Winter 2013

In this edition:

Special Feature – Body Talk with Pauline Love

Instructor profile – Judy Howard

Warming Winter Food –Bobotie

Member profile –Caroline Nyboer

Kia ora from Bodymind! Like many of you reading this newsletter, I do a number of different jobs. One of them is teaching ESOL to international students. I love it because it gives me the opportunity to learn with my students. Recently, I was helping one of them do some research for a Social Studies project. She was to choose five people from the same past era to invite to dinner, which meant that she needed to find out quite a lot about them. She selected famous people from the 17th century. Three of them were revolutionary thinkers who made very important contributions to scientific knowledge. There was Galileo Galilei, the Italian philosopher, astronomer and physicist who was imprisoned for supporting a new idea – that the earth revolved around the sun. Then there was William Harvey, whose research showed that blood circulates around the body, pumped by the heart. The third, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, discovered the tiny micro-organisms we now know as bacteria. All of these men were ridiculed and disbelieved by the ‘experts’ of their day. All three promoted ideas that were considered outlandish at the time, but have since come to be considered mainstream. So what potentially life-changing ideas might be floating around today, but ridiculed and rejected by mainstream thinkers? I thought about this when I listened recently to Pauline Love speaking at Bodymind’s end-of-term gathering. Pauline has set up her Body Talk practice at the Bodymind studio. Like other alternative therapies such as reflexology and acupuncture, Body Talk is based on the notion that there are powerful energy pathways within us and that our bodies have an innate ability to heal themselves; however toxins, emotional trauma, or injury sometimes compromise this ability. If you missed Pauline’s presentation, you can find out about how Body Talk works to rebalance and promote health by reading the feature overleaf. We also bring a little sunshine into your life this winter with features on two women associated with Bodymind who share a love for Africa. Find out about why Senegal has a special place in Caroline Nyboer’s heart and check out Judy Howard’s recipe for a South African treat, Bobotie. On behalf of all at Bodmind, all the best for an active and healthy winter Jenny Hannon

editor@bodymind.co.nz

Special Offer for July and August!

Sign up a friend to Bodymind classes and get two months’ free membership for yourself .

This offer is only valid until 31 August, so get your friends to sign up now!

Dates for Your Diary July

Friday 26 - 50s Forward Monthly Lunch, 12.30pm Solway Café

August

Thursday 1 - BONUS 1+1 August promotion starts

Wednesday 28 - Self-Help Healing Workshop with Jodie Williams, 12 – 1pm Bodymind Studio. Members free. Non-members $5.

Friday 30 - 50s Forward Monthly Lunch, 12.30pm. Venue to be confirmed.

September Sunday 15 - Self-Help

Healing Workshop with Jodie Williams, 10 – 11am Bodymind Studio. Members free. Non-members $5.

Friday 27 - 50s Forward Monthly Lunch, 12.30pm.

Venue to be confirmed.

Keeping Body and Mind in Balance Many of us are aware that the stresses of daily life have a profound effect on our health. Pauline Love of Body Talk tells us about the therapy she offers to address our need to rebalance. She is the only practitioner in the Wairarapa and offers treatment at the Bodymind studio. Find out more below about her special offer to Bodymind members.

Have you ever walked into a room after an argument has taken place and sensed an uncomfortable atmosphere? Or have you felt the intense excitement of a child’s birthday? These are examples of negative and positive energy, which we are all able to sense. I’m Pauline Love and I would like to tell you about the alternative therapies I work with, Body Talk and Accunect. They both work with the energy within the person in order to heal and improve wellbeing. They are also based on the concept that our minds and beliefs have a strong influence over our bodies and that the physical symptoms from which we suffer have their origins in mental and emotional stresses. Because mainstream medical treatments do not take this into account, patients often turn to Body Talk as a complementary therapy. It is a way of harnessing the power of the mind to help with healing. Body Talk works by identifying weak links and obstructed circuitry in the energy pathways of the body. Light tapping over the brain has been used in eastern practices such as Hatha yoga for centuries; nowadays we use it in Body Talk therapy to help rebalance the body’s energy pathways. It’s like hitting the ‘reset’ button on the computer. Stress occurs in the body because of emotions, beliefs, accidents, injuries, toxins, microbes, trauma and a feeling of being disconnected from our environment. Body Talk will address these factors. The science behind this has emerged with our growing knowledge of how our bodies work. Recent developments in quantum physics have shown us that we don’t live in

