An interview with Maya-Matthea van Staden, Tai Chi Ch’uan teacher and Rolfing® student, Delft, Netherlands
Introduction
What connects a traditional Chinese movement art like Tai Chi Ch’uan with Rolfing® Structural Integration?
At first glance, they seem to come from different worlds – one an ancient movement practice, the other a scientifically grounded approach to structural and perceptual integration. Yet both share a deep curiosity about how human beings relate to gravity, space, and movement.
While Tai Chi Ch’uan refines awareness through precise, flowing motion, Rolfing Structural Integration works at a more fundamental level – through touch, movement, and structural reorganisation – to realign the body in gravity and to awaken its inherent capacity for ease and balance. Where Tai Chi Ch’uan expresses harmony, Rolfing builds the physical and perceptual foundation that makes such harmony possible.
Many movement teachers and bodywork professionals are discovering how Rolfing® Structural Integration training can deepen their practice – enhancing movement awareness, refining teaching presence, and expanding professional skills.
Maya-Matthea van Staden, a Tai Chi Ch’uan teacher from Delft, the Netherlands, and student at the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute® Europe, has experienced this connection first-hand. In this interview, she shares how Rolfing training has transformed her approach to movement, teaching, and embodied presence.
Her perspective offers valuable insight for movement professionals curious about how Rolfing Structural Integration can enrich both personal practice and professional development – showing how its principles extend far beyond any single discipline.
Maya, what first brought you to Rolfing® Structural Integration training?
I had my first Rolfing session when I was 15, but the decision to really dive into it came much later. After years of studying music and dance in relation to anthropology, traveling, running a business, and teaching, I found myself back in the Netherlands when I happened to walk past a Rolfing practice. I recognized the logo - it was familiar, and it sparked a quiet curiosity. I booked a session, not with a clear goal, but because it felt natural to return to it.
The Rolfing session felt both dynamic and calm. At that time, thanks to my Tai Chi Ch’uan practice, I was no longer living with chronic rheumatological pain - but I was still overly cautious, unable to miss even a day of training without the pain returning.
What struck me was how the Rolfing session invited awareness rather than performance. That resonated deeply with my Tai Chi Ch’uan practice - meeting what’s there without trying to perform an image. There was a sense of being met with presence, not just technique, and that was very inspiring. Over time, having received the full 10-series, it also brought more ease and spontaneity into my movement.
You have a deep connection with Tai Chi Ch’uan. How did Rolfing® Structural Integration influence your Tai Chi Ch’uan practice and your sense of body awareness?
I found that Rolfing complements my Tai Chi Ch’uan practice in profound ways. Both draw from the idea of how humans evolved from moving on all fours to standing upright, much like a child learning to walk. This shift changes how the respiratory diaphragm moves and how the body negotiates gravity, requiring adaptability in upright posture with spatial awareness of both sky and ground.
Both disciplines use imagery of energetic lift rising from the feet through an organized, adaptable body. In Tai Chi Ch’uan, the “bubbling well” and the role of the big toe in relation to the diaphragm are emphasized, similar to the upward lift and big toe push in walking explored in Rolfing.
While Tai Chi Ch’uan expresses gravity and physical and energetic structure through yin-yang relations - no front without back - and presence through cultivated movement, partner exercises, and legendary stories, Rolfing engages comparable principles through personal hands-on work, addressing palintonic relationships (the dynamic balance of opposing tensions in the body) in anatomy, sensation, and metaphor for finding ease in movement in daily life. This broadens my teaching approach, helps me connect more effectively with limitations of practitioners, and continually refines my own body awareness, revealing “blind spots.”
One moment stands out: Miquel - “my” Rolfer - during a session placed his hand on my back and asked, “Do you teach from here?” At first, I didn’t understand, but later in class, I felt that point. Something softened inside me, my posture shifted to a more open and responsive orientation toward the class and the students, and I became less occupied with a program or plan.
How does space reveal itself through the body – and how do Rolfing® and Tai Chi Ch’uan help you experience this relationship?
Space to me is not just an external environment - it’s an embodied experience shaped by our brain and body’s ongoing dialogue with the world. It’s a living history, woven into how we’ve learned to perceive, move, and be in relation to what surrounds us and how its incorporated within our system.
Our bodies carry this history, and each new moment, whether unfamiliar or familiar, reshapes how space reveals itself to us. Space is fluid, dynamic, and deeply felt.
Through practice, we begin to notice how our perception of space influences posture, breath, and intention. It’s in this dance between inner and outer worlds that a sense of body emerges - one that’s more than just an adaptive physical structure. It reveals new possibilities in how we move and live.
Looking at the body this way, I sometimes feel I’m not made of physical matter alone, but more so by the intangible that allows space to be - requiring an adaptive and responsive physical body to meet it.
