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Myths and Realities About The CORE

Myths and Realities About the Core ~ by Ruthie Streiter

In a fitness world loaded with recommendations and catch phrases about the “core” and “core strength,” it can be confusing to navigate this complex topic.

It’s time to move towards a more informed, accurate and applicable understanding of the core so that we can make contact with it in a beneficial way.

What is the “core” anyway?

Different body paradigms and methodologies have slightly varying definitions of the core. The explanation I offer here is informed by the work of Dr. Ida P. Rolf, a scientist and the creator of Structural Integration bodywork, and Joseph Pilates. Both were powerful and brilliant body and movement experts who thought about the core in compatible ways.

The core consists of the deepest layers of muscles in the body. When visualizing the core of a human body, think about the core of an apple—it’s the deepest part and runs along the axis. Core muscles include the deep muscles of the spine, the deep layers of abdominal muscles (psoas and transverse abdominus), the muscles of the pelvic floor, the diaphragm and the inner muscles of the ribcage (inner intercostals).

Myths About Core

Myth #1: Core strength is about getting a “six-pack” and/or a “flat tummy”. The muscle that creates the six-pack appearance is the rectus abdominus muscle, the most superficial abdominal muscle (meaning it lies closest to the surface). This makes the rectus inherently not a core muscle. Strengthening the core is about totally different muscles. More often than not, the main role that an overly worked-out rectus abdominus plays in core strengthening is that it interferes; in this case the rectus needs to relax and soften in order to access the real core body.

Myth #2: I should do sit-ups to strengthen my core. It’s possible to do something that resembles a sit-up or a crunch that might fire up the core muscles, but more often than not, traditional sit-ups tend to activate muscles (like the rectus abdominus) which are not part of the core. Many people who do a lot of sit-ups have to go through a process of un-doing all the unbalanced strength they accumulated because that “strength” interferes with true core awakening.

Myth #3: If I go to a Pilates class, I am definitely working my core. It is possible, and common, to participate in exercises that are considered core-targeted in essence, but, due to weakness or a misunderstanding of how to execute the movement, end up using muscles which aren’t the core. Really using the core in core-targeted exercises requires skill and nuanced understanding of how to engage internally.

What do you mean by an “integrated” core?

In this context, integrated means that we aren’t talking about someone who is solid in deep layers and soft everywhere else or vice versa– what we are looking for is powerful balance. The core should be strong so that it is healthy and alive in a way that is appropriate relative to the rest of the body. If someone has a very strong, contracted core and very weak limbs and outer-layer muscles, then in order for that person to cultivate an integrated core and an integrated body, he/she would need to focus on releasing and lengthening the core and strengthening the non-core muscles that are weaker.

In an integrated body, muscles have balanced strength relative to each other, and true flexibility means that muscles and surrounding tissue (fascia) have balanced flexibility relative to each other. A random muscle which is “strong” or a random muscle which is “flexible” doesn’t mean much in the world of body integration; anything meaningful is about relationship and balance.

Why work on the core body?

Here are three good reasons:

1) Protect your back! An appropriately strong and healthy core will ensure that your back doesn’t have to work overtime. As the core muscles get strong, they also lengthen, providing a sturdy structural support for the spinal column, and preventing spinal compression and related ailments (of which there are many).

2) Diminish chronic tightness and muscular compensation patterns. A weak core will have back muscles working overtime and it doesn’t end there. Chronically tight hips and shoulders can also be the result of a sleepy or weak core. The body craves a proper division of muscular labor. If some muscles are under-working, others will be over-working. This manifests differently in every person. When each muscle is “doing its dharma,” there’s way more functional harmony.

3) Changes in other layers of your being. As you create a stable core, examine changes that might occur in your mental and emotional bodies and in other parts of your life. The state of the core is the physiological expression of something deep inside of you.

Here are 10 tips for exploring your core and cultivating a healthy core body.

This is foundational information that will help you get more out of Pilates classes, yoga classes, and exercise in general. Work towards generating that deep muscular support that is so healthy and make meaningful contact with the inner-most landscape of yourself.

1. Relax the outer layers. The deep core muscles often get overpowered and shut down by the strong (and often over-active) outer layers of muscle. By relaxing the outer back muscles and superficial belly muscles (like the rectus-abdominus-6-pack muscle and the external obliques) and imprinting that letting go, you give the deeper muscles a chance to wake up and be utilized in the body.

Your body has a natural intelligence and those core muscles want to be alive and well! By removing the surrounding tension, it allows that natural intelligence to emerge.

2. Lengthen your trunk, especially your abdomen. Creating length goes hand in hand with relaxation. Once tension patterns in the sleeve and in the abdomen are relaxed and neutralized, the next step is to introduce length. Utilizing gentle, internally generated engagement, and active arms and legs, practice creating length in your trunk and in your abdomen in creative ways.

Generating length works well in side bending, twisting, or even playfully stretching out on the floor. Feel how you can lengthen the back side of the trunk, the front side and the plane deep inside the trunk between the front and the back.

3. Forget about the six-pack. Igniting your core isn’t about gaining that six-pack. The six-pack muscle is an important abdominal muscle (which, by the way, doesn’t have to be a washboard to be in tact), but it is not a core muscle. A pre-occupation with creating a visual effect in the abdomen might actually interfere with the introspective and nuanced process of contacting your true core.

