An experienced Advanced Instructor of Ortho-Bionomy® with additional skills in body-based therapy, trauma resolution, and imagery for healing, Sara Sunstein offers classes and presentations for personal enrichment and/or professional development. Students continually praise her for her clarity, expertise, and warmth.

Scroll below the Teaching Schedule to see descriptions of all Sara’s workshops and classes.

Sara is happy to teach in your work place, community group, or other venue, both locally and beyond the Bay Area. If interested in her presentations, workshops, or weekend seminars, please be in touch.

Any of you beyond the SF Bay Area who are reading this, should you feel inspired to bring Sara to your town to teach in-person, please be in touch! Sara’s available to travel.

If you’d like to be on Sara’s email list to be alerted to her teaching schedule, here’s the link to request to be on her Classes email list. Stay tuned for more trainings!

All Sara’s Ortho-Bionomy® classes fulfill training requirements for Society of Ortho-Bionomy (SOBI) trainings. 

Please note: “Phase 4, 5, and 6 are Ortho-Bionomy® shorthand for certain types of techniques, and don’t indicate an order for taking classes. There is no particular order–students may start when and with whatever suits them, assuming they have the pre-requisites. And many classes have no pre-requisites at all. (Phases 1-3 do not have classes. Learn why when you come to a class!)

COVID-19 Statement, 5/8/2023
Sara is still requiring masks during class. Given that students are in close contact with each other for extended lengths of time, this is continues to be reasonable; we’re protecting ourselves as well as each other. The classroom space has high ceilings and 2 air purifiers.

Prior to each class, attendees will be updated regarding masks.

2023 Teaching Schedule

In-Person Classes in Berkeley, CA

Ortho-Bionomy Basics, aka Phase 4: Joints, Bones, Muscles, whole body
Saturday March 18-Monday March 20, 2023
Learn how to invite the body to relax, release tensions and pain, and re-educate neuromuscular patterns. By working with the body, Ortho-Bionomy® takes advantage of the body’s innate healing reflexes, so it is both gentle and highly effective–and easy for the person doing it as well.
This class introduces students to the underlying principles of Ortho-Bionomy® and how to use them to release almost all the structural body, including spine, pelvis, shoulders, and limbs.
Please join us to learn how to help others and to receive renewing bodywork yourself throughout the 3 days! Did someone mention fun? Class includes that, too.
No pre-requisites.
Class Info and Registration

Isometrics–Activating Self-Correction and Transformation
Saturday, April 22-Sunday, April 23, 2023
Despite generally being thought of for strengthening, Isometrics are especially helpful for freeing “stuckness” (of body and/or attitude), balancing complementary muscles, and increasing range of motion. Promoting structural balance and neuromuscular re-education, they are beneficial when used by themselves or with other modalities.
No pre-requisites. 
Class Details and Registration

DIY Ortho-Bionomy®–Self-Care: Release, Relax, Revitalize
Saturday, May 6, 2023
Previous students have called this a relaxing and revitalizing one-day retreat! Initially you learn some concepts of Ortho-Bionomy® and how they relate to the body’s innate healing processes. The rest of the day is spent exploring ways to apply those concepts to create comfort and release tensions yourself.  Those of you who have experienced the “magic” and “doing nothing” of Ortho-Bionomy® will be delighted to learn ways to work your own magic! Please join us.
Pre-requisite: Ability to get down to floor and back up again, as some of the practices are done lying on the floor.
Class Details and Registration

Chapman’s Reflexes for Organs and Glands
Saturday, June 3-Sunday, June 4, 2023
Thanks to Frank Chapman, DO, we have a map of reflex points for organs and glands that he charted 100 years ago. Learn to locate, sense, and engage these points both on yourself and with another to stimulate lymph and nerve flow to and through organs and glands–supporting their optimal functioning and self-regulation. Class also includes groupings such as Respiratory, Immune, Digestion, as well as the Pelvis-Thyroid Connection. Curious? Come along to discover and explore.
No pre-requisites. Experience working with subtle perception helpful.
Class Details and Registration

