I have a new Oakland location.
It looks pretty nice if I do say so myself. Very conveniently located near Ashby Bart, many AC Transit lines, and a snap to get to from highway 24 and 580. Not to mention just a great neighborhood. Whole Foods is right down the street and Elmwood district is a 5 minute walk.
Please call or email for address and any other details.
Also in an effort to decrease human error and streamline your booking experience I will be putting up an online scheduler very soon.
Can Rolfing Make Me Stronger?
A gentleman I recently met who is doing the Crossfit program in Oakland, Ca recently asked me a simple yet interesting question. “What about strength? Can Rolfing make you stronger?” I thought about it a moment and asked him, “If you strapped on a bunch of weights all over a car do you think you would be getting full use of all it’s available horsepower?” He seemed somewhat satisfied but allow me to elucidate a bit further.
The Crossfit community are familiar with the idea of functional strength. I don’t know what terminology they prefer but in a nutshell these are methods that exercise muscle chains instead of isolative movements that will result in strength gains and bigger muscles but don’t usually approximate the activities for which we we actually use our bodies. This is where the term functional strength comes from. In terms of what I must know as a manual and movement therapist anatomy is important but in terms of kinesiology, eh… not so much. If we operated in a vaccuum (no gravity) the use of goniometers * and treating single muscle units would be more useful. A lot of environmental factors may change eg. walking surface, topography, temperature, etc. but gravity the ubiquitous one. Gravity is the thing that makes movements happen from the base of stability through the skeleton all the way to to the gesture or action. If I were to toss you a ball guess what the first muscle to fire would be? Surprisingly it’s the the deep calf muscle called the Soleus. In Kinesiology these order/patterns are call schemas. Interestingly if I threw a Cinder block to you the schema would change drastically and your center of gravity would lower the anterior ams would have less tone, and muscles of the leg would ready themselves for more stability. Anything that interferes with what I will call a muscle chain is getting in the way of efficiency. Nowhere is this more relevant than in basic actions such as walking, breathing, picking something heavy up, reaching, looking around, swallowing (again think basic functions people because feeding is a basic fuction). Another important thing to understand is that muscles act in reciprocal pairs. When the biceps brachii muscle contracts the triceps relaxes. Except often there is a bias on one side. Without a balanced relationship the overall function of the joint that said muscles cross will not function optimally. Simply put manual therapy can help to change the bias of muscles crossing a joint. So if the question were “can Rolfing make me look ripped?” Sorry to say but no that is what the kettlebells are for. But if we are looking for “balance” and efficiency then this is an obvious goal that can be improved upon.
So yes we can improve on the effectiveness or function of the basic movements that we need to be strong, happy, and expressive human beings. Through careful assessment a trained Rolfer can look at movements that you have difficulty with and then build upon them through manual therapy and reassessment. A body that is in balance will train more balanced as well. Where we are tight we stay tight often. If you can’t bend those knees then your squats are not a productive part of your exercise regime. We want muscles to flex and extend with uniformity and brilliance.
* An instrument for the precise measurement of angles, esp. one used to measure the angles between the faces of crystals.
Breathing and Rolfing (part 1)
I was attending a new yoga class in Sacramento recently. Everything was going well enough I could feel the transitions from one asana to the next at the same time my spine being supported from my pelvic floor to the top of my ribs. In Vinyasa style yoga the breath regulates the flow of one position to the next. Good stuff. I highly recommend. We came to a point where everyone in the room was on their hands and knees arcing the spine toward the ceiling and then taking the head and tail up as the spine goes toward the floor. This is known as cat/cow positions. I have to tell you though that the teacher was doing something that was driving me a little crazy. He was telling us to breathe in as our spines went skyward (spinal flexion) and out as they went down (spinal extension). This is not a good practice. There is a phenomenon called paradoxical breathing which means the person is physically reversing the normal breathing process and pulling in the upper abdominal muscles on the in breath and push their belly out on the exhale. This way of breathing, in short, requires a much higher energy cost and usually results in back pain, hyperventilation, and mouth breathing to name a few. Now if we make the simple adjustment of arching the spine to the ceiling (pushing the hands into the floor) and exhaling this makes more sense. When the natural breath comes to inhale we do the reverse; head and tail up, mid-spine down. Fill the lungs with air. We are now making the natural motion that the body should do for each phase of respiration.
