What people have to say about Breema:

Breema® is so hard to describe. For me, it touches on every aspect of life.
It supports me to have a taste of who I am, before the layer of
stuff that covers over that essential nature. Breema is also very physically nurturing, balancing for the feelings and helps to quiet the mind.
Breema is a way to actually experience "being" in daily walking, talking... sitting.
Katherine

 

I continue to discover how Breema is much more than bodywork. It's Being-work. DW

 

Winter Intensive At The Breema Center - Julie Russell

At the beginning of each class we were presented with one of the Breema principles to really practice for that session. This made the principles come very alive, and their importance grew inside me during the whole workshop, and even today. These principles are truly a way of life, and their effects go beyond the Breema treatments. They are still coming alive in all aspects of my life...

I would encourage anyone to go to The Breema center to be in a wonderful atmosphere of learning and support, and at the same time I cannot neglect saying that we have one of the very best Breema teachers right here in Nashville in Katherine Correa.

 

What Breema Is To Me

Breema was introduced to me in 2004 by Julie Russell. She is a Breema practitioner and a Yoga instructor who volunteers her services to inmates at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution every Wednesday. The following is a tribute derived from my experiences with Breema, the Nine Principles of Harmony. I am not an official Breema practitioner, however, I believe my interpretations of what Breema does for me can help others.

Frequent use of one or more of the Nine Principles of Harmony has provided me with sustaining peace; similar to my childhood years at play, having no thought, worries, or strong attachments beyond the present moment of what is actually occurring. Each principle has a unique transforming power. The simplicity of Breema makes it as universally practical and as easy as thinking. Whenever I become aware of myself doing one thing and thinking another, I simply call to mind a principle that suits the activity of thought, and instantly I return to the moment. Occasionally principles will surface within me without deliberate thought, operating like an alarm system against distractions.
I enjoy the fruits of peace and crisp consciousness from living in the moment. Breema has been a simple yet wholesome way for me to enjoy life despite the condition of my body in prison. My life is not confined and Breema helps me to know that my being continues to flow in every moment.

Rahim Buford 2006

 

It's hard to explain Breema if you haven't yet experienced it. If you read the book "The Power of Now", Breema will bring you to the actual experience of all that "The Power of Now" is about.

- Doug 2008

 

photo by Krystal Kinnunan

 

An article about Breema by a local student:

