Dr. Ida Rolf Institute & Instructor of Somatic Experiencing® for the
Somatic Experiencing International Institute
Lael Katharine Keen
Prevent and release tension and stress throughout your body with a somatic movement practice that improves body function and posture — by integrating your life experiences and complementing your inner essence and outer goals.
How we move our bodies is a reflection of how we move through life.
Easeful movement reflects an inner coherence that empowers us to move through our daily lives with less effort and more flow — free from held patterns of stress and tension and open to a greater sense of possibility.
Too often, however, our movements have become constrained by the pains of the past and habituated behaviors...
... which trap us physically, mentally, and emotionally through increased rigidity and discomfort, decreased function and performance, and a sense of hopelessness around how we can actualize our goals and dreams within these restrictions.
In fact, holding on when life keeps moving on can cause all sorts of ailments, including chronic aches, pains, and conditions — and even illness and disease.
As Lael Keen, instructor at the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute teaches, much of the pain and tension that we feel in our bodies comes from held mental, emotional, and physical patterns that have morphed into sub-optimal movement and postures over time.
Realigning with the natural movement and postures of our bodies can reorient each of us to our own authentic flow state — relieving pain and stress.
And it only takes three steps.
During this 7-module journey with Lael, you’ll explore these steps and rediscover your optimal body movements and postures to release and prevent tension, stress, and pain — and learn how to move as an expression of your wholeness.
Under Lael’s guidance, you’ll move meticulously through your body’s musculature, bones, tissues, and joints — from the soles of your feet to the top of your head...
... offering new information to your body that overrides the pains of the past — or the old story of how you are supposed to feel in your body, mind, heart, and spirit.
Lael will help you harness the power of intention and body awareness, pre-movement techniques, and hands-on practices that realign your daily movements to their optimal function, fluidity, and authenticity.
In doing so, you’ll activate the power that bidirectional orientation (ground and space) has to balance your body and being in a practical and compassionate way to create ease, balance, stability, and enhanced flexibility.
During this highly experiential course, you’ll:
- Explore how ground and space orientation shape movement
- Activate core stability throughout your body, including in the lower back through the feet and legs, in the upper back through the hands and arms, and in the neck and head through balanced use of the sense organs
- Learn why aligned posture that comes from within far surpasses any "good" posture that has been imposed upon you
- Explore the power of pre-movement — how acts of attention can prevent tension and create deeper ease and movement flow
- Learn how to balance, mobilize, and stabilize the sacroiliac joints and the base of the spine
- Activate the triangle of balance — the 3 functions that weave together to inform your balance system
- Experience the "youthing" effects of opening the sinuses and allowing the face to soften and relax
- Discover the double functions of the feet — stability and mobility, grounding and support/impulse — and how these forces work in your own body
- Integrate the joints of the legs from feet to hips with the upper body, with two-way lengthening, and space and ground orientation
- Find the optimal and effortless balancing of your head and neck to create lightness and flow all the way down through your body
- Discover what keeps the knee joint healthy throughout your life
- Discover how the way that you use your eyes has a direct impact on hip function and hip health
As one of the founding members of the Brazilian Rolfing® Association, Lael was part of the development of the Brazilian double certification in Rolfing that integrates Rolf Movement with structural Rolfing.
She has practiced and taught Somatic Experiencing®, a body-based approach to healing post-traumatic stress, worldwide for almost 25 years, and is also a co-founder of the Brazilian Trauma Association.
As such, she teaches that you’re never more than a minute away from a movement that can dissolve old patterns of tension... and potentially change your life.
Instead of fighting against pain, stress, and tension, you can send kindness to the places where you desire change, feel the problematic pattern and the gesture that is behind it — and allow your body to make the change in the manner that works best for you. Join us to learn how.
What You’ll Discover in These 7 Modules
In this 7-part transformational program, Lael will guide you through the fundamental skills and competencies you’ll need to release tension and stress from your body and increase ease, strength, stability, and mobility.