When the spine is flexed (bent forward) it decreases the volume of the respiratory cavity. In other words it assists in clearing out spent air in the lungs. When it extends the volume of the lungs expand and the diaphragm pulls downward helping to create negative pressure to fill the lungs with fresh air.
Breath is a very common focal point in Rolfing because of how helpful proper breath function can be in terms of structural health and back pain but also because of the wholistic impact of giving your body the adequate amount of fresh air it needs to feed your muscles and brain. In the next few articles I will be exploring some other ideas around breath function and how we can improve upon this overlooked but critical process.
Rolfing in Sacramento
Rolfing is a healing modality that is clearly underserved in the region. I really hope that all the fine folks in Sacramento who are interested in althletic activities might want to check out what Rolfing can do for them. I see athletes all the time who are looking for that edge that’s going to make their running stride better, their swing better, their jump higher, their kicks higher, punches stronger, cycling technique better, their throw faster or their endurance better Rolfing can help. It does seem as though not too many people around Sacramento know about Rolfing. I’d like to change that. If you are aged and/or in pain or have a loved one that deals with chronic pain Rolfing may also benefit you. Some of my favorite clients are senior citizens. They feel the difference and are grateful to feel better in their body. 5.79% of the population of Sacramento are over 75 years old. That is a significant number. Want to just stand taller and move with freedom and less pain? If you’ve tried other therapies and programs to bring yourself out of pain and into proper alignment without the success you are looking for then give Rolfing a try.
My office is only a 15 minute drive from downtown Sacramento so I encourage those of you in Sacramento, West Sacramento, Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights, Natomas, and Vacaville area to come out and get your body feeling better to
day. Having been born in Sacramento and grew up in Davis I have always been fond of Sacto, American River and Sacramento River. In high school my friends and I would pile into a pickup and we would go out to the fork where American and Sacramento River meet and I would ropeswing into the water. It was a lot of fun. I associate Sacramento with a lot of outdoor fun and physical activity actually. That and rock shows at the Cattle Club waaaaaay back in the 90′s. But enough about me and my silly youth. Come try Rolfing Sacramento. Coveniently located at 1403 5th St. in Davis there is ample parking and easy to get to from I80 (Interstate 80).
Rolfing in Davis
I am proud to announce that I have just opened up my brand new practice in Davis. My new home at the Davis Holistic Health Center has all the amenities you could ask for. Conveniently located near downtown Davis it has ample on site parking, waiting room, and a cozy and spacious room from which to work. I’m thrilled to see the huge menu of holistic health options on the menu there. Acupuncture, Yoga, Qi Gong to name a few. Only a 15 minute drive from Sacramento and 75 minute drive from the Bay area. So Davisites, Sacramentans, folks from the greater Central Valley come on out and get your body feeling better today with Rolf Structural Integration.
The Problem of Exercise
So we all need to exercise, right folks? This is a no-brainer. We need to keep exercising throughout our lives to maintain muscle tone, vascular health, and bone density. And recent studies show that it even plays a role in preventing brain disorders like Alzheimer’s. Although I do challenge most of the standard workout routines I see folks at the (insert corporate gym chain) doing I do advocate using gyms and even I have recently taken a liking to kettle bells in my home workouts.
Right now I want to clarify the intention and the nature of movement work that I do with clients. But first of all I should explain one of the main problems of traditional exercise as we know it. For every repetition of a gross motor movement, eg: crunch, leg press, biceps curl, pull-up, bench press, etc, we are essentially habituating one way to do a movement. This “one way” of doing the movement is usually based upon what is the most easy way for our own body and also on our preconceived ideas of “how it should look.” Do these two things I’ve mentioned aid us or constrain us in moving with ease and full range of expression?
In the world of Rolfing, we are looking to give the client more options, not less. When we take a remedial language class we usually rely on one way of saying the basic phrases. “Como se va? Excuse’ moi.Que tal? Donde esta la biblioteca?” etc. Pretty boring. And not only do we say the phrases the same every time, but we say them with the same pronunciation and cadence. Native French and Spanish speakers have myriad ways of saying each phrase. Every time a totally unique phrasing. Movement really is no different. When we do a movement such as going from sitting to standing, in the same way we are overwriting these patterns over and over. Data overwriting data. We become a slave to one way of sitting and getting up. When this one way stops working for us or causes a pain there are no options left.
