Rosen Method Bodywork

What Is Rosen Method Bodywork?

Rosen Method is a gentle, hands-on bodywork practice that helps people connect more deeply with themselves. The work focuses on places where the body holds unconscious tension; tight muscles, restricted breathing, and patterns of bracing that reflect old experiences.

Using touch and simple words, the practitioner brings awareness to these areas in a safe way. The touch is receptive and listening, creating space for feelings, memories, and insights to naturally emerge.

A key part of Rosen is the relationship between client and practitioner. To be met by another person with presence, acceptance, and touch creates a powerful experience of connection—something many of us long for at a deep level.

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"We live in a different world when we are connected to what is alive in us."

– Marshall Rosenberg, founder, of Nonviolent Communication

How Rosen Works

Rosen Method helps the body and mind meet what has been held back. Many of us live with chronic muscle tension, shallow breathing, and patterns of bracing that formed long ago. These patterns often carry unconscious memories, emotions, and beliefs.

Rosen sessions invite these hidden layers into awareness. As tension softens and the nervous system shifts from guarding to relaxing, clients often reconnect with their own embodied wisdom—the body’s language of sensations and feelings that points toward new choices in life.

Although developed decades earlier, Rosen’s principles are now affirmed by polyvagal theory, trauma research, and the science of embodied healing. Touch, presence, and safety allow the body to process what the mind alone cannot.

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Benefits of Rosen Method Bodywork

Relief from stress, overwhelm, and muscle tension
Deeper relaxation and ease
A calmer, more regulated nervous system
Greater comfort with touch and the experience of being safely met
Increased clarity, emotional resilience, and a stronger sense of self
Healing from past stress or trauma
Complement talk therapy or medical treatment
Capacity to listen to the body’s intuition and connect with your feelings and needs
A fuller sense of vitality, aliveness, and connection with who you truly are

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“This work is about transformation – from the person we think we are to the person we really are. In the end, we can’t be anyone else.”

– Marion Rosen, Founder, Rosen Method Bodywork

Origins of Rosen Method

Rosen Method was founded by Marion Rosen (1914–2012), a physical therapist whose life was shaped by both exile from Nazi Germany and a deep curiosity about the human body. In the 1930s she studied breath and relaxation with Lucy Heyer in Munich, alongside Jungian psychotherapy experiments that showed how bodywork could help people access and integrate emotions.

After fleeing Germany, Marion trained as a physical therapist in Sweden and the U.S., later establishing her practice in Berkeley, California. Over decades she observed that when people connected their life stories with the tensions held in their bodies, both healing and lasting change became possible.

From these insights, Rosen Method Bodywork and Movement were born—gentle, accessible practices that honor the body as a gateway to inner truth. By the 1970s Marion began teaching her approach, and today Rosen Method is practiced internationally as one of the pioneering somatic therapies of our time.

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"Our work addresses the holding back that we do, where we do not show ourselves, where we hold back feelings, where we hold back actions. Through listening to the truth of the body, it is possible to discover what we can do, who we can be, what we can experience, how we can love."

– Marion Rosen, Founder, Rosen Method Bodywork

What to Expect From a Session

Intake

Each session begins with a check-in and grounding together.
You’ll have slow down, tune into your body, and share your feelings and intentions for the session.
This helps establish a sense of safety and direction for the session.

During the Session

You'll lie on a massage table, undressed to your comfort level, lightly covered with a blanket or sheet. No oils or lotions are used.
The practitioner may rest their hands, hold, gently glide, or meet tension with deeper pressure, always listening to your body and moving at a pace that feels safe.
Touch may be received directly on the skin, over a blanket, or through clothing
You may notice subtle changes in your breath, temperature, or muscle tone. Tension may begin to soften. Images, memories, or emotions might surface.
A quiet dialogue may emerge to support awareness of sensations and feelings as they arise.
Because the body carries unconscious patterns, this work can sometimes feel activating or emotional as protective habits begin to shift. These moments are held with care and support, so even difficult experiences can be met safely, at a pace that respects your capacity.

Afterwards

Many clients leave with a greater sense of ease, clarity, and aliveness.
Some choose to support integration by journaling, walking, or resting quietly.
Rosen Method is most effective with regular sessions, each one building on the last to deepen presence and support lasting transformation in daily life.

Fees

55 minute Rosen Session — $60
Offered at a reduced rate while I am completing my internship training.

The time listed represents the hands-on portion of your session. Each appointment includes an additional 30 minutes for settling in, intake, and post-session integration before you transition back to your day. When scheduling, please allow for this extra 30 minutes beyond your hands-on time.