This course will feature step-by-step teachings and experiential practices with Lael. Each session will build harmoniously upon the previous ones, so you’ll develop a complete holistic understanding of the practices, tools, and principles you’ll need to prevent tension and stress from being stored within your body and increase ease, strength, stability, and mobility.
Module 1: Experience the Full Range of the Breath to Release Tension & Increase Flow and Vitality
Breathing, which by far is our most repetitive movement pattern, supports all other movements and determines our overall wellbeing. As human beings, we breathe an astounding 17,000-25,000 breaths per day.
In this opening session, you’ll explore the deeper connections between breath and movement, some of the different perceptual patterns that determine our pre-movement...
... and how easeful movement is influenced by a balance of orientation to ground and space.
Before we move, our body prepares to move, and in doing so determines the quality of movement that will occur.
You’ll also discover the three steps to changing a movement pattern, and apply this new knowledge to one of your most basic daily movements — breathing.
During the first class, you’ll:
- Explore how ground and space orientation shape movement
- Learn the 3 steps for changing a movement pattern
- Discover the power of pre-movement — how acts of attention can prevent tension and create deeper ease and movement flow
- Explore your unique breathing pattern through the cycle of breath — and how the posture of the head directly affects the breath
- Experience how easeful breathing can be when you release the outbreath, rest into the pause at the end of the outbreath, and allow the inbreath
- Learn simple interventions of attention and orientation to facilitate each phase of the cycle of breath
Module 2: Create a Solid Base to Access Your Full Potential for Stability & Mobility in Your Feet
The feet are structures of marvelous engineering, with 26 bones and 34 joints. The movement that happens (or doesn’t happen) in the feet sets up either freedom or restriction, stability or instability throughout the rest of the body.
You’ll explore how to optimize the functions of your feet, including understanding the relationship of the different arches...
... and learn how to use your feet to allow the double function of 1) stability and mobility, and 2) grounding and support/impulse up through the rest of the body.
In this module, you’ll:
- Discover the double functions of the feet — stability and mobility, grounding and support/impulse — and how these forces work in your own body
- Explore your own movement patterns and habits in your feet — and how to work with them so that they become more alive and adaptable
- Learn a simple grounding and calming practice that you can do anywhere
- Optimize the balance between the heel and the ball/toes of the foot for a deeper support of the front and back of your body
- Experience how you can work with movement through the arches of your feet for a more comfortable and joyous experience in walking
- Learn how a stable foot sets the stage for a stable knee and back — and experience how to court stability in your own feet
Module 3: Harmonize the Functions of Your Joints in Your Lower Body to Reduce Breakdown & Increase Coordination, Fluidity, and Flexibility
For comfortable movement that revitalizes the joints in your legs instead of breaking them down, all the joints in the legs need to work together in harmony with each other, and with the pelvis, spine, and upper body.
You’ll take the next step in this harmonious coordination by deepening your understanding and experience of the knees and hips... and then integrating the balance that you find with your feet for a fluid, balanced lower body.
In this module, you’ll:
- Discover what keeps the knee joint healthy throughout your life
- Feel the difference between full extension of the knee and hyperextension — and learn why one is essential to knee health while the other is to be avoided
- Meet the special muscle responsible for stabilizing the knee — and learn how to activate it
- Discover how the way that you use your eyes has a direct impact on hip function and hip health
- Learn movement practices for connecting your hips with your feet — and with the arms and shoulders
- Begin to activate contralateral movement through the hips and shoulders
- Integrate the joints of the legs from feet to hips with the upper body, with two-way lengthening, and space and ground orientation
Module 4: Strengthen Your Back, Pelvis & Core as a Bridge to Easeful Upper & Lower Body Movement
Ida Rolf called the pelvis “the seat of the soul.” The pelvic bones and the sacrum, which sits between them and joins them at the sacroiliac joints, create a bridge between your upper and lower body — and between your spine and legs.
When movement flows harmoniously from and between your legs and pelvis, not only do the daily activities of walking and sitting become pleasurable, but they contribute to your long-term wellbeing.
