by Roger GoltenHellerwork is a therapy system founded by Joseph Heller (1940-) that evolved directly from the work of Dr. Ida P. Rolf (1896-1979). Hellerwork is a synthesis of classic structural integration and somatic education (soma=body) which attempts a mind/body/spirit integration using the potent tools of myo-fascial bodywork (myo=muscles), movement and awareness education, and a conversation to relate thinking, feeling, attitudes, emotions and beliefs to the person’s experience of being in their body. The major results reported by clients of Hellerwork include an effortless improvement in posture, a tremendous increase in body awareness and improved breathing, standing, sitting and walking.Pregnancy is itself a powerful and natural opportunity for the development of body awareness, bringing consciousness into the body through the big changes that take place on the emotional, physical and existential levels. Sometimes problems such as various kinds of backache and shoulder or neck tension arise during pregnancy which lead women to seek assistance. Other times there is a general desire to get into as good shape as possible prior to the birth. Hellerwork can provide focused attention on optimising well-being for such an important and demanding event in one’s life.Hellerwork seeks to empower clients to become the “expert” on their own body, so that they are able to take responsibility and get more of what they want out of life, to be the cause of their lives rather than a helpless victim of the circumstances. During pregnancy this is particularly appropriate, with the tendency for the medicalisation of childbirth, leading to increased interventions which interrupt this natural process.As the baby grows and increases in weight, there is an inevitable exaggeration in any postural imbalances in the mother’s physical structure. Hellerwork client’s posture in the early stages of pregnancy (3-5 months) has sometimes improved so much that they appear not to be “showing” quite so much, decreasing potential discomfort. Hellerwork can be an intense experience in terms of experiencing one’s own chronic and formerly unconscious tensions, and learning to let go and trust in a powerful process can assist in the preparation for childbirth. Specific case histories illustrate the range of applications that arise with the kind of attention that is given during Hellerwork.Ruth Backway introduces herself:“I have two memories of working with pregnant clients that may be of interest to you. Before telling you these, you may want a little background, since we haven’t met. I am a Physical Therapist and have been a Hellerwork prac for 15 years. Because of this, I get medically oriented referrals. I also have a practice inside a medical clinic.One case was a woman in her 30’s who had a long history of back problems. This was her third pregnancy. The one she had two years previously was very troubled with low back pain and she was put to bed for a week at a time due to the pain. Structurally, she had an increased lumbar lordosis and carried her chest in a position so it was backward bent over her pelvis. She also had her right pelvis tipped anteriorly and almost no movement in her right SI joint. She wanted to do the Hellerwork so she didn’t have such a bad time of it this time around. We worked on her during the second trimester.When doing the psoas work, I worked in the middle and high on the muscle, not disturbing the lower abdomen on the deep layers. I also used a PNF technique to help right the pelvis and get the SI joint moving. The Hellerwork took care of the other postural stresses on her back, and she had a routine and comfortable pregnancy.The other case I recall was the wife of my Chiropractor. I work out of his clinic. She was 40 and pregnant for the fourth time, but it had been 14 years since her last pregnancy. She came in one day with a very pained look on her face. She was in her final 2 weeks.She complained she couldn’t get comfortable–had strong back pain and couldn’t stand up or sit down. The pain was centered in her SI joints and across the sacrum. On testing, the left pelvis was tipped back and the left SI was stuck. I used Soft Tissue mobilization to her piriformis muscles and then the PNF technique I mentioned previously to right her pelvis and the pain went away. The point here being that in the end stages of pregnancy, when things start to get lax, it is easy for the pelvis to slip a bit and this can cause a great deal of pain. Practitioners need to watch for this, and finding a practitioner who has experience in fixing this type of problem can be very useful.”Tom Merrill, Hellerwork Practitioner in California reports:“Pam was one of my two “models” for the Hellerwork Training I attended in 1989-90. This was a year long, non-residential program that involved weekly evening classes and one three day weekend class each month. Thus, the bodywork series for the models spanned over a period of 10 months.Pam was approximately 5 1/2 months pregnant