Unconditional love from a pet is gift we pet owners receive multiple times a day. It’s the biggest perk of pet ownership. Whether we are conscious of it or not, their very presence in our lives encourages healing on many levels. And they remain loyal despite our rainbow of moods, looking only for food and love. In turn, don’t we want them to have fun, age with ease and feel no pain during their brief sojourn with us? Toward that end, I’ve recently discovered Rolfing® Structural Integration , a form of bodywork which produces amazing healing results on a physical, spiritual and emotional level for both humans and animals.
Briah Anson, M.A., author of “Rolfing®: Stories of Empowerment” has written a new book on the Rolfing® process and the benefits for animals. In Animal Healing, The Power of Rolfing® Structural Integration, Briah Anson presents over three dozen profiles of 56 different animals both domestic and wild going through the Rolfng® process. Briah makes a convincing case that Rolfing® Structural Integration (SI) can produce profound lifestyle benefits to animals from birds to horses.
Any animal suffering from movement limitations resulting from injury, disease, surgical trauma and even old age experience relief and recovery. Rolfing® SI also contributes to the rehabilitation from secondary or tertiary responses to trauma—the muscles spasms, soreness and compensatory patterns that linger long after the wounds heal.
Examples of the creatures profiled include cats, dogs, horses, birds, llamas, eagles, an owl, a cougar, and an endearing Moose named Mike. Each chapter includes a description of the animal from the owner’s perspective as well as a description of Briah’s analysis. Photos accompany the stories so readers can really see the animal’s reaction to the Rolfing SI treatment—deep relaxation. Most chapters include before and after photos, which are powerful testaments to the work.
The book is organized around types of recovery. One chapter covers animals that have experienced rehabilitation from issues derived from birth defects, acute spinal injuries, and hip dysfunctions. Rescue animals experience trauma as they transition from shelters and kennels to new homes. You’ll read about the dogs, cats and even guinea pigs that have moved from impatience and anxiety to ease and calm after a few Rolfing sessions.
Another chapter tackles animals as athletes while the Rolfing process unleashes the competitive potential of show horses. Many injuries and traumas could not be resolved using conventional veterinarian medicine.
Briah volunteered over two years at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, where she worked with several injured eagles to help rehabilitate and heal them. You can see these owls at the visitor’s center today. Just ask for Angel, Harriet, Donald or Columbia.
From puppies to geriatric canines, bigger-than-life cats and a cougar, the affects that Rolfing SI has on these animals is life-changing and significant.
Rolfing® Structural Integration was developed over 60 years ago by biochemist and physiologist, Dr. Ida P. Rolf. Briah Anson, M.A. has been performing Rolfing SI for over 30 years. She is a pioneer who has taken this transformative bodywork for humans and applied it to animals, producing five educational videos on this work. She currently has a private practice in St. Paul.
Orignally appeared in The Community Reporter, June 2011
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