I made a breathtaking ( okay, maybe more ‘breath giving’) discovery today. I got a wonderful Rolfing® session a week ago today (Monday) from a friend and colleague Tim Shafer in Fort Collins CO last week. Even though since that time I have been very stressed by traveling, work, relationship questions, managing my own business, I still felt a tremendous shift in my dancing today in the dance studio, alone, and I totally believe it came from Tim’s session last week. On a day like this, when I haven’t been able to work out for a week really and have been seriously stressed, I know to start slowly and not have huge expectations of myself athletically. I just work to regain flow, mind/body connection and trust in my technique to help me cultivate support and re-awaken strength. As I worked I naturally starting opening and releasing in the legs, and noticed a quality of breathing through and between my inner thighs. Suppleness; coordination came effortlessly to me.
I knew it was related to my friend’s Rolfing work because I know anatomy: in addition to the fascial chains of movement between abdomen and legs, the pelvic floor/visceral space can greatly affect the lumbar plexus nerves that really govern the legs, notably the obturator and femoral nerves. I myself have found it best often to check for visceral restrictions to alleviate restrictions in hip opening because if I don’t, all the work I try to achieve to open there may come to nought. Well, the same could be true for you, if you are trying to gain ( or re-gain) fluidity and openness at the hip and inner thigh area.
Do you have to get someone to work on your belly to get this? At first, it sure helps, but I think once you find this, and deep visceral restrictions are opened up a bit, I believe we can work though this area quite well in movement, especially using the slo-ball to accentuate movement through that area. This is the focus of my Rolfing practice, too: to help people along the path to self-care and empowerment.