Rolf Movement Training
Rolf Movement® Certification
Intensive Format and Workshop Format
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The U.S. Rolf Movement Certification Program is offered in two different formats- Intensive and Workshop. To receive Rolf Movement Certification, a student is required to either:
- Intensive Format: take three RMI 10-day intensive modules,
OR - Workshop Format: take a minimum of 30 days of Rolf Movement workshops (225 total hours), three days (22.5 hours) of which can be an independent study project or mentorship. The recommended time for completion is six years.
The intensive modules are taught in Boulder, CO. Workshops are taught in different regions of the country.
Why become Rolf Movement Certified?
Rolf Movement Certification Training is a distinct and complementary program to the Basic and Advanced Rolfing Structural Integration training and IASI programs. Expanding movement education reflects the increased role that an understanding of gravity orientation, perception, coordination, expressivity, and nervous system regulation plays in determining lasting shifts in posture and function. Further, teaching Rolfers® and IASI practitioners to understand, embody, and articulate these perspectives serves the greater DIRI mission to educate the world about Rolfing Structural Integration. Rolf Movement Integration distinguishes Rolfing from other brands of structural integration. Rolf Movement Integration links ongoing discoveries in the study of neuroscience and motor patterns to the legacy of Dr. Rolf.
Training through intensive modules or workshops.
The Rolf Movement Certification Program is offered in two different formats in order to meet the needs of students and practitioners with established clinical practices. Certified Rolfers and IASI graduates may take either format. For basic training students in Boulder, CO, the three-part Intensive Format modules can begin during the interval between Phases II & III. Between Phase II & III, basic training students may also take workshops offered through the Workshop Format that will be credited towards Rolf Movement Certification.
Can I take workshops or modules for CE instead of towards certification?
Yes, workshops or intensive modules can be taken for CE credit or towards certification. A Rolfer can also take workshops or intensive modules for CE credit only and later decide to apply that credit towards Rolf Movement certification, as long as these workshops were taken after January 1, 2009.
Do the modules or workshops need to be taken in any order?
No. For the Intensive Program, the modules build upon each other and also work as stand-alone classes. Students may enroll in the three modules within a time frame that suits their needs.
For the Workshop Format, students can begin at any point in the rotation of offered workshops.
Classes may be taken and credits combined from the two formats. Any of the Rolf Movement faculty are available for dialogue if a potential student has questions about which format to choose and details about either program.
Rolf Movement Integration Certification Prerequisites & Policies
Prerequisites
Intensive Track
- Open to all Certified Rolfers (in good standing) and all SI practitioners from an IASI Recognized SI Training Program.
- Basic Training students must have completed Phase II prior to RMI Module 1.
Workshop Track
- Open to all Certified Rolfers (in good standing) and all SI practitioners from an IASI Recognized SI Training Program.
- Basic Training students who have completed Phase II may enroll in workshops that will be credited towards their Rolf Movement Certification.
* Additional prerequisites may apply.
Objectives
Expanding movement education reflects the increased role that an understanding of gravity orientation, perception, coordination, expressivity, and nervous system regulation plays in determining lasting shifts in posture and function. Further, teaching Rolfers to understand, embody, and articulate these perspectives serves the greater DIRI mission to educate the world about Rolfing Structural Integration.
Format & Methods
Intensive Track
The Rolf Movement Certification Intensive Format program is offered as three 10-day, intensive modules. These classes work sequentially or as stand-alone classes. They focus on the ten-session framework through embodiment and practitioner training by working with coordinative, perceptual, and expressive patterns. The Intensive Format is offered in Boulder, CO. Students must take all three RMI Modules or combine credits earned in the Intensive and Workshop formats for a total of 30 days (225 hours) of credit – to be certified as a Rolf Movement practitioner.
Through a lens, based upon the Ten Series and experienced through embodied movement, students will learn theory, skills, and processes to work with client’s coordinative, perceptual and expressive structures. These are synergistic to, and essential for, highly successful and integrative fascial work. As Dr. Rolf so keenly understood, and current research supports, these structures must be addressed to evoke and maintain optimal functioning and general health.
Skills explored within these somatic movement education modules include:
- Understanding the Ten Session logic and framework through coordination, perception, and expression. Embodied explorations will be a platform for the practitioner to deepen their understanding and effective delivery of the Rolfing process as a whole, as well as session by session.
- Theoretical knowledge and practical applications of RMI
- Rolf Movement exercises that coincide with each goal of the ten series.
- The ability to see and understand the body in motion
- Cultivating qualities of touch and language
- Deepening presence and resonance in clinical relationships.
- Strategizing and building a series of three Rolf Movement Sessions. This will support Rolfers in creating a richer tool-set for meeting the varied needs of clients.
