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Continuum Movement Workshops for 2009

GO Studio, Longmont, CO July 30-32, August 1, 2009

A Midsummer’s Dream: The Silence that comes from Sound
This workshop contains the teachings of Vickie Dodd, a sound healer pioneer who teaches how to sculpt your inner space with sound, bringing dexterity and suppleness to your tissue. Gael Ohlgren  brings guidance and exploration through non-linear fluid movements of Continuum to increase creative choices within the constraints of our busy lives. For more information, and flyer, click here.

Berkeley, California, August 27-30, 2009

Breathing and Nuturing Yourself to Health
Our breath patterns and the signature of our nervous system go hand and hand. They often carry the weight of past experiences. We may know them more through mental and emotional afflictions that revisit us in times of stress. For more information, and flyer, click here.

Bali Somatic Arts Program (Bali, Indonesia), October 31-November 7, 2009

With Gael Ohlgren and Vicki Topp
A Touch of Peace: Somatic Practitioner Skills of Touch and Movement (www.MovingVentures.org)

This workshop will focus on effective techniques for inducing and/or reminding self-regulation and balance for your clients. Lectures, demonstrations and supervision practice will focus on the integration of compassionate, educated touch and movement meditation techniques from Esalen Massage, Body Mind Centering, Rolfing and Rolfing Movement, and Continuum Movement. This Balinese training will have the opportunity to take advantage of the tropical ocean and warm mineral springs for explorations in the water as well as on the floor and at the table.

For certified bodyworkers or by permission of instructors. CEU’s available

For more information, and flyer, click here.

Below is the detailed directions from the Denver International Airport map.

For more local directions and a local map, click here.

For a printable PDF with both local and airport maps on one page, click here. (HINT: If you’re on a Windows, right-click once on the link, and choose “Save Target As” from the drop-down menu.

If you’re on a Macintosh, option-click on the link, and choose “Download link to Disk” from the drop-down menu).

Welcome to GO Studio

What is Continuum? And What is Rolfing?

Gael works from two disciplines: Continum Movement, and Rolfing. Below is a description of both, taken from her writings. To review Gael’s schedule for this year, click here.

Continuum

“Continuum Movement offers you the chance to develop a new somatic vocabulary that leads to a deepening awareness of your body, your organism and your self, as well as an increased sensitivity to movement from the subtlest breath and internal impulse to outer rapport with others.

Through diverse breaths, sounds, and unpatterned movement, we learn to enter into our body noticing and moving with the inner sensations that emerge. By initiating wave-like motions, we come into contact with the qualities and movements common to all life forms. This is because all biological organisms reside in a liquid environment having been born of water and remaining mostly composed of water throughout life. As Emilie Conrad, founder of Continuum, reminds us, “we are a fluid, flowing event, not a fixed thing.”

In Continuum Movement, we dilate our awareness as awareness changes how we physically move. Healing, creativity, compassion and expansion are all activated by awareness.

For instance, in the healing process, whether the cause be from physical or emotional trauma or pain, awareness helps us to notice that there is still movement in our organism inside a situation that feels blocked or immobile. When we broaden our focus to what else is happening in the body, we are no longer held in the confines of a linearly defined problem. Instead, we have new possibilities and pathways to help us get in touch with our organism, allowing us to notice sensations other than those of our injuries and discomforts.

An opening takes place, passion and pleasure are reawakened, and we return to the exploratory, playful awe of children. The fixated habits and hardened, limiting social norms that bind and narrow us as adults begin to soften and release. Our entire person is freed up, based on biological inspiration and unfolding, not mental directing or controlling.

According to Emilie Conrad, “As we become more fluid and resilient in our body’s movement, so do the mental, emotional and spiritual movements of our lives.” By regaining fluidity in our body, we tap into our biological system where innovation and fertile possibility are always expressing. Fluidity also melts fear and resistance, opening greater trust and confidence in our ability to sense and meet what unfolds moment to moment.

Growth, creativity and healing are non-linear, fluid processes depending on an ability to mutate, adjust and innovate in response to the inevitable changes and challenges of life. Thus Continuum Movement is equally important to the creative arts as it is to the somatic therapies and healing.

Continuum speaks to the needs and interests of people from the lay person to the professional, from the therapist to the artist. No particular skill or physical prowess is required to do Continuum, only a willingness to participate deeply with yourself.

Movements can range from the most subtle, internal, meditative movement to vast, activating, full-body expression. Nonetheless, whatever sort of movement emerges, it is the body’s wisdom that is the source of the movement which is always safe, gentle, nurturing and liberating. ”

For all events, wear loose clothes, and bring water to drink and a yoga mat or something to lie on.