Phase 5, Sensing Movement and Fluidity Within Stillness
Saturday, July 8-Sunday, July 9, 2023
Phase Five focuses on a subtle level of awareness, inviting a somatic conversation of listening, gently engaging, and allowing the self-corrective movements initiated by the client. Practicing Phase 5, we become much more attuned to subtle movements and flows in another. This is so valuable working with areas of pain that can’t tolerate movement, different aspects of the body including fascia, circulation, and nervous system, stimulating and strengthening self-healing reflexes, and “connecting the dots” between different body parts. Doing Phase 5, we deepen our practical understanding of Dr. Arhur Pauls’ comment, “The techniques are the philosophy made manifest.”
No pre-requisites.
Class Details and Registration

2 Study Groups: Ribs, Cranial
Saturday, July 22
9:30-12:30 Ribs–Ribs are so often short-changed in Phase 4 and Phase 5 classes. Here’s your chance to bring your questions, explore, and expand your skills working with ribs.
Pre-requisite: Phase 4 covering ribs and/or Phase 5.
2:00-5:00 Cranial–Seems we ran out ot time in the December class to cover everything as well as answer all your questions, so here’s a chance to catch up. Come with your questions and be ready to learn more about Cranial ala Ortho-Bionomy.®
Pre-requisite: Ortho-Bionomy® Cranial or substantial other cranial training.
Class Details and Registration

Posture and Integration Techniques
Saturday, August 12-Sunday, August 13, 2023
Ortho-Bionomy® uses direct observation and sensory experience to discover how postures enhance—or depress—our function, wholeness, and aliveness. And instead of judging or imposing a new set of tensions upon another, we seek to release inefficient holding patterns, and encourage innate healthy structure to become habit.

Integration techniques (also called Post-techniques) are gentle, rhythmic movements to promote and deepen the body’s understanding of increased mobility and releases that occurred during a session. The techniques are also used for assessment or freeing an area before doing specific work. Many of these techniques focus on vertebral individuation, however, there are techniques for other body parts as well.
Pre-requisite: Phase 4 spine and pelvis; preferably whole body.
Class Details and Registration

Phase 6, aka A Field Guide
Saturday-Sunday, September 9-10, 2023
Students learn to sense, contact, and work with flow in the fields around their bodies and their clients’ bodies–while maintaining clear boundaries, their own integrity. Sometimes called “aura work,” the techniques presented demonstrate that “off the body,” although invisible, is truly part of the body. Students learn to work with the field to support the body’s innate healing processes and recognize/activate the inter-relationship between energetic, emotional and physical levels.
Pre-requisite: None
Class Details and Registration

Women’s Care
Saturday-Monday, October 7-9, 2023
Three days focused on Ortho-Bionomy® geared especially to women’s bodies–“women” refers to those born biologically female, regardless of current gender identity. Learn about women’s unique anatomy and how structure and organs are so intimately and intricately connected. First day is basic Ortho-Bionomy® for pelvis and lumbar spine, then we move into specifics for women, addressing PMS, pregnancy, menopause, breasts, related trauma and emotions, and the richness within those topics.
Pre-requisites: None. Helpful, but not required: Phase 4 spine, pelvis, Ph 5, and/or Chapman’s Reflexes
Class Details and Registration

Ortho-Bionomy® DIY–Self-Care
By popular request, in 2 parts, a.m and p.m.
Saturday, October 28, 2023
9:30-12:30–You’ll learn relevant physiology (just a little) and basic Ortho-Bionomy® concepts, such as move away from pain into comfort! (such a concept, right?) And then how to apply all that to various parts of your body, like legs, arms, shoulders, spine, pelvis, and even psoas.

