Stuck for a Valentine’s, Mother’s Day or birthday present? Why not give the gift of Rolfing? They won’t be expecting it, and they won’t forget it, either. My sessions of Rolfing take place at the Kailash Centre in St John’s Wood, London (take a look at my treatment times here). While a single session (£120) will whet their curiosity, a three session mini-series (£330) can go a long way toward kick-starting training and fitness resolutions (such as embarking on training for a marathon) and alleviating common postural aches and pains. Take a look at what my clients have said about their experien ..read more

Well, hello there. It’s been a while. Whatever you were planning for 2020, this was not it. For me, as a touch therapist, it’s been the strangest of years. I closed my practice about a week before the mandatory lockdown, and I remember my final two sessions with clients as strange, mutually wary experiences: all the ease and spontaneity of my work replaced with the intruding thought: could I pass infection to my client, or they to me? When the lockdown came, I decided, for various reasons, not to rush to immediate commentary via a blog or social media. It didn’t feel like the right way to resp ..read more

People who have heard of Rolfing divide neatly, more or less, into two distinct groups: on the one hand, those who’ve tried Rolfing (and liked it); on the other, those who haven’t tried Rolfing but are too scared to try it because they heard that it’s, like, the most painful thing ever. Group Two: this one’s for you. We need to talk about Rolfing. But to do that we also need to talk about Pelfing, because Pelfing (I’m about to explain), epitomises – and perpetuates – the enduring misconception that Rolfing is painful. Pelfing – undoubtedly a Rolfing parody – features in a short scene in the 19 ..read more

I know, I know: I’m slow on the blogging front, but it’s been a busy year, in which I’ve moved house, spent over a month in Germany, travelled to Australia, and met Janet Street-Porter (not in that order). As a result I’ve entirely neglected to mention that I achieved my Advanced Rolfer status last year and also qualified as a Certified TRE® Provider. This last is the one I want to tell you about today. TRE® stands for Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises and it’s a system – with an accompanying body of clinical work and theory – that’s made an enormous difference to my understanding an ..read more

Rolfing has been in the news a lot recently. You can’t move these days for new articles extolling the virtues of our little known, but highly effective way to release tension, improve running form, and unwind (some of) the effects of ageing. Here in the UK, we now number 44 certified Rolfing practitioners, a small but mighty pain-busting squad of fascial freedom fighters (as the U.S. Rolfer Brooke Thomas describes our work). We are highly trained. We are very effective. And we are professionals. And this is why I write today. One of my excellent colleagues, Nico Thoemmes, was featured in last ..read more

If Rolfing’s taught me one thing, it’s that change, even against the odds, is possible. For some reason, that theme feels very resonant today. Bodies heal; new possibilities for movement and expression become possible. Our habitual ways of doing things (walking like the clappers, to take a personal example) or our tendency to react in certain ways to outside events can remain places of resource without overpowering the other options we may have in a given situation. What do I mean? When I first met my partner, he told me that he never runs for public transport. Houston, I thought, we have a pr ..read more

‘After an hour and a half, I felt spookily calm. I walked out smiling, and about two inches taller.’ Read more about what happened when Janet Street-Porter tried Rolfing with Naomi for the first time, in the Daily Mail today. When Janet Street-Porter met Naomi the Rolfer… and the Rolfing magic happened The post When Janet Street-Porter met Naomi the Rolfer… and the Rolfing Magic Happened appeared first on London Rolfing ..read more

Not beginning but snoozing. London Rolfing has been having some lovely downtime over the holidays, and I’ve been largely spending my time reading by the fire, lamenting the newly dead, and getting back into my personal yoga practice. As a manual therapist, my work is physically demanding in itself, and I’ve more or less escaped the tyranny of desk-based work, my self-assessment tax return notwithstanding. Gone at last are days of unproductive meetings, and rummaging through the plastic-wrapped biscuits for something to enliven the torpor. Gone, too, is the almost constant lower back pain tha ..read more

I launch into today’s post with a degree of trepidation. In my line of work, an element of self-promotion is a necessity. Nevertheless, I’m always careful to avoid making exaggerated or unsubstantiated claims for Rolfing, and to encourage my clients to choose Rolfing for themselves, at a time that’s right for them. But sometimes a nudge in the right direction can be a wonderful thing. Rolfing: the unexpected gift that goes on giving For that person in your life who has exhausted all your gift-giving options, a single session of Rolfing in London or Luton might be just the ticket. This year ..read more

2016 has been a dumbfounding year. In these painful weeks (and for the UK, months now) of aftermath, many of us are still trying to make sense of a new and regressive political landscape. At a time when the neologism ‘post-truth’ won the Oxford Dictionaries’ Word Of The Year, I’d like to make a few comments about words, about information, and about the ways in which the urgent cultural and political question of this year connects with the work I do as a Rolfer. I write my blog posts and maintain my website with an eye to the search engines and an awareness of the importance of tailoring w ..read more