European Rolfing® Association e.V. Activity and Financial Report … · 2017-07-24 · Page 1 ERA Annual Report 2016of 34 Published April 2017 European Rolfing® Association e.V

Page 1 of 34 ERA Annual Report 2016 Published April 2017

European Rolfing® Association e.V.

Activity and Financial Report 2016

1 Board and Office Reports

Members: John H. Armstrong (Chair since Nov. 2012), Julia Isbarn-Friedrich (Dec 2012),

Lisa Praller (Nov. 2014), Marina Blandini (Nov. 2014), Siegfried Novak (Nov. 2014);

Ex-Officio: Conny Obermeier – Faculty representative, Laura Schecker – Executive

Director (since May 2016) Lore Junginger – Administrative Director (until July 2016).

Office: Laura Schecker-Executive Director, Martina Berger-Training Coordinator, Sabine

Klausner-Membership Service & Office Management, Beate Baudrexl-Training Assistant

since Jan 2016, Lore Junginger – Financial Adviser since Aug. 2016.

2016 Annual Overview

The year 2016 was a very successful year for our association, with many major events and important

changes:

• The 25th Anniversary Conference and General Assembly. We wish to thank the Rolfing® community for

making this event such a significant success. Whether present as panelist, speaker, instructor, staff or

attendee, it was extraordinary to feel the energy, enthusiasm and sense of community that was present.

Our thank you as well to the US-based RISI members in attendance, your participation was deeply

appreciated and a valuable addition.

• Renovation of our Munich Training Center. The required exterior work at Saarstraße, and subsequent

Sommer shut-down, created a unique opportunity for us to renovate and expand the ERA Office. The

facility now includes: two training rooms, an expanded student lounge and kitchen, a new teacher’s

office, new Office space for the staff, and storage rooms for all the equipment freeing up space within

the training rooms. A special thank you to Faculty, students, and members for adapting to the outside

training days, and Office team specifically, for managing it. If you are in Munich, please drop by... our

new facility is worth checking out!

• Addition of Laura Schecker as our new Executive Director. Laura joined us in May just in time to meet

many of you at the 25th Anniversary Event; she then took over management of the renovation and

expansion of our Training Center. We wish to acknowledge Laura’s contributions to getting this work

done on schedule and welcome her to the Office team.


In addition, further notable developments during the year include:

• Certification of new members was the highest (45) since we moved to Saarstraße in 2010, and our

association now has 622 members.

• ERA’s first French-language training in Geneva completed successfully, adding 17 new French-speaking

members to our community from Belgium, Switzerland and France. Congratulations to everyone involved

with the Geneva training!

• The Modular Basic Training Program in London, BARSI, began their 2nd Training round which will

wrap-up in early 2017; a third round is presently in the planning stages.

• The Outreach Work Group concluded its year-long project to re-conceive how we deliver Basic Rolfing®

Training to different regions of Europe. In the new Outreach format we are one school, ERA, working

with local organizers within target regions to bring the ERA curriculum, Faculty and process locally;

supporting materials are in process and a financial model was developed to quickly evaluate proposed

trainings and deliver consistency in our trainings wherever they occur.

• The Rolf Movement™ Training certified its first class under the new curriculum. A reminder that all

earlier Certified Movement practitioners are eligible to enroll in Phase III of the new curriculum which

includes new material on teaching Rolf Movement™ to groups.

• The new ERA website launched successfully and we have received very positive feedback since it

launched. Many of you participated in our early review and feedback efforts, including the 2015 Biennial

Meeting walk-through; our thank you for helping us get it right.

• The Contact Point meeting where ERA and all European Regional Associations meet was extended to

two days, followed by quarterly teleconferences. These meetings are an outgrowth of a closer

collaboration between ERA and the Regions as we seek to better coordinate our activities and effort for

the benefit of all members.

• We reached out to the broader Structural Integrator communities in Europe. Specifically, we sent two

ERA representatives to the CASI’s (Czech “Guild school” of Structural Integration) 5th Anniversary Event

in Prague, during which we maintained an ongoing dialog with the organizers throughout this event. We

also extended an invitation to Guild SI practitioners to attend our 25th Anniversary Event, and two

individuals attended our conference; a small but positive and constructive first step.

• Finally, our projected financial results were negative as shared with you previously – this is a result of

additional staff to support the projects, overlapping Directors during the management transition this

Sommer; and, our investments in renovating and expanding the Office facility / IT infrastructure.

While we remain confident in the longer term financial outlook (late 2018-20), we are projecting

another negative year for 2017 and have planned accordingly with a “restrictive” budget. As the year

2017 progresses, we expect the negative outlook to improve with a return to breakeven in 2019.

We remain enthusiastic with the commitment, dedication and skillful work of our Office team. One of

the year’s greatest challenges was managing to deliver the 25th Anniversary Conference and the Training

Center Renovation, while also overseeing the entire training program outside of the Saarstraße facility

between May and October. A special thank you to Laura, Martina, Sabine, Beate and Lore for their efforts

to ensure that everything came together without surprises.

We also want to acknowledge the many contributions of our Faculty, Committees and Regional

Associations to the smooth running of our European organization. During 2016, we welcome Conny

Obermeier who has joined the BOD as the Faculty liaison.


As we close 2016, we reflect on it being a year of further consolidating the foundation for our future

growth – new training capacity, new IT infrastructure, additional Office resources and increasingly clear

processes and procedures for how we operate.

In 2017, we begin a new stage in ERA’s growth, characterized by our strategic initiative – Reaching

Outward – raising Brand awareness, building bridges and partnerships to other professions and

consolidating recognition for our work and our organizations. We look forward to begin work on this

new initiative and expect to announce shortly some exciting news related to it for 2018!

The European Board of Directions, 2017

John H. Armstrong, Julia Isbarn, Lisa Praller, Marina Blandini, Siegfried Novak.

2. Committees

2.1 Ethics Committee, by John Armstrong

Members: Marie Harlay, Mirjam Corti

Liaison: John H. Armstrong (BOD), Gerhard Hesse (Faculty)

No ethics complaints were filed with the ERA during 2016 and there are no open ethics complaints at

this time.

2.2 Admissions Committee, by Ricarda Sommer, Chair as of 2017

Admissions Committee Active members:

Tone Merethe Gilje, Norway, speaks Norwegian, English

Ricarda Sommer, Germany, speaks German, English

Remo Reinle, Switzerland, speaks German, English, French

Birgit Frank, Germany, speaks German, English, French, Italian

Ruth Frömpter, Austria, speaks German, English

Voted members:

Luigi Negro, Italy, participates Ad Interviews only in Italy, speaks Italian, English Anna Neil Switzerland,

participates Ad Interviews in French

Jean Pierre el Rif Great Britain, speaks English, Italian

Senior member:

Isolde Specka Germany, speaks German, English –left the AC with the end of February 2015

gives advice or participates if necessary in Ad Interviews

Thomas Heinrich Germany left the AC, he is assisting in spectrum and phase I

Trainees:

Sabine Schuhmann, Czech, German, English, Czech has already been a Trainee once

Sara Bega, speaks Italian and English will be for the first time Trainee in August 2017

Bibiana Badenes, Spanish, English was asked

Stepped back: Daniela Scalognie, Italy, speaks English, Italian – will wait some time

Traugott Wahl, Spain, speaks German, English, he has decided not to become a member 2016, but maybe

in some years.

Ready to elect by membership:

Angelo Bigontina, Switzerland, speaks English and Italian


Admission Interviews 2016:

Intensive Training, Munich, August: 18 students, 18 accepted. 16 continued Phase II Intensive,

two will wait for approx. one year before continuing.

Modular Format, Munich, October: 12 students, 12 accepted. All are continuing in the Modular

Format (staring Dec, 2016)

Admission Committee Meeting:

The Meeting was attended by Remo Reinle, Tone Merethe Gilje, Ruth Frömpter, Ricarda Sommer. The

main point was to finalize the Internal Regulation description of this Committee.

Martina Berger (Office, Training Coordinator) answered questions and gave new inputs concerning the

Organisation and Communication amongst the different Committees.

We have raised questions regarding the procedure for becoming an AC member having to be voted by

the membership (expensive and inconvenient?), although we see the meaning in asking the membership

for any reservations against a new AC member.

