I am not at all an expert on the subject of the predicted earth polar shift. I do, however, wonder what it would be like to wake up one day after a polar shift and find everything different; topsy-turvy and leaning askew. Just saying. If that's what a polar shift would produce?
For example... If you live in Scottsdale, Arizona, finding yourself looking down at Camelback Mountain from Scottsdale Road. Or, you're at the top of the Empire State Building looking up to New Jersey. No self respecting New Yorker looks up to New Jersey! But don't knock it; it isn't called the "Garden State" for nothing. I live there. And, occasionally glance in the direction of the Big Apple. And, from where I live, the view is down.
Sort of like what I call the “Pisa Effect”. If it happened in Pisa everyone would be going nuts since the Tower would be the only straight thing and everything else leaning. Or in San Francisco, where nothing is straight to begin with. What if all our familiar landmarks, large and small, became unexpectedly topsy-turvy. Would we be able to find our bearings, our balance? Or would we get dizzy and stumble around? Would we know where we were . . . who we are?
Here’s a concrete example of what I’m talking about: I was once visiting the town of Ayr in Scotland (where our dear Robby Burns was born). Not far is a local curiosity known as the ”electric brae” (hill). I was in an automobile and it appeared that we were on an uphill road. My driver stopped the car, put it in neutral, and (wow-wee-wow!) the car slowly moved forward, up the hill! Click your heels three times if you believe in magic! As for me . . . my best scientific analysis is we were really pointed downhill, but the local features somehow made it appear otherwise. Search “electric brae” if you want to learn more. But please read the rest of this. Okay?
We all implicitly know that because of gravity, our feet go toward the ground and the rest of us points upward. Just like we know that our nose is not 12 inches long or it would be a “foot”. The point I am gradually working to is this: are you centered within yourself or do you rely on outer references to such an extent that, were the familiar changed or taken away, would you be upset, lost, without bearings. This is not some idle issue I cooked up to crack wise with. I have personally been involved in serious bio-medical research on the subject of balance and you would be surprised at how much the visual reference is a factor in our sense of position and balance in three-dimensional space. And, let's not get into all the psychic connections that we tend to form. As in, "I can't live without you!" That's a sure fire way to keep your loved one in your life, by the way. (Not.) The point is that we live with expectations of relationships and connections both physical and mental/emotional. When they change or disappear or are taken away, then what. I'll tell you what. There you are. Period.
Be prepared . . .
Don’t let the coming earth polar shift
find you standing beside yourself.
Like that fine fellow, Mr. Eminem, I am from Detroit, Michigan. During the day we make the cars. At night, we make the bars. I was recently at the White Castle at 8 Mile Road and Gratiot. I informed the local youth I encountered there that "I was the SCHIZNIT . . . before there even was a schiznit!" "Huh? Wha? Right! Ya." Youth today.
I am not at all an expert on the subject of the predicted earth polar shift. I do, however, wonder what it would be like to wake up one day after the polar shift and find everything different; topsy turvy and leaning sideways. If that's what a polar shift would produce? Just saying.
For example... If you live in Scottsdale, Arizona, finding yourself looking down at Camelback Mountain from Scottsdale Road. Or, from the top of the Empire State Building looking up to New Jersey. No self respecting New Yorker looks up to New Jersey! But don't knock it; it isn't called the "Garden State" for nothing. I live there. And, occasionally glance at the Big Apple.
Sort of like what I call the “Pisa Effect”. In Pisa where everyone would be going nuts since the Tower would be straight and everything else leaning. What if all our familiar landmarks, large and small, became unexpectedly topsy-turvy, would we be able to find our balance? Or would we get dizzy and stumble around? Would we know where we were…who we are?
Here’s a concrete example of what I’m talking about: I was once visiting the town of Ayr in Scotland (where our dear Robby Burns was born). Not far is a local curiosity known as the ”electric brae” (hill). I was in an automobile and it looked like we were on an uphill road. My driver stopped the car, put it in neutral, and (wow-wee-wow!) the car slowly moved forward, up the hill! Click your heels three times if you believe in magic! As for me…my best scientific analysis is that we were really pointed downhill but the local features somehow made it appear otherwise. Search “electric brae” on the WWW if you want to learn more. But please read the rest of this. Okay?