So Movement Integration is aiming to expand upon the movement choices that you can have. It is exploratory in nature, not regimented. There is no wrong or right way to do the exercises. What is more important is providing a looking glass that identifies how you move and how we can improve the quality of a movement. And yes these ideas will help you make your workouts deliver more strength results.
Of the 2 pictures in the top right which body looks easier to move and reside in? When we have more movement options we can bring ourselves out of pain, move more effectively, and have a wider range of expression. This is really what we mean when we say that you become a more embodied self. You simply have more choices.
Tensegrity, proprioception, and pain.
What if I were to tell you that your intelligence lies in much more than the thing between your ears? What if I were to tell you that there is intelligence in your muscles, fascia, and even your skin? These in fact are very important facets of a giant network of information gatherers that allow you to stand and move. You see posture is not a static “thing” that you just have. It is actually a dynamic state that is at every moment making micro-adjustments with the environment. So at every moment gravity is pulling down on each segment of your body. In order to overcome this powerful ever-present force on us we must have a well-tuned highly intelligent network of information gatherers. When there is pain or loss of balance there is often confusion between the proprioceptive senses (the sense of the relative position of neighboring parts of the body) of the nervous system and the corresponding area of the body. A recent study showed a high correlation between scoliosis and diminished proprioception.
What if I were also to tell you that your bones do not hold you up? If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. If joints were cubical or flat they could stack on one another but they are not; joints (diarthritc joints) are round with a capsule and synovial fluid in between. So just standing up in gravity is somewhat like balancing a few basketballs on top of one another. Right? Of course not. That would be silly.
I would like to introduce you to a concept that physicist, inventor, and all around awesome guy Buckminster Fuller created. It’s called tensegrity. It means the structural strength found in the simultaneous tension and compression between different parts of a whole. You can see this when you look at a suspension bridge, a woven hammock, or in Fuller’s case the geodesic dome. Nature figured this out far before Fuller did actually. It can be found in the cellulose of a tree, the structure of a Carbon 60 molecule, or (you guessed it) fascia. In fact it is this tensegrity in our body that makes standing so much easier and why standing, for us, is not like balancing balls on top of each other. When you bend backward using the muscles of your back you will feel a stretch on your corresponding front side. Take that stretch far enough back and you will feel it from your eyes to your knees. Why? Because large movements, especially ones that happen with greater frequency (bending back and forward), tend to happen in pairs with other movements. In this example a giant network of fascia is formed longitudinally up and down the front side of the body to add strength and protect you from falling over or worse breaking in your back! The posterior side of a body has the same thing but it goes over the skull and all the way down the back to the underside of the foot. Feel it for yourself folks. Lie on your back. Now reach down and touch your toes. Reach until it is difficult. Now pull your toes and feet up toward your head (like taking feet off the gas pedal). Harder to reach now right? Why? Because they are neurologically and fascially paired. In other words, in that action they effectively become one unit. And the other side of the body must play along so it also pairs. One side of the body flexes the other extends. In a healthy structure gradual resistance is felt. In an unbalanced body this usually presents as fatigue and weakness in some muscles and tension and shortness in others.
As much as tensegrity protects us it can also become disturbed by trauma and cause problems in the structural balance as well as our proprioception (awareness of spatial position and movement of the body). Tensegrity feeds back into the information gathering system. If don’t have the proper tensegrity to support our bodies we don’t have good proprioception. We begin to think that back is forward and crooked is straight. I have had many clients tell me that they feel self conscious about their rear end sticking out behind them when it is plainly tucked under them and actually causing pain in the back. It is not their brain that misinformed them. It is the information gatherers that feed into the brain. Translation: you may end up with a body that is tired, weak, and literally doesn’t know where its parts are. That person is residing in a body that is not enjoyable to be in.
Hands-on work (Structural Integration) is really the process of going only where the work needs to be done on the tissues and treating them with specificity. As someone who has had a Yoga practice for many years now I will contend that it is the best exercise you can do for yourself. That said you can almost never stretch your way out of the problem. Lifting weights at a gym usually won’t help either. If you think that your body doesn’t have the proper tensegrity that I am talking about then Rolfing may be the answer.
