The Holistic Connection to “Two Hands”

May 2007 - The Holistic Connection to “Two Hands” -- an Oscar-nominated documentary shown at the Maryland Film Festival

Pianist Leon Fleisher has the most famous right hand in contemporary symphonic music. “It is famous because for more than 30 years it has not worked,” says Johns Hopkins Magazine (Nov. ‘95) in an article about Fleisher’s first successful comeback. For the past 30 years Fleisher has continued performing concerts for the left hand, but not until he began working with Tessy Brungardt, a Certified Advanced Rolfer at The Ruscombe Mansion Community Health Center in Baltimore, did his right hand become strong enough for him to confidently return to the stage and the repertoire for two hands.

Rolfing is a form of deep tissue massage that structurally changes connective tissues restoring their pliability and range of motion. The technique also seems to reprogram affected parts of the nervous system

Fleisher had tried Rolfing before with no luck, but under Brungardt’s care, his hand responded. Within a few weeks he found he could play some of the pieces in the two-handed repertoire well enough to think about performing them again. “Leon’s a highly motivated person,” says Brungardt. “Anything I show him, he takes and goes on.”

Since 1984, the Ruscombe Mansion Community Health Center has offered the finest variety of natural healing options with over 30 licensed and certified practitioners. Our goal at Ruscombe is to address the unique needs of each individual by focusing on the whole person, not simply the physical malady or symptom of disease.