when she received Session One. Thus, session four landed just a couple weeks before the little one was due. Session five was delayed a week and done at my mentor’s home. Performing the inner thigh session just before the birth and then the belly session right after was a perfect fit. All went well and as best as I can recall, uneventful throughout the course of the series. A few years later, Pam called up and scheduled a few more sessions as she was carrying again.”Finally, Lonny Fox, Hellerwork Practitioner and Trainer in Canada: “I first met my client, I’ll call her Susan, when I was still working with The Victoria Pain Clinic. She was there on one of the clinic’s ten day programmes recovering from a motor vehicle accident. At the end of her stay she was improving and was referred to me on a out patient basis. We saw each other for about eight months, as I was supporting her through her return to work, when she came in one day and asked if I would also support her through her second pregnancy. I was both worried and overjoyed at the prospect of working through this pregnancy with her. I knew it was going to be challenging as she was still experiencing both low back and neck pain from her accident.All went well for most of the pregnancy. She was a very motivated client doing her stretches and watching her posture and movement. She also loved the bodywork and was managing to keep up with her job and look after her two year old daughter. I was also enjoying working with two people; the one who gave me the verbal feedback and the one who would kick my hand from the inside when she didn’t appreciate a stroke.Throughout Susan managed to be very bright and cheerful, happy about the upcoming birth. That is until very close to what was supposed to be her delivery date. That Wednesday when Susan came in she was very upset and started to cry almost as soon as she sat down. She told me that her first child had been a cesarean section and she had been hoping in her heart for vaginal birth this time. She had just been to her gynecologist and he had told her that because the baby wasn’t “dropping” into the pelvic bowl he was afraid that she would probably have to have another C-section.We talked about it for a while and then had a closer look at what was happening. There was such a tight band in the abdomen between the scar tissue from the previous Csection and the pubic symphysis that the baby couldn’t get through. Couple that with the worry and fear Susan was feeling and the whole pelvic bowl, like Susan, was literally “held in suspense” waiting to see what would happen.We knew we only had one or two sessions until they were going to induce labor so I started with some very detailed work around the old C-section scar and the pubic bone. Interestingly enough I didn’t get anywhere near the internal complaints that I was used to when I worked the abdominal area. It was as if the baby knew what we were doing.Four days later when Susan came back the baby was “dropping” but would pop right back up to her old spot in the abdomen. It was as though her pelvic floor was acting like a trampoline bouncing the baby right back up so we went on to do two things. We spent an hour and a half releasing the pelvic floor as completely as possible trying to clear every old knot and holding from the adductors and the pelvic floor area. At the same time we were doing this I knew that Susan loved the old Disney shows and in trying to think of the birth process I remembered the time lapse photography of chrysanthemums opening. I asked her if she had seen those shots and she said she had. I then checked to see if she thought that was what might happen to the cervix as it dilated for the baby to come through. She loved the idea saying that she really couldn’t imagine the process until that moment.I got a call the next day to say her baby had “dropped” and was in the correct place. Shortly after that her water broke and she gave birth. One of the most touching moments of my career came when she called to thank me and let me know that not only had she had a vaginal birth but that as far as she was concerned the cervix did open like a flower to welcome the baby through.”As you can see, a trained Hellerwork Practitioner can provide valuable support at any stage of pregnancy, before, during and after the happy event. At the heart of Hellerwork is respect for the client, the Hellerwork Practitioner meeting the client appropriately at the mid-point between what they have to offer in terms of their skills and compassion, and what the client is ready or able to receive.Each pregnancy is an unique process, bringing with it it’s own challenges and circumstances, problems and opportunities. Like a roller-coaster ride, you can’t get off half way through, but you can learn to surrender to the process and enjoy the ride! Hellerwork can be considered a valuable adjunctive treatment which pregnant women may consider to further their self-empowerment and their ability to manage their own pregnancies.

