Chirripó · Costa Rica

Essence
Recovery

35 Years of Proven Results

The body tells a story. It is a keeper of secrets, trauma, and pain. Beyond injuries and falls, the body holds its relationship to every event in personal history — a three-dimensional memory matrix we cover over with a shell, a mask, a smiling face.

"The deepest bodywork I have experienced in my life. My energy level has raised immensely, my nervous system has reset."

— Lydia, Chimirol
Jonathan Leffingwell — deep connective tissue work Practitioner
Jonathan Leffingwell Guild-Certified Practitioner · Chirripó, Costa Rica
Rare Techniques
Whole-Person Care
Lasting Change
Is This For You?

Your body holds the answers

This work is for locals, visitors, and anyone who feels called — whether you are carrying long-standing pain, seeking deeper vitality, or simply ready to come home to yourself. Children, individuals, and partners are all welcome.

  • You carry chronic or long-standing pain that other treatments haven't resolved
  • You hold tension in your neck, back, hips, or jaw that never fully releases
  • You've experienced physical or emotional trauma stored in the body
  • You feel fatigued, low in energy, or disconnected from your body
  • You are healthy and well — and ready to feel even more alive and vital
  • You're a musician, athlete, or performer whose body is your instrument
  • You've tried massage, physio, and chiropractic — and still feel stuck
  • You are visiting Costa Rica and want to experience something genuinely transformative
  • You have a child whose body, nervous system, or development could benefit from this work
  • You are in a relationship and sense that both of you moving through this work together would open something new — in your bodies and between you
  • You sense that something deeper is possible, and you are ready for it

✦ Jonathan works with children of all ages. If you are in a partnership, experiencing the work together is especially recommended — the results tend to deepen for both people.

The Work

Not what is wrong —
what is working

Most bodywork begins with a question: what is wrong, and how do we fix it? This creates a force-meets-force relationship with the body — a kind of war — that reinforces dependency and keeps people returning for the same problems, over and over again.

The work I do begins with a different question entirely: what is working, and how do we support it?

You may know this work as Rolfing — that name belongs to one school. This is the same method, developed by Dr. Ida Rolf, taught by the teachers she personally chose to carry her original vision forward. Many people call it Rolfing. We call it what Dr. Rolf always called it: deep connective tissue work that treats the whole person.

This work treats the body as one continuous, intelligent system. Rather than going directly to the places of discomfort, we systematically work through the entire structure — calming the nervous system, releasing the reflexes that hold old patterns in place, and creating the conditions for the body to reorganise itself from within.

The body is complex. This cannot be rushed. The goal is not to fix you over and over again — it is to work with you once, deeply, and leave you more capable, more free, and more yourself than before.

Where the 10-session framework calls for it, Jonathan draws on adjunct therapies learned directly from their founders — including Muscle Energy Technique, Myofascial Release, the Body Code, the Emotion Code, and Craniosacral work — woven seamlessly into each session rather than offered as separate treatments. These are not add-ons. They are precision instruments, used exactly when the body asks for them.

"

So many therapists are striking at the pattern of disease instead of supporting the pattern of health. We are not practitioners curing disease. We are specialists in health — giving our attention to the better working of people's minds and bodies.

— Dr. Ida P. Rolf, PhD

Where the 10-session framework calls for it, Jonathan draws on adjunct therapies he was trained in directly by their founders — including Muscle Energy Technique, Myofascial Release, the Body Code, the Emotion Code, and Craniosacral work — woven seamlessly into the sessions rather than offered as separate treatments. Each one extends the reach of the structural work into dimensions that fascia work alone cannot access.

"I am not here to fix you. Any change that happens will happen because you are ready for it. The healing comes from you — I am simply here to create the conditions."

— Jonathan Leffingwell

Every first session begins with a thorough history — tracing the body's story from birth through every significant trauma, accident, and turning point. This is the map we work from. Your body has been keeping score. Together, we learn to read it.

"We work with gravity. We understand the gravitational pull in everything that a human does — 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, from the moment we leave our mother's womb until the day the undertaker catches up with us. Gravity does not take a vacation."

