Dr Ida P Rolf (1896 - 1979)
founder of Structural Integration

Ida P Rolf was a remarkable woman of her time, who earned a PhD in biological chemistry in 1920. She worked at the Rockefeller Institute, in the Department of Chemotherapy and later in the Department of Organic Chemistry, eventually rising to the rank of Associate. This was no small achievement for a young woman in those days.

In 1927, Ida Rolf took leave from work to study mathematics and atomic physics at the Swiss Technical University in Zurich.

Her main interest, however, was health and the human body. She was disillusioned with medical science which could not provide adqueate answers to her personal and family health problems, and she actively sought alternative solutions.

She studied homeopathic medicine in Geneva during the time when she was in Switzerland. Returning to New York, Ida Rolf spent the decade of the 1930’s exploring osteopathy, chiropractic medicine, the Alexander technique and Korzybski’s work on states of consciousness.

But the cornerstone of her thinking was yoga, which she studied intensively. 

By the 1940’s, Ida Rolf had developed her own methods of healing. Working out of an apartment in Manhattan, New York, she soon had a full schedule filled with people seeking help.

In the 1950s, her fame spread to England and she spent her summers there as a guest of John Bennett, a prominent mystic and student of Gurdjieff.

Given her scientific training, Ida Rolf was committed to the scientific point of view. Yet many of her breakthroughs came intuitively when she worked with chronically disabled persons who were unable to find help elsewhere.

At first, she called her work Postural Release and Postural Dynamics, but later settled on the name, Rolf Method of Structural Integration.

In the mid-60’s, Ida Rolf was invited to Esalen Institute at Big Sur, California at the suggestion of Fritz Perls, founder of Gestalt Therapy. There she began training practitioners and instructors of Structural Integration. However, her students at Esalan began to call her work Rolfing.

Ida Rolf's fame and popularity grew. Newspapers and magazines began featuring her work; more and more students sought training from her. Soon, it became clear that there was a need to establish a formal organization to continue her work.

In 1967, one such organisation was loosely formed and eventually headquartered in a private home in Boulder, Colorado. It later became known as the Rolf Institute. In 1988, the Rolf Institute was divided into two – the Rolf Institute and the Guild for Structural Integration.

The Rolf Institute holds the registered trade marks for the names Rolfing® and Rolfer®, amongst other. However, it is the Guild for Structural Integration that has the most senior instructors. They wanted to preserve the original form of the work of Ida Rolf, whereas those at the Rolf Institute favored a freer approach to technique based on careful perception of the client's body.

In 1977, Ida Rolf wrote Rolfing: The Integration of Human Structures (Harper and Row, Publishers). Another notable book is Ida Rolf Talks About Rolfing and Physical Reality. Compiled by her close associate and companion, Rosemary Feitis, this book is truly a jewel as it provides insights into Ida Rolf’s unique and incredible mind.