Pauline Love says that our minds and beliefs have a strong influence over our bodies.

a clockwork, mechanical universe and that our perceptions and consciousness can affect our reality. An amazing example of the power of Body Talk to heal is the experience of Dr John Veltheim, an Australian who for many years suffered from the debilitating Epstein –Barr virus. He finally sought help from Dr Tracey Livingstone, an osteopath who treated him with the tapping process. Within three days, the virus had disappeared. If you’re thinking that all this is ‘weirdo’, I would have agreed with you up until a few years ago. In 2009, my brother introduced me to Body Talk, which I found fascinating. It helped me with my own medical problem and set me on the path to becoming a practitioner. In Australia, in January this year, Body Talk became a government-approved training qualification. Body Talk is being offered in day spas there and is popular as a complementary therapy. I did my training under a number of overseas experts, mostly through block courses, and I’m a current member of the International Body Talk Association. In some places, you would need to pay up to $95 for Body Talk treatment. In the Bodymind studio, which is the only place in the Wairarapa where Body Talk is available, the regular cost of the treatment is $40 per session, which is one on one, or 3 sessions for $80. I am offering Bodymind members the chance to trial Bodytalk for $20. I hope you will give it a go!

Judy’s Bobotie This is a recipe for a favourite South African comfort food from our featured instructor, Judy Howard. It’s a light-textured curried meatloaf topped with golden, savoury sauce.

2 slices stale, white bread, crusts removed 2 tbs sunflower oil 1 onion, thinly sliced ½ tsp ground cloves 1 tsp crushed garlic 1 tsp salt 2 tsp curry powder 1 tsp borrie, (turmeric) 500g steak mince 2 eggs 2 tbs hot water 1 tbs lemon juice 2 tbs sugar lemon leaves or bay leaves for garnish Topping 1 egg, lightly beaten 2/3 cup milk

Soak bread in a little water for 10 minutes, then squeeze dry.

Heat oil in a large frying pan and braise onion until golden, 5 – 10 minutes.

Add cloves, garlic, salt, curry powder and turmeric and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add to mince with eggs, hot water, lemon juice and sugar, mixing to combine well.

Spoon mixture into a well-greased, ovenproof dish and bake at 160°C for 40 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove from oven. Beat egg and milk well and pour over bobotie.

Add bay or lemon leaves and bake for a further 5 – 10 minutes at 180°C.

Serve with rice and vegetables.

Judy Howard

Pilates Keeps Judy Happy! When Judy Howard began attending Pilates classes with husband Trevor back in 2006, she didn’t imagine that within a few years she would progress from beginner to instructor. She initially went along to the Bodymind studio to encourage Trevor to attend, as he was suffering from back pain. When he decided that Pilates was not for him, Judy used up his membership as well as her own. ‘By that time,’ she says with a grin, ‘I was totally hooked. ‘

Originally from South Africa, Judy, Trevor and their children came to New Zealand 14 years ago. She has worked at Oldfields, where her responsibilities include marketing and compliance, for 11 of those years. Trevor is an operations manager with Webstar. Though New Zealand is definitely home now, Judy misses the heat of the South African climate and her extended family – her parents and three sisters – still living in Cape Town. She says that it is a beautiful place for a holiday, though she clearly appreciates the greater security she and her family can enjoy here. Judy maintains that her children Bobbin, now 17 and attending Trinity Senior College, and Paddy, 19, an apprentice plumber and gas-fitter, were instrumental in getting her to persist with Pilates classes. They told her, ‘Mum, you must go. You are so much happier when you come home!’ She acknowledges that they were right and she has continued to enjoy both the mental and physical benefits of Pilates. Now that she is an instructor, she offers encouragement to other women to take time out from their families and their jobs. ‘Mums are so often at the bottom of the list. They put their families first.’ She likes to end her classes by congratulating participants - ‘Well done for giving yourself that hour!’ It is likely that this positive mental attitude has contributed to Judy’s success in a newfound interest – cross-country running. When she began a few months ago, she was amazed to find