Culturally, we are too focused on appearances, and the appearances that we worship have been conditioned in us. Our culture values and understands a six-pack as a desirable abdomen more than an integrated, alive psoas muscle and a belly which embodies internal length and receptivity. As conscious practitioners, we need to recognize and transcend this shallow conditioning and focus on the physiology and consciousness that matters the most. In this way we can rebuild and exemplify a new, more intelligent, healthier and compassionate value system.

4. Visualize your psoas. The psoas is a primary and important core muscle. It runs along the front of the lumbar spine (one on each side), connects all the way down at the very top of the inner femur and functions as a deep hip flexor muscle (quite relevant to everyday activities like walking!) It is a deep abdominal muscle that lies behind the abdominal organs and can also be considered a “back” muscle because of its adjacency to the anterior spine.

The alignment and functional health (or lack thereof) of the psoas has a profound impact on the health of the lumbar spine and whole lumbar area. You can think of your psoas as a supportive muscular “spacer” for the lumbar vertebrae, keeping them adequately spaced out and supported. Compression may cause a whole slew of back problems like arthritic conditions and slipped, herniated and bulging discs.

Being able to visualize the psoas will help to access it in targeted strengthening exercises and stretches. Awareness of the psoas can also be powerful in any yoga pose or exercise—almost any movement or activity in life can be enhanced by checking in with the psoas and inviting your consciousness to brighten it up.

5. Distinguish between “core” and “sleeve” in movement.

In Dr. Ida Rolf’s model of the core body, she articulates the distinction between core and sleeve. The core muscles work together as a functional unit. All the muscles other than the core make up the “sleeve.” Sleeve muscles work together too. Play with movement that is initiated and supported by core muscles. Then play with movement that is initiated and supported by sleeve muscles.

In dynamic exercise, sports and yoga, and even in normal life, our movement ideally transfers from core to sleeve to core to sleeve, gracefully and effortlessly and naturally, and the core and sleeve are in constant conversation. Explore how an alive, strong core can support sleeve limbs and outer layers.

6. Spinal extension, slow and steady. In active spinal extension exercises, like salambhasana, there is an opportunity to work delicately and intricately with the deepest spinal muscles. Abruptly or aggressively practicing spinal extensions will kick in the outer layers of back muscles. Enter these poses smoothly and slowly. Try meditating on the deepest areas around the vertebrae. This will ignite the core back muscles, cultivating their tone and imprinting their wakefulness while keeping the sleeve quiet and secondary.

7. Pay attention to your pelvic floor. The space between your sitting bones, pubic bone, and tailbone is a mysterious universe in an of itself. Get to know it, study it, feel into it. There are infinite ways to engage (and relax) this part of the body, and simply exploring and experimenting in this arena is a great pre-requisite for success in pelvic floor exercises as done in yoga, Pilates, kegels, and mula bandha.

8. Breath awareness. Breathing is so intimately connected to the core body. The diaphragm and inner intercostals are important core muscles—since all the core muscles essentially and ultimately work as a unit, the movement and flow of the breath is intricately intertwined with all core engagement. Take some time every day to study your breath as a witness and discover inside yourself how it contributes to the essence of the core. Find a great pranayama teacher to learn some traditional breathing exercises to practice; they have immeasurable benefits.

9. Feel into the central axis. This is the ultimate yogic exercise. The central axis of the body is the sacred energy channel. It is the realm of the ancient (and contemporary) yogi. Breathe into the central axis of the body, use the power of your consciousness to invite a sense of openness in the channel. Yoga asanas will help to release physiological and energetic blockages. Feel the central channel from the base of the pelvis all the way up through the top of the head. When your mind inhabits this space, you are living in your core body.

Hint: relax, open, and lift the very back of your throat. This is a powerful entryway of the central axis.

10. Learn the bandhas and kriyas properly. There are some practices in the yoga tradition that deal specifically with core engagement, both physically and energetically. Uddiyana bandha kriya is a cleansing practice in which there is an interesting and unusual muscular engagement of the core muscles at the end of the exhalation, particularly the diaphragm. Nauli is a cleansing practice in which the abdominal organs are massaged internally and stimulated. In another form of uddiyana bandha appropriate to engage during asana practice, the deep lower abdominals are awake and pulled gently towards the spine and a lightness is created in the abdominal organs. In mula bandha, the perineum (muscle of the pelvic floor) is intricately and delicately engaged (a practice which is more elusive than most people think).

It’s always worthwhile to study these techniques with a knowledgeable teacher. It’s easy to misuse and misunderstand these practices, which must be done in the context of an informed, safe breathing sequence and by engaging in the correct manner.

Ruthie Streiter is a Structural Integration Practitioner and a yoga teacher in Brooklyn, NY, specializing in therapeutics and creating structural and functional harmony in the body. She is the founder and director of the Decompression Project, which offers programs to improve body structure and promote awakened embodiment, and the End of Knowing Yoga School, a unique learning sanctuary that fuses the ancient wisdom of yoga with the cultivation of structural balance. Ruthie created the DP Embodiment Course, an educational program to help people thrive in their bodies at work and Decompression Videos, a library of therapeutic yoga sequences design to help people “practice right for their body types” at home. Ruthie writes regularly on her two blogs, The Primary Structure and the End of Knowing Blog.

Photography (top image and image of Ruthie) by Lana Bernberg.

