The Reason I Decided to Receive Rolfing
I got word that Mr. Otsuka — who has looked after me a great deal since my student days (about five years ago) — was going to learn something called Rolfing in Germany and come back, and I intended to apply as soon as he returned to Japan.
What I Was Troubled By Before Receiving Rolfing
I had a fierce inner conflict about continuing, from here on, things that had not settled within me. Although I tried hard to act recklessly, no results came of it, and I was anxious the whole time.
Also, the axis of the organization I run was not visible, and I was fretting over what we should do.
Impressions of Rolfing
To put it plainly, Mr. Otsuka’s Rolfing is a bonus.
The counseling done before and after Rolfing — here is the true value of this service. It draws out the other person’s troubles and problems, organizes them, and guides them toward resolution. Rolfing seems like a tool that makes that easier.
Rolfing releases the body and organizes the body’s axis, and the counseling releases the mind and organizes the mind’s axis. It brings the realization that body and mind link, and a firm foundation is built within the self. That is Mr. Otsuka’s Rolfing. He says he is going to raise the price from now on, but I think that is reasonable. A service to this extent is something not found elsewhere, to the point that it seems too cheap.
Incidentally, for me the treatment was intensely painful. Painful enough to cry out and weep. But in the ninth session, a change occurred. No pain at all. The body became soft. This bodily sensation became something unforgettable. The body had certainly changed.
Impressions of the Counseling
For me, the flow was to receive a trial and then take the Rolfing sessions, but it took quite a long time until I reached the point of receiving the trial. Probably about eight hours. I am probably the only one for whom this much time was taken.
The total time of counseling I received is thought to amount to dozens of hours. There were times when we started at night and he stayed with me until morning. There was almost no advice from Mr. Otsuka; he constantly drew out, smoothly, the troubles within me and my own answers to them, with words like “There’s still something you haven’t talked about, isn’t there?” and “It’s fine if it takes time, so try to talk calmly.”
What Changed After Receiving Rolfing
① Human Relationships
In the middle of the Rolfing sessions, or before receiving them, I think I was a person who applied “super” external control. If something did not go well, it was others’ fault, and I kept thinking, why don’t those guys do what they were told? Why do they irritate me?
But after finishing the Rolfing sessions, I changed dramatically.
First, a senior colleague at the company whom I had utterly hated, who was always only complaining and making snide remarks to me, came to praise me a great deal. Did the senior colleague change? No — I think it was I who changed.
In the organization I run, too, thanks to coming to pause and think before acting on how to respond to others, I stopped getting irritated. I realized that the trouble of “why don’t they do as I say?” was caused by my way of conveying things and by the shared understanding itself differing between us in the first place, and I was able to improve it. I was able to notice that, while seeming to communicate, I was not communicating at all.
② Body and Sports
The bodily change was large. The slouch disappeared, and I became able to direct awareness to posture. I also came to be praised often by those around me for my posture improving. Furthermore, I acquired the sensation of the upper body riding firmly on the lower body. I felt that the body’s axis had been formed.
I do various sports — baseball, tennis, golf, basketball — and in every sport I improved markedly. No matter how much practice is done while the body’s axis is not organized, it hardly connects to results.
I strongly recommend that people who do sports receive Rolfing first.
③ The Organization I Run
The organization I run is, in a word, a group that transmits information about health. Before receiving Rolfing, what was that group’s mission? What did it want to do? The axis was all over the place. We too did not know what we should do.
Rather than Rolfing, it improved dramatically through Mr. Otsuka’s counseling.
We decided what not to do, and asked those within the organization who simply could not sympathize with the direction to step away.
And within us, the axis of “increasing the number of people who can lead a self-directed life” was formed. Now, in line with this axis, we are redesigning our products, such as seminars and various events.
④ My Own Axis
So then, what is my own axis? I feel I was able to somewhat find this within Rolfing.
I prefer accomplishing something with companions over solo play. Whether in games, sports, or work. The word “bond (kizuna),” which I have used since my job-hunting days, expresses exactly that. From now on, I want to focus, with this “bond” as the axis, on what I want to do and on what I am doing now.
Conclusion
Having received Rolfing, I feel that my life changed, and there is also a sense that I was able to return, from a path I had been proceeding along off-course, to my original path. In any case, there is no doubt it turned for the better, and I have nothing but gratitude to Mr. Otsuka, who — not only through Rolfing but in various scenes — guides the direction I proceed in from within me. I truly hope the people around me will receive a session.