Articles

BMTH Instructor Testimonials

WHILE ON THE INTERNET…
A friend in Tennessee had a terrible migraine… ongoing pain throughout the day. So, for curiosity sake and my ongoing research to prove anything can work, I decided to see if I could lead her through BMTH. Back and forth over the Chat Line I directed her where to touch specific points. I used symbols from my keyboard to draw the sides of the neck & spine for directions.

\    *    /
 )   *   (
/X   *    \

(The "X" indicates Point 2 of the Greeting.)

Well, believe it or not, it worked-
to my shock and hers!

Love to YOU ALL. May everyone learn to laugh and have JOY in their life with BMTH!!!

Tazz (RazzMaTazz) Powers;
San Jose, CA

Why do I love to teach BMTH? Because every class is different; with so many different people, there for so many different reasons. I always learn so much from them. When you teach you never know what you're going to get and that's fun!

~ Sandy Totaro, Tucson

Paul Bucky
IFBM President, Co-founder

Why do I love to teach BMTH? Because it's FUN… It's damn fun to teach classes!

I remember my first class - setting up the VERY FIRST class with Norman in Mancos, CO almost 12 years ago. He said, "Here. Here are the points. Now you can put them on a mannequin and we can teach." Well, those points were just drawings on pieces of scratch paper. There was NO system for teaching the points back then. So we went into our first class and had no idea what we were going to do or say… we just started teaching. The desire was to teach… the desire was to learn. That first class had no format. Neither did the 2nd or the 3rd or the 4th, for that matter! I am not sure when it developed into a teaching program. I just know the program developed as I grew in my own self-awareness, my own experiences in practicing BMTH and in my own ability to stand up in front of a group of people. One finds oneself always being fed by teaching. I'm not sure how to explain that, but after each class I am energized and have learned so much about myself and about my interaction with others. Teaching has taught me much about humility. To teach something to people and tell them that they ALL are as effective as the teacher… WOW!... what a concept.

I find myself teaching what I must learn. Sort of the reversal of what I was taught teaching was about! I find that we are all just humans trying to help each other live happy, healthy, joyous lives. I have learned what great suffering and strife there is on this planet and that sharing "Just Touch" brings a bit of hope, a little bit of light, to all.

paul@justtouch.com

Dorothy Summers, Tucson

It's always true that the teacher learns more than the pupil. Perhaps teaching BMTH has been my key to greater self-awareness these past five years. What a joy it is to watch an intern become more proficient & confident. Yes, indeed, we do affect others' lives in a positive way by teaching BMTH. It brings great joy to share in this way.

Gael Chilson, Green Valley, AZ

Being a certified independent Instructor of BMTH has been a great source of growth in self awareness. I first became an instructor in June of 1996 after participating in about 10 classes at the Center in Tucson. I still remember all the changes I went through in the course of those experiences of working so closely with others to provide not only clear instruction, but also an environment where people could feel comfortable in learning this technique.

When it came my turn to finally give the lectures I was nervous, self conscious and afraid of forgetting something or saying the wrong thing. With notes in hand I did the best I could and found out that I couldn't mess this up. BMTH speaks so very loudly for itself. All you need is the willingness to try it and the results become obvious.

Sharing BMTH as an instructor fills a special place in my life... Teaching BMTH has increased my self-confidence and my awareness that I have a lot to share with others. It has been the springboard from which I have branched to create a successful business in alternative healing.

I have also learned a lot from the people that I have taught, lessons of caring and patience, of listening and being able to receive. I love sharing BMTH. I love to see others share BMTH. Nothing is so rewarding as to have one of my students tell me how they have used this technique to help others and how they have enjoyed sharing it with family and friends. Thank you for letting me share my love of BMTH with you all.

gaelchi@concentric.net

John Munno, Tucson

When I was asked about the Instructor Program, thoughts of the many years of teaching BMTH came up. In the old days, when I started in the IP 7 years ago in Honolulu, the outline given to Instructor Candidates consisted of 4 questions from which one had to build an entire talk - there were no outlines and Instructor Packets back then!

When I taught my first class at the Honolulu Center ago I was terrified to be in front of everyone - exposed, naked, vulnerable. Through the IP I learned to share my story. I learned to express myself, accept myself, love myself. I learned and I grew.

For me self-awareness has not always been easy. For years before coming to BMTH I had pushed my physical self to the limits; climbing mountains, rafting down wild rivers and traveling around the globe to find the next challenge. Yet teaching BMTH I was faced with the greatest challenge of my life - the struggle with my own mind and emotions. The struggles kept coming, and with them the growth. With each new situation, more of who I thought I was was left behind.

I became a teacher of teachers, passing on what I had learned from co-founders Paul & Cheryl Bucky and Joyzelle Beasley. I remember my first out of town class to the Big Island of Hawaii with my first Instructor Candidate Lani Fernandez. She gave me a Hawaiian-style bamboo attaché case saying, "You are an Instructor now, you need to play the part."

The classes and stories continued, and then a few years ago I moved her to Tucson. The IP went through it's changes, the outline grew - heck, I helped expand the Instructor Program to meet the growing need of Instructor Candidates. But the purpose of the teaching remained the same.

I remember the infamous 9-hour back-road drive to Phoenix with Bear; teaching the first class at Dr. Michael and Anneliese Blanchard's house in Yuba City, CA; and the trip to San Jose to certify Paula Nunes and Tazz Powers (Thanks to Paula and her husband Mel - I hadn't laughed that much in years!); then to Bakersfield, Greenwich Village, Syracuse, Los Angeles and other places.

