Translator's Preface

introduction

PART 1.
Early development and pre- and post-natal stories
1.
Introduction to Embryology and Connective Tissue
2.
Early stages of embryological development
3.
Factors that determine embryonic growth
4.
Development of mesodermal tissue
5.
Fetal constraints and early structural formation

PART 2.
Connective tissue and the human body
6.
What happens during birth
7.
What happens during newborn development
8.
Fascial Structure: The Spine as a Living Anatomy
9.
Movement and Gravity
10.
Body contour
11. Emotions and the Membrane Web: Body Perception and Response Patterns

PART 3.
human body support
12.
chest band
13.
Seohye Band and Spine
14.
Eye band and chin band
15.
Clavicle band, belly band, pubic band

PART 4.
Structure and function
16.
Proprioception: Awareness of the body's interior
17.
upper body
18.
Axis bone
19.
pelvis and thighs
20.
Horizontal and vertical fascia structures
21.
Reciprocity of movement
22.
joint

PART 5.
Bodywork application process
23.
Bodywork based on the concept of connective tissue
1) Evaluation
2) First arbitration
3) Go deeper
4) How to contact
5) How to maintain

supplement
Find out
Glossary of terms
Translator's Note
About the author

Traditional anatomy explains the movement of the human body centered on the muscle-bone concept and is based on mechanical mechanics.
Mechanistic models decompose movement into individual actions, and thus fail to adequately explain the continuously integrated movements observed in living bodies.
When one part of the body moves, the other parts react as a whole.
The tissue that functionally mediates these responses is connective tissue.
Connective tissue is the core concept presented in this book.
An understanding of membranes and connective tissues in assessing movement can provide a more accurate picture of the physical reality of the body.

We want to explain why Rolfing produces successful results through the concept of connective tissue.
The concept of connective tissue is an original and unique perspective of Dr. Ida Rolf.
Since the late 1930s, Dr. Rolf has been developing and refining the Rolfing technique.
From this time until the 1950s, soft tissue techniques faced public criticism for their inability to bring about change.
At the time, it was thought that the fascia itself could not determine the structure, and that only techniques that corrected joints, such as osteopathy or chiropractic, were effective ways to correct the structure.
However, these days, many types of bodywork techniques incorporate soft tissue techniques.

The concept of connective tissue is one of the two bodywork concepts established by Dr. Rolf.
Another concept she presented was gravity acting on a physical body.
The gravity we are talking about here is the stress lines that run through the body and affect its physical structure.
It is gravity that straightens the structure, and it is also gravity that destroys the structure.
Gravity passes through and affects connective tissue.
Connective tissue and gravity are central concepts in Rolfing.
Through this book, we have tried to deepen your understanding of connective tissue.

During Rolfing, various changes occur in the body, and there are aspects that are difficult to explain using existing human logic.
Also, it was difficult to draw a vivid picture of the changes we frequently see in our work using the traditional anatomy approach to connective tissue.
Structural changes have occurred across a wide range of age groups, and we are beginning to wonder what is driving these changes.

My curiosity grew because the phenomena occurring in the body of a person who had undergone Rolfing could not be fully explained using the logic of the human body presented in existing anatomy.
The human bodies we observed were composed of the same elements, yet had very different appearances.
So we came to the hypothesis that the properties of connective tissue that differentiates from the mesoderm during embryogenesis determine these diverse body types.
The ideas and concepts we present are concretized through the combined experience of two people working as rollers for approximately 45 years.

People sometimes partially accept their bodies, and sometimes they don't.
But it's not often expressed as being overall bad or overall good.
“I have a potbelly.” “I feel like I always have bow legs.” “My left foot seems bigger than my right.” These are the most common partial expressions.
Even when we feel good, we don't express how our entire body feels, such as by saying things like "I like your hair" or "Your shoulders are nice."
Women like to say, “You look good in those shoes,” while men like to say, “Your jacket fits my shoulders perfectly.”

These expressions not only reflect the way we view ourselves, but also the evaluations we make of others.
“I like men with nice legs.” “I like men with broad shoulders.” Many people often say things like this about specific parts of their bodies that they find attractive.
In our culture, there seems to be an implicit notion that fat people are less attractive in business, economics, society, and sexually.
Also, men seem to be afraid of moving their hips a lot when walking, running, or exercising.
If a man moves his hips a lot, the whole world might start to question his sexual preferences.
Also, women with broad shoulders are sometimes considered aggressive and masculine.

Most of what humans perceive inside their own bodies is partial and fragmentary.
Also, in many cases, the content perceived in this way is negative.
“My stomach is rumbling.” “My knees hurt.” “My neck is stiff.” “My nose is stuffy.” These are representative negative expressions.
Perhaps your long-held Puritanical thinking is preventing you from expressing yourself fully.
We live in a society where expressing pride in oneself is considered arrogant and a bad attitude.
Even people who view themselves and their bodies positively often end up feeling guilty when they become aware of their inner selves.

Even when doing something with the goal of boosting self-esteem about your physical body, it's common to focus on one area at a time.
Men usually do push-ups or weight lifting exercises to broaden their shoulders, while women do leg lifts to slim down their thighs and buttocks.
However, both the hips and shoulders are only parts of the overall structure of the body.
The substructure is not only a reflection of the overall structure, but all parts interact with each other.

If you think about an accident, you can better understand the connection between these parts and the whole.
For example, if you stub your toe, the pain can travel throughout your body and even reach your head.
Some people can feel this feeling well, while others cannot.
If you have severe pain in one toe, it is not easy to stand up straight with that foot on the floor.
At this time, people usually automatically shift their weight to the opposite foot to avoid putting weight on the painful foot.


Walking in this state places less weight on the injured foot and more weight on the non-painful foot.
Even if you are not aware of this weight shift, the same phenomenon occurs unconsciously.
Even after all the pain in your toes has disappeared, the weight that was shifted to one side remains imprinted on your body, and the foot that was in pain automatically contracts to avoid the cause of the pain.
This phenomenon is especially evident in cases of broken toes.
Because the pain from a broken toe lasts a long time.
The resulting compensation (shortening and displacement) patterns also continue to influence the structure.