for myself, especially being a massage therapist. I highly recommend the Rolfing treatment. Chronic pain patterns I had for years disappeared. Rolfing with Dick Larson is a foundation for life. It changed my life."
R.L
K.K
January 18, 2022
"I must extend my sincere gratitude for your talent and skills. Your insights and helpful hints on sitting, standing, body awareness, etc. were as helpful as the actual Rolfing, or maybe even more so. I also said I knew you were the person to trust! …. I was right."
E.C
I am a trail runner, I love exploring mountains into places where only my heart, lungs and legs can take me. This past Fall I injured my big toe, which affected my gait for several weeks. Then my left calf wasn’t activating and became a limiting problem with anything over 5 miles (normally I don't have any problem with 10-20 mile trail runs). I felt the frustration of not being able to trust my legs to take me more than 5 miles without problems a feeling I've never felt before. I became desperate to find a solution. I looked into chiropractic care and massage therapy and while inquiring about them, I found out about Rolfing therapy during a 30 second side conversation about massage therapy.
Upon researching Rolfing therapy, I learned Rolfers specialize in assisting fascia to reset--to put it simply. Facia covers all muscles and organs. That sounded like just what my calf needed. As Rolfing entered into my vocabulary and I had begun searching for a Rolfer, my calf began to activate while I was doing calf raises. Even though I was finally feeling better on that front, at that point I had learned enough to be excited to see what Rolfing could do for my body to assist in keeping me tuned up to be able to continue doing the things I enjoy.
Finding "The Center for Well Being" was a huge blessing! While Dick does a wide range of specialized therapies, he told me that Rolfing is his favorite therapy because of the vast quality-of-life changes he gets to be a part of. His years of experience shined bright to me after just one of 10 sessions (one per week). After just the first session my neck and shoulders were aligned close to where they should be. Dick helped me see the sharp contrast of before and after, especially in my shoulders, by having me look at them after he had worked on just the left side of my body--my left shoulder was finally where it should be but my right shoulder was slumped forward as it had been (of course, he didn't let me leave before he worked on the other side as well).
To put this in perspective, let me say I have appreciated Chiropractor care over the years, but every Chiropractor I've had always told me my neck and shoulders weren't where they should be; but even after doing their intensive plan, my neck and shoulders have never gotten to the place they desired them to be (over the last 15 years I've done a complete intensive, chiropractic plan at least three times).
After ONE session of Rolfing, Dick got my neck and shoulders in, or at least very near, their ideal positioning and was improved upon throughout the rest of the sessions. That was something Dick had said we’d able to accomplish by the end of the 10 sessions, but then proved it. While I would guess not everyone may see this huge of a change after just one session, this made me a believer in Dick's giftedness as a Rolfer.
As a runner who has been working and striving to perfect my running form for years, I understand that I will run more efficiently and be more likely to stay injury free if my head, neck, and body are aligned and centered.
Dick explained that a simple sprained ankle will cause tightening of fascia around that area to protect the injury, and since our body is so good at adapting, a domino effect takes place slowly over time up the leg and even to the opposite side of the body (as one puts more weight on the uninjured side of the body). Eventually the tightened fascia here and there, in an attempt to rebalance an unbalanced body, may come out as a neck pain years down the road, as an example. Resetting the fascia, then, can undo years of damage from poor posture and accumulated injuries.
Dick even worked with me on ways to develop healthier habits to avoid issues that arise from poor posture and gave drills and feedback to assist in helping the Rolfing therapy solidify more strongly.
I finished the last of 10 sessions several weeks ago and my neck and shoulders are still balanced. I catch myself quicker when I am slipping into poor posture habits because Dick has helped me be more aware (and now I can feel the difference better).
What are the biggest noticeable changes for me? I am sleeping much more soundly--I'm not waking up multiple times in the night as I was. I feel more energy throughout the day. My running feels more efficient, I feel more balanced as I run. My feet land more centered as well.
Dick offers a free 30 minute consultation that is very informative. I encourage you to check this therapy out, Dick is a gifted Rolfer, you will be in good hands, literally."
-Chad S.
A Brief History of Rolfing
Rolfing is a whole-body system of health care originated by and named for Dr. Ida P. Rolf, Ph.D. Dr. Rolf called her work "Structural Integration", because it focuses on the structure of the body, releasing the body from lifelong patterns of tension, to change posture and alignment.
