Scott Wurtz LMP, PBP and Nancy Clark LMP, PBP

What have you noticed about this compelling roller coaster we call life? Driving round and round, slowing up and throttling down! Do you feel your breath quicken as you anticipate the next plunge? While enjoying the challenges or taking a breather from endless action; do you allow yourself to notice, to live from your Being instead of the continual journey of Doing?

In today’s hyper driven world, taking time to find your balance may be challenging. You may meditate, find calming exercise, walk, etc. to de-stress. But when do you really check in to see what’s up; only when something breaks down? Developing active measures to gauge your body’s overload and over stressed signals is vital to support healthy, functional living. Our social and work systems seemingly and consistently demand more. How do you make the time and find an effective way of checking in for yourself?

Ultimately, everyone discovers a way, a system of realizing greater meaning and perspective. Scott loves to write. In his quest to be more in the moment, checking in, he discovered his passion in proprioceptive writing. He noticed a challenge was to “get out of the drivers seat” and let his writing be, allowing his body to express without conscious mind getting in the way. He quickly noticed how easy it is to label feelings in the body; a pain in my back; tension in my calf; my eye is twitching! He found when he applied earlier lessons he learned in college, visa vie, a walking meditation exercise, he was able to let go of labeling. This process freed his mind from its linear drive system (reasoning/ projection/reflection) slowing down the roller coaster to feel flow while his chattering mind softened. He applied the lessons he learned from walking with awareness to his writing. He noticed how our sense of “being in control” gets diminished, which allows us to not cling to labeling, opening us to release judgments held from past experiences.

When we move with speed not noticing our velocity, getting “tripped up” is a bit more common. Hence, an accident. Scott’s accident came with a dramatic fall and a shoulder injury. His shoulder became more and more dysfunctional as he pursued a year of therapy, exercising and swimming. A friend who had also injured her shoulder shared her positive results with Bowenwork Therapy. After just four treatments, Scott’s range of motion returned and his pain was gone! Six years later, when some soreness reappeared, he returned immediately to Bowenwork. One treatment was all that was necessary to release the tension allowing the soreness to resolve. His body’s ability to notice and implement change remained from the earlier Bowenwork treatments; allowing flow once again to return, naturally

During Scott’s process of receiving Bowenwork Therapy, he noticed a profound paradigm shift for himself. His ability to relax, noticing relaxation from the inside out, significantly changed. Instead of creating an external environment that induced and encouraged calm, he noticed his body awareness had shifted naturally to allow flow (relax). Instead of dictating to his body how to operate, he noticed that he had dropped judgment and conditions allowing his heightened ability to operate from a felt sense of natural relax (flow) to be supported. As his experience deepened with releasing judgment, just being in and with his body naturally was easier and easier. His habits changed as his presence in the moment to notice unconditionally increased. Natural returned! Ultimately he noticed that being with one’s nature, in nurturance of the physical body is reflective of balance. Ahhh!

Allowing and noticing balance in one’s life fosters and motivates us to willingly change habits. Changed habits heighten our awareness! When we notice our vitality returning, we want to naturally support that! We may feel genetics dictate what our life could be like, yet, science is uncovering genetics are simply our “original blueprint” of possibility. We would like to propose that the nature of Bowenwork Therapy supports and encourages our body to re-balance itself with that “original blueprint” as the guide.

Balancing Your Body – Balancing Your Life! We seem to take for granted our body will just keep ticking, running, rolling, not sensing when balance is beginning to be upset. Through therapy such as Bowenwork, we can attune to the greater context of our body and our Beingness. You don’t have to be in pain or wait and react when your body is in a crisis to begin the journey of allowing and noticing your body’s balance! Instead, act with intention to support your body’s natural point of balance; not trying to Do anything but Being and allowing your body to flow back to you peacefully!

Scott Wurtz is owner and creator at Wellness Restoration Arts in Seattle. Nancy owns and creates at Bowenwork Health Center in Marysville. Visit their websites at www.werestart.com and www.bowenworkhealthcenter.com for additional information with Bowenwork and the healing potentials it offers you!

