Recently I have been doing Connective Tissue Exercise classes with Kate Greenaway; these have been an immense support to me in helping me learn a new way to exercise and to develop a relationship with my body in a loving and gentle way.
Growing up I very much disliked being forced to run and play sports at school, which felt very taxing on my little body. I would do anything to get out of doing high impact sports that did not feel right, including lifting heavy weights in the school gym. I would get teary when school sports or P.E classes would come around; I had to push myself to run as the impact would feel shocking to my body.
In my adult years the only time I would exercise was to release my anger and life’s frustrations out on a punching bag; I would exercise very harshly without any focus and connection to my body whatsoever. I would move my body in a way to self-abuse and not feel what was under all my rage and anger. Sports and intense exercise had felt abusive to me when I was younger and so I used it to abuse my body – to push myself under intense hardness and stress that made me numb to my feelings.
I had moved in such hardness, with no presence and focus, as I had decided my body was a ‘thing’ that just carried me around; I had no idea there was another way to be with my body. I had no relationship with my body and what a horrible lonely feeling that was!!
Through my private sessions with Kate Greenaway and participating in Connective Tissue exercise classes, I have been shown a way to exercise with very slight and gentle movements that feel so supportive and loving to my body. This has helped me immensely to help reconnect to my own loveliness from which I have been so disconnected since I was a young child.
The Connective Tissue exercise classes have taught me to focus on my breathing, connect to my body, to assess how I am feeling and how my body feels before my very first movement – and for each one after that. Each connective tissue exercise movement is like the most amazing oil change my body is receiving, and in such a gentle flowing way.
I now love walking in my body… enjoying the gentle flowing feeling and the movement of my arms that supports me as I walk. Recently I have discovered there is a skeleton in my body: the pelvic alternations exercise laying on my back has reconnected me to my pelvis area which feels magnificent, and is confirmed when I walk. Walking in the past I would always be ‘checked out’ and just getting from A to B, but now having this simple technique I love feeling my pelvis moving up and down; this has helped me stay connected and focussed, without the constant head chatter.
For the first time I am now enjoying being in my body: it is not such a scary place to be in after all and I will forever be deepening the connection that I am building in my body.
I have experienced that Connective Tissue exercise helps me deal with the anxiety and raciness that I have been entrenched in – just stopping and taking time to apply some of the simple connective tissue techniques helps ease this.
Slowly I am coming out of long term exhaustion that was a repercussion of how I chose to live in the past when not taking care of myself. I find that doing these exercises in the morning and evening before bed have helped my energy levels throughout the day – I am no longer running on constant nervous energy and ending up feeling exhausted which is how I previously lived. Also, being more connected with my body has made me less emotional through developing a true relationship with my body.
This has helped me feel more confident in myself in everyday activities – I don’t get as drawn into the emotional ups and downs like before. The more I develop and enjoy the connection with my body, feeling the gentleness in my movements, the less emotional I naturally become.
With 20 years in the baking/pastrycooking industry, my 2am routine was to throw my alarm clock and get out of bed 20 minutes before my shift would start. I allowed just enough time to throw my uniform on, splash my face with cold water, squeeze toothpaste into my mouth and walk with my shoes half on until I got into my car. Driving to work at 100 miles an hour, drawing back on a cigarette or two, I would walk into work without even realising how I got there as my body was still in bed!
Since being introduced to Connective Tissue, this has all changed for me and I now take all the time I need to prepare myself for the day. My morning starts with connective tissue exercises before I do anything else, connecting with my body in a lovely gentle way. It has helped me so much to set up my day with ME and to take my gentleness wherever I go. Certainly I am far from perfect, however, supported by Connective Tissue, I am learning to deepen my connection with my body more and more each day.
For the first time in my life I am beginning to feel how much exercise, and what type of exercise, is right for me – instead of following the expectations of someone else telling me what to do.
