An entry point to the Yoga × Rolfing five-part series
Introduction
It was in 2006 that I encountered Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga (hereafter, Ashtanga). This yoga, in which poses are done in a fixed order while linking breath and movement, has the characteristics that self-practice is the basis and that poses are given according to the student’s readiness.
Over more than 20 years of practicing Ashtanga and also working as an instructor, I gradually came to feel that “there is a layer of the body that yoga alone cannot reach.” What filled it in was Rolfing, which I encountered in 2013.
This Gateway is an entry point that explores, in a five-part series for yoga practitioners and teachers, how yoga and Rolfing complement each other.
A Practitioner Who Practices Yoga Is Rare
There are about 130 practitioners offering Rolfing in Japan. But among them, practitioners who continuously practice yoga hardly exist.
Many of the representative practitioners of the Rolfing world, too, may “teach” yoga, but are not themselves “continuing as practitioners.”
I have practiced Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga since 2006, and studied under Tarik Thami for about 12 years. While also working as a yoga instructor (RYT200), I offer treatment as a Certified Advanced Rolfer™.
Furthermore, in the Rolfing basic training Phase 2, I studied under Giovanni Felicioni. Mr. Felicioni is the founder of the British Academy of Rolfing (London), and is also active as a yoga teacher carrying on the yoga of Mary Stewart (of the Vanda Scaravelli lineage). He also has a background of having studied under Hubert Godard (the proposer of Tonic Function) for more than 20 years, and is one of the leading figures integrating yoga and Rolfing at a world level.
As a practitioner who knows yoga from the inside, I am in a position to convey “Yoga × Rolfing” in an integrated way, from both the practical and theoretical sides.
The Original Purpose of Yoga Was “to Sit”
Modern yoga appears to be centered on “poses (asanas).” But in the traditional system of yoga — the eight limbs (Ashtanga) recorded in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras — asana is no more than one of the eight steps.
To begin with, “asana” means, in Sanskrit, “a place to sit / a way of sitting.” The root “ās” is the verb “to sit, to remain.” That is, the original meaning of asana is not “pose” but the “way of sitting” itself. The Yoga Sutras records this about asana — “Sthira Sukham Asanam.” Being stable (Sthira) and comfortable (Sukham) — this is all that is asked of asana.
Practicing poses is in order to organize the body so as to ultimately enter the state of “dhyana (meditation).” When sitting quietly for 20 minutes, if the body is not stable, awareness keeps being pulled back to the discomfort of the body. The practice of asana is a preparatory exercise for making that “stable way of sitting” dwell in the body — this is the meaning that yoga’s asana originally held.
Seen from this viewpoint, the “way of sitting” is not a mere pose, but the point of arrival of the integration of body and awareness. There are various forms of sitting — the lotus, the half-lotus, the easy seat, and so on — but what is common to all is that “a way of sitting in which the pelvis stands up, the spine keeps its natural curve, and it does not collapse even when force is released” is required.
And here is the first point of contact where yoga and Rolfing meet.
The Question of Squatting and Sitting
The foundation of the way of sitting is “the pelvis standing up.” But many modern people, when trying to sit on the floor, have the pelvis tilt backward, the lower back round, and cannot maintain it for long. This is the result of the habits of chair culture, desk work, and the smartphone having fixed a fascial pattern that tilts the pelvis backward.
The action of “squatting” throws light on this question. Among the 300-odd ways of sitting classified by the anthropologist Gordon Hewes, deep squatting is said to be one of the most natural postures, with the least burden on the musculoskeletal system. A body that can squat has the fascia of the pelvis, hip joints, and ankles working in coordination, and is ideal as the foundation of a way of sitting.
When a practitioner of Ashtanga feels, even after practicing for many years, that “the way of sitting does not stabilize,” in many cases it is not a problem of the pose, but a problem of the pattern of the pelvis and the fascia.
→ What Is the Difference Between Squatting and Sitting — The Influence of Chair Culture on the Body
What Came into View from Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga
At the time I began Ashtanga, in 2006, I continued Mysore-style practice under my teacher, Tarik Thami. The roughly 12 years of continuing to attend self-practice starting at 6 a.m. every morning were days of continually exploring the relationship of body, breath, and awareness.
One of the characteristics of Ashtanga is “Ujjayi Pranayama.” Narrowing the back of the throat, the movement is continued while breathing with a sound like the sound of waves. This breathing coordinates the diaphragm and the deep muscles of the trunk, and has the effect of activating the Tonic Muscles (the deep antigravity muscles). When Ashtanga is continued for many years, breath and movement are integrated, and a sensation arises not of “being moved” but of “moving.”
But around 2014, having continued the practice for about eight years, a realization arose. The primary series of Ashtanga is composed of movements centered on the sagittal plane (front-back movement), forward bends and backbends. The elements of the horizontal plane (rotation) and the frontal plane (left-right movement) are relatively few.