We all implicitly know that because of gravity, our feet go toward the ground and the rest of us points upward. Just like we know that our nose is not 12 inches long or it would be a “foot”. The point I am gradually working to is this: are you centered within yourself or do you rely on outer references to such an extent that, were the familiar changed or taken away, would you be upset, lost, without bearing. This is not some idle issue I cooked up to crack wise with. I have personally been involved in serious bio-medical research on the subject of balance and you would be surprised at how much the visual reference is a factor in our sense of position and balance in three-dimensional space. And, let's not get into all the psychic connections that we tend to form. As in, "I can't live without you!" (That's a sure fire way to keep your loved one in your life. Not.) The point is that we live with expectations of relationships and connections both physical and mental/emotional. When they change or disappear or are taken away, then what. I'll tell you what. There you are. Period.
In my field of Rolf Structural Integration we are mainly concerned with fostering an evolution in the human structure to a place where the central vertical line of the body matches up with the line of gravity. If you take a look at your own body and of those around you, notice how you and others stack up in terms of the fundamentals of plumb and square. When the human body synchronizes in balance with gravity this is a place of deep centeredness, firm rootedness, being fully present. Your sense of who you are comes from an inner knowing rather than identification with circumstances, roles, and relationships.
When the boys from the hood*** ask you “wuzup?” you can give them a sly smile and point upwards. And that’s without having to figure out “up” from checking with the nearest palm tree, or sky scraper.
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Thursday, November 15, 2012
I Am NOT a Therapist!
Repeat: I am not a therapist. Say instead . . . "Teacher". Maybe, "Coach".
My career is in Rolf Structural Integration, sometimes
called Rolfing®, a
nickname after the originator Dr. Ida P. Rolf. This peerless and definitive approach to human health and well-being is an educational process; think,
training.
Contrary to how people generally see this work, and how even
my colleagues in the field have portrayed Structural Integration — more accurately, how they’ve touted
it's many therapeutic benefits — Dr.
Rolf stressed that we are educators, and the therapist is in fact gravity. Any practitioner of this craft who is worth his or her salt is expected to get it clear with their clients that any therapeutic benefit(s) will be the result of balancing the body structure to be better adapted to the constant force of gravity. In plain architectural terms, stacked up vertically and level and symmetrical. And, the process is principally about that, not solely focused on symptomatic relief per se, or on just the immediate area of discomfort.
I had a very difficult time with a therapist who came to me with a gait problem. She could not understand why there was a good deal of work being done on areas other than her legs. Furthermore, she was quite sure that I was not applying the work properly, or at least to her satisfaction, since I was addressing the whole and not just the part. Short answer, imbalances in the makeup of the body and their associated discomforts do not exist as isolated events, but are reflected in many and complex compensatory fixations throughout the body. It all has to be addressed if any real resolution is to happen. Local problem area work as many therapies will offer, from a structural point of view, can be very much like sweeping things under the rug. Or, like patching the cracks in the plaster, but the foundation of the house is off. That's particularly the case when medications are involved. Out of sight might be out of mind; but not out of the picture.
I may have contributed unwittingly to this general misunderstanding. For a period I was part of a program at a prominent research hospital and saw clients referred to me from other hospital services. The setting itself is therapeutic, so no wonder the impression is that it is a therapy.
Also, therapists and medical practitioners who mainly are concerned with methods and techniques tend to see Structural Integration in their own terms. As in . . . "What does a pickpocket see when he sees a saint?" Answer: "Pockets".
I am mostly interested in natural and easily available means of addressing the human situation. Nothing wrong with conventional therapies and medical modalities; especially if your idea of health care is examination and diagnosis, giving it a name, and then prescribing medications to put down the symptoms.
A problem with thinking about Structural Integration as a therapy is that it misses the more exquisite purpose. Really, it's something that healthy people should do. Children especially should learn at an early age about their bodies first hand experientially and how to grow up unencumbered, with a sound body structure and full freedom of action and expression.
The
misunderstanding also arises probably out of the fact that people generally don’t
take action until they feel the pinch, until the wolf is at the door. So folks
come to Structural Integration in trouble. They are looking for therapy. The really savvy ones come because
they understand balancing the body along the line of gravity makes sense, for
effectiveness in life in general and especially when top physical performance
and form are being cultivated, or when creative expressiveness in the arts is what it takes to get you the part.