No matter where I taught, the reactions and testimonials were the same: "I am amazed. I feel great. BMTH has done so and so for me." Before BMTH, I had traveled around the world for many years and was assisted by the generosity of others, and now I had a way to return the gifts.

The Army says it is the toughest job you will ever love; I disagree. I am proud to be an Instructor of BMTH. I am proud of what it means and what the job involves. It's about giving, its about helping people, its about caring. When you get down to it, what could be more important in life? When you get down to it, what else is there?

john@justtouch.com
http://www.johnmunno.com

Paula Nunes;
Santa Clara, CA

BMTH is so powerful. This is the time to get it out there. I am going to Peru in June, so I will introduce it there!

Lynnette Becker
Tucson

Why did I become an Instructor of BMTH ? Why did I choose to teach BMTH rather than standard teaching in a in a public high school? Because when I asked myself, "What will make me happy?" I got the answer: "Doing BMTH." So, at age 17, I moved to Hawaii and there my life began.
I teach because it is a reminder that this life isn't about teaching others, it is about learning more about myself. When I stand in front of a group of people, it is like looking into a mirror; all my fears, struggles, loves and hates are staring back at me. And I remember what I want to share is what makes me happy.
Somehow, this simple technique has brought so much joy into my life. Even though it is sometimes scary, I have to get up and share this technique. And I'm not limited to teaching just the people I touch in the Center every week or a classroom of students - I have an entire Universe of possibilities, and I am one of those possibilities.
Patch Adams said it great: "All you need is a smile on your face, a twinkle in your eye, and the willingness to Greet." So I stand before the World, my first two fingers ready to touch and teach the world lightly, and face my only fear: the Beauty that lies inside.

lynnette@justtouch.com

Marianne George; Yuba City

I have recently come through a spell in my life where, due to circumstances beyond my control, I almost lost sight of my love and appreciation for the entire process of BMTH. From being a recipient, a practitioner, and now being an instructor, I have often wondered why I was doing all of this. The answer is the love that I feel toward people who allow me to work on them. I have more loving thoughts and act from a place of love and appreciation. I thank God daily for allowing me to have been introduced to BMTH in the first place. I truly enjoy sharing my thoughts and feelings in the classes. I feel that I convey the true feelings of love and appreciation that I am very aware of in my heart from having learned, practiced and shared this with everyone that I can touch. Heartfelt and sincere
Love Marianne

Anneliese Blanchard, Yuba City

Last year I completed the Instructor Program. It is a good program and I feel well prepared to teach the classes we are setting up in the Northern California area for the year 2000. I became an Instructor because it was important to hold a space for BMTH to grow in this area. It is a wonderful technique that deserves the love and attention to be planted all over the world. IT WORKS, IT HELPS, IT IS SIMPLE. I have benefited from both receiving and giving BMTH.

I do this as a service, and I look forward to sharing BMTH with anyone who wants to learn it.

Mascha Chmil; Auburn

On teaching BMTH: It brings up all my anxiety and nervousness about speaking in front of people. Better than Toastmasters. Once I settle down I'm just fine and I enjoy the interaction with the participants. That's the best part. Also, I feel like I'm relearning BMTH, because I really have to know the points and describe them. No more, "they're sort of here," type of thing. Another challenge is making the words my own so I don't sound like a robot, spewing back the memorization. Becoming an instructor is great for your brain. Really gives it a work out. I'm stepping beyond my normal modus operandi and it's fun.

Rachel Funk, Honolulu

When I began writing this article I jokingly gave it a subtitle, "what the heck has happened to my life!?" I realize that it's really true in the sense that since starting down the road to learning to teach BMTH my life has been, and never will be the same. As I look back at the process, I see how BMTH and I have "grown up" together in the seven years that I've been an instructor.

I had just finished my internship and had begun volunteering at the Honolulu Center when Paul Bucky and I began talking about teaching BMTH. To be honest I can't remember what we talked about (We didn't have the very nice Instructor Packet that we have now). We just talked about the fact that the only time you "learn" anything is when you try to teach it to someone.

As with most of the decisions that I've made regarding BMTH, I can't remember what was said, but I remember what I felt. I felt that I had to pursue teaching, even though I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

Back in those days the Instructor Program consisted of coming to as many Practitioner Trainings (they were called Introductory Classes) as you could to just listen and watch. At one of my first classes another Instructor Program Candidate was doing his best to teach the points, and it was evident that we really needed a better system for explaining how to find them. This lead to re-writing the entire manual. I recall when we came up with describing Point 1 of the Metabolism set as "in the hollow above the collar bone on both sides of the notch at the top of the breast bone," the computer grammar check said "too many prepositional phrases!"

As I took my first few steps in the Program, getting up to teach the points on Ethel, (our stalwart, donated, fashion mannequin) I felt awful. I would watch Paul and Cheryl Bucky teach the sets and berate myself that I would never be that clear, I would never be able to do this, and I said "uh" and "um" and "you know" too much.

But I kept at it and eventually gave my first talk at one of our very first "outreach" classes (there was no Outreach Program at that time, either) in Makakilo, about an hour away from the Center in Honolulu. I did my best to cut down on my "ums" and "you knows." The class went great, but it wasn't until after the class was over that I really learned my "lesson." When I began the long drive home I was overcome by a sense of real, unshakable and unfaltering peace. That peace of mind stayed with me all the way home.

I've taught quite a few classes since that day in Makakilo. In exotic places such as Horsham, England; San Francisco, Yuba City, and Los Gatos, CA; and Atlanta, GA. And I've learned that peace never leaves. It is only a touch away.