Receiving Allison's specialized form of Rolfing work throughout my entire pregnancy and post-partum (& onward) has been tremendously supportive to me and my baby! My growing and changing body was educated from Allison's insights of how to move with more integrity, more wisely by learning how to carry myself with increased awareness in the foundation of my feet, all the way upward through my hips, pelvis, chest, neck, head…this whole ladder of integrated parts that she cares for brings forth a feeling a wholeness. 

I am so thankful to have had such great pain relief from Allison's work on my hips, pelvis and sciatic area during pregnancy. I felt more spacious and lighter in my body as Allison worked with the connective tissue, fascia, nerve pathways and musculature to bring an expansive feeling to me and my baby's evolving positioning in utero. 

I have learned how to better breath into areas of my body that were feeling comprised or even "collapsed". 
Areas of my body that I didn't even realize were "stuck"  have been freed, reeducated and aligned to bring me more ease, grace and comfort. 

The scope of Allison's knowledge base, experience and additional holistic views on how the Somatic Body-Mind work together is just one of many other added benefits that she is able to offer as she integrates all her fields of study into a "more than just Rolfing" approach to her therapeutic offerings.  

I am so grateful for all I have received from Allison's skilled, caring and highly effective work.

Rolfing and Allison’s knowledge of the practice and awareness of the body have helped me through painful migraines, pregnancy, and recovery after surgery.

At 25 I was a healthy, active woman, but started to suffer from debilitating migraines. I had tried all the OTC pain relievers with no success. At that point, my primary care physician prescribed me a heavy-duty migraine medicine (complete with a myriad of side effects) to take every day. I knew that was not a path that I wanted to go down and began searching for a more holistic way to heal my body. My husband had seen Allison for some time and recommend that I contact her to see if she could help me with my migraines. After a couple of rolfing sessions and some recommended yoga moves to practice daily, my migraines became less and less frequent and eventually subsided.

I did not suffer migraines for several years and continued regular rolfing sessions to maintain my health. Unfortunately, my migraines returned when I became pregnant for the first time. Allison was once again able to help me reduce the frequency of my migraines through rolfing. In addition to reducing my migraines during pregnancy, rolfing helped me to remain pain free and not experience many of the dreaded pregnancy symptoms (nausea, swelling, fatigue). My body felt like it was doing everything it needed to do. I was able to continue my active lifestyle throughout my entire pregnancy and maintain a feeling of openness and alignment in my body. Rolfing after pregnancy helped my body to quickly return to functioning as it did pre-pregnancy.

"My 7 year old son, Dean, is a very active and wild boy. He has complained of headaches and backaches in the past (too many flips on the trampoline!) Allison suggested Rolfing. When she began working on him, I was so amazed at how much of his body tissue was twisted and knotted! After all he is still so little and perfect, right?! After she had Rolfed him only once, his complaints went away. I am so grateful to Allison and Rolfing because now I can do something to prevent injury down the road for my active kid." - Danielle, Dean's mom

It is my honor and privilege to write a testimonial about Allison Benner’s Rolfing practice. I first came to Allison 7 or 8 years ago after trying multiple other modalities to address chronic low back pain. After one full series, my low back pain was gone and the pain has never returned. More recently, I was in a car accident resulting in months of multi-week severe headaches. After a lot of physical therapy without any lasting relief, I sought out Allison’s services. I am experiencing a significant decrease in headache frequency, duration, and intensity and I have complete confidence that I will be free from headaches soon. Allison’s expansive knowledge of the body combined with a truly incredible eye for noticing even the slightest dysfunction in how the body moves, sits, or stands results in efficient diagnosis and treatment planning. Allison’s unique skill set also includes her knowledge of the body’s ability to relieve and resolve symptoms of past traumas by focusing on the patient’s body sensations. Allison pulls wisdom from her training and experience as a Kundalini Yoga teacher regarding the movement of energy and the power of breath to further support her clients. Allison’s depth and breadth of knowledge results in a very supportive, well-rounded, and effective healing experience. I’m a very grateful believer in Rolfing and of Allison.

Somatic Experiencing with Allison has been a total game changer. Allison holds safe space to touch on fear and anxiety, then guides you back to a feeling of safety, helping you connect pathways that you may not otherwise have access to on your own. As someone who often intellectualizes feelings, it’s been an important step in my healing journey to be guided into fully feeling. I have been dealing with attachment anxiety throughout my life and have worked with a variety of practitioners. Working with Allison has helped me find a deeper, more embodied healing than I have with traditional talk therapy.

I was a little hesitant and apprehensive before my first visit with Allison. I had heard about Rolfing and how painful it could be. But, at that point in my life, I was tired of being in pain all the time and feeling like, as I got older, it would only get worse. I have scoliosis in my back and neck and I was finding that my pain resulting from how my body had adjusted itself to the curvatures was creating more and more pain. When I met Allison, I found her very knowledgeable about Rolfing and body mechanics in general. She has a great energy about her that immediately put me at ease. She worked on me that day and I already started feeling a difference in my body. Rolfing can hurt but Allison is very aware of this and she is very attuned to how my body responds to what she is doing. She never wants anything to be painful as it will not produce good results if the body has to react to the pain it is feeling. I have been seeing Allison now for about a year. I really wish we had taken “before” and “after” pictures. I really did not think it would ever be possible, but she has been able to transform my body from being in pain to actually being virtually pain free. I would highly recommend Allison as I could have never gotten to this place without her.

