Happy Holidays! This quarter I’d like to share some of what I learned through a recent Dr. Ida Rolf Institute CE Workshop. The course was taught by Per Haaland, Certified Advanced Rolfer & Rolf Movement Practitioner. Throughout this “Dynamic Stability” course, we discussed the theme of human stabilization in the gravity field and how it relates to posture and movement. We covered a wide range of information regarding this topic, but for this newsletter I will be focusing on: the relationship of tonic and phasic muscles, the “Triangle of Support”, the relationship between biology, psychology and verticality, and how this all relates to the goals of our work as SI practitioners.
The muscles of our body are specifically designed to help us respond to gravity by being equipped with tonic and/or phasic characteristics. Muscles are predominately tonic or predominantly phasic, but are not strictly one or the other. This means that in certain circumstances, they can be recruited to serve a different purpose. Tonic muscles are continuously engaged in order to keep us upright in gravity. They require great endurance, which means they have a dense supply of stretch receptors and red fiber for oxygen and blood supply. They are also highly integrated with the brain and vestibular system. In contrast, phasic muscles are fed by sugar/starch and are made up of mostly white fiber, allowing them to be useful for brief bursts of actions. They are less integrated with the brain and not meant to be used for stabilization long term. Tonic muscles were designed to effortlessly hold us up without thought, so we can voluntarily recruit the phasic muscles to interact with the world around us. Things work best when the muscles are able to do what they were designed to do and remain uncorrupted by habitual dysfunction.
The “Triangle of Support” is another way our body is equipped to navigate the gravity field. It refers to the interplay of sensory input from the eyes, the feet, and the inner ear. We can use our eyes to engage with the environment in a focal or peripheral sort of way. Focal vision establishes the “what” dimension and is connected to the cortical part of the brain. This enables us to analyze, distinguish and name things we see. Peripheral vision creates the “where” dimension. When we allow ourselves to receive the environment rather than project ourselves into it, we connect to the sub-cortical part of the brain, which helps us orient more efficiently. We are also constantly receiving input from the mechanoreceptors in our feet as we sense the ground beneath us. Becoming aware of things like the texture, temperature, and un-evenness of the surface we are in contact with helps connect us to the sub-cortical part of the brain as well.
The Otolithic System is a multi-layer system of the inner ear that help us sense gravity and keep our head and eyes horizontal. A carpet of crystals sits on top of a gel-like layer filled with hair-like sensors. Positional changes cause a shift in the crystal layer, which the hair sensors pick up and then relay to the sub-cortical part of the brain, specifically an area called the retinacular formation. All three of these aspects of the triangle of support send sensory input to the sub-cortical region of the brain. This is where most of the “control centers” for movement are found.
As SI practitioners, we are taking all of this into consideration in order to help our clients achieve their goals. The main principles of Rolfing are support, adaptability, palintonicity, wholism, and closure. We assess their baseline walk and breath, noticing where they are well resourced and where they could use more adaptability. We want to encourage a free/full breath, contralateral movement in walking, efficient movement patterns, and span or length in opposite directions. We can use a variety of methods to elicit change: soft tissue manipulation, fascial mobilization, breath work, visualization, verbal cueing and/or movement practices.
What makes SI practitioners unique is that we acknowledge that we are working with more than just the physical aspects of our client. Each of us have our own world view and past experiences that shape the way we interact with the world, which in turn shapes our posture and movement. Kevin Frank describes this relationship between biology, psychology and verticality in his article, “Posture & Perception in the Context of the Tonic Function Model of Structural Integration: an Introduction”. He suggests that posture is an act of intimate coordination with the world around us. By helping our clients shift into their perception brain through the awareness of sensation, we can rehabilitate functional movement patterns. This in turn will help them feel more safe, comfortable and confident in their body. Building good rapport with clients allows us to connect with them and find the verbal cues/visualization that they resonate with the most. This, along with the physical touch and naming of certain landmarks in the body, will re-map the areas of their body that they may be disconnected with or have dysfunctional movement in. Tapping into the sensory systems of the body and subcortical region of the brain using these types of client education helps facilitate lasting change.
If you’d like to dig deeper into these concepts, click the links to view the articles provided as class material written by Per Haaland & Kevin Frank:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10Xd9_ZU8Cs5q24Vn4J0ZUsGPOekTuA8i/view?usp=drive_link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z1fKBhkrcmByUzqa5DX6y_TnFBJD_DoQ/view?usp=drive_link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DYRCmIhR1lbZdCCCPZsNHbxpctf3UZ8s/view?usp=drive_link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nEu4Ir9UDlXuyvmgFPUlsHDBdbV70KLj/view?usp=drive_link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bPO06FxEIoGAKXSoisudsR1TtUxxQxlC/view?usp=drive_link
Dynamic Approach Bodywork 