~

Editor: Malin Bergman

From Elephant Journal

Myths and Realities About The CORE2020-11-13T15:36:51-08:00

Lesa Sol Pensak – Rolf Structural Integration in Davis and Lake Tahoe

Lesa Sol Pensak is Board Certified Advanced Structural Integrator certified from the Guild for Structural Integration.
Lesa is also a Holistic Health Practitioner and Massage Therapist certified from Mueller College of Holistic Studies. She has 33 years of private practice.

True North Rolf Structural Integration has a new office in Davis.

Lesa (15)Various structural and movement imbalances may be blocking you from reaching a more stable state of body and mind. The Rolf Series’ goal is the physical and emotional evolution of an individual through the lengthening and integration of the body.

Lesa has helped many people discover how Rolf bodywork can dramatically enhance one’s posture and movement possibilities. You will move with greater ease and awareness.

Structural Integration is a powerful combination of manual therapy and movement education which can be complimented by Acupuncture, Pilates, Gyrotonics, Osteopathy, Yoga and other disciplines.

Lesa was on the Board of Massage Examiners, Massage Instructor, National Exam Writer, Level 3 Ski Instructor and Technical Trainer.

Contact Lesa @  (775) 443-8500  truenorthrolf@gmail.com  www.truenorthrolf.com

Lesa Sol Pensak – Rolf Structural Integration in Davis and Lake Tahoe2023-02-06T23:56:47-08:00

Staying Fit: Yoga, Rolfing and Fascia

Staying Fit: Yoga, Rolfing and the Elusive Cinderella Tissues by Eva Norlyk Smith, Ph.D.

What is the most plentiful tissue in the body — and the most ignored?

The answer is fascia — the gooey, gliding stuff that holds you together. Fascia is a broad term for the extracellular matrix of fibers, “glue” and water surrounding all your cells, and wrapping like plastic wrap around muscle fibers and muscles, organs, bones, blood vessels and nerves — and finally as a second skin around your entire body.

“Fascia is like the Cinderella tissues of the body,” says Tom Myers, a leading thinker in integrative anatomy and author of Anatomy Trains. “It has been the most ignored of all the tissues in the body — at least up until recently. Yet, fascia is critical to understanding the body and what it takes to keep your body functional and healthy all life long.”

In recent years, the interest in fascia has surged. In 2007, fascial researchers and practitioners banded together to initiate the biennial Fascia Research Congress, where researchers and health practitioners can share new discoveries. (The Fascia Research Congress 2012 will be held in Vancouver in March.) Understanding the elusive Cinderella tissues offers an important glimpse into important, yet not widely known, aspects of bodily health and function.

Here are four fascinating facts about fascia:

1. All You Learned About “Muscles” Is Wrong A primary lesson emerging from new research into fascia is that all we learned about muscles is wrong. “That illustration in your doctor’s office of the red-muscled human body is a body with its fascia cut away,” says Myers. “It’s not what you look like inside, but it’s a lot neater and easier to study. And, it’s the way doctors have been taught to look at you.” We commonly speak about the musculoskeletal system, and the muscles attached to the bones of the body. But according to Myers, muscles in fact don’t attach to bones. Fascia does. “Muscle is like hamburger; it can’t attach to a bone,” says Myers. “There’s fascia going around and through the muscle. And when the muscle runs out, that fascia from the outside and the middle of the muscle spins into a tendon, just like yarn.” It may be useful for our thinking mind to dissect the body in to some 600 muscles and their tendon attachments to bones. However, the body doesn’t think in terms of 600 individual muscles. “Your brain does not think in terms of biceps and deltoids,” says Myers. “There is one muscle that exists in 600 fascial pockets. Ultimately, the brain creates movement in terms of large fascial networks and individual motor units, not our named muscles.”

2. Much More Than a Wrapping Material Fascia is not just a passive wrapping material, but a live, biological fabric, which directs the traffic of forces around the body, and responds and remodels itself as forces change. Some researchers, like Helene Langevin of the University of Vermont, suggest that the connective tissue network may function as a whole body communications system, which influence the function of all other physiological systems. How exactly such a whole body network would be communicating within itself is as yet unknown, and there may be several pathways. Langevin has developed evidence, for example, that the fascial network may correspond to the network of acupuncture points and meridians. In this framework, acupuncture needles produce cellular changes that propagate along connective tissue planes. A similar effect is created by the stretching of the connective tissue created by yoga poses or externally applied stretch and pressure during bodywork.

3. Redefining Chronic Pain In its healthy state, the fascial network stretches and moves without restriction. However, age, injuries, repetitive stress, poor postural habits and even emotional trauma can cause fascia to lose its flexibility and become tight and restricted. This helps stabilize the body in the short term, but unfortunately, it also locks you into a chronic strain pattern that can be hard to correct. Think of it like wearing a thin silk suit. If you pull on one part of the suit, the tension patterns will show up throughout. Fascial strain patterns translate through the entire body, and affect the structural network of the entire body. They may lie at the root of chronic pain issues like migraine headaches, chronic back pain, or fibromyalgia, or other pesky pain problems that just won’t go away. For this reason, bodywork techniques focusing directly on the fascia, such as Rolfing and myofasical release therapy, can sometimes stimulate tremendous physical and/or emotional release where other modalities come up short.

4. A New Understanding of Fitness: While we usually think in terms of fitness as strong muscles and cardiovascular endurance, we ignore fascia at our own peril. Having an integrated and well-trained fascial network is important not just for anyone engaged in sports, but for anyone wishing to retain a healthy and functional body throughout life. When you train the body, the fascia is trained as well. However, it may not be the way you would want to train it. If your fitness routine involves mainly machines, you will not end up with a fascial network that is as strong, versatile and capable as you’d like, but rather a one-dimensional network that may respond less efficiently to challenges. “Exercise machines are great for building individual muscles and terrible for training your fascia, because they train the fascia in one particular direction, one particular vector,” says Myers. “You end up training fascia, which is not prepared for life, because life doesn’t come at you right straight down the same vectors that the machines do.”

