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    Thomas Myers Depth

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    Alyta69
    Thomas Myers's experience with his teacher Ida Rolf. About working deeply with highly effectivity and no pain.

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    Thomas Myers Depth

    Uploaded by

    Alyta69
    23 views2 pages
    Thomas Myers's experience with his teacher Ida Rolf. About working deeply with highly effectivity and no pain.

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    Thomas Myers's experience with his teacher Ida Rolf. About working deeply with highly effectivity and no pain.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    Download as pdf
    23 views2 pages

    Thomas Myers Depth

    Uploaded by

    Alyta69
    Thomas Myers's experience with his teacher Ida Rolf. About working deeply with highly effectivity and no pain.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    Depth ‘Thomas Myers, Certified Advanced Rolfer e all value Rolfing® as depth bodywork onmany levels. But depth has been a problem for Rolfing since its inception. Part of the rea- son that Rolfing got such a reputation for painis that da Rolf kept exhorting her stu- dents to "go deeper” Those ofus who were juststarting out in this business, in the frst rush of pioneering enthusiasm, took “go deeper” to mean “go harder.” It was PER- HAPSalimitation inher teaching, and def- nitely a limitation in our understanding “More than two decades later, the teaching of depth in Rolfing and structural integra- tion schools has changed considerably, ‘though the reputation lingers on. My own journey ito depth was changed by Ida Rolf herself in a singular moment. 1211978 1 was in the midst of my advanced ‘raining with her Asittumed out, this was De Rolf’ last training - she was to die of congestive heart failure and complications from rectal cancer less than six months later at the age of 83. During this training, she spent most of her time in a wheelchair al- though she could still walk for short dis- tances. Mostly she directed the work of th- es, though she ocasionally would do some hands-on work herself During this time, I was fortunate to have ‘work from her several times, and to my surprise, the work was not painful at al. Her hands had such authority that my tis- sue was persuaded to move seemingly of itself. This contrasts sharply with the expe- rience of a number of English osteopaths who studied with her in the 50's and early “G's. Toa person - and I contacted a num- ber of them when I moved to London in the early ‘80's - they lauded Ida’s knowl- edge, perception, and efficacy, but said that she put her clients through far more pain than they themselves could ever counte- ‘nance in their own practices. Back to this particular afternoon, I was working with Tweed, my model. Tweed M4 ‘was a nurse, a bright and gentle soul who ‘unfortunately was compelled tolive witha severe idiopathic scoliosis, which had strongly distorted her rib cage and spine. At that time, I was living and working in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Tweed, who had benefited greatly from our first 10-session series (I had leamed a lot too), had trav- eled all the way to Philadelphia to be my ‘model for advanced sessions under Ida Rolf's direction. This afternoon, Rolf's eyes ‘were going from watchful to baleful to in- creasingly frustrated. Tweed was seated on a bench, slowly bending forward over her knees, while I stood behind her, using the flat of my knuckles to open the locked myofascia in her knotted erectors. Ida Rolf was fidgeting in her wheelchair, saying “Get in there, man!” - at which I would redouble my efforts, and Tweed would grin and bear it as her back got red- der-but not longer. Finally, Rolf could take it no more: she wheeled her chair over ‘loser to the back ofthe bench, barking my shins with the footrest. Shejammed on the wheelchair brakes so the chair wouldn’t ‘move, and then leaned way forward. At full reach from the chair she was ust ableto put two gnarled fingertips on either side of ‘Tweed’ sinuous tral of spinous processes, Slowly her fingertips traveled down ‘Tweed’s twisted spine. ‘Tweed, who was bent forward and so did not know Rolf and I had changed places, cried, “that’s it, now you've got it” as her back started to let go of another layer of Tongrheld tension. At this moment I real- ized that depth was going to be an elusive ‘and hard-won property. I this failing litle ‘ldlady could achieve more depth with two fingertips at full reach out of a wheelchair than T could in my young prime, standing right over the client with my fists firmly placed in her back, then certainly going deeper and going harder were not remotely equated. wow soltorg Of course, a truer language of depth has suffused our profession in the years since. Here isa summary list of my current think- ing on the components of depth, with a brief explanation following: 1. The three ins: tention invitation and. information 2. Practitioner body use 3.Client movement 4. Slower is better 5. Knowing the anatomy 6. Resonance 1) A dlear intention precedes your fingers into the tissues, so that mind and body are aligned. Do you know what your intention ‘seach time you enter the field ofthe