I have just returned from this wonderful event.
Here is a my brief summary of the sessions I attended:
International Polarity Education Alliance – Dublin 19-22 September 2013
32 people attending from Eire, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Luzemburg, Italy, Sweden, South Africa, USA, Australia
Day 1 – Session title “The next generation – the future of Polarity”
Phil Young led this session. He presented data from Google search that showed the number of people making enquiries about Polarity Therapy using Google has dropped significantly since 2004. He suggested that this data was an indicator of a lessoning of interest in Polarity.
Phil suggested that in Polarity terminology there had been an expansion of interest (a motor response) in Polarity Therapy from 1969 -1989 and that from then there had been an energetic contraction (a sensory response). He posed the question “What will be the next phase of Polarity?”
He presented the reasons why the IPEA had been formed in 2011. These reasons included:
- desire to get away from the hierarchical structure of Association
- desire to get away from rules and regulations regarding membership and Continuing Professional Development (CPE hours) and points
- desire to have a alliance where the heart was foremost and the head was secondary
- desire to respect the non-conformist and anti-burocratic traditions that many believe are integral to Polarity
Glen, from South Africa, new to Polarity said that he thought having recognized pathways for training and certification were important in his decision making about spending his money and time on Polarity training. He said he thought formalized pathways, including training hours and standards were a reality of 2013 life.
There was a lot of discussion about training standards, pathways, number of hours studied and all the other aspects of training and accreditation that we have discussed in our APTA meetings. Most people agreed that certificates on the wall and training standards did not guarantee being a successful Polarity practitioner.
I explained what we had been doing in Australia with ATMS and accreditation. People could understand our motivations.
Everyone agreed that Polarity was a heart experience and as such did not necessarily fit in with structures that are driven by the rational thinking of the mind as in, for example, trying to fit in with Government regulations and the policies of insurance companies.
Phil encouraged all voices to be heard in this session and ensured that all perspectives shared were honoured.
Day 2
Morning session
Visit to Newgrange Neolithic Burial/Astronomy/Sun Gauge site
The Boyne Valley is north of Dublin and only a short drive from where we were at the Emmaus Conference Centre. It is a very fertile river valley that has been inhabited since before 5000 BCE. Around this time the locals started to construct massive mounds that archeologists reckon were for burial and other ritualistic purposes. Like Stonehenge they are partly constructed using massive rocks that have been transported for absurd distances in ways that we do not understand. Similarly our current science does not know 
how these sites were made with such precision as to be able to predict and focus Solstice light (and sun and moon transits) with amazing accuracy. Anyway being at an energy conference and visiting this energy site was mind boggling and humbling.
Front kerbstone at Newgrange. During Winter Solstice the sun enters this passage and illuminates the interior. OK maths and engineering for 5000BCE.
Afternoon session 1 – “The Esoteric tradition … and Polarity Therapy”
Phil Young from Ireland and Peter Wydler from Switzerland talked about the esoteric roots of Randolph Stone’s work. Because of the Ayurvedic and TCM terminology used to provide a rationale for Stone’s work both Peter and Phil reminded everyone that the Hermetic, Paracelsian, Kabbalic and other European esoteric traditions also played a major part in Polarity’s ancestral field. Many of the illustrations that appear in Polarity Therapy Volumes 1&2 come directly from these European esoteric traditions that were once a part of the body of knowledge termed Occult, and so called “secret” knowledge that was suppressed by the religious groups. The five and six pointed star symbology come directly from these esoteric traditions.
So it is important for us to remember that Randolph Stone synthesized knowledge from the eastern and western esoteric traditions and philosophies.
Phil also reminded us that when Stone was teaching Polarity in 1969 he described it as having four components: bodywork, nutrition, yoga and positive thoughts and attitudes.
Pierre Pannetier added Love as the major and primary component.
Teachers that followed Pierre including Alan Siegel (and Bill Hutchinson in Australia) added the Counseling component.
Afternoon session 2 – “Polarity Based movement – Synergy Dance/Yoga”
Danielle Vierling is a local Dublin Polarity Therapist, Yoga and dance teacher. She presented an active session integrating music, movement and yoga asanas with Polarity Principles. It was different and interesting. Our movement embodied the 5 Pointed Star awareness and treatment.
Danielle is a committed energy practitioner and a wonderful presenter.
Day 3
Session 1 – “Five Pointed Star Energy Pattern” with Heather Principe
Heather is a very experienced Polarity therapist, teacher and administrator. She brought out the depth of the 5 Pointed Star treatment. It is a massive alchemical concept that Stone synthesized into the 5 pointed star treatment. The relevance of five has been described in most esoteric traditions, including
- Pentagrams from early Sumerian texts
- Pythagorean geometry
- Pentacle from the Kabbalah and alchemy
- Pentecost in the Christian calendar
- And of course the pentagon shape of the first great Egyptian pyramid
This session was also practical and we worked in groups of 6 with five practitioners working on one client. So even our group work embodied the number five. We gave and received a 5 pointed star treatment with five therapists hands on us!!