Breema Introduction Provides "AHA" Moment We've all seen the bumper sticker proclaiming, "The meaning of life is to live it." It's easy to say, but sometimes hard to do. Being stressed about past issues or worried about the future can keep us from living in the moment. The first Breema workshop I happened upon gave me some tools to stay in the moment and enjoy living my life.
Like all Breema workshops, the one I attended was open to all. Some people attending were massage therapists. Others had experienced Breema from a certified practitioner. Sitting in a circle, I was forced to admit the reason I was attending my first Breema workshop. "This workshop was inexpensive and I needed some massage continuing education hours. I don't know anything about Breema. I just thought it was a good deal to learn something."
A few people in the class snickered. The instructor visiting from Nashville, Katherine Correa, simply smiled. "Well, I hope you find something here that is of value for you."
The class started with a body-centered meditation and Self-Breema exercises. The exercises looked like a blend of qi gong, tai chi, and the playful movements of a child. We hopped. We swung our arms. We let our hands rhythmically strike our chests. After years of on-again off-again yoga practice, the simple pleasure of moving my body had been lost. I often struggled to hold my body in the perfect position. Breathe deeply. Move my arm another three degrees. Now I'm perfectly in alignment. Hold it...hold it!
Breema movement was different.
I wasn't seeking the energy movement of qi gong. I wasn't holding my body in the Iyengar approved version of a yoga asana. My body was moving with joy. I felt light and at ease.
Self-Breema is just one part of the whole. Breema is a complete system unto itself. All aspects of Breema are methods of communicating Breema's Nine Principles of Harmony. The principles are simple: Body Comfortable, No Extra, Firmness and Gentleness, Full Participation, Mutual Support, No Judgement, Single Moment/Single Activity, No Hurry/No Pause, and No Force. The Nine Principles of Harmony are what separate Breema from other forms of bodywork.
Although it can create incredible physical change, the bodywork is not intended to fix anything. The focus is on creating an atmosphere of acceptance wherein one can experience "My body is breathing. My body has weight. There is a body and there is an observer. I am that observer."
For years after my orthopedic massage training, I struggled with relaxation massage. I wanted to dig in and fix problems with the person's body. If I wasn't reshaping a disorganized body, reducing adhesions, or deactivating trigger points, practicing massage wasn't fulfilling to me.
I was always trying to do extra to make the relaxation massage "enough" for the patient and for me. Maybe if I did heat first it would feel better to me. The client would let me do more deep tissue work because it would be more comfortable. After a one-hour massage, I would review the client's chart for drug induced nutrient depletion. I would recommend supplements. I would teach stretches.
I was doing Extra. The experience of Breema taught me to do what I could do and let that be enough. I didn't need to do anything more, be anything more, feel anything more, or know anything more. All I had to do was be present.
Breema practitioners don't ask you to follow a certain philosophy. You don't have to believe anything to experience Breema. All of the teachings of Breema reduce to this simple statement, "Real health means harmony with Existence." Your experience of moving and having your body moved in harmony with existence defines Breema for you.
Breema bodywork looks like what might happen if low impact Thai Massage, Shiatsu, Ortho Bionomy and Zero Balancing all melded together. The recipient lies face up on a mat or rug. The active partner begins with a bow.
What follows feels like a combination of dance and massage. A hand leans, holds, and then releases my ankle. My legs are lifted. As they are swung in the air, I can't help but laugh.
Shortly thereafter, with the bodywork continuing, I found myself in a deeply meditative state. A memory came to my mind. I was five or six. We had been traveling on a road trip all day long. I was asleep in the back seat. My dad lifted my body, waking me slightly. I lifted my head enough to see that it was my dad and then fell asleep as he carried me in. That feeling of being completely supported is, for me, the feeling of Breema. I had no thoughts. In that moment, I had only the feeling of my body breathing and my dad supporting me.
I had read The Celestine Prophecy, The Power of Now, and dozens of other books on being present in the moment. Until I experienced in Breema a complete kinesthetic experience of what Being felt like, those books remained purely intellectual.
In his book, Breema: Essence of Harmonious Life, Jon Schreiber recalls a conversation he had with the man who introduced him to Breema. "I once asked Malichek what he thought about Teachings. 'Respect all Teachings,' he told me, 'but follow only that which you can verify for yourself."
That is the gift Breema gives. It reaches a place where you can directly experience and verify for yourself the art of being present.

For more information on Breema, check out www.breema.com Seth McLaughlin is licensed as a massage therapist, certified as a nutritional consultant, certified as a pharmacy technician. He has worked as an herbalist, aromatherapist, and pharmaceutical compounder in an integrated medicine pharmacy, Mac's Medicine Mart, since 1995. He is also one of the authors of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Secrets, edited by Wendy Kohatsu, MD. Seth owns Essential Therapies in Kingsport and Johnson City. To contact Seth, check out www.e-therapies.net or call (423) 392-4325. All recommended changes in your health program should be discussed with your own medical professionals.

This copyright for this article is owned by Seth McLaughlin. You may reprint this article in electronic format as long as you print it in its entirety. All reprints must contain the full biographical statement and this copyright information
For printing this article in paper format, obtained expressed written consent.

 

Every Moment is Eternal
Time, by itself, doesn't exist. Nor can you find a source that
produces time. But we feel pressured by it. In fact, freedom
means freedom from the pressure of time. Because as long as
you don't know who you are, you are subject to that pressure.

We think that our physical body is what's mainly affected

by time. But our mind and feelings are affected much more.

When you are interested in something you're doing, the pressure
of time decreases proportionally according to the intensity of your

interest. But when you're not interested in what you're doing, the
pressure of time becomes heavier. Two minutes seem like a year!
Time can't be measured by a clock. That only measures the mechanical
duration of time, not time itself.

When you are present, you don't experience even the slightest
pressure of time. Whatever you do feels like the only thing that
needs to be done, and you are doing it. You have no sense of time,
because you're living in the present. The pressure of time comes
when you're in the past or future.

In the moment, time doesn't exist. There is one moment, and the entire Existence is included in it. What was, is, and will be are one.
You are in unity with everything that exists, because nothing is separated
from you.

Every Moment is Eternal-The timeless wisdom of Breema- Jon Schreiber

Breema is a servicemark of the Breema center.