|
Audio Files and Transcripts From Classes with Dr. Rolf Big Sur Lecture/Demo |
|
Ida Rolf Audio Tape Transcript AUDIO FILE Tape A1 Side 1 MP3 File (aprox. 11MB) TRANSCRIPT While Ida is Out of the Room: Theories on Randomness and Aging Concept of Structural Integration Pelvic Lift, Pelvic Training, and Sleeping Positions (Getting in the Mood) (0:02) I did a lot of reading of papers over the weekend. I wanted to compliment yours and yours Owen, and there was one that was better than either of you but it’s going into the next class. And what I look for is not the amount of information you get out of textbooks, but how you weave this into a story which has significance for us. And all of this is-, I just wanted you to know I do read those papers sometimes. Sometimes I just [ ] (0:35) Hey Eddie, you got something on your mind? (0:40 student) No [ ] before freezing (0:45) Oh, I see. So, Al are you- (0:50 student) this is Monday, May 25th, first take (0:58) Al are you sufficiently busy so that you can’t give us a review sort of (1:02 student) Not with this (1:05) [ ] anyway. I’d sort of like, this being the beginning of another week, I’d sort of like it if you started at the beginning you see, and brought the ideas along so that we all get into the mood again (1:27) Ok. I started the whole subject of Structural Integration that-? (1:30) Mm hmm. The whole subject coming up here today (1:35 student) Well start out with the concept of random bodies; what that really means. Just as a function of the normal living process, as a child grows up to an adult, a whole-, there are many opportunities for non-normal changes to occur in the body. For instance suppose-, for any minor accident or major accident - a kid falls off a bicycle, hits his leg against the concrete, falls off a stair, uncles holds kids by the arm as they swing them, disease perhaps - may cause some local aberrations in the body. Any one of these things may cause a condition to occur where in an imbalance is created in the normal patterning of movement; either locally in the body, in terms of just the set of muscles, for instance the antagonists that are directly involved wherever the trauma or the affect we’re talking about occurred- (3:34 student) I guess I really have trouble talking (3:35) You’re doing all right. Keep going. (3:41 student) Well, let’s continue from there. What ah-, as there is an unbalance locally it gets transmitted throughout the body; through the fascial sheath, through the disconnections there are within the body. Now, why do these-, how do these transmissions occur? I mean what’s the mechanism for it? The thing that we constantly have to remind ourselves of is that we are in a degenerative force field; That we are standing erect against the force field that is trying to pile us down onto the ground, let us say (4:18) Hold on a minute Al. We are trying to stand erect, because when we really stand erect the force field is with us (4:28 student) Yes. So we stand erect in a balanced condition (4:35) That’s right. And it’s until we stand erect that we have our problem, it’s while the body is random that we have our problem. But when we really become erect - mobile within that field - the problem disappears. (4:52 student) Ok. And so there is a local aberration in the sense that some local part is out of balance. Since the force field acts on the total body, something else somewhere else will have to compensate to provide some kind of economy, a minimum energy - however you want to think of it - but some way for the body to maintain its sense, its erect sense in the presence of these unbalances. In other words, for instance 15lbs. or so of head going forward will have for be in some way compensate by something in the back going the other way. And that in turn could create-, for that to happen with the spinal structure the way it’s created necessarily involves an exentuation of the lower curvature, and anteriority of the top of the pelvis, and so on (6:01) I would like to make more realistic to you what Al is bringing out. Probably some of you don’t need it, but some of you may. For example, the kid falls off his bicycle and he gets pretty badly lashed in the thigh, and so for several days as he walks this hurts. And it also hurts if he carries his body in a certain pattern. His trunk is balanced above there in a certain pattern. The pattern that may be hurting may be the normal pattern. So he will shift that normal pattern to something that will “take the hurt off.” (6:42) Now what I’m wanting you to get is the recognition of the fact that this is your feeling appreciation of the situation which Al has been describing verbally. You see I want you all to have this very vital realization, this gut realization of what’s going on, rather than a head realization of what’s going on. Ok. (7:11 student) Ok. So, once the body has assumed this non-normal-, these deviations or aberrations that we’re talking about. The affect of this on balance is that there is less motility in the region of the unbalance, there is less movement, certain muscles begin to shorten, and harden. And as that happens there is this progression-, this vicious cycle is started, this progression toward hardening, towards-, as there is less movement, less flow of vital fluids into this vital area, less pumping of nourishment into that area, muscle begins to harden, and gristle-, fascial envelopes around individual muscles begin to [breath] together with their neighbors. The overall area begins to turn towards fibrous material; Cartilage perhaps in some areas situations. And in the case of the lower spine, it may also even go in some direction-, I mean calcium may deposit in the area, and- (8:53) Yea, but be careful about this cartilage thing. A muscle doesn’t turn to cartilage. There is a chemical