How I Became an Ortho-Bionomy Practioner and Teacher tm

 

 

I call this time my trifecta trauma!

Three major events occurred that rocked my world and brought me to my knees.

Healing Brisbane

It was the early ’90’s. My partner and I had just bought an adorable Hansel and Gretel style of house on one acre on the north coast of NSW, an idyllic setting in the subtropics nestled under a 250 yr old rainforest tree; a bumpy ash.

After 6 years of working as a deep tissue therapist, my upper body was in chronic pain. My work involved heavy repetitive massage. My pecs and triceps felt like tight, red hot piano wires.  I needed relief, but wasn’t finding it.

What was I to do? How to keep working in the only way I knew?

I loved connecting with people and working at an intense level.   There’s a fine line of working on the edge and working too deeply.  My massage practice often brought out strong emotions in my clients. There was no doubt that my work helped them on more levels than merely physical.

The era we were in was a time of deep transformation.  All manner of therapies forged from the 50’s to the 70’s burgeoned and flourished. There was a culture of revealing and releasing as deeply as you could, would and ‘should’.

I liked helping others and being in control of the process. As the oldest of 6, I was trained to take care of my younger siblings. If they mucked up, I was held responsible! The fearful burden of being held to strict account for my actions, even if I couldn’t completely control the result, was deeply introjected into my psyche, so deeply in fact, that I was acting it out in my adult life.

Just months after moving onto our idyll, my beloved Phil, a 38 yr old dynamic, brilliant Sydney Morning Herald trained journalist, plunged into the world of disability. He had been very stressed & anxious about his abilities and overworking to compensate. I thought he having a nervous breakdown. I envisioned him sitting on our sundrenched veranda gazing serenely over the lush rolling hills, at peace and recovering under my loving care.

Instead, he had caught a pernicious brain virus that robbed him of his short term memory. Herpes simplex encephalitis.  A  rising star fell to earth, imploded and

was severely brain damaged. One in 200,000 people caught this brain virus at that time. Before the drug acyclavere was available, 50% of those suffering from it died.

I stopped work to take care of him. Convinced he was going to return to normal, I was in denial about the devastating extent of damage to his brain.

I spent the next 4 years lobbying government for funding to have him cared for in his own home. I was like a fierce mother tigress and left no stone unturned in my efforts. A team of extraordinarily dedicated friends, health workers and family helped me. There is no end to my gratitude for these folks who gave so much of themselves.

Six months into our new life, my youngest nudged the edge of psychosis after taking drugs. At this stage, he was living with his dad in his last year of school. He’s a highly intelligent, creative person, and I trusted he would be well again, but I was naturally anxious about what was best to do to help him.                                                                                      My earthy sensible ex- husband took matters into his hands and took our son on a river trip on the Franklin below Gordon, in the wilderness of Tasmania. The repetitive motion of rowing for 2 weeks and the discipline of working in a team balanced my son’s brain chemistry.

My son also spent time with Phil during Phil’s early hospitalization. A scene that stands out for me is of my 16 yr old cradling Phil in his arms while reciting Rilke in the early hours of the morning in the neurological ward.                                         The doctors seemed to snicker, “How’s that going to help a person in a coma!?” These guys were specialists. I was appalled at their insensitivity and ignorance.

After a year of getting to know Phil in his renewed state, my mother entered her dying process. Phil and I, along with my five sibs rallied to support my parents and each other.

At about this time I rang a friend and shared all this with her, plus my concerns about my son’s Year 12 exams because he had missed a lot of classes.

“You sound as if you need some nurturing. Come and meet Zoee and learn Ortho-Bionomy! “she chirruped.

My head whirled. How could I learn something new and be nurtured at the same time?

I checked in with sibs and my dad…yes, of course I could go. There were so many of us in my family that my mother would continue to have many visitors supporting her.                                                   My brother Charlie drove me to my first Ortho-Bionomy workshop. He did the training a few years later.

The first technique taught was the neck release.                           Zoee asked who would like to be the demoee.

I put my hand up …my neck was twisted painfully in response to seeing my mother skeletal and shrivelled after her chemo.

