About the Author
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Jean Louise Green, CMT, is a certified Rolf practitioner,
trained by Dr. Ida P. Rolf’s first generation teachers, a
certified teacher of therapeutic massage, and a senior staff
member at Chico Therapy Center. A professional member of
the Guild for Structural Integration and the International
Association of Structural Integrators, she maintains a full-time
private practice and lives in Chico, California.
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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
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Session One
Inspiration
Before the First Session
Before you begin, write down all your current symptoms and
conditions that you would like to resolve. Formulate your goals
and intentions. Doing this will enhance the benefits of your
ten-sessions investment.
The body has a great capacity to shift with this work. Changes
may be noticed immediately upon standing after the session or
experienced through an accumulated effect during the series.
Toward the end of your ten-session series, the majority of the
ailments on your list may be completely forgotten or
significantly improved. Each person’s experience of the work will
be unique according to their own body’s needs and personal
history.
Because of the connection between body, mind, emotion, and
spirit, you might consider not only physical goals but also
personal goals. This work is a springboard for creating major
positive change. It can usher in the next level of who you are
becoming. With that in mind, what is it in your life that you
would like to bring in or accomplish at this time?
The Theme of the First Session
Joseph Heller is a respected early colleague of Dr. Ida Rolf and
a former president of the Rolf Institute. He is the founder of
Hellerwork Structural Integration and an authority on the
emotions and their effects on different parts of the body.
Heller’s brilliant, inful themes add new depth to the work.
He realized that most people’s stress is mental and emotional in
origin, and that stress gets stuck in different parts of the
body.
Joseph Heller described the theme of the first session as
“Inspiration”: “The meaning of the word ‘inspiration’ is ‘draw in
spirit’: inspiration is not only to inhale oxygen, but it is also
to be filled with--or to be in touch with--spirit.” Breath is our
prime connection with life force.
The first session can be an inspiration for being able to breathe
deeply and fully give and receive love. The spirit of the first
session is of being reborn--of something special having happened.
The psychological Hellerwork connection here is the reawakening
of an enthusiasm for life; a possibility of newfound freedom in
body, mind, emotion, and spirit. Emmett Hutchins, my first
teacher of Dr. Rolf’s work, described the mood of the first hour
when he said, “One of the qualities of a first hour is ‘Wow! That
was wonderful. I’ve never had anything like that before. Can I
get more?’”
Dr. Rolf’s Words about the First Session
“The goals are to improve chest respiration and the tion in
the cellular levels. The new blood opens up the way to
mobilization and innervation of the pelvic body from the earth in
all subsequent sessions.”
Practitioner Goals for the First Session
• Create awareness of client’s baseline structure.
• Establish a working relationship.
• Open up the breathing capacity.
• Lengthen the front of the body.
• Begin to release restrictions in the pelvic and shoulder
girdles.
• Begin to free the legs.
• Horizontalize the pelvis.
• Introduce client to their Line for the first time. Acquaint the
client with where the top of their head is and where their feet
are in relation to the gravitational field.
Areas Addressed
The front of the body will be longer after this session. The work
will create the need for the lengthening of the back in session
two. This is the beginning of freeing strain in the rib cage,
shoulder girdle, legs, hips, neck, and back.
As a result of the first session, breathing capacity may expand
by 25 percent. More of your weight may be on your heels. Also,
the ribs may lift as the weight bearing down into your feet has
shifted.
Self-Care for the Client after a First Session
The work of Structural Integration helps break up patterns of
disorganization that are stuck in the soft tissues of the body.
The stretching and breaking down of such tissues releases toxins
that may cause the body to feel sore after a session.
Take a ten-minute walk immediately after your structural
integration session to help your body integrate the work. Walking
will help your body adjust to its changes in alignment and
relationship with gravity.
Follow the walk with a detox bath to help eliminate toxins
quickly through the skin. Detox baths lessen side effects from
the release of toxins during your sessions. Otherwise, side
effects could include dizziness, headache, , body ache,
fever, or flu-like symptoms. If toxins are not removed from the
body within six hours, they can move back into the blood stream
into deeper layers of the connective tissues causing soreness in
the body. If any soreness remains after your detox bath, rub some
arnica gel into the area. Arnica increases circulation and
reduces inflammation and pain. As long as there is inflammation,
pain will be present. Inflammation needs to be reduced in order
to diminish pain.
Increase your water intake before and after your sessions. Water
rehydrates the connective tissues and helps flush out toxins
released in the bodywork. It is recommended to drink half of
one’s bodyweight in ounces of water per day.
Increase the intake of protein in your diet during your
Structural Integration series to help support the formation of
new connective tissues during this time of reorganization in your
body.
Between the Sessions
Because the psyche and soma are so connected, the practitioner’s
work around the rib cage may cause feelings to surface during or
after the session. Often with the freeing of the breath can come
a reawakened enthusiasm for life; however, there can also be
sadness as repressed emotions begin to stir.
Did any feelings come up for you during or after the session? Did
this surprise you? How did you handle those emotions? Was it okay
for you to feel the feelings or did you try to stifle them? This
might be an rtunity for you to clear some of those feelings
on the mental and emotional levels and get them “off your chest.”
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