Stroke and Bowenwork

The term stroke refers to what could be called a brain attack, with the damage coming to the brain instead of the heart. This attack can be a devastating blow to an individual and their family/support system with lifelong effects to deal with. There are different types of strokes as well as different areas of the brain that can be affected. There can be many different symptoms as a result.

The two types of strokes are ischemic and hemorrhagic. In the ischemic type sometimes an artery bringing blood to part of the brain gets blocked because arteriosclerosis has caused the inside walls of the artery to thicken up so the opening is too narrow for enough blood to get through or a blood clot gets stuck in the tube This means that not enough blood is getting to the brain cells in that area. Cells cannot live without oxygen, so if the blood supply is cut off, nerve cells die and that part of the brain stops working and some body functions are impaired. Ischemic stroke is the most common type of stroke.

In the hemorrhagic type of stroke, blood bursts through the walls of an artery and leaks into the brain (intracerebral hemorrhage) or onto the surface of the brain (subarachnoid hemorrhage). Blood is forced into brain tissue and because there isn’t much space around the brain in the skull cavity, the build up of blood presses on the part of the brain where the bleeding occurred, damaging the nerve cells so that area of the brain can’t function. Only 11 – 14% of strokes are hemorrhagic strokes.

Strokes occur in different parts of the brain and brain stem. The brainstem is the part of the brain that connects with the top of the spinal chord. It acts as the conduit for all of the nerves that connect the brain with the spinal chord, and also the cerebellum (see below). It also contains special nerve cells that control facial and eye movement and sensation, hearing, smell, taste, swallowing, tongue movement, and the muscles of the neck.

The cerebellum is situated under the cerebrum (the main part of the brain), and behind the brainstem. Its major function is to control and co-ordinate movement. The human brain is divided into regions. Each region controls various movements, senses, or intellectual functions. If a stroke damages brain cells in one of these regions the different functions they control may be affected. The different types of strokes can cause similar damage.

The stroke’s location in the left or right half of the brain will determine what effects will arise. The left side of your brain controls the motor and sensory functions of the right side of your body so if you have a stroke on the left side of your brain it will affect the right side of your body. Any of the following effects may occur depending on which area of the left side of the brain has been damaged: paralysis or loss of strength in right side of body; loss of feeling in right side of body; loss of awareness to the right; loss of vision to the right; difficulty speaking; not understanding what others are saying; inability to read and/or write; thoughts tend to be disconnected; verbal memory loss; difficulty with performing purposeful movement (e.g. combing the hair); confusion between left and right; easily frustrated; slowness, clumsiness; overwhelming urges to perform or repeat some actions; difficulty structuring and planning behavior; poor motivation; difficulty dealing with numbers (arithmetic).

The right side of your brain controls the motor and sensory functions for the left side of the body. Any of the following effects may occur depending on which area of the right side of the brain has been damaged: paralysis or loss of power (strength) in left side of body; loss of feeling in left side of body; loss of awareness to the left; loss of vision to the left; excessive talking; slurred monotonous speech; swallowing or eating difficulty; difficulty recognizing familiar faces; difficulty seeing how things relate to each other in space; difficulty interpreting sounds; denying existence of problems; depression; tendency to sarcasm, or uncharacteristic and at times embarrassing behavior or comments; Short attention span; memory problems; poor judgment of physical abilities (especially safety awareness); muddled sense of time; difficulty with abstract thinking (e.g. comparing ideas, solving problems); mood swings; lack of interest, difficulty in ‘getting going’; acting without thinking; difficulty in recognizing someone else’s mood.

If the brainstem has suffered the attack, brainstem strokes can cause: double vision (because one eye cannot move synchronously with the other); loss of sensation in one eye, or the face, or tongue; a dilated pupil; slurred speech; loss of movement on one side of the face; problems with swallowing; abnormal jerky movements when trying to do something; loss of power, and/or sensation on one side.

When stroke occurs in the cerebellum, there can be: loss of balance, a person may “seem drunk”. They walk with the feet more widely apart, and weave or wobble. They are not drunk but alcohol will make this worse, as alcohol interferes with cerebellar function. Results can be monotonous speech; shaking limb, when the person tries to do something, for example drink a cup of tea. This is called ataxia. If the stroke is only affecting one side of the cerebellum then the abnormality will be on the same side as the stroke. Abnormal eye movement, the eyes have a quick/slow flicker as they move. This is called nystagmus. Some of these abnormalities may occur in brainstem or even cerebral strokes, because the nerve connections with the cerebellum have been damaged.

