Category: Rolfing / Published: 2026
Why did a PhD from the pharmaceutical world choose the path of Rolfing? I wrote about that reason and that mission in detail in “From PhD (Medicine) to Certified Rolfer®.
This page records the trajectory of the twelve years of training that followed: where I studied and what I learned, who I trained under, and what changed at each stage. It is a map for those who want to understand the background behind the depth of the work.
CHAPTER 1: The Encounter (2013)
Through seven years of practicing Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, my bodily awareness grew steadily sharper. At the same time, it became clear that the tension held in my shoulders and neck was keeping the postures from deepening.
While trying various approaches, in December 2013 I encountered Rolfing.
From December 29, 2013, I received weekly sessions — ten in all — through March 2, 2014. The experience of tension releasing through a fascia-based approach was fundamentally unlike any bodywork I had tried before.
CHAPTER 2: Basic Certification (2014–2016)
Immediately after completing the ten sessions, a conviction took shape: I want to learn this. In July 2014, I left the foreign pharmaceutical company where I had worked, and — while setting out on a journey around the world — took part in Rolfing Basic Training in Munich, Germany.
The training was structured in four phases:
- Phase I (August 2014, 15 days): Foundations of movement, anatomy, and touch (Munich)
- Phase II (October–November 2014, 33 days): Integration of the body (Munich)
- Phase III (February–March 2015, 30 days): Practice of the work (Munich)
- Phase IV Supervision (December 2016, 6 days): Supervision (Munich)
These 89 days of training were an experience of relearning, from the ground up, the relationship between body structure, gravity, and fascia. If my eleven years at the pharmaceutical company had dealt with “life at the molecular level,” then Rolfing was a world that dealt with “the whole body living within gravity.”
In March 2015 I was certified as a Certified Rolfer™, and in July of that year I began practicing in Shibuya.
CHAPTER 3: Rolf Movement Certification (2017–2019)
Two years after I began practicing as a Rolfer, I started exploring Rolf Movement, an education devoted specifically to “movement.”
I took part in training hosted by the ERA (European Rolfing Association). In December 2019, I was certified as a Rolf Movement® Practitioner.
Beyond an approach to structure — fascia and posture — the addition of movement education, of how to move and how to relate to gravity, gave the work a new depth.
CHAPTER 4: Learning SourcePoint Therapy (2015–2020)
Beginning in October 2015, just after my Rolfing certification, I started training in SourcePoint Therapy. Module 1 & 2 (2015, Osaka), a supplementary course (2017, Osaka), and Module 3 (2020, Osaka) — fourteen days in all, a course of learning that spanned five years.
Accessing the body’s blueprint through light, sound, movement, and touch deepened Rolfing’s own philosophy that “the answer lies within the body.” Bing search data, too, shows a strong response to “SourcePoint Therapy,” with a CTR of 30% — a sign of the high level of interest in this approach.
CHAPTER 5: Advanced Certification (2025)
In July 2025, I was certified as a Certified Advanced Rolfer™.
These 24 days of training were an experience of integrating ten years of practice. A decade had passed since my Basic certification, and I felt that the way I saw the body, touched it, and put it into words had changed at its very foundation.
- Why Are Advanced Rolfer Sessions “Profound”? — Three Differences, Ten Years After Rolfer Certification
- List of Certifications and Training
Ten Years of Deepening Lead to the Work I Do Today
From my first session in 2013 to my Advanced certification in 2025: twelve years.
Basic certification (2015) → learning SourcePoint Therapy (2015–2020) → Movement certification (2019) → Advanced certification (2025). This trajectory is not a mere accumulation of qualifications.
It is a path along which the conviction that “the answer lies within the body” has settled, session by session, into an ever-deeper felt sense.
Eleven years at a pharmaceutical company, a round-the-world journey across 26 countries and 65 cities, and these twelve years of inquiry as a Rolfer — every one of these experiences has become the ground for facing a single question: “Why can’t I move, even when I understand it in my head?”
Timeline
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| December 2013 | Encounter with Rolfing; received 10 sessions |
| July 2014 | Left the foreign pharmaceutical company; set out on a round-the-world journey |
| August–November 2014 | Basic Training Phase I & II (Munich) |
| February–March 2015 | Basic Training Phase III; Certified Rolfer™ |
| July 2015 | Began practicing in Shibuya |
| October–November 2015 | SourcePoint Therapy Module 1 & 2 (Osaka) |
| December 2016 | Basic Training Phase IV Supervision (Munich) |
| March–July 2017 | Continuing education workshops |
| December 2017 | SourcePoint Therapy supplementary course (Osaka) |
| 2017–2019 | Rolf Movement® Practitioner training (Europe) |
| December 2019 | Certified as Rolf Movement® Practitioner |
| October 2020 | SourcePoint Therapy Module 3 (Osaka); training completed |
| July 2025 | Certified Advanced Rolfer™ |
For those who want to change from the body
Start with a Trial Session to see what is happening in your body.
→ Apply for a Trial Session here
For those who want to know why I chose this path
If you would like to read the mission and philosophy behind why a PhD from the pharmaceutical world chose the path of Rolfing — rather than the training record itself — see here.
For those who want to change from thought and recognition
Mind and Bodywork Lab addresses the very same question — “Why can’t I move, even when I understand it in my head?”— from the perspectives of philosophy, neuroscience, and cognitive bias. An approach from the body, and an approach from thought: knowing both lets transformation reach deeper.
→ Mind and Bodywork Lab: How to navigate this site (only in Japanese)
Author: Hidefumi Otsuka (Ph.D.) | Certified Rolfer™, Certified Advanced Rolfer™, Rolf Movement® Practitioner. Based in Shibuya.