Breathing and Walking

Instructor:
Per Haaland

Organizational Host: 
Dr. Ida Rolf Institute

Credits: 
4 Rolf Movement Credits 30 NCBTMB Continuing Education Hours (20 hours Webinar, 10 hours Home Study)

Registration Prices:
$600 (+$75 admin fee)

Contact Information: 
[email protected]
(831) 479-9565

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Course Description:

This class offers an understanding of mechanisms involved in two quintessentially human activities: breathing and walking. We will use Hubert Godard's Tonic Function model for analysis and theoretical inquiry and Gracovetsky's Spinal Engine theory to understand the biomechanics of walking. Through lectures and discussions, we will learn about the science and phenomenology of breathing and walking. Deepening into somatic movement exploration, we learn to activate the "movement brain", unlocking our inherent potential for efficient and graceful stabilization. During these embodiment inquiries, we draw from disciplines such as modern dance, Feldenkrais, Bartenieff and other somatic education methods.

In this class, you will acquire language and movement cues to help improve your client's stability, balance and coordination. Tools will be provided for evaluating and improving habitual movement patterns related to the dynamics of breathing and walking. You will learn a series of Rolf Movement sessions: clearly outlined therapeutic interactions to deepen a client's sensory awareness and enhance their perception. You will acquire evocative language and effective movement cues to improve your client's stability, balance and coordination.

• How can we guide our clients to let tonic muscles take care of moment-to-moment stabilization and let phasic muscles be responsible for action?
• What is the relationship between chest breathing and abdominal breathing?
• How does this relationship affect sympathetic/parasympathetic activation of the autonomic nervous system?
• How does walking affect breathing and vice versa?

Instructor Biography:

Per Haaland is a Certified Advanced Rolfer™ and Rolf Movement® Instructor. He received his basic Rolfing® training in 1989 and completed his advanced training with Jan Sultan and Jeff Maitland in 1994. Per has also trained in visceral and neural manipulation and is a certified biodynamic craniosacral therapist. Studies with Hubert Godard and Kevin Frank shape his understanding of structural integration as interactive somatic education, highlighting perceptual and coordinative processes. In his approach to Structural Integration and Movement Education, Per also draws extensively from his background as a professional dancer and choreographer.

As a teacher, Per is patient, approachable and thorough, helping his students reach deeper levels of embodiment while gaining sophisticated manual therapy skills and a solid understanding of the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of SI. Per lives in Santa Cruz, CA and maintains a private practice there.