— Dr. Ida P. Rolf, PhD

How the commitment works

1

First session — no commitment. We meet, we work, we see if our energy is compatible and if this feels right for you.

2

Sessions 2 & 3 — light commitment. If it feels right, we agree to two more sessions. By the third, you will have a felt sense of what this work opens in you.

3

Sessions 4–10 — full series. The complete 10-session framework Dr. Rolf designed and never compromised. Done once. Thoroughly. The work that changes everything — and does not need to be repeated.

"This is master-level work. Deep, intelligent, and rare. After a session, I didn't just feel better — I felt different."

— Amani (Desert Dwellers | Liquid Bloom), touring musician

Credentials & Modalities

Dr. Ida Rolf's Method

Guild-certified in the original 10-session framework as Dr. Rolf designed it

Craniosacral Therapy

Working with the subtle rhythms of the nervous system

Myofascial Technique

Advanced training in connective tissue release

Osteopathic Technique

Including methods no longer widely taught

Muscle Energy Technique

Precise neuromuscular re-education

Vascular Bone Therapy

Specialized work on deep structural patterns

Body Code & Emotion Code

Releasing emotional patterns held in the body

Massage Therapy

Certified foundation supporting all other modalities

What to Expect

Your first session, step by step

No prior experience with this kind of bodywork is needed. Every session is different — but here is the arc of how a first session typically unfolds, and what you will leave with.

01

Your Full History

We begin by tracing your body's complete story — from birth through every significant accident, trauma, surgery, and turning point. Most practitioners skip this. It is where the real map is drawn. Where you hurt today is rarely where the story began.

02

Reading the Structure

Jonathan observes how you stand, breathe, and move — not to find what is wrong, but to find what is working and how to support it. The whole body is assessed as one continuous system before any hands-on work begins.

03

The Hands-On Work

Sustained, precise contact — always calibrated to what your body is ready to receive — progressively releases the connective tissue, calms the nervous system, and allows the structure to reorganise itself from within. Many people feel something shift that has been held for decades.

04

What You Take Home

Every session closes with specific cues and practices tailored to you — to keep old patterns from returning and to continue releasing between sessions. For example: keeping the lips slightly parted throughout the day relaxes the jaw muscle, which directly releases tension in the neck, shoulders, and lungs. Or learning to massage specific points on your own body — because when you touch yourself with care, your nervous system receives the message that you are safe, and the connective tissue begins to soften and reabsorb. These are not generic exercises. They are precise invitations your body already knows how to respond to.

"The true healing is going to come from you — not from me. I am here to create the conditions. You are the one who is ready."

— Jonathan Leffingwell
What Clients Say

Real people. Real transformation.

From 20 years of chronic pain to a single session that changed everything — from touring musicians to couples to locals in Chirripó. These are the voices of people who were ready.

Video testimonials — uploading soon

★★★★★
"On my first visit I was simply hoping to find temporary relief for back and hip pains that have been part of my reality for over 20 years. What I found is an extremely wise and knowledgeable man versed in multiple modalities. He not only addressed my pain but put me on a path to minimize or heal the root causes. Each additional visit brings a deeper opening and freedom in my body. Transformative!"
Brian Wiebke Chronic pain — 20+ years
★★★★★
"He works at a level I've rarely encountered. He draws from a deep well of knowledge — including several techniques that aren't even taught anymore. He identifies the structural lynchpins holding patterns of tension in place and helps the body let go of them. After a session with him, I didn't just feel better. I felt different. My system softened. Things began to shift on their own. This is master-level work. Deep, intelligent, and rare."
Amani Desert Dwellers · Liquid Bloom · Touring musician
★★★★★
"Jonathan's healing abilities are extraordinary. In our first session, he corrected a ten-year tailbone issue and I nearly cried in gratitude. Further sessions relieved my migraines, healed hip problems, and resolved a months-long shoulder injury. Jonathan truly works wonders. I highly recommend him to anyone seeking profound and lasting healing."
Danielle Bellavita Diamante Valley
★★★★★
"I perceive him as a one of a kind Mystic-alchemist, experienced with an ever-expanding, synergistic compilation of healing modalities. My husband and I received expanded awareness of incongruent beliefs and patterns as blocks in our bodies — relief and a sort of rewiring of the physical, mental, emotional and energetic issues we had at the time. Freeing to say the least. Not for everyone — for those who are aligned and ready."
Sherri Cooke Couples work
★★★★★
"After hearing about Jonathan from several people, I decided to reach out. I ended up doing 14 sessions over five months. The work touches upon all aspects of the being — so many patterns in the body and mind to unwind. Since starting, I feel more open, flexible, and confident. I've let go of a lot of fear. I feel refreshed and relaxed after every session."
Chi 🍄 Chirripó · 14 sessions
★★★★★
"The series of 10 sessions is like being reborn into a new body. I have been experiencing a whole new way of being, and a freedom in my body and movement that feels so liberating and natural. Jonathan is extremely in tune to my body's needs and also my journey and process. I have felt very safe and supported the entire time. This has been amazing and life transforming."
Todd Owen Herradura · Full 10-session series

