myofascial treatment reached Hos- tler’s deepest layer of fascia to free the restrictions causing her pain. “It was amazing that a hands-on application of gentle, sustained pressure into areas of restriction in the myofascial connective tissue could begin to relieve many years of ongoing, intense pain,” says Hostler.
Rolfing
As a Certified (advanced) Rolfer and Rolf Movement Practitioner, Robert McWilliams has been able to pursue his lifelong passion in the fields of movement and physical fitness, which included 25 years as a professional dancer and 14 as a professor of mod- ern dance. He taught at both the Uni- versity of Oklahoma and the University of Florida, in Gainesville. “In the 1980s, while I was still dancing, I had an experience with Rolf- ing, developed by Ida P. Rolf [Ph.D.], that transformed my dancing, increased my athletic performance alignment, coordination, flexibility, balance, muscle tone, expressive power and overall sense of relaxation onstage, as well as in daily life,” relates McWilliams. He currently serves as an assistant teacher at the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration, in Boulder, Colorado, where he trained. Although McWilliams’ clients
generally see him to treat the pain and discomfort of injuries, he says that they frequently change their focus to how their body is working better overall. “This is because injuries tend to resolve themselves after a few sessions of deep tissue manipulation of the myofascial system,” says McWilliams.
A specialized series of 10 sessions
works to systematically balance and optimize both the structure (shape) and function (movement) of the entire body. Each session focuses on freeing up a particular region of the body. The effect releases old limiting patterns and postures and restores the body’s natural alignment and sense of integration. “Of- ten, as freedom of physical expression increases, so does emotional expres- sion,” comments McWilliams.
Structural Integration “While Rolfers graduate from
The Rolf Institute and attend certified training programs in order to maintain
their trademark, and structural integra- tors can attend any of 14 certified U.S. schools, we are all structural integra- tors; our training is based on the work of Ida Rolf,” says Diane Roth, a board- certified structural integrator who has specialized in massage and bodywork for 25 years in the Chicago area. Roth explains that all practitioners in this field of study combine hands- on freeing and realigning of fascial tissue with awareness and movement education, in order to structurally integrate the whole body. Restoration of postural balance and functional ease greatly helps the body, which, she says, constantly labors against the powerful force of gravity.
Like Moon, Roth has studied and
incorporated other adjunct therapies and modalities, such as craniosacral therapy and myofascial release. From her perspective, bodywork differs from massage in that it requires more involvement from the client. “I tell my clients that with a veri- table village of treatments available, there is always help for anyone that suffers with aches and pains, regardless of age,” says Roth.
Shiatsu Shirley Scranta, owner and director of the International School of Shiatsu, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, discovered The Book of Shiatsu: The Healing Art of Finger Pressure, by Saul Goodman, in a health food store. She subsequently researched the school that Goodman founded in 1978, based on the theories of masunaga Zen shiatsu, kushi macro- biotic and his own shiatsu shin tai. In 1996, Scranta became one of
Goodman’s clients. “I drove a round- trip of 240 miles for weekly treatments because each session made me feel better and stronger. After five sessions, I enrolled in classes and graduated later that year,” says Scranta. She believes the widely known form of acupressure helped her body reestablish its own intelligence system, which had been distorted by childhood trauma. “This gentle technique applies
varying degrees of pressure to release tension, strengthen weak areas, facilitate circulation and balance the life energy that flows through the meridians in
natural awakenings February 2013 33
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