Now listen to Dr. Rolf
herself. She always said it best . . .
Rolfing®and Rolfer® are trademarks of the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration
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What's Going On?
When a cigar isn't just a good smoke . . .
Recently we have been deluged with news stories and commentary on the General Petraeus improprieties for the past several days. And it continues to unfold. Only today, since the Israelis and Palestinians are going at it, the General has been knocked off the top spot on the Google News feed.
I don't pretend to know the facts in the matter, nor even understand what has come to light. Seems the good (married) soldier had been doing some "maneuvers" away from home. Be that as it may, all the commentators are anxious to know if any national security information or issues have been compromised.
That's where I have the issue.
That any official in a highly sensitive national security post, let alone the top level guy, should be engaged in improprieties of any sort is itself a national security violation. The point is that we don't want anyone who is trusted with our national security to find themselves in a compromising position. As in, "do this or that, or we'll expose you." That is one of the key questions that security screeners ask about anyone seeking a post where a security clearance comes with the job. It's not necessarily about what they may or may not be doing. That they need to keep it covered up is the immediate security problem. Can they be blackmailed?
Bill Clinton comes to mind. I don't have an issue with what he may want to do in his private life. That's his "affair". Though, keeping one's promises to one's spouse is the good way to go. But, to be the President of the United States and sneaking around with that Monica; that put him, and therefore the country, in danger of being coerced. That is the big sin as far as I'm concerned, and it never seemed to be discussed as such. Instead, the outrage went to the public opprobrium over his shenanigans.
Then there's that John Edwards. All wrapped in the flag, the apple cheeked candidate of the people. The family man. A patriot. What was he thinking to be running for President and getting some on the side? And, a child out of that relationship? That bastard! Mr. Edwards, not the kid. Though, technically the kid is one too. But, nowadays, with so many children out of wedlock, the term "bastard" just doesn't seem to have so much punch.
My jaw is still dropped over Edward's cheekiness. What did he think about how it would turn out if he were elected and his affair came to light? Surely he must have understood that there were a lot of people who had him by the short hairs. As Charles Colson was quoted as saying, "When you have them by the balls, their hearts and minds will surely follow." What kind of favors would he have been willing to deliver to keep his secret activities from the public eye? Bad boy, Mr. Edwards.
My kindest interpretation is he [Edwards] never thought he had a chance at the White House in the first place; and, he was put in there as a kind of filler to make it look like there was a contest. Sort of like how they threw John McCain the bone during the 2008 election when the Republicans surely had to know that it was the Democrat's turn in the barrel. If you disagree, then how do you explain Sarah Palin as his running mate? I'd do her. Once. But she wouldn't do as VP. Ever.
Speaking of ringers. Take those Republican Presidential nominating debates. I won't name names (like Herman Cain . . . did he really think he was a contender?) but I speculate the shakers and movers had already chosen Mitt Romney as the guy, and gave us that spectacle of so-called aspiring candidates to make it look like a contest. The pundits lapped it up like the dogs they sometimes can be.
Watching the proceedings on all of the above, it's sort of like your neighbor and best friend at the backyard barbeque distracting you waving a hot dog in the air while at the same time he's feeling up your wife. Only, think of it more on a national level.
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Shravanabelagola Bahubali
The 58' 8" high statue of Bahubali, referred to as
‘Gomateshwara’, is situated atop Vindhyagiri, a 438 foot high hill located in Shravanabelagola in southern India.
It is the largest monolith statue in the world. It was carved out of a single
block of granite and was installed in the 10th century AD.
It is told he meditated in the
"body-abandonment" posture for so long a time vines grew up to entwine his body.
Imagine standing quiet and motionless for such a long time. Is
this an image of human will power and physical strength? Or, does it represent a total
surrender and equipoise?
Bahubali is a major figure in Jain hagiography. His story
exemplifies the inner strength of Indian culture, the ideal of the man who
conquers selfishness, jealousy, pride and anger.
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Saturday, November 10, 2012
Give the Credit to Gravity
It is true, the simplest things are sometimes the most difficult
to understand, and the most easily and often misunderstood. Then try getting something
over with folks who have already made up their mind. Take my chosen career,
Rolf Structural Integration. Per Mr. Youngman . . . Please!
