A Non-Central Axis
Christine Ruffolo The medical, fitness, and wellness worlds are fixated on correcting imbalances. Amidst all the readily available treatment plans, too few remain curious about why so many asymmetries exist. The undoubted anatomical and functional differences between the hemispheres give structural scientific cause, but it may be negating the brain’s role in left-right dominance. […]
Critical Look #3 – My Own Work
Christine Ruffolo ‘Critical Look’ challenges the way systemic information is presented and questions the story being told. SYSTEMIC IDEOLOGY: Create a New Normal in Physical Education. Personal background with system – Fifteen years of trial and error at a public high school. What New PE is getting right Reconsidering the purpose and […]
Critical Look #2 – Fighting Monkey
Christine Ruffolo ‘Critical Look’ challenges the way systemic information is presented and questions the story being told. Personal background with system – attended a FM 2-day seminar in April of 2017. What Fighting Monkey is getting right They have been instrumental in creating a large shift in task or situation based training. By […]
Almog Loven Part 1: Physical
Christine Ruffolo I got to the Finnish Hall early. I always get there early, especially on the first day. I was eager and curious to participate in a workshop I knew nothing about. The rare glowing recommendation of an internet personality and a cancelled Spring Break trip to Mexico had led me here last […]
An Introduction to Rolfing
Christine Ruffolo A community class titled, “Self-Care for the Nervous System” made it’s way into my facebook feed and given the reasonable price ($15-$35, sliding scale) I decided to check it out. I knew very little about Rolfing going in, and I didn’t bother to research it should it create an expectation. I had […]
Teaching Kids Weightlifting
Christine Ruffolo A PE teacher on one side of the country texts her trainer pal on the other: “I was thinking of getting this textbook for my weightlifting class.” “Why do you need a textbook?” “So I have something to reference and know what to tell the kids.” She sent a link to […]
Critical Look #1 – FRC
Christine Ruffolo ‘Critical Look’ challenges the way systemic information is presented and questions the story being told. Personal background with system – attended a FRC seminar/certification in December of 2015. What FRC is getting right They have been brilliant at internalizing the focus of movement. Getting people to pay attention to their joints […]
Matan Levowich
Christine Ruffolo Matan Levkowich is a dancer, choreographer, and martial artist. Another of the incredible Israeli movers, he is able to pluck out threads from all the worlds he has immersed himself in and deliver them in practical form. He first blipped on my radar during a conversation with Marlo Fisken. She was hosting […]
Disruption, Discomfort, and Disconnect
Christine Ruffolo Note: this is a companion piece to The Essential Act of Nothing. Its sentiment can be summed up by the following: Recently, I wept along side a theater full of adults. We were watching the latest Mr. Rogers movie, and he reminded us, “you don’t have to do anything sensational for people […]
Tom Weksler
Christine Ruffolo Tom Weksler’s Movement Archery workshop was a lesson in angular momentum. We rolled, we spun, we bruised our pointy bits. Imagine an archer drawing back his bow, creating length and space from which to effortlessly propel himself. Spiralling was the general means to generate kinetic potential, from foot to head and left to […]
Spinal Fluidity – Influence of Load & Scapula
Christine Ruffolo Movement expression is dependent on on our tadpole-like head and spine to drive and disperse motion. Any sticking points have a reverberatory effect on the actions of the limbs. After a decade of undoing the rigidity trained through athletics and weight lifting, I am beginning to piece together how to create a […]
Form Follows Function
Christine Ruffolo Form Follows Function was a 6-hour Axis Syllabus themed workshop that combined elements of anatomy, contact improv, and dance. Spread over two days (Saturday and Sunday, in the perfect hours of 10a – 1p), the general flow of the course began with contact improv, dipped into anatomy, connected and contextualized axis syllabus, […]
MovNat Level 1
Christine Ruffolo The two-day level one workshop is designed to give participants entrance level skills of walking, hanging, crawling, jumping, and throwing. The MovNat Level 1 Certification coincides with the workshop, but has coaches and trainers in mind, digging deeper into elements of class design and group instruction. The MovNat (or natural movement) System […]
A New PE: Year in Review
Christine Ruffolo Being a public educator means you will never be without students. The caveat is that many won’t want to be there. Shaped by a past experience of dodgeballs to the face and timed miles and pacer tests, Physical Education was something to endure. It was a punishment for not being athletic or interested […]
Neck Extension and Lateral Flexion
Christine Ruffolo Plagued by forward head posture and phone-down eyes, the act of tilting the head back can become unnerving. Used to being underutilized, the cervical spine has to be coaxed into believing extension can be a position of comfort. The shoulders, jaw, and brain can be manipulated to convince the tissues and central […]
PRI: The Big Three
Christine Ruffolo Postural Restoration addresses the anatomical imbalances of the body by inhibiting certain areas by position and purposefully engaging others. A big idea is that the left side of the body is stuck in extension while the right side lingers in flexion. The effects of each appear in patterns throughout the kinetic chain. Posterior […]
Pain Exploration: Medial Knee
For about two months, I’ve had some chronic discomfort in my left knee. On a scale of 1-10, with ’10’ being agony and ‘1’ being noticeable/annoying, it oscillates between 1 and 4. Though this might be thought of as acceptable to many, I want zeroes. I spent a decade in pain playing rugby. I’m over […]
Learning Acrobatics and Developing Elasticity
Movement overlaps. Brain work = joint work = speed, power, strength, and coordination work. We have structures and we have capacities. Our practice establishes the abilities of both. There is a general consensus that if your parts work better you’ll be able to perform better and do better things. But what exactly would you DO […]
Chris Ruffolo Think Movement
Movement Translation and Empathy
“Translation allows for otherwise separate entities to synapse and communicate.” I have been a teacher for thirteen years and a movement therapist for five. As I toggle through the two professions, an unlikely blend has taken place. I find myself teaching those that come to see me for pain. Instead of jogging laps, students lead spinal […]