When this biased pattern of movement is repeated over many years, that bias comes to be inscribed in the fascia. “Breath and movement are connected. But unless the fascial pattern changes, the same restriction is repeated” — this was the trigger for beginning to look for Rolfing
The Layer That Yoga Alone Cannot Reach
Yoga is a wonderful system of practice. But there is something I became convinced of after practicing for 20 years. Yoga’s asana is a practice of “moving within the fascial pattern that already exists.” By repeating poses, flexibility rises and muscular strength develops. But to rewrite the “past postural patterns, emotional patterns, and memory of injury” inscribed in the fascia itself, a different approach is needed.
Rolfing was that “different approach.” When the fascia is worked on directly in ten sessions, the skeleton rides back onto the axis of gravity, and the Tonic Muscles recover their original work. As a result, the quality of yoga poses changed fundamentally. Poses that “become so naturally” rather than “trying to do” increased. The way of sitting stabilized. And the breath deepened.
→ What Is Rolfing’s Ten-Series? — Three Phases in Which the Body Changes, and the Flow of Each Session
Rolfing, Rolf Movement, and Yoga — a Practice Structure of Three-Way Circulation
Yoga and Rolfing complement each other. But a practice that integrates the two needs one more pillar — Rolf Movement.
What my practice arrived at over many years was a structure in which three circulate.
- Rolfing intervenes directly in the structure (fascia, skeleton). In the ten-session series, it rebuilds the body’s relationship with gravity.
- Rolf Movement fixes that structural change within movement, and puts the awareness into words. Through the observation of Pre-movement (the movement before movement), the difference between a person’s own movement habits and the new pattern is grasped as bodily sensation.
- Yoga deepens that sensation within daily practice. Through asana, breath, and the way of sitting, it weaves the organized structure into the hours of daily life.
This three-way circulation runs through all three articles of the series. In Part 1, in the context of confirming the rewriting of the body schema within movement; in Part 2, in the context of putting the movement of breath into words; in Part 3, in the context of the bodily sense of the space toward the way of sitting — in each, Rolf Movement functions as the third pillar.
For a yoga practitioner, Rolf Movement becomes an entry point that connects directly to the “practice of awareness.
→ What Is Rolf Movement? — Bodywork That Explores the Quality of Movement
Voices of Yoga Practitioners and Teachers Who Received Rolfing
What did yoga practitioners and teachers feel from receiving Rolfing? I introduce a part of the experience accounts.
“It connects to an enjoyable exploration of the body’s possibilities.” ── Ms. Mayumi Kondo (yoga instructor / instructor at Under the Light Yoga School)
Ms. Mayumi Kondo is one of the instructors at Under the Light Yoga School (UTL), where I obtained my RYT200 qualification, and is also an Ashtanga practice companion. We also share a background of having received teaching from Tarik Thami. It is an experience account of a person who, as a yoga teacher, chose Rolfing as an entry point for continuing to face her own body deeply.
→ Ms. Mayumi Kondo’s Testimonial
“After receiving Rolf Movement sessions, the neck pain and stiff shoulders decreased dramatically right after finishing. I came to understand the movements of yoga and Pilates well. The resonance of my voice is different. My thinking became clear.” ── Ms. Sachiko Aimoto (freelance announcer)
→ Ms. Sachiko Aimoto’s Testimonial
“I would like to recommend Rolfing to those who want to take a pleasant walk (gait).” ── Ms. Ayako Kakizaki (company employee, yoga instructor)
Simultaneously with the improvement of low-back pain, she reported that “in linkage with the inner part, I became able to grasp for myself the congestion and stagnation within the body.” A record of experiencing the integration of body and inner life as a practitioner of yoga.
→ Ms. Ayako Kakizaki’s Testimonial
When the Body Becomes Organized, Meditation Changes
If the final point of arrival of yoga is meditation, then the body becoming organized directly connects to the quality of meditation. In a state where the Tonic Muscles work correctly and the skeleton rides on the axis of gravity, it takes almost no physical energy to keep sitting for 20 minutes. Meditation becomes able to turn not from physical burden, but toward the inquiry of recognition itself.
The Scientific Basis of Rolfing
How is Rolfing positioned medically?
As of 2025, on the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Rolfing Association, renowned researchers are listed — such as Helene Langevin, director of the NIH NCCIH, and Stephen Porges, the proposer of Polyvagal theory.
This shows that Rolfing is developing while holding points of contact with academic domains such as fascia research and neuroscience.
→ For details, go to Is Rolfing Pseudoscience? — Understanding Rolfing Through the Science of the Body
Yoga × Rolfing — the Five-Part Series
Digging concretely and deeply into the “points of contact between yoga and Rolfing” described so far, from five viewpoints, is the Yoga × Rolfing five-part series.
In Part 1, from the viewpoints of body schema, body image, and phenomenology, it unravels “why there is a sensation that does not change even after continuing yoga.”
