Rob’s Blog

You have bunions? Here are the simplest instructions I can think of right now:1. Buy “Yoga Toes”. Find them on google.2. Buy a “Theraband” and strengthen the toes one ( Big Toe) and two ( all the rest) at a time.3. See a Rolfer, and address the overall postural/gait pattern that helps perpetuate this problem.There’s more, naturally. Contact […]

So you got out of shape. Okay..it’s time to get things moving again! You need to start with basics: balanced, released strength and flexibility. You don’t want to just tighten up some muscles without also easing them, which is what can happen from following a straight balletic regimen. Over the years, all that work in the hip […]

Feet got you down, so that you can’t get up? Try a couple of simple moves:1. First thing in the morning, and last thing at night, massage and loosen your feet. A five minute investment of your time can help your whole day! There are a lot of complex systems of myofascial/joint release and reflex […]

What is the story of my birth? Well, my mother never really seemed to fit with my father. I think at the time, 1957, she was teaching elementary school, in Santa Maria California, after having been with him for about a year.  By all accounts, I was a happy baby/toddler. I remember climbing out of […]

    I’m sitting in a cafe, writing a post about our sedentary lifestyle. While I write, I remind myself to add micro-movements to neck, thorax, pelvis, knees, toes. I let breathing ripple through me like a tide; some ripples large, some small, never symmetrical, each breath a unique moment in time. I remember the experience of […]

In addition to the previous posts, I want to suggest the relative importance of balanced tone between the abductors and adductors attaching to the big toe/first metatarsal/phalangeal joint area. The adductor hallucis longus pulls the above mentioned joint in towards the mid-line of the foot, actively supporting the anterior arch of the foot( aka,for dancers, […]

Movement, Stability & Lumbopelvic Pain: Integration of research and therapy, 2nd Edition, Edited by Andry Vleeming, Vert Mooney and Rob Stoekart By Robert McWilliams, Certified Rolfer®, BFA, MFA Dance Movement, Stability & Lumbopelvic Pain: Integration of Research and Therapy (2nd Edition; Churchill Livingston, Elsevier 2007) is a compendium of articles on lumbopelvic function and pathology […]

What would perfect posture be for you? Even the process of asking yourself that is a sort of meditation. Ask yourself: What would complete support feel like? What would complete freedom of movement allow me to do with my body? What would an elegant sense of poise and balanced tone feel like? One thing that […]

As an aging yet still active Modern/Ballet dancer, I have the opportunity to keep trying out myofascial, perceptual and conditioning techniques on myself. Here are a couple more helpful hints, following up on the previous blog. Use a theraband to stretch and strengthen the toes as well as the deeper muscles( tibialis posterior and peronius […]

As Rolfers do, I’ve been reading up on research lately. The idea is to find ideas and data that can help me be a better clinician. Of late, I had the opportunity to work my way through “Movement, Stability and Lumbo-pelvic Pain: Integration of Research and Therapy, 2nd edition” edited by Andry Vleeming, Vert Mooney […]

Rolf Movement studies ( as carried out by by Rolfers ranging from Mary Bond, Jane Harringtonand Hubert Godard to Monica Caspari) look at how our perceptual style affects relationship to gravity and to our environment. These in turn give insight into the implicit perceptual bias of a given culture, by looking analytically at their movement […]

Okay, this is a slightly provocative title to any dance aficionados out there. It is an ironic turn of phrase anymore, “Modern Dance”, because, like “modern art” it refers to a historical style that, like classical ballet, is an extremely useful, even necessary component in Contemporary Dance training, but not really the whole shebang anymore-like […]