Basic 10 series outline
Rolfing is usually done over the course of 10 sessions. Each session focuses on a specific goal and territory of the body. The results of Rolfing are cumulative, and each session builds upon the results from the previous one. However, If you do not wish to commit to a series of 10 sessions, I am also able to work out a treatment plan with less sessions, or do non-formulistic single sessions that focus solely on your specific issues. The most suitable plan should be discussed before we begin treatments.
Session 1: Opening the sleeve (freeing breath & superficial fascia) Territory: ribcage, sternum, shoulders, neck; lateral pelvis/leg & hamstrings tension relief in the ribcage to optimize breath function and release the superficial connective tissue layer of the body lengthening the torso away from the pelvis. Defining the relationship between ribcage and pelvis.
Session 2: Support (establishing relationship to the ground) Territory: feet, lower legs, and knees, mobilizing the ankle, the toe hinges ,release restrictions and tightness in the lower leg achieving even weight distribution through the whole foot. Bilateral support and better athletic balance.
Session 3: Lateral line (creating front/back dimension) Territory: neck, arms/shoulders, torso, pelvis, thighs and knees addressing structural relationships that limit depth (anterior/posterior). The last of the “sleeve sessions” this session largely addresses front to back balance and getting the center of gravity of the upper pole in line with that of the lower pole.
Session 4: Medial line (beginning releasing core restrictions and building proper support thereof). Territory: ankle, knees, medial thigh, pelvic floor establishing an inner pillar from which the limbs can hang initiating the support of leg through the pelvis freeing the leg from the pelvis evoking the span/tone of the pelvic floor (core support) addressing torsions, by de-rotating lower leg relative to upper leg & hip. The beginning of the “core sessions.”
Session 5: Deep anterior line (front of spine, visceral organization, and core activation) Territory: front of the legs, abdomen, diaphragm, ribs & sternum addressing visceral adhesions that cause structural restrictions creating more abdominal space for the inner structures “waking up” and reasserting the deep, abdominal musculature (core strength) initiating psoas-rhomboid balance, as well as rectus abdominus-psoas balance. Clients often say that this is one of the more transformative of the 10 series.
Session 6: Posterior line (creating a poised vertical line of symmetry) Territory: posterior ankle, calves and thighs; gluteals, deep rotator muscles, sacrum, spine (lower and upper back) addressing rotations in the leg (hip rotators) freeing the sacrum from the ilia (SI joint), allowing greater spinal motions where there is restriction, coordinating motion along the posterior chain, enhancing symmetry above and below the pelvic girdle. It is imperative that after we coordinate musclulature that controls flexion in the body that we then balance those that extend.
Session 7: Adaptability (balancing the neck & head on the spine) Territory: chest, shoulders, neck, jaw, cranium creating relationship between neck and thorax improving range of motion of neck establishing the inner line through the head horizontalizing the cranial diaphragms releasing exterior & interior fascial tension of the face, throat & cranium. The head is filled with sense organs and collects the majority of information for us. Balancing the head on top of a much more organized body is a great way to integrate what was done in the core sessions.
Session 8: Structural Integration (stability and adaptability) Territory: girdle that shows more restrictions (shoulder or pelvic). Integrating and addressing the girdle that shows main obstruction in bringing the body into a better relationship with gravity. Also a good oppurtunity to pick up work that may have been unfinished. At this point the client really has a lot more responsibility and control over the work.
Session 9: Functional Integration (contralateral movement and goals after session 1 should be met). Territory: girdle that shows less movement (shoulder or pelvic girdle) creating an intervention that encourages movement across one or more joints refining contralateral movement, encouraging that all initial movements comes from core.
Session 10: Final integration & closure (horizontal lines) Territory: fascial sleeve surrounding major joints and gentle joint mobilization. eg. ankles, knees, hips, ribcage, elbows, shoulders, neck, and cranium. Preparing client for assimilation and manifestation. Stabilizing layers (surface to deep) for uniform, structural awareness of up and down and horizontalizing joints.
before and after
Office workers benefit from Rolfing services
Service helps famous pianist