| Question:
|
What part of the human body, what material of the body is ROLFING working with?
Are you freeing the
tight muscles off of the bones? Do you crack the joints and the
spine? |
Answer:
|
ROLFING directs its
attention toward organizing the Myofascial Body
or the
Connective Tissues of
the human body. We work with the Fascial Body. |
|
|
A
SUMMARY OF THE FUNCTIONS OF CONNECTIVE TISSUE
Connective Tissue might well be considered as an organ or system of the body.
Structurally it consists of a variety of specific cells and extracellular
elements.
These consist of protein fibers and a mucoid ground substance
displaying an
amazing chemical complexity and biological versatility.
As we
each investigate our personal relationship with gravity, we shall
discover
that we have all developed holding patterns. The more
we become set within
our
individual holding patterns, the more the relative tissue structures will
become
tied-up and tied-down & bound-up and bound-down.
This binding
mechanism
occurs within the physiological structures of the connective tissues, the "Fascial
Body."
The body's response to such stress is chemical as well as
physical and structural.
The Myofascial body is a unique physical
system:
When we consider fascia in its broad sense as a morphologic (form and shape)
and dynamic system of the body, we must include not only the large fascial sheaths
and connective material around and between the muscles and organs, but also that vast
amount of
tissue which surrounds every living cell of the body and the fluid which
fills joint
cavities and
serous spaces. Connective Tissue is the body's support
tissue. It
provides
form, shape, and definition to every individual structure within and
throughout the body.
The prevalence and enormity of this tissue
can really be appreciated if we
consider that the contour of the body will be maintained
by the mass and shape of the connective tissues after all of the other tissues , including
muscle-bone-
organ-gland-nerve-vessel-most fluid, have been removed. Therefore,
picture, if you will, a vast connective tissue myofascial structure. A body
which is a plastic, elastic, dynamic, energy life-unit. A body which is a
myofascially relating movement-unit: our
inclusive and comprehensive “Fascial Body.”
Any Trauma to our Fascial Body
causes immediate fascial
binding.
Myofascial tissue will thicken and develop a fibrous
nature.
Congestion occurs. Congestion within the tissues causes
degeneration
and therefore, a compensation tissue build-up on antagonist
groups.
Fasciae perceives stress to the point of strain, and begins to
change.
Tissues shorten and thicken. Fasciae will bind down toward
deeper
layers and deeper structures. As the fasciae becomes fibrous
and
thickens, there will be less movement available at the deeper
layers.
Gravity acts upon mass. Gravity accelerates mass toward the
ground.
Gravity pulls down and gravity pushes
down.
Torque is created. Stress is achieved. Compensation
follows.
Tissues twist and turn and become more fibrous. The result to
structure
becomes a random influence as points of stress are established away
from
the balance & alignment of a
central-vertical core and the horizontal
line.
Misalignment & imbalance are relative to
Movement
Inefficiency.
As the body shortens, the spine shortens bringing neural
compression,
physiological degeneration, impaired movement, compensation,
immune
dysfunction, sickness and pain. The restoration of structural
balance
and
realignment becomes imperative.
Fasciae (as a single complete system) is an
endless web, and just like a web,
if
one side of the web net is pulled, the entire physical structure is
effected with
a
corresponding adjustment. Tissue under any kind of stress
changes.
The classification of
four types of connective tissue are generally recognized:
Connective Tissue
Proper:
|
Collagen
having mixed fibers imbedded in a more
or less fluid for gel-like matrix. |
|
Blood: |
Its matrix is 55% cells
and 45% plasma, and
has the same salinity as sea water. |
Cartilage:
|
The fibers of which are enmeshed in a
somewhat plastic felt-like ground substance present on the articulating
surface of bones within a joint relationship. |
| Bone: |
In which the matrix (form) is
infiltrated with inorganic salts. |
Connective Tissue Proper may be further subdivided into three descriptive
types:
| Loose (areolar): |
In which fibers from a loose network, the interspaces
(areolar) of which are filled with a semi-fluid amorphous (formless)
Ground Substance. |
| Dense Tissue
(fibrous): |
In which a great many more fibers are closely packed. |
| Adipose Tissue: |
Fat, cellulite. |
All are formed from the mesoderm.
All have more cells than
matrix.
Matrix is Ground Substance (extra cellular Stuff).
.
55% cells vs. 45% plasma. It is aqueous in
nature.
Blood has the same consistency as sea water, and is clear and
without
color. Only when photons bounce off of corpuscles within
blood
(Oxygen - red & Carbon Dioxide - blue) do we perceive to see
color.
Bone matrix is filled with minerals. It is ossified with salts.
It is the manifest
soft tissue toward which we address most of
our
attention. As we organize and integrate structure, we manipulate
soft
tissue,
connective tissue, collagen, and myofascial tissue, not bond. Bone
will
change
over time as the structure begins moving and developing within its new shape
and its new movement patterns. Bones will change when the
negative
forces
on bone change to positive forces.
Collagen is the
building block of the connective tissues. More than one third
of
our body's protein make up is collagen. Although it is a relatively
simple
protein,
collagen is a major structural protein forming veins, arteries, the lungs,
ligaments,
tendons, muscles, and every tissue and organ as well as the support tissue
for all
of
the above mentioned
structures.
The word collagen comes from the Greek, and means "glue
producing."
It is the most important building block in the entire animal
world.
Mother Nature's most abundant protein polymer is
collagen.
