October 15 – November 13

This is the 10th consecutive year of the One Month Body Harmony® Retreat. The dates have changed slightly, we are running from mid October to mid November this year. Recent developments in the practice of Body Harmony® from our international event in New Orleans produced some wonderful outcomes. ‘Ease, Efficiency & Enjoyment’ – these qualities applied to our bodywork practices lead to easier ways of achieving better results. This is a unique opportunity – 150 years of bodywork experience shared between Don, Linda, Duncan & Gina – a wealth of support to assist your learning and realization.

The 2011 program is an opportunity that we think appeals equally in merit to the practitioner (or would be practitioner) and to the individual seeking growth and personal realization. As in past years, our program is available in smaller segments and these options can be viewed in the e-brochure. If you would to benefit from participation in some or all of this event, email Duncan duncan@healthinperspective.org to express your interest. To download the pdf brochure for this event, – follow this link to our downloads page.

Some helpful suggestions – from Gina Carruthers

Getting to know your physical self is subtle but really very simple and one of the greatest things to focus on to bring ease, health and joy. Here are a few suggestions and their benefits:

1) Quiet yourself Down – Get on the ground, in constructive rest, and just be quiet. The benefits include: calming the nervous system, aligning with gravity, synchronizing internal harmony, and releasing your core to something greater than itself – the earth beneath you. Emptying yourself allows for new thoughts and behaviors to take hold.

>2) Centering your Pelvis – Sit, Stand and Sleep with a centered pelvis. The benefits include: calming the nervous system, aligning with gravity, eliminating muscular compensations, and being more aware of what takes you away from ease in your life.

3) Hydrate your Spine – Keep your spine hydrated through micro movements in every direction including curling, arching, and lateral fish movements. The benefits include: efficient nervous system, supportive bones, eliminating tension, and a juicy experience of yourself and life.

4) Support your body with adequate water and minerals. The benefits include having muscles that CAN relax, and reducing the amount of time your body has to revert to a ‘survival response’ leading to physical compensations that reduce your overall efficiency.

Your Basal What?

Have you heard about your ‘basal ganglia’? Most likely not. It happens to be the name for the place in your brain where embedded behaviors are organised, – these are behaviors you don’t have to think about to engage in. Examples include writing perhaps, or walking, or typing, or driving – and also things like how you approach a problem, a relationship, a new possibility.

Imagine, all those things learned and embodied, – your behavioral repertoire ready to engage given the right stimulus. Sometimes that automated response is perfectly matched to the circumstances, and sometimes it is not. At times a behavioral tendency can itself become a burden, a form of self-sabotage, – an unwelcome input. Here is one area where Body Harmony® can be very useful to you.

This is our area of expertise. Body Harmony® is a set of transformational tools to help you make the corrections when a behavior no longer matches your intentions. Body Harmony® is a form of body processing that helps to make a possibility more probable by making the process of becoming aware much easier. The hands-on element of the work brings fluidity to the rigidity of over-used behaviors, that take the form of your physical grievances. Body Harmony helps you to make a self directed change, – the change of your choosing. A life supportive change. Sometimes you have to change your Body to change your Mind.

Finding Realization In The Body…

A newly released book we came across, ‘Touching Enlightenment, Finding Realization in The Body‘ by Reginald Ray, suggests that ‘to abandon discursive thinking – disembodiment – as our primary way of orienting ourselves…. and more than that, that a wave of alternatives to engage where we are living out of the full, unique embodiment that is possible for us all are now becoming more compelling to counter our dissociation.’ We tend to agree. In his 1967 book, ‘Betrayal of the Body‘ Alexander Lowan MD writes that, “To know who one is, an individual must be aware of what he feels. He should know the expression on his face, how he holds himself, and the way he moves. Without this awareness of bodily feeling and attitude, a person becomes split into a disembodied spirit and a disenchanted body.” Becoming acquainted with your first order experience provides you with direct and very useful information. All of the principles expressed through our work aim at realigning your mind and consciousness within bodily sensation and immediate experience. This can be very useful indeed.

And finally a few updates

We would like to thank Sydney based photographer Andre Martin for his assistance in photographing our retreat/B&B.