AC-Faculty Relationship:

During the work on the Internal Regulations questions concerning the sovereignty of the Admission

Committee arose. In agreement with the Faculty we are an autonomous Committee, serving the

students welfare, within the Training process. Decisions we take are absolutely our responsibility and are

leaning on all the impressions we get by reading, processing, discussing and meeting the student.

2.3 Prudential Committee, by Jacques Rauscher & Lore Junginger

Members: Amy Rasic, Jacques Rauscher

The following activities occurred during 2016:

Election for RFOC Member-Member: Andrea Newman, approved on 04.02.2016.

Election for Admission Committee Member-Member Remo Reinle. Approved on 04.02.2016.

Election for ERA Representative at the RISI Board-Member: Hubert Ritter. Approved on

20.06.2016.

2.4 EEC - European Educational Executive Committee, by Christoph

Sommer, Chair

Members: Rita Geirola (Chair- since April 2016), Christoph Sommer (Chair until April 2016, then faculty-

from April 2017 on Gerhard Hesse will be the second faculty member), Lisa Praller (ERA Bod/

Membership), Martina Berger (Administration)

EEEC had several Skype \ Zoom conferences during 2016 – each conference lasts about 1:30 hours – plus

several email exchanges. The mail exchanges are meant to deal with easy topics, where lengthy

discussion is not required. The introduction of complex questions and discussions are shared via

ZOOM conference.


Structure of the EEEC

The EEEC is formed by:

2 Faculty members voted by the faculty, for a 3 years term, 1 ERA Board member appointed by the ERA

Board, and 1 Administrative member appointed by the ERA Board.

The EEEC is taking the final Educational Executive decisions. Depending on the issues, prior to the

decision, the faculty or ERA Board is consulted by their representatives. The EEEC shall maintain the

contact among the Faculty itself and the RFOC as well as the Administration and the Board.

EEEC Chair prepares EEEC conference agendas and minutes. EEEC chair is obligated to write a yearly

report to ERA Board and membership.

The ERA Board decided to pay € 1500.00 per year as compensation for chair activity. (Since June 2012).

Tasks of the European EEEC

To maintain the overview of all training formats (basic Rolfing Training in the intensive and

modular format, Movement Trainings, Advanced Trainings).

To approve CE-credits to workshops that count towards the members CE credits.

To coordinate (ERA) CE-workshops which will be promoted by Board.

To handle members’ requests and faculty (content) in accordance to given standards. The

administration manages the operational side and informs the EEEC on budgetary

considerations. After EEEC clearance, the ERA-Board takes the final decision concerning

approval or disapproval of ERA’s CE-workshops.

Teacher’s assignments (phase 1, 2, 3 of basic trainings modular and intensive format,

supervision, advanced trainings, movement certification training) according to teacher’s

availability and specific necessities of Departments (Movement, Rolfing basic faculty,

advanced faculty, teachers in trainings process) and stated criteria. Administrative reasons

led to the decision that local Rolfing schools are currently assigning the teachers on their

own and communicate those assignments to EEEC.

Long-term scheduling for trainings and workshops in collaboration with administration.

The EEEC may submit issues to the entire Faculty and to the entire Board for approval at its discretion.

The EEEC is empowered to decide upon exemptions to established policy regarding, for example entry

requirements of students, equivalents for Tutorials etc.

EEEC Report 2016

The EEEC met four times by Skype \ Zoom conference in 2016.

March 2016 conference was the last one leaded by Christopher Sommer.

One main issue has been the assignment of CE credits for the advanced training preparation for WS that

are not lead by Faculty, and\or open to non Rolfers™.

EEEC decision has been to adopt the usual criteria about exceptions, until the ( Advanced) Faculty will

offer clear guidelines. - as an example, WS taught by Peter Schwind with the Münich Group can offer


manipulative credits.

We decided to assign this credits now, according to the usual criteria, but they will be valid only for this

one time. For the future, when clear criteria will be set by faculty, only eligible WS will receive

manipulative\movement credits.

Other topic for EEEC is to handle individual student request and special condition, for their training

preparation, WS that could count or not, cross over regulation, mentoring and Supervision delay.

EEEC has also decided on training staffing with faculty for SPECTRUM, BRT and AT for the following

years.

In the class assignment the EEEC takes care of the turn over of teachers to allow all the faculty to be in

the flow of the teaching, as well as leaving some space for TIT to find classes available for their first solo class and more.

The turn over of teachers is uneasy because of not many training and classes taught in English and also

because not all teachers are available for intensive format.

Our faculty has 8 teachers right now, with four German speakers, five teaching intensive format, 3

teaching only modular. The number of teachers will increase in the next year , with 2 more members.

Any other administrative questions are handled and cleared at the EEEC calls unless they need further

input from BOD or faculty or both.

2.5 RFOC - Regional Faculty Oversight Committee, by Giovanni Felicioni,

Chair

Members: Giovanni Felicioni, Chair, Harvey Burns (FDRB), Martina Berger, Training Co-ordinator.

The RFOC’s role is to support the formation of new faculty at the ERA in the areas of Rolfing, Rolf

Movement and Anatomy. The RFOC also works closely with Faculty, Administration and Admissions to

ensure that conflict arising around classroom situations are resolved as fairly as possible — this might be

between teacher and student, student and administration or “school’ and or administration and teacher.

The RFOC also continues to support ongoing teacher development.

RFOC had six zoom conferences in 2016 and presented a number of candidates coming into formation at

the in-person faculty meeting in January. Discussing candidates at the faculty meeting as support to

their formation was begun a few years and is proving beneficial.

In 2016 a number of teachers in training completed their formation and have asked to be considered for

teaching their solo class under supervision in 2017. Solo classes have been approved for Kathrin

Grobelnick (Rolfing Instructor), Fuensanta Munoz de la Cruz (Rolfing Instructor), Fuensanta Munoz de la

Cruz (Movement Instructor), Thomas Sonnleitner (Life Science, Anatomy). In January this year Hervé

Baunard (Movement Instructor) taught his solo class and has subsequently been approved as instructor.


2.6 European Faculty Activity Report, by Jörg Ahrend-Löns, Chair 2016

Faculty Members:

RISI Instructors – Intensive Training:

Pierpaola Volpones

Robert Schleip (Research Director)

Peter Schwind

Harvey Burns (member of RFOC)

Giovanni Felicioni (RFOC Chair)

Jörg Ahrend-Löns (Member of RFOC and FDRB)

European Rolfing® Instructors – Modular Training:

Pierpaola Volpones

Giovanni Felicioni

Christoph Sommer (EEEC Chair)

Jörg Ahrend-Löns

Rita Geirola

Gerhard Hesse (BOD Faculty representative)

Rolf Movement™Instructors:

Pierpaola Volpones

Giovanni Felicioni

France Hatt-Arnold

Rita Geirola (member of EEEC)

Hubert Godard

Life science Instructors:

Robert Schleip

Konrad Obermeier

Gerhard Hesse

2016 Activities

1. Faculty Meeting 2016, Sunday 14.2.2016 – Wednesday 17.2.2016

Contraindications for Rolfing – goal: get feedback from MD within the Rolfing

community.

Faculty input for renovation of training center in Saarstrasse Munich

Preparation faculty meeting in June 2016 – 25th

anniversary

Teacher in Training – Program (TiT) – Decisions and letter of advice to candidates

RFOC - Instructor Evaluations

Rescheduling of BRT

Review of the Admission committee function and competences

CASI event in Prague with France Hatt-Arnold as representative

Student assessment review from RISI draft

Development of an ERA CE multi-year calendar and availabilities

2. ERA faculty meeting at 25th

ERA anniversary in Munich: Meeting with Michael Salveson and ERA faculty Topic: Advanced training and preparation – informal exchange Board / faculty meeting – chairs - informal exchange Meeting with Christina Howe / Rich Ennis of RISI – informal exchange


3. RISI Assessment Committee 2016, August 24 – 25, Boulder Instructors from RISI, ABR (Paula Mattoli) and ERA (Jörg Ahrend-Löns) Topic: Continuation of assessment for students and teacher in training, Performance levels for Basic

training for all rubrics – draft, Further discussion within the European faculty in January 2017

faculty meeting.

4. RISI faculty meeting 2016, August 26 – 28 ERA representative: Jörg Ahrend-Löns see also: RISI faculty meeting report from 2016, Sept 19

5. Committees Faculty members are involved in all training related committees like RFOC and EEEC and

internationally linked with FDRB. The ERA BOD has one faculty representative who is present in all

BOD meetings without vote.