difference in there. But the fascial material does turn to a tougher, less elastic, less oxygenated tissue. There is no question about that. But you have to be careful with this word cartilage, which indicates one specific thing. (9:20 student) Ok. Now the body is carpeted as a random body because you look at the body, and almost anything can be off the normal. I man this is how I see randomnisity. (9:28) That’s right. That’s right. (9:30 student) and, the-, since my background relates to this, and this fits in the discussion here of entropy, for those who-, I may just bring in that concept a minute. There is an observed tendency in nature for-, with time, for a processes to become random; In a sense, unless there is an introduction of patterned energy. For instance take a room like this, and if you just let things go on in here as some kind of-. Put into this room 10 people who don’t have a common purpose, and who just kind of do their thing, whatever they’re doing, eventually the chairs in this room sitting around here, and the fruit in the basket and whatnot, will become messy, chaotic, random. Random in a sense away from the degree of order we can see in this room. Ok. And the only way to return it to its ordered state after it has become random - random in the sense that we can’t predict what it will be - we have to introduce energy into it. We have to clean it up. But more than that, we have to clean it up in a patterned way. We have some pre-thought as to the direction we can go (10:58) …go ahead (11:00 student) The constant of randomness is embodied in the 2nd law of thermodynamics; That parameter that measures the degree of randomness is called entropy. And there’s a state when that entropy is constantly increasing. Entropy in the sense of randomness, or ignorance, or- (11:18) Disorder (11:21) Disorder increases, and it can be brought down only with the introduction of energy directed in a particular thrust. Ok. So that’s the way I see our job (11:39) Well, I would like to add another idea about randomness. Some of you have children; little girls, maybe age 10, 14, 15, little boys maybe. The little girls it comes out particularly plainly, and you’ll hear the women in the group talking about, “Yes, my little Suzy. I can’t buy a dress for her because she takes a size 10 blouse and a size 8 skirt, or 6 skirt, or visa versa. See what I’m saying to you is not only are all these parts random in terms of their position in space, but they are random in that the parts of the body don’t match. You have seen it here in the terms of Jimmy Johnson. Those legs of his didn’t match his torso at all. Those legs of Eric’s didn’t match his torso at all. You’ll find very nice heads, like Bill’s head and the top of Bill’s neck when he came in here. But you couldn’t believe that it was going to be put together on what was lying below it. This is also part of the concept of randomness. (13:00) And you see, this is the physiological part of that concept of randomness, rather than a physical spatial thing, that is very important to you people because this is the part in which you are working. You are working for physiological order. You are expecting to get physiological order by virtue of the road of spatial order. (13:32) Now this is another new concept, as you boys who have come from medical school will bare me out. The idea that you can spatially reorganize a body will not strike a medically trained person as nearly as revolutionary as the idea that you can functionally change a body by changing it in space. Am I right, Hector? The idea that you can take a chronic cardiac case, where you have a perversion of cardiac physiology, and by changing the position of the space in which it is sitting, change it’s function. This is the basic revolutionary principle that we are talking about, that we are preaching. And it behooves every one of you to understand this, or else somebody is going to trip you up, and you’re going to fall on your face. (14:40) Now, you are on relatively safe ground when you stay where Al has had you. You get into more and more unsafe grounds unless you know your physiology, unless you know your bodies and so forth, and their function, as you get into what I am just talking about here. So those of you who do not have decent licenses-, quality licenses, where you can afford to get into a [row], back off, stay in the spatial pattern. But understand that you are working in terms of physiological change, and that this is your purpose and this is your goal While Ida is Out of the Room: Theories on Randomness and Aging (15:28)Will you people continue to talk about what is going on here and add to each others ideas? I’m sorry. Excuse me for a minute (15:37 student) It seems to me that a person can talk about the structure changing, making body function better; nobody can argue with this, no matter where you are. If you start getting into one structure begins in the other structure, muscle changes into fascia or fascia changes into cartilage, then I think you’re dealing with an area a little bit harder to defend. If you say, “this makes the breathing better, makes your circulation better,” I think you can defend that (16:11 student) Well, accept that, if one considers aging and considers the change in connective tissue, probably the most significant changes I think in aging that do occur in connective tissue, [mesenkind] or the mesoderm layer in the body, would seem to be in the blood vessels and fascial, fascia gets more fascial like by-. And so what happens, is the agings of these [under grown] hormones within the heart [ ] better. So, if we were to take the extreme of a body, of extremely disordered [body], it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect these changes to occur in a shorter span of time. An