Being and Doing

I have been reading The Rolfing® Experience: Integration in the Gravity Field by Betsy Sise as well as Spacious Body by Jeffrey Maitland. Both of the authors talk about the interplay between being and doing.  This concept has interested me for most of my life. Betsy Sise says something very interesting. ” It is tempting to think that being can only be felt in stillness and doing only in action.” Yet, as she points out, often an activity can be meditative, and vise verse.

Betsy relates this to the experience of Rolfing®. “For the client, it may be to feel the slow, small movements in the body, which may contrast to their usual way of moving in life.” As a Rolfer®, I notice that I must slow my work down in order to invite the client to feel the slow, small movements. The way in which I approach their body affects their experience. I am learning as I work on people that this is different for each person and even for each session with each person.

Rolfing® seems to be about becoming aware of the body, it’s habits, patterns and pace. It is through this awareness that a person can begin to change. Rolfing differs from other forms of bodywork in that it engages the Rolfee in becoming aware of their own patterns and then assisting them in learning new ways of being and doing.