I have been deeply inspired by Kate Greenaway, her dedication to the Connective Tissue exercises, and what these exercises have to offer in teaching and reflecting back to us that there is another way to exercise. Also that it is possible to be another way with ourselves by connecting with our body with such gentle tender flowing movements – and how effective and powerful this connection can be.
Forever inspired by the teachings of The Ageless Wisdom
By Kim Schultz, NSW
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
Kim this is a very powerful sharing because through your deep connection with your body you have supported me and others to connect more deeply with their bodies and this to me right now feels sublime. Thank you.
Kim, recently I was with a group of people and took part in a Yoga session that had at the end of the session Connective Tissue exercises. And even though I have had many Connective Tissue sessions with Universal Medicine practitioners I was blown away by how just the most simple delicate movements of our body can produce such a difference to how my body feels. When we allow the Lymphatic fluid to flow this seems to produce so much space in our bodies which give our bodies permission to move more easily and freely.
“For the first time I am now enjoying being in my body: it is not such a scary place to be in after all and I will forever be deepening the connection that I am building in my body” – I can very much relate to this. I used to think that to enjoy being in the body was a right reserved only for those who with high physical specs either in its capabilities or appearance. The way we have objectified the body has done much damage to our connection to the body.
Thank you Kim, I used to do the Connective Tissue exercises daily and now I do so a few times a week, you’ve inspired me to do these more regularly again. For some reason I hadn’t considered the exercises as a support for a racy mind but it makes perfect sense that it would help by bringing me back into the body.
Also, to maybe bring in whilst walking, ‘I love feeling my pelvis moving up and down; this has helped me stay connected and focussed, without the constant head chatter.’
Good reminder of the power of connective tissue exercises. I remember the first time I ever did a sequence – I felt like my whole life had transformed!
Connective tissue exercises are a wonderful way to explore how every tissue in our body is connected and by gentle exercise each area of the body supports another.
It’s like brotherhood expressed through the body.
As well as supporting us to be connected with our bodies, ‘For the first time I am now enjoying being in my body’.
“I have been shown a way to exercise with very slight and gentle movements that feel so supportive and loving to my body. ” I agree, paying attention and staying present with these exercises allows me to truly feel where my body is at. Deep appreciation for this modality.
I wonder how much our movements reinforce or cement a certain way of life, and if the way we move actually trains our body in how it needs to be in life, so if we move super gently it learns that is how it’s meant to be, whereas if our movements are hard or disregarding then that cements a certain kind of movement.
I love using these simple exercises each day, they are massively supportive and when I do not do them, I notice the difference in my body throughout the day.
These Connective Tissue exercises support different people according to the area that needs extra support, ‘I have experienced that Connective Tissue exercise helps me deal with the anxiety and raciness that I have been entrenched in – just stopping and taking time to apply some of the simple connective tissue techniques helps ease this.’
Great to hear you are loving your body and enjoying being in this more … very inspiring ✨
And to hear of the other benefits you are receiving from doing the Connective Tissue exercises, ‘I am no longer running on constant nervous energy and ending up feeling exhausted which is how I previously lived.’
I love using esoteric connective tissue movements at work to gently keep my connection to my body active whilst working. It is super simple, profoundly beneficial and very natural.
I agree Joshua, although I also know that I can feel so under the pump that I feel like ‘don’t have time, not even a minute to spare’ to do a connective tissue exercise. Sometimes I get so caught up in this near panic that I don’t even stop to clean my smeary glasses! But what I have also found is that my concept of time is dependant more on my relationship with it than the actual number of minutes or hours that I have. So when I am able to re-connect with my body it is able to let go of some of the tension that’s been building and just getting that foot in the door is enough to start slowing the hands of time down and more of a sense of space starts to open up.