by Don St. John, Ph.D.There is a growing momentum toward a holistic health perspective. Values of the holistic framework emphasize prevention, client participation, life-style choices involving nutrition, exercise, and relaxation, and a multi-discipline approach to health maintenance. The old model of “treat the symptom, ignore the person” is fading with the emergence of the viewpoint that recognizes the wholeness of the individual.Within this holistic model is a field known as Somatic Education. Somatic Education addresses the whole person in relationship to movement, physical and psychological awareness, learning, and their environment. The focus is on the body “as experienced from within the body.” Hellerwork is a Somatic Education discipline that is making an enormous contribution to this emerging model of health and well-being.In Hellerwork the entire musculo-skeletal structure of the body is considered and related to the individual’s sense of well-being. Structure is viewed as relationship: relationship of the whole to the gravitational field in which it exists; relationship among parts within the whole; and relationship of structure to function. Isolated changes or symptom alleviation are not the concern of Hellerwork. Changes are perceived in relation to the whole body and whole person, and are aimed at improving the total energetic economy of the individual.Holistic theory states that how we live is central to the health we experience–that is, how and what we eat, exercise, relax, breathe, love, and think. Perhaps most important is how we negotiate those personal psychological issues that weave through the tapestry of our lives. Even at the very best, there are periodic rough spots, occasional frustration, and stress. At the other end of the continuum, there is intense frustration, chronic conflict, and debilitating disease.From the beginning of our lives, we are engaged with issues that set the foundation for our psycho-physical well-being. For example, we begin to develop a deep sense of basic trust in life as we successfully handle the terrain of infancy. If the conditions of our infancy are such that we do not develop that sense of trust, the psychophysical effects can cast dark and negative shadows over many ensuing years.There are issues to be mastered in every stage of life, and typically new stages resurrect old unresolved issues. These issues center around such themes as autonomy, competence, lovability, identity, intimacy, creativity, and spirituality. Our successes or failures in these are most critical to our psychophysical well-being.From the very beginning of our lives, we accumulate tension. Chronic tension is far more prevalent, extensive, and pervasive than most people imagine. Acute tension, is readily felt–such as stiffness in the neck or back. Chronic tension, however is typically outside of conscious awareness. Large areas of the body are simply unavailable to kinesthetic awareness.The strains of life’s frustrations, the wear and tear of navigating our personal ships in rapidly changing sociological waters, the cumulative effect of poor health habits and physical accidents, are all embodied. All can be seen by the trained eye, felt by the experienced hand. All affect the structural integrity of our bodies. All affect the responsiveness and aliveness of our human tissues. All affect the quality of our participation in life.Relieving wear and tear, improving the structural integrity of the human body, and educating the client in developing awareness are central objectives of Hellerwork. The value of improving structural integrity is inestimable and powerfully lessens the effects of aging.Hellerwork is a multi-level educational experience. Much is communicated in the quality of touch. Learning to let go, to accept pressure, to surrender in the sense of yielding and flowing, to create higher levels of aliveness, to learn to “feel” one’s body from the inside, are among the lessons taught in Hellerwork. Physical awareness improves as clients learn to use their bodies in ways that minimize effort and tension.This heightened awareness is paralleled psychologically as clients explore how their thoughts, attitudes, and feelings have an impact in and through their body. Hellerwork works with and educates a whole person. While not interested in symptom relief, it perhaps offers one of the best adjunctive approaches to chronic muscular pain syndromes. It emphasizes prevention and educates clients in self care. It teaches the powerful relationship of the body and the mind. With its potent range of application, Hellerwork is assuming a prominent place in our current holistic health paradigm.