This was a very powerful session. Heather has a deep understanding of energy medicine. She shares this with gifted insight.
Session 2 – “Unearthing the treasures – Dr Stone’s unpublished writings” with Phil Young
Phil is a reservoir of polarity knowledge and probably knows more about Stone and his writings than any other living person. Apart from the three books we are familiar with Stone wrote many articles for his own newsletters and bulletins but also he kept notebooks and wrote journal and newspaper articles and gave many recorded lectures. Phil (and others) tracked down and he has much of this information in digital form.
From the late 1960s Polarity started to have a larger following. This appears to have been generated by Robert Hall ( a medical doctor who wrote intro to Stone’s Health Building book).
1971-73 Stone lived with Pierre Pannetier in California. Much of Polarity Therapy that we use today took form at that time. After 1973 Stone retired from teaching, agreed to hand Polarity Therapy responsibility to Pierre and went to India where he lived till his death.
Session 3 – “Raising your game with Polarity Therapy” with Jane Seaman
Jane is a Polarity Therapist, spa consultant and Director of “Raising your Game”. She applies polarity principles to her business of personal and professional consultancy.
I found this really interesting. She views all business organisations as organic entities that are based on arrangements of energy. She applies a therapist’s eye, mind and HEART to reviewing the health and balance of any business arrangement. When a business is unhealthy or stagnating she asks “where is the energy blocked?”. “What needs to be done to this energetic arrangement (business) to make it healthy?”
She took us through a process to practice this Polarity model on a business idea. In groups of three we did this. I developed by own business ideas using this model and found it was great to use. I had to keep putting on my therapist hat to look at issues I am facing in developing my own business. I can talk more to anyone who may be interested in this process (and give you some notes).
Jane shared yet another important application of Polarity understandings. This was a very practical session.
Session 4 – “Intuitive Yoga” with Eleanora Lipton from Atlanta, Georgia
This session was a sample of yoga that varies according to the intuition of the teacher and the expressed or perceived needs of the group. Like most yoga sessions it did follow a sequence of seated and prone stretching, kneeling and standing stretching and gentle asanas. It was good to have this session at the end of a big day. I slept well after this one.
Eleanora is a skilled yogi and Polarity practitioner. This session was delivered with great perception and fun.
Day 4
Session 1 -“Polarity – the journey home” with Peter Wydler
Peter played guitar and sang some of his own compositions. The lyrics illustrated relevant aspects of our journeying towards consciousness. This presentation was relaxed and varied and insightful.
Peter used a model taken from Indian/Hindu/Yogic cosmology to discuss life’s pathway through Koshas. This was Ok but I had to leave before he finished so did not hear his overall integrating comments that may have located the koshas in a 2013 sense. This “yogic” cosmology is a metaphor and really needs unpacking to create specific relevance for our Polarity journeying viewed through the lense of life in 2013. Unfortunately for me Peter did this after I had left the session early for my return flight to Sydney
Here is some info about the Koshas. They are interesting.
The five Koshas (sheaths) (from Peter and Wiki and me)
Anna maya kosha This is the sheath of the physical self, named from the fact that it is nourished by food. Living through this layer we identify ourselves with the body matter while the person of discrimination knows the self, the only reality that there is, as distinct from the body.
Prana maya kosha Pranamaya means composed of prana, the vital principle, the force that vitalises and holds together the body and the mind. It pervades the whole organism, its one physical manifestation is the breath. As long as this vital principle exists in the organisms, life continues.
Mano maya kosha Manomaya means composed of manas or mind. The mind (manas) along with the five sensory organs is said to constitute the manomaya kosa. The manomaya kosa, or “mind-sheath” is said more truly to approximate to personhood (self) than annamaya kosa and pranamaya kosha. It is the cause of diversity, of I, me and mine.
Vijnana maya kosha Vijnanamaya means composed of vijnana, or intellect, the faculty which discriminates, determines or wills.
This knowledge sheath cannot be the supreme self for the following reasons;
- It is subject to change.
- It is insentient.
- It is a limited thing.
- It is not constantly present.
Ananda maya kosha Anandamaya means composed of ananda, or bliss. In the Upanishads the sheath is known also as the causal body. In deep sleep, when the mind and senses cease functioning, it still stands between the finite world and the self.
IPEA 2014
There was no agreement about a venue and time for the next event in 2014. Arizona, Michigan and Europe are possibilities. And I reckon probably September/October 2014.