Embodied Being: The Philosophical Roots of Manual Therapy

A concise distillation of half a lifetime’s hands-on experience as a practitioner of Structural Integration bodywork (also known as Rolfing)

Perplexed that most practitioners are unable to answer the questions, What do I do first? What do I do next? and When am I finished?, and simply rely on their intuition, Maitland sets out to define what makes a truly life-altering bodywork session, drawing on his understanding of Goethe, Merleau-Ponty, and other great thinkers. Maitland proposes that the holistic approach in bodywork is capable of creating new possibilities for the future by erasing the patterns that bind us to a dysfunctional past. Such treatments can so profoundly reshape the body that there is no longer any room for emotional torment and can free bodies of physical pain, releasing the innate joy within the core of all human beings. Ultimately, giving and receiving manual therapy teaches both practitioners and clients how to move with grace, open their hearts and touch the numinous.