example; We had a man, Los Angeles Ray, had a markedly formed body. This man undoubtedly was older physiologically, and he was chronologically [actually-]. So I think that for me anyway, if I keep this concept of the connective tissue as aging, and aging do to force, to stress, then I think, you know I can put these together in space and function. In fact the real [butt] of the vascular tree, one of the age old concepts for where arterial sclerosis occurred, was at the point to of application of blood vessels. And of all the debates that have come down through the years, it’s interesting that as you look at these blood vessels, they do occur at the point of [ ] stress extreme. However there happens to be where this occurrence what happens to hit it, since you physical, [ ] physical force [got on] (18:31 student) There are probably several mechanisms in aging, don’t you think Hector? There’s probably something that involves this concept of lack of motility which in turn produces some kind of change in the tissue. But then, there’s probably some other thing that’s genetic-, that’s change in some sort of degeneration of the cell structure, changes in the collagen (18:58 student) You know, you ask, why do people get old really? Why does the tissue get old? I don’t know. But we know some things. Like we take a red blood cell and there is no doubt that as the cell ages - a red blood cell is 120 days - but if you measure some of the enzyme activities, you know, this [glucopastodehydrogenaze] activity in the cell, or in the enzymes has to do with the metabolism of glucose. To measure this, as a cell gets older and older the enzyme activity gets less and less. But why is this-? The blood cell doesn’t even have a nucleus in it. So I don’t know. But I’m-, you know, it’s true that some changes occur I’m sure (20:00 student) It sure seems like at a physiological age a person is almost based on there rigidity of structure. I’ve seen this time and time again. That the tighter they are, the older they are up here, and the harder they function; The breathing is more chance of emphysema, shortness of breath, and [this meander] and the chest changes, and they breath better and they feel younger, and they look younger, and they become younger in essence (20:30 student) Well you know, time is a way of dealing with space, special relationships, And that’s really all it is. It doesn’t exist except in relative to spatial distances, so naturally we change spatial configuration, the time complement has got to change too in some way. (21:00 student) I kind of got lost with- (21:05 student) Well I’m saying is that, time as we measure it - seconds, minutes, hours, days, and years and so forth – is nothing but one way of looking at spatial relationships. Ok. So if a man is 22 years old, and he looks 40, and you alter his spatial relationship in his body, he’s got to change in his time configuration. There’s no way of getting around it, if you accept the first premise, the second one is to be (21:35 student) I heard another major-, of age, is grade of healing; body repair. (21:46 student) Do you think it’s true? (21:47 student) I wonder if altering the physical structure from tightness to looseness would increase this sort of (21:55 student) I would say only increase the circulation of the heart, ‘cause that’s what healing is. Blood, Oxygen, food, enzymes. So the more blood that goes to the heart the more-… (22:08 student) also older people whose bones are more brittle, and therefore they break easier and knit slower (22:18 student) Well no doubt that the main thing is there is a chemical hanging-up [ ] that is the concentration, but theoretically if we have more of the growth of [the linear/hemoglobin’s] in top shape, then how do we know whether we go on and on? I don’t know, but it certainly seems that people who are in what we call good physical condition, generally their whole metabolism, and body functions, and their ability to heal, etc., etc, is a sign of the [stratus], is markedly better than a man who stays sedentary. ‘Cause the guy who goes home and watches TV, a man who gets to be 70 and watches TV everyday - that’s his whole existence - compared to a guy who goes out and walks every day, and swims and hikes and- (23:09 student) Or sticks his elbow in bodies (23:11 student) Or sticks his elbows in bodies (23:13 student) I think part of this is the mental involvement of what he’s doing with the elbow, or with the walking, and not only a passive physical thing. I think it involves the head too Concept of Structural Integration (23:35 student) Shall I just go on with the discussion? Ok. So then if anybody else wants to take it on. But-, so the-, I mean this is good for me, because it helps me organize my thing in some verbal way. (23:54) So what we have to do is reorganize the body, faced with a random body, we have to reorganize it, and the organization will direct itself towards balancing that body to make the rest of it look, or function as well as the best part, in a sense. The template for this is the picture in the book. You know what a normal body should look like and act like, and function like; how it should behave. And one of the byproducts of working on the body is that we work on the total body, the total man. Eric is really a good example of it; obvious changes in the total person that occurs as you change, create physiological changes in the body. (25:00 student) Ok so one of the important concepts that Ida brings out is that since everything about the body is interconnected, that by working on the outside of the body, we create changes – both structural and functional changes – internal to the body, and at different places within the body. And the converse of this is true too. When something is wrong inside, it appears on the outside of the