Body Mandala
Posture, Perception, and Presence
Now in its second edition, Body Mandala is an experiential guide to using your body as the focus of contemplative practice.
Presents more than 50 physical self-explorations that invite you to transform your sensory experience, expand your awareness, and practice embodied presence
Integrates movement theory, neuroscience, fascia research, and personal story to examine the structural foundation of the human body in motion and in stillness
Includes streaming audio and video links for each practice
Our physical structure, often known simply as “posture,” is shaped by the balance of tension between our bones and soft tissues—fasciae, tendons, muscles, and ligaments—as well as by the mental, emotional, and physical stresses we experience. This tensional integrity, or “tensegrity,” along with our sensory experiences, movements, and physical expressions all offer access points for developing fully embodied presence—that is, for engaging the body’s capacity for perception, expanded awareness, and even spiritual presence.
Offering an experiential understanding of the structural foundation of the human body in motion and in stillness, Bond presents more than 50 self-explorations that allow you to transform your sensory experience, expand your awareness, and make embodiment—your own complex body—the focus of contemplative practice. The author also includes streaming audio and video links for each practice.
Purchase Body Mandala:
“I am enjoying and getting great benefit from reading the Body Mandala book. I am going through it slowly but can see that I will definitely be reading the entire book and repeating some parts (as I have already) over and over again. I love the personal stories you share. This book and your classes are helping me a great deal. I love this Rolf stuff! Little by little, I am improving with age!”
“As a fellow journeyer I resonate with your unique brand of clarity, humor, and practicality, and as an Irish person I really resonate with your humor. Thank you for all that you do and for being willing to share it.”
The New Rules of Posture
How to Sit, Stand, and Move in the Modern World
A manual for understanding the anatomical and emotional components of posture in order to heal chronic pain
Contains self-help exercises and ergonomics information to help correct unhealthy movement patterns
Teaches how to adopt suitable posture in the modern sedentary world
Many people cause their own back and body pain through their everyday bad postural and movement habits. Many sense that their poor posture is probably the root of the problem, but they are unable to change long-standing habits.
In The New Rules of Posture, Mary Bond approaches postural changes from the inside out. She explains that healthy posture comes from a new sense we can learn to feel, not by training our muscles into an ideal shape. Drawing from 35 years of helping people improve their bodies, she shows how habitual movement patterns and emotional factors lead to unhealthy posture.
Bond identifies the key anatomical features that impact alignment, particularly in light of our modern sedentary lives, and proposes six zones that help create postural changes: the pelvic floor, the breathing muscles, the abdomen, the hands, the feet, and the head. She offers self-help exercises that enable healthy function in each zone as well as information on basic ergonomics and case histories to inspire us to think about our own habitual movements. This book is a resource for Pilates, yoga, and dance instructors as well as healthcare professionals in educating people about postural self-care so they can relieve chronic pain and enjoy all life activities with greater ease.
Purchase The New Rules of Posture:
“I had been struggling with persistent injuries while running that I suspected were the result of “bad” posture, especially shin splints. I looked for some resources and found The New Rules of Posture. After reading a few pages, I could tell that your approach was different because it wasn’t so structural based and didn’t just rely on stretching more and fixing a “correct” pose.
You now have me attuned to all these small and subtle parts of my body that I just wasn’t aware of or taking account of. So much of my shin splint problem was coming from tension in my shoulders and neck. But beyond running, I just feel more relaxed now.
Thanks again, I’m grateful for your work.”
Rolfing in Motion (Audiobook)
A Guide to Balancing Your Body
Much of what we experience as physical tension or stress is the result of an imbalanced body. In this CD, Mary Bond presents a selection of 38 structural awareness exercises from her book, Balancing Your Body, that teach the listener to recognize and respond in appropriate ways to the body's inner messages. Beginning with an exploration of your habitual standing and walking patterns, these exercises guide the listener through a variety of experiences that contribute to standing, sitting, and walking with fluidity, balance, and ease. This unique self-help program will help to create new freedom in your physical expression and improve your well-being and vitality.
Purchase Rolfing in Motion:
Balancing Your Body
A Self-Help Approach to Rolfing Movement
Going beyond good posture and movement efficiency, Mary Bond presents a unique self-help program of body transformation. Much of what we experience as physical tension or stress is the result of an imbalanced body. When our physical structure is habitually bent, twisted, and compressed, the body glues itself together with tension in order to remain upright. Bond demonstrates how the connective tissue that holds our bodies together is actually very flexible and will, with encouragement, adapt to new, healthy patterns of posture and movement.
Rolfing Movement combines touch and verbal messages to help you become more responsive to your body's inner cues. The author offers a practical series of structural awareness exercises that will help you redirect your awareness to internal sensations of tension or balance. These movement explorations are written as scripts so that you can practice the movements with detailed directions. By learning to recognize and respond appropriately to your body's internal messages, you will discover a new freedom of expression in your body, leading to a marked increase in health and vitality.