Recovery from stroke within mainstream medicine involves a team approach that can combine physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy when needed. The aim of physiotherapy is to assess and treat problems to do with movement and balance. The aim of occupational therapy is to help the person to regain competence in the activities of daily living. Speech language therapy aims to manage swallowing and or communication difficulties.

Why should Bowenwork help in rehabilitating from stroke? What is the point of rehabilitation but to correct the “disconnection” between the affected portion of the brain and the areas and activities it would normally control. In addition, rehabilitation is aimed at recovering the optimal function of the body whether in gaining strength, range-of-motion, stamina or fine motor skills including speech. This is precisely what Bowenwork is made for. A “match made in heaven”, so to speak, that facilitates the perfection of communication between the brain and the body. So not merely can the body regain capacity but the tissue injury can begin to recover as well, when the appropriate cerebral stimuli are provided by Bowenwork. Another benefit is improved sense of well being after sessions which can serve to counteract the feelings of frustration, anger, fatigue and depression that can stall recovery. In fact, stroke may be one of the greatest opportunities for Bowenwork to help demonstrate the miraculous healing capacity of enhanced brain-body connection.

For More Information about Bowenwork or to schedule an appointment, please contact:
Scott Wurtz, LMP, PBP
206.524.5511

When I was 23 years old I injured my right middle finger. I managed to put a splinter of redwood (it was barbed and large) all the way through my finger. A doctor at an emergency room in Marin General Hospital named Dr. Hand sliced my finger open and found the splinter went through the main tendon. Dr. Hand then informed me about what he was about to do which was cut through the tendon to extract the sliver. He informed me the general healing time for this type of injury to the tendon may take 6-9 months and I would need to see him for therapy the following week after the stitches came out. He also said there may never be feeling in that finger again. I was a professional musician and the thought of not playing music was depressing.

That night I went to a local Hindu Temple ( Saiva Siddhanta ) in San Francisco, CA where I was a member. A friend asked the monk in charge of the Puja (ceremony) if it could be directed at healing with which he complied. I placed my hand in the air as instructed and asked for a healing. My friends at the temple commented on how different I looked after the Puja. The next day I began working with a tennis ball by squeezing it gently with my injured finger. I was a musician at the time studying the music of North India, specifically the Tabla, a complex and intense process. I had been practicing 4-6 hours a day, now I could only practice with my left hand. I went back to see Dr. Hand and hew was totally amazed. He took out the stitches and found I had full usage and feeling in my finger.

As a Bowenwork Therapist I treat lots of chronic and acute pains. Sciatica has to be one of the most difficult for the average person to deal with. Here is one story: a client painfully limped into my office one day. She could hardly sit or stand. After a hour-long intake with a lot of personal history I looked at her and said in a loving way: “Did you ever have this pain before?” She stood for a moment and almost began to cry, then she said: “Yes.” It was at a time she was overwhelmed by everything and she had found no alternative except that of ignoring it until it painfully went away. At that point, for me, there was an incredible softening, like something deep inside had changed.

She went to the treatment room and lay down. There is a very specific treatment protocol for sciatica with which I followed. It is a series of moves with space (minutes) in between. An hour later she was fully relaxed and could walk without a limp although there was still pain. She emailed me the very next evening and her testimonial said: “I wanted to thank you for your treatment of my sciatica problem. At precisely 5:00pm (24 hours after I saw you), the pain floated OUT of my body, and I’m back to new. I sure don’t understand this Bowen Technique, but I sure am loving my results!”
K.L. Woodinville, WA

My thoughts? The first things first thing that comes to mind is about how the person finally gets truly heard for who they are and there is no residue with regards to the affliction. There is no history, as in story, between me and them. I can take them at face value and then ask what is going on. Usually there is some major energetic relational piece that is in dysfunction. It is when someone can be able to see more clearly and take responsibility for something in a new way that the change in energy begins occurring. I totally trust my intuition in these situations and the weirdest things come out of my mouth, things I don’t expect or always understand and yet, they are so accurate to the person.

