Janice Marie Durand

Panelist

Janice Marie Durand, (jMarie) is the founder and director of Tree of Life Center in North Carolina. She is a Board-Certified Polarity Practitioner (BCPP), APTA Registered Polarity Educator (RPE), North Carolina LMBT #1349 and ABMP Certified Somatic Therapist. Her Polarity Therapy Somatic Energy Healing School is an APTA Approved training for APP, RPP, BCPP students. All programs emphasize embodied, whole-brain, experiential learning. jMarie’s passion is to guide and empower students and clients to listen to their bodies’ internal nature and wisdom on all levels. She teaches embodied movement classes- T’ai Chi, Qigong, and Gentle Energy Yoga. She is currently an active member of the APTA Standards for Education committee helping to guiding the revamping of the 10th edition Standards for Education & practice with colleagues. Her private Polarity Therapy practice outside of Hillsborough, NC specializes in trauma healing and the Attachment Nervous System. She has been practicing and teaching for over 30 years. 

Anna Chitty

Panelist

Anna Chitty is the founder of Colorado School of Energy Studies. Her formal health care training began in 1979, with Polarity Therapy. In the 1980s she was the lead teacher and director of the Polarity Therapy and Holistic Health programs at Murrieta Hot Springs, CA. She contributed to the creation of the BCTA/NA and served as a teacher liaison to its first Board of Directors. She was also a co-founder of the International Association of Biodynamic Trainings. She has been a keynote speaker and presenter at many professional association conferences. Learn more about Anna‘s school at energyschool.com.

Gary Peterson

Panelist

Gary Peterson is a RPP/RPE with APTA. He is also a Registered Craniosacral Therapist (RCST®) who has been teaching and practicing energy therapies for over 40 years. He teaches Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy trainings, Polarity Therapy trainings, Settling® trainings and Working with Babies classes at various locations around the United States, as well birth surround workshops and other therapeutic work for the nervous system.

His teaching and private practice are inspired by his strong desire to understand and alleviate the deep causes of suffering brought about by stress and trauma to the nervous system. He is especially motivated to help babies, moms and their families to resolve the crippling effects of traumas and stresses that happen during gestation, birth and early neonatal life.

Gary studied Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy with Franklyn Sills, and Prenatal and Birth Therapy with Ray Castellino and also served as Executive Director of APTA from 1993-2000.

Gary’s first book, Settling: Simple Ways to Calm Your Nervous System, will be published soon. This self-help manual gives you a set of vital skills for regulating your nervous system to experience balance and relaxation. Gary and his wife Bonnie have 3 grown children and 2 grandchildren, and live in Sebastopol, CA.

 Dr Jim Feil 

Panelist

Jim Feil, MA, DC, RPP, RCST has been in the field of complementary health care since 1970. He began his career in the healing arts by studying with Dr. Randolph Stone, founder of Polarity Therapy, from 1970 to 1973. He began practicing Polarity Therapy in California in 1973 as associate in the practice of Pierre Pannetier. He started teaching and training therapists in 1976. He was one of the founding directors of the American Polarity Therapy Association and has also served on the Spanish Polarity Therapy Association. He developed one of the first full training programs to be taught worldwide based on the APTA Standards for Practice. Jim has continued to study, practice and teach a range of other therapies in conjunction with Polarity Therapy. He trained as a Doctor of Chiropractic at Palmer West College of Chiropractic in California, receiving his DC. Degree in 1987.

Additional studies include Formative Psychology with Stanley Keleman, Craniosacral Biodynamics with Franklyn Sills, Pre and Perinatal Therapy with Ray Castellino as a few of the many seminars he has attended. He has had practices in California, Massachusetts, Barcelona and Zurich, and has taught in many parts of the world. His interests in the field of health include:

• The interdisciplinary study of health, combining the traditional western approaches based on Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology with holistic traditions incorporating Psychology, Somatics, Field Energetics and Quantum Physics.
• The understanding of the complete human being – physical, psychological, energetic, spiritual – as the foundation for a more respectful and wide-ranging approach to healing.

Rose Khalsa 

Panelist

Rose Khalsa is the Director of The Polarity Center & Shamanic Studies. She has been teaching internationally for over 40 years. Rose offers trainings in polarity therapy, craniosacral visionary work and shamanism, and integrates nature-based and holistic approaches to healing in her private practice. Her healing work includes polarity therapy, biodynamic cranio-sacral therapy, spiritual counseling and shamanic healing. Native American (Ojibway), Celtic and Tibetan Buddhism are integrated into Rose’s life and work and are shared as part of her Medicine.

