Rolfing® SI and Somatic Experiencing® with Rihab Yaqub

About Rihab

The sense of touch and awareness of texture have always been important for me. I began working with fabrics when I was 5, studied weaving with the indigenous people of Guatemala, and have had a business restoring Navajo textiles.

At the age of 27, I first encountered Japanese contemplative practices which led me to the martial art, Aikido, and to Zen Buddhism. I served as the Chief Instructor of the Southwestern Aikikai in Santa Fe, NM, and then spent 11 years in intensive study as a Buddhist nun. Somehow the seed of my present work was planted at that time.

I was originally drawn to Rolfing® Structural Integration by the idea that the body is self-organizing and self-healing. I went through a Rolfing series and was freed from the chronic back pain I had lived with since I was 16. For the first time I felt my arms swing as I walked, and there was a pleasurable undulation of my spine one day as I drove down the freeway!

I encountered Somatic Experiencing® and through that work discovered the healing power of attention to the felt sense (the internal body sense of a situation). I began to feel more comfortable in my own skin. Everything I do is now informed by that frame of reference.

Including the principles of Rolf Movement® Integration into my work has given me the tools to bring to my practice the totality of my life experience. As a martial arts instructor, I witnessed clearly the difference between authentic movement coming from within the body and the mechanical movement that occurs when someone has been told how to move. Now as a Rolfer™, I explore with clients ways for them to experience ease and resiliency in their bodies and the ability to find authentic movement in all their activities of daily life.