{"id":19453,"date":"2023-04-05T01:11:13","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T01:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=19453"},"modified":"2023-04-04T19:16:46","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T19:16:46","slug":"alternative-therapies-provide-new-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/05\/alternative-therapies-provide-new-options\/","title":{"rendered":"Alternative Therapies Provide New Options"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY DANA DUGAN<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Sonia Sommer, a Rolfing practitioner, at play in Idaho. Courtesy photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We are adventurous, physical people. We recreate. We hike, ski, bike, and board. The Wood River Valley stands out as not just a sporty place but a haven for body workers. Hardcore recreationalists do suffer injuries. Healers of varied ilk are in high demand. Other than straight-forward physical therapists, there are many body workers who practice alternative forms of self-healing, from yoga and its associated health care, Ayurveda, to acupuncture, Reiki and Rolfing.<\/p>\n

The Japanese therapy Reiki is administered by laying hands either lightly upon one or hovering just above. This is done to facilitate a healing flow of energy, in a similar way to acupuncture or acupressure. A gentle, unobtrusive form or therapy that could not be more different from Rolfing.<\/p>\n

Founded by Dr. Ida Pauline Rolf, a Ph.D. in biochemistry, it is a physical reboot. It\u2019s meant to increase mobility, boost energy, ease breathing, relieve stress, and generally improve a person\u2019s overall well-being.<\/p>\n

Rolfing focuses on the fascia, the band of connective tissues in the body that forms beneath the skin to attach, stabilize, and separate muscles and other internal organs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this work,\u201d Ketchum-based Rolfing practitioner Sonia Sommer said. \u201cIt just gets better and better. Right now, I\u2019m working with high-end athletes, and I\u2019m seeing amazing results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also known as Structural Integration, Rolfing deals with chronic patterns in the connective system, or the fascia web.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are all kinds of ways to take care of your fascia. It\u2019s the most important system in the body. It harbors both the good and the bad, Sommer said. \u201cIf you change a person\u2019s fascia web, you help change their bodies. It\u2019s a project with a beginning, middle and end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Years ago, Sommer, who is Australian, worked with the Australian Freestyle Ski Team. She later became an intern at the Australian Institute of Sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really into athletes, sports and physical therapy,\u201d she said. \u201cI saw magic happen with Structural Integration and said \u2018I want to do this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, Sommer trained in Colorado with Tom Myers, a student of Ida Rolf\u2019s, and co-author of \u201cFascial Release for Structural Balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to separate Rolfing from massage because it\u2019s so different in its intention, which is to change things,\u201d Sommer said. \u201cStructural Integration brings patterns of distortion back into balance so that people can move around free of pain, and get a better psychological outlook on the world. It\u2019s the most amazing process that I\u2019ve come across.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFascia is massive, when you work on these patterns that we all develop \u2014 solidify into our history, injuries, birth traumas, accidents \u2014 we start to solidify around that. we become less and less able to move in novel ways. That leads to injuries and chronic pain, emotional patterns as well, all those patterns \u2014 where SI shines, is in manipulating the fascia,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

After a certain age, most people wake in the morning feeling stiff. It\u2019s why doing very intentional movement, whether it is yoga or stretching or Structural Integration, is so vital, said Sommer.<\/p>\n

Another alternative for the achy, aging or anxious body is an Ayervedic massage known as Abhyanga, which uses warm oils medicated with herbs. From the top of your head to the tips of your toes, following the nerves, it focuses more on the lymph and nervous systems than it does the muscular-skeletal system. In Swedish massage, lotions are primarily a tool to facilitate sliding on the skin. In Ayurveda, the oil isn\u2019t just part of the therapy, it\u2019s as important as the massage itself.<\/p>\n

Only in Ayurvedic massage is the oil always warmed and herbal.<\/p>\n

Carrie Seitz, of Wild Rejuvenation, said together Abhyanga and Rolfing is a great combination for healing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we age, we have a natural drying process, so it\u2019s essential in this climate to have massage with natural oils to nourish our skin, which is our largest organ. It works from the outside to the inside on our constitution,\u201d she said. \u201cThe oil brings our vitality back and helps remove deep toxins. If we want longevity, we want to consciously move our lymph system, our joints, our blood, and fascia; then we can be happy and well nourished.\u201d<\/p>\n

It all comes back to inflammation, clearing it out of our bodies.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur nervous systems are so jacked up,\u201d Seitz said. \u201cAbhyanga is a pause for the body and allows your body to heal itself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY DANA DUGAN We are adventurous, physical people. We recreate. We hike, ski, bike, and board. The Wood River Valley stands out as not just a sporty place but a haven for body workers. Hardcore recreationalists do suffer injuries. Healers of varied ilk are in high demand. Other than straight-forward physical therapists, there are many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,18,54],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19453","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-health-news","7":"category-news","8":"category-wellness"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19455,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19453\/revisions\/19455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}