the secret lives of bodyworkers

One of the questions I’ve received over the years from clients that always strikes me as profoundly curious is,”Kate, have you ever had Rolfing before?”

Nowadays I call myself a Structural Integrator, but you get the idea.

And to this question, I want to respond, “Does a chef go to restaurants? Does a painter go to museums? Does a soccer player watch the World Cup? Does an actor go to the theater?”

(Hint: Yes to all of the above!)

Receiving the Rolfing 10 series was a requirement to get in to the 2nd level of training at the Rolf Institute. How could I know what I was trying to do with my client if I had not been a client myself? In fact, during the entire second phase of training, we both gave and received an entire 10 series from a classmate. Each session taught me not only what it felt like to have someone’s fingers deep in my axila, but it also taught me, hey! I could put MY fingers deep in someone’s axila! (An axila is an armpit, just FYI.)

Nowadays, I like to get a Rolfing/Structural Integration session once every month. I trade with another practitioner in town and we have a blast. We talk shop, lay our woes out on the table, ask for what we need, and trust another’s hands to meet us where we are.

These sessions leave me inspired. I get to remember what it feels like to be a client on the table, and I get to remember what it feels like to stand there in my “Rolfing outfit” and have someone’s eyes take in the whole of my body. I learn new tricks and techniques, just like a chef visiting a restaurant might get inspired by the way the vegetables are chopped into the sauce, to illicit the most robust of flavors.

So yes, I do get regular structural integration sessions and have done so since 2008 when I got in to this work. And my body thanks me for it every time the appointment reminder pops up on my calendar. Bon appetit!