Gravity is a powerful force shaping our bodies. Just as a building can lose its structural integrity and begin to collapse, so can our bodies. What results is a body struggling to retain its integrity. It is inflexible, inefficient and often suffering from chronic pain. Such a body as Ida Rolf, the developer of Rolfing says, is at war with gravity.

Rolfing releases the body’s segments – legs, torso, arms etc. from life long patterns of tension and bracing, and it permits gravity to re-align them. By doing so, it balances the body, thereby improving flexibility and reducing chronic pain. Body misalignment in gravity results in chronic strain and pain, lowered vitality and impaired biological and psychological functioning.

After Rolfing, the body is better balanced and expends less of its available energy against gravity. The person enjoys a feeling of fitness and wholeness. Movement becomes easier, and overall personal functioning tends to improve. People who have been Rolfed stand and move with more surety and grace then before.