Large, soft, warm hands enfolded my neck. Held me. No hurry. Sweetly supported. Something sharp and metallic in my neck dissolved.. butter melting…warmth gushing through my hard strained tissue. A few tears slipped out of my eyes. A sigh escaped.

I turned my head to the right:

No restriction.

I turned my head to the left:

No restriction.

I looked over at Zoee, eyes wide.

How did you do that?

She smirked and rolled her eyes.

I sat up and checked my range of movement again.

No pain, nothing.

It  would have taken me 45 minutes to undo a neck like mine doing deep tissue, straining and sweating to get a result!

This had taken Zoee three minutes, maybe five. She appeared to be doing nothing.

“Come to Maui and join the training!”, she cooed….

“Oh yea..err, when?”

In 8 weeks time!

I had no money. Phil to take care of. Welded to my responsibility.

As with any major line up of destiny, everything falls into exquisite place effortlessly. I did indeed go to Maui to train for 4 weeks with Zoee.

My loving mother in law paid my fare and took care of Phil while I was away.

These times were the burning years. I was being burned from the inside out!

I went from bulldozing bodies to becoming a butterfly. I learned to drop my agenda about fixing, sorting, healing & curing. The process of learning ortho is deeply transformational if you allow yourself to  be moved by the innate intelligence of your ability to find balance. I learned to get out of my own way, to trust in the body’s innate intelligence, and to be led by that instead of my own need to fix.

It can never be forgotten that old habits are never far away. They will swoop in like a hungry crow unless  become mindful  and allow  ourselves to be led by  the creative forces within us.

My work with people is so much easier! I feel light and more trusting. Working is effortless!

Pain Free Healing Brisbane | Back Pain

Humans have desired to exterminate vermin throughout the course of human history, whether the vermin be rats or fleas, cockroaches, mosquitos, lice or mice we have wanted to rid our homes and larders of freeloading creatures. Many variations of traps and snares have been invented. In this article we will have a look at the history of the better mouse trap!

‘Build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door.’ Is a quote often misapplied to Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his quote he does not even mention a mouse trap, as is evidenced here: “If a man has good corn or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson. But one thing he does illustrate in this quote is that if you make a thing better than anyone else people will try to find you no matter how remote you may be.

The first spring-loaded mousetrap was in fact invented after Mr Emerson’s demise. Since William C Hooker first patented the spring-loaded mousetrap, there have been many more patent applications for Mouse Traps over the years. Whilst reports vary, the figures I have uncovered claim that any where between 4,400 and 6,000 patents for mousetraps have been lodged with the U.S. Patents office in total. Of these there have only been about twenty financially viable mousetraps that have made their patentees any money.

The most successful Mouse trap patent application was by James Henry Atkinson in 1897. He invented the fastest spring loaded trap in the world, so quick that you could set off half a dozen of them one after the other before you had a chance to blink! James Atkinson ended up selling the patent for his better mousetrap to Proctor, known now as Proctor and Gamble, for 1,000 pounds in 1913. He had called the Mousetrap the little nipper and it became a world wide hit. Proctor captured 60% of the market with ‘The little nipper’ and made a fortune from their 1,000 pound investment. James Atkinson went to work in Proctor’s labs searching for an even better mouse trap, but nothing since has come close to the simplicity of the original model.

This telling fact has not stopped a legion of inventers seeking to exterminate pests in more and more creative ways. Modern traps may be made from plastic, or require no bait for them to function, or electrocute the invading vermin to death. Possibly the least humane of these traps would be the glue trap which lures the targeted vermin onto a sticky sheet which snares their paws and causes the rodents to die from dehydration and suffer for days. Now no one wants mice in their rice, but there are far more humane ways to prevent infestation than the glue trap.

If you find yourself facing infestation from furry invaders there are many options available. Perhaps the best option would be to contact Pest Control Gold Coast or Pest Control Brisbane  or arrange a Termite Inspections Gold Coast at your home.

Thankyou for reading this article on pest management.

