Rolfing is a brand of structural integration. Ida Rolf, the person from whom the term “Rolfing” is derived, used a few different names for the therapy now known as structural integration over the course of its development. The name that she finally settled on was structural integration, but people liked calling it “rolfing” or describing the experience as “getting rolfed over.”  So you had a proper name (structural integration) and a colloquialism (rolfing).

Today, the use of the word “rolfing” and its derivatives is a bit more touchy because of intellectual property rights. [Read more…]