The User's Guide to the Human Body
About four years into my bodywork career, just after I had become certified to teach Watsu®, I began working as a therapist at Two Bunch Palms, a resort -- and literal oasis -- in Desert Hot Springs, California. Desert Hot Springs is just close enough to Los Angeles that a lot of the clientele were stressed-out Hollywood types. These people were, by far, the most incredibly stressed human beings I had ever encountered -- even worse than the New Yorkers I had lived and worked with for my first 30 years!
At Two Bunch, I did a variety of treatments: massage, deep tissue, shiatsu, Trager®, craniosacral, reflexology, Watsu®, and waterdance. But I believed that the real job -- what almost every client came in demanding and expecting -- was for me to totally remove all their stress... in an hour. It was impossible! There was no way that a single treatment (or even, realistically, a bunch of treatments) could have gotten through the years of abuse, self-abuse, fear, anger, and exhaustion that these people were carrying around. They didn't need bodywork; they needed a complete retraining in how to relate to their bodies and take care of themselves.
And so every night -- overwhelmed and demoralized by all the good I thought I hadn't done people -- I would go home and write down everything I wished I had said that day. Simple, basic, common-sense physical truths that I had gleaned from 25 years of healing, bodywork training and practice. I would write each little nugget on a scrap of paper, and then throw it in a shoebox. Until one day I noticed that the shoebox was overflowing, and I realized, "Hey, this would make a great book!"
At Two Bunch, I did a variety of treatments: massage, deep tissue, shiatsu, Trager®, craniosacral, reflexology, Watsu®, and waterdance. But I believed that the real job -- what almost every client came in demanding and expecting -- was for me to totally remove all their stress... in an hour. It was impossible! There was no way that a single treatment (or even, realistically, a bunch of treatments) could have gotten through the years of abuse, self-abuse, fear, anger, and exhaustion that these people were carrying around. They didn't need bodywork; they needed a complete retraining in how to relate to their bodies and take care of themselves.
And so every night -- overwhelmed and demoralized by all the good I thought I hadn't done people -- I would go home and write down everything I wished I had said that day. Simple, basic, common-sense physical truths that I had gleaned from 25 years of healing, bodywork training and practice. I would write each little nugget on a scrap of paper, and then throw it in a shoebox. Until one day I noticed that the shoebox was overflowing, and I realized, "Hey, this would make a great book!"
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Embodiment: Opening Your Body to Consciousness
Embodiment's Table of Contents. Click to enlarge.
Embodiment is a fun-to-read, accessible, immediately useful guide to getting the most out of your body. It begins with the breath, and weaves together more than 60 practices of self-care, movement, awareness, energy, touch, and spirit. With a clear, heartfelt style, it takes you on a step-by-step journey beyond any masks of looks or behavior, into a deeper, healthier, and more fulfilling connection with the essence of who you are.
For anyone seeking better health and wellness, Embodiment offers useful information and simple, powerful practices to help you recognize and change unhealthy patterns, release pain, open to healing, and rediscover a freer, richer, more-fulfilling life in your body. For anyone on a consicous spiritual journey, Embodiment offers another way in: a physical path to being -- a path which can open new doors to possibility and truth for even the most already-enlightened individuals. For bodyworkers, therapists, and other healing pracitioners, Embodiment offers a wealth of useful ideas, meditations, and body-oriented practices to enjoy yourself and share with your clients.
For anyone seeking better health and wellness, Embodiment offers useful information and simple, powerful practices to help you recognize and change unhealthy patterns, release pain, open to healing, and rediscover a freer, richer, more-fulfilling life in your body. For anyone on a consicous spiritual journey, Embodiment offers another way in: a physical path to being -- a path which can open new doors to possibility and truth for even the most already-enlightened individuals. For bodyworkers, therapists, and other healing pracitioners, Embodiment offers a wealth of useful ideas, meditations, and body-oriented practices to enjoy yourself and share with your clients.
Here are some lovely comments about the book:
"This book is going to help a lot of people!"
- Peter Amato, past Chairman, National Integrative Medicine Council, author of Soul Silence
"A remarkable handguide on body appreciation and emotional atunement, spoken clearly with humor, passion and delight."
- Suzanne Richman, Director, Health Arts & Sciences Program, Goddard College, Plainfield, VT
"I love this book! It offers a direct and simple approach to becoming a human "being" instead of a human "doing".
- Inika Sati Spence, Instructor of Watsu® and Healing Dance
"It think it's really great! I particularly love the simplicity and clarity of the writing, the wonderful descriptions of the physical feelings being talked about, and how the really important concepts -- breathing, pausing, recall... -- are integrated throughout the book. This is more than just a book for bodywork students and professionals; it's a practice for all our lives."
- Roger Tolle, Instructor of the Trager® Aproach
"Yavelow's ideas and exercises are inspirational and much needed in Ameican culture. Embodiment's honest wisdom is sprinkled with lots of humor, empathy, and encouragement. It changed the way I think about my body... A worthwhile read for everyone."
- Kathleen Knight Abowitz, Professor, Department of Educational Leadership, Miami University
"The moment I opened Embodiment, I immediately found a passge that helped me in my teaching, and in my relationships with my students. Yavelow's way of understanding and presenting the principles of our work, and his way with words, are outstanding."
- Minakshi, Instructor of Watsu, Waterdance, and Fire & Water
"As somebody who has never been able to get in touch with my body, I feel enlightened."
- William Gottesman, MD, Burlington, VT
"If we had been lucky, each of us would have been given this book at birth!"
- Alexis Lee, Instructor of Watsu
- Peter Amato, past Chairman, National Integrative Medicine Council, author of Soul Silence
"A remarkable handguide on body appreciation and emotional atunement, spoken clearly with humor, passion and delight."
- Suzanne Richman, Director, Health Arts & Sciences Program, Goddard College, Plainfield, VT
"I love this book! It offers a direct and simple approach to becoming a human "being" instead of a human "doing".
- Inika Sati Spence, Instructor of Watsu® and Healing Dance
"It think it's really great! I particularly love the simplicity and clarity of the writing, the wonderful descriptions of the physical feelings being talked about, and how the really important concepts -- breathing, pausing, recall... -- are integrated throughout the book. This is more than just a book for bodywork students and professionals; it's a practice for all our lives."
- Roger Tolle, Instructor of the Trager® Aproach
"Yavelow's ideas and exercises are inspirational and much needed in Ameican culture. Embodiment's honest wisdom is sprinkled with lots of humor, empathy, and encouragement. It changed the way I think about my body... A worthwhile read for everyone."
- Kathleen Knight Abowitz, Professor, Department of Educational Leadership, Miami University
"The moment I opened Embodiment, I immediately found a passge that helped me in my teaching, and in my relationships with my students. Yavelow's way of understanding and presenting the principles of our work, and his way with words, are outstanding."
- Minakshi, Instructor of Watsu, Waterdance, and Fire & Water
"As somebody who has never been able to get in touch with my body, I feel enlightened."
- William Gottesman, MD, Burlington, VT
"If we had been lucky, each of us would have been given this book at birth!"
- Alexis Lee, Instructor of Watsu
To buy Embodiment, choose hard copy or PDF, and click below:
Embodiment is 171 pages, and available both as a spiral-bound hard copy ($30, including USA shipping), and as a PDF file, which I'll send you by e-mail ($15). If you have any questions about the book, please click here to contact me.
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