Hellerwork Structural Integration, created by Joseph Heller, expands on Dr. Rolf’s method. In Hellerwork, we address the psycho-emotional aspect of the person and integrate the body, mind and movement connection patterns in order to create complete and lasting change.What really distinguishes Hellerwork from the other forms of Structural Integration are the added components of Somatic Psychology, Active Therapeutic Dialogue and Movement Education.Movement Education in Hellerwork is integrated at every level and is the true context of this work. Our goal is to give our clients a “retraining” in the way that they move through their lives. This is presented on the physical, emotional and psychological levels.By addressing the entire person and not just the body, pain and stiffness on all levels is reduced or eliminated, and fluidity, freedom and ease takes its place. Even though all Structural Integration methods address the structure and function of the body, Hellerwork provides a deeper exploration into the psycho-emotive aspect of the person.Somatic Psychology is the therapeutic dialogue process that occurs during sessions, which assists clients in releasing old patterns stored in the body, therefore allowing them to evolve to a level of increased personal awareness and authenticity in their lives.From our perspective, the individual’s ability to move through life with ease makes all the difference in the way one lives, speaks and acts in the world.There is a complex relationship between movement and self-expression, and simply put, the greater the ease of movement, the easier it is for people to express themselves verbally and emotionally. Movement is encouraged in Hellerwork Structural Integration, and achieved on every level.The first level is the freedom that is created in the physical body, as alignment is improved along with the release of chronic pain and holding patterns.The deeper levels of work are related to the inter-relatedness between the mind, the emotions, and the body.Hellerwork addresses these levels by exploring their relationships and offers facilitation to clients. This process assists in clearing out old and dysfunctional patterns and creates new optimal perspectives and tools that inspire awareness, joy, and freedom. This is all facilitated from a state of unconditional love, which is an important component offered in our practitioner training.Our heart-based approach is healing and transformative by nature because people grow more easily when they experience love and support.A shift in the body is a shift in consciousness.Experience this the Hellerwork way.

By Joseph Hunton for Awareness Magazine. This is the time of year when people traditionally reflect on the past and think about what they can do to be happier and healthier in the future. Along with losing weight and getting more exercise, one of themost common New Year’s resolutions is reducing stress. Unfortunately, like the other two, it’s also one of the hardest resolutions to keep. Stress, and its harmful effects on the body, can be greatly reduced through a form of bodywork that has often been overlooked.Hellerwork is a dynamic, three-part system of deep tissue bodywork, movement education, and dialogue designed to relieve stress and pain, improve posture and alignment, enhance movement and flexibility and increase energy.During the eleven 90-minute session series, tension and stress are released and the natural structural balance of the body is restored to a more aligned and relaxed state through a variety of gentle, “handson” deep tissue bodywork techniques. Movement education is used to help the client develop a better awareness of their body andmovement patterns. Dialogue is used to assist the client in becoming aware of emotional stress that may be related to physical tension.Hellerwork reflects the holistic approach to health, viewing the body as a complete and balanced entity, rather than merely a sum of disparate parts.This unique combination is designed to produce permanent change for lasting good health and personal growth.The Fascia ConnectionTo fully understand the process, it helps to learn about fascia, the connective tissue that Hellerwork directly affects. Fascia is a plasticlike tissue that wraps the muscles and all the fibers that become muscle. It is like a multi-layer body stocking, wrapping muscles and weaving in layers throughout the body. In its optimal condition, fascia is loose and moist, and facilitates movement and flexibility.However, due to chronic physical or emotional stress, lack of movement, or physical trauma, the fascia can become rigid and lose its flexibility. This results in the layers sticking to one another, often causing “knots”, pain, adhesions or restriction of movement. Our own movement patterns often determine how our fascia gets stuck. Also,because it is literally “connective” tissue, tension in one part of the body can affect many other areas of the body, as well.A body that is already out of balance may react to the simple force of gravity as a stressor, and become even more imbalanced and rigid. This is often what causes people to stiffen and shorten as they age.Hellerwork is designed to