hello everyone, my name is roberta, i've just begun working with core in the past couple of weeks and i'm still getting the hang of it. one client felt back pain from a fractured vertebra go down to a one, but it went back up to a three the next day (i had been doing basic q-t and supercharging with her and the pain had dropped from a seven to between a three and six). since one of the functions of core is to keep the pain from returning, i would be grateful for some feedback on that. thank you in advance! namaste, roberta

The point of the physical exercises in the Core work is to be able to show the exercises to clients to help them maintain their system as their bodies get used to the "new" state.

As always the client is the healer and by showing them a few of the exercises, this helps to unwind their system so that the tensions and habits of the past are retrained.

thank you, alain. that gives rise to another question - actually, two. 1) if someone has a fracture or something similar that could be exacerbated by exercise, how do i know what exercises are safe for them to do, and 2) how can the exercises be taught when doing distance work? thanks again! roberta

All the exercises for the Core work can be modified or done with smaller levels of challenge to the body. And some of the exercises can be more challenging than others. So of course you would take a person's physical situation into account. The most important point of any of the exercises is for the person to notice what is going on in their body as they do it, both energetically (the flow) and physically. So for instance, for your client with the fractured vertebra, I would probably suggest starting with the diaphragm breath exercise, which physically involves no movement. The standing knee bend would probably also be good, since the only bending involves (surprise!) the knees, not the back. If the fracture is old and healed but still painful, then they could try working with the pouring forward, but still start minimally and not try to pour all the way. It could also be done sitting which would prevent over-doing it. But we teach the exercises in the order we do in the class because each one builds on the one before, so that it is easier to understand what is going on and what to do. So you probably wouldn't jump right into having them do pouring forward if you hadn't already taught them the earlier ones first.

As far as teaching them long distance, you describe them just as we do in the class (or dvd). Really stress that it is about noticing what's going on in the body, not just moving. The movement is only a tool to give your body another experience. If you are able to perceive energy (see, feel, or whatever), you "watch" the person as they try it and give them feedback according to what you sense. If you can't sense anything, then ask them to tell you what they notice, and work from there.

thanks, jody, that was a huge help! namaste, roberta