View Gael’s schedule for this year.

Directions, Transportation, and Lodging Tips

Directions

Below is the detailed map for directions from Boulder as well as lodging options.

For directions from the Denver International Airport, go here.

For a printable PDF with both local and airport maps on one page, click here. (HINT: If you’re on a Windows, right-click once on the link, and choose “Save Target As” from the drop-down menu.

If you’re on a Macintosh, option-click on the link, and choose “Download link to Disk” from the drop-down menu).

Gael Ohlgren operates the GO Studio Rolfing & Movement workshops and private sessions from 7440 North 49th Street, Longmont, CO. Located just 8 miles from downtown Boulder.

From downtown Boulder, there are two equidistant ways:

1. Take Broadway north (it’s where 12th Street would be if there was one) to the edge of town, where it stops at Highway 36. Go left/north about 2 miles, turn right on Neva. Go east about 2 miles to 49th Street (a dirt road). Turn left/north and go 1/4 mile. The “Ohlgren” mailbox is on the right.
2. Take Diagonal Highway/ 119 northeast towards Longmont. At the 63rd Street stoplight, turn left/north and go 2 miles to stop sign at Niwot. Turn left on Niwot, go 2 miles to 49th Street. Go up 1/4 mile.

Transportation

Travel by air means flying into Denver’s International Airport (DIA). Once there, find Ground Transportation at the main terminal/baggage claim area. There is a direct bus that leaves every half hour and takes you to Boulder’s one and only terminal at 14th and Walnut. The other option is the Super Shuttle which leaves on the hour. It will drop you at the major downtown hotels. There is also a door to door shuttle but I don’t recommend it because it can take twice as long. The Super Shuttle and the bus are both an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes in duration. From there a short taxi ride will deliver you to your destination.

For reservations in advance call Super Shuttle (303) 444-0808 or RTD (bus) (303) 299-6000. Be forewarned however that the baggage claim process can take a good half hour. Price of shuttle is $19. Round trip, $22. One way. The bus is comfortable and costs something between $8-$12.

Lodging

Holiday Inn Express. The closest lodging to the Boulder Circus Center, and Gael’s GO Stuido, is the Holiday Inn Express. Their phone number is 303 442-6600. They are located on N. Broadway within walking of restaurants and a Lucky’s health food store. About 5 miles from both GO Studio and Boulder Circus Center. Rates go between $89 and $169 depending on the season. It is possible to get a room with two queen size beds for these rates in order to share with a roommate.

Other Lodging Options

For standard upscale prices there is the Marriot, located in downtown Boulder, near to movies, restaurants, and shops. There is also the historical, reportedly haunted Boulderado Hotel. It is next to Boulder’s picturesque and entertaining Pearl Street Mall.

More Moderate Accommodations

Two options on Arapahoe Ave. that are moderate in price and within walking distance of a health food store, the Pearl Mall and restaurants. They are also 21 blocks from Naropa Inst. (about a 25 minute walk):

• The Foot of the Mountain (303) 442-5688 has a refrigerator, no kitchen
• The Silver Saddle (303) 442-8022 www.silversaddle.com

Both are an older style, rustic motel near mountain paths.

Two options close to Longmont:

• Sandy Point Inn in Gunbarrel (303) 530-2939. Reasonably priced, includes a real breakfast, quiet.
• Niwot Inn (303) 652-8452. More expensive and more charming. Fireplace, little picturesque town with a couple of restaurants 10 minutes from Longmont

Hope that helps. Public transportation is not great in Boulder, but the natives are friendly and are usually agreeable to car pooling.

How I see Rolfing - An Overview

by Gael Ohlgren

“Rolfing, also known as Structural Integration, was deveoped by Dr. Ida P. Rolf. During her lifetime, she was unique in recognizing the vital roles that gravity and connective tissue play in the body’s organization. Connective tissue, known as the myofascial system, supports the soft tissues, positions the bones, determines the direction of muscle pulls and of movement, and gives the body its shape.

The job of Rolfing is to free fascial adhesions, allowing the muscles and bones to retunr to balanced relationships. When the fascial system is organized through the Rolfing process, the body’s major segments come into alignment. People have reported greater range of motion, more well-being, feeling younger, and more coordinated.

Each session is a combination of education and physical manipulation. The client and Rolfer work together to find the appropriate pace and pressure so that each session is relazing and meaningful.

Initially, Rolfingi is designed to be a 10-session series, although it is possible to try one session. Each session lasts about an hour and 15 minutes. Most people continue to receive “tune ups” or advanced work from time to time. Rolfing costs less than maintaining your car and adds immeasurably to the quality of life.

