Nick is 100% Greek (ok, enough with the jokes!) and he lives in Texas; Dallas to be exact. I’d been talking to Nick on the Big Muscle Bears web site since August of last year. He was an internet buddy with whom I exchanged "Good Mornings" and "Have a Nice Day" on a daily basis. It wasn’t until Brian and I had parted that we actually got to meet. What a terrific person he turned out to be. We share many of the same interests and dislikes. When I finally got around to asking Nick what he did as a living, he said he was a massage therapist and a rolfer. Did you say roofer or rolfer?

I said he is a rolfer. I’d heard of it, but I must admit that I did not know what rolfing was really all about. I did a check of the State of Delaware’s registered rolfers and found just four of them, all located in the Wilmington area. There are none in Kent or Sussex County as of this time. So, if you don’t know much about Rolfing, here goes. This information was obtained from the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration located in Denver, Colorado.

Rolfing is the nickname given to this work by many practitioners. It is also a registered service in 27 countries. Rolfing can dramatically alter a person’s posture and structure. Many people from all walks of life benefit from this procedure. They include professional athletes, children, dancers, business people, and the likes of you and me. People seek out Rolfing to ease pain, chronic stress, and improve performance in their active professional and daily activities.

Rolfing procedures have demonstrated that it creates a more efficient use of the muscles, allows the body to conserve energy, and create a more economical and refined pattern of movement. Over 1 million people have received Rolfing work. Changes in the body structure and reduced chronic stress are a big positive result to the Rolfing procedure. It also enhances neurological functioning.

OK, now, how did Rolfing get its name? The Rolfing Structural Institute is named after its founder, Dr. Ida P. Rolf. Dr. Rolf began her inquiry more than 50 years ago, dedicating herself to creating a holistic system of soft tissue manipulation and movement education that organized the whole body in gravity. She eventually named this system structural integration. After years and years of research, she discovered that she could achieve remarkable changes in posture and structure by manipulating the body’s myofascial system.

But Rolfing is not for the squeamish. It can be a tough procedure, but a procedure in which the client will experience the benefits of physical, emotional, and energetic manipulation. Please don’t confuse this with massage for it is not. Nick took Rolfing classes at the Rolfing Institute in Colorado for two years. It was grueling and expensive but he’s become very successful at it. If you would be interested in Rolfing, or even massage therapy, by all means call my gym. Nick will be in Delaware the second week in March and will accept appointments.

Here’s an update. Remember the last article I did on government/drug company crack downs on the buying of drugs outside the borders of the U.S.? Remember where the drug companies complained to the U.S. government that the Canadian and Mexican drugs being brought by U.S. citizens were suspected to be counterfeit or of low-grade? Older poor and middle class income seniors were renting buses and filling them up with like minded seniors and making it a day trip to visit Canada or Mexico to purchase their prescription drugs at half-price or less. Many of them were on tight budgets and this was the only way they could save money to survive with these needed drugs. And then the drug company complained to the U.S. government about online pharmacies from Mexico and Canada that they were selling mail order. The same argument ensued and we were told not to purchase from the online pharmacies because they were selling inferior or counterfeit drugs to you. Well folks, you’ve all been duped. It seems that our congress has passed that Medicare Bill to "help out" the seniors by obtaining cheaper drugs from here in the good U.S. of A. Might I note that the AARP also endorsed the bill wholeheartedly.

Well now. Seems the drug companies got their way. You see the bill doesn’t take affect until after the election is over. And, my friends, it’s pretty sad to say that if you buy drugs from any other country, eg., Canada or Mexico or where ever else, well then, you would be committing a crime. You can no longer purchase those needed drugs from your old cheaper service source. The drug companies have won. You have lost. And the health insurance companies have also won big time with this new Medicare bill. You will have a higher deductible to pay for your overly inflated drug items. So you have to ask yourself—who it was congress was really looking out for when this bill was passed—and it sure was passed quickly. It makes me very angry when I find out that the people of the United States have been screwed over by the government, the insurance companies, and the drug companies. It seems that national health care may be the way to go. Our congressmen get the best national health care there is, paid for by us, for the rest of their lives. No wonder they don’t want us to have it. Theirs is free, free, free!

Now think about that one when you send in your monthly health insurance premium that has just gone up 50% again. Hardly seems fair at all, huh?

They get the cake, we get the crumbs.