Introduction
Since June 2015, I have offered Rolfing sessions. Approaching the fascia brings the posture into order, and the movement of the body improves along with it. This time, I would like to introduce a testimonial from a second Rolfing session.
The Second Session Works with the Feet
In the first session the breath — the upper body — came into order. By the second, the ground has been prepared for working with the soles of the feet, the lower body.
So why does it matter to work with the feet, and with the soles in particular?
Through the fascia, the sole of the foot is connected all the way up the back — to the low back, the shoulders, the neck. Tension in the sole therefore reaches the whole body. The other way round, releasing it lets the whole back release too.
What is interesting is that before you raise an arm, the muscles on the underside of the foot — the sole and the calf in particular — tighten to support the whole body, and that people with stiff shoulders tend to have hard calves.
So once the soles of the feet can be used properly, the tension in the back comes out and a foundation is built in the lower body.
By the end of the session for the feet, the soles come to rest on the ground as though drawn to it, and the balance between the toes and the heels improves. I have written about this in more detail in “Session 2: Organizing the Feet — The Superficial Lower Body and Its Relation to the Ground,” so do have a look.
What Working with the Soles Means — Bringing Sight and Hearing into Balance
In fact, once the toes and the heels can be felt, how a person uses sight and hearing also becomes clearer as a bodily sense. Using the eyes tends to bring the weight toward the toes; using the ears tends to bring it back onto the heels.
You can see why by looking at where the eyes and the ears sit in the face. The eyes are at the front; the ears, compared with the eyes, are further back — and the body follows. The other way round,
once you can tell which you are using more, the toes or the heels, you come to use all five senses in balance.
What Happens in the Session — From the Soles Through the Whole Foot, and On to the Upper Body
In the Rolfing session for the feet, the muscles of the whole sole, the arch included, are released into a state where they can be used, and the sense of connection between the sole and the foot as a whole is strengthened. After that, the awareness is carried from the sole up into the upper body — the spine — and the balance of the foot settles.
What Changed Between BEFORE and AFTER
In the session with Tasuku Suzuki, a pharmacist, the whole lower body came into order from the soles upward, the upper body connected with it, and the spine lengthened. What changes visibly between before the session (BEFORE) and after it (AFTER), once the feet settle, is the medial line. Between a BEFORE leaning onto the left and an AFTER closer to the middle, you can see that the balance of the body has shifted.
Tasuku said:
- When I get up and walk, there is a sense of being drawn to the ground, and as I walk I feel the power coming from it.
- I thought: I had not been walking as well as I had assumed.
- And the day after the session, walking was remarkably easy!
Those were among his impressions.
Conclusion
This time I have introduced Tasuku’s testimonial, and let it carry most of the piece.