realign the body by releasing the rigidity from the connective tissue, facilitating change of the patterns that caused that rigidity and imbalance in the first place, and initiating dialogue to raise awareness of the impact of emotions and attitudes on the body.The Three Components of HellerworkThe deep, connective tissue bodywork releases tension in the fascia to systematically return the body to an aligned position. The practitioner achieves this through a “hands-on” process, by manually stretching the fascia back to its normal position. The client often feels a great release of tension, which produces an uncommon, but normal, state of well-being.The movement education teaches the client to become more aware of their body and movements. During sessions, clients will spend part of the time standing, sitting and walking, and are coached on their movement patterns. Simple but effective, easy-to-remember suggestions and visualizations are used to help the client rebalance their movements for optimal alignment and fluidity. Video feedback may be used to enhance this process.The verbal dialogue component helps the client become aware of emotions and attitudes and how they affect the body. The focus of the dialogue begins with, but is not limited to, the theme of each session. These themes highlight common attitudes and emotions associated with different parts of the body.For example, during the first session, the practitioner works primarily on the chest and the theme is “Inspiration”. During the bodywork, the practitioner may ask, “Do you feel inspired? What inspires you?What affects your ability to feel inspired?” This dialogue helps the client become aware of how emotions can impact the body. By becoming aware of these emotional patterns, the process of change in the mind and body can begin.The SessionsEach of the eleven Hellerwork sessions has a theme and each one is designed to focus on a specific area of the body to facilitate better alignment, flexibility and balance. Themes of the sessions are: Inspiration; Standing on Your Own Two Feet; Reaching Out; Control and Surrender; The Guts; Holding Back; Losing Your Head; The Feminine; The Masculine; Integration and Coming Out.There isn’t one standard reaction to Hellerwork, but typical responses to sessions often include a feeling of increased height due to better alignment, ease of breathing, increased range of motion, a more graceful walk, more energy, increased relaxation, enhanced awareness and openness, and often a connection to buried emotionsand intuition.The Hellerwork practitioners are a unique group of extensively trained health educators and professionals who are committed to actualizing the principles of Hellerwork, not only in their sessions, but in their daily lives.

REFLECTIONS FROM THE LAB:SUBCUTANEOUS CONNECTIVE TISSUE“Aka Superficial Fascia. Aka Adipose. Aka Fat. Aka ‘Cushion For The Pushin’’. This beautiful Golden Fleece is kindly wrapped around each one of us -- to a greater or lesser degree -- and varies in thickness based on its location. Although this tissue is often maligned and insulted it serves MANY valuable functions. Our fatty layer is #highly #structured and innervated by many #nerves and #vessels. Our work on this tissue in the lab was to manually remove the lipids from its intricate fascial web. The results produced a cloud-like billowy layer of shockingly-strong connective tissue which, even after losing its density, maintained its depth. “The superficial fascia is full of interoceptors, full of lymph, ... full of of value and is a deep part of our full, human experience. We are eager to plastinate this layer and include it in the current fascia-categorization conversation. We hope our efforts will also begin to bring more #compassion in the greater view of it as we expose the #beauty, #strength, and#value of this remarkable tissue.” — FAUNA MOOREPhoto Credit: ©FasciaResearchSociety.org/plastination #fasciaresearchsociety#fasciaresearchcongress #fasciaplastination #fascia#plastinarium #guben #germany

✍️NOTES FROM THE LAB:THORACOLUMBAR FASCIAThis image shows the multi-directional nature of the#thoracolumbar #fascia. In this #dissection we included the #latissimus #dorsi and #gluteus#maximus muscles to show how each of these merges into the thoracolumbar fascia, creating a key relationship between the #upper and #lower#extremities. By preserving both latissimus muscles we can see the relationship on the same side of the body with the #gluteus (lower left), across the sacrum and iliac crest, as well as the relationship across to the other side of the body. In Tom Myers#AnatomyTrains, this diagonal connecting of the glutes on one side to the lats on the other is part of the myofascial meridian called the #Functional#Line. The thoracolumbar fascia plays a key role in#stabilization and movement, and with research discovering fascia’s role in back pain, it proves a valuable area to display through plastination.Photo Credit: ©FasciaResearchSociety.org/plastination #fasciaresearchsociety#fasciaresearchcongress #fasciaplastination #fascia#disection #plastination #plastinarium #anatomy#guben #germany #robertschleip #carlastecco#johnsharkey #fasciaresearch