that she could run 6 kilometres without any training. She says that the strength she has gained through regular Pilates sessions 3 or 4 times a week has definitely helped. (She credits Linda Spence with having enabled her to develop some pretty amazing triceps and Chrissie Riddell with the power of the leg muscles she uses as she runs). She is thrilled that, having done some training, she was able to run 10 kilometres in under an hour at a meeting in Wellington. Many Bodymind members are already aware of another of Judy’s interests – making a health-giving drink called kombucha, which is full of probiotics. Having herself discovered its beneficial effects on the digestive system, she decided to buy one of the live cultures from which the drink is fermented. Her production was so successful that Trevor was soon telling her that she had better find an outlet for it! It wasn’t long before bottles of kombucha appeared at the Bodymind studio and members were sampling the many different flavours at our gatherings. It is a pleasantly grown-up, naturally sparkling drink that comes in a variety of fruity flavours and is a great option for anyone wanting an alternative to alcoholic drinks. By popular request, Judy has recently produced a new flavour, Lemon & Ginger, which is selling well. Kombucha is priced at $5, with a 50 cent refund on the return of the empty bottle.

Caroline Nyboer with daughter Astrid, who says Pilates is a fun thing to do with Mum. Zschokke with building a house for friends, while Caroline works Monday to Friday mornings at the Masterton Community Church as office manager. Sean is now an aerial technician and Alex is studying Advanced Digital Animation. Daughter Astrid, who has qualifications in Tourism, works for Watson & Son, who produce manuka honey. It was Bodymind instructor Ali Croskery who persuaded Caroline and Astrid to try Pilates in 2011. Caroline wanted to maintain flexibility and strength, while Astrid, who is engaged to be married, was keen to shape up. Caroline lives only a hop, skip and a roll-down from the Bodymind studio and aims to get to three classes a week. She says Pilates makes her feel good and she has noticed an improvement in her posture. She wasn’t sure at first about doing Stretch classes, though, as she is not naturally ‘bendy’. However, she is now a convert, likening the effects of Stretch to a soothing massage.

For visitors to the Nyboer home in Chamberlain Road, there are a number of clues suggesting the family’s strong connection with Africa. From the warm, terracotta tones of the entrance, to the many indigenous artworks gracing the walls, the influence on Caroline, Eric and their three children of their time spent in Senegal is evident. The family first went to Senegal in 1994 when eldest child Sean was 7, daughter Astrid was 5 and younger son Alex only 2 ½. Caroline smiles as she recalls their life in the West African nation, formerly a French colony. She and Eric had been assigned to work at Bourofaye Christian School, an international school for the children of missionaries. This meant that their community included people from a variety of countries. Eric, who was born in the Netherlands but raised in New Zealand from the age of 2, was responsible for maintenance, which Caroline says would be more accurately described as a building programme. Her job was to manage the office. The school was located near the southern city of Ziguinchor, the second largest city in Senegal, separated from the more prosperous north by the nation of Gambia, a finger of land

running west to east through the centre of Senegal. There has been a long history of tension between north and south and in 1997, the residents of the mission school became accustomed to the sound of gunfire in the distance. Later that year, while the Nyboers were back in New Zealand on a break that was to last about a year and a half, the school coordinator was held up at gunpoint. The southern rebels lost to government troops from the north, but not before the decision had been made to move the school north, closer to the capital, Dakar. After about a year and a half, the family returned to the heat, dust and smells of Africa, the power cuts and the dearth of water. Though most of their time was spent within their ex-pat community, there were frequent shopping trips to the markets in and around Dakar. The local people were friendly, and philosophical about their hardships. C’est l’Afrique, they would say, That’s Africa! Caroline describes the children as ‘having nothing, but happy as’. In 2003, it was time for the Nyboers to return to New Zealand permanently. Eric had built a lot of houses in Senegal and now set about constructing a permanent home for his family. These days he combines working for Rigg-

African Adventurers Mother and daughter Pilates enthusiasts Caroline and Astrid Nyboer have fond memories of the time their family spent in Senegal.