In terms of training, Myers says, favor movement forms that involve a lot of variety in direction and load, which builds versatile balance and stability into your body. Yoga asanas are particularly useful for stretching the long chains of fasica in numerous directions ways, offering the kind of system-wide engagement it needs. Training too hard or repeating the same routine without variation can lead to fascial adhesions or injury.

For more, see Tom Myers free report on YogaUOnline: 10 Tips for Fascial Fitness. The full interview with Tom Myers: Fascia, Yoga and the Medicine of the Future.

Staying Fit: Yoga, Rolfing and Fascia2020-11-13T15:36:52-08:00

Discover the power of Rolfing

Discover the power of Rolfing

Special to the Bonanza
INCLINE VILLAGE, Nv.
Deeply transformational bodywork called The Rolf Method of Structural Integration is now available in Incline Village Lake Tahoe and Davis.
The Rolf Method blends structural, energetic and manual therapies and are a complement to Acupuncture, Pilates, Yoga and other wellness practices. It’s a dynamic alternative to traditional therapies and the results can be profound: significant relief from pain, enhanced range of motion, improved athletic performance and well-being.
This is the result of hands-on manipulation and core movement education developed by Dr. Ida Rolf that works on connective tissue to release, realign and balance the whole body with lift and length in the field of gravity. One’s posture and freedom of movement is enhanced, while pain from many causes, including back pain, trauma and repetitive motion injury may be resolved as a side effect.
Hands-on interventions with visual and functional assessments coupled with client education bring about positive and long lasting outcomes.
Lesa Sol Pensak is the owner of True North Rolf in Davis and Incline Village.
Board Certified, Advanced Structural Integrator, Holistic Health Practitioner and Advanced Massage Therapist since 1989.

Learn more about Pensak at www.truenorthrolf.com 

Discover the power of Rolfing2020-11-13T15:36:52-08:00

Structural Integration Mission Statement

The Guild For Structural Integration

The dictionary defines a mission as “a continuing task or responsibility that one is destined or fitted to do or specially called upon to undertake.” Accordingly, the Guild offers the following mission statement:

The Guild is dedicated to the traditional teachings of Dr. Ida P. Rolf. The product of her life’s work and teaching is the “Recipe”; a ten- session sequence of structural, fascial and educational goals which establishes order in human structures. Due to its efficacy in symptom alleviation, both physical and emotional, there is little doubt that the Recipe will survive in various forms as techniques; it is not certain that it can endure as art and craft without the special dedication of those individuals who are inspired by the potency of intention and wisdom of process concealed within. The Recipe is not technique. The Recipe is more than a discrete succession of myo-fascial goals and intentions. The Recipe is, rather, a process, based on a set of relationships, which establishes structural balance and order. These relationships are based upon sound theoretical physics as well as some traditional metaphysical hypotheses. Relationships belong to the realm of art, they are non-linear. Technique is better suited to scientific and linear analysis. The Recipe, as taught in other schools, has been modified or, perhaps, specialized in several ways. Some of these modifications ignore the underlying priorities in Dr. Rolf’s teaching. The Guild is formed to insure that the Recipe does not lose its potency of intention, its expression as art, nor its comprehension as process.

Dr. Rolf’s teaching emphasizes the concept of the personal line of vertical intention, the “Line.” The Line passes through the centers of gravity of the body’s vertical blocks. The Line, in our concept of the Structurally Integrated human, does not pass through bone, except at the top of the head. In actual fact, this weight-bearing line does pass through bone in all but the most exceptional human structures. Indeed, it was Dr. Rolf’s observation that our species had not yet successfully completed its journey to uprightness. The Recipe is designed to offer personal assistance in this evolutionary voyage. The emergence of the unstressed vertical, the Line which passes only through soft tissue is evidence of progress toward this goal. The Line being defined as a set of theoretical points in space is not real, but experiential, and it can be, perhaps, must be, intentional. The horizon is the horizontal reference for the Line. The shoulder girdle and the pelvic girdle must contain true horizontal balance to define and support vertical extension. The Line goes through the top of the head and through the bottom of the feet to infinity. The Line forms a relationship between the field which is man and the field which is earth, the field of gravity. The Line is transcendental, it relates the realm of material particles, of basic physics to the non-material, the world of energy fields. While Dr. Rolf’s metaphysical hypotheses concerning the Line are not original, her use of the Recipe as a tool for exploring them is unique. The idea of using a vertical line of extension to integrate one’s personal energy field with the energy field of the earth is a compelling idea with both practical and visionary implications. The Guild recognizes the singular importance of the Line as raison d’ etre for the recipe. We believe that effort to clarify and develop a clear sense of vertical extension should be a path for personal growth. And further, that instruction concerning the Line is an essential educational aspect of the practice of Structural Integration.

The practice of Structural Integration is, clearly, a logical choice for traditional, holistic, and self-help professionals. However, many of Dr. Rolf’s oldest, most successful and well-known practitioners were not attracted to her work by professional considerations alone, but rather by the personal challenges which she believed were inseparable from the practice.