2.7 Report from the ERA Research Director – Dr. Robert Schleip, PhD

The year 2016 included many Rolfing related activities in the international academic research field. I will

summarize only a few here.

Fascia Research Summer School 2016 Fascia Research Summer School was a week-long course, held at the Anatomical Institute of Leipzig

University/Germany. It was organized by the Fascia Research Group (FRG) of Ulm University

(www.fasciaresearch.de) and attracted over 70 participants from all over the world. Presenters included

Prof. Andry Vleeming, Prof. Carla Stecco, Thomas Myers, Jaap van der Wal PhD, the Rolfer Prof. Thomas

Findley, Willem Fourie, and many more.


Fig. 3: Entrance to the Anatomical Institute of Leipzig University, where the next Fascia Research Summer School will be

happening.

While the course was booked out as usual long in advance, two Rolf Institute (RISI) members were

elected among several applicants for free scholarship places (financed in part by the RISI and our FRG).

These were Luiz Fernando Bertolucci MD (as faculty representative) and Wiley Patterson MD (as chosen

recipient from within the Advanced Rolfer members of the RISI). Look out for their reports, on what they

learned from their experience. I can also confirm that they actively contributed to this week-long

experience, by bringing in their Rolfing-related experience and questions and sharing them with the

group.

The main lecture hall (left) and a typical mini-group activity (right, showing an anatomical investigation of human lumbar fascia) during the Fascia Research Summer School 2016.


Participation at various meetings

Previous to this course, there had been a 2-day meeting of actively engaged researchers in the field of

fascia research. This was organized by the FRG of Ulm University in cooperation with the Professorship

for Movement Science at Chemnitz University; and was held at Chemnitz University/Germany. It was

attended by 21 international researchers, including the Rolfers™ Prof. Thomas Findley and myself. This

meeting fostered the collaboration between the different international research groups, particularly –

but not only - in the field of measurement technologies.

Another important activity was the yearly meeting of the Rolf Research Foundation (foundation) in New

Jersey. I was very happy to be among half a dozen other attending Rolfers™ active in the research field,

such as Thomas Findley and Eric Jacobsen; and to exchange information, future resources and inspiration

with them.

The same applies for the World Congress on Low Back & Pelvic Pain, held with 800 international

participants in Singapore in November 2016. Fascia research was a major topic there, and Rolfing was

prominently mentioned throughout this congress, not only in my plenary lectures but also several other

presentations, discussions and research reports. It was attended by about a dozen international Rolfers,

and the congress was officially endorsed by the ERA and RISI (www.worldcongresslbp.com/endorsing-

organisations ).

Dissertation of Stefan Dennenmoser PhD

Rolfer Stefan Dennenmoser completed his experimental dissertation at Ulm University in November 2016

and was honored with a PhD degree in human biology. His study included an examination of the lumbar

fascia before/after a Rolfing-inspired lumbar fascia manipulation stroke via bioelectric impedance and

also via ultrasound elastography. His dissertation is now freely posted at

http://dx.doi.org/10.18725/OPARU-4159 (in German language) and a summary of some of his findings is

also available at www.fasciacongress.org/2015/Abstracts/151_Dennenmoser.pdf . Needless to say, that

we congratulate Stefan to this most impressive achievement and that we look forward to him continuing

to contribute to the research field around Rolfing. In particular, we look forward with anticipation – like I

am sure many of you are doing too – to his upcoming publication about his findings in an international

peer-reviewed academic journal.

Important research paper on fascia in oncology

In part supported by the Rolf Research Foundation (www.rolfresearchfoundation.org) an important

article has been published in late 2016 in the prestigious‚Cancer Research’ journal. Its title is

„Connecting (t)issues: How research in fascia biology can impact integrative oncology“, by Helene

Langevin et al. Rolfer Thomas Findley PhD and me were among the proud co-authors of this

pioneering and high-visibility paper. Among other aspects it summarizes the increasing evidence

that cancer progression is significantly influenced by the stiffness of the fascial connective tissue

matrix surrounding the original cancer area. It also looks at the potential value of mechanical (i.e.

non pharmaceutical) interventions such as myofascial massage, yoga or stretching. The full-text

version of this paper can be accessed at http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/76/21/6159.long

In case you are interested in more information about this intriguing field, here is a very popular and

well done TED TALK which I can recommend: www.ted.com/talks/mina_bissell_experiments_that_point_to_a_new_understanding_of_cancer

Other info sources

This is a good reminder, that in case you wish to be informed about new insights and developments

from the fascia research field, an easy and cost-free way of doing so is to list your email for the

‚Newsletter’ at www.fasciaresarch.de (see also the ‚Newsletter Archive’ at that side). In addition, I

http://www.worldcongresslbp.com/endorsing-organisations

http://www.worldcongresslbp.com/endorsing-organisations

http://dx.doi.org/10.18725/OPARU-4159

http://www.fasciacongress.org/2015/Abstracts/151_Dennenmoser.pdf

http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/76/21/6159.long

http://www.ted.com/talks/mina_bissell_experiments_that_point_to_a_new_understanding_of_cancer

http://www.fasciaresarch.de/


strongly suggest to consider joining the Fascia Research Society (a project of the

www.rolfresearchfoundation.org); which then automatically provides you with regular updates and

information in addition to a multitude of other advantages. See www.fasciaresearchsociety.org

More media attention

Like in previous years, the increasing popularity of the ‘fascia’ perspective, provided us European

Rolfers with a rise in attention from popular health oriented media. It allowed me to give at least

two dozen press interviews (mostly by telephone) in the year 2016, which resulted in many (but not

all) cases in a mentioning of the Rolfing method in their reports. Watch out for an upcoming 1-hour

long science documentary by the TV channel ‘arte’, which deals with the ‘rediscovery’ of the fascial

connective tissues in modern medicine and in which Rolfing will be prominently shown. Expected

release will be in the fall of 2017; first in German TV, and then a few months later also in other

countries and languages.

Upcoming event While the first international Fascia Research Congress, held at the grounds of Harvard Medical

School in Boston in 2007, provided a significant impact in the field of connective tissue research

and was subsequently covered in a very positive report in the prestigious ‚Science’ journal (see http://sueseecof.com/news-clippings/science-magazine-cell-biology-meets-rolfing ), this successful

congress series is currently continued in a tree-annual manner, with usually between 600 and 800

participants from all over the world. The most recent congress in this series was held in

Washington DC in 2015, and the repercussions of this event are still observable on many levels,

including an increase of publications, of funding and research studies devoted to a better

understanding of the functional capacities of the fascial net. It is worthwhile to remember, that this

congress series would probably have never happened without the pioneering activity and engaged

support of the RISI and of several individual Rolfers™ (such as Thomas Findley PhD, Eric Jacobsen

PhD, Steven Evanko PhD and Thomas Myers).

If you have never had the great fortune of attending one of these high quality congresses, watch out

for the next one. While no official website announcement has yet been released, let me happily give

you already this advance notice: the next international Fascia Research Congress will happen in

Berlin on November 14th – 15th 2018. My hint: mark the date already in your personal agendas,

and watch out for further info about this important scientific event.

http://www.rolfresearchfoundation.org/

http://www.fasciaresearchsociety.org/

http://sueseecof.com/news-clippings/science-magazine-cell-biology-meets-rolfing


3 Certification Training and Continuing Education

3.1 Rolfing® Certification Training in Munich, by Martina Berger, Training Coordinator

The following tables show student enrolment and certifications in the following categories:

Pre-training Workshops – 2016

◦ Orientations have drawn increased interest in 2016.

◦ In 2016 we had a very well attended Spectrum in Agatharied and Spectum in Modular

Format (with two workshops) in Leipzig and one workshop in Munich.

Intensive Trainings – 2016/2017

▪ Our summer “regular” Intensive 2015/2016 finished with 17 new certifications.

The winter Intensive 2017 started with 8 participants and the summer Intensive

2017/18 will start as usual end of July with a maximum number of 20 participants.

Modular Trainings – 2016

◦ The French-language training in Geneva, Switzerland finished in summer with 18 new

certifications

◦ the German training has several running with 10 new certifications in 2016

◦ the UK a second training class was starting with 11 students in Phase III

Supervision was again offered with three classes in 2016.

Rolf Movement Training First round 2015/2016 finished in December with 12 new certifications.

Second round of this new RMT will start in 2017.

