Ida Work
Ida Work
The History of Ida Rolf
The founder and namesake of Rolfing was Dr. Ida P. Rolf, born May 19, 1896. In 1920 Dr. Rolf received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the college of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. In the two decades that followed Dr. Rolf worked in a wide range of scientific fields. She began her studies with work in Chemotherapy, Organic Chemistry, Mathematics, and Atomic Physics. She then geared her research to homeopathic medicine, chiropractic medicine, osteopathy and yoga. The motivation behind her relentless drive for information was her own personal illness and illness within her family. Dr. Rolf refused to believe that there was no way to help those who suffered from chronic pain. Through her studies, Dr. Rolf discovered she could change posture and structure by manipulating the body's fascia, or connective tissue. By the 1940s she started developing the philosophies and techniques that would become Structural Integration.
In the mid 1960s Dr. Rolf began incorporating Fritz Perl's Gestalt Theory of Consciousness, and Moshe Feldenkrais movement awareness Method into her SI work. With the addition of these theories Dr. Rolf was ready to begin teaching and sharing her knowledge.
Dr. Rolf's work gained immediate popularity and the term Rolfing soon became synonymous with Structural Integration. By 1970 the demand for training in SI was so high that the first Rolf Institute was opened in Boulder, Colorado. It was here that Dr. Rolf continued to write, expand her research, and teach up until the time of her death in 1979.
Dr. Ida P Rolf's legacy survives today in her schools and students. There are now Rolf Institutes in Boulder, Colorado, Germany and Brazil and there are more than 1,500 Certified Rolfers in 29 different countries across the world.