Introduction
Hello, everyone! I’m Hidefumi Otsuka, offering Rolfing sessions in Shibuya, Tokyo.
What It Means to Organize the Central Axis — Cultivating the Power to Judge by a Personal Axis
Since June 2015, I have offered Rolfing sessions in Shibuya, Ebisu, and Daikanyama.
Rolfing is one method in which, once every one to two weeks, using manual technique, treatment is carried out each time along a theme. Because it polishes “bodily sensation” while organizing the body, the body’s troubles (stiff shoulders, low-back pain) improve as well.
In Rolfing — in the first session, organizing the breath; in the second, organizing the soles of the feet; in the third, organizing the front-back balance — by polishing bodily sensation, the way of seeing the mind and the world shifts. All of these treat the superficial, visible muscles.
What is interesting is sessions 4–7. Because they treat the central axis (on the inside of the body), they treat the invisible deep muscles.
The procedure is as follows:
Session 7: organizing the shoulders and the whole neck in the upper body。
Session 4: organizing the lower body (the adductors to around the pelvic floor)
Session 5: organizing the front side of the spine in the upper body (the iliopsoas, the viscera, the diaphragm)
Session 6: organizing the back side of the spine in the upper body (the shins, the gluteal muscles, the sacrum, the spine)
Drawn as a figure, it might look like this.
I myself believe that the meaning of organizing the central axis is that it makes it possible to acquire — through “bodily sensation” — a personal standard of judgment for deciding things independently.
This time, I’d like to take up session 6.
What Is the “Sacrum”?
Session 6 works on the back side of the spine, with particular attention to the sacrum and the coccyx.
The sacrum is part of the pelvis, located at the end of the spine, and positioned at the center of the body! Because it connects to the spine, when the sacrum “distorts,” the “center” distorts, so there is a high possibility of producing distortion in the other vertebrae as well.
The sacrum also connects, through ligaments, to the legs (the lower limbs, the femur). Not only that — the pelvis too is wound around and around by ligaments, like plastic wrap, and from this it can be read just how the pelvis, spine, and legs are connected, and how important this is for stability.
The pelvis consists of the hip bones (the ilium, the pubis, and the ischium), all connected.
When I say during a session, “The sacrum moves together with the breath!”, there are often those who find it surprising. In fact, the sacrum does move, and in people whose breathing is shallow, the movement tends to weaken.
Does the “Sacrum” Move? Its Relationship to Breathing
For the movement of the sacrum, attention goes to which direction it faces relative to the ilia on its left and right. (Incidentally, the joint between the sacrum and the ilium is called the sacroiliac joint.)
When sitting, the width of the ilia narrows, the width of the sit bones widens, and the sacrum tilts forward relative to the ilia (a nodding motion) — nutation, from the Greek for “nodding” (bowing).
On the other hand, when standing up, the width of the ilia widens, the width of the sit bones narrows, and the sacrum tilts backward relative to the ilia (a rising motion) — counter-nutation (“counter” meaning opposite).
A rhythm of forward tilt → backward tilt → forward tilt takes place in time with the breath. By touching the sit bones and taking a standing posture and then a sitting one, the movement of the sacrum and the pelvis can be felt.
In yoga and Pilates, many people whose body flexibility is stiff feel that they cannot sense the movement of the sacrum.
When the sacrum can be felt, things such as the following occur: (1) yoga poses that had been difficult suddenly become possible, and (2) the body becomes movable with effort released.
From my own experience: when I was practicing Ashtanga yoga’s backbend-type poses, around the time session 6 had been completed, one of the difficult poses — “Kapotasana” — suddenly opened up dramatically, and I was surprised. (The pose below.)
In Rolfing, before a session on the tablework (the treatment table) ends, a hand is placed on the “sacrum,” and at the stage when the sacrum begins to move, the hand is released (the sacrum work, called the Pelvic Lift).
Clients sometimes share the impression, “ah, the sacrum dropped, the breath deepened,” and this work is profound. Because it awakens the movement of the body’s center (the “sacrum”), it helps to integrate the upper and lower body.
Its Relationship to Craniosacral Therapy — Raising the Natural Healing Power
Some may have heard of Craniosacral Therapy, one of the treatments of osteopathy. This is a manual technique of “light touch” from the head (the cranium) to the pelvis, through which the flow of the cerebrospinal fluid improves. By improving the flow of the body fluids, raising the self-healing power is expected.
There are sometimes people who, when they bump the sacrum, develop allergy symptoms; probably the flow of cerebrospinal fluid is that important.
Receiving session 6 makes the effect of Craniosacral Therapy more palpable, and when the sacrum begins to move, there are also effects such as:
- Within the autonomic nervous system, leaning toward the “parasympathetic.”
- Abdominal breathing becoming easier to enter.
During session 6, the parasympathetic becomes dominant, and many people fall asleep. I take this as evidence that the area around the sacrum has loosened.
The Second Chakra and the Sacrum — Relationships and Sociality
The sacrum is located right at the position of the second chakra. It is involved with relationships, emotions, material desire, sexual desire, and so on.
When this chakra is not organized, things such as the following occur: (1) becoming unable to respond flexibly to changes in the environment, (2) difficulty in communication, and (3) emotional instability.
When it is organized, things such as the following appear: (1) rich expressiveness, (2) honesty about feelings, and (3) the ability to exercise creativity.
I consider the meaning of organizing the central axis to be that it makes it possible to acquire — through “bodily sensation” — a personal standard of judgment for deciding things independently; and session 6, I think, helps in organizing toward “acquiring sociality.”
Session 6 — What Is Actually Done?
What is done in session 6 is to loosen the surrounding muscles (the shins, the gluteal muscles, and so on) so that the “sacrum” and the “sacroiliac joint” are in a state easy to move.
As a result, the front-back balance of the spine becomes organized, so the iliopsoas from session 5 loosens further. The way of approaching has something in common with the approach to the deep muscles: when an appropriate stimulus is given to the deep layer, “the body, of its own accord, chooses and heads toward the place it feels is ‘here!'” It matters that the practitioner becomes neutral and devotes themselves to the role of guide.
Conclusion
This time, I introduced — including the influence on the mind — what kind of change occurs within the body when the sacrum and the spine are approached from session 6 onward in Rolfing.
I’d like to take up what is done in session 7.