Friday, March 24, 2017. The Rolf Movement Training of the American Rolfer Gael Rosewood (hereafter Gael) began. Held at Shinjuku Mura Studio, the training spans four days.
On the first day, Gael explained how Rolf Movement — which she was involved in from its founding period — came to be born and developed.
In 1969, she met Ida Rolf at the Esalen Institute and took Rolfing training together with Sharon Wheeler.
The Phase I and Phase II training of that time was combined, and the main focus was placed on training the theory of Rolfing and the eye for looking at the body.
In the Body Reading part, when the dancer Judith Aston (hereafter Judith) was asked by Ida, “What do you see?”, she was able to explain — including movement patterns — with humor mixed in, so the story goes. Ida requested that Judith teach Movement work for bringing awareness to the body.
From 1971, the first Rolf Movement Training by Judith was held. Gael also took part in that training, so she was involved in the founding period of Rolf Movement as well.
The training continued for ten years, held before and after Rolfing’s Basic Training in coordination with it.
After ten years, Judith left the Rolfing association and became independent as Aston Patterning.
The remaining members of the Rolfing association (five, including Gael) kept it alive and developed it as the Rolf Movement Training. Among Gael’s students are Hubert Godard (see “Mentoring Session (4) — An Experience in Paris: Valuing the Foundations — Hubert Godard“), Pedro Prado, Monica Caspari, and Carol Agneessens.
And in Europe, Hubert, and in Brazil, Pedro and Monica, each developed Movement in their own way.
In this way, Movement came to be recognized in its diversity according to the culture of each country; but Rolf Movement, the story goes, follows the basic principles of Rolfing.
Gael explained the basic principles in five words: how to find support from the body (Support), how to organize the body (Alignment), how to move the whole organically (Coherence), how to bring awareness to space (Space), and how to prepare new options for movement (new choices), and so on.
In the case of Movement, rather than using the hands, words are used. So, regarding the way words are used as well — where to direct a person’s awareness (Awareness) and attention (Attention), and how to magnify (Magnify) and amplify (Amplify) it? She emphasized that preparing language for directing awareness to the body is important.
What is especially important, she said, is not words like “what is correct” or “to correct,” but words like “how to prepare new choices and expand awareness and sensation?”
Beginning from such foundations, the work moves toward the breath of the second and third days, and the approach to the shoulder girdle and the pelvic girdle. Next time, I’d like to write about the atmosphere of the class as a whole and the work.