Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Fetal Life



          Recorded by Felix Schembri in Wiggensbach/Germany in the IBA office in Europe

Intelligent Fools

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."

~ Albert Einstein

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

The Injury-Free Yoga Practice, by Dr. Steven Weiss

“In the unspoken language of the human body, anatomy is the vocabulary, alignment is the grammar. And yoga becomes poetry.”

Book Recommendation by Esther Veltheim


As a BodyTalker, whether you practice yoga or not, you are going to love this book. The Injury-Free Yoga Practice is a book about alignment, anatomy and how not to get hurt doing yoga. And yet, as you can tell from the above quote, Dr. Weiss writes from a very unique perspective. His reverence for the work, combined with his deep knowledge of both yoga and chiropractic, translates into an exploration of the body that is nothing short of inspirational….and very practical.

As BodyTalkers, we all know how important alignment is, especially where our work is concerned. We know that poor alignment disrupts our body’s energy systems and, in so doing, compromises our overall health. We also know that the way our body aligns itself is a direct reflection of how we feel about our self and the world. When we are “out of alignment” or have poor alignment, our self-esteem and our world- view reflect this distortion. Strangely, even though we have these understandings, alignment is a subject we easily dismiss when pondering our health and wellbeing.

The Injury-Free Yoga Practice explores the fundamentals of alignment as a codified system that applies consistently in every yoga posture. Personally, I am discovering that application of the alignment principles, as Dr. Weiss presents them, is transforming my experience of my body both on and off my yoga mat.

And those of you working to fulfill your studies of anatomy and physiology, you will so appreciate the way these subjects are brought to life. Discussions on anatomy are presented, not as a secondary curiosity, but in a way that reveals how anatomy is the underlying rationale for every principle of alignment used in yoga practice….and in life. And the so-called “secret” tips to alignment that never seem to be shared fully are revealed in a way that makes them immediately applicable, not just to asana but to every move you make in life.

The Injury-Free Yoga Practice is born of Dr. Weiss’s many years living not just as a yoga teacher and diligent practitioner, but also as a holistic chiropractor and anatomy instructor. The book is, in part, a compilation of ideas developed by many great teachers of alignment-based yoga, including Anusara and Iyengar. But what seems to make this book such a unique and distinctive contribution to the growing body of knowledge about yoga is the place this book is written from. Writing from the perspective of years of observation and hands-on adjustment, Dr. Weiss shares great insight into the intricacies of human alignment.

Practicing yoga can be either therapeutic or the cause of trauma. The postures themselves are not inherently safe or dangerous. The outcome of yoga practice depends on one essential criterion: the successful application of alignment. Yoga has the potential to be one of the most sophisticated and empowering means of creating structural alignment in the body.

Clearly alignment should not be an afterthought. Nor should it be considered a facet of advanced asana practice only. Alignment is essential at all levels of practice and all areas of life. Healthy alignment ensures that asana and all our movements in life are performed safely and expertly.

As far as yoga is concerned, yoga postures need not be overly advanced to be beneficial. The most basic postures are generally the most therapeutic, since they are the easiest ones in which to establish precise alignment. What this means is that even for those of you who do not practice yoga, as long as you have a body this book can transform your experience of being in it. But chances are that by the time you have read this book you will want to take up yoga!

For those of you who are already practicing yoga, The Injury-Free Yoga Practice offers you the essential tools for creating a safe and advancing practice that will provide years of health and vitality. Click here to purchase the book.


