BARSI Pre-Training Programme

2014 January - June

5 Weekends. Open to all interested. Come and explore.







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If you are curious about a career as a body worker or movement therapist and are exploring what modality to study. . .

If you are already a professional body worker or movement practitioner, yoga teacher and are curious to learn more . . .

If you are simply interested in deepening our own movement or yoga practice and in how your body works, moves and finds its life in gravity . . .

. . . the British Academy of Rolfing is offering five weekends on Touch, Movement and Living Anatomy - come and join us - please feel free to be in touch by email or phone to discuss further. All information below.

The workshops will be taught in a spirit of enquiry, with much time for embodiment, practical hands on application, and for questions and discussion.

What is Rolfing?

'A process and a technique for preparing the body to be able to accept the gravitational field of the Earth for support, by working on the soft tissue to loosen body blocks and to allow them to align vertically' - Ida Rolf

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Rolfing Pre-Training Programme 2014

The British Academy of Rolfing (BARSI) Pre-Training programme consists of 11 days (5 weekend workshops) of modular introductory training focusing specifically on Touch, Movement, and Living Anatomy, and follows the curriculum for the European Rolfing Association's (ERA) pre-trainings. BARSI is approved to train and certify Rolfers by the Rolf Institute (Boulder) via the European Rolfing Association (Munich), All courses on the Rolfing Training and Pre-Training will be taught by Rolf Institute faculty.

This Pre-Training offers a series of weekends for gaining fundamental knowledge to prepare you for subsequent training to become a Certified Rolfer - all are welcome. Workshops can be booked individually but it is recommended that you attend all 5 workshops for comprehensive preparation. A discount is offered if you book for all workshops.

The Pre-Training is a great preparation for entering Phase 1 of the Basic Rolfing Training, for writing your Admission Paper and doing well at your Admission Interview, or for discerning whether Rolfing, or bodywork for that matter, is right for you. These pre-training weekends are designed for those who are interested in the body but are not yet body workers and we feel that the weekends will also be of benefit to those body-worker professionals who want to re-orient themselves towards the anatomical, functional and touch approach used in Rolfing.

The weekends will be held at the Kailash Centre, St John's Wood, central London (the same venue where the Rolfing Training will be held). Giovanni Felicioni, a Certified Rolfing and Rolf Movement Instructor TM, will teach the Touch and Movement weekends. Gerhard Hesse, a certified Life Science Instructor with the Rolf Institute, will teach the Anatomy weekend.

Comments from past students

'The pre-training was quite simply wonderful! . . . . generous and proactive sharing of knowledge, experiences and skills. The feedback I received throughout the weekend was very insightful and left me with a great deal of material for development. A brilliantly embodied way of teaching and for this I am very grateful. The environment and logistics were perfect, the breaks were well paced and adequately timed, there was plenty of space, beds, mats and blankets. Considering the quality of the experience, especially in the context of its price I feel very privileged to have taken part. I thank you for this.' - Lukasz Gregorczk

'Thank you so much again. I found that the workshop was really well organized. I could feel the clarity in the way you were holding the space for us to be secure in our 'insecurity'... Introduction, sharing, participation, feedback, attention and open space for questions and personal exchanges were present, dancing in a very nice continuous flow. I didn?t feel at any moment lost in the space or not considered. I grew in my personal research about the rolfing process and can now really feel that Rolfing is for me!' - Keren'Or Pezard

'Thank you for your passionate way of communicating rolfing... it is beautiful...' - Woytek Karczmarzyk

'Thank you for the great weekend. I already got lots of positive feed back during my work (Pilates/Gyrotonic classes) in this week which made me so fascinated about hands-on technic what we have learnt.' - Yuko Kimura

BARSI Pre-Training offers you:

- a comprehensive introduction to the world of bodywork from a Rolfing perspective which will provide you with new insights and understanding in the areas of:

  • · body structure and human verticality
  • · movement as coordination, perception and meaning
  • · 3-dimensional fascial and functional anatomy
  • · manual bodywork skills ranging from: developing different tools for touch, how to touch and access various layers and systems of the body, and how to evoke and support movement in others
  • · beginning to understand the role of embodied exploration in self development and for learning in the bodywork field
  • · beginning to 'read' how gravity is flowing through a body while static and moving
  • · an introduction to contemporary somatic and movement theory

- 11 days of embodied knowledge gained through self-experience, lectures, practical work in pairs and groups, reflection, discussion. The approach will be introductory with ample time given to exploring and finding in your body, and through the bodies of others.

- an inspiring and challenging introduction for those without a professional background who are curious about the human body and its functioning and/or are exploring whether a career as a bodyworker or as a Rolfer is for them.

- a rich, appropriate time of study or revision for any bodyworker wishing to refresh and deepen their knowledge in the field of structure, movement and touch and to begin to understand how Rolfers work.

Please note:

- the 2 Movement weekends can be used as a substitute for 2 of your Rolfing Movement Sessions required for Admission to the Rolfing Training.

- the workshops are an introduction to the Rolfing body of somatic knowledge

- information presented in these weekends will be repeated in different ways in various Phases of your Basic Training.

The Pre-Training Weekends in 2014

You may attend one, some or all of the following workshops. In terms of curriculum they are structured as a whole and we encourage you to attend all. But each workshop will also stand alone. If you have never done any bodywork we strongly urge you to attend the first Touch and Movement workshops.

