Rolfing 1.01

If someone had told me, before I tried it, that bobbling my head would help my hip I would have thought they were crazy.

I’m getting Rolfed, or, to put it more descriptively, I’m getting structurally integrated. I learned, in the first session, that the flat back/tucking your tail thing they talk about in yoga and Pilates is not such a good idea – that your lower back should arch. I learned that it’s possible to lift your kneecap up toward the ceiling while lying flat without moving anything else (but I haven’t yet figured out why I should be pleased about this). And I learned that the very top vertebra of your spine is a big deal.

It’s called the “Atlas” vertebra, because it holds up your celestial head (those are the heavens that Atlas is holding up there, not the earth as most people think). It looks like this:

My poor Atlas was apparently working as hard as Atlas up there, locked forward in my customary chin-down position. In neutral, where it’s supposed to be, your head “bobbles” on the axis of your spine and, somehow, this affects your lower back – and my hip.

My homework was to practice finding neutral, and it feels so good I find myself doing it all day long. My head feels like it’s floating on my neck. My hip, which has hurt for over a year, feels fine. I look a little drunk, but I can live with that.