Both Rolfing Structural Integration and Tai Chi Ch’uan engage deeply with this idea - through touch, connection to breath, awareness of the spaces within the body, and orientation to the world around us in receiving, perceiving, and projecting.
In which ways has Rolfing® training changed your approach as a movement and Tai Chi Ch’uan teacher?
Perhaps I’ve become less technical - though I’ve always enjoyed being playful. But now, what I bring feels less about me, and more about what’s truly relevant for others. The notion of providing space has become more central, resonating in quiet, persistent ways.
Teaching, for me, has become a form of listening - not just to words, but to atmosphere, timing, the whole situation, even to my own being in that moment. This shift has influenced how I touch, how I relate, and how I speak.
I’ve become - or at least I desire to be - more attuned to the students - their search for balance, and for effort that doesn’t overwhelm ease. I now translate principles through the body, not just through explanation. And sometimes, I step back - not to withdraw, but to offer the room itself. I remain present, just less directing. That space allows students to orient themselves.
What can other movement or Tai Chi Ch’uan teachers gain from Rolfing® Structural Integration training? Would you recommend it?
Absolutely - Coming from a movement background, I find it a great pleasure to study and learn alongside people from diverse disciplines that are structured by different concepts and looking for new perspectives.
Rolfing Strukturelle Integration offers a fresh perspective by viewing movement through the lens of daily life, that has in itself virtuosity enough, and when finding more ease there it will be easier for people to learn dance, yoga, Tai Chi Ch’uan, and other practices.
As a teacher, you’re always transmitting something, whether you realize it or not. Rolfing helps you become deeply aware of what that is. That awareness can be uncomfortable, but it also makes teaching more alive and authentic. And if your work involves touch, truly understanding how touch functions within your own body is essential.
What draws me to Rolfing Structural Integration is the honesty of body communication. Rolfing touch can reveal how someone perceives and inhabits their body, allowing for a dialogue grounded in presence. Offering a setting for embodied reflection - held with clarity and care - is a valuable part of the work. People come to a session for many different - often very personal - reasons, already seeking connections within their body and sense of being. It’s a privilege to explore that with them.
Conclusion
Maya’s experience shows how Rolfing® Structural Integration reaches far beyond refining movement: it reorganises the body’s structure and perception, creating the conditions for balance, presence, and flow to naturally emerge.
Both Tai Chi Ch’uan and Rolfing cultivate a deeper relationship with embodiment and awareness, yet they approach it from different directions. While Tai Chi Ch’uan refines perception and flow through mindful motion and energetic touch, Rolfing works from the inside out – through touch, perception, and guided movement – to support a more integrated relationship with gravity and with oneself.
This deeper organisation of the body not only enhances any movement practice, but influences how we inhabit space, connect with others, and experience daily life.
If you are a movement or bodywork professional curious about how Rolfing® Structural Integration training can enrich your teaching and professional path, explore our certified training programmes at the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute® Europe.
Source: This interview is an abridged version of Maya’s original piece, ‘How Rolfing® Structural Integration Training has Changed my Tai Chi Ch’uan Teaching and Practice’, available in full on her website. LINK to full version.
Interview partner: Maya-Matthea van Staden, Tai Chi Ch’uan teacher and Rolfing® student, Delft, Netherlands
Interview and editing: Sabine Becker
Photo: Copyright © Maya-Matthea van Staden, photographer Monika Novkovik
Maya van Staden’s website.
FAQ about Rolfing® Structural Integration
- What is Rolfing® Structural Integration?
Rolfing® Structural Integration is a scientifically based method of bodywork that uses touch and movement education to realign the body in gravity. It helps improve posture, coordination, and body awareness by reorganising the body’s fascial structure.
- How does Rolfing® relate to Tai Chi Ch’uan?
Both Tai Chi Ch’uan and Rolfing® explore how the body relates to gravity, movement, and space. While Tai Chi Ch’uan cultivates awareness through motion, Rolfing® works through touch and structural integration to create the physical foundation for ease and balance.
- What can movement or dance teachers gain from Rolfing® Structural Integration training?
The Rolfing® training offers a completely new perspective on movement and body organisation. It reveals how structure, perception, and movement unfold in relation to gravity, and how orientation in space and connection with others shape this experience.
Those who engage with it develop a refined sense of alignment, presence, and relationship – within their own body and in contact with others.
For movement and dance teachers, this means that Rolfing Structural Integration transforms the very way movement is perceived – from its outer form to a deeper understanding of the inner organisation from which ease and expression arise.- Where can I study Rolfing® Structural Integration in Europe?
The Dr. Ida Rolf Institute® Europe in Munich offers certified Rolfing® Structural Integration training programmes for bodywork and movement professionals. Learn more here.
Learn more about Rolfing® Structural Integration.
Find a Rolfer® or Rolf Movement™ Practitioner near you
More information on how to become a Certified Rolfer®.
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