From the time I was quite young, maybe around 10yrs or so, I was really interested in the physical differences between people, their physical build and overall appearance; within my family, school, community, society and across cultures. it was perhaps more subconscious back then but something about how people looked and moved really fascinated me.
I was fairly physically active, played sports and lived near the beach, so my fascination was endless. I remember internally 'noting' how the big guys in the rugby team were picked to be forwards, and the slimmer guys (me) were the backs. It makes total common sense now as an adult, but to a young boy I was curious about how well that system worked. And not only that, I also noticed that the bigger guys seemed to have a particular kind of personality, and the backs another, both on and off the field. The differences were often very subtle, but to an open-minded, uncorrupted-by-limitations-mind it was noticeable.
In my later teen/early adult years, I continued to literally 'play' with my notion of the connection between physical appearance and personality type by following random people on the street and copying their every movement exactly (yes I know, I was probably lucky I didn't get arrested - but I was very good at it and never got 'sprung'). Sometimes some people would have a limp and I could pick whether it originated in the hip, knee or ankle and I would imagine the difficulty they would experience in life by their lack of mobility/flexibility. Later I began to get intuitive 'flashes' of how that person lived their life, their possible family, relationships, hobbies and occupation. Were these 'flashes' ever verified? yes sometimes - but that's a whole other story ...
I trained and registered as a Psychiatric Nurse (New Zealand) 1974 and the connection between the mind and body was still a near-constant, background theme. It was noticeable that people who moved in a 'disordered', uncoordinated, lack of self-awareness way, also tended to be like that in life. I was lucky enough to train in the days of an apprenticeship style in a Psych hospital rather than at a nursing college. It was in the days when nurses were able to be assistants in all the programmes, so I learned about group therapy, Gestalt therapy, Dream therapy and Bioenergetics.
When I travelled to the UK I started to look into Oriental medicine, Acupressure massage and first started learningAikido. Oriental face diagnosis and Acupressure are all about being able to 'read' someone by how they look and move - I was in my element! I also first learned about what is now called 'energy medicine' and how the ancient Chinese knew all about quantum physics without knowing that term.
Aikido also taught me a lot about movement and what it is to be un-centred, ungrounded and inflexible. It also taught me about perseverance, resilience, cooperation, confidence, decisiveness and the ongoing evolution of life-energy (Ki, chi, prana). I have been training now for 21 years (2011)
Later, here in Australia when I started to see the amazing difference Aikido training had on kids, in their behaviour and academic performance, I studied Educational Kinesiology - now dumbed down to 'Brain Gym', Rhythmic Movement Training, which is about the integration of early primitive and postural reflexes EFT (emotional freedom technique) and picked up on acupressure massage again.
I've been so lucky to now have my boyhood fascination as part of my adult life, in fact in many ways it IS my life, it'smy income, my vocation and my continual interest. It also happens to positively transform people's lives at adeep, core, holistic level - and that is more satisfying than anything
I was fairly physically active, played sports and lived near the beach, so my fascination was endless. I remember internally 'noting' how the big guys in the rugby team were picked to be forwards, and the slimmer guys (me) were the backs. It makes total common sense now as an adult, but to a young boy I was curious about how well that system worked. And not only that, I also noticed that the bigger guys seemed to have a particular kind of personality, and the backs another, both on and off the field. The differences were often very subtle, but to an open-minded, uncorrupted-by-limitations-mind it was noticeable.
In my later teen/early adult years, I continued to literally 'play' with my notion of the connection between physical appearance and personality type by following random people on the street and copying their every movement exactly (yes I know, I was probably lucky I didn't get arrested - but I was very good at it and never got 'sprung'). Sometimes some people would have a limp and I could pick whether it originated in the hip, knee or ankle and I would imagine the difficulty they would experience in life by their lack of mobility/flexibility. Later I began to get intuitive 'flashes' of how that person lived their life, their possible family, relationships, hobbies and occupation. Were these 'flashes' ever verified? yes sometimes - but that's a whole other story ...
I trained and registered as a Psychiatric Nurse (New Zealand) 1974 and the connection between the mind and body was still a near-constant, background theme. It was noticeable that people who moved in a 'disordered', uncoordinated, lack of self-awareness way, also tended to be like that in life. I was lucky enough to train in the days of an apprenticeship style in a Psych hospital rather than at a nursing college. It was in the days when nurses were able to be assistants in all the programmes, so I learned about group therapy, Gestalt therapy, Dream therapy and Bioenergetics.
When I travelled to the UK I started to look into Oriental medicine, Acupressure massage and first started learningAikido. Oriental face diagnosis and Acupressure are all about being able to 'read' someone by how they look and move - I was in my element! I also first learned about what is now called 'energy medicine' and how the ancient Chinese knew all about quantum physics without knowing that term.
Aikido also taught me a lot about movement and what it is to be un-centred, ungrounded and inflexible. It also taught me about perseverance, resilience, cooperation, confidence, decisiveness and the ongoing evolution of life-energy (Ki, chi, prana). I have been training now for 21 years (2011)
Later, here in Australia when I started to see the amazing difference Aikido training had on kids, in their behaviour and academic performance, I studied Educational Kinesiology - now dumbed down to 'Brain Gym', Rhythmic Movement Training, which is about the integration of early primitive and postural reflexes EFT (emotional freedom technique) and picked up on acupressure massage again.
I've been so lucky to now have my boyhood fascination as part of my adult life, in fact in many ways it IS my life, it'smy income, my vocation and my continual interest. It also happens to positively transform people's lives at adeep, core, holistic level - and that is more satisfying than anything
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