1:30-5:00–We get more involved in the moving body in the afternoon: gravity, support, and posture. Along with addressing stress via adrenal glands and the vagus nerve, as well as self-talk that isn’t always as beneficial as we’d like.
Pre-requisites: Ability to get down to floor and back up. Alot of the practices are done on floor. Morning or equivalent is required for afternoon.
Class Details and Registration

Resolving Trauma and Impact Injuries
Saturday-Monday, November 11-13, 2023
Our bodies know how to heal from trauma and impacts–we developed biologically to do such. But sometimes we don’t bounce back and part of us remains in the time and place of the trauma. Sometimes the force of the impact stays in our body like a huge splinter, awaiting release.
Through lecture, demonstrations, and hands-on practice, students will learn to recognize and work with:
–Impact injuries’ unique healing technique
–Physiology and signs of trauma response
–Client’s internal and external resources that facilitate resolution of trauma
–Components of healing trauma
–Relevant structural, visceral, and neural systems
Pre-requisite: Phase 4 and 5. Helpful: Phase 6  and Chapman’s Reflexes
Class Details and Registration

Basics Part II, Putting the Pieces Together, aka Advanced Phase 4
Saturday-Sunday, December 2-3, 2023
Phase 4 is all about different parts. In Part II, you’ll discover relationships between the parts, navigating from one part to the next,  and thus, navigating the body as a whole, putting the pieces together. You’ll also learn a few more “parts” such as diaphragm, sternum, jaw, and even more–and how they interrelate as well.
Pre-requisite: Phase 4 spine, pelvis, limbs
Class Details and Registration–coming soon

 
Online Classes

Ethics and Emotions
Thursday, November 16, 3-6 pm, Pacific time

We use the Society’s Code of Ethics as a starting point to look at ethical and emotional issues that come up during sessions, including boundaries, expectations/intentions, and addressing emotional responses that may arise.
This class satisfies E and E requirement for Associate level.
Pre-requisites: 16 units of Ortho-Bionomy® classes.
Class Info and Registration through Society of Ortho-Bionomy®

 

Descriptions of Presentations and Classes

PRESENTATIONS, 1-2 hours

Engaging Your Body’s Desire to Heal

An introduction to Ortho-Bionomy® that includes demonstration and experiential explanation of how this gentle art activates the body’s healing reflexes and quickly restores coherence, ease, and deep peace to the body. Participants additionally learn simple techniques based on Ortho-Bionomy® concepts to release tensions and pain in their own bodies.

PTSD from a Physiological Perspective

For general audience or can be specifically geared toward psychotherapists: This talk focuses on what occurs in the body during single incident and on-going traumas. It is illustrated by cases of Sara’s body therapy clients. The audience learns how the majority of PTSD symptoms arise from the body’s response to trauma and, therefore, can be addressed through body therapy. By understanding the physiological aspects of a survivor’s functioning, psychological constructs take on a new light. Treatment strategies may be chosen more effectively.

Sit Up Straight!

A small investment of time and attention to improve health and well-being for the rest of one’s life! Participants learn about the body’s innate structural balance that makes sitting erect easy; then they learn how to take advantage of their structures to “sit up straight” without effort…or scolding. And they immediately feel the benefits: tensions decrease throughout the body, breathing becomes more spacious, attention improves, circulation improves, and the heart, guts and brain function better.

Somatic Therapy—Decoding Psyche’s Links with the Body

This presentation describes how present-time attention to the body and sensations promotes physical and emotional healing and deepens self-understanding. Included are participant exercises and examples from Sara’s somatic therapy clients that demonstrate the connections between body and emotions. E.g. Smiling can make you happy. Try it right now!

Women’s Health Care, a hands-on approach

This presentation teaches about the interconnections of bony structures and ligaments with soft tissue that are unique to a woman’s pelvis and explains how subtle bodywork can engage these tissues to address “female” concerns, along with structural and energetic considerations, restoring balance, ease, and joy.

ORTHO-BIONOMY® SEMINARS, usually 2 days/16 hours, unless noted otherwise. All quotes, except as noted, are from students’ evaluations written anonymously at the end of the course.