Munich:

Phase I Phase II Phase III

Intensive Training

2015 – 2016 regular 22 18 17

2016 – 2017 regular 18 18 16

2017 8 11

Modular Training Phase I Phase II Phase III

2014 - 2016 9 8(9) 10

2015 - 2017 10 14 12

2016 – 2018 12 12


Intensive Training 2015/16 regular

Modular Training 2014/16


BRT - London - UK


2015-2017 11 11 11

BRT - Geneva - Switzerland


2014-2016 20 17 18

Modular Training Geneva 2014/16, First Training in French!

Supervision

R. Geirola 06.2016 10

G. Fellicioni 09.2016 18

P. Volpones 12.2016 13

Pre-training

3 Orientations 16/10/9

Pre-training

Spectrum 29(30)

Spectrum modular 9/11/11


Movement Certification Training

Phase I Phase II Phase III

MCT 2015-2016 18 13 12

Rolf Movement Certification 2015/16

3.2 Continuing Education Workshops, by Martina Berger, Training

Coordinator

The following Continuing Education Workshops were offered in 2016 through the ERA.

CE Workshops


P. Martin 02.2016 12

M. Salveson (Pre-WS BiAGM) 06.2016 24

T. Brunghardt (Pre-WS BiAGM) 06.2016 22

C. Obermeier (Pre-WS BiAGM) 06.2016 11

S. Wheeler (Post-WS BiAGM) 07.2016 19

S. Dennenmoser (Post-WS BiAGM) 4


J. Martine 11.2016 14

J. Martine 11.2016 15


3.3 Regional Certification Trainings

United Kingdom – London, UK

The British Academy of Rolfing SI (BARSI) report for 2016.

Jan 2017 saw the graduation of BARSI’s second intake of students.

11 Students graduated. Most from the UK (with the majority from London). 1 from Poland. 1 from

Holland. 2 from Belgium.

A third Pre-Training and Rolfing Training have been announced starting in 2017.

Giovanni Felicioni and Alan Richardson are the two directors of BARSI.

Andrea Buckley is the Rolfing UK member representative.

For more information visit the BARSI website: http://www.britishacademyofrolfing.co.uk/.

Giovanni Felicioni

BARSI Executive Director

Rolf Institute Faculty

[email protected]

French-language Training (AFRIS) – Geneva, CH

The BOD approved a one-time training in the French language and it was a wonderful experience for all.

The Instructors include:

Phase 1:

France Hatt-Arnold (Movement), Rita Geirola (Touch) and Konrad Obermeier (Anatomy).

Phase 2:

France Hatt-Arnold with Mathias Avigdor and Nicola Carofiglio as assistants.

Phase 3:

Hubert Godard with Konrad Obermeier and Hervé Baunard as assistants.

The French speaking Rolfing® training in Geneva ended successfully in mid-July 2016 with 18 students,

8 of them practicing now in the French part of Switzerland, 8 in France, one in Belgium and one in Spain.

France Hatt-Arnold, AFRIS Director

For more information please contact:

Académie Francophone de Rolfing Intégration Structurale (AFRSI)

http://www.britishacademyofrolfing.co.uk/

http://www.rolfing-afris.com/index.html


4 Membership Services, by Sabine Klausner

Membership mailings

In 2016 the ERA Newsletter made way for the Snapshot. On a weekly basis the Board of Director’s and

Laura Schecker informed you about new topics and interesting details regarding membership and

training.

A permanent component remains with the ERA Membership News, sent out via electronic Newsletter,

which informs members about issues related to their membership. That includes elections, invitations to

membership meetings, information about legal issues, themes like application for status change. You get

the ERA Membership News because you are a member of European Rolfing® Association e.V. and

whenever something new should be shared with you. The Association must include all members in this

correspondence to comply with legal requirements. Hence, we must ignore “unsubscribes” for these

mailings.

If you do not want to get the mailings like the Workshop Memo or Snapshot, you can always unsubscribe

from the publication via a link that can be found in the footer of the email, however this is a valuable

source on up-to-date information including the latest workshops which often fill quickly.

Member area on the ERA-website

ERA offers several choices for downloads to support your marketing activities at:

http://rolfing.org/about-us/member-area/

In addition, you can also find important documentation of the Rolf Institute® and the ERA such as our

Code of Ethics, Standards of Practice, Service Mark Use Guidelines Europe, the Master Agreement, both

organizational Organograms, RISI´s Journal and FAQs.

The following Marketing Tools are also available on-line: Logos, Pictures, Rolfing-Flyer (English text and

artwork), Graphic representation "Fascial web", Press releases, a PowerPoint-Presentation about Rolfing®,

Manual “OrgaEuropean Rolfing® Association e.V., “How to organize an Open House”, Editable Poster

Template and Ad Template.

Cancellation Insurance

The ERA is partner of the European Travel Insurance (Europäische Reiseversicherung). More and more

members chose to purchase cancellation insurance when registering for a CE-Workshop or post-

certification degree. In case the participant has to cancel due to acute illness, job loss, damage to

property etc., the insurance will reimburse the participant up to 80% of the cancellation fee. Please

check the conditions here: https://www.reiseversicherung.de

Service mark infringements

We are active in strengthening the service mark awareness. Fortunately, also in 2016 there have been

only a few new cases of service mark violations. We appreciate the support of all members of the

Rolfing® community, who let us know when they spot possible service mark infringements. In the end,

every Rolfing® practitioner benefits from a clearly distinguished Rolfing® service mark in consistency

with a high quality level of practice. Therefore we also encourage you to re-check your print and online

material and change it where necessary.

http://rolfing.org/about-us/member-area/

https://www.reiseversicherung.de/


Related to the Service Mark, RISI came up with the renewed form of “Comprehensive Service Mark

License Agreement” in November 2015 that requires 100% compliance in returning the signed

document.

The Comprehensive Service Mark License Agreement (CSMLA) that you signed in 2012 or later required

you to sign an abbreviated SMLA every year when you renewed your membership. This was a time

consuming administrative function for all of the membership offices and a hassle for members.

The RISI Board of Directors approved a change to the CSMLA to remove the requirement to re-sign every

year, making the CMSLA effective as long as you are a member in good standing.

As a result, it is necessary for ALL members to sign the new CSMLA as part of your 2016 membership

renewal. Once you have signed and returned the new document, you will not have to sign one each year.

We are asking for 100% compliance in returning the signed document. It becomes effective January 1,

2016. This affects ALL members - US AND International.

Please download the new CSMLA now, sign it and return to your membership office. The document

will also be posted on the new RISI website.

Thank you for your cooperation.

We are still asking for your signed document if you haven´t sent it to the ERA office yet.

http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001hKuvSlVqGp1t2Y5CGeruCCEbiklIuKSXekWd_to9Q7tb2evENhydufRscoUhvlh7xRMPSuu1Q5AqPcG81cqI6HpYcESriy8qqTbfODeB2I6j-ymoJlUv3neoJfkjrZofSedxTM36QS8selyunzngFR35bUGDQbCP3Re_RnPftRrXUHrhhc8ZWly0XucBEXfsZyI39FIQfTYzKBB84c2h3pWMUnkjk99bVEesQp6ilxaFB4HlAmojKw==&c=cHzPM112MbYWvBK-nkQVCvr8wM8_GmykTuupNOnr55DTUQrLaXy-8Q==&ch=PBvrJP6xmG4t9_3VNSa5rGwo7moSF7jSR2RbVIBzYKldcOm_shTzUw==


ERA Membership as per December 31st 2016, by Sabine Klausner, Member

Services

Our membership at the end of the year stood at 622 members representing Rolfer's presently located in

22 different countries.

