IDA ROLF TALKS ABOUT ROLFING AND PHYSICAL REALITY

by Rosemary--Ed. Feitis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 16, 1978

The myofascia--for the non-cognoscenti--is the thin elastic tissue that snugly covers muscles, bones, and tendons. It's what rolfing focuses on. Not chiropractic nor osteopathic manipulations of bones, rolfing deals with your aches and pains by putting the myofascia in its place--or the place the rolfer thinks it ought to be. In ten rolfing hours, which are painful for some, revelatory and restorative for others. Contrary to what many think, rolfing didn't begin in California in the Sixties. Ida Rolf was born in New York in 1896 and early on, as a result of her own medical problems, she got interested in manipulative methods and yoga. She has a degree in biological chemistry and was at Rockefeller Institute for a while. Then she began working with people. She learned her basic exercises from a woman who said she got them by ""psychic perception"" from Dr. Benjamin Rush (a signer of the Declaration of Independence). All these biographical facts are here along with pep talks and philosophy, anecdotes and illustrations for future rolfers. There is a lot of gab about verticality and gravity, about function determining structure, about freeing energy and integrating the ""other bodies"" of man. So--for the initiated--words from a disciple and the master herself; for the curious--a clarification presented in pithy no-nonsense terms from a spirited lady in her eighties. In the end the conclusion is hardly one to win favor in AMA circles: ""I invent these explanatory rationalizations as I go along. All I know is that you get results doing it the way I do it.

Pub Date: Aug. 16, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1978

Categories: NONFICTION