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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1978)
Rolfing will melt your plastic body By RICHARD WIENS Of the Emerald When Jeff Ryder is in a crowd, he just doesn’t see people, he sees bodies mired in “holding patterns." He says, "We’re all holding on in different ways, avoiding the fullness of movement that can be experienced.” For the past four years, he has helped bodies become more flexible, sensitive and at ease through the processes of “rolfing” and structural patterning. Rolfing does not have to be painful, it is not chiropractic and it has nothing to do with massage. What it does do is “change the physical structure of the body, without any effort on the part of the subject,” says Ryder. Rolfing is done by hand while structural patterning involves words — teaching people to “live their perfect proportions” while performing everyday functions. Ryder normally uses both methods, doing whatever’s necessary to help subjects dissolve their bodily holding patterns. “Physical bodies are plastic. They’re molded over the years by such things as accidents and the labor they’re called upon to do.” he says. “In addition, people with certain emotional sets hold their bodies in certain positions that eventually solidify.” Rolfing and patterning sessions are “as diversified as the people who come for help I never know what I’ll do until I see them standing and walking.” Stripped to your underwear and holding patterns in Ryder’s office at the Personal Growth Center, 1997 Garden Ave., you are photographed from the front and side before any work is done. Ryder’s gentle but firm hands subtly begin to “free up” your body. You are lying face-up, then face-down being touched in areas that you normally pay little attention to (behind the knee, above the armpit, you name it). Discerning no rhyme nor reason to Ryder’s hand movements, you start tc doubt rolfing’s effectiveness. But when Ryder asks you to stand up and walk, you notice a lack of tension in your right leg while your other leg, which he hasn’i touched, is heavy in comparison. In short, your nght leg is on a natural nign. “Now the left one,” you remind Ryder as you lav back down. Ryder obliges, then moves to your chest, back and neck. Each time he has you stand and walk, more of your body is coordinated and tension-free. Only now do you realize how awkwardly you’ve been using your body in the past. “Most people think they have the same physical body when they’re relaxed as when they’re tense, but they don’t. Some people I’ve worked with have gained an inch in height, and one woman’s feet narrowed by two shoe sizes. Lots of people get deeper in their chests.” Your first session ends as it began, with photographs. “Some nice things have happened to you," Ryder says, comparing before and after pictures. “See how your legs are more underneath you and the right side of your chest and shoulder have dropped into balance with the left side?” Ryder asks. The differences are minute in the pictures, but you need no photographic proof. A deep calm pervades your body, wi iim i iui iuc ivvio nr\c yuu aiwayb liiuugnt it should. Talking over the session with Ryder, you notice that you’re sitting up straight (like your Mom always wanted you to do at the dinner table) rather than slouching. When you stand, your body is supported evenly by both legs for a change. “One session can release a lot of tension, but part of your body will demand to go back to where you were,” Ryder says. “It takes 10 or 15 sessions to eventually put the whole body in agreement.” Ida Rolf founded rolfing about 50 years ago. Ryder was first trained at Rolf Institute in Boulder, Col. Although traditional rolfing is painful, Ryder employs a “soft-tissue’’ approach he learned from Judith Aston, director of Aston Patterning Associates, Tiburon, Cal. After Ryder’s relaxing "soft-tissue’’ session, you might feel less like fighting and more like rolfing over and playing dead. For students interested in rolfing, a free structural patterning workshop will be conducted by Ryder Tuesday, at 7 p.m. in EMU, room to be posted. IFC annual winter budget maratnon begins ay isHnuLTH DcAvbrl Of The Emerald Something about cold, dreary winter days makes them appropriate for the annual Incidental Fee Committee (IFC) budget hearings. IFC members, subject to over two months of hearings, started the process Sunday afternoon. Because of new budget guidelines, each ASUO program will have two hearings, the first to discuss program goals and the second to decide on the actual budget. Before the hearings began, the committee voted unanimously to keep the total ASUO budget at five percent growth — or less. IFC member Janet Eggleston said the move would be a good “indicator” for programs. Action Now, the first program considered, operates a tool library and disseminates building and repair information. The program presented four goals, all of which were accepted. Mark Staley, Action Now director, asked that the tool iilm ai y uc »i tan nan icvi ai iu cApai iu^vi. i • wi 4-2 not to include automobile repair tools in the budget, but all voted to include household tools. Dusty Rhodes, EMU board chairer, submitted seven goals and IFC members voted to approve six of those goals. Accepted goals were: meeting EMU users’ needs, minimizing EMU Board use of incidental fees, advising EMU food service members on best meeting users’ needs, allowing the Board chairer to oversee Board committee chairers, keeping records open to student use and providing money for a special projects fund. Bruce Shaw, YMCA director, presented five goals. The IFC voted against a faculty/student tennis tournament, 5-2. Also voted down were temporary housing coordination, 5-2 and a secretary/receptionist, also 5-2. YMCA goals passed were a Youth Basketball Association, 4-3, and the Big Brother/Sister organization, 7-0. IFC members quickly and unanimously approved all Student University Affairs Board (SUAB) goals. Tne goals muiuueu. uuiiunueu ciiiu mifjiuvou aunD memuer performance and participation, responsible and efficient office administration, effective Committee on Committee appointments, and effective Information and Grievance Center operation. The Foreign Student Organization (FSO) Director, Anjum Kazi, stated four goals, all of which were approved All IFC members voted for an administrative coordination goal, a foreign student orientation before fall term and a cultural enrichment objective. The goals of the last program, the Model UN Club, were heavily debated. The first goal, attending the 1979 Far West (Model UN) Conference was approved 5-2. The political science department offers a Model UN class winter term. Eggleston maintained the the club’s objectives could be handled through the class. 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