The History of Rolfing

Dr Ida P. Rolf founded the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration in 1971 in Boulder, Colorado, USA, after over 40 years of research and practice. She held a PhD in biochemistry from the Rockefeller Institute (later Columbia University). Her scientific and experiential enquiry into the optimum functioning of the body, led to the development of a highly effective ten session process of realigning and integrating the body.

Rolfing today

Currently Rolfing is spreading throughout the world. Since the founding of the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration, additional schools have opened in Germany, Brazil, Japan, Australia, and South Africa. There are approximately 1 500 practising Certified Rolfers in 26 countries. The Rolf Institute continues to develop its curriculum, with forty instructors, teaching Rolfing, Advanced Rolfing, Rolfing Movement and Anatomy.

The future of Rolfing

Rolfing is a rapidly growing profession worldwide; there is also a growing recognition of Rolfing through publicity on international television and the printing media. The amount of articles published in magazines has been growing significantly. Oprah Winfrey featured Rolfing in 2007/8, Rolfing was discussed prominently in the Academy nominated documentary film ‘Two Hands’, about pianist Leon Fleischer who could resume his career after receiving Rolfing.

Scientific research focussing both on fascia and its implications for posture and movement, as well as on studies verifying the positive results of Rolfing, support the vast scope for the profession and its application in a diversity of fields.

The Rolf Institute has been at the forefront of scientific research by sponsoring the first ever Fascia Research Congress (www.fascia2007.com), held at Harvard Medical School in 2007. Rolfing instructor Dr. Robert Schleip was one of the presenters on his groundbreaking research at the University of Ulm in Germany on the discovery of the contractile cells in fascia – a major contribution to the understanding of the body. In the future, the Rolf Institute will continue to fund and organise scientific research.
The concept of the changeability of the body through this method of work is highly topical and will continue to spread as more and more people seek out Rolfing as clients and as an exciting profession in an expanding field of enquiry.

Uploaded 6 April 2008, www.rolfing.co.za, editor: Eugenie Grobler