I was working with a client recently and the thought came up to ask them about whether the issue I was touching was a biological or energetic one. They can take responsibility for the energetic one, while the biological one they are roped into their belief system about what is possible. So……it has to happen on two different levels, one on the energetic about what created the situation to occur, not necessarily the actual event but what led up to its creation and then how they learned or chose to deal with it.

to think or speculate curiously: to wonder about the origin of our species.

to be filled with admiration, amazement, or awe.

to speculate curiously or be curious about; be curious to know: to wonder what is time.

the emotion excited by what is strange and surprising; a feeling of surprised or puzzled interest, sometimes tinged with admiration: He felt wonder at seeing the sunset.

I often ask myself; “what allows me to be in wonder?” If I am not in wonder, where I am I? My mind is an interesting mix of thoughts, feelings and clarity or obfuscating busyness. My creative nature sidetracks me so much of the time I am in wonder about how I get so many things done. Is it about remembering, the linear mental process and the plasticity of the mind to hold multiple thoughts at the same time?

I was teaching a conga student of mine one night when something interesting occurred. We each had two drums and he was playing one pattern and I was playing another that ‘locked’ together the overall rhythm. We were probably a minute or so into the groove, as it were, when he looked me straight in the eyes (without skipping a beat) and asked me how my day went. We continued playing this complex rhythmic pattern and talked about the day’s events. I was floored! I had never experienced this before, where I was so deeply involved in one thing and had the clarity of mind to have a conversation too. Subsequently, I have met other individuals, though rarely, who have a similar level of awareness. The feeling that night was one of deep humbling wonder.

I like the part of the Karate Kid movie where the boy is learning to balance on a log by the ocean. In the beginning it is a frustrating nonsensical act and he keeps falling. As he develops himself with his abilities/awareness in karate, the balancing act becomes a meditation. How often do you feel in balance?

There are many aspects of who we are already in balance (so we don’t need to notice them) or haphazardly out of balance. How is your health today? The balance of your health & well-being is determined by many factors. Nutrition, hydration, sleep, exercise are body aspects whereas relationships, career, job, emotions and mental stability are other important aspects of the mind. The operation of the brain; the endocrine system, the limbic system, the autonomic nervous system, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system to name a few are critical roles of the brain.

Balance is also very relative. A baby has a uniquely body-sense of balance because the mind is developing. The senior who has learned and relearned will see the balance acutely tied to the mind, because of their established perceptions. When entropy becomes more of a factor for the elder they either learn to adapt or loose vital functions.

Well-being is probably defined in a gamut of ways because each person has a totally unique history and view of self. For some their well being is all about their physical attunement and what they can do, perform, participate in or otherwise utilize their fine tuned body. When the chess master Bobby Fischer took on Boris Spasky he decided to do his training for the game differently that ever before. He spent months in physical training for strength, agility and balance. He ultimately won the series, perhaps because he was more able to deal with the physical rigor of the game in how he felt about his physical worthiness. He was not fatigued by the long hours of concentration and sitting, his body was a reservoir of health and energy. Bobby had attended to his well-being.

My thoughts? The first things first thing that comes to mind is about how the person finally gets truly heard for who they are and there is no residue with regards to the affliction. There is no history, as in story, between me and them. I can take them at face value and then ask what is going on. Usually there is some major energetic relational piece that is in dysfunction. It is when someone can be able to see more clearly and take responsibility for something in a new way that the change in energy begins occurring. I totally trust my intuition in these situations and the weirdest things come out of my mouth, things I don’t expect or always understand and yet, they are so accurate to the person.

I was working with a client recently and the thought came up to ask them about whether the issue I was touching was a biological or energetic one. They can take responsibility for the energetic one, while the biological one they are roped into their belief system about what is possible. So……it has to happen on two different levels, one on the energetic about what created the situation to occur, not necessarily the actual event but what led up to its creation and then how they learned or chose to deal with it.

