25 Years With BodyTalk
It was my birthday weekend in Chicago September 2001 when, due to a series of “coincidences” and spontaneous decisions, I found myself sitting in (Mod 1/2) BodyTalk Fundamentals with John Veltheim, the founder of the BodyTalk system. I had never heard of John or BodyTalk before. I’d never even received a BodyTalk session. But after listening to John’s public talk a couple days prior and watching him demonstrate a session, I decided to register for the class - justifying the investment by telling myself,
“It’s my birthday weekend. I’m worth at least $1,000.”
But when I walked into the last day of class on September 11, little did I know the incredible journey I had just begun.
I remember my first 2 “success” stories, because they happened at exactly the same time. One was massage therapy student of mine, Cindy, who had been diagnosed with ovarian cysts. Her doctor said there was nothing to do at the time and suggested they take a wait and watch approach. The other was a massage client, Joe, who had been living with HIV/AIDS for many years, had recently been diagnosed with lymphoma and whose blood work showed he basically had zero T-cells. I’d only learned Mod 1/2 at the time, and each session took less than 30 minutes. At the end of each I asked the standard end-of-session questions: Is follow-up BodyTalk a priority? For each the answer was - yes, in 3 weeks. Is another modality a priority? For each the answer was again - yes. They should each see their respective doctors in about 3 weeks time to have their conditions reevaluated. This was at the end of the year, and I recall myself pacing back and forth in my living room practically having an anxiety attack. My left-brain conditioned mind was racing through the scenarios as it grappled with the possibilities -
“What if they both come back and say they’re better? That the ovarian cysts had gone? That the lymphoma had disappeared? I’m the child of a medical doctor and nurse. That’s not how healing happens.”
The inner conversation was nonstop and my heart raced furiously as my mind confronted its rigid beliefs and convictions.
Three weeks later Cindy gave me a bear hug as she told me her ovaries were clear. No more cysts. And my jaw dropped as Joe told me in an oddly matter-of-fact way that after reassessing his lymphoma, his doctor decided to discontinue his treatment because his lymph nodes were back to within 2% of normal range. But not only that. His blood work had come back and for the first time in years, they detected T-cells.
I was speechless. And it was at that point that I knew there really was something to this BodyTalk thing.
I gradually worked my way through all of the advanced modules and have so many fond memories of those early days as John developed and eventually put the final touches on Mods 3, 6 & 9. I remember when we used to work with “inner links” & “outer links.” And I remember the push-back from IBA members and instructors when John introduced the present-day Exploring Procedure. “John, it’s fine the way it is! This is too complicated!” With every class I took with John, I remember my mind being blown over and over as it was faced with its own rigid belief systems, convictions and conditioning. And I remember week-long retreats at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York and sitting at home watching the PaRama Unit 1 & Unit 2 DVDs - again and again and again and again…
So many stories. So many miraculous healings. So much laughter. So much sobbing and wailing and yelling at the top of my lungs. And so much insight and wisdom gained.
It’s amazing to realize that I’ve completed 25 years of practicing BodyTalk, nearly 20 years teaching it and nearly 20 years of studying and practicing BreakThrough. I’m so incredibly thankful to both John and Esther for these two life-transforming systems. I don’t know if I would ever have realized who I am not without them.
Forever grateful.
