Rakhi Bhojwani
“…because being embodied is empowering.”
About Rolfing ®
Rolfing® is a type of manual therapy that brings the body into alignment and harmony by engaging the fascial system. Rolfing® sessions address the entire body, scalp to feet and everything in between.
There are some differences between Rolfing® and other types of body work. The body is a tensegrity structure. This means that we need to have just the right amount of tension in the fascia to be able to function, breath and move with ease. Too little tension and we become soft and floppy. Too much tension is like living in a hard, steely body, even breathing becomes difficult.
Fascia runs in long tracks through the body, connecting the top of the head to the soles of the feet, the outer edges to the core. While this means we are well-supported in gravity, it also means that an imbalance in one part of the body will result in compensations in the rest of our structure.
Imbalances in our bodies occur as we live. For example, a strong coordinated right side, a clumsy left side. These imbalances lead to compensatory patterns such that some lines of fascia or parts of the body are overworked, while others are under-stimulated and underperforming. The result of living in an out-of-balance body is hard and dense fascia or connective tissue that is unable to glide freely to create smooth body movements.
These patterns of compensation make us prone to injury, tightness and discomfort, poor posture, lack of or too much range of motion at joints and a hyped-up nervous system.
By working into and unglue-ing the impacted connective tissue, Rolfing® unwinds these less-than-helpful patterns, allowing the body to realign, rebalance and come into harmony with gravity.
About Intuitive Healing
Our bodies hold our stories.
Your stories are unique to you.
Our fascial web is vibrantly alive, responsive to and deeply impacted by our thoughts, emotions, diets, trauma and states of our nervous system. Unless addressed and healed, our limiting thought patterns, memories and accompanying emotions show up in our bodies as injuries, tightness, restrictions, discomfort, pain.
Intuitive healing involves listening to the body, where the body needs attention, the kind of touch and how much touch.
Who can benefit from
Rolfing® and Intuitive Healing?
People with pain and/or discomfort, injuries that can’t seem to heal, injuries that cause other injuries, postural issues, repetitive movement injuries, chronic stress and anxiety. People looking for a deeper sense of embodiment, awareness of their bodies and to move with greater ease and grace.
“Get the system sufficiently resilient so that it is able to change, and it will change. It doesn’t have to be forced. It’s that forcing that you have to avoid at all costs.” – Dr. Ida Rolf
Frequently Asked Questions
Who gets "Rolfed®"?
I have worked on people with a wide variety of physical issues such as fibromyalgia, poor posture from extended hours in front of a computer, low muscle tone, chronic fatigue, poor or too much range of motion at joints, bulging discs, muscle spasms, migraines and more. Often the unpleasant, painful physical manifestations are the result of patterns of compensations that the body just could not hold any longer. Usually it is that issue, that niggle, that tightness that started as something small, that has snowballed into something consistently nagging and painful.
People also come for sessions with a desire for greater embodiment, to be more present in the body in order to connect with, receive and trust the body’s wisdom and intelligence.
Releasing stored trauma in a safe space is also a motivating factor. The stuck energy of trauma in the body can be met quietly and clearly, without re-living the stories and circumstances that created the trauma to begin with.
Whatever the reason, an underlying theme is about taking responsibility for and creating a kind relationship with your body.
What is a session like?
Then I ask you to stand and walk, to see the body’s alignment in gravity, while weight-bearing.
After this, some clothes come off, you settle into the massage table and the hands-on part of the session begins.
I check in with you regularly, both verbally and visually, to invite your subjective awareness into your body and to gauge your responses to the session. Your body, the fascial tissues, hold your stories, belief systems, identities, the stuff that makes you, you.
With this feedback, I adjust the quality and pressure of my touch, any plans I may have for the progression of the session.
To help you feel into, ground and integrate the physical transformations in your body, I ask you to breathe, stand and walk at some points of the session.
What do I wear?
How long is each session?
What does it feel like?
Experiences of pressure, ‘that feels right’ and ‘good pain’ are some of the more usual descriptions. These are the types of sensation that feel helpful to the body.
‘Bad’ pain or the kind of pain that is alarming and makes the body contract, is not necessary for the body to heal and transform.
Is there anyone who should not receive Rolfing® sessions?
People who are receiving treatment for cancer should not receive Rolfing sessions. I have worked with people in remission.
People in the ‘hot’ or acute stage of an injury. If you experienced an injury recently (in the last week or two), such as a sprain with a lot of swelling, broken bones and/or surgery, it could be best to wait for the initial healing process of the body to runs its course.