Jamie Grant

Retaining walls are a common sight in the city of Brisbane. With the rolling topography of this hilly city and crowded housing market, finding that level housing block may not only be difficult, but expensive.  Land developers will often install retaining walls to increase the amount of usable land on a block. Clearing space for where the house will have the foundations laid, and for play and recreational areas. Retaining walls may create space for level driveways to be created, or on larger properties a retaining wall may be an integral part of a pond or dam system. Smaller scale versions on suburban blocks may create space for fishponds and be instrumental in creating space for aquaculture. The massive buttressed walls that hold back megalitres of water in our dams are a kind of retaining wall and are built using the same engineering principles of load bearing wall structures, the only difference is that a dam wall cannot be porous for obvious reasons, whereas a retaining wall for earth must allow water through so that the pressure it holds remains relatively constant.

 

It is not only in Brisbane that you will see different types retaining walls serving a variety of different purposes.  Retaining wall technology is integral to the words food supply. The vast rice paddies and stepped hills of China and throughout south east Asia are a clear illustration of the value and importance of retaining walls. The vast amount of food that is produced in these areas are enough to feed millions of people and would not be possible without the use of retaining walls. In any mountainous region human civilization would have been greatly hampered with out the use of retaining walls. Small communities use the gardens made possible by retaining walls to feed their village. Throughout the Andes range of mountains in South America the use of retaining walls to create stepped pastoral land is ubiquitous. It is on this stepped farmland that you will see Llamas grazing and crops of potato and colourful corn grows in abundance. Nothing is wasted here, the Llamas are used for wool, milk, meat and leather, so too with the land, not a square inch is unused. The ancients had created a vast system of stepped farmland that their descendants still use today.

Retaining walls are nearly everywhere that human civilization has left its mark. Although one is less likely to find a retaining wall on vast plains or salt flats. As human population growth increases and arable land for food production dwindles and housing becomes scarce we will find the use of land reclamation techniques like the construction of retaining walls more and more prevalent.

Humans are an innovative and expansionist race and have utilised a wide variety of technologies to create practical solutions to the difficulties of managing and maintaining resources. Land management is foremost in the deployment of modern engineering feats and enormous advances have been made in retaining wall technology.

For all of your domestic retaining walls Brisbane or Landscaping needs please contact http://mylandscapingbrisbane.com/

Thankyou for reading this article

Jamie Grant

Government to deregulate the Queensland Real Estate Industry.

Property Sales Brisbane…How Much is Too Much?

The Honourable Paul Lucas is proposing to deregulate the property industry by removing the prescribed maximum fee agents can charge when selling residential property in Queensland.

Up until now, an agent is confined to a fee of 5% on the first $18,000 and 2.5% of the balance of the sale price, or anything under this cap which is agreed upon between the parties.

The effectiveness of this policy has been evidenced by several real estate companies which promote cut price commissions. This is now to change under the proposed new legislation by removing the cap, thereby enabling an agent to charge whatever is agreed.

He claims this will bring our State into line with other States, yet he has failed to point out that the other States don’t have a significant component which he plans to introduce with his new bill.

This is a facility for property sellers to arbitrarily challenge an agent after their property has been sold by claiming they have paid too much commission. This will be in spite of a written agreement, a Form 22a, which has been agreed to by, and signed by both parties, the Sellers and the Agent.

The proposed new provision virtually makes an agency appointment worthless from an agents point of view as there is no surety of payment for a job done once a property has been sold.

Most real estate sales are complex transactions, always take more work than is initially envisaged with a huge amount of time expended by a sales person, most of which is unseen by a seller. It seems this can be the basis for a complaint

Negotiation is the key to the proposed change and if it is to be a genuine bill, the agreement should stand. Bear in mind the Seller has the right to engage who they like and can always withdraw their property from sale if they are dissatisfied with the service.

An analogy of the proposed situation could be.

Lets say an employee is working for a wage and doing what they think is a good job and produce a result by weeks end. On Friday afternoon the boss comes up to he or she and says I don’t think you worked hard enough doing what you did so I am not going to pay you the agreed amount, I will pay you less. Would you be happy with that?

Let’s suppose that an employee of the people, a minister for example was to sign off on some  government expenditure and the job  was later found to be wanting and the money wasted. An example could be the Health Department and a pay role contract.