Dr. Ida P. Rolf, the originator of Structural Integration,
said this:
“This is the gospel of
Rolfing: When the body gets working appropriately, the force of gravity can
flow through. Then, spontaneously, the body heals itself.”
After many years myself writing on this subject, Ida still
says it best.
So what is Structural Integration? Our idea of “appropriate”
looks like a body arrangement that meets the same standards of organization we
look for in architectural design; any good design, really. What in the building
trades is called “plumb and square”. In Structural Integration terms, that’s a
body that stacks up vertically with its segments level and symmetrical. That is
appropriate, in terms of the dictates of gravity.
Again, Dr. Rolf:
“We are not truly
upright, we are only on our way to being upright. This is a metaphysical
consideration. We want to get a man out of the place where gravity is his
enemy. We want to get him into the place where gravity reinforces him and is a
friend, a nourishing force. Rolfers make a life study of relating bodies and
their fields to the earth and its gravity field, and we so organize the body
that the gravity field can reinforce the body's energy field. This is our
primary concept.”
One way to look at Rolf Structural Integration is as a long
term project exploring the possibilities and effects of living with a body
whose makeup is in tune with the action of gravity. As a practitioner of this
wonderful craft I hold it as part of my own development as a human being and as
a practitioner to prove the central premise of this work within my own being.
The closer I come to true balance within my own physical makeup the more I am realizing
the simple truth of Ida Rolf’s premise.
Dr. Rolf also said this:
“Consign your body to
gravity.”
Imagine that. Living in equipoise; not just physically, but
wholly. With a sure and tangible foundation educated deep down in the very fabric
of your body. Robert Frost in his poem The Silken Tent was likening to the function
of the center pole of a tent. Comparing this to the human experience he wrote, “[It]
signifies the sureness of the soul.” Poetic truth. Let me put it another way:
Imagine living adapted to the field of gravity as well as the fish are to the
sea.
I am always amused, and chagrinned, by how others can perceive
Structural Integration. We all tend to be thrown to see things in our own
terms, from our own frames of reference. The old quip, “What does a pick pocket
see when he sees a saint? Answer: pockets.”
Health professionals who mainly employ therapeutic techniques
usually see Structural Integration in terms of technique. Massage therapists,
hearing that the work is deep (affects deeply, really) seem to think that it is
massage, only more assertive and pushing harder. I’ve heard the term, “Rough
rubdown”. Physical Therapists often import some of the soft tissue manipulation
styles from Structural Integration and apply them in treating local problem
areas. Chiropractors can sometimes relate to the work as conditioning the soft
tissues to facilitate receiving the boney spinal adjustments. Alright. Well,
not really. And, some also misrepresent what they are doing by calling it “Structural
Integration”; more likely, “Rolfing®”.
Even those properly trained in the work sometimes work locally to alleviate specific
symptoms; and that then becomes the recipient’s take away understanding of what
the work is all about. Once in giving a demonstration to a group of yoga practitioners
I got a severe challenge from a person emphatically certain that Structural
Integration was about emotional release. That can happen when the body becomes
more open and flowing; but it is secondary and not necessary.
Alas, many in my field itself have contributed to this
misunderstanding by promoting the work as a chronic problem solving technique
in their communications. Leaving out the gravity component. Any practitioner
worth their salt should make it clear to their client from the outset that any
symptom relief is a byproduct of the more global goal of balancing the whole
body along the line of gravity. And, that the process takes a series of multiple
sessions to complete; traditionally, ten. And, that the process is participatory; not some procedure that is applied with you as a passive recipient. In my own initial experience with
Rolfing, after the first session my lower back complaint did not have any
resolution per se; but, and importantly, I felt as if weights were being taken
off and bindings undone. I realized right away from direct experience that the work was setting
a stage, creating a context for local issues to find their own resolution. Later in the series I had an epiphany. After the session was completed I stood up from the cushioned work table and it was as if I literally dropped in on my own body. I understand it as a moment of direct presence. I was so ebullient with the experience I literally jumped for joy. Wow! (I hear that a lot from my own clients now.) I
can say unequivocally after years of experience that the body does have the
capacity to heal automatically, given the right conditions; of which, being
present is perhaps the single most important. These days I sit quietly doing nothing and in that inner directed posture I notice energy rising in my body and things sorting themselves out. How come still after all these years, you ask? The 10 session series of Rolf Structural Integration is a beginning. The results unfold over a lifetime. Finer and finer, is my experience.