As a polymer, it is a string with strands of complex protein
molecules.
Collagen makes up 75% of our skin. It is the fibrous protein
ingredient
of bone, cartilage, skin, and the other general and specialized connective
tissues.
It controls cells shape and cell differentiation. Collagen provides
the
structures
for our body which protect and support the softer tissues and connects
them
with/to the skeleton and to everything else. It is the body's
structural
protein
that gives flexibility, elasticity, and rigidity to our specialized
tissues and
organs.
Whatever need there is for tensile strength, structure support, and tissue
flexibility
required within and for the body, the collagen polymers will create them.
Since collagen structure is formed by linked
together strands of protein, and
these
slender strands of protein form fibers, forces acting on this tissue will
determine
its use. The variation of the collagen structure is unlimited.
Use and demand
and
stress within the collagen tissue, will determine the relationship between
different
kinds of fibers, their location, their direction, their density, and the
amount of
water
present within each particular collagen structure.
Remember:
Muscles, bones, organs, glands, are structures that provide spacers,
patterns,
structural
highlights, landmarks, and hallmarks which indicate the position, the
shape, and flow
of
the myofascial tissue from the tiniest cell through Ground Substance,
planes,
sheets,
sheaths, and into larger more developed and specialized
structures.
This is the material of our focus, The Fascial Body.
All practitioners of the Rolf Method of Structural Integration (ROLFING) are
familiar with fascial Planes, clefts, envelopes, and reflective spaces found within the
“fascial body.” The continuity and conformity of these sheaths
which unite and at
the same time separate adjacent structures:
muscles-bones-organs-glands-nerves-
vessels-fluids from each other, can be
traced from any given region throughout the
entire body. Connective tissue
connects.
Fasciae IS the
element of structure!
ROLFING is a process, a process of anatomical organization and reorganization,
a process
through which the line of the body and its major segments – head,
shoulders, thorax, pelvis, legs,
feet, are brought into greater conformity with the
vertical line of gravity. ROLFING will organize
the body’s structural and
functional relationship with gravity so that the body’s field of energy,
mass, and
structure is reinforced, uplifted, maintained, and even sustained by the larger field of
energy, Gravity.
Balance is an expression of efficiency and health is a statement of balance. We,
therefore,
understand that health is a level of efficiency with which an organism deals
with its environment,
and that manipulation of the connective tissues can induce a high
level of physical balance and
organization. Change, organization, and integration of your structure
toward balance and alignment
within the gravity field will enhance your health and should extend
your life.
The body is not a rigid system;
it is a plastic-elastic medium. Physical organization toward a
balanced vertical structure will relieve stress and strain throughout the
entire structure and will increase our appropriate function and
comprehensive health.
The
anatomy of connective tissues has shown that is serves a multiplicity of functions in the
body.
The following is a summary of connective tissue with its interdependent
elements and definite organizational patterns:
|
The meshes of loose connective tissue is by no
means merely an inert packing material which occupies
the interstices between highly
organized structures of muscles-vessels-nerves-glands-bones-organs, etc.
It is a tissue of manifold function with great and far reaching importance and
therefore requires our closest
attention and study. The “Fascial Body” is
an interdependent system of connective tissue relationships
from the smallest cell to a
complete structure.
“Shape” is
the morphogenic structure behind reality itself, and it is
“shape” which generates all the laws of physics. |
FASCIAE IS THE ELEMENT OF HUMAN STRUCTURE!
| Goals: Like my teacher and friend,
Dr. Ida Rolf, I, too, am interested and seek to improve, enrich, enhance, and refine human
potential. Human potentials as they relate to structure, performance, balance, alignment,
its relationship to gravity, health, mental status, respiration, circulation, immunity,
movement, agility, poise, efficiency, balance and grace are improvement opportunities and
lofty ideals we can all pursue. Ultimately we must consider excellence and
perfection. For me, and for the friends and associates I work with, excellence
and perfection are not the
goal, they are the path. As Dr. Rolf would say, "The indefatigable
Path."
The ultimate goal is to become better, better, better, the best. THE BOTTOM LINE
Everyone you know, every year that you know them, will lose their personal battle with
gravity and they will get smaller. They will get shorter; they will shrink. They will lose
mass. You probably watched this happen with your parents. There are six billion plus
people occupying the earth, and as you read this, there are some, while getting their
annual physical examination, are hearing their doctor saying, "Well, you are two
inches shorter than you were a few years ago," and they laugh. "Yes, that
happened to my mother or to my dad." They certainly saw this
happen to their grandparents. Well, THAT IS NOT FUNNY! This means that all of
your mental, physical, physiological, biological, biochemical, chemoelectrical processes
that must take place within your body to maintain good health and long life, have to
attempt to do so with less space and therefore less efficiency.
Rolfing will reverse this
entropic condition and provide you with more appropriate space both peripheral and
internal and maintain proper length and space for your body and its decorous function. No,
you will not grow like a child grows. Yes, you will get taller as your body lengthens and
unwinds structurally from years of trauma and the compensation. Therefore, being out
of balance with gravity has caused and directed your body to constrict and contract and
shorten.
Structural instability is a constant and dramatic and destructive influence.
Your body's relationship with gravity is more
important
to you than you have ever, here-to-fore, imagined! |
"A paper by Andy Crow"
Copywrite© 1975 Andy Crow
No Part of This Article
May Be Reproduced Without The Written Permission Of The Author |
|
