Marion Rosen

Rosen Method bodywork and movement was developed by Marion Rosen, now in her mid-nineties. In the 1930s, Marion studied breath and relaxation in Munich, Germany, with Lucy Heyer, who had been trained by Elsa Gindler, a renowned innovator of body therapies. Heyer worked with her husband, Dr. Gustav Heyer, a colleague and former student of Carl Jung. Lucy and Marion did bodywork on patients who then saw Dr. Heyer for psychotherapy. The Heyers found that with the bodywork, the patients could experience their emotions more easily.Because of her Jewish origins, Marion had to flee Germany at the beginning of W.W.II. She came to America in 1940 and settled in Berkeley, California. For many years she worked as a physical therapist, first at Kaiser Medical Center and then in private practice.

Rosen Method developed over the years that Marion practiced physical therapy. Marion observed that clients who talked about their lives recovered more quickly and did not come back again with the same problems. She watched for the interconnections between the physical posture and the emotional state of the person, and noticed how the body is a living metaphor of a person's inner state.

In the mid-seventies Marion began to teach and draw more specifically on her early training in relaxation and bodywork. As the body/mind renaissance flourished in California, students were drawn to Marion and her gentle, powerful work. In 1983 the Rosen Institute was formed.  Since then Rosen Method training centers have been established in many countries around the world. Rosen Method is now a recognized modality for somatic exploration and personal growth, as well as a powerful complementary healing therapy.

Marion's purpose is to realize a vision of health and well being by making the benefits of the Rosen Method widely available to the general public. Through her unique approach to bodywork and movement, she has gained recognition as a leader and originator in the field of body-oriented therapies.

Marion and Sandra Wooten first taught together in Stockholm, Sweden in 1984. Following that, they taught in workshops in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  This was the beginning of establishing the Rosen Method Southwest Center.  Trainings began in 1990 when we held our first Intensive at Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexico.