Rolfing

It was rather interesting. So, my rolfer Shea started with the 'rolfers 3'. That's the 3rd rolfing session, focused on breathing. The rolfer's 10 is split into 3 groups. The first 3 sessions focus on preparing the body to handle the deep core work in sessions 4-7 and then you finish with overall alignment and assembly in sessions 8-10. Mind you, I don't know much about rolfing, only the things I found on the web. Apparently, the rolfer can do the group in any order he/she feels is appropriate. At least the first group. Google it if you want to know more.

I am quite familiar with getting a massage, but this was quite a different experience.

1. Rolfing goes deeper, however, the rolfer's movement is much slower and seems to be more focused. It took her about 5 minutes to traverse just one side of my back.
2. If you have ever gotten a massage, you know that there is a level of trust that develops between you and the masseur. It may take a while, it may never happen. I, for once, am a ticklish chicken and it normally takes a while for the masseur to figure out that they need to be ruthless. If they handle me in white gloves, I squirm like a worm. Well, it took about 5 minutes with Shea. You quickly realize that there are no white gloves and the best thing you can do is to consciously relax, which is pretty damn hard. Once you relax, you're in for a different experience.
3. She made me work with her. You don't just lay there and have someone work on you, you are actively involved in the process. She made me breathe really deep at a frequency of about 8-10 breaths per minute (I think) as she worked at loosening away the fascia (again, I think this is the proper term). I got kind of high on that and almost fell asleep several times. Who would have thought? You have someone ripping your muscles apart from each other and you fall asleep? Yup, it's the focus on breathing and trying to cooperate, while you give up control. Several times I caught myself with half of my lungs full of air and I didn't know whether I was inhaling or exhaling. Pretty cool.
4. She never skipped a muscle or a knot. You know, when the masseur finds a knot, he applies pressure and all of a sudden his thumb just slips off the knot and digs into the surrounding tissue? She found quite a few knots, however, rolfing is not really about breaking knots, it's about loosening up the tissue that holds the muscle in place. Which is not to say that you don't apply pressure to the muscle itself. Still, she never slipped. Really cool - the trust was established really quickly there.
5. Sometimes you may feel pressure on contact (or a slight pain) at first, it seems to dissolve into a heat sensation very quickly. On several occasions, my arm or leg would just shiver, although Shea was working elsewhere.
   

To summarize, it was a really cool experience. Once I came home I drank about 3-4 glasses of water (apparently water is important to flush your body) and a glass of wine (important to flush my brain). Also, I spent about 30 minutes in the hot tub and went to bed early.

I woke up several times during night for the inevitable bathroom break and realized that I am sleeping on my back. This did not happen for a very very long time, I normally sleep on my stomach or side (I know, me bad). I woke up in the morning feeling really good and I stretched while still in bed. My upper back was happily cracking while stretching - this normally means that I am loose as a noodle - a Good Thing (TM). I found a couple of tender spots - under my ribs, my left shoulder, but contrary to the popular urban legends - no bruising.

I am looking forward to the next session in 2 weeks. As I said, this is a brand new experience to me and so far I can say I love it. I felt really good today at work. It also has a mental effect on me. Since I'd like to get the most out of this experiment, I was consciously trying to walk and sit straight.