Austria 43

Belgium 3

Czech Republic 4

Denmark 15

Egypt 1

Finland 1

France 23

Germany 252

Greece 3

Hungary 1

Ireland 11

Italy 85

Netherlands 13

Norway 2

Poland 3

Portugal 2

San Marino 1

Slovakia 1

Spain 19

Sweden 5

Switzerland 93

United Kingdom 41

ERA Totals 622


5 Financial Report 2016, by Lore Junginger, Financial Adviser

1.) INCOME

Forecast 2016 € 2nd DRAFT

as of BM May.15

Forecast 2016 € Approved

as of BM Nov.15

Actual 2016€ final Variance


as of BM Feb.17 Dues 149.505 153.068 166.891 13.823 163.995 Annual Meeting 7.200 24.000 17.700 -6.300 0 Membership other 0 0 530 530 0 Donation 0 0 100 100 0 Interest 200 200 210 10 200 Promotion material, Flyer 0 0 2.126 2.126 0 Books 0 0 230 230 0 Others 0 0 4.189 4.189 0 Subtotal Income other 156.905 177.268 191.976 14.708 164.195 Intensive Training 226.660 237.710 262.876 25.166 350.390 Modular Training 201.030 216.820 216.820 0 226.930 Modular Training - Outreach 3.400 3.400 3.600 200 2.200 CE-Workshops 25.040 31.592 56.415 24.823 29.760 Basic Workshops, Spektrum 51.600 51.600 66.360 14.760 50.240 Advanced Cert. Training 0 0 0 0 61.950 Movement Cert. Training 73.500 84.390 54.245 -30.145 23.910 Renting of training Centre 0 0 610 610 10.200 Subtotal Income Training 581.230 625.512 660.926 35.414 755.580 GRAND TOTAL INCOME 738.135 802.780 852.902 50.122 919.775

2.) EXPENSE

Forecast 2016 € 2nd DRAFT

as of BM May.15


as of BM Nov.15

Actual 2016€ final Variance


as of BM Feb.17 Training Centre 67.164 75.564 81.805 6.241 102.484 Employees 184.160 195.197 228.060 32.863 219.273 Temp. Staff 10.800 7.200 8.076 876 7.200 Office Supplies 7.200 7.200 8.808 1.608 7.200 Phone, postage 5.400 6.360 6.290 -70 6.600 Other admin exp 2.400 2.400 290 -2.110 2.400 Depreciation Equipm. 0 12.000 13.525 1.525 24.000 Insurance 2.486 3.040 3.241 201 2.486 Travel office staff 0 400 1.840 1.440 400 Bank fees 300 300 531 231 300 IT-Services 11.042 12.294 11.870 -424 14.218 Accounting 0 7.140 9.014 1.874 25.704 Tax consultant/legal 15.699 15.699 13.237 -2.462 15.269 Membership communication 750 750 990 240 750 Annual Meeting/25year event 15.000 35.195 27.638 -7.557 0 Contact Points 58.757 65.638 62.906 -2.732 56.766 Travel board 14.250 12.445 23.654 11.209 9.500 Travel other committees 3.000 3.000 3.562 562 9.850 Royalties RISI /Cert. fees 25.726 25.839 26.264 425 29.574 Promotion Rolfing Method 25.215 17.810 23.704 5.894 19.625 Research 2.000 2.000 2.000 0 1.000 Promotion material 0 400 5.077 4.677 0 Teachers fees, papers, evals 193.307 198.411 204.881 6.470 272.704 Teachers travel 71.849 71.219 64.493 -6.726 92.809 Rental expenses 6.600 11.450 10.218 -1.232 5.000 Translation 1.600 1.600 1.475 -125 1.600 Catering 7.200 7.200 6.751 -449 9.600 Laundry 6.000 6.000 3.738 -2.262 6.000 Tutorings 14.400 13.100 12.800 -300 20.400 Adminssion expenses 3.540 3.540 2.697 -843 5.310

Ads clients & Promote trainings 18.912 18.912 14.209 -4.703 16.512

Bank charges training 1.200 1.200 654 -546 1.200 Other training expenses 2.000 2.000 4.297 2.297 2.500 Faculty Meeting & T.i.T. 13.700 17.700 11.215 -6.485 16.820 European Outreach group 2.500 2.500 4.840 2.340 0 GRAND TOTAL EXPENSES 794.157 862.703 904.650 41.947 1.005.054 RESULT final -56.022 -59.923 -51.748 8.175 -85.279 eliminate depreciation 0 12.000 13.525 1.525 24.000 RESULT operational -56.022 -47.923 -38.223 9.700 -61.279


We always publish the approved budget for the following year within the Annual member report.

However, in the member report 2015 an error occurred. We published the budget draft 2016 used as

starting point in our board meeting in November 2015 instead of approved final budget 2016. We do

apologize for this.

For the sake of transparency towards membership we decided to publish in this member report 2016

both, the drafted budget as published by error last year, and the actual budget as formally approved by

the board.

Our Cash-balance decreased from EUR 306.584 as per 31.12.2015 to EUR 179.918 as per 31.12.2016.

This is due to loss generated in 2016 and major investment activities within this year.

During 2016 we had investment spending in the amount of EUR 87.313. The biggest item was the

expansion of our training center with about EUR 70.000; further investments were our website, the new

CRM-Software “Back-office”, the purchase of a new phone system and the replacement of some training

tables.

The amount of EUR 18.650,28 was added to our back-savings (Gewinnrücklagen), which is the maximum

amount allowed by German rules for non-profit-organizations.

Report according to “Internal Regulations Section 11 Finances” concerning any compensation “in kind”

or as payments to members of the European Rolfing Association eV.. Only activities, that are outside or any regular organizational role is reported. We do confirm that no compensation has exceeded market-price:

All speakers/panellists during 25-year event – see attachment 1 “Program 25-year event”.

Brand Raphael filming activities during 25year event De Jong Miguel photographer during 25year event Dias Pedro photographer room expanded location for ERA Website Frank Birgit trailer to announce 25year event Grobelnik Kathrin renting training room during time of construction work at Saarstraße Kappl Margareta renting training room during time of construction work at Saarstraße MunichGroup renting of tables for workshops around 25year event Noll Susanne providing text for new ERA-Website Obermeier Konrad renting training room Pre-Workshop 25year event, renting tables. Schleip Robert Tele-Lecturing during EDENA2016

We say THANK YOU! to the above listed members for contributing to our special projects we had during

2016. Your support is very much appreciated!

Following members donated to our organization, by waiving payment or refund of outlaid expenses: Jörg

Ahrend-Löns, Harvey Burns, and Birgit Schneider.

A special THANK YOU for your valued contributions!


Report of the financial controllers Annette Falkenstein and Kathrin Grobelnik for the European Rolfing Association e.V. of the year 2016

We checked the bookkeeping of the ERA on February 27th, 2017. The bookkeeping has to be controlled in a random way. The account activities are picked out and then checked whether they are conformity with the receipts or bills. We like to mention that it is not the task of the financial controllers to prove the quality of financial decisions. Only if some outgoing would seem really strange, they would investigate. We came to the conclusion that the bookkeeping was done in an absolute orderly and correct way. No mistake could be found. We would like to thank the office-team (especially Sabine Klausner and Lore Junginger) for the very dedicated and correct work and the support they gave us. We would therefore like to ask the members to approve the activities of the board of 2016. Dortmund, the 28th of February, 2017

Annette Falkenstein and Kathrin Grobelnik


5. Key Events and Financial Outlook for 2017 →

John Armstrong, Chair / Laura Schecker, Executive Director / Lore

Junginger, Financial Adviser

During 2016 we were closing our "Foundation Building" stage and have entered our "Outreach" stage.

The two stages are still overlapping as some projects were delayed by the unique events occurring during

2016.

Our new “Outreach” stage will focus during 2017 through 2019 on the following:

1. In April 2017 our Executive Director, Laura Schecker and a Christoph Sommer from our Faculty

will attend the RIO (Regional International Offices) – Summit in Boulder with a clear perspective

on the lessons learned during our first 25 years and how those insights can help guide the

growth of Rolfing outside the US and Europe.

2. During 2015-2016 the European Outreach Group has developed and finalized a structure of

decentralizing Basic Rolfing® Trainings in Europe. One aspect of this new “Outreach” process is

that we have standard process and tools for effecting trainings anywhere in Europe where we

can identify a qualified organization to act as Local Organizer. Clearly, countries with

established Regional Associations are best positioned to do so, and BARSI in the UK is already

announcing pre-trainings for their 3rd round Modular Training in London. This training will run

from March 2018 to April 2020. Additionally, our colleagues in Spain are in process of

organizing the structure for a first Spanish training, and we expect to see announcements this

year from them. Italy is also in the pre-planning phase for another round of BRT as well.

3. We have launched a new initiative to better leverage our Advanced Rolfer™ to be part of

communicating and sharing Rolfing® more broadly in Europe. An Orientation Video Tutorial was

created by Faculty members has been offered to interested Advanced Rolfers™ during March

2017 through July 2017. This initiative is a WIN/WIN/WIN, for ERA a tool for additional student

prospects, for Regional Associations a tool for local marketing and generation of new local

clients, for Advanced Rolfers™ a personal marketing tool and new client generator. We are

working to empower our membership to strengthen our brand, generate new business and create

a pool of new future students.