  • Jan 25 & 26: Dynamics of Rolfing Touch 1 (2 days)
  • · Instructor: Giovanni Felicioni

  • Feb 22 & 23: Dynamics of Movement and Perception 1 (2 days)
  • · Instructor: Giovanni Felicioni

  • Mar 28 to 30: Living Fascial Anatomy (3 days)
  • · Instructor: Gerhard Hesse

  • May 3 & 4: Dynamics of Rolfing Touch 2 (2 days)
  • · Instructor: Giovanni Felicioni

  • Jun 7 & 8: Dynamics of Movement and Perception 2 (2 days)
  • · Instructor: Giovanni Felicioni

Important:

The second 'Touch' and 'Movement' weekends in January and February do not require you to attend the first as pre-requisites. They will continue to evolve the material as shown below.

Workshop Themes

DYNAMICS of ROLFING TOUCH 1: the meta-theme of the first touch weekend will be 'TOUCHING AND EXPLORING THE SLEEVE OF THE BODY' during which we will look at the basics of 'Rolfing Touch', tools and dynamics of touch, practitioners body-use, and how Rolfers access different layers of fascia on the superficial axial and radial aspects of the body.

DYNAMICS of ROLFING TOUCH 2: The meta-theme for the second touch weekend will be 'TOUCHING THE CORE' during which we will review and then evolve the material covered in the first workshop and then go on to explore how Rolfers touch the cavities of the body and work with the 3 dimensional aspects of the fascial web necessary for skillful contemporary Rolfing.

DYNAMICS of MOVEMENT and PERCEPTION 1: the meta-theme of the first movement weekend will be 'BREATHING, PERCEPTION and GESTURE' during which we will look at the basics of how Rolfers understand movement (Tonic Function Theory) and see movement in others - using embodied explorations to experience and appropriate the information. We will begin to explore how we organise ourselves in gravity to breathe.

DYNAMICS of MOVEMENT and PERCEPTION 2: The meta-theme for the second weekend will be 'WALKING, PERCEPTION and GESTURE' during which we will evolve the material covered in the first workshop but from the point of view of how humans move and displace themselves in the environment. This will begin to take us into the rich world of joints and spirals.

LIVING FASCIAL ANATOMY: this workshop will cover experiential and practical living anatomy of the human body. Rolfers do not only work with muscles and bones, they are interested in how these interact with the whole fascial web of the body. The territory of our work is therefore always a matrix that crosses the obvious anatomical boundaries into the world of ligaments, membranes, organs, bags, diaphragms and so on. You will be introduced to palpating, exploring, discovering, naming these marvellous inner bridges and spaces.

Schedule and Style

In the pre-training the information presented in the workshops will be for the purposes of introducing students to the body of somatic knowledge we call Rolfing. Attending these weekends will allow you begin to 'relax' into the style of embodied learning that will be used during your Rolfing Training. With this in mind we hope that the material - as you encounter it again and again during the Pre-Training weekends and in the Basic Training - will become a field for insights and understanding that you can appropriate and eventually use for your own self-development and as a practitioner.

The spirit of the weekends will be informative, playful, practical and intense. Theory will be arrived at by embodied exploration on the self and with others and then underlined in small group and class discussions. We will endeavour to create a strong learning container for the class that respects each person's learning style and allows ample time for 'getting lost' and 'finding' as you learn.

  • · the student/instructor ratio will be 12 to 1
  • · you will receive a minimum of 7 hours class time per day
  • · days will run from 9:00 to 18:00 (classes may run to 19:00 at instructor's discretion)
  • · a lunch break of 90 minutes starting approximately between 12:30 and 13:30
  • · minimum morning and afternoon break of 15 to 30 minutes
  • · coffee, tea will be provided
  • · please wear comfortable clothes

Venue

The venue where BARSI holds its classes is:

  • Kailash Centre
  • 7 Newcourt Street
  • London NW8 7AA
  • (nearest tube: St John's Wood; 5-min walk)

Fee

BARSI is proud to have recently graduated its first twelve students into their third year which begins in January of 2014. The Directors of BARSI worked long and hard to get the UK Training up and running and we are passionate about communicating Rolfing to others and training excellent future Rolfers who will make their own unique contributions to the field. To this end we have made the training as inexpensive as possible and the fee for each study day is £100 (or £90 if when booking all 11 days).

The 2-day Touch and Movement weekend workshops are £200.00 each.

The 3-day Anatomy weekend workshop is £300.00.

Booking ALL 5 workshops (11 days) is £990.00 which gives a discount of £110.

Please note that all fees are non-refundable unless you find someone to take your place on the workshop.

Registration and Questions

Please register with our Course Coordinator by emailing: enquiry@britishacademyofrolfing.co.uk

Or, to discuss any further questions please email Giovanni Felicioni. I will also be available to speak on 020 7697 0464 or 07904 289 672 after January 5.

Accommodation

If you are coming from out of London we suggest the affordable St Athans Hotel in Bloomsbury, near Euston Station, and a quick tube ride to our venue in St John's Wood.

Important Disclaimer

Before confirming a course or weekend BARSI reserves the right to cancel or re-schedule if there are not enough students enrolled. We are a small start-up organisation and cannot run at a loss. So please DO NOT book travel or accommodation until you have a clear confirmation from BARSI that the course is running.


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Trade Mark

Rolfing® designates the Rolf Institute's brand of structural integration, the discipline developed by the late Ida P. Rolf, Ph.D. While the Rolf Institute is Dr. Rolf's original school of structural integration, it is now one of many schools of structural integration; and Rolfing® structural integration designates the practice of structural integration by graduate members of the Rolf Institute, who are licensed to use its service marks.