Freedom
Freedom is a big concept, I know.
When we are children it is often a given that we feel free in our bodies but we have nothing to compare it to, so it tends to go unnoticed.
This was one of the feelings that first got me into Rolfing.
I had been studying Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology for Complementary Therapists in Cape Town, South Africa. It was 2000 and I was determined to work out who I was and why I was here! I had been trying all kinds of bodywork during my searching. So when a friend asked if I’d tried Rolfing and my answer was “no” it was the obvious thing for me to seek out the only Rolfer in South Africa who, thankfully, was in Cape Town.
My clients often ask me how I got into Rolfing and it was this moment. After my first session I came out of Marius’s house; he lived on a hill and I skipped all the way down that hill like a five year old! My body felt so entirely and completely free. And I remembered what it felt like to be that young again. To glide through the air like a five year old skipping about her day. This was my first introduction – or re-introduction, rather – back to that place of freedom. It’s there within us all the time. But of course it’s so normal to have lost sight of it. This is not everyone’s experience of Rolfing. I had been on a long and intense search and was lucky enough to find exactly what it is I’m supposed to be doing.
What fascinates me and keeps me searching is this idea that a degree of freedom is within us all, however remote. Why do we lose sight of it? Why do our bodies forget what it feels like? It might be as apparently small as enabling your little toe to move freely once more or it might be as global as teaching you to breath freely again.
We can only begin to imagine how this lack of freedom in our bodies affects our sense of freedom in our lives. If you feel blocked or stuck in your life, or unclear about where you're going, it makes a lot of sense to me that these patterns would also be present within your body. If we have unclear foundations then we don’t always have a strong “launch pad" from which to propel into the world. If your body is still recovering from an old injury that’s left you feeling unconfident about trusting your right leg then of course it will compromise your progress forward.
You will hear me say this many times but your body does hold the answers.
