Though Ida Rolf and Moshe Feldenkrais were contemporaries and influenced one another's work, very few of their students see the connections between schools of thought.
Practitioners of the Feldenkrais Method hear that Rolfing hurts and they stop there. Rolfers see that the Feldenkrais folks aren't necessarily addressing the body's "war on gravity", and turn a deaf ear.
Moshe Feldenkrais taught that learning cannot take place in the presence of pain. In Feldenkrais "Awareness Through Movement" classes, students systematically learn the easiest way for their bodies to move through various positions and situations.
The bodywork system is hinged on the fact that everything in the body is connected, and that creating ease in one area of the body will in turn generate ease, relieve pain and teach students new ways of thinking and responding to change.
Ida Rolf also determined that everything is connected, and she took it a step further. She identified the tissue element in the body that actually connects everything together: the fascia. By stretching the fascia, Rolfers are creating freedom of movement, release and ease.
Pain? That's mainly a matter of perception.
I can remember a yoga instructor leading us into an intense stretch and reminding us that the body's natural response to sensation is to send a message of pain. If we relax, we can discern intense feelings that are not painful at all.
My experience with Rolfing was that of intense sensation and the revitalization and freedom of getting a deep internal stretch.
Many thanks to Mike Waefler of Atlanta Body Therapy for taking the time to speak with me personally this week. Mike is one of very few certified Rolfers who is also a certified teacher of the Feldenkrais Method.