In Part 2, from the relationship of Ashtanga’s Ujjayi breathing and Tonic Function (the sustained postural-control function with respect to gravity), it explores “the dynamics of breath and structure.”
In Part 3, from the viewpoint of the bodily sense of “space,” it explores the key to deepening the way of sitting.
In Part 4, starting from the Ayurveda experience in Sri Lanka in 2015, it explores the “principle of individualization” common to Rolfing and Ayurveda.
In Part 5, starting from the continuous Pranayama course in 2015, it handles the point of contact between the map of breathing methods spreading behind Ujjayi and modern respiratory physiology.
Part 1: Why Does “the Sensation of the Body” Not Change Even After Continuing Yoga — Reading It Through Body Schema, Body Image, and Phenomenology
In yoga practice, “the right side is smooth, but only the left side catches,” “in a forward bend, I intend to be lengthening, yet in a photo the back is rounded” — these may be signs not only of a problem of muscular strength or flexibility, but of a gap in the “map of the body.”
Part 2: Why Does Ujjayi Breathing Reach “the Depths of the Body” — the Dynamics of Structure Seen from Tonic Function and Breathing Methods
Many yoga practitioners feel that “the breath does not deepen,” “it stops around the chest.” This is caused by excessive dependence on the superficial muscles and the inactivity of the deep Tonic Function.
Part 3: Why Does Feeling “Space” Change the Way of Sitting — Rediscovering the Bodily Sense Toward Meditation
“Unable to sit for 20 minutes,” “numbness of the legs,” “pain in the lower back” — why does the “Sthira (stability) and Sukham (comfort)” that the Yoga Sutras ask of asana not hold? The key lies in the “space” within the body.
Part 4: Why “Tailor to Each Person” — The Principle of Individualization of Ayurveda and Rolfing, Experienced in Sri Lanka
Starting from a four-day experience at the Siddhalepa Ayurveda Health Resort in Sri Lanka in June 2015, it compares the diagnosis of Pitta and Kapha constitutions, constitution-specific oil massage, Shirodhara, and other practices with Rolfing’s oil approach. It explores how the principle of “tailoring to each person” appears in the practice of both.
Part 5: Why Do Breathing Methods Change “the State of the Body” — Pranayama and Modern Respiratory Physiology
Starting from the experience of a continuous course that began with the encounter, in September 2015, with Ms. Motoko Saito, a Pranayama teacher of the Kaivalyadhama Yoga Institute lineage, it handles a group of techniques — Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing), Kapalabhati, Kumbhaka (breath retention) — from the viewpoint of modern respiratory physiology (Tonic Function, the Bohr effect). It presents a wider map of breathing methods, on the extension of the Ujjayi breathing handled in Part 2.
The Thought Background Is at MBL (Mind Bodywork LAB)
Over practicing yoga for 20 years and meditation for more than 10 years, there are questions I have deepened — “why, when the body is organized, does recognition change,” “what can the thought of yoga converse about with modern neuroscience,” “where does the principle of individualization come from and where does it head.”
What handles these questions is another site, Mind Bodywork LAB.
Recognition OS and Meditation: the viewpoint of grasping meditation as “a device that updates the Recognition OS.” The neuroscientific foundation of recognition, including Polyvagal theory, the DMN (default mode network), and Carhart-Harris’s psychedelic research.
A rethinking of the thought of the Yoga Sutras: the eight limbs, Chitta Vritti Nirodha, and Samkhya philosophy. Reading “what it was that yoga has handled” as an epistemology.
Krishnamacharya’s philosophy of individualization: from the fact that he conveyed a different yoga to each of his four disciples (Pattabhi Jois, Iyengar, Indra Devi, Desikachar), the principle of “individualization” is brought into view.
The 100-year history of modern yoga: the nationalism of 19th–20th-century India, the fusion with Western exercise, and the origins of modern yoga.
Whereas the Rolfing HP handles “what happens in the body (practice),” MBL handles “what that change brings to recognition (thought, neuroscience).” The two complement each other as both wheels of a car. → Recognition OS and Meditation Gateway (MBL)
→ Mind and Bodywork Lab: How to Navigate This Site (in Japanese))
Not correction, but transformation.
First, by confirming, in a 60-minute trial session, the point of contact between the body and the yoga practice.
There is no obligation for the ten-session course. First, it can be confirmed with the body itself, just once.
Shibuya, Tokyo / 60 minutes / first-time consultations welcome / English available
Hidefumi Otsuka (Ph.D.) | Certified Advanced Rolfer™ / Rolf Movement Practitioner / Yoga Alliance certified instructor (RYT200)
Completed a doctoral program at the Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo. After a career in the pharmaceutical industry, has offered Rolfing® sessions in Shibuya since 2015. Has practiced Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga since 2006. Works under the theme of “the integration of thought, emotion, and body.”