You’ll learn how to allow movement to pass through your pelvis between the legs and the spine...
... automatically finding and activating the deep intrinsic muscles of core stability that keep your back healthy and stimulate the nerves to your abdominal-pelvic viscera.
In this module, you’ll:
- Learn about the anatomy of the pelvic floor — and experience it in your own body
- Explore the movement of the 2 sides of the pelvic floor in walking — and how this contributes to a healthy lower back
- Learn how to balance, mobilize, and stabilize the sacroiliac joints and the base of the spine
- Meet your psoas muscle and learn how to activate it through movement for enhanced flexibility throughout your lower body
- Learn a practice to help you find effortless balance in sitting
Module 5: Bring More Ease, Comfort, Presence & Alignment Into Your Body and Life by Stabilizing Your Shoulders & Opening Your Heart Area
Your arms connect to every vertebrae in your spine — from above to below. When used in daily movement, some of these connections bring tension and shortening of the muscles in the neck and shoulders, while others bring length and ease.
You’ll explore the balance of your upper weight center — the upper thorax and rib cage, and how your breathing supports your arm movement.
You’ll learn how to connect your arm and hand movement to your spine to help your chest stay open and your neck to stay long, relaxed, and comfortable while you use your arms.
Lael will also share how aligned posture that comes from within as a result of your balance and presence far surpasses the "good" posture that has been imposed upon you from the outside, e.g., “pull your shoulders back, push your chest out, and tuck your chin in.”
In this module, you’ll discover:
- The muscle that stabilizes the shoulder girdle — and how to wake it up and bring it into your daily movement for ease, balance, and comfort
- Movement practices to align the shoulder girdle and open the chest/heart area
- How the posture and use of the arms/shoulders can facilitate both your inbreath and outbreath
- A movement practice to release tension in the forearms and wrists — and support balanced breathing
- Why aligned posture that comes from within far surpasses any "good" posture that has been imposed upon you
Module 6: Release Head, Neck & Spinal Tension and Experience Effortless Upright Positioning Through the Triangle of Balance
You’ll work with what Ida Rolf called “The Upper Pole” — the organization of the head, on the neck and spine, differentiated and free from arm function, and supported by an open breathing function and adaptability in the chest.
You’ll explore the different functions that allow the most easeful balance of the head with the rest of the body and the vestibular system, the use of your sense organs, and the coordination of neck and jaw muscles.
Lael will also share practices that optimize the function of each of the above components, including new ways to release the jaw and even stop nighttime clenching and grinding.
Ultimately, you’ll experience the sense of lightness and effortless uprightness that occur when your head, neck, and spine are balanced.
In this module, you’ll:
- Explore the triangle of balance — the 3 functions that weave together to inform your balance system
- Learn how to find the optimal and effortless balancing of the head on the neck to create lightness and flow all the way down through the body
- Discover and practice the health benefits of nose breathing with ease instead of effort
- Experience the "youthing" effects of opening the sinuses and allowing the face to soften and relax
- Discover how to balance focal and peripheral vision — and the effects that this has on posture, movement, grounding, and alignment
- Learn about the superpower of your sense of smell to organize the posture of the head and the vestibular system
Module 7: Activate Lengthening, Grace & Ease, and Long-Term Spinal Health Using Bidirectional Movement & the Core Stability System
During your final class, you’ll bring together everything that you have learned into a sequence of explorations designed to activate two-way lengthening, stability, grace, and ease throughout your body from head to toe.
You’ll also explore the core stability system and its vital importance to the health of your spine and joint system.
At this point, you’ll have enough somatic understanding of ground and space orientation to be able to touch into a new level of the two-way lengthening and bring it into your daily movement.
In this module, you’ll:
- Gain a deeper understanding of how the core stability system works and how it keeps your body vital, stable, supple, and graceful throughout your life
- Discover the fine art of spinal succession
- Activate core stability in the lower back through the feet and legs, in the upper back through the hands and arms, and in the neck and head through balanced use of the sense organs
- Learn simple practices that help you find and feel the lengthening and releasing effects of bidirectional movement
Completion of the course does not enable students to claim to practice Rolfing® or Rolf Movement® or that they are a Rolfer® or Rolf Movement® Practitioner.