other person? Having a clear intent makes achiev- lng depth so much easier for both of you. Each move is also an invitation love this word, it means “bringing life in” ~an invi- tation to greater awareness, greater move- ment, greater relaxation. If your hands are suffused with the atitude of invitation as you come into the body, the waves of ten- sion and resistance partinfrontof you, and depth is more easily found. And finaly, each move informs brings in form. Thatis the uniqueness of bodywork: Deane juhan, tells us: Nothing is added but information, rothing is subtracted but what the body lets {00f Hands-on workis essentially an edu- «ative process. f- and Iam talking to my- sel as well - we come into the body with the intention of informing the tissues, giv- ing them information they might be miss- ing, our work is very different from when we come in with the intention of fixing it breaking up that fascial adhesion stretch- ing that spasmodic muscle, annihilating that tigger point, whatever. 2) Effective body use on the practitioner's partis second essential element-use your muscles and your force to change tissue, and the disturbance to the client will be much greater than if you use your bones and your weight. Not only will you gener- ate resistance in your client if you muscle ‘your way in, but yourhands and shoulders will ikely not serve you well for along ca- reer. The absolute minimum force to get the job done while maintaining maximum sen- sitivity to the many levels of the client's state, both local and global, is our goal here. Good practitioner body use, seen in this light, becomes more than a good idea, i's the law. Sravcrueat Bracaamow / Jose 2002 mes FRET VES ‘The law in question is the Weber-Fechner law, which states that a muscle (via the muscle spindles) is sensitive to changes ‘equal to or greater than 1/40th of the load on that muscle. In other words, the more muscular tension Thave in my body, theless sersitive I (as practitioner) am going to be about changes in the client'sbody. And vice versa - the more relaxed and lazy I can be, the more exquisitely I will enter into the dient’s kinesthetic world, feeling the ‘myriad changes in the thythms and tissues ofhis or her body. 4)Dr Rolf aid “putit whereitbelongsand «all for movement.” Too many forget the last part - especially those who come to Rolfing from massage, where the client is ‘often thought of as a more passive recipi- ‘ext Of course, movement is good for the clients experience -keeping them engaged, activating the body image, resetting muscles’ “tone-o-stat” and dispelling sen- sorimotor amnesia. But less recognized is how important itis forthe practitioner that the client is moving, When the client moving, the practitioner can feel exactly ‘what level of depth his work is reaching, “Ty doing the familiar retinacular release on the front ofthe ankle that (at least in my day) often occurred near the opening ofthe 2nd session - try it on one side with the fa niliar foot up and down’ motions, and on the other side without the motion. Is it not much harder to feel what level your hand ‘is contacting? 4) Speed isthe enemy of depth - the faster you go, the more resistance you generate. ‘Waiting and sinking and swimming slowly ‘though the tissue takes a litle longer, but, like the tortoise, wins the race. How fast is determined by two simple questions. First, {sthetissue melting in front of your fingers? you have to pry it open, you are going too fast. If nothing is happening and you are bored, you ate probably going too slowly. Iftis melting jus in front of your hand (or elbow or whatever), you are sit- ting inthe Goldilocks seat just right. The second question sin your perception of the client is she trying to get away from what you are doing? If your work includes the client having what Ida Rolf called “the ‘motor intention to withdraw,” then, in my opinion, you are going too fast. Iwill admit that I make rare exceptions to this when confronted with physically rau- ratized areas where there is so much pain stored in the myofascial tissues that I will Srmocrnas Tareceanon / Jose 2002 ‘occasionally cross this barrier into directly painful touch. This is with the conscious consent of the client, only after a rapport is established, and the intent is definitely to ‘expose’ thestored pain, not‘impose’ more pain. 5) Admitting my prejudice - I am an ‘anatomy teacher I find that depth is also a function of ever more precise knowledge of exactly what is under your hands. If 1 ‘can reconstruct the picture of where Iam in my memory and connect that image to ‘what Iam feeling in my hands, my intu- ition and my ability to go deep improve by Jeaps and bounds. If am lost in a wash of tissues whose orientation and purpose Iam not clear about, my intuitions become ‘vague and fairly useless. 6) Last but by no means least s the concept and experience of resonance. There are 50 ‘many thythms in the body - the rise and {all of breathing, the beat of the heart, the hum of metabolism, the buzz of the brain ‘waves, the idling purr of muscle tonus. the bb and flow ofthe cranial pulse the deeper wash of the long tide, the irregular grumble of peristalsis, the reciprocal metronome of walking, and perhaps a hundred more

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