4. We have several candidates of our Teacher in training program that have applied for their first

solo class. During the coming years they will enter our teaching rotation, and will be supervised

by our experienced Rolfing® instructors. Two will directly support the Spanish language

trainings mentioned above. In aggregate, they strengthen both our Structural and Movement

Faculties.

5. We are working in Germany to gain additional accreditation/recognition by becoming listed in

the Hufeland registry which serves as a reference for Insurance companies and other health-

related organizations. Our application is in process and we hope to have a positive outcome

later this year.

6. We have initiated a dialogue with the European Federation for Complementary and Alternative

Medicine, a EU lobbying group representing organizations similar to ERA. We expect to continue

this dialogue with a possible outcome that ERA will formally join this organization as a

sponsoring member.

7. We have several initiatives in early stages to build bridges to other Fascia-related disciplines,

including Osteopathy, More details on this will emerge as we progress.


Looking at the ERA Training outlook for 2017 – 2019:

1 In July 2017 we have an Advanced Rolfing® Training with Tessy Brungardt in Munich, Germany

and in 2018 we will have an Advanced Rolfing® Training with Peter Schwind in Vienna, Austria

part 1 and Bologna, Italy part 2.

2 In July 2017 we will start our 2nd

round Rolf Movement™ Certification Training. Phase III of the

new curriculum includes new material on teaching Rolf Movement™ to groups. Any Certified

Movement™ Practitioner is eligible to enrol in Phase III which is scheduled for May and July

2018.

3 As of 2017 we will offer annually two Basic Rolfing® Training in Intensive Format in English and

one Basic Rolfing® Training in Modular Format in German.

4 Our Continuing Education programs continue to perform well, and the program will be

strengthened in the years ahead with two new initiatives:

◦ The launch of a formal Intermediate Required Courses program to provide CE credits for

students certifying in 2017 and onward so that they may be eligible for Advanced Training

in 2020. This program will become part of a standard rotation of CE workshop offerings.

◦ The Board has approved, and Faculty supports, the creation of two “Post” programs: Post-

Advanced and Post-Movement Certification workshop series that are presently in

development. These will be launched later in 2017 and run as a standard part of our CE

workshop offerings.

Financial Summary: As of July 2016, with our new facility expansion, we increased our capacity to

support additional expanded training schedules and programs without going out of house. In doing so,

we incurred higher expenses as a front-side burden on our 2017 budget. On the positive side, the

trainings as scheduled are not yet fully booked and our budget projection guidelines are based on a

break-even enrolment that is below training capacity. Therefore – using our conservative planning policy

– we currently project an expected loss for 2017 of up to -€85.279 (without depreciation -€61.279).

And, are taking active steps to manage this financial risk through tighter financial planning and

additional student recruitment for our most profitable trainings. While we expect an improvement on

this projection, we do not expect to break-even during 2017.

Munich, April 18th

, 2017.


6. Regional Associations – Contact Points (Countries in alphabetical order)

BOD Coordination: John H. Armstrong / Marina Blandini

6.1 Austria 2016, by Ruth Frömpter

Public Relations Cell phone and Website contacts: We have very few calls/E-Mails during the year and also during office times, Eva-Maria Danko-

Bodenstein was in charge of the cell phone until October 2016 since then Thomas Latzel is responsible

for the phone. Ruth Frömpter held the responsibility for the web-office address until October 2016 and

Maria-Anna Kerschbaumer is now in charge.

Website: The new Web site went online right before our General Meeting in October 2016. It is still a work in

progress and from the original team there is only Sabine Dorner and Elisabeth Merckens left – they will

both support all open endings until the project is done.

Folder: This project was postponed until the approval of website content and layout. Eva-Maria Danko-

Bodenstein, Katharina Sonderegger-Kyck and Astrid Deutschmann are organizing a new folder and also

cards.

Facebook – Austrian Rolfing Eva-Maria Danko-Bodenstein, Katharina Sonderegger-Kyck and Astrid Deutschmann mostly fill this

medium.

Continuing Education We have got a complementary workshop organization with the aim to offer reasonable prices for WS and

have some professional local events. These workshops are also open to NON-Austrians! The money we

generate is used for public relation.

Ruth Frömpter organized the Scar Workshop with Sharon Wheeler participants: 14 (8 Austrian Rolfers™,

6 non-Austrian Rolfers™)

Sascha Bauer held the Continuing Education Day for Austrian Rolfers™ in February “Intro to

psychosomatic biomechanics”

Official recognition of Rolfing in Austria Jasmin Mirfrakhrai is currently working with several national departments on an official statement from

the guild of massage to get an official recognition of Trade regulations agreement as part of the

profession. There are advantages and disadvantages but at the current position the advantages outweigh.

Participants on ERA 25th anniversary Ruth Frömpter, Sabine Dorner, Jasmin Mirfakhrai, Marion Reiff, Eva-Maria Danko-Bodenstein, Katharina

Sonderegger-Kyck, Kurt Kyck, Gerhard and Inge Hesse, Siegrun Maresch,

Certified Rolfer in 2016: Wolfgang Glotz

Newly elected Chair of the board: Siegrun Maresch


Board since October 2016: Siegrun Maresch – chair, Marion Reiff – deputy, Eva Stattin – treasurer,

Jasmin Mirfakhrai – treasurer deputy, Karin Wiesner – recording clerk, Astrid Deutschmann – recording

clerk deputy

6.2 Benelux – The Netherlands / Belgium / Luxembourg – 2016, by John

Armstrong

As a smaller association, one of the major developments is when we get new Rolfers™ in our area. The

growth of Rolfing® in Belgium continues with the Certification of one new members in 2016: Laurent

Cavanna.

In addition, we have a new Rolfer™ that resides in Italy has opened a practice in Amsterdam: Anastasia

Postponer.

There are no new Association activities to report, however from website traffic and phone inquiries,

awareness of Rolfing continues to grow in 2016.

What is new this year is we are beginning to see KMI certified Structural Integration practitioners in The

Netherlands for the first time. While there have been workshops, on and off, offered by KMI; the first

group of Dutch SI students were certified in London. As there is no continued association support for

these SI practitioners, they have made inquiries about joining Rolfing®NL.

6.3 Germany 2016, by Birgit Frank

On March 19th 2016, 18 members of the German Rolfing Association RVD, a guest - Sharon Wheeler -

and a student - Cornelia Huelst - met in Berlin for the third general assembly.

The new board was elected: Asmus Wanke – treasurer and Nikolas Kurz

So now with chair Birgit Frank and vice-chair Simone Angermann the board consists of 4.

We voted for a change of our bylaws for an easier future

• seat of the association is Berlin

• digital voting is possible • it is even more easy to become a RVD- member. A hand signal suffices.

Even though a relatively small number of members was present, indirect voting of interested members

transmitted via paper had allowed for successful election.

Additionally there were vivid discussions about relevant themes like

I. Public Image of Rolfing®, Structural Integration

II. Collaboration with health insurance funds

III. Should we establish a professional telephone-service team?

IV. How to structure the member area on our website?

V. „Sitting school“(lectured by Karl Petersen)

For the whole 2016 the board members have met on Skype on a regular base (biweekly 2 hours)

- to exchange information and stay in contact

- to develop next steps to bring forward the organization of the RVD

- to align the efforts on the common goal of RVD


The main goals can be described as:

- 1) Increasing Public awareness of Rolfing® over all Germany - 2) Creating possibilities for all members to meet, exchange and support each other.

- 3) Providing support to the new Rolfers™ - 4) Co-operating with other regions (CP-Skype-meetings)

- 5) producing media - 6) organizing events

What we´ve done so far:

- Building up content on our common website www.rolfingverbanddeutschland.de

(pics and text), including personal quotes about Rolfing® from different Rolfers™

(with photo and a link to their website).

- posting texts that bring light on the different aspects of Rolfing® from different authors

(members of RVD)

- installing an online-seminar-shop

- first meeting with Karin Hertzer (press-woman) to create a press release (we didn’t use it in the

end, but learned a lot about how (not) to write one)

- sending out newsletters, „augenblickmal“(German version of “snapshot”) and seminar-

invitations.

- daily email-service and hired a telephone-service to be reachable for everybody on a regular

base.