The practice of Structural Integration was presented as a path of personal growth and integrity, where personal alignment implies structure on all levels: physical, verbal, logical, spiritual, and emotional. The practice was also presented as a path of service, which “refines” the spirit of the practitioner, and assists in the development of true sight and compassion. The discipline of the path is the performance and understanding of the Recipe. Repetition of the Recipe disciplines the mind and clarifies the will. Awakening our consciousness of the Line becomes the personal goal and the Line our inner guide. Fanciful ideas of personal growth, life paths, service and the awakening of special sensory abilities may have little to do with professional competence but they have much to do with the exploration of human potential. Therefore, the Guild believes these extra-professional challenges are useful, even essential, and should be presented to all practitioners of Structural Integration.

The decision to become a Structural Integration Practitioner involves a lifetime of continual learning and intellectual challenge. But it further implies a decision to develop one’s inner knowing, the integration of mind, body and spirit.

Mission Statement

  1. Structural Integration is a method and a philosophy of personal growth and integrity.
  2. The vertical line is our fundamental concept. The physical and psychological embodiment of the vertical line is a way for BEING in the physical world. It forms a basis for personal growth and integrity.
  3. The teaching of Structural Integration is transmitted through a form called the “Recipe.” The “Recipe” is the tradition, the foundation, the essence of Dr. Ida Rolf’s teachings.

Structural Integration Mission Statement2020-11-13T15:36:52-08:00

"I Got Rolfed" Posted by Lesa Sol Pensak

 

I GOT ROLFED

Not only is “Rolfing” fun to say, but it helped me stand straighter, too

By Carli Cutchin

This article was published on 04.26.01.

 
I’d like to say that I tried Rolfing because of its vaunted effects on one’s posture, sense of balance and overall well-being. But I really got “Rolfed” because the name sounds so darn cool. That, and I’m a sucker for a good massage.Despite my goofy reasons for getting Rolfed, Rolfing is an advanced, intense kind of therapy that engages the patient at a deeper level than massage. It can improve mental and physical health, according to “advance certified Rolfer” David MacDonald.

I walked into MacDonald’s office at 4:30 p.m. and was met not with the usual office décor, but with ambient lighting, a small fountain and green leather couches. There was no one around.

“Hello?” I called meekly.

No answer. I took a seat on the plush couch and picked up a pamphlet called “Rolfing: Structural Integration.” It said Rolfing “specifically and systematically lengthens, reorganizes and re-educates connective tissue restrictions.”

I wondered if my tissue needed re- education.

The pamphlet also told me that “many people who expect or have heard Rolfing to be painful are surprising by the wide range of welcomed sensations, although at times there will be intensity of sensation.”

Interesting. Intensity of sensation?

After 10 minutes, MacDonald entered, shook my hand firmly and began to tell me how Rolfing works.

He explained that the body reflects our psychological and emotional problems. For instance, many individuals, particularly females, begin slouching in their early teens as a way of “apologizing for who they are.” Many people, MacDonald said, never stop slouching; they never get free from this self-apology, physically or mentally.

To put it another way: the body records what happens to us, both physically and in our heads. MacDonald said that a historical pattern is stored in our connective tissue system (the tissue that connects our muscles). Rolfing answers this problem by training the body to return to a normal, upright position, restoring one’s sense of balance.

After our chat, MacDonald began to work on my own connective tissue.

He took me into a tranquil, softly lit room with soothing music and had me lay down, wearing only my undies and bra, face-up, on a large, padded table.

Unlike a message therapist, who usually focuses on certain muscles and rubs them in a circular fashion, MacDonald moved his hands over my “connective tissue” in single, downward strokes, almost as if he were ironing me out. It was painful, especially when he got to my knotted muscles, but I breathed deeply and tried to detach myself from the pain. I began to feel sort of tingly and invigorated.

I did notice a difference in posture as soon as I got off the table; I instinctively stood up straighter, and I felt no tension or pain.

It’s been several days now since my Rolfing, and I haven’t really noticed any lasting effects. Granted, my session was only a half-hour, half the normal length. Ideally, an initial one-hour session is the first in a 10-part series, each focusing on a different area of the body.

I wouldn’t mind going back for a full session to see if Rolfing really can help me with tension, posture and balance problems. (I am awfully clumsy.) I suspect it can.

Rolfing, however, is not for the financially challenged.  And to those considering getting Rolfed, beware: It’s not for those who dislike “intensity of sensation” (i.e. moderate pain). Nor is it for the extremely modest.

Yet, from my limited experience with Rolfing, it seems that it could be good for those of us who have been carrying ourselves “wrong” for so long that we no longer even remember what a “correct” posture is.

And, of course, “I got Rolfed” is fun to say.

"I Got Rolfed" Posted by Lesa Sol Pensak2020-11-13T15:36:52-08:00

Being Healthy Is A Revolutionary Act!

Being Healthy Is a Revolutionary Act: Renegade Perspectives for Thriving in a Mixed-Up World

By Pilar Gerasimo / January-February 2011

You Want to Be Healthy?
Well, hey, that’s wonderful!

This article is designed to help you succeed. It will equip you with a clarifying sense of what you are up against and prepare you for the journey ahead.

And if you’re feeling a little ambivalent about getting started, it will also give you a friendly kick in the pants. That’s important, because getting and staying healthy in the current culture isn’t easy. In fact, it’s a big challenge.

But who, you ask, has the time and energy for another big challenge?

Exactly. Most of us are running around on fumes.