body. It can be. it can be seen in terms of texture, in terms of color, in terms of contour. Last week there was some talk of randomness tends towards roundness, towards rounding the otherwise somewhat complex contours of the body. And so by, just by looking at a person you can see, you can detect non-normal structure. Even though that may, in effect, be hidden inside; I mean the actual problem (26:34 student) Al, it seems like the things you mentioned are more static also, just looking at the person sitting or standing. Also we could think of them in motion; There ease and freedom in motion is another sign (26:48) Yea, I personally have a lot more difficulty with that. In the first hour you know there are some tests that are made, where you pump the legs back and forth, and pitch them from side to side. And for me personally it’s a little hard to see what is happening. You can see freedom of movement in that back and forth motion, but abberated patterning of movement, in the pitching for instance, is just something that I haven’t- (27:19 student) It’s more subtle (27:20 student) Yea, you’re right. And also those motion pictures over there, the pictures of movement of a person, I think that-, I guess that’s like a next step of seeing (27:34 student) But you know I was impressed just to see someone after, what was it, the 2nd hour, just leaning over like that, and feeling the smoothness of the spinal column. Before it was more disorganized. It integrated a little bit (27:57 student) Ok. So, if we take this concept that by working on the outside of the body we can create changes in the direction of organization of the body, then the next thing to consider is, if we’re going to create changes that these be in a-, that the energy we are to do this be in a patterned energy; in a direction which is going to move towards the normal. And since the body is all connected anything we do in one place is going to create effects in other places. And so it’s important that the process be such that we know we can predict the changes that will occur in other places and then go to other places and then in turn move towards, you know, in an incremental fashion move towards that normal (29:00) Have we got a better teacher here than we once had? How do you like what you’re doing Al? (29:04 student) Ok (29:06) How do you like what you have done, Al? (29:10 student) Well I feel ok about what I said. I don’t know about- (29:13) Good. And maybe the rest of you ought to have come in to Al’s teaching, not having known what went on. Come on, tell me (29:25 student) I think one of the basic concepts that we’re well aware of is the plasticity of the body; the ability for it to change. And this is something that is just understood (29:44) Alright, now- (29:45 student) Well I just introduced the whole concept of effecting the fact that what happens on the outside of the body reflects what’s going on in the inside and other places, and visa versa, and that- (30:05) Have you ever had a great dawning of light as to how this might occur? I mean I haven’t but some one of these days, Don, you people are going to have, and you’ll really have it in terms perhaps of some energy concept because this is the way you’re standing. And some of the rest of us are going to have it in terms of physiology because this is where we’re standing (30:28 student) Well, which happens? That the outside is the expression of the inside phenomena, or that we can change the inside by working on - (30:35) You can change the inside by working on the outside. This is the gospel here. The gospel of the osteopaths in general is that you try to go to the center to get to the cores and change it. The gospel as I preach it is that you can’t get to the center and change it until you have gone through the outside. That the body is like an onion, and if you really want to get to that point in the deep inside without injury, you have to peel it around; outside layer, next layer, third layer, and so forth and so forth. And this is what you’re doing here. You’re peeling your onion, making first the outer most layer more resilient, then the 2nd layer more resilient, then the 3rd layer more resilient, etc., etc. And when you finally get down to the bottom, which you won’t get in this first 10 hours, then you are in a position you see, with an uninjured core, to get to it. Now on the other hand, my feeling about much osteopathic work - I’m not throwing rocks at the osteopaths, I’m only saying that from where I stand - what they can be doing, like for example a back like Eric’s here - what they can be doing by forcing movement into the center of that, without giving it the organization to permit it to adjust, is a damage and not a help. But God forbid that anybody here should say that I said that osteopathy is no good. I don’t. I say that there are places where I see the osteopaths making what I consider mistakes. They probably see me making mistakes too. I can recommend you to some of them. [ ] (32:35 student) I want to pick on a little thing, because I’m sort of onto something. Alright, so the important thing is in introducing any kind of energy, or however you want to think of it - manipulation on the outside of the body - this will not only induce changes there, but also in other parts of the body. So we have to be aware of these interconnections. Now, what’s required is some kind of a central understanding of how the parts of the body are connected. If you do something on the chest, or let’s say a more-, something that’s a lot more evident; When you work on the foot something happens to the shoulder. Well, I see as this business of the keystone; the important thing is to remember that it is gravity that we are-, that’s past the-, I mean there are many factors which connect the body and create