Connective Tissue exercises are super simple, and great to use as a stop moment to re-connect with our body, ‘The Connective Tissue exercise classes have taught me to focus on my breathing, connect to my body, to assess how I am feeling and how my body feels before my very first movement ‘
If we are all honest the way we rush and run ourselves ragged in today’s world, we can often be far too disrespectful of our bodies and take them for granted – that is until they breakdown and become ill, for that can often be a huge wake-up call. My experience of connective tissue is that it is literally a breath of fresh air for my body, and an opportunity to re-calibrate so to speak, so I can begin again.
You’re so right, we ignore our body’s messages at our peril. Its no surprise if we have ‘run ourselves ragged’ there has to be a payback time. No wonder nations’ health services are bankrupting…..
How we live has a big impact on our health, ‘Slowly I am coming out of long term exhaustion that was a repercussion of how I chose to live in the past when not taking care of myself.’
Connective Tissue Therapy is so powerful and deceptive when it comes to bringing energy up and out of the body. Because it is performed in such a delicate and unobtrusive way that a person may initially think that it isn’t working but you soon get to know that it can shift mountains of held onto emotions.
Yes the subtlety of the exercises made me initially feel they weren’t ‘doing’ anything! How wrong I was. The attention to detail and the presence shifts an enormous amount, as you say Julie. The more I focus on being, not doing, the more free my body becomes.
So many benefits from such subtle and simple exercises, ‘This has helped me feel more confident in myself in everyday activities – I don’t get as drawn into the emotional ups and downs like before.’
We can easily be in several places at once when the head leads the way; only thing is that it is very taxing on the physical body and saps our vitality and drains the joy out of life. Being connected to the body brings alertness, focus and a stillness that is worth every second we move in and from it.
I recently attended a Universal Medicine Connective Tissue level 2 course and I was fascinated by the delicateness that is within our bodies that we mask with many protective layers. Since attending this course there is no doubt in my mind that our bodies are very delicate and extremely sensitive. So is it any wonder we harden ourselves to cope with life because we are discouraged from showing any signs of this natural way of being. Why is it we treat ourselves with so much disregard when we in fact are so sensitive this doesn’t make any sense to me at all?
When we feel exhausted it is a sign that our movements are going against the body’s natural rhythm, the more present we become with our body and move in a gentle delicate way in rhythm with our body, we soon realise how much we are able to do without getting tired and exhausted.
Learning to move in a delicate and present way is so crucial for our long term health, plus it feels amazing when you move really taking care of yourself and your body.
Yes, moving with presence, delicateness and purpose is crucial for our well-being.
I feel that we often do all that we can to avoid connecting to our bodies because we don’t want to feel the uncomfortable feelings, be it anxiety or frustration etc. It just feels easier to not feel them, pretend they’re not there and carry on overriding what we can feel. But as long as we distract ourselves from feeling our feelings, we never really deal with them or the underlying issue. Allowing ourselves to feel what is there to be felt just by simply connecting to our bodies and moving gently is actually an amazing process, because we develop a different relationship with what we can feel, and the potential to always learn from it becomes more obvious.
There are so many different aspects tied into avoiding our bodies but at the end of the day we’ll never know who we truly are unless we connect with them because the truth of who we are comes through our unadulterated bodies. And that is why so many of us have lost sight of who we all are and that’s because we’ve allowed all manner of who we are not to flood through them.
Kate Greenaway’s understanding of the physical body is nothing short of a miracle. Her ability to offer renewal for each person through simple and easy exercises that activate the connective tissue is something that the world needs to know about.
Esoteric Connective Tissue Therapy is the one esoteric healing modality that allows my body to deeply, deeply rest and feel the rhythmic pulse of stillness; the truth of me there inside my body. To feel myself in this quality is exquisite. From this point anything is possible, and everything is clear.
“…connecting with my body in a lovely gentle way” – and really allows for our whole approach to life to change too through observing the quality/connection that we are having with our body and why for me these Esoteric Connective Tissue exercises are so life-changing. Change the movement; change your life.