Structural Integration is distinguished for having a
vertical perspective. That is as opposed to the horizontal. In the horizontal
approach the focus is on ways and means and on solutions and improvements. Structural
Integration is oriented to the vertical, both literally — the objective is to introduce verticality into the human body
structure — and in terms of transforming the context of the human condition
itself to a higher level. Indeed, the benefits of Structural Integration can be
seen at the horizontal — reduction/elimination of chronic problems of pain and stress,
improved performance, refined expression — but those are byproducts of moving
toward a goal, a vision of health and balance and not striking at disorder and
dis-ease per se. That is what is meant by transformation to a higher level.
The point that Dr. Rolf made again and again is that, “Gravity is the tool. Gravity is the
therapist.” It’s true that the work does have a strong reputation for
solving chronic conditions of pain and stress. Sometimes with even miraculous
results as a last resort when other approaches weren’t working. People seem to
only take action regarding their well-being when there is a problem. So it is
easy to understand how professionals in the field of Structural Integration have
tended to present the work. There is nothing wrong with that per se. Just that
the true agency is the force of gravity. If Structural Integration fixes anything
it is the individual’s relationship to gravity. Evolving the makeup of the body
to transform one’s relationship to the energy field of the earth from an
entropic destabilizing and disorganizing force to be energizing, supporting and nourishing. This
is the result of organizing the body along the line of gravity itself.
Therapeutic results, as wonderful as they may be, are secondary; and, give the
credit to gravity.
Ida P. Rolf Quotes .
. .
Fascia is the organ of
posture. Nobody ever says this; all the talk is about muscles. Yet this is a
very important concept, and because this is so important, we as Rolfers must
understand both the anatomy and physiology, but especially the anatomy of
fascia. The body is a web of fascia. A spider web is in a plane. This web is in
a sphere. We can trace the lines of that web to get an understanding of how
what we see in a body works. For example, why, when we work with the
superficial fascia does this change the tone of the fascia as a whole?
An effective human
being is a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Form and function are
a unity, two sides of one coin. In order to enhance function, appropriate form
must exist or be created.
Some individuals may
perceive their losing fight with gravity as a sharp pain in their back, others
as the unflattering contour of their body, others as constant fatigue, yet
others as an unrelentingly threatening environment. Those over forty may call
it old age. And yet all these signals may be pointing to a single problem so
prominent in their own structure, as well as others, that it has been ignored:
they are off balance, they are at war with gravity.
This is the gospel of
Rolfing: When the body gets working appropriately, the force of gravity can
flow through. Then, spontaneously, the body heals itself.
We are not truly
upright, we are only on our way to being upright. This is a metaphysical
consideration. One of the jobs of a Rolfer is to speed that process along. We
want to get a man out of the place where gravity is his enemy. We want to get
him into the place where gravity reinforces him and is a friend, a nourishing
force.
Rolfers make a life
study of relating bodies and their fields to the earth and its gravity field,
and we so organize the body that the gravity field can reinforce the body's
energy field. This is our primary concept.
Go around the problem;
get the system sufficiently resilient so that it is able to change, and it will
change, It doesn't have to be forced. It's that forcing that you have to avoid
at all costs.
Over and over again,
people come to me, and they tell me, You just don't know how strong I am. They
say "strength" and I want to hear "balance." The strength
idea has effort in it; this is not what I'm looking for. Strength that has effort
in it is not what you need; you need the strength that is the result of ease.
When the pelvis is not
balanced, we do not have the upward thrust that creates zero balance, the sense
of weightlessness that can be experienced in the body. When the pelvis is
aberrated, it does not allow this equipoise, this tranquility in experience
that a balanced pelvis shows. The combined forces acting on a balanced pelvis
are in a moment of inertia near zero. It is always in dynamic action, but the
forces balance out to near zero.
This is an important
concept: that practitioners are integrating something; we are not restoring
something. This puts us in a different class from all other therapists that I
know of. It takes us out of the domain designated by the word "therapy,"
and puts us in the domain designated by the word "education." It puts
our thinking into education: how can we use these ideas behind Structural
Integration? How do we put a body together so that it's a unit, an acting,
energy efficient unit? One of the differences between Structural Integration
Practitioners and practitioners of medicine, osteopathy, chiropractic,
naturopathy, etc., is that the latter are all relieving symptoms. They make no
effort to put together elements into a more efficient energy system.