compensations within it. But perhaps the dominant force towards creating these kinds of effects is gravity, and so in this process of peeling the onion, and working at different places create local change which changes something else somewhere else, and then we have to go there, and so on. There’s this - (34:00) I’ll be right back Al, and I hear every word you are saying (34:03 student) This, this-, this cycle, the only thing we have to hope of getting closer towards a goal, which is organization of the body, is to have some central idea of where we’re going. And as I see it, and as you’ve said it, as the basic idea is one of freeing the pelvis, relating it to the ground, freeing it from connections above and below, which tend to hold it towards rigidity. And once we’ve allowed the pelvis to move in a sort of rocking chair type of movement that permits it to balance the weighty structure above it onto its connections through the legs, then the body can assume this normal erect stance where gravity does not pull it down. So that’s really our goal as I see it. (35:35) All right. Yea, and you’ve done a good job. Thank you sir. Don, did you have something you wanted to say? (35:40 student) Yes. I would like to go back and speak to the question you raised about center; changing the floor or whatever, by working on the outside (35:47) Yea. Alright (35:51 student) And I have been seeing this while Don was talking. I really wasn’t listening to you; I was letting my own process go. In psychotherapy when I have worked with people, or on myself, and have been keenly aware of a person’s lack of center, or lack of my own center, I don’t believe, I’m sure in my case, and I don’t believe in anybody else that I’ve ever worked with that I have directly touched the center to change it. What I have done is gotten rid of the external parcels (36:20)That’s right. And then it adjusts itself. (36:24 student) And I think the center left to its own devices will be alright (36:26) There is no question about it, but you see, in a physical body you cannot get to the center (36:31 student) You can’t psychologically either (36:34) But you try-, many schools think that they can and try to do this. And they try to do it by forcefully moving, forcefully changing certain prohibitive patterns, and my own opinion is that it is not possible to do this. (36:53 student) Yea. That’s why I was replying to is, “how do we change this?” I don’t think we do, I think the center changes itself (36:56) The center changes itself (36:59 student) When we remove the exterior forces - (37:03) I thoroughly agree with you. This is the story that we tell in this room. This is the whole story that we tell in this room, and you will see it developing. (37:11) But right here and before we go on, I want to inject an idea which to me is quite fascinating and not fully developed yet, and that is that what you are actually doing here is using gravity literally as a tool for the development and for the change of this stuff that has collected, this energy that has collected, in a knot which you call a man. Now, some of you who do some meditation, do a little meditation on this and see where you get with this idea, because this is a very different approach than anything you’ve thought of before, I’m very sure. And an approach which sooner or later, is going to open some further doors. There will be some of you who like those doors, and some of you want to stay back where you feel a little safer. That’s ok. (38:18 student) Dr. Rolf, I’ve heard you mention gravity several times, numbers of times. I’ve never heard you mention anti-gravity, and I’m curious if you purposefully avoiding it (38:27) Well just between you and me and [ ], I don’t know enough about that to really want to formulate it. I don’t know enough about that. And you see, in a class like this, there is so much to be done in such a limited time, actually we ought to be able to have time for a whole series of classes. A class where you take only the concepts, only the energy concepts and the energetic concepts, and develop them. That’s fine for certain levels, but what we’re interested at this particular moment is turning out practitioners who can get to a confused world and order it somewhat more. And whether it’s gravity, or whether it’s anti-gravity doesn’t make that much difference if they know where to stick their hands to get a man working when he isn’t working you see, every- (39:18 student) Theorizing is a luxury (39:20) That’s right. Theorizing is something that you do Sunday evening if you haven’t [been dubious in] climb the mountain during the day. (39:28 student) Anti-gravity is something that we cannot measure or experience in this system; this solar system Milky Way that we’re in. I mean that’s been observed in outer galaxies as a possible phenomenon, but it’s certainly not an experience that we have here, so - (39:47 student) I think the trees know about it (39:49 student) Talking about anti-gravity in a different way; not as a point of anti-matter (39:52) Well yes. There’s a certain something that could be developed here, though it might not be in the terms that Al is developing it here. But there certainly is a something which pulls living matter up against gravity. And you see it in the vegetable kingdom, and you see it in terms of how, when you plant a plant or you plant a seed upside down, the thing still rights itself and starts up, there is certainly some something at work there, but as I say, we just don’t have the time to develop this. (40:34) Alright, now. [for me] further very pleasantly entertainment that we give out of energetic concepts (40:42) Now let’s go back and do a quick review (40:45 student) Dr. Rolf, wouldn’t you say that energetics is really central? (40:53) Oh, it’s a central idea, there’s no question