Marion Rosen, massage therapy pioneer, dies at 97
A memorial service is planned for this weekend in memory of Marion Rosen, a longtime Berkeley resident who developed a widely used method of massage therapy. She was 97 when she died Jan. 18 after suffering a stroke in early December.
Ms. Rosen was a physical therapist at Kaiser Medical Center in Richmond, where she worked on injured World War II shipyard workers. In the 1970s, she began to teach breathing and massage techniques she had learned in Europe and the United States.
It was through teaching this combination of psychotherapy and physical therapy that Ms. Rosen developed her own method to connect chronic muscular tension to unconscious emotional patterns.
In 1983, she founded the Rosen Institute in Berkeley with her first group of students. Since then the organization has grown to 20 centers worldwide with practitioners trained in 16 countries. Sara Webb, the Berkeley center's executive director and one of Rosen's first students, said Ms. Rosen cared for 30,000 to 40,000 people over her 70-year career in the Bay Area.
Born into a Jewish family in Germany in 1914, Ms. Rosen fled Europe for the United States just before World War II. She had planned to settle in New York, but she ended up traveling through Russia to Hawaii and on to the Bay Area, where she stayed.
"Her goal was to change the world one body at a time," said Christina Jencks, Rosen's daughter from a brief marriage. "She worked her whole life with her hands ...(She) worked so long on bodies that she erased her fingerprints," Jencks said. Until her stroke, Ms. Rosen saw eight or 10 clients a week and taught classes in her home.
She is survived by younger sister Inge Engstrom of Stockholm, her daughter, a grandson, granddaughter-in-law and a great granddaughter.
The memorial service for friends and family is planned for Sunday at the Mata Amritanandamayi Center in Castro Valley. A community gathering is scheduled at 4 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Rudramandir center at 830 Bancroft Way in Berkeley.
A memorial service is planned for this weekend in memory of Marion Rosen, a longtime Berkeley resident who developed a widely used method of massage therapy. She was 97 when she died Jan. 18 after suffering a stroke in early December.
Ms. Rosen was a physical therapist at Kaiser Medical Center in Richmond, where she worked on injured World War II shipyard workers. In the 1970s, she began to teach breathing and massage techniques she had learned in Europe and the United States.
It was through teaching this combination of psychotherapy and physical therapy that Ms. Rosen developed her own method to connect chronic muscular tension to unconscious emotional patterns.
In 1983, she founded the Rosen Institute in Berkeley with her first group of students. Since then the organization has grown to 20 centers worldwide with practitioners trained in 16 countries. Sara Webb, the Berkeley center's executive director and one of Rosen's first students, said Ms. Rosen cared for 30,000 to 40,000 people over her 70-year career in the Bay Area.
Born into a Jewish family in Germany in 1914, Ms. Rosen fled Europe for the United States just before World War II. She had planned to settle in New York, but she ended up traveling through Russia to Hawaii and on to the Bay Area, where she stayed.
"Her goal was to change the world one body at a time," said Christina Jencks, Rosen's daughter from a brief marriage. "She worked her whole life with her hands ...(She) worked so long on bodies that she erased her fingerprints," Jencks said. Until her stroke, Ms. Rosen saw eight or 10 clients a week and taught classes in her home.
She is survived by younger sister Inge Engstrom of Stockholm, her daughter, a grandson, granddaughter-in-law and a great granddaughter.
The memorial service for friends and family is planned for Sunday at the Mata Amritanandamayi Center in Castro Valley. A community gathering is scheduled at 4 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Rudramandir center at 830 Bancroft Way in Berkeley.
Marion Rosen, massage therapy pioneer, dies at 97
A memorial service is planned for this weekend in memory of Marion Rosen, a longtime Berkeley resident who developed a widely used method of massage therapy. She was 97 when she died Jan. 18 after suffering a stroke in early December.
Ms. Rosen was a physical therapist at Kaiser Medical Center in Richmond, where she worked on injured World War II shipyard workers. In the 1970s, she began to teach breathing and massage techniques she had learned in Europe and the United States.
It was through teaching this combination of psychotherapy and physical therapy that Ms. Rosen developed her own method to connect chronic muscular tension to unconscious emotional patterns.
In 1983, she founded the Rosen Institute in Berkeley with her first group of students. Since then the organization has grown to 20 centers worldwide with practitioners trained in 16 countries. Sara Webb, the Berkeley center's executive director and one of Rosen's first students, said Ms. Rosen cared for 30,000 to 40,000 people over her 70-year career in the Bay Area.
Born into a Jewish family in Germany in 1914, Ms. Rosen fled Europe for the United States just before World War II. She had planned to settle in New York, but she ended up traveling through Russia to Hawaii and on to the Bay Area, where she stayed.
"Her goal was to change the world one body at a time," said Christina Jencks, Rosen's daughter from a brief marriage. "She worked her whole life with her hands ...(She) worked so long on bodies that she erased her fingerprints," Jencks said. Until her stroke, Ms. Rosen saw eight or 10 clients a week and taught classes in her home.
She is survived by younger sister Inge Engstrom of Stockholm, her daughter, a grandson, granddaughter-in-law and a great granddaughter.
The memorial service for friends and family is planned for Sunday at the Mata Amritanandamayi Center in Castro Valley. A community gathering is scheduled at 4 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Rudramandir center at 830 Bancroft Way in Berkeley.
A memorial service is planned for this weekend in memory of Marion Rosen, a longtime Berkeley resident who developed a widely used method of massage therapy. She was 97 when she died Jan. 18 after suffering a stroke in early December.
Ms. Rosen was a physical therapist at Kaiser Medical Center in Richmond, where she worked on injured World War II shipyard workers. In the 1970s, she began to teach breathing and massage techniques she had learned in Europe and the United States.
It was through teaching this combination of psychotherapy and physical therapy that Ms. Rosen developed her own method to connect chronic muscular tension to unconscious emotional patterns.
In 1983, she founded the Rosen Institute in Berkeley with her first group of students. Since then the organization has grown to 20 centers worldwide with practitioners trained in 16 countries. Sara Webb, the Berkeley center's executive director and one of Rosen's first students, said Ms. Rosen cared for 30,000 to 40,000 people over her 70-year career in the Bay Area.
Born into a Jewish family in Germany in 1914, Ms. Rosen fled Europe for the United States just before World War II. She had planned to settle in New York, but she ended up traveling through Russia to Hawaii and on to the Bay Area, where she stayed.
"Her goal was to change the world one body at a time," said Christina Jencks, Rosen's daughter from a brief marriage. "She worked her whole life with her hands ...(She) worked so long on bodies that she erased her fingerprints," Jencks said. Until her stroke, Ms. Rosen saw eight or 10 clients a week and taught classes in her home.
She is survived by younger sister Inge Engstrom of Stockholm, her daughter, a grandson, granddaughter-in-law and a great granddaughter.
The memorial service for friends and family is planned for Sunday at the Mata Amritanandamayi Center in Castro Valley. A community gathering is scheduled at 4 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Rudramandir center at 830 Bancroft Way in Berkeley.
Bio by: Kathye Snyder-Knight
Inscription
To the grand old lady,
I love the child in you,
I love your discovery of hands.
I love to be with you.
I honor your sense of quality
Your commitment to serve.
Your way of flowing with life.
I just feel so grateful to have met you.
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