Ah, the age old question posed to Rolfers since the dawn of the 60’s... I have two keys things to clear this one up. First, nearly every new client who comes to see me arrives nervous and leaves saying, “I don’t know what I was so worried about!”

But I didn’t answer your question, did I? Well I’m not a politician, so here goes:

Sometimes. However there’s a very clear distinction between “good pain”: or pain that comes from opening an area that is stuck and glued up, and “bad pain”: which is what we usually think of when we hear the word “pain”; this is pain from injury. Rolfing does not cause this kind of pain. “Bad pain” is what causes most people to seek out my work. In addressing areas that are already in pain (of the bad variety) and opening up areas that have significant compensations, it can be briefly uncomfortable. Rolfing is not so much something I do to you, as something that happens in partnership. That means that if something is too intense for you- there’s always another way to approach it.

Still curious?:

Second, when Rolfing was first being taught, it was an emerging modality that was characterized as “deep”. Practitioners often made “deep” and “push harder” synonymous, when the reality couldn’t be farther from the truth. This way of working gave Rolfing a reputation for being painful, and unfortunately that reputation has lingered even as the work has evolved. Pushing harder than necessary only makes the body tense up- so it’s counterproductive. To work deeply means that you have to work very patiently and slowly. Our current education at the Rolf Institute reflects that understanding.