about that. There’s no question about that. But as I say the [current] need, right here this minute, is the technical reading, teaching them to use their hands in the right way at the right time, in the right sequence (41:05 student) You know, I want to say something else though. I suspect that, I mean, we live in gravity so that’s an important force. Our weight is an important force, but I will bet that in space where there is no gravity, if you’re in a situation of no gravity, that disorganization will occur because of other forces on the body, and these- (41:37) I don’t promise [7] years of ambassadors from Washington to get us a way into that kind of space! And you will mix up the job. Now. (41:46 student) There’s more than gravity is all I’m saying, that there are other forces that disorient the body (41:48) I realize that. I’m willing to accept that. you’re not telling me something that I’m unwilling to accept or that I’ve never thought about, but the gravity thing is so overwhelming, the biggest thing that we deal with in this world that we’re living in. and whether there are any other worlds within this 3-deminsional world, I don’t know. I don’t see that this part of the argument, I don’t see that we [as a foundation] has anything to do with the case, I don’t see that psychic development has anything to do with this case, so lets put [the reality] in part of the room. (42:21) Now, get back to it. Who’s going to tell me how to get this random body into a more ordered body in this first hour? You gave a very brief-, but I’d like-. Would you like to Don? This assignment? (42:35 student) Yes. The 1st hour the person is again approaching, this virgin body, random body, hasn’t been handled. And I think you’re goals are several. One is to help the person change his concept of himself, and you do this by working on the superficial fascias of the body; you help to unwrap the body. And as you unwrap this body you free the person’s imagination. And second, you try to improve the physiology of the body through improving oxygenation and improving cardiac health output. And the third aims to, in organizing this body, is to balance the pelvic structure so it is in better relationship. The pelvis is the key to the structure of the body, so the end point of the 1st hour in this sense is to balance the pelvic structure. That is the three main things; First is to free the superficial fascia, second is to increase oxygenation, - (44:15) Hold on. So the first thing is to free superficial fascia. Do you just start at the feet and go up? (44:21 student) No, I was just going to give the three things I’m aiming at, and then get back specifically and [group it] (44:24) Alright. Ok. (44:25 student) Second is to improve oxygenation, and the third is to organize the body around the pelvis. (44:31) Umm hmm. Right (44:32 student) Now. Specifically, - (44:36) I would prefer to see that done differently. I would prefer to say one of the goals- the most immediate of the goals is to increase the oxygenation, the second is to organize the pelvis with respect to the planes, which after all is with respect to gravity, and that this is done through this freeing of the superficial fascia. The superficial fascia is the mechanism whereby you can approach your goals. It’s not on the same level. Alright. Let’s go (45:15 student) I think as the person introducing, I haven’t realized, I hadn’t thought about, as privy importance is getting across to the person how great the potential is for change in the body (45:24) Yea, well, this is fine but I don’t see that it’s pertinent to our discussion at the moment. I’m not saying it isn’t important, and believe me, one of the greatly important things is to keep into a close-, a sympathetic as well as an empathetic communication with the individual that you are working on. And when I say sympathetic I mean a verbal back and forthing because you may assume that you are in an empathetic communication with your mouth shut, but he may have very different ideas. (46:04 student) Dr. Rolf, has anyone done any pulmonary function studies so far? (46:07) Has anyone done any pulmonary function studies? No. nobody has done it. You got any ideas as to how to get it done? (46:15) Well it’s very simple really, all we have to do is- (46:18_) It’s not simple as of, in this room (46:20 student) Well, it’s not very hard. I can’t do it right this second, but- (46:24) Well, you see if we could get the cooperation of Mac for instance and do a whole series of 10 people or 20 people up in a clinical situation, you could get all such measures very easily (46:36 student) It’s very simple all you need is a [Spiro gram] (46:40) Yea, I know, but we need. period. Anyway, nobody else has done any of this thing except, wait a minute. Down in Los Angeles a year ago January over in Judy Aston’s department over there in junior college, somebody was taking, yea, respiratory measurements, and one kid there, he was a very tall guy. I think he must have been 6’3” or 6’4” and about that wide, he more than doubled his oxygen, volume of oxygen intake. I’m sorry that I’ve forgotten those figures. Judy would remember (47:40 student) It’s something we should do. I’m going to look into that, it’s very simple. (47:42) All yours. Right. (47:45 student) Is it an important parameter in-, medical parameter? (47:46) Yea (47:50 student) I think [ ] about it (47:52 student) Obviously we’re doing it (47:53 student) Measurable document [ ] (47:54) Sure it is but the figures on this man we’re unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable. And he was one of these very tall, very random, string-beans who fancied himself as a dancer of all things. Remember? (48:12 student) He was my model. I remember. (48:15) Yea, when? And what were the actual figures on it? (48:17 