I am happy to announce that I will be teaming up with instructor Sylvie Hetu again this year to bring both The Massage in Schools Programme (MISP) and the International Association of Infant Massage (IAIM) instructor training to BC. We have two dates planned for each course this year. The MISP trainings will take place April 12-13 and August 25-26 with the IAIM being the four days following in both cases. We are happy to offer a tuition break of $150 off for anyone who is interested in attending both the MISP and the IAIM courses.

A break down of the logistics for each course is listed below. If you have further questions please feel free to contact me.

Massage in Schools Programme Instructor Training
Dates: April 12-13 2012 or August 25-26 2012
Location: Utopia Academy of Massage Therapy, 220-181 Keefer Place Vancouver
Price: $300 ($50 off if also enrolling in IAIM instructor training)
CECs (for Registered Massage Therapists): 10

International Association of Infant Massage Instructor Training
Dates: April 14-17 2012 or August 27-30 2012
Location: Utopia Academy of Massage Therapy, 220-181 Keefer Place Vancouver
Price: $600 ($100 off if also enrolling in MISP instructor training)
CECs (for Registered Massage Therapists): 24

A local newspaper writer has done a story about the MISP and efforts to bring it to our community. You can see the story here:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_thompson_nicola/kamloopsthisweek/news/121732489.html

Vital Point Acupuncture joins with Acupuncturists Without Borders (AWB) to participate in the fourth international volunteer project called World Healing Exchange

To enable the success of the project, Vital Point Acupuncture is excited to host a Community Awareness fundraiser event. The aim of this event is to promote acupuncture in the community, educate the public about AWB, their vision, and why Jennifer Larsen is excited to be a part of this volunteer effort. The event will take place on Saturday February 19, 2011 from 3-5pm at Let’s Move Studio located at 925 McGill Place, Kamloops. Event will include a short presentation, free community style acupuncture treatments accompanied by a crystal bowls meditation and gentle yoga (no special dress or mats needed). Raffle prizes will be offered and there will be a silent auction with contributions from many great supporting local businesses. General Admission is by donation and is open to the public.

Funds raised will be donated to AWB for this project and to help with the purchase of supplies. (Please note only cash or cheque donations can be received at this event) Please join us to help make this event and project a success.

The next MISP instructor’s training will be held in on May 28th and 29th 2011 in Kamloops BC. The course will be taught by MISP founder and author of “Touch in Schools: a revolutionary strategy for replacing bullying with respect and for reducing violence”, Sylvie Hetu.The cost for the two day workshop, including your manual and refreshments during the course is $299. If you have any further questions, or would like to register, please call me at 778-220-0589 or email me using the form below. To learn more about MISP click here.

The Massage in Schools Programme (MISP) offers a new solution to the unsettling problem of classroom bullying. It aims to increase respect and tolerance in schools by teaching children empathy through peer massage. While the program is now in its tenth year and quite well- established in the United Kingdom and Australia, it is just beginning to gain attention in Canada. For the first time in BC there will be an MISP instructor’s training course on January 29th-30th 2011.

The foundation of the Massage in Schools Programme is quite simple. A qualified instructor leads the children in a seated chair massage with a partner. Massage is done on the head and over the clothes on the back, shoulders and arms. It follows an 8 minute routine, with children exchanging roles so that they all experience massaging and being massaged. The reported positive affect from these short sessions is astonishing.

Teachers who are using the program in their classrooms report a quieter and calmer atmosphere where children are more respectful. The MISP has also been observed to help children with confidence and aggression issues. Parents claim that children involved in the MISP at school fight less with their siblings at home.

One reason that the MISP works may be because of the hormone oxytocin which is released into the blood stream during massage in both the giver and receiver. Oxytocin is one of the hormones in humans responsible for feelings of calm and wellbeing and is also linked to social bonding. At a biochemical level, peer massage helps children to relax and get along, even if they don’t realize it.

The two-day training workshop is ideal for teachers, early childhood educators, school nurses, massage therapists, infant massage instructors, parents and anyone else who works with children. If you would like to learn more about how to bring this powerful anti-bullying tool into your community please visit www.jennjohnsonrmt.com/classes-and-workshops or go to The Massage in Schools Programme website at www.massageinschools.com.

Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Have you ever stopped to think about your lungs? Air passages branching off, once below your throat, again in each lung, two in the right, three in the left and again and again and again. Smaller and smaller until the air spaces look like a million little leaves. Turn this upside down and you have a tree, a head of cauliflower. When nature finds a good design she tends to reuse it.

Feel the rhythm of your heart beat. This pulse so intimately linked with your breath. Blood traveling from body to heart to lungs, back to the heart and then out into the body to begin again. These tiny cells picking up vital oxygen and taking it just where you need it, clearing out the waste and taking that to be exhaled, released, let go of. With every exhale you let go of what you no longer need.

Your muscles and bones, the structure that makes you who you are. The definition of your physical self. The face you see in the mirror, your ability to move, to dance – to sit quietly, nobly upright, stable as a mountain. The good sore you feel after you’ve pushed yourself to your limit and maybe just beyond as your muscles re-grow, stronger than before, more able to take what comes.

Miles of electrical wiring, more intricate than the most advanced computer. You breathe with no thought, you stand and walk and talk with utmost simplicity because of this miraculous design. Motor output, sensory input and an ever-changing and incessant feedback system to make it all just so.

This is your body. Your beautiful, miraculous, one-in-a-million body. The only one you get. Give thanks and take care of it.

Published in the Yoga Tree Magazine September-October 2010 edition

I was recently informed of an exciting new book that’s been written and published by Mia Elmsäter and Sylvie Hétu, the women who created the Massage In Schools Programme (MISP), entitled “Touch in Schools: a revolutionary strategy for replacing bullying with respect and for reducing violence”.

When I was going to massage therapy school I got a chance to work with a massage therapist in Vernon who was running a Massage In Schools Program. We went into one of the local school and visited a grade one, grade two/three and grade four/five class and spent about 20 mintues to a half hour in each class walking the children through a simple chair massage routine. Chairs were neatly organized into rows, the children paired up and decided who would go first and the receiver took his or her seat sideways on the chair, the massager standing behind. My mentor would go through the strokes while all the children followed along on their partners’ backs.

It was beautiful to see the determined looks on their faces as they tried to get the moves just right, or to see the ones receiving close thier eyes and quietly sink into the relaxation of thier classmates touch while minutes before they had been bouncing off the walls. Massage In Schools has been shown to decrease stress levels in the children who participate, leading to better concentration at school and better sleep. It’s an amazing and powerful idea and I’m so glad that Mia and Sylvie have written this book so that word can be spread. This will be a must read for all of those who work in education, for parents with a child in elementary school or for anyone who loves children. To learn more about MISP click here. To learn more about the Touch In School book click here.

I’m also very excited to be involved now with MISP in bringing a course to BC. I will be helping to organize a two-day MISP course in Vancouver sometime in the new year. If you or anyone you know might be interested in taking the course, please let me know and I will keep you informed as the planning progresses.