Rose has studied with Rosalyn Bruyere, Sandra Ingerman, Michael Harner, Tom Cowan and spent years studying with Tibetan shamans in Nepal. Her main teachers for her healing work have been the late Dr. Randolph Stone, and the teachings from Dr. William Sutherland, founder of Polarity Therapy and Biodynamic Cranial Work. Rose’s present teacher is Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rimpoche, from the Bon tradition.

Phil Young

Panelist

Phil Young is a former president of the American Polarity Therapy Association (APTA) and has been practicing and teaching Polarity Therapy since 1984. Phil is a founder member and the driving force behind The International Polarity Education Alliance (IPEA). He is author of several books on Polarity, most notably, ‘Polarity Therapy where Energy Meets Structure and Function.’

Gary Strauss

Keynote

Gary B. Strauss, BCPP, RPE, MS is a Master Practitioner and world-famous Polarity Therapy and CranioSacral Unwinding Instructor. He is the founder and director of Life Energy Institute and Polarity Healing Arts of CA.

Gary has helped thousands of people find greater health and well-being with his work and mentoring. His educational programs have uplifted many students to greater levels of skill, self-awareness, empowerment and deep understanding of the Principals of Life Energy.

To experience Gary’s unique perspective on healing, energy and “holding space” is profound. His compassion and devotion to helping people through his work is deeply touching and with over 30 years experience in the Energy Medicine field, his expertise, techniques and skills in the Energetic Healing Arts are unmatched.

Amanda Lux

Presenter

Amanda Lux LMT, RPE, BCPP, RYT is the creator of the Elevation Hive School of Energy Medicine which is located on ten acres of waterfront sacred forest in a 30 foot dome in Olympia ,WA. Amanda offers an APP program with both in-person and online courses in Polarity and Craniosacral therapy for both personal and professional development.  She’s been offering Polarity and body based energy work in private practice from 2006-present.

Amanda is the author of the “SoulCare Workbook: A 33-Day Journey through your Chakras and Elements,” is  the creator of the Podcast: A Lone Traveler’s Guide to the Divine, and is the creator of Polarity Somatic Yoga which is a trauma informed movement practice combining Polarity and Craniosacral based exercises, free movement (a lot like conscious dance) and hatha yoga.

Amanda is also a visual artist, transformational leader, teacher, and mentor. She enjoys designing educational strategies that teach to the heart of the moment, soulfully coaching individuals on their healing journey, and building community around personal growth, creativity, and authenticity.

Jennifer Sanders

Presenter

Jennifer Sanders is a Master Polarity and Integrative Cranial Sacral Unwinding instructor, Registered Polarity Educator, Registered Polarity Practitioner, Aroma Yoga Teacher®, YTT-200, Co-Director of the Distance Healing Academy, Co-Director of the Polarity and Cranial Programs at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, and holds a degree in Mind/ Body Transformational Psychology.

She is currently on the Board of Directors for the American Polarity Therapy Association.

Jennifer is a passionate and innovative educator who has dedicated her work to transforming the consciousness and quality of life, for both students and clients. She trains and mentors teachers and practitioners from all over the world in the application and studies of the Healing Arts.

In her private practice she specializes in Polarity Therapy, Integrative Cranial Sacral Unwinding, Distance Healing, Life Coaching, Sound Healing and Aromatherapy to facilitate potent and transformative healing for clients from all walks of life and backgrounds.

Sea Cummins, RPE, NCBTMB, RCST®, LABT,LMT, CAMTC, ABMP

Presenter

Sea Cummins was drawn to mystical texts, yoga, meditation and vegetarian diet since her teens. She lived on a raw vegan farm and studied ecology and natural healing methods. Next she discovered a polarity therapy hot springs resort and took their programs with her family in her 20s. After becoming a Polarity practitioner, she went on to be nationally certified in bodywork, medical massage and Biodynamic Craniosacral and to work with many people privately and in a massage franchise. Sharing Polarity principles through classes at her Baja café and cottage in Oregon have sprung from her love for these lifelong studies and service. Her private practice thrives and her offerings range from bodywork, astrology readings and healthful products, to small batch foods and aroma yoga®. Today she lives in Oregon and Baja, Mexico with her daughter and dog Peach and is launching the Associate in Polarity Principles courses.

James Arena

Presenter

James began his Polarity education and training in 1979 on Orcas Island, WA and joined the Polarity staff in 1983 at Murietta Hot Springs, CA. He’s been practicing and teaching Polarity Therapy since then.

He teaches Dr. Stone’s Mystic Bible (a translation of the Bible stories into an exciting and inspiring language) and Energy Exercises. These are the fundamental core principles of the most important Ayurvedic teachings of the Vedas, for body and emotional healing on the planet. James also teaches Spinal Balancing and the Five Pointed Star.