- we invited for different regional meetings (in Berlin and NEW) • to exchange experiences of relevant seminars • for socializing and connecting and getting to know each other better • to share our thoughts about press releases that would describe Rolfing®

- The starter-kit- workshop (Module 1 & 2) “Geschäftlich erfolgreich“ happened for the first time

in Münster with Simone Angermann und Sabine Rosenburg

- In a Skype with the ERA board on the base of a PowerPoint presentation, we discussed and

brought on paper with the ERA our different roles and realized the importance to inform and

educate the German ERA members about the differences of ERA and RVD are.

- Again we participated at the annual Meeting of AK-Berufspolitik in Frankfurt and this year RVD

was even the Organizer of the meeting

ERA let us know that they will and can only support us with a percentage of the dues from those

Rolfers™ that are members of RVD.

What`s next:

• Workshops with Sharon Wheeler in March and April

• General assembly will take place April 1st of 2017

• We are working on increasing participation of our members: how to seduce our members to

collaborate with the board for our common goal (We´re working on dynamic leadership

methods in the RVD that would support this development and might help us to grow stronger

with more ease and less exhaustion)

• Themes around: Cert. Rolfer with/without Heilpraktiker - sales tax for osteopathic performances,

billing with health insurances, possible support for those of us that want to make the

„alternative practitioner“

http://www.rolfingverbanddeutschland.de/


6.4 Ireland 2016, by Jim Mc Mahon

There were 3 regional meetings with a very good turnout in 2016. These meetings usually consist of a

sharing of ideas, some trading of work - where much needed body work is gratefully received - and of

course the good old fashioned chat about life, work and what’s happening with each of the members

over a cup of tea. No Guinness in sight...

We advertised each quarter in 2016 in some national health magazines with a wide distribution of

health conscious people. We feel this is a great medium for getting the Rolfing® brand out there in a

country that is small in size, but where word of mouth and referrals mean so much.

A workshop with Jon Martine was proposed but with some personal commitments by the organisers this

had to be postponed and we are now running that workshop in October 2017. It will be held in Dublin

and is part 2 of a very successful workshop we had with Jon in 2015. All will be welcome to visit Ireland

for that one, and a great workshop is always assured with Jon.

Two of our Rolfers™ were involved in a documentary about mental health in Ireland, where they gave a 4

handed Rolfing session with a very prominent, now retired psychiatrist Professor Ivor Browne. Ivor is now

88 years young and still practices as a psychotherapist and regression therapist a few days a week. Ivor

personally is a big fan of Rolfing and works with these two Rolfers™ on a regular basis, as well as

referring many clients to the benefits of the work. The film is due to be released in early 2017 and we

would hope to have some footage of that session on the Irish Rolfing website and the ERA website in the

very near future. This documentary film is called 'Meetings with Ivor" and will also feature some other

prominent Irish personalities.

The website was fine-tuned and streamlined a little to achieve greater speed in accessing the

information for potential clients, as well as having a new look.

We welcomed another member to the group in 2016 also, who is now a very active member of the

community. Welcome Joe O Kelly who graduated in Munich.

And finally, one of our members is very close to organising a talk with a large group of medical doctors

on the benefits of Rolfing® for our general well-being, as well as our specific physical ailments. We are

continuously striving to show that there are alternatives to 'modern medicine' that are much less

invasive and certainly worth trying, and attempting to show that surgery may not be the only option.

6.5 Italy 2015, by Annalisa di Salvo

2016_ACTIVITY REPORT

The application to the MISE (Economical Development Italian Ministry) for recognition of the Rolfing

Italian Association, according to the l.4/2013, has come to an end.

The application has been registered on December the 9th and we’re waiting for examination, hoping for

an approval.

Following this, we go on with all activities to keep the association up-to-date under all aspects:

professional, administrative and legal. To fulfil the law, that requires a proper preservation and

protection of documents, we are creating a physical location; we are planning to rent an on-demand

office.

TRAINING

We are organizing pre-training/Spectrum workshops to promote Rolfing mark and training in Italy; at the

moment there is not such attendance, we had some difficulty in finding people who showed a true


interest in a complete training: a lot of bodyworker showed interest, but our sensation is they look at

pre-training/Spectrum as workshop to be attended once that can give them the authorization to say they

“do Rolfing”. The few who are really interested and who do not want to wait, are encouraged to attend

English classes in Munich.

SERVICE MARK PROTECTION

In 2016 we found several violations of Rolfing® mark and name by physiotherapy centers and others.

Thank to notification of our members we could spot them and got in touch with them. Most of case had

come to a good end: the centers/body workers changed or removed the information on their website.

Still waiting from ERA’s office to know if something new happened about purchasing rolfing-italia.it

(last update it was MR. Lupascu had to give his contact information to Laura... around March the 3rd)

ITALIAN MEMBERSHIP DUES

To face some of the costs we foresee for 2017, we established a membership due for Italian Rolfers™ of

100€/year.

TREASURER

Sara Bega ended her term as treasurer. Eleonora Celli is the new treasurer since Jan.2017

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION

We started a new collaboration with Andrea Scire to re-launch our social and web activity. At the

moment the collaboration seems to work well, several Rolfers™ joined him to cooperate and give him

communication material.

“EDENICA Corpo Mente Spirito”

Organized by Andrea Brighi, on October 1 and 2 the “body workshop for wellness and martial, oriental

and holistic arts” has been held. In this event a convention has been done with the title “Rolfing, Doc. Ida

Rolf method, precursor in the fundamental role of fascia as a holistic approach to well-being”.

Following speakers took part to the congress:

Andrea Brighi, Rolfer and organizer of Edenica, opened the congress.

Pierpaola Volpones Rolfer: told the history of how the Rolfing method has been born.

Daniela Donati, president of the Italian Association spoke about the work done for recognition of

the Rolfing Italian Association by the MISE, according to the l.4/2013.

Nicola Carofiglio Rolfer™, (in place of Rita Geirola who could not take part at the last moment)

led an embodiment” and spoke about Rolfing principles.

Robert Schleip, presented, via teleconference from Munich, last researches on fascia.

Giovannella Pattavina, presented Bates method and common point between this method and

Rolfing. Main argument of the speech “relaxing the sight for a good vision”

Elmar Abram e Andrea Meynardi spoke about “Musireset” method, created by Elmar,

Rolfer and musician, to treat focal dystonia of musicians. A violinist took part to the speech and

told about his history and how he could find a solution working with Elmar Abram e Andrea

Meynardi.

http://rolfing-italia.it/


Rolfing Academy: in the end Pierpaola Volpones, together with others Rolfers™ who studied with

her, spoke with the audience about Rolfing training.

6.6 Spain 2016, by Petró Kohut

Report:

1. Post the Annual meeting in October 2016, our new board is as following:

- President – Begoña Fontana

- Vice President – Herve Baunard

- Secretary/accountant – Marta Pitchardo 2. Had our AER Annual Meeting the 22/10/2016 3. Website project is being taken over by a new designer. ETA is not known yet. Begoña, Herve and

Esther are charged with watching over the progress of the ongoing project. 4. Our materials are categorised and priced for possibility of leasing out to workshops and events. 5. The discussion has continued re the association funds being able to be used to reimburse the

attending members. Members feel very strongly that all benefits possible should go to the people

that are putting in the time and energy to maintain the healthy functioning of the association. 6. We are looking at bringing a Rolfing “stand” to the BioCultura healing arts fair. 7. With regards to the Rolfing School in Spain, further work is being done about the legal

necessities for such a project. The vision of the Rolfing school in Spain is an inclusive vision

potentially involving all the Rolfers™ in Spain in the varied required tasks. 8. There is also talk of bringing Portugal alongside Spain in the Rolfing School project. 9. Quotes are being taken for how much it will cost to have more relevant and accurate texts to be

added to Wikipedia Spain.

6.7 Switzerland 2016, by Karen Ariane Schweg

In 2016 the main topics for the SARSI (Swiss Association Rolfing & Structural Integration) were the

revision of the by-laws as well as an update of our website. We hosted four start-up courses for new

Rolfers™ having graduated last year. Our back office is led by a new assistant since October 2016. She

needed support from the board for starting her new job for us. One continuing topic for our association

is the transformation from being an association for Rolfers™ only to representing also the Structural

Integrators of Switzerland. Another new development in Switzerland is a unitary health insurance

companies’ tariff for all complementary therapies. Starting 2018 all complementary therapists will have

to use this new way of billing their clients. To be prepared for this transition we started informing our

members this year, trying to assist in the transition.