Ready to feel different?

Send a message on WhatsApp. I'll have a brief conversation with you about where you are and whether this work is the right fit.

Text or Call · +506 7164 4468
Healing Areas

Every body has a story

This work addresses the structural root of many conditions — not just the symptoms. Here are some of the areas where clients find the most profound shifts.

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Chronic Pain & Tension

Back, neck, hip, and joint pain that has persisted despite other treatments — addressed at the fascial root, not just the site of discomfort.

Fatigue & Low Energy

When the nervous system is in chronic activation, the body cannot rest. This work resets the system at a foundational level.

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Old Injuries & Trauma

Physical trauma leaves patterns in the fascia long after the original injury has "healed." This work finds and releases those holdings.

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Musicians & Performers

The body is your instrument. Repetitive strain, postural holding, and performance anxiety all live in the structure — and can be addressed.

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Athletes & Active Bodies

Improve performance, recover from injury, and build structural resilience. Many elite athletes consider this kind of deep connective tissue work essential maintenance.

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Emotional Patterns in the Body

Grief, fear, and stress live in the tissue. As the structure releases, clients frequently report emotional shifts they didn't anticipate — and deeply needed.

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Migraines & Headaches

Often rooted in cranial, cervical, and dural tension — patterns that respond remarkably well to craniosacral and structural work.

Vitality & Life Quality

You don't need to be in pain to benefit. Many clients come simply to feel more alive, more free in their body, more fully themselves.

🌊

Post-Surgical Recovery

Scar tissue and fascial adhesions can limit recovery for years. Deep connective tissue work addresses what surgery leaves behind.

Jonathan Leffingwell
35+ Years Experience
About Jonathan

Called to this work by his own body

Jonathan Leffingwell grew up in Boulder, Colorado — a place already steeped in the culture of bodywork, yoga, and alternative healing. But it wasn't philosophy that brought him to Rolfing. It was pain.

For over three years, Jonathan suffered from severe sciatica. He tried everything — multiple modalities, multiple practitioners — and nothing helped. Then a friend mentioned a kind of bodywork he had never heard of, and pointed him toward someone who would become one of his teachers. Dr. Ida Rolf taught only three people to teach her work. Jonathan went on to study with two of them.

He still remembers his first session clearly. The practitioner looked at him and said: "This is going to really hurt." When the hands made contact, Jonathan saw stars. He felt he might pass out. And then — when the hands let go — he was completely out of pain. Three years of sciatica, gone in a single session. That moment convinced him this was his path.

Before bodywork, Jonathan spent years as a professional juggler — performing on cruise ships, in Las Vegas, and in casinos around the world. He has been a teacher of Ashtanga yoga for over 30 years. He is, at his core, a deeply physical person — someone who has always understood the body as the primary place where life is lived, expressed, and transformed.

