The first three sessions of Rolfing focus chiefly on ordering the superficial (sleeve) parts of the body, while Sessions 4 to 7 go into the more inward parts, the deep layer (core). Through Sessions 1 to 3, the surface parts of the body are opened, and the body is ordered in its up–down, left–right, and front–back dimensions.
When the superficial sessions are finished, the preparation for the deep (core) work of Sessions 4 to 7 is complete. Sessions 4, 5, and 6 order the area above the pelvis (the psoas major, the sacrum, and the spine) and below it (the pelvic floor): Session 4 from the adductors to the area near the pelvic floor, Session 5 the psoas major, and Session 6 the spine and the sacrum. Session 7 orders the balance of the head and touches inside the mouth and nose. Ultimately, by the end of Session 7, every location of the body has been touched. What characterizes Sessions 4 to 7 is that they deal with the deep parts. Because the deep parts lie far within, they are difficult to train. For this reason, they are activated by directing “awareness” to the deep muscles. And so the work calls for a different approach from the superficial layer.
For example: with bodily sensation honed, how does one approach the interior of the body? How does one widen the awareness of the deep space within the body? And so on. The impression is that the capacity for bodily sensation, not vision alone, is called for to a greater degree. In particular, as the deep space within the body widens, the person on the receiving end of Rolfing goes more deeply inward, and the degree to which the body comes into order improves all the more.
As for the approach, it is easy to understand if the hand is likened to a stethoscope. The hand explores the deep layer and identifies the location of the problem. Once the location is found, stimulus is given from the hand and the response from the deep layer is awaited. What matters is that change arises from the inside. In Rolfing, the view is that when appropriate stimulus is given to the deep layer, the body settles, experientially, into a more fitting place. And when change occurs in the deep space, the unconscious becomes conscious, so the effect can be felt and experienced more fully.
To work with the core, it is also important that a relationship of trust has been built with the client. Part of it is that unless there is space in the mind, the core does not open either — but it is also because the deep parts are generally bound up with emotion. This can be felt firsthand through doing yoga. For example, doing backbend-type poses opens the chest, and when the chest opens, the emotions accumulated deep inside until now come out all at once — and this appears even in people who are not yoga practitioners. To make one feel that the human being is an emotional animal is, I think, a characteristic of the core sessions.
Through Sessions 4 to 7, the problem the person is carrying also becomes clearer. That problem will ultimately be dealt with in the integration sessions, Sessions 8 to 10.