Long-term distortions create more tenacious and widespread compensatory patterns, which may require more sustained pressure to release. Another factor is the degree of emotional charge associated with an area of injury or strain. Dr. Rolf made the point that during the therapeutic process, emotional pain is often experienced when deeply held emotional traumas and memories are brought to surface and processed. Similarly, she reasoned, deep touch can result in transitory experience of pain that is healing and transformative. However, there is actually a fair amount of variation in the level of intensity.
Various practitioners feel it is appropriate to affect the necessary level of change.
It is recommended that the potential Rolfing client speak to all Rolfers about this issue and try the various work of practitioners, judging both the level of intensity and the quality of the results you experience. A general guideline for the vast majority of Rolfing clients is that the intensity experienced is transitory, moving quickly form brief intensity to a decrease in sensation and finally to an easing of long-standing holdings which can prove both profound and transformative. To paraphrase Peter Schwind, a Certified Advanced Rolfer from Munich, Germany, 'the art of Rolfing is to master a wide range of styles of touch and know when a lighter and more intense touch is required'. Continuous communication with the client and pacing the level of intensity are essential, profoundly effecting the client's reaction to the transitory discomfort when seriously restricted tissue is softened, discriminated and reintegrated.