Opening Further

Mike Morrell - Young in WigGrowing up, I wasn’t the most “in-touch” person, physically speaking.

I “couldn’t dance” – I “had no rhythm.”

I leaned against walls to stabilize myself. I tilted my head in photographs – which means I probably did it all the time.

For whatever reason, I felt strongly drawn to a life of the mind, while treating my body like an afterthought. This resulted in being gangly as a teen, and overweight as an adult. Rolfing – the freeing up of the ligaments, tendons, and muscles – is helping me change all this. I had my latest Rolfing session at Raleigh Rolfing – session 6 of 10. Jason Sager, my Rolfer, describes it like this on his site:

Session 6 is the session with the largest territory, covering the entire back body from heels to neck. This opens the backs of the legs, eases issues with spinal curves and brings the body into a better balance in conjunction with session 5. Because this is such a large area session, some clients may benefit from receiving this work in two sessions rather than one, allowing extra time to be spent on problem areas. The “lateral line” session, Session 3 focuses on the sides of the body from ankle to armpit. This session helps to balance the body from front to back and begins to transition the work from surface to deeper fascial work. Many clients find a feeling of greater length of feeling taller at the end of this session. This is also a good decision point for a client to review how Rolfing is working for them and decide if they wish to continue through the full ten-series.

If you don’t know what “opens the backs of the legs” feels like, it simply must be experienced. It both created and soothed in me a deep-down bodily itch, waking up places I didn’t even know were there. I felt deeply relaxed afterward – the altered state I discussed last Rolfing post – but was in entirely too much of a hurry afterward, running to the grocery store and getting back to the house for a Skype session with a client. This frenetic activity, right after an opening-raw Rolfing session, stirred up a lot of emotions in me – mostly anger, sadness, and a general sense of being stunned.

My recommendation? If you’re going to take the time to invest in yourself, to invest in a Ten Series, be sure to invest in a little ‘recovery’ time after your session – at least 30 minutes.

More in this series:

Why Did I Let This Man Put His Hands on Me? A Rolfing Immersion

C’mon Sea Legs, Pull Yourself Together 

I Get Knocked Down, But I Get Up Again 

Hurts So Good

Opening Up

 

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