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Meet Levi Younger of Levity Rolfing in Boulder

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Levi Younger.

Levi, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was introduced to Rolfing®️ after a hockey accident broke vertebrae in my back and left me with considerable pain and discomfort. After trying every modality on the market, I finally went to someone who practiced Rolfing®️. To say that it was “life-changing” would be an understatement. The manner in which my practitioner approached my body, my injury and the pain that was severely dampening my life was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. It was truly holistic medicine and it didn’t take long for me to want to drop everything I was doing in life and go to school for it.

That’s how I arrived in Boulder from my home state of Alaska. The Dr. Ida Rolf Institute is located in Gun Barrel. When I graduated from the Institute in the fall of 2017, I decided I wanted to give living in Boulder a try. Aside from coaching and playing hockey, I enjoy mountain running and wanted a place with easy access to trails. Opening a practice in Boulder as a Rolfer™️ hasn’t been the easiest ride. There are a large number of Rolfers™️ and other alternative medicine practitioners in the greater-Boulder area already. But I’ve managed to carve out a niche within the outdoor community.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
One of the biggest hurdles in opening a healing arts practice is getting people in the door. The expectation is that on day one, you open your doors and people flock to your practice to receive healing care. This is just not how things work. I was lucky enough to find my first office space within a massage therapy practice. That was definitely a lifesaver and a great way to get my feet wet.

Learning what truly helps people heal and grow is a natural challenge that all practitioners encounter as they grow themselves. I can’t say I’ve never made a mistake and that Rolfing®️ is the best medicine for everyone. Learning to listen to hear what people want and need you to know, rather than listening with an intent to respond has been one of the things I’ve worked the hardest at and brings the most reward in my day-to-day life.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Levity Rolfing – what should we know?
I practice this modality of bodywork called Rolfing®️; it’s a form of structural integration. Rolfing®️ was founded in the 1960s and 1970s by Dr. Ida P. Rolf and with help from her students. Dr. Rolf was this incredible woman who got her Ph.D. in biochemistry at a time when that was just not something women were doing. At some point, she started seeing this need for people to find a better sense of themselves within their body so she took it upon herself to come up with a way of doing this. Rolfing®️ and structural integration, as a whole, were born from her pursuit.

I opened Levity Rolfing here in Boulder, CO, because I wanted to offer a different approach to bodywork and somatic health for all the endurance athletes, climbers, and outdoor enthusiasts who call Boulder home. In my spare time, I enjoy mountain running, climbing, skiing, biking, and playing hockey, so I think I bring that familiarity with the demands and challenges of outdoor life with me to the treatment room.

One of the things that excites me the most is when someone can break out of an injury cycle and gets to reconnect with the activity and community they treasure most. Being outside and getting to enjoy certain activities with your closest friends is a huge piece of your average Boulderite’s life. Injuries and chronic pain can really bring people down and can isolate them from the best expression of themselves. The work I do; hands-on bodywork, movement training, and injury prevention, is the best way I know how to help other people get back to being their best self.

In the short two years, I’ve been operating my practice, I’ve helped several elite-level endurance athletes return to competing after a serious injury took them out. It makes me really proud to say that I played an influential part in them returning to not only their favorite activity but also the thing that puts food on their table. As world-class athletes, their identity and livelihood is centered around how they perform on the world stage. Some of these athletes have allowed me to feature their recovery story on my website. You can read more about them and their experience there.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I definitely could not have gotten to where I am today if it weren’t for the help of numerous people. The biggest cheerleaders and supporters I have are my parents. From a young age, they instilled a sense of wonder and awe about the world that has continued to serve me quite well. Imagining a world without them and their wisdom is akin to thinking about a world where there’s no gravity. That’s how much of a role they’ve played in shaping the person I am.

The greatest thing about Rolfing®️ is that our community of practitioners is unbelievably supportive, creative, and warm. We don’t just talk a strong game of embodied well-being and holism, we also live out the principles of our work every day. There is such a level of integrity in the lives of all the Rolfers™️ I know and work with. When I graduated, I went from being a student to a colleague in an instant.

There’s a Rolfer™️ in Denver named Michael Polon (no relation to the author of similar name). I’m so grateful that he took me under his wing as a mentor and showed me the ropes. He’s also done so much for our field by integrating cutting-edge research and evidence-based information into the work we do. From the early stages of my professional life as a Rolfer™️, Michael encouraged me to see people as complex humans and not just as an injury that needed to be fixed.

I could go on forever with the amount of people who have helped guide me to where I am now and taught me so much along the way. It’s really humbling to consider just how much other people have helped shape you into yourself.

Pricing:

  • 90-minute session: $120
  • Rolfing Ten-Series (10 sessions): $1000

Contact Info:

Getting in touch: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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