Rolfing promotes well-being by enhancing the body’s pattern of organization. It balances the body in gravity and enables participants to function at successively higher levels of efficiency and ease. If our bodies are dense, tense, and inflexible, we experience our lives from the viewpoint of someone limited in expression and movement.

As the tissue softens in response to the pressure and stretching associated with Rolfing, the musculature relaxes and our physiology changes. We feel in our bodies an openness and expressiveness, and our perpective changes dramatically.

Rolfing can help:

• Chronic pain conditions
• Accident injuries and trauma
• Poor posture and joint problems
• Athletes and dancers
• People in life transitions
• Personal evolution
• Infants, children, adults, and seniors

Benefits of my work:

• Better posture without effort
• Increased flexibility
• Relief from physical pain
• Enhanced athletic performance
• Release from chronic injuiry and tension patterns
• More pleasure in exercise
• Heightened energy and awareness

Rolfing works with:

A busy schedule: Appointments can be made to fit your schedule. You leave sessions feeling relaxed and revitalized.

Workout programs: Proper alignment is essential if you work out, so that exercise improves your structure rather than taxing it.

Physical therapy: Rolfing is especially beneficial after wearing a cast or recovering from surgery. Adhesions are released, flexibility and balance regained. Sessions are tailored to work with the program prescribed by your doctor.

Chiropractic treatments: Adjustments hold better in a Rolfed body because muscles and connective tissue support the spine without the tensions that tend to pull vertebrae out of place.

Massage treatments: Better alignment gained in Rolfing allows the body to maintain the relaxation of a massage longer.

Therapy: By understanding one’s own physical holding patterns, direct correlations can be made to feeling “down,” “held back,” “uptight,” “unsupported,” and so forth. Changing old, unconscious physical habits brings one to a more congruent, present time sense of self. 

Real-life Examples:

An ill-fitting work station, long hours at repetitive tasks and habitual patterns of breathing can mold one’s shape over time. This person at the computer is creating strain on the lower back by sitting in a chair that is too low and by using only the back half of his pelvis for support. This lack of support is, in turn, creating restrictions of breath in the chest and abdomen, strain and lack of circulation through the neck and shoulders.

A carpenter’s tool belt is a steady influence, pulling the pelvis off-center. Likewise, a strong “hammer arm” can imbalance the shoulder girdle. Add heavy lifting or some other stress and your have a spine vulnerable to strain or injury.

Gael’s Story

Gael Ohlgren began her life-long inquiry as a somatic and movement practitioner in 1968-1969 while working as a massage therapist at the Esalen Institute at a time when revolutionary ideas were being explored that would eventually break open and lay the grounds for today’s vast field of somatic therapy.

During this time, Gael met Ida Rolf who had just begun teaching her method of working with connective tissue as a means of freeing the breath and the body from emotional and cultural patterning. Gael immediately recognized in Ida Rolf’s vision the echo of her own heartfelt intuitions and aspirations.

From 1969-1970, Gael trained with Ida Rolf, afterwards training, as Ida had directed her to do, with Judith Aston whom Ida had assigned the task of developing the movement vision of Rolfing. Gael continued to study movement with Judith Aston for five years until Judith left the Rolfing community to establish her own approach to somatic therapy.

At Judith’s departure, the Rolf Institute asked Gael to serve on the original committee charged to define and evolve the principles and teaching of Rolf Movement. Over the next several years, Gael helped create the Rolf Movement teacher-training program and has since remained one of the Institute’s principal Rolf Movement instructors.

In 1987 Gael became a Rolfing teacher while continuing to augment her somatic skills in cranial sacral, visceral manipulation and Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing trauma release work. She left her teaching position at the Rolf Institute in 1997 to devote her time to the intensive training program required to become a Continuum teacher.

Gael currently holds the title of Emeritus Rolf Faculty and continues to teach Rolfing and Rolf Movement courses both through the Institute’s continuing education program and as visiting professor.

Since 1981 when Gael first met Emilie Conrad, founder of Continuum, and Susan Harper, Continuum collaborator, the art of Continuum has been at the heart of Gael’s personal practice and passionate inquiry.

Gael is a licensed Continuum teacher, having studied the work for over 20 years, and is also a member of Continuum’s International Faculty, teaching in Europe, Japan and South America.

Gael has had a private practice as a somatic practitioner and teacher of Rolfing and movement for 31 years. In the last several years, she has taught workshops in Japan, Finland, Germany, and Brazil.

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