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the pelvic lift W hen we attempted it ourselves, we just tended to hook whatever tissue we could get a hold on and pull downward. This worked well enough in the '70s, but we need to be more refined in our explanation today. Somewhere within the cadre of her teachers, a list rose up of the possible bits to which one could pay attention while doing a pelvic lift. I first heard this list from Charles Swenson, then an anatomy teacher for the Rolf Institute, but the list was ultimately attached to Stacey Mills (no longer with us), a longtime student of Ida's. Mills was an energetic dancer, an unfailingly encouraging teacher who taught for the Guild for Structural Integration, and a strong proponent of the pelvic lift. This list does not appear in Ida Rolf's book; indeed, she seldom wrote down anything procedural for us, but you can bet she was the ultimate genesis of this list. So, let us describe the clinical bare bones of the pelvic lift, and then unpack this list of some of the useful corrections this simple positioning allows you to make. A Pelvic Lift Described The client lies supine with his knees up far enough so that the feet are under the knees, heels not too far out away from the pelvis. It is not sufficient to have the knees bent over a roller or bolster; the feet need to be planted. If you wish, you might pre-position the client near the edge of your table to help with your body mechanics, which can be problematic in this otherwise simple move. The first part—raising the pelvis and lumbars—is purely the client's movement. Instruct him to slowly lift the pelvis up off the table, starting with the tailbone and tucking the tail under to start with a little curl (hip extension or posterior tilt of the pelvis). Many people make the movement too fast, with the lumbars all clumped, so the first bit of somatic teaching is to get him to lift slowly, piece by piece and with awareness. In the best movement, the tailbone will reach toward the back of the bent knees, the client will feel each lumbar lengthen from its neighbors as it lifts, and the hamstrings and glutes will stay relaxed. I often use the cue: "Push your knees straight out over your second toes, allowing your pelvis to stay relaxed as possible." What 98 massage & bodywork january/february 2013 we want here is not a thrust, but a piece-by-piece suspension of the hips, sacrum, and lumbars into the air. Allow him to go all the way up, lifting the pelvis until he feels the ribs start to leave the table. There is not much benefit in going beyond the lifting of the lower thoracics/floating ribs—this is not a bridge pose from yoga. Along the way, you could have him pause or repeat a section to improve proprioception and differentiation. Before your client starts down again, place your hand under his lower spine palm up, heel of the hand toward the client's heels, middle finger pointing up the spine to the head. Spread your fingers so that the index and middle finger are on one side and the ring and little finger on the other of the lumbar spinous processes. (Your hand will look like the Vulcan "live long and prosper" gesture.) Hook your fingertips (by flexing your fingers) into the tissue on either side of the spine and draw downward toward the tailbone. Many, when they begin to learn this move, find much of the weight on the heel of the hand, down by the base of the thumb. That is OK to start with, but you will be able to do more fancy tricks with this move when you can support more of the weight on your fingers. Your hand goes under the body onto the erector spinae and lumbosacral fascia. Photo courtesy of Thomas Myers.