We complain that we don’t have time to eat right or exercise or get enough sleep. We don’t have time to cook or relax or goof around. We don’t have time to get outdoors or connect with the people we love. Most of all, we don’t have time to learn how our bodies work and what it takes to keep them healthy.

And that’s a big part of why so many of us are getting sick. And fat. And depressed. And why we see so many friends and loved ones being diagnosed with diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
Understandably, faced with the daunting prospect of changing our lives, most of us would just as soon put it off until tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the next.

And that’s precisely what about 80 percent of the U.S. population is doing right now. You can join them, watching as the pounds pile on, worrying as the blood pressure climbs, struggling as the energy flags, and fretting as the prescriptions and side effects and medical bills add up. And when things get bad enough, then you can think about changing.

Or, you can spare yourself years of downward spiraling misery and do something about it now.

If you’ve already set out on the path to health, or if you’re already as vital and fit as you want to be, rock on! You deserve a lot of credit — probably far more than you’ve been giving yourself.

And if you’ve been struggling in your attempts to get healthier, don’t beat yourself up about it. Let go of the self-recrimination for a minute. Prepare, instead, to take a clear-eyed look at the uphill battle you’ve been waging, and at why your successes may seem so hard won.

Some of what you’re about to read may alarm you, but it will also embolden and empower you. It will help you think differently about your efforts to create healthy change, and why they matter even more than you realized. It will nudge you to take a more proactive role in reclaiming and defending your health. And it will leave you charged up to blast through any obstacles that might lie ahead.

And since we’re talking about a revolution here, there’s even a manifesto at the end.

A Crowded Crisis

If you’ve been frustrated by how challenging it is to get and stay healthy, know that you are by no means alone. The fact is, over the past few decades, good health and fitness have gradually become the exception, rather than the norm.

We live in a society that makes being unhealthy frighteningly easy. An overabundance of processed foods and chronic stress, a lack of opportunity to be active, and an overreliance on prescription drugs are primarily to blame. But so is our tendency to go with the flow, to willingly abdicate responsibility for our health, and to let it be taken from us without nearly enough fight.

Here’s a quick state of the union:

• More than two-thirds of the U.S. population is currently overweight or obese.
• Only 26 percent of us eat anything close to the five servings of vegetables and fruits considered essential for decent health — and a far tinier fraction get the six to nine servings recommended for optimal     well-being.
• Only about 30 percent of Americans report getting any kind of regular exercise. Studies suggest that fewer than 10 percent get daily exercise.
• About one in two adult Americans suffers from at least one chronic illness.
• More than half of U.S. adults are on one or more prescription drugs at any given time.
• The percentage of U.S. children and adolescents with chronic health conditions has nearly quadrupled in the past 40 years, from 1.8 percent in 1960 to 7 percent in 2004.
• One out of two men, and one out of three women, will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes.
• In terms of overall well-being and life satisfaction, recent psychological research by Barbara Fredrickson, PhD, et al., shows only about 20 percent are thriving. The remaining 80 percent appear to be just getting by, or “living lives of quiet despair.”

The upshot here: If you are healthy, fit and thriving, you are squarely in the minority. But there’s some encouraging news here, too. Because if you are actively and successfully defending your health in the face of the aforementioned statistics, you represent a powerful, hopeful movement that’s just gathering steam. You’re beating the odds. You’re one of a growing number of health-motivated renegades proving that a healthier existence is worth working for, and not beyond reach.

You are the resistance. And your ranks are destined to grow.

Together We Stand

In many ways, health is our first freedom. It allows us to go where we want and do what we like. It allows us to enjoy the full benefits of our independence and to embrace our associated responsibilities.
So when our health is being undermined or put at mass risk like it is now, that’s a big deal — for all of us.

We’ve been encouraged to think about health almost exclusively as a personal, individual issue. And, of course, it is personal. But our health is also a collective issue.

The biggest health challenges we face now are in large part the product of societal norms and social dynamics. Think about it: You can easily find fries, chips, candy or fast food almost anywhere, but you have to make a concerted effort or special trip to find something healthy. It’s considered perfectly normal to be served doughnuts and pizza at work, to keep a soda on your desk, to spend most of the day seated, and then come home to spend a couple more hours on the couch watching TV or surfing the Web — and to eat and drink while you do that, too.

These behaviors weren’t always considered normal, nor are they considered normal in many parts of the world today. And we don’t have to accept them as normal, either. But we do have to take a stand.

Each of us either strengthens or upsets unhealthy social norms by virtue of our own daily behaviors. Diabolical marketing strategies and addictive ingredients notwithstanding, it was consumers’ willingness to embrace cigarettes, sodas and supersized portions that gave those unhealthy trends such lasting legs. Thankfully, popular demand has also driven the more recent and hopeful growth of organics, local foods and yoga — all against considerable odds.

The point is, our personal choices are influenced heavily by our environment, but when we’re insistent enough, in big enough numbers, we can also apply pressure to change the norms we don’t like. Which means, if we’re willing to wake up and see our collective crisis for what it is, we can work together to turn it around.

And if we don’t? Well, here’s a cautionary tale: During the age of the Roman Empire, the ruling class figured out that the easiest way to keep control of the masses was to provide them with cheap food (grain for bread) and wildly distracting entertainments (circus and gladiator acts). Thus appeased by bread and circuses, the people didn’t seem to notice that their individual rights and liberties were being usurped. They couldn’t summon the will or focus to rise up in protest and reclaim their power.

