Hi there, I'm Elias

When I first heard of Rolfing, I was a 23 year old personal trainer at a time which I felt I was my most physically fit. I was dealing with intermittent mid-back pain which over time started migrating into other areas of my body like the upper back, neck and shoulders.  There were a few occasions where I would be walking and all of a sudden feel off balance like I was going to fall. After 2 hospital visits, an MRI and a doctor visit, I was told I'm likely dealing with Meniere's disease which is characterized by a spinning sensation (vertigo), dizziness, feeling off balance, hearing loss, ringing in the ears and ear pressure. I had all of those symptoms so I was given a prescription for meclizine, a medication used to treat motion sickness and vertigo, to be used as needed. I was told that people typically deal with this for the rest of their lives so I was sent on my way.

 

These vertigo events slowly started eroding my physical and emotional well-being. In addition to the body aches, tension and vertigo, I started experiencing anxiety, digestive complaints and constant exhaustion. I was deeply affected losing some of my physical strength, my muscular appearance, my desire to go out, have fun and be a guy in his early twenties. In that time, most of the people around me said I looked fine and that is was all in my head. What they didn't know was I was really suffering. I was even more exhausted after talking about it and I eventually stopped trying to convince people what I was dealing with. I was then more withdrawn and spending most of my time in my internal world.

 

Prior to my fitness career, I would spend hours at the library reading countless books on fitness and nutrition. Now that I had left the fitness industry, my reading selection moved into philosophy, psychology, spirituality, personal development, osteopathy, naturopathy, homeopathy, and Traditional Chinese Medicine. I began visiting a variety of wellness professionals to help with the physical and emotional symptoms receiving some degree of relief. I found myself going to health and spiritual talks being the youngest person in the room. In one of those talks, there was a senior, Harry, and middle-aged woman, Beata, selling raw dairy, grass fed and finished beef and free range organic eggs. I became a frequent customer visiting their co-op once weekly. On one occasion, I overheard a woman talking about this thing called Rolfing and she had just finished a series of ten sessions called the Ten Series. It caught my attention because I thought I was well versed in healing modalities. Rolfing is one of those I never heard of. The way she described her experience sounded like quite a profound experience which she shared with much enthusiasm. I wasn't directly in the conversation but when the woman finished telling her story I said, "Hey, I overheard you talking. Where can I get that done?" Harry told me," Oh you don't need that. You're too young for that." Beata jumped in and agreed. At the time, I trusted authority more than my intuition. Simply put, I trusted them than more than I trusted me. There's a lesson there but that's for another time. I was on my way with my health foods.

 

About 1 year after I first heard about Rolfing, I had been receiving regular acupuncture treatments and cooking prescribed Chinese herbal formulas which greatly reduced my vertigo episodes, anxiety and fatigue. I felt like I was being recharged however I was still dealing with the off-balance feeling sometimes daily but with much less intensity. When I would experience that, there was always a certain kind of tension in my neck. I was convinced there was a correlation and I needed to find out how to dissolve that deep tension and stiffness in my neck. I don't recall if I was reading an old nutrition book or a book on personal development, but I found a peculiar word in the resources which re-emerged in my life, Rolfing. Yes, it was back, and the words couldn't have been any clearer. I acted my internal nudge to check it out and did a google search. Every word I read on Rolfing, fascia, connective tissue couldn't talk to me any louder. I was convinced. This is what I needed. I made another search and what do you know, there was a Rolfer 15 minutes away. 

 

I reached out to this Rolfer who had a Rolfing practice in Denver and Chicago. She just so happened to be in Chicago when I called. I scheduled an appointment for the following week. In the beginning of our appointment, I was talking about my challenges and why I was there. I remember being emotionally charged talking about old things that I had been dealing with over several years. She listened calmy and patiently and asked me to turn to each side and eventually walk a little bit in the space which was available in the room. The touch she provided was impactful from the start. When I stood up halfway into the session, I felt different, really different. I had gotten off of the table quickly so I was feeling a little lightheaded, but I felt a tremendous amount of pressure release from my body.  I was open, expanded and more spacious on one side. I was eager to lie back down so I can get the same for the other side. By the time I stood up at the end, I felt lighter. I was breathing easier. I felt so open. I felt taller, at ease and energized at the same time. It was so odd to me, so unique. More importantly, I didn't have any more tension in my neck. I left and walked a few blocks to take the bus home and thought to myself," This is all I had to f*cking do?" Excuse the language. While I wasn't feeling the emotional charge of the stories I told at the beginning of my sessions, I was mad. I was mad I had spent thousands of dollars over the years to feel even a fraction of what I felt after my first Rolfing session. The anger subsided. I was overtaken by the new senses I was feeling in my body. That Rolfing session did more for me than years of bodywork, corrective exercises and stretches. On top of that, I had no vertigo or off-balance sensation for more than a week whereas previously, it was daily. I scheduled a second session with an even bigger gap between my episodes and lastly a third session before my Rolfer took off for Denver. I was balanced, vertigo free. I looked and felt super amazing. I stood taller. My legs, hips, back, neck and shoulders all felt so free and lined up correctly. These Three sessions changed my life. 

 

Fast forward about five years from my initial Rolfing sessions, I had been seeing another Rolfer in Chicago for a Ten Series after a car accident I had been involved in. In my one session with her, I asked her what she was doing in that moment, and she said," Well, have you ever thought of doing the training (to become a Rolfer)? A flurry of thoughts ran through my mind. Yes, I had thought many times of becoming a Rolfer. I'd often have Rolfing sessions before important meetings or before a weekend because I would walk in a room and feel like I owned it. I was a walking testimony. I could do the same for others, but I had many doubts. The doubt of being self-employed. The doubt of what people would think when I told them I worked as a Rolfer. My conventional, conservative family who color within the lines and do things by the book. What would they think. "Did you say roofer?" "Bodyworker? You mean you work on cars?" "Rolfer huh? How did you get into that? (with a judgmental expression on their face)." The curiosity to do something new overrode that doubt. In the session with my then Rolfer and now mentor, I made a decision to become a Rolfer. I mean, "Limber" is part of my last name. Can it be any clearer that this is the work I'm supposed to do? "Knock-knock you dingleberry! Do the training!" said the Old Man Upstairs.

 

In October of 2017, I completed my Rolfing training. I came back to Chicago to make this work more accessible to the community. I thought to myself, there are more people out there spinning their wheels the way I did. Some physically suffering and others emotionally suffering. Some, a combination of both. I do this work for you. Unless you've been diagnosed with a deep pathology, I can tell you that your body has the ability to change as it did for me. Let me show you how.

 

-Elias Limberopoulos, Certified Rolfer®

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