Rolfing is a holistic system of soft tissue manipulation and movement education that organizes the whole body in gravity. This "realignment" of posture helps the body feel and work better. Rolfing affects the body's structure and alignment by manipulating the myofascial system (connective tissue, or fascia). The movement aspects of Rolfing help to repattern how the nervous system controls our movement, coordination and posture. Research has demonstrated that Rolfing creates more efficient muscle use, allows the body to conserve energy, and creates more economical and refined patterns of movement. Rolfing has also been shown to significantly reduce chronic stress, relieve pain (both chronic & acute), and enhance neurological functioning.The goal of Rolfing is to balance your body's structure in gravity. To do that, a Rolfer looks at how your body has compensated over time, both in how you move (walking) and while you are stationary (standing, sitting, etc.) Rolfing is generally performed over a series of ten sessions. This approach allows the Rolfer to affect the client's structure in a methodical manner. This includes loosening superficial fascia before working deeper areas, improving support in feet and legs before affecting higher structures, and helping clients find ways to benefit from freer movement in their daily activities. See the Frequently Asked Questions for more in-depth description of the Rolfing Ten-Series.

Rolfing is an integrative technique utilizing a system of creating order in the body’s structure. When a Rolfer contacts tissue in a client’s slumped shoulders, she is also feeling through the fascia and making contact with the connective tissue of the pelvis or arches of the feet so that not only does the shoulder release, but it has support underneath it from the pelvis or the feet. Rolfing does not simply release restrictions in the body’s tensional patterns, it simultaneously creates order in the structural connective tissue.

Rolfing does last. Because the connective tissue system is realigned holistically in relation to gravity, the body’s segments relate to each other in the more cohesive whole. This means that the head can be supported by the neck, which can be supported by the shoulders and ribcage, which can be balanced by the pelvis and the arches of the feet. This intelligent re-patterning allows the neurological input to be more appropriate so that the client has an opportunity to experience increasingly better health.