Lined Up for Action

by Janet Brooks

SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE—APRIL 6, 1990

Charlene Wong turns to rolfing in her reach for the top

Charlene Wong of Pierrefonds wasn't given the body she needed to perform the moves required of a world-class figure skater, so she went and got a new one. Structurally speaking. that is.

Beginning in November 1988, she underwent 10 sessions of rolfing, or deep-tissue manipulation, to improve her body alignment.

Now, more than a year later, the postural problems that threatened to end her skating career are no longer impeding her progress.

"The transition that my body underwent this year was incredible." Says Wong, who moved to Ottawa in 1986 to work under Sonya and Peter Dunfield, coaches of Olympic silver medallist Elizabeth Manley. "It looked like a new body."

Wong, 24, now ranked No. 2 in Canada, also received emotional spinoffs from rolfing or structural integration, its formal name. Though she apologizes for sounding "a little Shirley MacLainish" and freely admits some people will dismiss it as hogwash, she credits rolfing with helping her to become a "much more calm and confident person."

Even those who pooh-pooh the emotional effects of rolfing will have difficulty dismissing the logic behind it.

Tissue moulded

Its creator, the late Ida P. Rolf. with such credentials as a Ph.D. in biochemistry and physiology from Columbia University, devoted most of her life to looking for solutions to health problems unresponsive to conventional treatment—including her own spinal arthritis that confined her to a wheelchair.

What she came up with was a series of 10 weekly sessions targeted to specific areas of the body during which the rolfer moulds the soft connective tissue (fascia) that holds and shapes the body.

(The 10-session treatment will likely cost over $700, but a single session is usually offered to determine whether a person wants to take the full program.)

Though we think of our bodies as set and unchanging. Rolf realized that connective tissue was plastic enough to adapt to the physical and psychological trauma we encounter.

Sprain and ankle and your gait changes to compensate. A battered woman may develop hunched shoulders. Emergency adjustments like these may become locked into the fascia, eventually restricting free movement.

The rolfer operates on the guiding principles that:

• The body functions best when ideally aligned so that ear, shoulder, hipbone, knee, and ankle line up vertically.
• Almost all of us are out of alignment.
• The connective tissue is so plastic that it can be loosened by manipulation more than had been thought possible. By using the pressure of hands, knuckles, fingers, and elbows, the rolfer can erase the trauma by freeing the connective tissue and realigning the body.

"As a species, we're still evolving towards the vertical," said Ann Ohlmacher, the Ottawa rolfer who worked with Wong. "Our body has a sacred geometry. If we allow that geometry to be trued, besides being a wonderful feeling, it gives one much greater range."

Wong first heard of rolling about five years ago from fellow skater Brian Orser, 1987 world champion, then an enthusiastic rolfee himself. Three years later. she decided she'd better give it a try, too.

"I was at the point where no matter how hard I worked, no matter what exercises I did, I would always be hit-and-miss and it wasn't my fault so much as it was just Nature " said Wong. "I was not given the kind of body for what I had to do with it.

"So then I had to ask myself: Do I stop skating or do I look for alternative ways of being all I can be."

Shocked by pictures

At her first rolfing session, Wong tried her hardest to stand correctly for her "before" photographs—back straight, shoulders back, stomach tucked in, rear tucked under.

Her pictures shocked her. "My head was so far forward," Wong said. "My back was so swayed. My knees were so locked. My right shoulder was at least an inch higher than my left."

Shots taken at the end of the First session showed a subtle but definite improvement. Wong continued the sessions without telling her coach because she thought Sonya Dunfield might be annoyed that she was experimenting in the middle of the competitive season.

"After three sessions of getting rolfed," said Wong, "my coach kept saying:"Your body is moving in 2 different way. Your mind always understood what I was telling you, but your body didn't always catch on to it. I don't know what's going on, but whatever you're doing, it's working."

Wong confessed she'd been getting rolfed. As Wong continued the sessions, Dunfield began to notice more changes in Wong's body. At first, Wong was skeptical about her coach's observations, even though she'd had to take her costumes in.

"She wouldn't believe me," said Dunfield. "She thought I was trying to build her ego up. I told her her hip line, her leg line, her butt line—the whole thing was a different shape."

Wong was only convinced when, on finishing her 10 sessions, she compared her final photo to her "before" shot.

"When she finally saw her picture, she came and told me what I'd told her," said Dunfield.

Wong had always thought strength came from muscle, but she now felt more powerful, even though she'd lost muscle from her thighs. True strength, she began to see, comes not merely from muscle, but from proper body alignment and flexibility.

"It's like a house with a properly built foundation," said Wong. "The foundation doesn't necessarily have to be as thick if the house is well built."

Hanging on

Now, Wong finds she doesn't have to concentrate on standing in an unnatural way to achieve effortless-looking posture. She said it's the difference between landing a properly executed jump and a poorly executed one.

"If you do a jump that's helter-skelter, you can literally feel your body hanging on to keep from falling," she said. "And that's how I fell before I got rolfed. I felt like I was hanging on to that good posture."

The postural benefits carried over to the ice where Wong found she could now consistently land moves she'd previously struggled with.

Dunfield believes that Wong never really learned to jump until she'd been rolfed. She merely forced her body into jumps. Now, Wong's body can perform complex moves requiring balance, strength and co-ordination. Rolfing made her a better athlete.

Besides physical changes, Wong also noticed emotional effects from rolfing. Sometimes, as Ohlmacher worked on her, thoughts about her family or memories from her past would surface for no apparent reason. She believes rolling helped her to release emotions she'd been holding in her body.

"After a rolfing session, it wouldn't he surprising for me to just go home and have a good cry or to feel really angry for the next day." said Wong. "All these thing that I was holding inside my body were coming out almost like layers of emotional garbage were being peeled off."

Along with the emotions she was releasing, Wong also lost five pounds. Better body alignment meant she simply moved more efficiently and required less fuel, Wong believes. So she was satisfied with less food.

Excess weight also serves a protective function for a lot of people, said Wong. Once long-held emotions are released, the protective layer of weight can be released, too.

Wong doesn't deny that rolfing was sometimes uncomfortable. Even those who don't know much about rolfing always seem to have heard about the pain involved. Although rolfers don't set out to inflict pain, they do seek out stored pain and try to release it.

"It's uncomfortable." said Wong. "Id be lying if I said it wasn't. Some sessions were more uncomfortable than others. But, for me, it's worth it to put up with the hour and an half of discomfort and see such obvious results."

Wong is now taking an advanced series of five sessions from Ohlmacher. She complements rolfing with yoga, walking and short jogs. She's cut back on high-impact aerobics. The pounding seemed counterproductive to the subtle work of rolfing.

"I get more out of a long walk or short jog and just normally concentrating on how my body is working and moving." she said.

A 74-year-old nun rolfed by Ohlmacher gained three-quarters of an inch in height. Sometimes feet increase a half-size. Dowagers' humps may be reversed. Improvements in eyesight and hearing are sometimes reported after the session on the head.

Emotionally, rolfing can act as a catalyst for a variety of changes. One of Ohlmacher's clients decided to stop smoking after her first session. Others may he moved to confront drugs, alcohol or food problems.

"(Rolfing) is about transformation," said Ohlmacher. "It's not who needs it, it's who wants it because it's about confronting your own limits and resistance."

"As our body becomes more free, it's up to us to let go of some of our limiting beliefs." •