My name is Ian Edwards and I live and practise from my home town of Stonehaven – a picturesque seaside town a short distance south of Aberdeen.   (Recently I have started a practise in Lerwick, Shetland and will make regular visits.)

I first came across the Rolf Method of Structural Integration (also known as Rolfing) some 7 years ago and having suffered from upper shoulder and back pain all my working life, gave it a try.  I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it at first, but something kept pulling me back for more sessions.

When I was about half way through the basic 10 series, I  definitely became aware that the years of stress and discomfort were getting less and less, allowing me to function much easier without the pain and discomfort. 

A view of the Harbour in my home town of Stonehaven

I remember one day bending down to pick something off the floor and realised that I could do it without any tightness or discomfort.  A simple thing but, it felt good.  The rest of the 10 series was full of similar experiences.  I gradually became aware of the benefits from the subtle changes taking place as a result of the rolf work.

By the end of that year I had greatly improved and was very impressed with the subtle and long lasting benefits of Structural Integration, (rolf therapy) I had to find out more about it. 

At that time there was only one practitioner practising in the whole of Scotland, then someone suggested “why didn’t I go and train for the work”. 

My first reaction was “fa’ me? och niver……….. awa’ in nae be daft……. I couldna….. I dinna ken muckle aboot it! 

Then I began to think that maybe I could, so I began to look for information on how to train for the work, and as I like a challenge, decided to give it my best effort.  I applied for a place at the Guild for Structural Integration, Boulder, Colorado, USA, and my application was accepted.

The Guild advised on the books I required for home study before attending their Prerequisite class taking place in March 2002.  After successful completion of the first step I returned home for a short time to prepare for the next stage of training : the Audit Course. 

For the final part of the basic training the practitioner course, I travelled to Kauai, Hawaii, to study with Emmet Hutchens, one of the first Structural Integration  instructors trained by Dr. Ida P. Rolf.  My basic training was completed by the end of November 2002.

I have since then in 2003 completed a 6-day movement workshop in New York, another 6-day, four handed workshop in Crestone, Colorado, and in April 2005 , made the trip back to Kauai and successfully completed the  6 week Advanced  training course with two of the instructors trained by Dr Rolf, Emmett Hutchens and the late Peter Melchior.  Also, Nilce Silveira, an Advanced Practitioner of some 20 years experience, was the third member of the team. 

Post  Basic Training courses completed

• 6 Day movement workshop May 2003 New York
• 6 Day 4 handed workshop August 2003 Crestone
• 6 Week Advanced training April / May 2005 Kauai
• 6 Day 4 handed workshop October 2006 Bristol
• 3 Day workshop March 2007 San Francisco
• 6 Day workshop July 2007 Turin, Italy

The Advanced Training Course was informative, well presented and intense, with focus on the basic 10 series reinforced as the foundation for all structural integration (Rolf work).  The advanced 5 series is just what it says – “advanced” – both for the client and practitioner requiring a greater level of concentration and effort. The aim of the 5 series is to bring higher order to the body at a deeper level.

Dr. Ida P. Rolf began to explore, during the earliest advanced classes, ways to affect the client more deeply, to address projects which had not been available for input during the basic work, in order to begin to undo any remaining chains of compulsion (Dr. Ida P. Rolf’s term) in the bodymind.  We aimed to discover ways to introduce a client to possibilities inherent in another vertical shift, comparable in magnitude, if not in appearance, to that experienced from the initial ten-session movement, a cascading of new awareness and structural/functional possibilities throughout the system.  True advanced work aims instead to provide resources for a vertical shift to a new level of being.