Rolfing®
and Rolfer® are
registered trademarks of the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration.
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Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Journey to the Heart
At a turning point in my life I found myself on my own Journey to the Heart. Practically all the arrangements I had made up until that time dissolved. All bets were off; most noticeably, my marriage and my business career.
It was fitting that I should enter into a helping career, to be of service to others in removing suffering and offering guidance with their own Journey. I am trained in Usui Reiki and Rolf Structural Integration. Reiki means “Universal Life Energy”. It looks like hands gently placed on the front and back of the body. Structural Integration has to do with evolving the arrangement of the body to work best with gravity. It employs coached movements and a guided sculptural touch.
If you are on your own Journey to the Heart, my work can be a focusing, a confirmation, a boost.
If you are interested in that Journey, my work can be an initiation and guide.
If you are not interested, not a problem. You’re going there nonetheless. But, you do have the option of whether you go consciously.
If you don’t even know what I’m talking about. It doesn’t matter.
Clarification:
Really, the Journey to the Heart is already completed. Nothing really to do. It would be a sin for me to try to make capital by selling you something you already have. Just that there may be some house cleaning necessary to remove the self-created barriers. (There are no other barriers.)
Again, I am at your service.
Monday, November 05, 2012
Ignorance
"The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail
to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is
little we can do to change; until we notice how failing to notice shapes our
thoughts and deeds."
R. D. Laing
"When ignorance does
not know something, it says that what it does not know is stupid."
Leo Tolstoy
Sunday, November 04, 2012
Exploring the Many Slides of Gravity
Exploring the Many Sides of Gravity
Poetic / Prosaic —
There
is a mystical virtue in right angles. There is an unspoken morality in seeking
the level and plumb. A house will hold together only if the joints are square
and the members upright. When the bubble is lined up between two marks etched
in the glass tube of a level, you have aligned yourself with the forces that
hold the universe together.
—
Scott Russell Sanders, from THE PARADISE OF BOMBS
Prosaic-Poetic / Scientific —
Reconciling Gabriel Marcel and Ida Rolf
Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived.
—
Gabriel Marcel
Consign your body to gravity.
— Dr. Ida P. Rolf
The force of gravity is always attractive.
—
Isaac Newton
I like it. I’ll take it.
—
David Wronski
Opines THE David D. Wronski Indeed, gravity is that force which holds the universe together.
And yet, we observe that the universe is expanding.
Then, gravity must be an expansive force too.
Scientifically, we know that gravity on Earth has two operations.
Everyone is quite familiar with the one, the downward pull of gravity.
“Let go your cup of Joe, you know where it go.”
But there is the other side of gravity.
It is expansive and lifting.
Exquisitely so.
I know it is.
Not from a book.
Well, I also did read it in a book.*
But mainly and importantly from my own direct lived experience.
While learning how to live fully adapted with the gravity field of the Earth.
What is that experience?
Feet firmly rooted to the Earth.
A subtle yet definite and powerful liftedness toward the heavens.
In between . . . the great mystery of life, everything and nothing.
Scientific—
*Centripetal Force and Centrifugal Force
Centripetal force and centrifugal force [are the] action-reaction
force pair associated with circular motion. According to Newton's first law of
motion, a moving body travels along a straight path with constant speed (i.e.,
has constant velocity) unless it is acted on by an outside force. For circular
motion to occur there must be a constant force acting on a body, pushing it
toward the center of the circular path. This force is the centripetal
("center-seeking") force. For a planet orbiting the sun, the force is
gravitational; for an object twirled on a string, the force is mechanical; for
an electron orbiting an atom, it is electrical. The magnitude F of the
centripetal force is equal to the mass m of the body times its velocity squared
v 2 divided by the radius r of its path: F = mv 2/ r. According to Newton's
third law of motion, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The centripetal force, the action, is balanced by a reaction force, the
centrifugal ("center-fleeing") force. The two forces are equal in
magnitude and opposite in direction. The centrifugal force does not act on the
body in motion; the only force acting on the body in motion is the centripetal
force. The centrifugal force acts on the source of the centripetal force to
displace it radially from the center of the path. Thus, in twirling a mass on a
string, the centripetal force transmitted by the string pulls in on the mass to
keep it in its circular path, while the centrifugal force transmitted by the
string pulls outward on its point of attachment at the center of the path. The
centrifugal force is often mistakenly thought to cause a body to fly out of its
circular path when it is released; rather, it is the removal of the centripetal
force that allows the body to travel in a straight line as required by Newton's
first law. If there were in fact a force acting to force the body out of its
circular path, its path when released would not be the straight tangential
course that is always observed.