If you fall into any of these categories and you are still interested in finding out more about Rolfing and Intuitive Healing, please get in touch as everyone and every situation is unique
Why 10 sessions?
Over the sessions, the body has time and space to adapt to the fascial changes that arise, and come into a more supportive alignment.
With the combination of Rolfing® and Intuitive Healing, the structure of the 10 series becomes more flexible as the body’s needs guide the sessions. Where the body prefers healing touch, for how long, the most supportive amount of pressure, these are some of the ways in which the body guides the session.
Perhaps some information about Katherine’s sessions could fill in this picture of Rolfing® and IH sessions:
Katherine limped into the session with a cane, hunched over and leaning heavily to the left as the right side of her body couldn’t ‘work’ anymore.
Between a stressful job, a series of deaths in the family and consistent soreness in her contracted body, she needed ‘holding’ type of touch in the first 3 sessions. Perhaps her already frayed nervous system could not handle more.
Using flat palms, I placed my hands where her body guided, to hold and support the parts that were contracted and in pain. She could feel her body loosening, relaxing and lengthening, but she could not understand how simple holding was effective. She came back after each session feeling less pain in her body and walking with more ease.
In the 4th session, her body seemed stronger, more resilient and ready for deeper body work. More traditional Rolfing work began and continued until we had completed the 10 series.
How far apart are sessions spaced?
Sometimes life happens and maintaining consistency can be challenging. I do trust the process of Rolfing and the wisdom of the body.
About Me
Hi, I am Rakhi D. Bhojwani.
In 2011, I completed my Rolfing® certification with the Dr Ida Rolf Institute.
How I came to be a Rolfer®
As I grew, I felt deeply unsafe in my female form, a target for abuse and control. Yet it is through my body that I experienced loving touch, the joy of movement, heard and smelled rain drops blessing the earth.
To survive, I lived in as little of my body as possible, disconnected from everything below my neck.
In my early 20s, my body demanded to be known deeply and lived in completely, through injuries in my low back and left hip joint.
I received and reaped many benefits from various physical and movement therapies. But the low back and left hip remained tight ad niggly.
During my first Rolfing® session, my body sighed in relief as the lumbars released long held tension and came into a lighter, easier way of being.
Feeling deeply grateful for and inspired by this work, I became a Rolfer to assist others in their journeys of healing and embodiment.
“And the day came when the risk it took to remain tightly closed in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to bloom.” – Anaïs Nin
What Clients Say
Rolfing® with Rakhi turned out to be a life changing experience.
With quiet confidence and calm demeanour, she immediately put me at ease and identified the most relevant areas to start my journey in Rolfing®.
I started noticing changes with longstanding foot problems within 24 hours of that first session, and subsequent treatments have rectified many of my postural issues.
Rakhi is a true professional with an amazing talent, whilst being gentle, she possesses a strong inner strength, totally committed to helping others.
Hannes VR
As a dancer, I used to struggle with tight Achilles tendons
I am an ex-ballet dancer. During my dancing training, I struggled with what I thought were very tight Achilles tendons and the shape of my feet. I used to battle with bending my knees, jumping and landing gently and softly through the feet with the Achilles tendon and calves lengthening out. I worked around it, doing stretches.
I had a couple of Rolfing® sessions with Rakhi.
One day she worked quite continuously round my ankles, releasing fascia there. It was very uncomfortable and there was some pain. She also worked into the tensor fascia lata, outside of my thigh and up into the hip.
Immediately after, I could flex my ankles like never before. The tightness in the Achilles tendon is gone. I can bend my knees and flex my ankles. It was a turn around for me. It changed the way I used my feet, knees and further benefited my hips.
Arabel M
Rakhi brought life back into my body
I thoroughly enjoyed my sessions with Rakhi. She’s not only a Rolfer®, she’s a healer, and works beautifully with energy. I highly recommend the experience. It’s not something you can put words to, you have to try it.
Sam C
Let’s Connect
I’d love to answer your questions about Rolfing® and get you started on your own journey to healing. Please fill out the below form to begin. I work from the following location:
Your Space for Wellness
7 Zircon Street, Jukskei Park, Douglasdale
Blog
Case Study: Rakhi
A case study about my experience with Rolfing®. My first lot of 10 sessions took place in 2009. I presented with: Bulging discs between L4, L5 and sacrum Muscle spasm especially in the glutes (I literally had a tight ass) A weak, unstable left hip joint, full...