It seems that something similar has happened to us. Over the past few decades, we’ve been so appeased, entertained, indulged and anesthetized by health-diminishing products and distracting media that we’ve lost track of how much we’ve given up in the bargain. We’ve lost all sense of how much we’re paying for the privilege of remaining overfed and comfortably numb — and how much our ill health is causing us to sacrifice as individuals, families and communities. It’s time we shook ourselves out of this stupor.

One of the first things we need to do is become more responsible stewards of our own well-being. We can’t ignore our health problems for months and years on end; we can’t keep settling for prescriptions that suppress or mask our symptoms without addressing the root causes of those problems.

If you go to the doctor with a lifestyle-related complaint, he or she may tell you to lose weight, eat better, stress less or exercise more. But a lot of doctors won’t — or can’t — explain how, in part because most receive little to no training in nutrition, exercise, lifestyle interventions or behavior change. And in part because it’s not advice they themselves are willing to follow.

Plus, most docs have less than 20 minutes to spend per visit, and there’s usually not a whole lot they can do in that time. So they write prescriptions they hope will at least alleviate some of our symptoms, and they send us on our way.

It’s estimated that more than 90 percent of doctors’ office visits are lifestyle- and stress-related — yet more than 73 percent of those visits result in medication. And with that medication in hand, a lot of us figure we can put off making any actual life changes for that much longer, until we find we need another drug, or surgery, or worse.

The Cost of Barely Living

The two most common rebuttals to the suggestion that we begin taking better care of ourselves are: One, it’s too expensive, and two, we don’t have time. But the time and money we are spending on being in poor health right now is so extravagant, it’s unimaginable that reallocating a good chunk of it toward health-supporting activities could do us anything but good.

Take what we’re spending now for a lifetime of ineffective healthcare and inflated health-insurance costs, and a whole lot of us could easily buy organic groceries, gym memberships, yoga classes, cooking classes, health-coaching sessions and weekly massages and still have money left over for preventive care and catastrophic medical coverage. Take the hours we waste in a state of low energy, depleted vitality and illness, and we could easily recoup the time we need to exercise, cook, meditate and enjoy other health-supporting activities for hours each day.

Obviously, there’s no easy, practical way to make that happen en masse — and for many, real socioeconomic limitations put such choices well out of reach. But for those of us who do have the option of reallocating even a little time and money toward simple investments in our well-being, there’s no doubt that such a rejiggering of personal priorities makes very good sense. Even if it means living in a smaller house, driving a less expensive car, eating out less often or budgeting our disposable income more thoughtfully.

Hard pressed to believe that investing so much in self-care could possibly pay off? Consider for a moment what we are spending now and what we’re getting in return:

• The fiscal costs of coping with chronic lifestyle-related diseases currently absorb about 75 percent of our total healthcare spending and about 12 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.
• Experts predict that in less than two decades, more than 85 percent of our population will be considered overweight or obese, with one in every six healthcare dollars spent on costs directly related to that epidemic.
• Within the next 25 years, the incidence of diabetes is projected to double — and costs to triple. The CDC now estimates that by 2050 one in three U.S. adults (100 million of us) will suffer from this disease.
• In 2009, annual healthcare costs for a family of four were about $33,000, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and these costs are projected to double in the next several years.
• Chronic-disease-related losses in productivity from absenteeism and “presentee-ism” (people coming to work but not being capable, energized or focused enough to do good work) are even more staggering: Many experts estimate they are triple the direct medical costs.

All that’s scary, but what’s even more disturbing is that as long as we’re investing vast sums of money in ineffective healthcare and associated wastage, we can’t invest it more productively anywhere else — like in education, infrastructure, renewable energy, economic development or quality of life. Which is why billionaire investor Warren Buffett likens our country’s healthcare spending to “a tapeworm eating at our economic body.”

This is one hungry worm. A 2007 study by the Center for Health Care Economics at the Milken Institute found  that treatment costs for seven chronic diseases — including cancers, mental illnesses, heart disease, lung conditions, hypertension, stroke and diabetes — ran to nearly $280 billion in 2003.

The same study estimated total annual costs at $1.3 trillion, and projected those costs to rise to more than $4 trillion by 2023. And keep in mind, none of the current expenditures assumes that any of those diseases are actually being cured or prevented in any way. Four trillion is just the projected cost of coping.

Just by way of comparison, this year’s projected federal budget deficit is just over $1 trillion. Given how much economic worry, debate and gnashing of teeth that number causes, what kind of impact do you think $4 trillion in mostly ineffective annual medical spending might have on us as a nation, and as a culture? More to the point, what kind of impact might it have on your own life choices and the lives of the people you love?

Unless we want to find out the hard way, it’s time to start turning those projections around.

Renegades Wanted

Look, if getting healthy in our culture were easy, everyone would be doing it. And, clearly, everyone is not.

That’s why, in many ways, pursuing a healthy lifestyle amounts to a revolutionary act. It’s going to take learning new skills and confronting old habits. It’s going to take wading into unfamiliar territory and figuring out a whole new way of living — from the foods you eat and the places you go, to the way you manage your time and the way you relate to the healthcare system.

It can be done, though, and there’s nothing more worth doing. Because when you change your health, you change your life, and the lives of everyone around you, for the better. You free yourself up to be, do and share so much more than you otherwise could. You experience more energy, positivity and exhilaration. You naturally become more inspired and empowered to give your best gifts — the ones the world needs most right now.