What if it turned out to be a failure and cost a huge amount to remedy. Would that mean the cost of the reparation could be deducted from the ministers salary by the tax payers because they were unhappy with the outcome.

I don’t think so!

So Mr Lucas, deregulate the industry by all means, We don’t have a problem with that, but if you’re going to do it, do it properly, you will then have our support.

Property Sales Brisbane

Real Estate Brisbane

Digging into History.

 

Human beings have always sought to alter the landscape to better meet with their needs. From cutting down trees for lumber to digging for stone and other ores to excavating foundations for construction.

As humans shifted from a nomadic existence to an agrarian life style construction and excavation became more and more important.

 

Well, well, well…Well.

 

Possibly the earliest findings of human excavation and construction with wood are located at a dig site in Eastern Germany that dates back to the Neolithic period 6000-4000BC.  Scientists discovered remnants of four ancient wells and the preserved oak timbers that supported their construction. These waterlogged timbers were dated between 5469 and 5068 BC. The workmanship on the timbers brings into question the perceived development of these early people.

As the complexity of the wooden construction demonstrates a culture far more advanced than previously expected.

 

Older than Stone Henge

 

The earliest evidence for excavation and construction in the medium of stone is at the site of Gobekli Tepe in Turkey and is dated to approximately 11,000 BC. This predates best estimates for Stone Henge by around 6000 years. Written records are non-existent for this discovery as the first writings in clay appeared in Sumer in 3300 BC. There has been more time passed between the founding of this Temple and the first written records than between now and those first writings. Yet a wealth of associated archaeological findings point to a well developed and sustained agrarian society well before the accepted dawn of the Neolithic period.

 

Wonder at the Ancients

 

By far the greatest and most enduring example of human construction is the Great Pyramid of Giza. This massive edifice is still the world’s largest construction with an estimated total mass of approximately 6 million tonnes. It comprises around 2.3 million blocks. From the simple sandstone blocks weighing in at 1 ½ Tonnes each, to the massive granite support beams that comprise the Kings chamber, some of which weigh up to 80 tonnes.

Perhaps more astounding, though lesser known, are facts about the foundations of this most Ancient of Wonders. Again written records of these methods are sparse and speculation surrounds them, however this incredible feat achieved at the time by the Fourth Dynasty Egyptians still confounds modern man.

The Great Pyramid was originally 146.5m tall and the area of the site is 13 acres. The base has been levelled to within 15mm and the entire site is aligned with true north. Each side is of equal length of over 230 metres with an average error of 58mm between each of them. The circumference of the edifice in relation to

the height forms the near perfect rendition of Pi. These and many other facts continue to cause wonder and speculation even in modern time. Many theories have arisen around the excavation of this site. Scientists surmise that clearing and levelling the site was probably done using a form of ancient hydro level where the site was flooded, smoothed and drained over and over until it was perfectly level.  Or perhaps it was aliens, no one really knows.

 

Thank you for reading and I hope you will continue to join me in an exploration of excavation.  Please visit Excavation Brisbane or Earthmoving Brisbane. for all of your excavation needs

 

Written by Jamie Grant https://www.facebook.com/Jamoir for http://excavationbrisbanecity.com/

A good relationship is like a diamond, beautiful to behold, possessed with an inner radiance and precious beyond all measure. Yet also like a diamond, relationships can crack, split and even shatter if external pressure is applied in the wrong place.