What an amazing body, brain and mind we have. I am fascinated by the ways in which I can sense into the world. I have always had an acute sense of smell and it will tell me if the toast has burned or if the wiring in the toaster got too hot! In a workshop yesterday, I was facilitating a balancing and centering exercise for a group. One person remarked how funny it seemed when I said; “What would it look like if you saw the world from the perspective of the back of your ankle (Achilles Tendon). If you function primarily visually as I assume he did, what would it look like to see the world form another part of you rather than your eyes?

The movie entitled ‘The Bell Jar’ was a wonderfully graphic portrayal of someone who had a stroke and was able to communicate in a whole new way. Albeit it was an arduous struggle, there was someone who had the patience to fully listen, be present to something deep inside wanting to communicate and sticking to it. How often do you take the time to really listen deeply via all or one of your sensory resources? Listening with your eyes can be a very profound experience as you learn how not to focus on what is seen and take in the energetic of what is present.

I have heard stories about Helen Keller’s amazing ability to sense the world around her. It was told that after meeting someone, she never forgot him or her. Can you imagine having a catalog of every person you met and always being able to remember them? Without the same faculties (or distractions) of sensing as you and me she was able to refine what she had and use it to the fullest extent of her experience.

When you have a pain in your body, what allows you to really tune into it? The bigger question is whether or not you take the time to check it out. I had an excruciating pain in my arm last year so much so that so I was literally not able to work or even do menial tasks. No pain relievers touched it although I only took ibuprofen. It was difficult to even sleep. I became aware of my body in a whole new way. I ended up going to stay with a friend and be taken care of. Day by day it got better and by the weeks end the pain was almost gone.

What will it take for you to begin to see, hear, feel and sense in new ways? I like the story of Grandmother Moses, the painter. She didn’t start leaning to paint until she was in her early 70’s. All of her life she had devoted to her husband and family. When her husband died she learned she had unique talents. Maybe they were there all along and developed in a variety of ways. When she began drawing and painting, her self-expression blossomed and she was prolific in painting for many years.

1. Born in Cedar Rapids, IA, a wee bit prematurely.
2. Graduated High School at age 16 in Maine.
3. Performed in “The Seven Year Itch” at age 6. I was the “Itch.”
4. Studied Tabla (drums from India) with Swapan Chaudhuri.
5. Studied Jazz Improvisation at the Creative Music Studio, Woodstock NY in 1977 with Roscoe Mitchell, Don Cherry, Anthony Braxton, Jimmy Giuffre and more
6. Married from 1986 – 2004
7. Lived on the Big Island of Hawaii in a town called Kealakekua, 1980-81.
8. Traveled through all 50 states in the USA
9. Visited Alaska and the Bahamas during the Summer of 1986.
10. Graduated Goddard College December 1977 with a B.A.
11. Traveled Europe for 6 months for less than $1000.00 in 1979
12. Lived in the Chateau Noir outside Aix en Provence (famously painted by Cezanne) France 1979.
13. Hitchhiked cross-country at age 15 in 1971.
14. Arrested and spent half a night in jail by a chicano cop for hanging out with the locals in West Des Moines, IA in 1969, age 13.
15. Left behind at a gas station by my parents on a family vacation at age 8.
16. Learned Herbology from Adelle Dawson in the Summer of 1976.
17. Visited Jamica and town of Negril Jamuary 1978.
18. Wrote a book entitled “Finding the Softness in Man” 1985 still unpublished.
19. Rebuilt my brother’s 2 ½ horsepower mini-bike motor in the driveway, and it worked again and again! Age 14.
20. Drove my car from Boston to Maine with a blown head gasket, rebuilt the top end of the motor and she ran again, even smoother. Age 22
21. Won $56 pot during an illicit lunchtime game of Acey Deucy in the Valley High School Cafeteria.
22. One of my roles in a production of Tom Stoppard’s play “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” was that of Ophelia, where I had to wear a wig, a satin blue dress and make passionate love to Hamlet on a park bench. One of my brothers just happened to be playing Hamlet, it was a riot!
23. Two incredible children who always make me happy when I hear their voices.
24. First plane ride for my 13th birthday and I let my friend Chris Prisi take the wheel. We went straight down and and straight up, a ride I will never forget.
Began writing poetry in 9th grade. Egged on by a lovely young teacher named Ms Wright