- Learn to apply Rolf Movement theory, principles, and embodied explorations to lead group classes. This will create additional support for clients, the opportunity to work with specific populations and provide a vehicle to reach out to interested groups as a potential way of meeting new clients and introducing them to the Rolfing process. (Last week of Module “3”)
Workshop Track
The Rolf Movement Workshop Format Certification Program, offered as a series of workshops, focuses on various aspects of a unified movement theory and is taught in different regions of the country. These workshops may be taken independently for Rolf Movement Continuing Education credit from the Rolf Institute. To receive Rolf Movement Certification in this format delivery system, a student is required to take a minimum of 30 Rolf Movement continuing education credits/class days, three days of which can be an independent study project or mentorship. It is recommended that students complete the Workshop Format within six years. Past Rolf Movement workshops taken from a Certified Rolf Movement Instructor may be credited towards certification in the Rolf Movement Workshop Format, as long as these workshops were taken post-January 1, 2009. , over a period of up to six years.
Students can enter the Rolf Movement Certification Workshop Format Integrative Studies Program at any point in the rotation of offered courses. Each course deepens one’s immersion in the work and leads to a clearer understanding of a model that contrasts markedly with conventional thinking about body function. The learning is recursive in nature, rather than linear: the process mimics learning to live in a foreign culture more than it does the acquisition of skills. The open, flexible format allows students to find their own continuity within the program. This may include receiving credit for approved courses taken in regions outside the U.S.
The Rolf Movement Certification Workshop Format Program is a response to the need for longer integration class time to accommodate the scope and depth of an expanded curriculum. Understanding movement requires thoroughness in one’s own embodiment and a personal relationship to the varieties of coordinative patterns that clients present. To meaningfully address working with embodiment, Rolf Movement Integration courses emphasize experiential learning and represent an immersion-based approach. The workshop format allows for time between segments to further embody and apply the work in one’s practice. It also shortens the time students must be away from home.
Students who are already Certified Rolf Movement Practitioners may find these workshops valuable for review, refinement, and acquisition of new insights and skills.
Some examples of workshops offered for Rolf Movement CE & Certification Credit:
- “Deepening the Rolfing Ten Series through Movement and Manipulation”: a five-day workshop that deepens and clarifies movement and manipulation for each ten-series session goal, so that practitioners are able to refine and tailor interventions to support each client’s individualized needs.
Highlights of Rolf Movement Workshop Format Certification:
- expands training opportunities
- self-designed flexible student-centered program
- allows individual timing for personal embodiment
- allows integration of curriculum to occur within one’s practice
- encourages more exposure to different faculty & perspectives
- allows for immediately updated curriculum
- allows for more regional training opportunities
- develops effective & sophisticated practitioners
Costs
Please see Tuition and Costs
Training in Brazil and Europe
The Associacao Brasileira de Rolfing® (ABR), the Japanese Rolfing® Association (JRA), and the European Rolfing® Association (ERA) offer a wide variety of workshops, movement training classes, and tutorials. Please contact the ABR, JRA, and ERA directly for further information.
Rolf Movement Faculty
 | Rebecca Carli-Mills became interested in somatic movement studies while pursuing B.A. and M.F.A. degrees in dance performance and choreography. She earned certification in Rolf Movement Integration in 1987 with Janie French and Annie Duggan. She became a Certified Rolfer® in 1989 and a Certified Advanced Rolfer® in 1992. In 1994, Rebecca graduated from the Pennsylvania Gestalt Center for Psychotherapy and Training and joined the Rolf Movement faculty of The Rolf Institute®. Rebecca’s understanding of gravity and human movement potential has been enriched by her long-time studies with Hubert Godard. Godard’s work provides the chief theoretical and practical foundation that inspires her teaching. Additionally, she draws from her interest in the work of Laban/Bartineff, Charlotte Selver, Julio Horvath and in various forms of yoga. Rebecca believes that embodiment is a life long process, essential for somatic practitioners. Rebecca is a past Chairperson of the Rolf Movement faculty and ISMETA board member. She has taught somatic movement courses at several universities. Currently, Rebecca lives in Chevy Chase MD, where she maintains an active practice in Rolfing SI and Rolf Movement Integration. | |
 | Lisa Fairman is a Certified Advanced Rolfer® and Rolf Movement® Practitioner in practice in Helena since 1998. Known for her gentle hands and clear touch she approaches her work from a perspective of evoking change and eliciting curiosity and ease. She has specialized training in trauma work and in visceral work and manipulation. In Lisa's words: "My teaching, and my practice, are influenced and supported by my previous profession - wildlife biology and ecology; love for nature and adventure; dance and yoga background; and fundamentally, who I am as a person. I teach from a place of kindness and patience." | |
