Born in New York City, Ida Rolf earned a doctorate in biological chemistry from the Columbia University of Physicians and Surgeons. For the next 12 years she worked in the chemotherapy and organic chemistry departments at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. She also studied atomic physics and mathematics at the Swiss Technical University in Zurich and homeopathic medicine in Geneva.

In 1927 she left her academic career due to health problems with her family as she was unwilling to accept the medical limitations at the that time. She studied osteopathy, chiropractic medicine, and mind/body disciplines such as yoga and the Alexander Technique. The notion that proper alignment, physiologic function and anatomical structure are related is the basis of many of these healing methods.

Dr. Rolf agreed that the body functions best when the bony segments are in proper alignment. She observed that lasting improvement in alignment and an overall sense of well-being required a closer look at the effects of gravity on our bodies. She believed that the imbalances in structure placed demands on the body’s pervasive network of soft tissues: muscles, fascia, tendons and ligaments, thereby creating compensations throughout the body structure. She discovered that by manipulating the body’s myofascial structure there were great changes in the body. She named her work Structural Integration.

Quote from Ida:
“Over and over again, people come to me, and they tell me, You just don’t know how strong I am. They say “strength” and I want to hear “balance.” The strength idea has effort in it; this is not what I’m looking for. Strength that has effort in it is not what you need; you need the strength that is the result of ease. When the pelvis is not balanced, we do not have the upward thrust that creates zero balance, the sense of weightlessness that can be experienced in the body.”