Body and Mind

Zero Balancing^®

Zero Balancing® (ZB) is a body-mind therapy that uses gentle, compassionate touch to help you connect with your innate vitality and wellness. It is designed to facilitate your own internal re-alignment of structure and energy with the aim of relieving bodily discomfort and emotional distress. A ZB session will often facilitate a state of consciousness in the client where old patterns are less well held and more change is possible.

Zero Balancing is a hands-on therapy performed through clothing. The treatment itself follows a sequence for releasing deep tension in bones, joints, and surrounding soft tissue. By focusing touch and awareness on key joints that conduct and balance forces of gravity, posture, and movement, the ZB practitoner creates ‘points of balance’ around which your body can release tension and reorganize energy. These 'points of balance' help to clear blocks in your body’s energy flow and resolve compensation that may be affecting your body and mind. Zero Balancing seeks to correct imbalances which may be the result of stress, injury, or trauma.

Zero Balancing is for anyone who carries life stress and who wants to feel better in their body. At the end of sessions, Zero Balancing leaves you with a wonderful feeling of inner organization and harmony.

How can Zero Balancing help you?

• Releases restrictions in movement and helps restore natural postural alignment
• Relieves body discomfort and pain and promotes recovery from injury
• Promotes a better flow of energy in your body
• Reduces effects of stress and can improve concentration and sleep
• Helps ease emotional distress and promotes self-regulation
• Heightens a sense of connection, balance, and general well-being

Zero Balancing was developed by Fritz Smith, MD, and draws upon his background in both osteopathy and acupuncture, thus integrating fundamental principles of western medicine with eastern concepts of energy and healing. This integration enables a practitioner to work simultaneously with your body's structure and energy to bring balance.

“I first started seeing Shirley for bodywork about ten years ago, and I’ve been a regular client ever since! What I love about her sessions is that the actual experience is nurturing and very relaxing AND that afterwards, I feel more at home in my body - more connected to weight on my feet with greater ease in movement, my whole chest has opened so I can breathe more easily and fully, and my body feels soft and supple. I leave sessions feeling taller and toned in a good way, ready to meet the rest of my day.”Christine B.

Sensory Enhanced Yoga^®

Sensory Enhanced Yoga incorporates carefully selected sensory input, breathing techniques, and language into yoga practice, within the context of a safe environment, to foster a sense of calm and tranquility, drawing the mind back into the body and the present moment in order to address difficulties in modulating states of alertness, attention or sensory sensitivities.

The purpose is to help individuals manage and hopefully resolve symptoms and be able to self-regulate and conduct their lives in a calm, centered, focused, and productive manner. It is designed to help

• Effectively manage stress before it leads to emotional or behavioral imbalance
• Develop emotional resiliency
• Decrease overreaction to sensory input (visual, touch, noise, movement)
• Improve quality of sleep and energy level to support wellness and enhance daily production
• Learn to become present through breath and body awareness
• Enhance one’s personal empowerment

SEY was developed by Lynn Stoller, an occupational therapist and certified yoga therapist, and is founded on a treatment model that synthesizes theoretical concepts and research findings from the fields of occupational therapy, trauma psychology, neuroscience and traditional Eastern yogic philosophy. You may learn more about SEY at www.sensoryenhancedyoga.org.