Dr. Ida P. Rolf (1896–1979)Born in New York City and raised in the Bronx, Ida P. Rolf attended school in the New York area, graduating from Barnard College in 1916. In 1920, she graduated from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons with a doctorate in biological chemistry. For the next 12 years, she worked in the departments of chemotherapy and organic chemistry at the Rockefeller Institute. During an extended leave of absence, she studied atomic physics and mathematics at the Swiss Technical University in Zurich and homeopathic medicine in Geneva. During the 1930s, she studied osteopathy, chiropractic medicine, tantric yoga, the Alexander Technique of tension reduction through body movement, and the philosophy of altered states of consciousness of Alfred H.S. Korzybski.
Her interest in body structure, movement, and manipulation began after being kicked by a horse shortly after graduating from Barnard. The accident left her with acute pneumonia. Dissatisfied with conventional medical treatment, she began her quest for more natural and effective ways of treating the body.
By 1940, Dr. Rolf had developed a technique of body movement she called structural integration, also known today as Rolfing. The therapy reshapes the body's muscular structure by applying pressure and energy, freeing the body from physical and emotional traumas. In 1977, she authored Rolfing: The Integration of Human Structures. She continued to teach and refine her therapy until her death in 1979. Dr. Rolf's desire to teach her work to others led to her establishing the Guild for Structural Integration.
[Article by: Ken R. Wells]
Her interest in body structure, movement, and manipulation began after being kicked by a horse shortly after graduating from Barnard. The accident left her with acute pneumonia. Dissatisfied with conventional medical treatment, she began her quest for more natural and effective ways of treating the body.
By 1940, Dr. Rolf had developed a technique of body movement she called structural integration, also known today as Rolfing. The therapy reshapes the body's muscular structure by applying pressure and energy, freeing the body from physical and emotional traumas. In 1977, she authored Rolfing: The Integration of Human Structures. She continued to teach and refine her therapy until her death in 1979. Dr. Rolf's desire to teach her work to others led to her establishing the Guild for Structural Integration.
[Article by: Ken R. Wells]