It is extraordinary how simple the Esoteric Connective Tissue Therapy is, yet also so deeply healing and powerful.
I can so relate to wanting to run away from PE classes. I often felt physically challenged and awkward and basically not good enough, and I guess that would explain how disconnected I became from the body. It feels amazing when exercise is about building a connection with our body, getting to know how we can enjoy being in it while moving with it. It feels very empowering and confirming.
Connection with the body brings a very different quality to our movements and is vastly superior to just throwing the body around and use it to do what we demand it ought to do.
Yesterday I attended a workshop with Kate Greenaway and she shared her wisdom, in her own playful way, about Connective Tissue and let us feel the difference when we are connected to ourselves and do a movement honouring our body/connective tissue or disconnected and harsh, abrupt movement and the contraction the body/connective tissue has to go into. What an amazing support we give our body with these beautiful rhythmic and fluid exercises to move in our true way.
We make sports as competition. To compete, you need a body that is hard. Yet, we are not told the devastating consequences of hardening our bodies. Without realizing what we are doing, when we harden the body we are reducing the quality of what we then move. This fact comes back to us in different ways.
“The more I develop and enjoy the connection with my body, feeling the gentleness in my movements, the less emotional I naturally become.” Being at ease with my body, releasing the tension, hardness and protection in my body so I have become far more open and consequently far less emotionally reactive. Without a doubt freeing the body frees the mind.
“Connective Tissue Exercise: Discovering a Different Way to Exercise and to be with my Body” – after I’ve had a session of Esoteric Connective Tissue the way my body feels is connected and at full ease… and having attended a 3 day workshop to learn this modality I felt the most in order ever in my life. It’s a life-changing profound modality and the hands on treatment is the most gentle and subtle ever.
Connective Tissue therapy has helped me to re-connect with and love my body in a way that truly sustains me in life.
Esoteric Connective Tissue Therapy exercises have been pivotal in my own reaquantince with my body. They have been and continue to be a daily practice that offers support to my body and the vitality in my body like no other exercise.
I could feel what you have written is such a huge support to your life, that the body is an amazing support to us. I feel very inspired to go deeper with myself as I too work in a very hard industry and I love all the support needed.
There is a beauty here in being open to what your body has to say about moving and walking, and how the Connective Tissue Exercises are a really great support for that, for opening up and discovering the wisdom that the body speaks all of the time.
I have learnt and practiced some of the Esoteric Connective Tissue exercises too, I absolutely love them. I think too often we don’t realise how harshly we move our bodies and learning to move them in a way the leaves them not hard, but open and expansive is invaluable.
Beautifully shared Kim how supportive and flowing Connective Tissue exercises can be, it is a great way for us to set up our day with these gentle movements, feeling more connected and open with our bodies.
In less than 6 months of practicing Esoteric Connective Tissue exercises on a daily basis, I have noticed some profound effects that have spread into all aspects of my life. Coming from a long history of playing almost every sport out there and beating up my body on a regular basis, these exercises bring a sigh of relief and I can almost here my body saying “Thank you, you are finally honouring and nurturing me!”. I have noticed too how I have been much more connected to my body and been moving more gently in my work as a mechanic, with less incidences of bumping into things, injuring my hands, and have not been as reactive or subject to changing my natural work rhythm when under pressure by management. These exercises make my joints, muscles, and rest of my body feel so much more open, spacious, fluid, and silky in their movements, with more flexibility than I have had since I was a teenager. Simple, subtle, but profound in their effects.
How beautiful it is to enjoy being in this body, to feel the flow and grace and loveliness. Esoteric Connective Tissue Therapy and Esoteric Yoga have been, and still are, so supportive in and to this process.
Bringing attention to the quality of my movements has been improved with connecting to my body more in Connective tissue exercise. Reminding me that the body naturally knows how to hold and move itself in a loving and supportive way.
