April 17, 2017

Meet Jin Pak of Jinrolfing in Mid Wilshire and Mid West Los Angeles

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jin Pak.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Before I started my Rolfing business, I owned a neighborhood bar in Glendale for nine years. I imagine many guys have a romantic, idealized notion of owning a bar, but the reality of it was that it was like any other business after all with all its inherent responsibilities and particular pressures. It was fun and entertaining, but the lifestyle and the hours became unhealthy and tiresome for me. On many occasions, I was a witness to the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde complex- many people have deep-seated issues that spring out surprisingly when they drink too much. Also, when I had the bar, I typically went to sleep at 5 am and after I sold the bar, I started waking up at 5 am to much sounder effect.

So after the bar, I was ready for a whole new way of life, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Fortunately, I had enough savings from the sale to take a year off to try to find my way.

One day I heard about a sports massage therapist who worked with professional athletes. I’ve always been athletic and a sports aficionado and I thought I could do that and be good at it. The idea of helping professional athletes reach their peak performance seemed very appealing.

My nature has always been to continually seek more education and skill development- much like a top-flight athlete. Immediately after becoming certified as a massage therapist, I continued advanced training in Neuromuscular Therapy (Trigger Point Therapy) and the more I studied, the more I sought further specialized training. I wanted to be top flight in the field of bodywork.

I continued study for a year at the Rolf Institute in Boulder CO. With my training there, I do feel as though I’m at a high level of performance for a bodyworker relative to a high-performance athlete.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like most new starting businesses, it hasn’t been a smooth road, but positively, I’ve grown stronger as a person in fortitude and strength of will.

My office space doesn’t have signage, so it’s all up to me to market myself. I’ve had to learn a lot about marketing and it’s been a slow step by step process.

Most people don’t have any idea what Rolfing is or means, so I do have to make a lot of educational speeches that are quite repetitive in nature.

The price point for a Rolfing session is significantly higher than for general massage therapy but when I explain to a prospective client that Rolfing is meant to produce long-term effects from pain management issues rather than work that is generally palliative, I’m more able to pique their interest.

I have reached out to many like business owners in the Wellness and Fitness field and I’ve offered many complementary sessions and I’ve received enthusiastic feedback with perceived promises for much future business, but like in life, I’ve had to adjust to and learn not to have expectations, especially when dealing with the general public. Like a mentor once advised me, I just keep sending positive energy out there with the strong notion that it will boomerang back to me at a point.

Please tell us about Jinrolfing.
My business is based on a specialized form of bodywork called Rolfing. Rolfing was developed by Dr. Ida P. Rolf who combined her background in Chiropractic and Osteopathy with her love of Yoga to develop Rolfing. Thus, Rolfing entails focused and specific compression and pressure, combined with movement, to help gain release and relief in a particular area of trouble in the body and for over better range of motion in that area.

Rolfing is unlike any form of bodywork out there. It is scientific in background and architectural in scope. Rolfing is systematic in its approach and is meant to produce long term effects by affecting a significant change in the shape, form, structure and function of an individual. Rolfing is a process based on a series of ten sessions, with each session focused on varying territories of the body, all to affect a holistic change that is meant to last.

Also, a big part of the Rolfing process is education. One can gain a postural release and ease in the body with the Rolfing work, but then the client is also educated in the proper mechanics of ways to stand, sit, and walk- which one is never really properly educated on.

I’m proud when I hear clients after a session tell me that it is unlike anything out there and that they really feel a difference, and for the fact that I really see a remarkable difference and I know that that difference is going to stay with them way beyond just a few days.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memory of childhood is a feeling. That feeling of freedom that we tend to lose in adulthood.

At this stage in my life, I feel like I’m regaining more of that feeling. It took some big, hard, mature decisions to pare so many of the complications that I’ve collected and built up, but I’ve realized that to simplify more and more is to find that feeling of freedom, more and more,

Also, I think that the feeling of freedom I had as a kid was due to simply living and being in the moment. So, I’m feeling strongly this idea, that in order to go forward with my life, I need to look back, to find the essence of simplicity of what makes me happy, and free of course.

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