The Ida Rolf’s Wisdom & Techniques for Moving Effortlessly With Gravity Bonus Collection
In addition to Lael’s transformative 7-module virtual course, you’ll receive these special bonuses to complement the course and take your understanding and practice to an even deeper level.
Trauma, Healing & Breathing — Out of Fixity Into Flow
PDF Chapter on the Forces That Shape Our Breath
In this 30-page PDF, Lael takes us through her approach to working with breath, using insights from the disciplines she has spent her life studying: Rolfing® and Rolf Movement®, Somatic Experiencing®, and her mentor Hubert Godard’s work with tonic function. You’ll explore the many forces that shape your breath — physical, chemical, psychological, and traumatic to name a few — and examine how to use this knowledge to help reshape your breath. This insightful chapter was originally written for a book on applications of Somatic Experiencing® trauma healing therapy.
How You Move Your Body Is How You Move Through the World
Video Conversation Between Lael Keen, Kevin Frank & Caryn McHose
In this hour-long video, Lael Keen, Caryn McHose, and Kevin Frank, three long-term friends, Rolfers and movement teachers, and colleagues for almost 30 years, discuss one of the basic premises of their mentor Hubert Godard’s approach to movement. Before we move, our body prepares to move, and in this preparation, the quality of movement will be determined. Some of the most important information that our “movement brain” draws upon to organize our pre-movement is orientation to ground (base of support) and space (the “kinesphere” around us). This insightful conversation is about how we orient to ground and space, how we change movement, and through changing our movement change the way that we move through the world, perceive ourselves, and relate to others.
What People Are Saying About Lael Katharine Keen...
“Lael is an inspirational and charismatic teacher.”
Lael is an inspirational and charismatic teacher. She is perceptive and able to attune to the needs of her participants, adapting her teaching style to suit all learners. Her particular gift is in her delivery, which is personable, full of relevant practical examples from her own practice and life, and always engaging. If Lael were explaining the theory of relativity, her skills are such that I believe she would make the novice learner feel it was a basic concept within their grasp. It is a delight to assist in her trainings and to have the opportunity to deepen my own learning.
— Sue Bell, OBE, founder, CEO and clinical director Kids Inspire and Somatic Experiencing® practitioner
“I would enjoy being in the classroom with Lael again and recommend her as a teacher for both beginning and more advanced students.”
Over the years, I have had the privilege to be in the classroom with Lael on several occasions, as a colleague teaching together and as a student in workshops and presentations. In each of these situations, Lael was creative and articulate in her teaching, demonstrating knowledge and understanding of the material, which provided an engaging learning situation. She is clearly a lifelong student herself, seeking to more deeply understand the topics that interest her. She was also attentive to her students, responding to them with care and compassion and allowing for different expressions of ideas, fostering creativity in the class. I would enjoy being in the classroom with Lael again and recommend her as a teacher for both beginning and more advanced students.
— Tessy Brungardt, certified advanced Rolfer, advanced instructor for the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute (DIRI), and chair of the Advanced Faculty for DIRI
“The care, love, and compassion [Lael] gives whilst teaching is beautiful.”
Lael Katherine Keen has been teaching Somatic Experiencing® in Mexico for the last seven years. She has the ability to share her vast knowledge through experiences, which generates a very creative blend and a great way to teach the theory mixed with the experiences, and by doing so both the body and the mind understand together. This makes the learning fun and immersive. Also, beyond the teaching scope, she is a remarkable human being, she teaches with joy, enthusiasm, and with the intention of inclusion and connection amongst the groups, which she manages very skillfully; how she always accomplishes this is still a mystery to me. Whenever needed as a leader and a guide, she is available both to the students and to the assisting team, she is committed and will hold the container for as long as is needed. The care, love, and compassion she gives whilst teaching is beautiful.
— Paulina García Hubard, MA, co-chair of Cultural Committee at Somatic Experiencing® International, and Somatic Experiencing® Mexico organizer
“[Lael’s] presence, resonance, competence, and pacing helps students to understand, comprehend, and embody her teaching.”
I had the pleasure to co-teach an Advanced Rolfing training with Lael in 2019. I deeply appreciate her capacity to encounter and meet each student. Her presence, resonance, competence, and pacing helps students to understand, comprehend, and embody her teaching. If I was her student, which I was in fact, I would feel totally satisfied to have Lael as teacher.
— Pierpaola Volpones, certified advanced Rolfer, instructor of Rolf Movement® integration
Here’s What You’ll Receive
Seven 100-Minute Class Sessions With Lael Keen
Experience a unique opportunity to learn from Lael Keen, instructor of Rolfing® and Rolf Movement® for the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute, and instructor of Somatic Experiencing® for the Somatic Experiencing International Institute — from the comfort of your own home. Each class session includes a streaming video option and will guide you on how to optimize your posture to prevent tension and stress and increase ease, strength, stability, and mobility.
Seven Transcripts of Class Sessions
You'll also receive the entire class transcription after each session is completed. You can then review, print, and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
Exercises and Questions for Each Lesson
Between class sessions, you’ll have the option of completing related exercises, practicing new tools, and answering questions to accelerate your learning and integrate each lesson.
The Ida Rolf’s Wisdom & Techniques for Moving Effortlessly With Gravity Bonus Collection
- Trauma, Healing & Breathing — Out of Fixity Into Flow
PDF Chapter on the Forces That Shape Our Breath - How You Move Your Body Is How You Move Through the World
Video Conversation Between Lael Keen, Kevin Frank & Caryn McHose
An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join the Online Training, Ida Rolf’s Wisdom & Techniques for Moving Effortlessly With Gravity
We feel honored that Lael Keen has chosen to partner with The Shift Network to offer this exclusive online training. This is a unique opportunity to learn from an instructor for the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute and the Somatic Experiencing International Institute whose powerful insights and pioneering work are helping us heal and awaken ourselves and our world.
If you’re serious about optimizing your body movement and posture to prevent tension and stress and increase ease, strength, stability, and mobility, then you owe it to yourself, your loved ones, and our world to take this one-of-a-kind training.
If you’re ready to take the next step in your own evolution, click the register button below to reserve your space now.
Your Satisfaction Is 100% Guaranteed!
Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed! If you don’t absolutely LOVE Ida Rolf’s Wisdom & Techniques for Moving Effortlessly With Gravity — or don’t feel that it meets your needs — please submit your refund request form 2 weeks from your date of purchase and we’ll happily issue qualifying customers a refund.
More Praise for Lael Keen...
“Lael has an impeccable therapeutic lineage and reputation as an international trainer.”
Lael has an impeccable therapeutic lineage and reputation as an international trainer. My company, SOSI, has employed her many times over the past five years to teach trainings and workshops in England and Scotland. She weaves the many strands of her indefatigable learning and dedication to self-inquiry into an authentic and heartfelt expression of her work, and herself. SOSI’s international training programs attract students from disparate backgrounds: professional, linguistic, cultural, political, race, religion, and more. Holding such diversity requires sensitivity and the ability to respond to challenges with authenticity, which in turn elicits trust in the untrusting, safety in the fearful, and voices in the unheard. It is a delight and a privilege to witness the evolution of her students as they grow in knowledge of the subject, and of themselves. As indeed, in her presence, so have I.
— Giselle Genillard, owner and director of SOS Internationale
“[Lael] navigates fluently through many domains, which she integrates beautifully and originally.”
Lael has a very special approach to movement as she considers movement from many different perspectives. She is like a Renaissance woman. She navigates fluently through many domains, which she integrates beautifully and originally. She has always had an eye into what is the cutting edge in the somatic field, and has deeply investigated many of these approaches, covering structural, functional, and psychobiological perspectives. Her holistic view enables her work to be very humanitarian and help serve the development of consciousness in an extremely embodied manner and favor the evolution of the human being.