My body loves Connective Tissue exercises! When I do them my body just melts with appreciation. It is what my body has craved for so long.
It is allowing my body to release all the hardness I have been carrying around.
It is supporting me to remember how I used to move, how I was meant to move.
It is accomplishing in weeks, what 20 years of americanized yoga has failed to do.
Thank you!
I just love reading stories of people returning to themselves and their bodies, and how much Universal Medicine therapies are supporting people to do that. A pertinent reminder that the answer does lie in our bodies and our connection to them. One by one, the anxiousness is dropping from our bodies and we are returning to walking in our grace and power.
Connective Tissue exercises are such a contrast to how exercise is performed today. With no pushing, rushing or harshness and the body loves it.
Kim I cannot agree with you more in the deep healing Connective Tissue Therapy brings for our bodies. I have just completed Esoteric Yoga which combined Connective Tissue movements and with it being my first experience, my body absolutely loved it, and as already mentioned the body feels its being ‘oiled’ and the parts are being re-connected afte centuries of being apart.
I still have more to go but I know every time I do something for my body, it responds and says – more please.
Recently attending an online combination of Esoteric Yoga and Connective Tissue therapy has been amazing. Becoming aware of every movement in my body, and how my Connective Tissue glides and moves has brought a new awareness for the beauty of this amazing modality.
I cannot underestimate and more highly recommend this modality Esoteric Connective Tissue Therapy – the way my body moves afterwards is restored… it’s like all the fluids in the body that were jammed up in teeny crevices and tiny corners they all start to move, to flow and circulate refreshing and flushing out. It’s like washing your hair squeaky clean and then applying luxurious conditioner. Silky.
“Each connective tissue exercise movement is like the most amazing oil change my body is receiving, and in such a gentle flowing way.” This is a beautiful description of feeling the flow of energy through your body with Esoteric Connective Tissue Therapy.
“Sports and intense exercise had felt abusive to me when I was younger and so I used it to abuse my body” Amazing realisation here. This helps me understand more deeply why some people have such an abusive relationship with exercise – whether in using it as a way to punish or relieve ourselves or by avoiding it completely or being inconsistent with it. All abusive.
Breathing gently, in touch and connection to my body in all my movements including exercise has brought a feeling of joy back to my body. Life has become simpler with my exercise routine being a support I want to do. It’s not hard and forced like it use to be.
Esoteric Connective Tissue Therapy is a blessing form heaven, it allows us to reconnect to the beauty and intricacy of our bodies where we no longer allow abuse but instead can choose a more gentle way of treating our bodies.
The magic of connective tissue happens equally if not more so outside the treatment / session room where we begin to initiate exactly how we feel to integrate the newly found quality into our everyday movements.
I have been doing Connective Tissue Movements and classes off and on for several years now. Each time I am surprised by how much my body loves them and much more open and lovely it feels. With what I know about what type of movement actually supports my body now, I can see a big shift needs to happen, especially in the hard and forceful way we exercise.
“Each connective tissue exercise movement is like the most amazing oil change my body is receiving…” – Our movements do make such a difference to how our body feels – the quality of the movement makes all the difference – a quality that is impulsed from inside of us without a picture of it needing to look or be a certain fixed way.
“For the first time I am now enjoying being in my body: it is not such a scary place to be in after all and I will forever be deepening the connection that I am building in my body.” – This is an amazing revelation Kim as there are so many of us that walk around not liking being in our body! And so we use all means to dull ourselvs out with foods and drinks, or harden what we feel with harsh exercise, or blind ourselves with mindless entertainment. There are a multitude of ways to silence the body and the are sold like cheap buns everywhere around us…It takes a lot to say no to this, and to actually turn around and let ourselves first be honest with how we feel, and then to say ‘OK, I am ready to feel more and change the way I am that is contributing to how I actually feel’ – this is true power: the power of allowing the awareness and then the willingness to make the needed changes. Thank you Kim for your inspiring sharing!