Jonathan trained and certified through the Guild for Structural Integration — formed by the president, secretary, and three of the teachers Dr. Rolf personally trained, who broke away from the Institute specifically to preserve her original, uncompromised vision. Where others changed the recipe, the Guild kept it whole. Many people know this work by the trademarked name Rolfing. Jonathan's lineage runs deeper than that name — directly to the people Dr. Rolf trusted most.

Sixteen years ago, Jonathan came to Costa Rica looking for community. Eight years ago, he found his home in the Chirripó region — one of the most energetically alive landscapes on earth. He works here with a small number of clients, offering sessions that are as personal as the story that brought him to this work.

Trained at the Source

Muscle Energy Technique

Taught by Leon Chaitow ND DO — founder

A systematic approach that takes every muscle group through precise, held resistance — approximately 10 seconds — challenging the muscle spindles to release. The result is a profound calming of the neurology and the reflexes within that muscle group. Used within the sessions to prepare the structure for deeper fascial work.

Myofascial Release

Taught by Til Luchau — founder

This work opens the door to understanding how bones and joints relate through the fascial system — because fascia is continuous through the bones, the blood, the organs, and the muscles. It creates an extended blueprint of how the entire structure communicates. When bones and joints move with fluidity, the nervous system and the reflexes follow.

Body Code & Emotion Code

Taught by Dr. Bradley Nelson — founder

A way of reading the body from an emotional standpoint — understanding how emotions become trapped in specific areas at specific moments in life, creating discomfort and potentially chronic physical conditions. Through muscle testing, precise questioning, and the use of magnetic energy along Chinese Meridian lines, these trapped energies are identified and released — allowing the body to return to homeostasis.

Craniosacral Work · Body Electronics

Taught by Dr. John Ray — founder

Dr. Ray called his work Body Electronics — a profound craniosacral approach in which specific points on the body are held for extended periods, sometimes hours, to invoke deep emotional release and a softening of the cranial bones. His method involved practitioners building an electric charge within themselves through high-dose liquid minerals before working — creating a living conductor for the body's own intelligence to move through. The result is a regulation of the nervous system and the reflexes at the deepest possible level.

"

This work has to do with gravity. Not chemistry, not medicine, not the idea of individually fixing this and that. Gravity is the one and only tool we use. Gravity is the only tool that deals with chronic situations in the body.

— Dr. Ida P. Rolf, PhD

"I know what it is to be in pain that no one can reach. That is why I do this work — and why I know it is possible to come out the other side."

— Jonathan Leffingwell

Guild Lineage

Certified through the Guild for Structural Integration — founded by Dr. Rolf's own chosen teachers to preserve her complete, uncompromised 10-session method

35 Years of Practice

Deep connective tissue work, osteopathic technique, craniosacral, and rare modalities no longer widely taught

Ashtanga Teacher · Juggler · Mover

30+ years of yoga teaching. A lifelong relationship with what the body is capable of

Chirripó, Costa Rica

16 years in Costa Rica. 8 years rooted in Chirripó. A small practice. A deep commitment.

The Lineage

Taught by the hands Dr. Rolf trusted most

Dr. Ida P. Rolf certified only three practitioners to carry her complete method forward and to teach it to others. Jonathan studied directly under two of them. Both have since passed away — and with them, a transmission that can no longer be replicated. What they gave him lives on in every session.

Emmett Hutchins

Emmett Hutchins

One of Three · Certified by Dr. Ida P. Rolf

Emmett was the first teacher — the one who convinced me, by healing my back in one session, that this work was significant and an important part of my destiny path. His work was like a laser beam cutting right into you, going to the core of every issue quickly and precisely. He knew this work inside and out, and had an amazing sense of humor and a quality of touch that was rare and masterful.

Peter Melchior

Peter Melchior

One of Three · Certified by Dr. Ida P. Rolf

When Peter touched you, you felt his entire presence penetrating you. His touch was light and almost imperceptible at times — and yet after he was done, a lightness and a relief would wash over you. It's hard to describe somebody like Peter because he was so gifted, and such a contrast to Emmett's work, that they were the perfect match of teachers to have studied with.