Ortho-Bionomy® Basics: Joints, Bones, Muscle (aka Phase 4)

Open to all who wish to learn more about the body’s healing processes; all who wish to improve hands-on skills for helping others feel better. This foundation class covers:

  • A compassionate, affirming, non-forceful way to connect with another (and oneself)
  • Gentle hands-on techniques to assess, relax, release, and re-educate the body, joint by joint (spine, pelvis, ribs, shoulders, limbs)
  • History, philosophy and concepts underlying the techniques

Advanced Phase 4: Putting the Pieces Together

“I really enjoyed Sara’s explanation of working with the whole area instead of just the points, her openness and friendly manner as well.”

Develop depth and fluency in the basic techniques, learning more about body’s interconnections. For each major body part, students learn:

  • Other body parts it directly affects
  • Other body parts related to it
  • Emotions, behavior, energies associated with it
  • Additional Phase 4 techniques, including diaphragm and jaw.

Prerequisite:  Phase 4, spine, pelvis, limbs

Chapman’s Reflexes for Organs and Glands

“This Is a totally new concept to me and I found that it is amazingly effective.”

Chapman’s Reflexes, identified by osteopath Frank Chapman in the 1920s, are used to stimulate nerve and lymph flow to individual organs and glands. Working with the reflex points supports the body’s coming into balance and improves its function and self-healing abilities. Different systems in the body can be addressed by working with groups of points together. Class is open to

  • Body- and health-oriented professionals
  • Lay persons who want to learn more about self-healing or helping others

Specifics covered in this course:

  • Location, identification and palpation of Chapman’s Reflex points
  • Gentle methods to stimulate and release the points
  • Groups of reflexes to address endocrine system; gastro-intestinal function; respiratory system; immune system, allergies
  • Connections between structure and reflexes
  • Basic Ortho-Bionomy® concepts and release techniques for the pelvis

No Prerequisite

Cranial

Ortho-Bionomy® Cranial work is as much about the field around the head as the bones and interior. Students will learn Dr. Arthur Pauls’ approach to cranial work along with additional Ortho-Bionomy ways of tending to such an important part of our body.
Pre-requisite: Phase 5 or Sara’s permission

Demonstration Skills

Participants learn how to describe and present Ortho-Bionomy® to family, friends and the general public. Participants are supported in finding words to explain the experience of touch and presenting Ortho-Bionomy® in a clear and accurate way. Techniques for building confidence and improving public speaking and presentation are included.

Prerequisite: 32 hours of Ortho-Bionomy® and
ten practice sessions or Sara’s permission.

Ethics & Emotions

“I learned many, many things this class,
not only for my working with clients,
but for myself.”

This class could also be called Practitioner/Client Relationship–which, of course, begins with the practitioner’s relationship with her/himself. Through discussion and hands-on exercises, class covers ethical and emotional issues that come up during sessions, including boundaries, expectations/intentions, and addressing emotional responses that may arise. In addition, participants review the Society of Ortho-Bionomy International’s Code of Ethics.

Prerequisite: 32 hours of Ortho-Bionomy® and
ten practice sessions or Sara’s permission.

Isometrics—Beyond what you know from the gym

While isometrics are generally thought of for strengthening, they are especially helpful for freeing “stuckness” (of body and/or attitude) and increasing range of motion. Promoting structural balance and neuromuscular re-education, they are beneficial when used by themselves or with other modalities. Isometrics can be done as self-care or with another person. In a bodywork situation, they actively engage the client and provide change of pace for the practitioner.

This seminar is open to all who are interested and covers:

  • Why, when and how to use isometrics
  • Theory in practice—addressing the entire structure using isometrics
  • Isometrics for resolving trauma patterns
  • Isometrics for self-care

No Prerequisite

Posture & Integration Techniques

“I appreciated learning how approaching
the body as a moving organization
affects my choice of techniques.”

Rather than judge posture by certain standards to be good or bad, Ortho-Bionomy® uses direct observation and sensory experience to discover how postures enhance—or depress—our function, wholeness, and aliveness. And instead of imposing a new set of tensions upon another, we seek to release inefficient holding patterns, and encourage innate healthy structure to become habit.