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Thursday, November 01, 2012
An Initiative to Adapt Humans to the
Gravitational Constant
Role Models
Maybe it’s because I came from a background in marketing
communications that throughout my professional career I’ve been searching for
the best way to say what Rolf Structural Integration is about and why that is
significant. That notwithstanding I love to write and the project helps my own
understanding of what it is I have chosen for a service career.
Rolf Structural Integration is easy enough to define, yet it
needs some elaboration. And, the marketing man in me wants to get it across in
such a way that it gets attention, consideration, and action.
“Get Rolfed!” “Better Sex!” “Live Longer!” “Really Live!” “Better
Golf!” “Faster Times” “Knock ‘Em Dead [on Stage]!” “Walk the Straight and
Narrow!” “Stay Young!” “Teach Your Children Well!” “It’s the Fountain of
Youth!”
Sloganeering aside, after 31 years of practice I have boiled
down the definition of Rolf Structural Integration to this:
Rolf Structural Integration was originated by Dr. Ida P. Rolf. You
may know it by the nickname Rolfing®.
In a nutshell this work is distinguished in its single minded goal
to evolve the architecture of the human body into an truly adapted relationship
with earth’s gravity field. It manifests as an effortlessly upright,
unstressed, vertical, symmetrical and level stance.
The natural plasticity of the body — its ability to change and
adapt — is the prime mediating factor. The work is formatted in a multiple
lesson series using movement and touch and guided by a progressing set of
anatomical goals.
Rolf Structural Integration proposes that we become conscious to
the easily in hand possibility of living fully adapted to the dictates of
gravity. That we become actively engaged in cultivating a correct stance on
this Earth, in life even. It is an initiative — also, an initiation —into
becoming fully human in terms of living, not just in gravity, but with gravity.
It stands for unfolding our real potential to become fully human.
To live with the makeup of the body fully adapted to earth’s energy field. To
enjoy the many benefits of living with a balanced vertical, level and symmetrical
stance on this earth.
So now, how about this . . . “10 [Straight] Toes in Front of 2 [Good]
Feet”. The feet are the foundation after all. And, a look at the wear patterns
on the soles of your shoes tell the true story. How you doin’? (High heel shoe
wearers, stop reading now. There’s no way to get with gravity in high heels.
You look pretty, though.)
Scientifically we know an upright vertical anatomical stance
is our birthright. Also, it is dictated by the fundamental laws of nature. That is something every
architect and trade worker knows: plumb and square (straight and level) . . . is
the rule for all physical structures on Earth.
But, with the human body and how we learn to negotiate the
medium of gravity, we are demonstrably living below our natural potential. We
are mostly self-taught with a good measure of bad habits and accidents and
traumas mixed in. The models we follow more often than not are not exemplars of any real healthy normal in respect to body makeup. Even more telling, we don't have any purchase in the culture that cultivating or encouraging a healthy stance in gravity has any recognized value. We deal in palliatives, ignoring the underlying cause. As Dr. Rolf plainly put it, "[We] are at war with gravity." Rolf Structural Integration proposes that we become conscious
to the possibility and actively engaged in cultivating a correct healthy stance with
gravity. We go to school for so many things. Why not learn this? We research to a fare-thee-well
into the causes and effects of poor health and low productivity. Why not investigate this?
This is significant in that if you bother to notice you will
see that we humans individually, and as a species, are not living up to
anywhere near our natural potential to live in harmony with the simple fact of
the pull of gravity on our bodies. One reason is that gravity is such a
constant and ever present force we are unconscious to its presence.
Furthermore, the condition of being out of sorts with gravity is so widespread
in human culture we are accustomed to it. Inured, if you will. We don't see it for what it is. Finally, there’s
this business of leaving the matter of how we learn to use our bodies in the
basic ways to happenstance. We do automatically grow bigger and stronger as we mature. Not the same with developing sound body structure. That is learned. It is in fact a central life issue — this business of operating under the influence of gravity. Our bodies don't get to be the way they are automatically without us giving it any thought. It does take some doing.
