What students and staff said about the training

Liz Binns (student)

"It is not easy to express in words what the rhythmical massage training has meant to me, It has certainly been a life-changing experience in so many ways. Initially, the challenge of struggling with the basic movements to create the forms, and then the different qualities each can be imbued with.Learning to be conscious in my hands, and then to extend this to experience the movements within the whole of my being. To gain an experiential as well as intellectual understanding of someone's tissue, and begin to trust what my hands tell me about it. Working with, and in doing so, meeting in a very direct way the other person, has been a humbling and moving experience, as has been the challenge of finding in myself the courage and substance to take on the role of therapist. Through these struggles, not only my hands have transformed, but an inner transformation has taken place. From the beginning, I was struck by the great care and thought that had obviously gone into the preparation and content of the course. The rich and varied way in which the themes of each block were presented through medical
lectures, study groups, massage practice, eurhthmy and art, and how each part always echoed and reflected the whole enabled me to process things in a profound way. I feel that I have gained a full and diverse foundation on which to draw and build in the future."

Barbara Mundy (student)

"Coming from a conventional healthcare background where I worked as a nurse in hospitals and then primary care, I was continually amazed by the new understanding of the human being and our relationship to the universe that was introduced to me through the rhythmical massage course. Over the 2 years of study I have come to see not only our world in a new light but also myself. This training has been like no other I've ever undertaken, in the depth and breadth of knowledge imparted, in the expert instruction and sensitive support provided by the tutors and in the richness of our group experience. All have been crucial for me on this life-changing journey. And the new skills I've learned have provided the foundation for a different way of working. It has been brilliant."

Helene Martin (course tutor)

In September 2002, the first Rhythmical Massage Training in the U.K. began in Stroud. It took place partly at Hibernia College, sharing some of our medical studies with the art therapy students, and partly at St Luke’s medical centre, in the lovely downstairs room which many of us know very well.
The training consisted of six modules of four and five weeks, taught over a period of two years. These two years have been very rich. In the first year we studied the human being in health, both from the conventional and the anthroposophical point of view, and we learned all the basic forms of the Rhythmical Massage Therapy.
In the second year, we looked at specific illness pictures, again both conventionally and anthroposophically. The students deepened their skills with the massage movements and learned how to transform the archetypal basic forms to suit the specific nature of illnesses. Throughout the two years, we were accompanied by inspiring artistic activities and medical lectures.
We were blessed with the maturity, the enthusiasm, the warmth and the readiness to learn something new which this first group of students brought with them. They were such a pleasure to teach and to be with, and they all stayed on board throughout the two years.
It was also very touching to accompany them through the transformation which becoming a Rhythmical Massage Therapist demands. We need to learn to develop a new sensitivity in our hands, to move them in ways that we never have before, we need to learn to listen to someone else’s fluid tissues speak, so the massage movement can be delivered in a free way, allowing something to be taken up, yet never forcing.
As teachers, we need to be aware: When is it right to encourage this person to go further ? When do they need more time to first “digest” the previous steps?
This course has been a very enriching experience for everyone, and we are looking forward to the beginning of the next one in September.