student) I don’t remember. I remember it was more impressive, the tape measures there, where I was at that time (48:21) What does the [object] of the tape measure tell you? (48:24 student) Something like he gained two inches more through his chest just though the 10 hours (48:32) You don’t remember the body? It was the body that was just so unbelievable. Ok. (48:38 student) The technique of approaching this and to approach superficial fascia is to begin along the chest wall, the chest and back, to free the ribs as it were, loosen the fascia so you can improve the function of the ribs, and get them functioning in their four modes of functioning. This is also indicated by the motion of the shoulders, how much tension a person is having, and as you free the fascia the shoulder motions change, which is important in itself, it’s also important because it lets the patient be aware that his body is changing, which I think is very important. To conceive of the fact that the body is changing and functioning better by working again; on the rib cage, along the sternum, the [costical] junction and corresponding areas of the back, the pectoralis muscles. And then paying attention to the diaphragm, along the lower rib cage, which is again important in respiratory mechanism. (50:05 student) When this is accomplished there is an evident freedom of the chest that you can see and feel. What you have done, what I think you do, is you have raised the chest off of the pelvis, and you have lengthened the front of the body, raising the whole structure. From here, next we go down to the legs. Our core is to organize the pelvis in reference to gravity. So you free the pelvis from above and below; You free it above by raising the thorax off. Now we go down to free the legs on the pelvis by freeing the structures around the hip joints, and then around the hamstring deeper muscles. To evaluate where the restrictions occur- (51:08) Fritz, I would like to underscore certain points. You free the pelvis by working around the hip joints. This is right, in order to allow the pelvis to turn around the hip joint, but I want you to keep perfectly clear in your mind that the pelvis can’t turn around the hip joint if the hamstrings are too tight. This is not a separate situation. This is still a freeing around the hip joint. Because the movement of the pelvis has got to be around that hip joint, and so you have got to remove all restrictions that are keeping the pelvis from rotating around the hip joint. Yes? Alright (52:01 student) Yes. I visualize the pelvis as floating, you need to, yes, remove the restrictions (52:05) I know. But you see, in this class there are all types of levels of anatomical understanding. You have been dealing with anatomy for many years, some of these people are just 6 weeks into anatomy, you know. Ok. So, what I’m trying to do is to translate anatomy into function for them, etc, etc. Alright (52:35 student) I think it’s important before beginning to work on the pelvis per-say. The mechanisms indicated by where the flow is in the pelvis, by having the patient rock the legs and then letting them pitch from side to side gives an indication, as you watch it, what the function is and where it might be restricted (52:55) And where it certainly is restricted (52:58 student) And where it is restricted. So, freeing the pelvis means freeing the musculature ‘round hip joint in the fascia, the hamstrings- (53:07) This is the only place where you can adjust the pelvis; around the hip joint. You see, you can say, what about around the back and so forth? Well fine. But really you are adjusting to the earth so you’ve got to connect at the connection to the earth, which is the hip joint. And what goes on in the back is something like what goes on in the hip joint; it only permits the rotation around the hip joint (53:35 student) That’s new to me; that idea (53:42 student) Dr. Rolf, this is only a partial, a very partial freeing. I mean – (53:45) Alright, it’s the beginning of freeing (53:47 student) Right. Cause the whole concept of the quadratus, the [ ] arch, or – (53:52) Well alright, ok. I say that what I was talking about. I’m saying that if you’re talking about freeing the back, maybe the quadratus [X], you’re really talking in the same terms as you are in terms of the hip joint. You’re making it possible for this to rotate. But I want all of you to have in your imagination the visualization of; it’s the hip joint that has to be rotated around. The pelvis hasn’t been spaced so to speak (54:31 student) and here the fascialata is really important because it’s really holding the leg onto the picture. (54:34) Yea sure. That’s right (54:35 student) But it’s the-, in a sense it’s the thing that you have to stuff into- (54:38) That’s’ right. Everything has to stuff into a shopping bag. And you see, the shopping bag is on the outside, and what goes on the adductor group is inside the shopping bag, not part of your shopping bag. The shopping bag is here that holds it all together. And so you get a very different sense of function of these various muscular lines, if you get this idea. Ok. We’re doing fine. Keep going. Pelvic Lift, Pelvic Training, and Sleeping Positions (55:18 student) The [teste] now as we free up the superficial fascia, as much for anyone at this particular hour, is the tucking in of the pelvis. (55:31) Uh uh. Now why do I always jump on somebody when he talks about tucking in? I want this thoroughly answered and understood at this point, and it’s the last time I’m going to open my mouth. The next time I’m going to take an ax to it (55:54 student) I think the word you’re objecting to is ‘in’ (55:55) No. The word I’m objecting to is ‘tuck’ (55:55 student) It has a connotation of kind of grabbing and pulling in (55:59) That’s right, and