Preparations are underway toward certification as a Rolfer, the practitioner who gives Rolfing.
The encounter with Rolfing was covered in “How I Found Rolfing — Searching for a Way to Deepen the Postures,” and the account of receiving the work in “After Completing the Ten Sessions.”
Taking part in the training toward Rolfer certification requires submitting documents and completing preliminary assignments. Among them: holding some form of massage qualification along with practical experience; anatomy coursework; a statement of the motivation and reasons for undertaking Rolfing training; and having received Rolfing sessions — the ten-series, received from December 2013 through March 2014, and five movement sessions, scheduled for July 2014.
For the massage qualification, enrollment followed at Thai Massage School TOMARIGI, since closed. Thai Massage Level 1, certified by ITM (Chiang Mai International Training Massage School), was completed on July 4, 2014 (see “Completing ITM Thai Massage Level 1 — A First Bodywork Skill“). Level 2 is scheduled for later in July (see “Completing ITM Thai Massage Level 2 — On Offering Something Good”). The order, then, is to acquire the manual work first, before entering Rolfing training.
Since a degree of language ability in English and a grounding in the sciences — anatomy and physiology — are required, the bar sits high for a Japanese applicant. The preparation window being limited, negotiation with the people there led to submission well past the deadline; after a round of revisions, notice of acceptance arrived at the end of June 2014.
Certification as a Rolfer requires attending three courses of instruction, held in Boulder, Colorado — where the work originated — or in Munich, Germany, or in Bali, Indonesia. Once the courses actually begin, fuller accounts will follow on this blog.
The schedule as it currently stands:
- August 4–23, 2014 — first course, Munich, Germany
- October 6 – November 26, 2014 — second course, Munich, Germany
- April 13 – June 5, 2015 — third course, Boulder, Colorado
The third course may possibly move up to January, though the intention is to leave time between Germany and Boulder for travel to various parts of the world. The first departure comes on July 30, 2014. The return is scheduled for August 25, 2014, with the first training completed by then.
As written before, pursuing certification as a Rolfer is a challenge of a certain kind. More time as a student lies ahead; how that will change a person remains unknown, and the process itself is what there is to enjoy.
Note, August 2026
The plan as it stood at this point and what actually happened diverged. The third course was originally scheduled for Boulder, Colorado, beginning in April 2015; in the event it took place in Munich, from February 2 to March 25, 2015, with certification received in its final week. The time for travel to various parts of the world was secured as planned, and between Phase II and Phase III came a circuit of South and North America.