Steven Weiss, MS, DC, RYT has over 30 years of experience as a holistic chiropractor, nutritionist and dedicated yoga student and teacher. For 17 years, Dr. Weiss served as the resident chiropractor and nutritionist at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, NY. He is a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. Besides teaching anatomy and alignment for yoga teaching training programs, Dr. Weiss is a post-graduate instructor with two chiropractic colleges, presenting programs for chiropractors that explore yoga-based biomechanics and therapeutics. His yoga training has been in various traditions with an extensive background in Anusara and Iyengar yoga, studying with teachers in India and throughout the United States.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Impossible Possibilities


After many years of problems with my left ovary my body finally did the right thing and killed it! Put it out of its misery! It had many cysts that ruptured, too many to even count, and one that was the size of a grapefruit and I hemorrhaged into it. I spent many days agonizing in pain in bed and several trips to the hospital and into surgery. When doctors couldn’t find that ovary, I thought Halleluiah! The doctors searched with several ultrasounds over the course of several months trying to figure out where it went. They requisitioned surgical records and determined it had been removed. It was completely gone, which I was fine with, until I saw my hematologist.
I have high platelets, due to a genetic disorder and my hematologist explained that because I was young, not menopausal, the risk of a stroke is minimal. “The best we can hope for is that western medicine will have a good solution for you once menopause sets in.” my hematologist tells me. However, I am starting to wonder about how solid this plan is? I am certain he is not talking with my gynecologist or my general physician, nor did he do any blood work on my hormone levels, so how does he know this is a good plan? Does he even know I am short one ovary?
Over time my mind is consumed again with this ovary, this time from a different perspective. Every time I had any symptoms that could be related to menopause (or several other things!) I thought about the missing ovary and how this was all going to affect my risk of a stroke. I hear John’s voice saying “It’s a dynamic interactive system” and I am learning this first hand. When one thing compensates, it really does affect everything else. So what am I going to do? My faith in the Western Medical System is declining rapidly; although I do believe it is responsible health care not to abandon that side of things all together. I pursue BodyTalk more vigilantly with a focus on this ovary that has gone MIA.
By the time I am in PaRama Unit 2 with John, I have already done quite a bit of work on this ovary. BreakThrough Steps that helped me to recognize the masculine/feminine imbalances and belief systems that perhaps had a helping hand in the total destruction of one of the most feminine pieces of my bodymind. FreeFall classes that taught me to breath into my pelvis, enriching the energy and life into a piece of me that was virtually dead. The opening of the heart and renewed circulation within the entire bodymind is the incredibly powerful healing that occurs only in this way within the FreeFall class. Structural Integration assisted on releasing fascia and aligning the structural integrity of my body to feel energy flow through every cell like I have never felt before. Several BodyTalk Sessions and a lot of MindScape work all set the stage for what was able to occur in the PaRama Unit 2 class.
As I am called up to be a demo session I am curious which PU2 technique will come up and what possibly could happen to this ovary that is making a subtle appearance now. The ovary at this point is very atrophied, but now visible. The Finding Health 2 technique is what comes up and it all becomes a bit of blur from here. I remember following my breath and then I feel bubbling and popping where my ovary is. The best I can describe is a bubble blower pipe that you blow into and there becomes a cluster of bubbles forming. This is what my ovary was doing! At this point I remember looking in John’s eyes and he is telling me that the cells were replicating themselves and the ovary was growing. I now had a healthy new ovary!
When I got off the table I could feel my entire pelvis shift to make room again for its lost resident. I bent over and it was so amazing, the awareness I had for this ovary. Part of what John told me was that I would be presented with situations in my life that would allow me to explore how this ovary disappeared in the first place…. Let me tell you, I have had several opportunities to explore! I can even feel it ovulate now, something I don’t ever remember feeling on the left side.
I am so blessed to have found this amazing system. There is not a day that goes by without appreciating for our amazing body’s ability to heal from within and to John and Esther for their strength to pursue their own healing journey so they can shine the light for the rest of us in our healing. I recall hearing somewhere that you cannot lead a client to a place where you have not been to yourself. I feel in clinic we get to see miracles happen every day and that day, in class, I physically felt one of my miracle as my ovary returned. 

Thank you John for being open to the impossible possibilities and holding the space for that to occur within me. I am truly inspired to continue learning, exploring and healing…. I truly believe impossible things are now possibilities, gifts of wisdom and healing to cherish ♥

Sherry Gilbert 
CBI, BAT, Adv.CBP