✦   Emmett Hutchins, Peter Melchior, and Dorothy Nolte have all since passed away. Their teaching endures in every session.

Dorothy Nolte

Dorothy Nolte

Direct Collaborator · Dr. Ida P. Rolf

Dorothy worked directly with Dr. Ida Rolf to develop movement patterns for each of the 10 sessions — created with Dr. Rolf's personal approval as a way to accelerate and deepen the structural work. She taught these patterns only a handful of times in her life. I was one of those students. These movement patterns live in every session.

Common Questions

Answers that support your journey

Everything you need to know before reaching out. If your question isn't here, just ask.

"An individual is not just bones and muscles and fascia. The whole system has to be considered, and when you consider the whole, you get a different answer than when you consider the parts."

— Dr. Ida P. Rolf, PhD

Yes and no. Rolfing is a trademarked name belonging to one school. This work is the same method — developed by Dr. Ida Rolf — but taught through the Guild for Structural Integration — which was founded by Dr. Rolf's own chosen teachers specifically to preserve her original, uncompromised 10-session framework. So the work is the same. The lineage is actually more direct. The name is different.
Massage primarily targets muscles and provides temporary relief. This work addresses the fascia — the connective tissue web that holds your entire structure in place. The goal isn't relaxation (though that often happens) but lasting structural reorganisation. Many clients who've had excellent massage for years describe this work as a completely different category of experience.
No pain, no gain does not apply here. The work is calibrated precisely to what your body is ready to receive. There may be moments of sensation as deep holdings release — often described as "the right kind of discomfort" — but the session is always within your comfort. Many people fall into a state of deep relaxation. The old reputation of Rolfing as painful reflects an earlier era of practice.
This depends entirely on your situation and goals. Some people notice profound shifts in a single session. Others benefit most from a series of sessions that progressively address deeper layers. A brief conversation before your first session helps clarify what's right for you. There is no package you must commit to upfront — the work unfolds according to what your body needs.
Comfortable, loose clothing works well — shorts and a light top are ideal. Avoid heavy sportswear. Arrive hydrated and avoid large meals immediately before. Come with an open mind and a willingness to notice. That's all that's required.
Jonathan's own story began exactly here. He suffered from severe sciatica for over three years and tried every modality he could find. Nothing helped. Then in a single session with one of his teachers, he saw stars — and stood up completely out of pain for the first time in three years. That experience is why he does this work. If you have tried everything and still feel stuck, this is the conversation worth having.
Jonathan is based in the Chirripó area of Costa Rica and sees clients in-person. To begin, simply send a message on WhatsApp at +506 7164 4468. He'll respond personally, learn a little about your situation, and help you find a time that works. Limited spaces are available each month.
Practical Information

Chirripó, Costa Rica

📍
Location

Jonathan's home studio in the Chirripó region — easily accessible on paved roads. When you book, he will send you personal directions by WhatsApp. Easy to find, easy to get to.

🕐
Session Length

First session: approximately 90 minutes — this includes a full history intake, an explanation of the method, and the hands-on work itself.
Subsequent sessions: approximately 60 minutes.

💰
Investment

$100 per session.
A 20% discount is currently available for your first session — mention this when you message Jonathan.

👕
What to Wear

Loose, comfortable clothing — all sessions are done fully clothed. No oils are used. Think light trousers, a loose top, or comfortable yoga-style clothes. Nothing tight or restrictive.

🍽️
Before You Arrive

Arrive well hydrated. Avoid a heavy meal in the two hours before your session. Come with an open mind — and perhaps a few notes on your injury and health history if you have them.

💬
How to Book

Send Jonathan a WhatsApp message. He responds personally to every message, usually the same day. There is no online booking system — every session begins with a real conversation.

Your first session starts with a conversation

Tell Jonathan a little about where you are and what you are carrying. He will let you know if this work is the right fit — and if it is, you'll find a time that works.

First session offer

20% discount available — mention it when you write. $100 per session standard rate.

Message Jonathan on WhatsApp

+506 7164 4468 · Responds personally · Usually same day

Blessings — Jonathan