At the CHANGE & TRANSFORMATION retreats, alignment sessions with Karen Harris help you restore balance, improve posture, and connect body and mind.
We asked Karen about her alignment sessions, and here’s what she told us. Check out our events calendar for more information about the retreats.
Karen has been a fitness trainer since 1993, further developing her skills when she realised how body alignment affects how the whole body works as a unit. She has been a specialist in this field, consulting privately, and teaching groups the many benefits of alignment therapy, since 2009.
She is also a Nutrition and Weight Management specialist, enabling a complete health and fitness package for her clients.
Karen is also a published author of ‘Staying Aligned’ – the foundation for a pain-free healthy body.
What is the essence of your teaching?
The essence of Posture Alignment Therapy is that the foundations of the body, the ‘inside stuff’ that keeps our skeleton and joints aligned, is often missed and thought of as a side issue. But we know that without solid foundations to keep the body balanced and stable, the mechanics start to falter.
Posture Alignment Therapy connects the brain and body to align and work together with the body’s other systems, to produce a more holistic approach to many conditions and ailments that are prevalent today.
Do your sessions focus on physical exercises, mental practices, or both?
Definitely both, you cannot have one without the other! The brain is key to the body’s response and feedback to you, the ‘physical’ exercises are very soft and gentle and repeated slowly, so the body can understand contraction and release, and learn from correct practices.
How can your guidance support participants who may have physical discomfort or tension?
I’ve worked with people in excruciating pain to mild discomfort, the exercises are always tailored to what the individual can do. In this group setting, we have (or will ask) for history of any conditions and will chat beforehand. We have purposefully kept the numbers low to give more individual attention, rest assured, any issues will be dealt with effectively.
At these retreats, your teaching is combined with yoga sessions led by another teacher. What’s the idea behind bringing these two practices together?
Together with Suzie Heijari, we are taking our participants though a journey of change and transformation, both sessions from each instructor has to be in sync with the other to allow the body to discover what true functional movement feels like. There would not be good results at the end of the week otherwise.
Suzie and I have known each other a long time, we both know how the other teaches. Suzie is also a client, so she also understands from that point of view. It is the perfect scenario.
What kind of transformations have you noticed in people through your teaching?
A freedom and lightness of movement, the joy of not having to take daily pain-killers or medication, the ability to play with their children and/or grand children without discomfort, the ability to go back into a sport that they thought they would never play again (another good story in the book!), too many to mention.
Can you share a moment when your teaching had a visible impact on someone?
There is a story in the book of an elderly gentleman that came to see me with constant headaches, neck pain, he could hardly move his head and couldn’t lift his right arm. He had been told by a doctor he had done something that I just didn’t believe happened. 3 exercises later…….well, it’s in the book, but needless to say his arm was moving as it should and he could turn his head!
You’ve written a book, Staying Aligned: The Foundation for a Pain-Free, Healthy Body. What is the central theme or insight you hope readers take away?
The book is more about why and how our thinking of how the body works is flawed.
There are case studies, client stories, personal stories, how the body actually does work, and 9 alignment routines, along with hints and tips. The main comment I get is ‘it makes so much sense’! It’s like a light bulb goes off in people’s heads and they just ‘get it?’ The reviews on Amazon are good to read.
Where can participants find your book if they would like to read it before attending the retreat?
The book is on Amazon uk, or available from the printers own website, https://www.aspect-design.net/product-page/staying-aligned they will post internationally. However I will bring copies with me at a special retreat price!
What changes or insights do participants often experience in your sessions?
It’s a feeling that lots of people can’t explain. They just feel different, without really quite knowing how!