— Pedro Prado, PhD, ex-professor of Somatic Psychology at the Catholic University, São Paulo, Brasil, and instructor of Beginning and Advanced Rolfing and Rolf Movement for the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute and the Brazilian Rolfing Association.
“[Lael’s] presence, resonance, competence and pacing helps students to understand, comprehend and embody her teaching.”
I had the pleasure to co-teach and Advanced Rolfing Training with Lael in 2019. I deeply appreciate her capacity to encounter and meet each student. Her presence, resonance, competence and pacing helps students to understand, comprehend and embody her teaching. If I was her student, which I was in fact, I would feel totally satisfied to have Lael as teacher.
— Pierpaola Volpones, certified advanced Rolfer®, certified Rolf Movement practitioner, instructor of Rolf Movement integration, and Somatic Experiencing practitioner
“I have traveled many miles in my life to work with [Lael] and have never ever regretted it!”
Lael Keen has been my instructor in Rolfing and Somatic Experiencing and several related workshops for the past 18 years. Currently, I have the opportunity to assist her and get an even broader view of her work. What fascinates me most is her ability to incarnate and integrate her humanity and her academic knowledge, and teach it as well. She is the instructor in my life who has inspired me the most to dive deeper intellectually while allowing the knowledge to truly enter into my body cells. She also juggles humor and a serious tone in a way that I experience with not many teachers; likewise, closeness and distance. You truly feel welcome as a human being in her company. Her way of leading groups is simply wonderful. She is courageous and actively meets the challenges of each new group system. She has the ability to hold on to her authenticity and at the same time stay very open. I have traveled many miles in my life to work with her and have never ever regretted it!
— Nicole Nagel, singer, voice researcher, certified Rolfer, Somatic Experiencing practitioner, and founder of the transcultural laboratory Third Space
About Lael Katharine Keen
Lael Katharine Keen has been an ardent student of human movement throughout her life. She started her studies with the practice of Aikido when she was 17 years old, and continues practicing and teaching Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido to this day.
As an Instructor of Rolfing® and Rolf Movement® for the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute and the Brazilian Rolfing® Association, she has taught Rolfing at the beginning and advanced level in Brazil, the U.S., Japan, and Europe. As one of the founding members of the Brazilian Rolfing Association, she was part of the development of the Brazilian double certification in Rolfing that integrates Rolf Movement with structural Rolfing.
She is an instructor of Somatic Experiencing® for the Somatic Experiencing® International Institute and the Brazilian Trauma Association, which she co-founded. She has practiced and taught Somatic Experiencing, a body-based approach to healing post-traumatic stress, worldwide for almost 25 years.
Lael also holds certification as a Bates Method of vision educator and is an Anthroposophic art therapist. She is a member of Aurora ABTAA (Associação Brasileira de Terapeutas Artísticas).
Lael’s experience is that our daily movement — the movement that creates and recreates the body that we live in — flows from who we believe ourselves to be and how we perceive the world. Therefore, changing our movement patterns also involves touching these other dimensions. How we transform ourselves and the world around us is intricately connected with becoming conscious of and transforming the way that we move.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is your refund policy?
A: Your satisfaction with The Shift Network and this course is our highest priority! We offer a satisfaction guarantee for a full two weeks so that you can try out the course risk free. The deadline to receive a refund is two weeks from your date of purchase. To request a refund, please click here to submit your Refund Application Form. Your refund will be processed within five business days and we will send you an email confirmation when your refund has been completed. However, we’d love to have a chance to address and resolve your concerns first. If there’s something we can assist you with, please email us at support@theshiftnetwork.com, and we’ll be happy to help!
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A: Please visit our Customer Support Center, where you should be able to find the answer to your question or the solution to your problem. And if you can’t, you can submit an online request form and we’ll get right back to you.