Many relationships are subjected to severe strain that cause significant and long lasting issues. Some relationships do not survive these circumstantial difficulties and others only make it with the able assistance of a relationship counsellor. Perhaps one of the hardest circumstances a relationship has to cope with is that of financial strain. This pressure can be brought to bear in a variety of fashions. Perhaps one of the more common ones is that of unemployment. When one person in a relationship is unemployed, particularly if the unemployment is long term, it can bring great hardship to a family. Being made redundant from a position can raise questions of one’s own worth, particularly if jobs are competitive in that field. There can be a spiralling effect with feelings of worthlessness resulting in less effective action and the loss of self-confidence necessary to win a new position. Repeated failures to secure employment cause greater feelings of worthlessness and so it goes. The supporting partner must not only deal with the strain of supporting the family and children financially, but also must witness the gradual loss of self confidence in their partner, and no matter how hard they try, are able to do nothing about it. Only meaningful work and the sense of self-reliance that gainful employment brings can heal someone who has been long term unemployed. We all want our partners to stand on their own two feet, to be an inspiration for us, and to be there when we need them. Unfortunately for those who have to endure accident, illness or injury, the experience of needing help is a difficult and at times even a shameful experience. I would like to speak about all forms of illness here, not simply physical ones. It can difficult to be partnered with someone who is struck down with a debilitating disease or a horrible accident that renders them incapable for a long period of time. It can be just as difficult to be partnered with someone who is afflicted by depression or mental illness.  Often with a physical affliction progress is more tangible, we can see the healing process taking place, we can hope for a better future. Yet with mental illness progress is less defined, people can seem to make ground yet suddenly suffer a setback rendering them paralysed again in the grip of depression. Depression can be cured however as with many forms of mental affliction, with counselling and anger management therapy. Then there are those who have suffered irreparable trauma, whether physically or mentally. A scarring that will forever change that person. This is possibly the most difficult situation a partner has to deal with. The one they love has gone and a shadow of their former self takes their place. A Relationship Counsellor can assist couples who are suffering with external hardship by working with the couple and creating coping strategies to deal with the stressors of injury or illness. By facing the problem squarely and being wise enough to know that these kinds of pressures make a relationship difficult and the help of an expert may just save your relationship.

Relationship Counselling Brisbane

If you need help  with your relationship try Counselling Brisbane or Couples Counselling Brisbane for information about how to cope with difficulties or for counselling sessions aimed at relationships. Thankyou for reading this article Jamie Grant

These days being a wedding photographer isn’t just about capturing candid moments which were set up previously to convey the feeling that everybody is having a good time. These days being a wedding photographer is about capturing real moments that will reflect sentiment and feelings that will last a lifetime. With the advancement of digital technologies in the development of the DSLR camera, there is no need to set up a photography session because photographs can now be generated in real time. The great advantage of this method of photography is that nobody at all will even notice that there is a photographer at your wedding. The photographer should blend in or even be a part of the crowd as if he is a guest at your wedding. The benefit of this approach is that you will actually capture real moments as they occur and then add to your collection and cherish fot the rest of your life. The bride and groom will usually meet with the wedding photographer and in some cases also the family of the bride and groom. This is usually done before the rehearsal to discuss the kind of feel and the general concept of the proceedings for the day. This is usually where the price and the packages that the photographer has to offer are also discussed. Weddings these days are a highly planned/organised event for many months’ sometimes even years of planning go into these celebrations of love. The Wedding Photographer becomes an integral part of the planning stage because he or she  needs to plan in advance the shots that they are going to take which best capture the style of wedding which you have chosen to have. During the ceremony the photographer will have the ability to slide in and out amongst the crowd without hindering any of the proceedings or in fact disturbing the process. Often with today’s modern digital cameras there is no need for a flash and this will also add to the ability of the photographer not to disturb the proceedings. In days gone by when we used to use chemical photography as opposed to digital, many of the shots had to be candid or set up in order to get the right exposure time. With modern digital technology and software such as photo shop these kinds of photo shoots are no longer viable. There will be of course be candid set up shots which will occur after the ceremony of family and friends and this needs to be spoken about prior to the actual marriage ceremony. Many brides and grooms these days choose to take all of those shots before the wedding so as they can choose particular settings and or background scenery. This kind of approach to wedding photography creates many opportunities to come up with a much more creative and artistic or boutique style of wedding photography.

Absolution photography is a boutique wedding photographer that specialises in creating and capturing special moments for your wedding experience. I have posted a blog on my website where I discuss the methods and techniques that I have used in some of my photographic sessions and I invite you right now to go and have a look at these posts and tell me what you think. Wedding Photography Tradition Brisbane. Its personal or Wedding photography expect the unexpected and what does a boutique wedding photography business in Brisbane mean to you. If you like my photography you may want to contact me at Absolution Photography to discuss your wedding photography plans.   Absolution Photography