6.8 United Kingdom 2015, by Keith Graham

Overview

January 2016 to February 2017 has been an unprecedented period of growth for UK. Rolfing. Our recent

six new graduates from BARSI has increased the number of certified Rolfers™ in the UK. to 47 (25 Active,

8 Limited practice, 6 In first year of practice, 5 over 20 years, 1 in default, 2 in dispute). In addition, we

have begun to substantially increase the profile of Rolfing® in the UK with a very successful PR

campaign and new website.


PR Activity

At our last AGM we formed a team from within our membership to look at organizing a PR campaign for

UK Rolfing. We are lucky to have a number of people with former experience in PR among our

membership and this has been a major contributing factor in the success of our PR push. The team

headed by Sybil Harrington a former PR professional were; Aidan Treays, Sarah Carron and Keith Graham.

Sibyl introduced us to Pilot PR and negotiated a very favorable fee for Pilot to spearhead our campaign. I

think it is fair to say that we have been astounded by the impact that this PR campaign has had.

Considering that PilotPR were working from standing start with Rolfing virtually unknown to many of

the media outlets approached, the amount of exposure achieved in a just five months to February is truly

remarkable. (See link below for media coverage report details)

Rolfing® UK Coverage Report - October 2016 to February 2017

http://bit.ly/2lCTCBG

Since this report was compiled, we have had a major feature on Rolfing in a National newspaper. Here’s

the link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4283918/The-workout-woman-needs.html and this

has produced an immediate spike in enquiries about Rolfing from all parts of the UK.

We are currently in negotiations with Pilot PR to continue with a further six month campaign to build on

the momentum achieved so far. The PR team have received enthusiastic feedback from the UK Rolfing

community and are convinced that this will be a great investment which will benefit all Rolfers™ in the

UK. FIona, our treasurer and I will be looking at available funds and will hopefully be able to recommend

a vote to release further money from our communal UK Fund to continue this very successful endeavor.

New website

In October 2016, to coincide with the start of our PR campaign we launched a brand new UK Rolfers™

website. Pilot PR and the web development team at I AM Emily, worked closely with our in-house PR

team to optimize search criteria and to bring the UK website more in line with the ERA branding.

Among the new features on our website are a new and easier to use search facility on our 'Find a Rolfer'

page and a News page which we regularly update with new stories which are then circulated by our in

house PR team, committed community members and Pilot PR. Our aim is to get more of our UK Rolfers™

tweeting and Face booking in this way to further boost our Google rankings and improve our profile in

the UK.

Workshops

Our workshop team; Andrea Buckley, Giovanni Felicioni organized a workshop with Valerie Berg in

London last June, which attracted Rolfers™ form many parts of Europe and one form the US and was

fully attended.

This May 19th to 21st we are excited to have Harvey Burns teaching a three day workshop in London

entitled "From plains to shapes, spheres and spaces"

Future plans, threats and opportunities

Over the coming year will continue to motivate more of our members to become engaged with our UK

community. Among the ideas we have already started to look at is to establish an Ethics/Mentoring

committee made up of a small group of senior Rolfers™. The purpose of the committee will be to share

experience and offer general advice and support particularly for newer members. It has become clear

from a couple of incidents in the past 12 months that there is a need for experienced support and advice

on conflict resolution for Rolfers™ who find themselves in dispute with a client.

Clearer Membership procedure We will also look at how we might establish a better, clearer procedure

for membership to the UK association. At the moment there is no formal 'Joining' process and new

Rolfers™ are automatically accepted into the community and given a free page on the website. In the

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4283918/The-workout-woman-needs.html


future as our community grows it's management will inevitably become more time consuming and

costly. It currently costs £50 to add a new practitioner page to our website for instance, this cost is

covered from the community fund. In the future though it may be necessary to levee an association

membership fee for this and other benefits of joining the association. This would be independent and in

addition to the annual dues so would require that members have a choice whether to opt in or out of

this charge.

Establishment of a UK management committee or board At the next AGM we will start to look at how

we might establish a wider platform of responsibility for administering our association and for helping in

the decision making process necessary for future growth. Since the beginning of our UK association this

task has fallen squarely onto the shoulders of the Contact Point. With only a handful of members this

was fine but now we are approaching 50 Rolfers™ the task of getting membership consent for all

necessary actions and keeping records of all conversations including those with the ERA has become very

difficult and time consuming. An elected board, empowered to make strategic decisions on behalf of the

membership would not only simplify decision making but would enable us to manage more efficiently by

sharing the work load. I intend to stay on as Contact Point for a further year or until such time as we

have established a fully functioning UK association board.

Regional Training (BARSI)

The initial loan of £10,000 to set up our UK. academy has now been paid back in full and we look

forward to seeing BARSI continue to grow and attract more people to train as Rolfers™ in the UK.

For further information regarding the European Rolfing® Association e.V. regional Association’s

activities please visit everyone’s respective websites:

Austria: www.rolfing.at

Ireland: www.rolfingireland.ie

Italy: www.rolfing.it

Netherlands: www.rolfing.nl

Spain: www.rolf.org.es

Switzerland: www.rolfing.ch

UK: www.rolfinguk.co.uk

http://www.rolfing.at/

http://www.rolfingireland.ie/

http://www.rolfing.it/

http://www.rolfing.nl/

http://www.rolf.org.es/

http://www.rolfing.ch/

http://www.rolfinguk.co.uk/


7. European representative at the RISI board, by Hubert Ritter Berlin, March 15, 2017

Dear ERA Members,

First I would like to thank you for you electing me to a new term on the RISI Board in 2016. I feel

honored to serve as your representative for another four years.

What inspired me to run for the European seat again were significant new developments at the RISI. We

are now in the middle of a 5-year strategic plan that was introduced by RISI Executive Director Christina

Howe in 2015. We have made great strides in key areas of the plan:

In the course of 2017, three decentralized Rolfing Training programs will start in different

locations in the US. More will follow in the near future.

Centralized quality control – Rolfing Training graduates will be undergoing final exams

supervised by a panel of experts – is well underway. Assessment will start in the US this year,

with ERA and ABR programs to follow in 2018/2019.

A completely re-designed website with new content (especially video content) and long-

anticipated new features like online payment is up and running.

New technologies such as online payment of dues, a cloud-based accounting system, online

catalog for trainings and workshops, new membership database and software were implemented

in 2016.

All of the above are significant steps that will put the RISI on a path for growth.

Financial situation

Because enrollments were stronger than projected, we could make significant investments in new

technologies (see above) and still end the fiscal year 2016 with a net profit of ca. US$ 8,000. In 2017, we

are on track to meeting our enrollment and revenue goals. These goals do not include the new

decentralized training programs. Any revenue from those programs will be in addition to budgeted

revenue and will thus increase profit and strengthen our financial basis.

RISI By-Laws

Thanks to high participation in the recent bylaws vote – we reached our quorum of 1/3 of the

membership – we were able to pass a significant bylaws change. A large majority of participants

(98,1 %) approved electronic voting for all ballots at the RISI. The RISI board will submit additional

bylaws revisions to you for approval in the near future. Thanks to electronic voting, from now on the

process will be much more efficient and convenient for the RISI and for you as a member. Finally, we will

all be able to vote with a few clicks, instead of having to deal with envelops and stamps.

RIO Summit and RISI-ERA Agreement

RISI and all RIO’s, including ERA, will begin working on a new contractual agreement that governs the

relationship of the organizations. A RIO Summit will take place April 22 to 25, 2017 in Boulder.

Representatives from Brazil, Canada, Europe and Japan will meet with representatives of the RISI to

exchange information about the different organizations, engage in negotiations for new agreements and

work to improve mutual understanding and cooperation.


Service Mark compliance

Finally, I once again want to remind you of the importance of correct usage of our service marks. Only if

we use our marks correctly can we defend them should they ever be challenged – see the Brazil service

mark lawsuit that the RISI and the Brazilian Rolfing Association were able to win a couple of years ago.

The service mark usage guidelines for Europe are posted on the “members only” section of www.rolf.org.

You can contact the RISI’s director of Membership Services Colette Cole at <[email protected]> if you are

uncertain about proper usage of our marks.

Please feel free to contact me at <[email protected]> with any questions or concerns.

Hubert Ritter

ERA Representative RISI Board of Directors

Documents

European Rolfing® Association e.V. Activity and Financial Report … · 2017-07-24 · Page 1 ERA Annual Report 2016of 34 Published April 2017 European Rolfing® Association e.V