 | Kevin Frank is a Certified Advanced Rolfer®, Rolf Movement® Practitioner, and Rolf Movement® Instructor at DIRI. He has worked with the Godard-derived Tonic Function Model since 1991 and has written on this topic from 1995 to the present. Kevin views structural integration as a form of somatic education, and advocates for an “information system” view for doing and teaching this work so as to bring the field of SI into congruence with modern understanding of motor control and perceptive/coordinative processes. Kevin is the co-author (with Caryn McHose) of the book, How Life Moves, Explorations in Meaning and Body Awareness (North Atlantic 2006). | |
 | Per Haaland is a Certified Advanced Rolfer®, Rolf Movement® Practitioner, and Rolf Movement® Instructor. He received his basic Rolfing® training in 1989 under the tutelage of Emmet Hutchins and Ron Thompson, and completed his advanced training with Jan Sultan and Jeff Maitland in 1994. Per has trained in visceral and neural manipulation and was particularly inspired by the work of German Rolfers Peter Schwind and Christoph Sommer, who pioneered the integration of J.P. Barral’s visceral manipulation concept into the field of structural integration. In 2001, Per completed a 2- year certification program in biodynamic craniosacral therapy. His background in the performing arts, as a professional dancer, dance teacher, actor, and choreographer, has strongly informed his Rolfing and Rolf Movement practice, as well as his approach to teaching these modalities. Studies with Hubert Godard and Kevin Frank helped shape his understanding of structural integration as a form of interactive somatic education that highlights and enhances perceptual and coordinative processes. As a teacher, Per is patient, approachable, and thorough. He enjoys helping his students reach deeper levels of embodiment while supporting them in gaining sophisticated manual therapy skills and a solid understanding of the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of SI. Per lives in Santa Cruz, CA and maintains a private practice in Santa Cruz and Los Gatos, CA. | |
 | Jonathan Martine was certified as a Rolfer® in 1992 and completed his advanced Rolfing certification in 1997. He is a Registered Movement Therapist, Rolf Movement® Teacher, and Pilates Instructor, and has been a Rolf Institute faculty member since 1993. He has been in private practice since 1992. During this time, he has practiced in Chiropractic offices, Physical Therapy clinics, a Pilates studio, a medical-based pain management clinic, and various integrative health practices. This experience has offered a useful perspective on the vast potential of complementary approaches to health and personal transformation. He finds it valuable to see how Rolfing Structural Integration fits into the larger health field and to identify the unique offering Rolfing SI holds. Jonathan continues his study of Rolfing SI and allied health fields to serve his clients and students and to share the "stories" that science holds. He is fascinated with these "stories" as they may clarify aspects of the mystery of transformation while holding strong to the magic that occurs when the practitioner and client are present and aware of the environment in which we live. | |
 | Aline Newton has been a Rolfer® since 1984. In 1990 she began studying with Hubert Godard and continues to be inspired by his perspective on Rolfing® and movement to this day. She served as Chair of the Rolf Institute Board for many years. In addition to her private practice in Cambridge, MA, she teaches Embodied Anatomy at Berklee Conservatory’s Alexander Institute. She has written extensively and lectures on embodiment, perception, breathing, core stabilization, and other concepts that underlie Tonic Function. | |
 | Suzanne Picard has been faculty at the Rolf Institute® for 21 years. Her studies include Visceral, Neural Manipulation, and Cranial Work. She is inspired by anatomy and physiology and devoted to cultivating presence and our ability to connect with clients on a variety of levels. Suzanne's passion is to blend these aspects and support wholistic vitality in ourselves and our clients. | |
 | Juan David Vélez has been practicing as a Rolfer® and Rolf Movement® Practitioner since 1995, first in his native Colombia, and for the last ten years in Portland, Oregon. Juan David is guided by the belief that mastery is the place where logic, knowledge, and intuition converge. As a practitioner, he combines a rigorous scientific understanding of the discipline with an open-minded, intuitive approach. As a teacher, Juan David builds a strong framework of the science, theory, and philosophy of Rolfing® Structural Integration, and encourages students to investigate and master these concepts through play and personal exploration. Juan David has a particular interest in neuroplasticity, the seemingly limitless ability of the brain to change the body and to respond to the body by changing itself. In his spare time, Juan David enjoys painting and ecstatic dance, a good cup of tea, and a serious game of chess. | |
 | Bethany Ward, MBA is dual faculty in the Rolfing® and Rolf Movement® Integration departments. She is a former president of the Ida P. Rolf Research Foundation and was involved in the early stages of the International Fascia Research Congress and Fascia Research Society. Bethany currently serves on the DIRI Faculty Development and Review Board as a member of ISMETA’s Leadership Council. | |