Integration techniques (also called Post-techniques) are gentle, rhythmic movements, to promote and deepen the body’s understanding of its increased mobility and releases that occurred during a session. The techniques are also used for assessment or freeing an area before doing specific work. Many of these techniques focus on vertebral individuation, however, there are techniques for other body parts as well.

Specific content of course:

  • Reframing of myths about posture, posturing
  • Observation and hands-on skills to address sitting, standing, scoliosis, sunken chest, pigeon-toed, and other postural concerns
  • Integration techniques for spine, limbs, and ribs.

Prerequisite: Phase 4 spine and pelvis

Phase 5: Sensing Movement and Fluidity Within Stillness

“Many of your metaphors I find very enlightening.
I feel I learned a lot! Especially how to use myself
as instrument to perceive actively and beneficially.”

Phase Five focuses on a subtle level of awareness, inviting a somatic conversation of listening, gently engaging, and allowing the self-corrective movements initiated by the client. It is valuable for working with areas of pain that can’t tolerate movement, different layers of tissue, stimulating and strengthening self-healing reflexes, and “connecting the dots” between different body parts. Doing Phase 5, we deepen our practical understanding of Dr. Arhur Pauls’ comment, “The techniques are the philosophy made manifest.”

Students learn to:

  • Sense, connect with, and allow the subtle flows and movements in another person
  • Stimulate the healing reflexes defined by Arthur L. Pauls, DO,that activate self-correction, awareness, balance, and integration
  • Address specific parts of the body, including spine, hips, shoulders, eyes, and ears, using the reflexes
  • Remain in their own experience and feel the quality of that experience, while being-with subtle movements of another.

No Prerequisite

Phase 6: A Field Guide

This class teaches students to sense, contact, and work with flow in the fields around their bodies and their clients’ bodies. Sometimes called aura work, the techniques presented demonstrate that “off the body” is truly part of the body. Students learn to work with the field to support healing and recognize/activate the inter-relationship between energetic, emotional and physical levels.

No Prerequisite

Resolving Impacts and Trauma

Our bodies know how to heal from trauma and impacts–we developed biologically to do such. But sometimes we don’t bounce back and part of us remains in the time and place of the trauma. Sometimes the force of the impact stays in our body like a huge splinter, awaiting release.
Through lecture, demonstrations, and hands-on practice, students will learn about and how to work with:

  • Physiology and signs of trauma response
  • Components of healing trauma
  • Appropriately addressing relevant structural, visceral, and neural systems
  • Impact injuries’ unique healing technique
  • Client’s internal and external resources that facilitate resolution of trauma

Pre-requisites: Phase 4 and 5

Self-Care

“Your seminar was fantastic!
It is carrying over into my everyday life.
Thank you so much.”

– P.C.

Open to all who wish to learn about their bodies and ways to initiate self-healing. Students learn simple, gentle techniques to ease neck, shoulders, low back, alignment and more. Each session includes comfortable “constructive rest” positions, gentle movements, guided visualizations for health, and individual attention. Concepts underlying the practices are explained, so participants can adapt them to their own needs in any instance.

No Prerequisite.            8 hours, sometimes split into 2 hours x 4 sessions

Women’s Care

The health, function, and balance of female parts and pelvic structure are intimately linked.  Students learn:

  • physical interconnections in the pelvis that are unique to women’s bodies
  • ways to work with bones, ligaments, organs and reflex points to restore function, balance, and     ease to structure, organs, and glands
  • Ortho-Bionomy® support for post-mastectomy pain, range of motion, scarring, and lymphedema
  • tips on breast health
  • and more

Pre-requisite: Phase 4 pelvis and spine

Study Groups

“I enjoyed your relaxed but confident teaching style,
and look forward to more learning. Thank you.”

– Sara

3-hour classes with a specific focus: a part of the body, a particular Phase, supervised practice, or other aspects of doing Ortho-Bionomy®. Pre-requisites depend on the topic.