Spring Bodywork and Course News

Greetings,

I am starting to dip my toes into the stream of work and teaching, I haven't actually made the plunge yet. And fortunately, I now have someone in Columbia, Fayetteville and Springfield that I feel happy sending people to visit as I'm not around much of the time. I've trained Albino Sandoval, who works in Columbia, Mo.; Abigail Showl is a student who works from Fayetteville; SI practitioner Michelle Lyn Ray has returned to the Fayetteville area as well; and Garrell Herndon works in Springfield—another graduate of Guild for Structural Integration. I am no longer the only game in town, and I'm glad; I no longer feel the need to serve the communities as I have replacements in place!

Two courses with Noah scheduled

On April 10 I will conduct a six hour/6 CEU class for massagers and anyone else who wants to know about the workings of the vagus nerve system. This will happen in Jefferson City, Mo., at the KIM Montessori School and runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Enroll online. We will do all we can to keep the day safe by maintaining reasonable distances, temperature checks, masks, and lots of ventilation—in fact, most activity will be outside if the weather is nice! If you are a massager in need of CEU's and new information, this class may be for you. And I am flirting with trying to get it all on video so we can share for those who can't make the actual day.

Then I also plan to offer a CORE III/IV course in late July, here in Springfield. Pre-req for CORE III is I and II; and for CORE IV, I-III must be completed first.

Slowly coming out of lockdown

The virus has certainly changed our world! We've been pretty locked down since getting home from Asia one year ago. At this stage, several of our instructors are also “crawling out of the woodwork” to offer courses as well. Pentony O'Hagan in London, Pam Martin in Edinburgh, Naomi Lalonde in Cabot, Ark., and Roxanne Portman in Hot Springs, Ark., have courses planned in the coming season. Hooray!

Pam Martin teaching.

Remember, if you're still looking for bodywork in the Springfield, Mo., area now that I've slowed, Garrell Herndon has his training from the Guild for Structural Integration and sees clients at Bodysmith on St. Louis Street in Springfield. He's also taken CORE II with me. His phone number is 416-871-4709. Call him now that I'm not seeing clients.

Master classes

I've started offering “One Minute Master Class” segments, occasionally….very occasionally. I'll share one here soon about the way you stand.

Course and instructor schedules

Please note that each instructor is responsible for his or her own decisions as to whether a class is ready to be presented in the virus times, so check with the individual instructor about the status.

Most of our CORE Courses on offer are listed on this website on the Upcoming CORE Bodywork Courses page. Please visit the page to find links to enrollment with the various instructors.

These are course offerings that may or may not get to happen! We're all hopeful, and those of us who are careful are feeling, tentatively, that it's time to get back out there. Precautions will be taken!

April 10: Resetting the Nerve of Well-Being (vagus nerve), Jefferson City, Mo., 9 a.m. - 4 p.m., 6 CEU's, $150. Limit 18 — If it overflows, we'll add a day on Sunday, April 11.

May 22/23: CORE I in London with Pentony O'Hagan, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., 16 CPD's, £297. Chelsea & Westminster Hospital. Pre-requisite: Massage Therapy, Physiotherapy or Osteopathy Qualification.

July 21-28: (CORE IV) and 22-28 (CORE III): CORE III/IV with Noah and hopefully Nicola in Springfield, Mo! I was planning to stop, but Nicola had plans to arrive from UK with her family this past July. We hope to try again next year.

Aug 21/22: CORE I in Edinburgh with Pam Martin. 9 a.m. - 6 p.m., Perth, Scotland, UK. No pre-req. 16 CPD's. Places limited to 12.

Oct 16/17: CORE I in Hot Springs, Ark. with Roxanne Portman at Radiance School. 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., 18 CEU's, $450.

Personal News for March 2021

Wow! I hope your world is still safe and habitable. I'm happy to report that Gloria has had both COVID vaccinations and I've had the first shot, with the next one coming soon. We hope to be able to travel back to Crete one day, but who knows?

Gloria enjoying a restaurant break.

Gloria’s father

In sad news, we lost Gloria's father, George Galanes, in Cincinnati, Ohio, in February. It was time—at 97 he could no longer live at home alone, so after moving from hospital to rehab to independent living to hospice to quarantine to a double room to an assisted living apartment in three months, he passed quietly after saying goodbye to us all. A fine man, and he will be missed. So we've also been back and forth to Ohio quite a bit in the last several months. Considering we don't travel these days, we have been burning up the roads!

Next book work

I'm still working on the self-publish aspect of the sixth book; now titled "The Essential CORE: Bodywork with Hands, Head and Heart.” The first half is devoted to philosophy of good deep tissue work and the second half explains and teaches my five-session blueprints for good work. No publication date in the offing. I now have the photos created, still waiting on illustrations. One day…

A fixer-upper project

My daughter Molly has bought a “fixer-upper” in Lockhart, Texas, and is in the process of rehabilitating a house that hasn't been lived in for 25 years! I've therefore made about four trips down since last July to help with the remodel—a learning experience for us both since we're so different and so alike! Not sure when I'll be back to work with her again.

Daughter Molly’s fixer-upper house project

Back to traveling for fun?

Sadly, will I ever get back to Crete at again? I'm beginning to hope our time is coming, as many more are getting vaccinated, and Europe seems to be relaxing some of the standards…we'll see. We did make a pretty safe vacation in late September/early October—a non-stop drive to visit a nephew in Colorado, a view of Devils Tower in Wyoming and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota before driving home, quickly.

What IS the New Normal?

We're all beginning to have lockdown fever and wanting to get back into the world as soon as possible. Do we call this condition COVID fatigue? Whatever it is, it certainly makes us all realize how much we've been missing face-to-face socialization and the ability to get up and go when we feel like it. However, do we want to return to the 'old normal'?

I've found over the course of the lockdowns that I rather like the new world where I spend much more time in the quiet, in the yard and garden, tending nature and my spirit. I hope it's the same for you! And I hope the experience will give you what it's given me—that ability to slow down and appreciate where I am in the moment instead of rushing to get to some moment in the future. This may be easier for me than for you; simply because I'm pretty much retired and less worried about making an income to tend to my “needs.” Making less money has also made me more aware of how much of my money went to unnecessary expenses. This is a lesson we probably all need to remember.

Years ago I found a poem that stuck in my head. It was called “My Name Is I AM” and was written by Helen Mallicoat. I called Helen and got permission to write a song using her words. The content goes something like this:

I was talking to the Lord and looking for an answer; guilty from the past and fearful of the future. I'd forgotten my trust; needed someone to save me, when I heard a still small voice and the words that it gave me: My name is I AM it said.

When you live in the past with its mistakes and regrets it is hard, for I am not there. When you live in the future with its worries and fears, it is hard; for I am not there. My name is not I was; my name is not I will be; my name is I AM, and I AM that I AM.

So calmly I'm sticking my toe back into the river of life; offering a few sessions to past clients, reaching out with the vagus class at the invitation of Rose Grotjan, making tentative plans for what the spring, summer and fall may or may not look like (possibly a III/IV in Crete this fall!), and thinking hard about just how far into the world's drama I want to place myself. I hope you have the opportunity to take the pandemic as a reset button; like the vagus nerve, we can reset what we believe our lives must be like, simplify and enjoy more while working and worrying less, enjoying more and living in the I AM, not in the past or future. My wish for you, for me, for us all.