I first came to Allison for help recovering from a leg injury. I had torn my calf muscle on an easy run. I was beginning to believe that my injury, slow recovery and multitude of deep aches and pains were just symptoms of getting older and that I should resign myself to lowering my expectations about how healthy feels at forty years old. 
After seeing Allison for a little over six months, my tune has seriously changed. I have experienced profound changes in the way I feel, look and move. My body has never felt more like home than it does today. A strong, stable, relaxed, grounded and flexible home. 
Allison possesses an amazing amount of wisdom about the structure, alignment and kinesiology of the human body. I will be forever grateful that our paths have crossed.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Allison for two years now. I originally came to her for problems in my low back associated with a herniated disc. Her methods and practices have given me so much physical relief, but a session with her goes beyond her physical touch. She is not only a healer, but a teacher as well. Her knowledge of the body and all it's systems, and how our brain communicates with all those systems is what truly makes her special. She shares this knowledge with you as she works with you. Whether it's a recommendation for an exercise at home, or a better pair of shoes, or a great book to aid you in your healing, she is there to help you get well. I have not only benefited from her therapy, but her knowledge as well. I have learned so much about my body and am in a much better place physically and mentally because of her. Before I met Allison I thought perhaps I would have to resign myself to living In pain. After working with her, I know that couldn't be further from the truth. I hope she never stops doing what she's doing! 

What first brought me to Allison was a right hip issue. While teaching a group exercise class, I could no longer demonstrate lunges because it was so painful. A friend recommended I see Allison and explained what Rolfing was to me. I had NEVER heard of it before, and even had to ask my friend how to spell it. At this point, I had been teaching exercise classes for 20 years, and had 3 C-section deliveries within the last 5 years. All these factors, plus daily life stress, led up to my hip issue.
I asked around to see if anyone else I knew had heard of Rolfing. The ones who had responded with “Man – that is excruciating, but totally worth it!” As much as my hip hurt, I really wasn’t interested in MORE pain to fix the problem. I called Allison after checking out her website, explained my issue, and asked her to please be up-front about the level of pain. If it was as bad as everyone else said it was, then I would find a different solution. Allison said on a scale of 1-10, most clients would say the intensity is never more than a 4. Okay, I thought, I can handle a 4, so I set an appointment.
I have told the story of my first appointment with Allison MANY times – it is something I will never forget. I had not told my husband about the appointment, afraid he would not be supportive. I was also still skeptical, but figured I had nothing to lose. Allison did an initial assessment, asking lots of questions, then watched me walk back & forth. When she had me lie down on the massage table, she started messing with my right foot. It felt as if one of my kids was gently poking me to get my attention. In my head I thought, “Oh great! This is it? My husband is going to kill me if he finds out I spent money to get my foot poked. What does my foot have to do with my hip? Not sure why other people said it was excruciating – it doesn’t feel like she’s doing anything.” Then Allison broke my internal conversation and asked me to walk again.
The moment I stood up from that table, my right foot went flat against the ground, my hip shot back in place, and I could stand up without any pain. It felt like a miracle, and I was completely sold on Rolfing and Allison’s expertise. I know others have not had as dramatic of an experience, but anyone I have ever referred to Allison has had a positive experience working through their own muscle & alignment issues WITHOUT experiencing excruciating pain – including my husband ☺
WHAT KEEPS ME COMING BACK: 
A painful issue got me in the door, but Allison’s ability to help me create muscle symmetry is what keeps me as a client. Having Allison’s help to keep my alignment intact allows me to live an active lifestyle without “working through pain.” Whether it is teaching classes, going on hikes with the family, playing tennis, or enjoying the occasional run, I want to enjoy ALL these activities and more without complaining about back/hip/knee/foot/shoulder, or any other kind of pain for as long as I can.
Allison is a remarkable in many ways. She is an excellent listener, and is incredibly thoughtful & gentle in her recommendations. I always feel “lifted up” after leaving a session with her, never beaten down by what I haven’t done right. I’m constantly amazed at her passion for further education in her field, and feel I always benefit from the latest research and techniques in regards to Rolfing. I am very proud to have been one of Allison’s clients for the past 5 years, and would whole-heartedly recommend her services to anyone looking to bring balance to their bodies.

I began seeing Allison Benner in 2009. As a mother, a hairdresser, and a yoga teacher, I thought that I had a pretty strong grasp on how to live in my body, especially since I'd had it for a few decades. Allison's practice had moved in next door, so out of curiosity, I decided to give it a try. If you had asked me about my health, I would have said it was good. I had no real problems, maybe tight-ish shoulders from wielding a blow drier for a number of years, but nothing out of the ordinary.
 
I didn't really know what Rolfing was and I thought maybe an aggressive form of massage, so I was surprised when Allison asked me to walk around the room as she observed my gait. It's been a few years, so the details are foggy, but in the hour and a half we spent together, my experience of my body changed forever.
 
This might sound funny, but I didn't know that I had been suffering from low grade chronic pain for as long as I could remember. I just assumed how I felt was normal. Mistakenly, after years of teaching yoga, I thought that tucking my pelvis and lifting my ribcage was the ideal posture to hold on and off the mat. This had created a tightness between my shoulder blades that was impacting every other part of my body.
 
In that first session, Allison taught me how to walk with greater ease and gave me tips and stretching techniques to work with between visits. She re-acquainted me with my natural posture and after my second session, I had no more pain in my body. By spending the time to introduce me to my natural state of balance, she gave me an example of what's possible, and all the tools I needed to continue the work at home.

I have been gratefully seeing Allison for five years now. She is my consistent go to when my body needs support. Every time I leave I feel that I have  wider range of motion in all of my muscles and joints, and simply put, more room in my body. I see her every couple of months or so, and am consistently impressed with her dedication to ongoing education & her devotion to learning new techniques. Allison is a master in her field, and I love that she has something new to share with me every time I see her.