Check out ‘Your Brain at Work’ by David Rock. Available as an audio download from Audible.com.

For those of you who don’t know our son Kim is continuing to expand his education in all aspects of natural health and healing (check out Kimmana.com for info). As of September 2012 we intend to add cleansing and detox programs to what we offer at Alaya Verde. Also, Alaya Verde is on Facebook. We would be pleased if you ‘Like’ our page…

The next Body Harmony International Conference is anticipated to be held in June of 2012. Granada, Spain is shaping up as the destination and we are currently deciding on venues to host the event. Many thanks to Andrea and Esperanza for helping with the research.

Congratulations to Robyn Barraclough for producing an excellent website for the Canberra Body Harmony School. Click the link to see the site.

Also, Body Harmony® is on Facebook. Click this link and get the updates by choosing to ‘Like’ the Body Harmony® page.

These events are open to you and your friends, family, spouse or clients. You can read more about Body Harmony® on this website.

To make it easier to have a first up experience, you can also book your first 30 minute treatment at no cost to you. It’s a great way to find out more and understand better what we actually offer you. See our contact details below.

The Free 1 Day Seminars are an opportunity to have more of an experience of Body Harmony® through breathing and awareness exercises and hands-on practice as both a practitioner and a client. No previous experience is necessary. Booking is essential. This is a 5 hour class that includes a lunch break. Please bring lunch.

• When:  Sunday April 26, Sunday May 31st, Sunday June 14
  
• 10 am – 3 pm (light refreshments available)
• Where: ‘Alaya Verde’ 355 Ringtail Creek Rd, Ringtail Creek (just 15 minutes north-west of Noosaville, 12 minutes from Cooroy)

To book, please call Gina or Duncan on 5485 3099 or email duncan@healthinperspective.org

Please wear loose, comfortable clothing. ALL treatments are taken clothed. All hands-on exercises in conscious touch occur without any oils etc and are easy on your body.

The most accurate answer is:

“We don’t work on the conditions, We work on individuals. No matter what condition they bring to the table.”

What Body Harmony does:

Is Help You Function Better: By…..

• 1. Activating those areas that are not activated
• 2. Uniting those areas that work at cross purposes
• 3. Synchronizing body and mind into one Bodymind.

A session is usually an hour. How many sessions you take, and how often you take them, depends on your desires and aspirations.

Areas of application:

• 1. Individuals
• 2. Families
• 3. Corporations

I welcome your responses and questions and suggestions.
Health and happiness to you
Don McFarland

To download a pdf of this information, Body Harmony & Conditions. Click

This track is like what happens in the brain when a behavior or pattern is reinforced. It creates a strong pathway in the brain, which becomes the main mode of experience if the pathway is triggered. Doidge advocates retraining your brain by brain exercises, to reignite new pathways or possibilities.

In my terms, The Healing Loop is where someone continues to go over the same pattern and in effect reinforces the very issue they wish to correct. Through Body Harmony we aim to help our clients discover new, or less traveled pathways, that are more functional for them, now. We teach you how to get off the healing loop, by focusing on the possibility rather than the restriction.  This doesn’t mean that the problem is ignored, far from it; the focus is in creating an environment for you (your body) to discover the solution, to become more aware of your behaviour and to restructure. The results may be seen in differences in your posture, sensed and felt in your body, and experienced as enhanced quality of your life and relationships, getting you OFF the Healing Loop.

Module 5 – Getting off the Healing Loop and into Life
Saturday and Sunday 5th – 6th December  at Alaya Verde, Noosa Hinterland.
With International Body Harmony Teachers Gina Carruthers & Duncan Hogg
Module 5 helps you to retrain your body and your brain -  your bodymind. You learn techniques that help you to discover, and experience new options get you off the healing loop and into life. You can start using these skills you learn immediately yourself, with your friends, or clients. No previous experience required. Bring along any healing loops you want to get off of.  Experienced practitioners of all kinds will find the experience valuable to improving their practice.
Cost $395,  Payment by Cash, cheque to or internet banking to Body Harmony Seminars– call or email for details.
Previous participants of this module can review this Module for $230. Register now so we have time to ensure enough massage tables.