EMMAUS, Pa. — It started out as a conversation about a tattoo — small talk that developed into a career-altering discussion later that night.
"She was giving me just advice for this industry," Jared Skinner said of the woman with whom he was talking. "And she's like, 'Do you know about Rolfing?'"
That set Skinner on the path to become a practitioner of Rolfing, a form of message therapy bodywork that "reorganizes the connective tissues, called fascia, that permeate the entire body."
He's among just 2,000 therapists in the world certified in the practice. He works at Holistic Solutions, 1245 Chestnut St., Emmaus.
After that late-night conversation, Skinner found himself talked into a nine-month massage program more than 1,000 miles away at the Ida B. Rolfing Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
The institute offers two nine-month courses each year, with a maximum of 15 students each class. Skinner said 11 finished the course and only eight — including himself — graduated.
Graduates who opt into the institute's "Find a Rolfer" program show on a worldwide map of certified bodyworkers from Canada to New Zealand and even Japan.
Lessons included learning about the anatomy of the human body to better understand the massage technique Skinner and his peers were learning, as well as actually receiving the 10 sessions themselves.
What is Rolfing?
Rolfing is a 10-session process, around 90 minutes each, Skinner said.
Each session focuses on a different part of the body, with some being "significantly more intense," emotionally and physically and others feeling minimal in comparison.
But it generally feels dissimilar to traditional massage.
"There were a few times where classmates walked out for the day because they were just brought to tears," Skinner said. "And so before you start, it's worth really making sure that you are in a good place to start it.
"That's not saying that everyone will have an emotional release. But some of the people who had the biggest emotional releases and the biggest traumatic outbursts were the people who were seemingly the least likely.
"The ones who were the most put together and the ones who held themselves down."
Skinner said the bodywork embraces concepts such as those depicted in the book "The Body Keeps the Score" by Bessel van der Kolk.
Van der Kolk, a trauma and neuroscience expert, describes how traumatic events can affect the body and brain in the book.
With proper technique, Skinner said, Rolfing can resurface trauma stored in the body through muscle memory.
It also can relieve the body of pain or discomfort from daily wear and tear for five to 10 years, he said.
"These connective tissues surround, support and penetrate all of the muscles, bones, nerves and organs," the Ida B. Rolfing Institute website says.
"Rolfing Structural Integration works on this web-like complex of connective tissues to release, realign and balance the whole body, thus potentially resolving discomfort, reducing compensations and alleviating pain."
Skinner's background
Before Skinner could help others, he needed to help himself.
A certified massage therapist since 2020, Skinner said he sees the practice as an opportunity to heal others physically, mentally and emotionally.
Yet Skinner, an army veteran, initially scoffed at the idea of even getting a massage years ago.
"But there's just a whole litany of people out there who through no fault of their own are living lesser quality lives. And I want to give back to them because massage gave that back to me."Jared Skinner
He said he didn't have much of a choice when an injury left doctors telling him he might never walk again.
Sessions with a medical massage therapist altered that fate in a way that Skinner now attributes as "one of my biggest drives for success in massage."
"Because before that, I had never gotten a massage and I always just envisioned it being rich old women with a mud mask and cucumbers," Skinner said.
Now, he said, he sees the practice as an opportunity for others to reclaim their body, whether it be from a traumatic accident, assault or life-altering pain.
And he sees it as a means of paying back the medical professionals who encouraged him to try massage therapy.
"So, I could have just stopped at massage, and I'm sure I would have gotten a whole bunch of people coming in that just wanted to feel relaxed for an hour and go away," Skinner said.
"But there's just a whole litany of people out there who through no fault of their own are living lesser-quality lives. And I want to give back to them because massage gave that back to me."
Finding a mentor
There only are about 2,000 other individuals worldwide, including Skinner, who can practice Rolfing, according to the institute.
In Pennsylvania, there are just 15, according to the Rolfing institute's "Find a Rolfer" locator. Locally, he's among just two in the Lehigh Valley.
William Kaye also practices in Easton, according to the locator.
"If you can create those patterns at a young age that are beneficial, they're going to carry through for life."Jared Skinner
Since his 22-hour drive home returning to Pennsylvania in March 2024, Skinner said he's taken to a mentor from King of Prussia, Montgomery County.
He's Robert Toporek, who worked directly with Ida B. Rolf in the last four years of her life to study the body working practice.
"In 1978 she chose me to implement and manage a project to demonstrate, document and promote the benefits of Rolfing for babies and children," Toporek's find a rolfer biography says.
"Since then I have worked with over 300 whole families as early as day one and as deep as four generations."
Toporek specifically works with newborns and children, which Skinner said fascinated him.
"Because, again, if you can create those patterns at a young age that are beneficial, they're going to carry through for life," Skinner said.
"And that is a population that I would love to try and get more involved with out here is small kids, bringing them in because at that point, they're still so small so they're not experiencing pain because they haven't been doing these things long enough for it to hurt them."
It's about making a difference
He said his mentorship with Toporek taught him a more traditional method of Rolfing, given his personal studies with Dr. Ida Rolf, versus the more modernized methods the Ida B. Rolf Institute taught him.
Sometimes his education can trickle into traditional massage appointments, where Skinner said he can notice and feel differences in customer's muscles.
"And so if I just sit back and coast on mediocrity — I've done nothing."Jared Skinner
"It's now like, 'Oh, no, I want to fix this,' but they're not here for that," he said.
For Rolfing appointments, Skinner charges $175 per session at Holistic Solutions. Typical rates could be upwards of $300 — which could come to a total of $1,750, he said.
For some, it raises the question: Is it really worth making less than $2,000 on a customer who might return once every five to 10 years?
For Skinner, yes.
It's not about making a profit, he said, it's about making a difference.
"There's real potential here, as arrogant as it might sound," he said. "If I do a good enough job, there's potential to change the world.
"If I can impact anybody else's life, for every one positive impact I have, that might branch out into 10 more from that, and it's gonna go from there.
"And so if I just sit back and coast on mediocrity — I've done nothing."
