A few weeks ago I handed over three bound copies of my doctoral thesis to an administrator at the University of Sussex. It’s done. To all of my clients who patiently put up with me in those final weeks of thesis writing: thank you. I am now back at full strength, offering my full range of appointment times (typically Monday-Saturday in London, and Sundays in Luton), and beginning to make exciting plans for the future of London Rolfing.
Occasionally, when I’m travelling, I hear an announcement asking whether there is a nurse or doctor among the passengers, able to help someone in medical distress. Cue my partner, elbowing me in the side, suggesting facetiously that I boldly step up to offer some ‘Emergency Rolfing’.
A rose is a rose is a rose, as Gertrude Stein once wrote, but that doesn’t mean all roses are identical: finding the spirit of the session within the protocol of the session is different with every client.
This week, in hot UK Rolfing news, we received unexpected airtime on the Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2, and a ringing endorsement from a caller to the programme who had received Rolfing sessions to help her with sciatica.
We need to think (again) about pain. Steve Haines’ new book, Pain is Really Strange, digests the latest findings in pain research, with surprising implications for how we manage long-term pain conditions. Chronic pain, it turns out, is really strange: it’s an unreliable indicator of tissue damage, and can result from sensitisation at the site of a previous injury. In most cases, Haines contends, it is a ‘mistake, a fault in the [body’s] alarm systems’.
Today – 19 May – is Ida Rolf’s birthday. Born in 1896 in the Bronx, Ida Rolf is the inventor of Rolfing and the founder of two schools, the Rolf Institute and the Guild for Structural Integration. Her legacy is profound. So let’s raise a toast to Ida on her birthday.