Rolfing became more widely known after Dr. Rolf helped a young boy, named Tim Law, in 1959. Tim was diagnosed by doctors as suffering from Legg-Perthes disease: doctors were certain that by the time he was 20, he would be confined to life in a wheelchair.
The doctors only recommendation was to put Tim into a cast - for 5 years - to help rectify his condition. After much consideration, Tim's mother made a difficult, yet courageous, decision to have Dr. Rolf work with her son.
The last 46 years have borne out the correctness of her decision: Tim went on to be a champion surfer in high school and college, father two children, and live a happy and fulfilling life until his passing in 2017.
The Dr. Ida Rolf Institute’s “little-boy” logo is based on the actual before and after of a four-year old boy named Tim Law.
Dr. Rolf's discovery was that if specific kinds of pressure were applied to fascia, the body shape will change in a lasting way. The body is changeable, a plastic medium.
To illustrate the possible consequences of the body’s changeability, consider a twisted ankle. The connective tissue in the affected ankle area will shorten and thicken (for support) causing a temporary limp. This shifting of weight to the other leg restructures the muscles in the legs, pelvis, spine, and eventually throughout the body.
Although the limp disappears after a few weeks, the overall pattern in the muscles and tissues continues. As time goes by, the pelvis continues to tilt, the lower back becomes painful, and tensions and pains appear in the body without any obvious reason. The person is left with an ever-increasing distortion.
What to Expect during your Rolfing Sessions
Rolfing is performed in a series of ten distinct sessions, each an hour to an hour and a quarter long. Dr. Larson uses physical pressure (with hands and fingers) to lengthen and return the body’s connective tissue to its original symmetry and balance.
Does Rolfing hurt?
It shouldn't. Much of the reputation for pain came from the early days when Rolfing was first gaining public recognition. Practitioners were a bit “over-zealous”, and techniques were crude (heavy-handed) by today’s standards. Since that time, the process has evolved significantly. More refined methods have been found, allowing the same or often better results to be achieved without the intense discomfort.
Frequently tissue does not really need much pressure to change; rather it is the practitioner’s sensitivity to what is going on in the tissue and the ability to respond appropriately that is necessary.
What should I wear to a Rolfing session?
Please come for your session in appropriate attire: for men, boxer shorts or briefs. For women: a sports bra and full coverage underwear.
It is important for me to be able to see your physical structure and the changes that occur to it during the session, but is also important for you to feel comfortable during the session.
Please wear what you feel is appropriate; my years of experience permit me to adjust to whatever allows you to feel at ease.
Frequently Asked Questions
YES! Photographs taken of clients years after the Basic Ten Series show that changes are still present and structure is enhanced. The basic series addresses patterns of tension and restriction accumulated in your body since childhood, including past injuries and their many compensations. Fortunately, you won’t recreate that history again.
And indeed, your body, having been Rolfed, continues to improve. Your body’s shape and condition are constantly being maintained and recreated by its movement patterns. If the movement patterns are imbalanced and restricted, they will continue to break down the structure (typical degeneration attributed to “getting older”). After Rolfing, the movement patterns begin to improve and re-create a balanced structure. Through the improved movement patterns made possible by a more flexible and free structure, the Rolfing continues after the 10 sessions have been completed.
Is there scientific proof about Rolfing?
YES! Rolfing has been studied scientifically several times, with very positive results (more studies are currently ongoing). One example is a five year study conducted by Dr. Valerie Hunt and Dr. Wayne Massey at the UCLA Department of Kinesiology, called “A Study of Structural Integration from Neuromuscular, Energy Field and Emotional Approaches”. There were measurements before and after Rolfing of anxiety states, brain hemisphere activity, energy field photography, DC recordings of energy flow in electrical voltage readings, EMG recordings from sixteen separate muscles, electromyograms of neuromuscular patterning of energy, and electronic auric field study.
This study produced many results, difficult to briefly summarize. These are a few of the outstanding results:
- Greater physical skill
- Greater movement efficiency
- Improved neuromuscular balance
- Emotional calmness; decrease in anxiety state
- Improved social interaction
- Feelings of well being
- Better memory recall
- Enhanced ability to access different states of consciousness
- Increasing right hemisphere brain dominance when needed for right brain activity
- Positive changes in ways of processing data and the nature of thought processes that ensue
- More energy; less fatigue
- Greater energy flow and balanced distribution of energy
Have more questions? Please feel free to get in touch so we can answer any specific questions you have about Rolfing.