Spring 2006

Article

Bent Out of Shape

By Elizabeth Michel M.D.

For eight years now a quiet parade has been going on in Encinitas that should make SDIBA members proud. Since its publication in 1997, one thousand copies of Bent Out of Shape: Anatomy and Alignment for Bioenergetic Trainees have marched from my house to the local post office to set out on journeys to five continents (no orders yet from Africa or Antarctica). While the majority of books travel by safe, speedy routes to Bioenergetic and Core Energetic trainees within the U.S., others face challenging treks. Sending a box of books abroad can be risky for me (out-of-country shipments are uninsurable) and frustrating for foreign trainees (reading assignments may come due before the box comes out of the cargo ship). Yet so far every single book has eventually arrived at its destination. In addition, I have royalty arrangements for two other small editions of Bent Out of Shape: Brazilian Bioenergetic trainers have translated the book into Portuguese, and a down-under Core Energetic institute makes its own copies because the U.S.-Australia mail boat takes three months to arrive.

Bent Out of Shape was very much a joint SDIBA project during the 1990's. In fact, SDIBA's trainers dreamed up the idea of initiating anatomy instruction, not I. Without their nurturing over many years, I would not have been able to devise a curriculum with a unique bioenergetic perspective. Nor would I have been able to press on to expand my lecture notes, add illustrations, and self-publish Bent Out of Shape. The late, great, sometimes pushy but always supportive Bob Jacques was a particularly important mentor. Barb Thompson and Sandy Adler worked with me to shape the new curriculum for their trainee group; Vincentia Schroeter, Bill White, and Mac Eaton helped me always to persevere.

The first SDIBA trainees to study anatomy all deserve a hand; several are CBT's now. Tarra Stariell, who had been a book editor in a previous life, volunteered to comb carefully through my last draft. She improved it immensely. My fellow trainee and dear friend Stephanie Sawyer knew, before she died too soon from cancer, that her whimsical way of thinking about character structure had gone into the book, too.

Because of SDIBA's commitment to developing a first-rate training program in San Diego, trainees around the world now have a user-friendly curriculum for learning anatomy. As I mark this milestone in Bent Out of Shape's history, I celebrate SDIBA's vision, then and now.

San Diego Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis
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