It’s going to take a lot of healthy, hopeful, high-vitality people to create healthy families, workplaces and communities. It’s going to take healthy people to come up with new ideas, to explore new possibilities, and to speak out against what’s not working.

Ultimately, it’s going to take a whole lot of healthy people to shift our culture in ways that make it easier for everybody to get and stay healthy for the long haul.

Maybe you’re already one of those healthy people. Maybe you’re becoming one. Or maybe you’re just beginning to think about it. That’s all good. We need every warm-bodied, health-motivated individual we can get.

Sure, it would be nice if some giant “they” got together and fixed this mess for us. But that’s not going to happen. We are going to have to fix it ourselves, one person, one family, one community, one daily choice at a time.

Frank Talk About Real Change

“Just tell me how!” you say. “Show me the program!”

But here’s the thing: Most of us already know the essentials of what we need to be doing differently. More whole foods, fewer processed ones. More water, less soda. More activity, less sitting around. More rest and relaxation, less stress.

We’re just having trouble pulling it off. We’re missing the skills and support. We’re discouraged by previous attempts that got us nowhere. We’re afraid we’re going to miss out on fun, freedom, comfort and pleasure. We have to search too long and too hard for healthier alternatives. We’re overwhelmed by the challenge of changing our lives.

And then there’s the fact that a lot of the advice we’ve been given — about calories, carbs, fats, serving sizes and recommended daily allowances — has been incomplete, misguided and, in many cases, dead wrong.

A revolving door between industry and governmental organizations has undermined the credibility of official guidelines and recommendations. Then the media has reported this inaccurate information, repeating it until it sounds like scientific gospel, when it absolutely is not.

As the result of such misguided advice, a lot of well-intentioned people have exhausted themselves trying to solve their problems in ways (like dieting) that offer little hope of success. They’ve become demoralized, frustrated, confused.

No good has come from this. So let’s just put it behind us and start over fresh.

Take a deep breath. Know that there’s no one-size-fits-all program for life change. You don’t have to do everything all at once, and if something genuinely doesn’t work for you, you don’t have to do it at all.
Figuring out what helps your body operate at its very best generally requires some research and refinement, some trial and error. The sooner you start experimenting in earnest, though, the sooner you’ll discover your personal feel-good formula for success.

It starts with understanding some basic things about how your body works and why it needs what it needs. It starts with challenging the assumptions, beliefs and habits that have led you to shortchange your health and fitness up until now. It starts with trying on a few healthier choices, and then a few more. And frankly, it never, ever stops.

But it does get easier, more fun and more rewarding every step of the way. So much so that, at a certain point, you can’t imagine going back.

That’s a strangely well-kept secret. So much of what we see, hear and read about getting healthy would have you believe that exercise is odious, that healthy foods are bland and tasteless, that making healthy choices on a daily basis is a joyless, stoic slog. Nothing could be further from the truth. At least, it doesn’t have to be. But people can’t know that until they experience the delights of healthy living for themselves.

The great news is, once you ease off on the stuff that’s bad for you and start loading up on the stuff that’s good for you, you won’t have to wait that long for results: Receptors on your tongue register within seconds that you’ve eaten something nutritious. Almost immediately, your cellular machinery kicks into action to make the best of it. Your genes take direction from every meal you eat. Within minutes of beginning to move your body, your brain activity, metabolism and biochemistry show marked changes.

True, many changes may take a little while to become visible. But within a week or two of eating, moving and sleeping more sensibly, you could feel like an entirely different person and have an entirely different outlook on life.

Within a few months, you could look better than you have in decades and be well on your way to becoming your best, most vibrant self.

So what are you waiting for?

Your Revolution Awaits

The term “revolution” is sometimes used loosely. But given the state of our collective health and fitness, no less than a revolution is going to get the job done.

Dictionaries define “revolution” as “a sudden or momentous change” and “a seizure of power brought about from within a given system.” Other popular definitions include “a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving.”

That describes the kind of shift we need to create, and the redirection of human intention, power and priorities that healthy people everywhere are now beginning to set in motion.

How? By getting over our love affair with fast foods and sedentary entertainments. By learning to cook. By taking up active pastimes. By getting more rest. By connecting with health professionals who know something about supporting health, not just treating disease. By teaching our children about the miraculous bodies they were born into. By appreciating and honoring the bodies we are in. By making more thoughtful choices, by putting our money where our mouth is, and by doing a thousand other sensible things we’ve been putting off for way too long now.

If we do these things, we will change not just our bodies, but also our communities, economy, food system, healthcare system, our entire culture — and, ultimately, the world.

Of course, reclaiming our health will require not just changing our own lives, but also compelling our policymakers, business leaders, the medical system and other stakeholders to embrace new priorities, even though they may be strongly inclined — by money, convention or fear of rocking the boat — to keep on doing business as usual.

Fortunately, we don’t have to wait for them to get with the program. We can kick off this healthy revolution ourselves, simply by deciding what kind of lives we want to lead, and what we’re willing to do to make them happen.

Perhaps, eventually, those other powers-that-be will take the hint. Meanwhile, if we’re going to do this without getting worn down and discouraged, we need to stay strong. We need to keep our eyes on the prize. We need to connect with others who care about it as much as we do.

There’s strength in numbers. So choose your course, invite your friends, and let’s set this revolution in motion.

Pilar Gerasimo is the editor in chief of Experience Life

Being Healthy Is A Revolutionary Act!2020-11-13T15:36:53-08:00
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