Rolf Structural Integration works with a notion of healthy and
normal which is based on well understood anatomical body-part relationships and
what is also well understood in the science of Physics in terms of how
structures must be arranged in relationship to the gravitational constant.
In sum you could say that the goal of Structural Integration
is in fact structural integration. As applied it is a method which offers individualized assistance — training, really — to
significantly raise the level of structural order in the body along the line of gravity. You feel it, and it shows. As
a concept it is an initiative to awaken us to adopting a conscious and active
relationship to that ecological fact, gravity. As a percept, an actual lived experience, it is the joy of living free and unencumbered, with a steady tangible guide for living well, staying healthy, and achieving your goals.
It should be obvious I recommend it highly.
Afterthought . . .
My interpretation of Rolf Structural Integration may not jibe with what you may already think about the subject; it may even contradict what some may have taken away from first hand experience with a qualified professional.
So let me explain. Any practitioner trained by a recognized school of Structural Integration* should not have any quibble with the above description. I am confident Dr. Rolf herself would assent, but perhaps choose her own inimitable words. She, after all, said it best. (Search "Ida Rolf Quotes" and get a treasure of practical wisdom.)
But, there are practitioners who for one reason or another don't necessarily represent the work in its fullest and true expression. Most individuals coming to Structural Integration are seeking remedies for immediate problems; and, now please. It is the duty of any practitioner worth his or her salt to explain that any symptomatic relief is a byproduct of the global goal of balancing the entire body. To make it clear that symptoms of pain and stress will resolve themselves when the body gets working appropriately — aligned with gravity. Alas, some however may succumb to pressures of convenience and provide the work by focusing mainly on manipulative techniques applied locally to areas of pain in a session or two. There is nothing preventing this and it is not a problem in itself. Except, when it is represented as Structural Integration, it does not serve the profession or the public's understanding of what the work is actually intended to do.
The work is more process than procedure. One session does not mean that you can say, as the expression goes, "I got Rolfed." Not is the same way that after a fifteen minute massage, you say, "I was massaged." In fact, even after the usual 10 session series it's not always a sure thing you can make that claim. "Rolfed" as understood in the field itself is a result. And, if by now from reading so far you don't know what that result is . . . well, I don't know. When I hear someone talk, boast even, about having many dozens of sessions, I wonder if the goal of alignment with gravity has been conveyed in the first place. There is such a thing as tune up work and the Advanced Series for refining. But, after a point there is no need for work to continue indefinitely. There is a point of diminishing returns. And, besides, the goal of Rolf Structural Integration is to get the client to a point where he or she is self-sufficient with enough physically ingrained knowledge to continue on their own to grow and evolve in cooperation with the supporting, uplifting, and nurturing effects of gravity.
Also, not all students of the work understand the what it is in the same way. There are practitioners who come into the field of Structural Integration having first been trained in therapeutically oriented modalities; for example, the many types of Therapeutic Massage and Physical Therapy/Physiatry. Those may have a predisposition and preference for applying the work locally for symptomatic relief. Again, nothing wrong with that; but it doesn't represent the work accurately if the client isn't informed about what's going on.
Then, of course, there are those practitioners who are not trained, or improperly trained; those who may operate even with the best intentions who represent themselves as Structural Integrators. This further confuses the situation and the impression of the work in the general understanding. The identity of Rolf Structural Integration is not yet so firmly established in the public mind that there is a ready and clear understanding of what it is, what it's for, what one should expect, and how it looks to receive the work. Misperceptions abound.
Best to verify that any practitioner of Structural Integration you are considering working with is properly trained by a recognized school*. Also, if you want to receive the work in its traditional format for purposes of balancing the whole body with gravity as described above, be sure to establish that the chosen practitioner works with that orientation.
Rolfing® and Rolfer® are trademarks of the Rolf Institute of
Structural Integration. * As of this writing there are 19 schools of Structural Integration recognized by the International
Association of Structural Integrators®(IASI).
Rolfing New Jersey Rolfer New Jersey Structural Integration New Jersey Rolfing Montclair, New Jersey Rolfer Montclair, New Jersey Structural Integration Montclair, New Jersey
