By Ray Castellino, DC., RPE., BCPP., RCST
It must have been sometime in September 2018 when John Chitty called me up on the phone. It was a few weeks after Anna Chitty and I had co-taught an Introduction to the Polarity Paradigm based approach to pre and peri natal therapy that I call Somatic Blueprintsm. Anna had thought of the term for the work and graciously supported me to use it as the title for the work I’ve been doing and developing since the late 1960s, when I met Dr. Stone.
In his gentle persistent way, John had called to talk with me to about the positive changes that were happening in APTA. In his calm, enthusiastic manner, John invited me to participate with him and other “old timers” from the Polarity movement in the then upcoming APTA Conference which later came to be called “Renaissance for Polarity.” He was so clear and positive about how there seemed to be a resurgence of the original “Polarity” spirit and high-level cooperation on APTA Board of Directors, that I simply could not say “no” to him. I heard myself say, “yes, John, of course I’ll be there.” I could feel a sense of shared glee between us that an organization that we both love, had been past presidents of, and I, on the Founding APTA Board of Directors was emerging again as a vital force in the healing arts.
On that call, John spoke to me as if he would be physically there at the conference that was to happen at the end of June 2019. Intuitively though, I feel that we both wondered if he would be alive by the time of the conference. As it came to pass, just 5 months later, John moved on from this life on February 28, 2019.
I am so grateful that John called me that September day. He got me to mobilize myself to attend and participate in the Renaissance for Polarity conference. And, as it turned out, I was the only person there who had studied directly with Dr. Stone.
At the conference, I could see how hard the BOD and so many others had worked, both to put on the conference, and to rebuild APTA. As one of the APTA’s founding BODs, I know full well that APTA was founded with the intention to honor Dr. Stone and his work.
I remember one day at a workshop with Dr. Stone in the early 1970s, Dr. Stone saying that if anyone ever made an organization out of Polarity Therapy, that the organization would probably not let him in. I remember when the original founding APTA BOD met, we dearly hoped that Dr. Stone would feel at home in an organization that honored him.
As one of Dr. Stone’s students this many decades later, I can surely say that I felt so warmly welcomed by everyone present and the Board of Directors. It felt like a coming home for me.
I remember Dr. Christina Ross’ Keynote the first night. She presented some of her research on the therapeutic effects of low frequency pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) and on how her research related to and is informed by the Polarity Paradigm. This took me right back to the workshops that I had taken with Dr. Stone in the early 1970s. He loved to reference the “latest” scientific research and how the research was consistently confirming his Polarity Concept. Then after Dr. Stone died, I had the privilege of getting to know Dr. Stone’s niece, Louise Hilgar, during my frequent pilgrimages to the spiritual community where she and Dr. Stone retired. Like Dr. Stone, Louise carried on the same “tradition” of being very excited by the consistent flow of research especially from physics that related to the Polarity Concept. I could definitely feel how Dr. Stone and Louise would have been very moved and excited by Christina’s keynote.
Joy Matthews-Lopez, from the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) made an eloquent presentation on the recent “accreditation” process that APTA completed. Joy is a senior psychometrician who reviewed the APTA application for accreditation. She said that APTA’s application was among the best she had seen. She was impressed by the thoroughness and depth of the application. She repeated several times that APTA achieving Accreditation under the NCCA auspices of the means that APTA standards and programs adhere to a solid standard of excellence. This has far reaching effects on practitioners who hold the accreditation designation BCPP and recognizes Polarity Therapy as an autonomous approach to energetic health in the United States.
What a wonderful pleasure to present my work “Somatic Blueprintsm and how I apply Dr. Stone’s Polarity Principles to the social nervous system, babies, children, families and small groups. That followed with the honor to give tribute to John Chitty and the substantial contributions he made to Polarity Therapy, APTA and the preservation of Dr. Stone’s work.
The next day I got to team with Gary Strauss and lead a group on Supervision. This evolved into a very special support group where the participants were able to examine their personal relationships to their clinical work and to APTA.
I got to meet and have conversation with so many new people too. Including, Tracy Griffiths, Brian Jansen, David Comings, Mark Hubbard and so many others.
The talent show was amazing with so many high-end performances. It was an evening to be remembered.
From there, everything I experienced at the conference was “icing on the cake.” I got to meet and see so many old friends and folks I had known from years past. John Beaulieu, Gary Strauss, Denise Giannioses, Cynthia Pierro, Mary Jo Hoven, Rose Khalsa, Johnny Henderson, and so many others. A highlight was to begin a new connection with APTA president, Lisa Nemzo and begin conversations that are continuing today. Plus getting to meet the current APTA BOD and see the APTA BOD in cooperative solid action on our behalf. I have been on the ground floor of 4 different organizations, and I currently serve on the BODs of two. The Boards that I serve on are highly cooperative teams. It is more than heartwarming to have witnessed the APTA BOD working as a highly cooperative team.
Thank you to the APTA, BOD and the team that did the hard work to make the Renaissance for Polarity a reality. APTA and Polarity Therapy is indeed experiencing a Renaissance. I look forward to the continued professional growth and a connected sense of community in Polarity Therapy.
Ray, Castellino, DC., RPE., BCPP., RCST
http://www.Castellinotraining.com
Thank you for realizing your presence would make a difference ! It has been difficult to feel the spilt but as we know everything changes. There was great energy at this conference and a refreshing air about it. People with like energies getting together and sharing… how could it not be wonderful.