that’s what every last individual will do if you tell them to tuck in the pelvis! He grabs all kinds of things, and what you’re interested in at this point is a passive letting the pelvis get itself under. It’s a taking away from the tucking. (56:27) If you don’t believe it, tuck in your pelvis right now where you sit. Alright, now relax it. Now bring your waistline back, and let that happen to your pelvis which will happen to your pelvis (56:41 student) It’s different (56:43) That’s different. now I said before in this class, but I didn’t underscore this much as I’m underscoring it now, a very large percentage of the casual problems of the relatively, what should I say?, top level of bourgeois woman, the kind of women who go to the beauty parlor to get some exercise. They come to grief because, 20 year olds who don’t understand one damn thing about physiology, but who are very cute and are employed by Helen [Rubenstein], tell them to “stand against a wall, now tuck their tail in!” and this they do, and what happens is that being relatively soft, unbalanced bodies to begin with, this consistent, persistent tucking the tail in drags the whole sacrum forward. Now they really have an anterior sacrum, instead of just having a sacrum which is relatively weakly balanced. Then you see, they have nothing on which the top weight sits. And this is being done in every city in this country today at this minute. (58:14) And this is the whole problem (58:17) You see we have in charge of our physical changing and mechanisms in this country and army of people who don’t know one damn thing about [a beady]. (58:33 student) We don’t need to limit just to bodies. We need an army of people trying things that don’t have anything to do with [the outward appearance] (58:39) Well alright. But it seems to me so outrages that something that is as externalized as a body should be so little understood. That a mind should be not understood is very simple to understand, because you can’t see it, you can’t touch it; you can’t feel it you think. But here is this solid something, and it’s all written, it’s written where anybody who looks at it can see it, can understand it. You take the fellow that wrote that [Molier] book. It’s a magnificent book with magnificent illustrations and he missed the whole boat; the fellow who wrote it is really rocking the boat. And all you can do it as [I understand]! (59:25 student) [You must be talking about Molier] (59:28) I understand [the rhythm/you remember/the real thing] (59:34 student) Dr Rolf? I not until now I think understood the difference between standing against a wall and lying flat on the floor, but I think I see now. Lying flat on the floor allows you to relax your waistline, and perhaps that- (59:42) That’s right. And it allows-, the gravity allows the lumbars and the base of the sacrum to drop down, sure (59:57 student) could you talk just a little bit about the subject of heels? I mean, I realize that high heels do that other thing, but- (1:00:00) Wait a while, wait a while. Let’s continue with what we’re doing (1:00:05 student) something also, that you may wish to wait again on, is the sleeping posture (1:00:09) Go away, just make your way. You wait a while, but you go away, I mean this is nonsense. You sleep in the posture that’s comfortable to you. Now that means if you’ve got a vast aberration, you still sleep in an aberated posture, but for god’s sake relax and get some rest. Alright [ ], “you must sleep this way.” They can’t sleep that way. They can’t rest that way. (1:00:46) Ok. Come on, come on, come on now! What happens next? Talk to [ ] in this room! (1:00:56 student) How did that ever get started anyway? (1:01:00) Well, that’s a nice cute little-, how did it get started in here? It got started in here from outside. ‘cause everybody is telling everybody else tuck your tail in, everybody’s been doing this years! I doubt that they did this 100 years ago. 100 years ago they put them in corsets and expect the tail to get under. Go ahead Fritz (1:01:24 student) By now the pelvis is a more horizontal position, the lumbar spine is straighter. (1:01:30) Mm hmm (1:01:32 student) Then to finish up the 1st hour is a matter of orienting the rest of the body from the pelvis up to what changes you’ve made. This means to pay attention to the neck and cervical area, because the head in essence has been brought more forward and just to make it more comfortable. And then second, then after this, you have the patient sitting and orient the thoracic spine to the changes that have taken place and straighten the lumbar spine. (1:02)04) Basically you’re doing fine. I would like to call the attention of the class to the fact though, that you see, the cervical area and the lumbar area are related as I said last week, by virtue of the fact that the thorax is a relatively fixed organization by virtue of the ribs. So if you’re going to change the lumbar area, as you have changed the lumbar area, you have got to in some way balance the cervical area. And if you do not or cannot balance the cervical area, you are setting into aberration a brand new source of disorganization, and a disorientation and an imbalance. Be sure you realize this. And you see you can see this as the guy lies there and if the head isn’t put on the body. You can see all that. (1:03:05) There is-, I didn’t really like this whole pelvic lift bit as you described it, because you did not make it clear that as you ‘just turn the tail under’, what happens with that first command is that the coccyx and the lowest part of the sacrum are just slightly started up. “Tuck your tail under,” you take the whole sacrum you see, and force it forward. ‘Just turn your tail under’ gets to the coccyx and to the apex of the sacrum, and it turns under, allowing to- (Tape End) |
|