Ellen Saltonstall - The Bodymind Ballwork Method A Self-Directed Practice to Help You Move with Ease, Release Tension, and Relieve Chronic Pain

The Bodymind Ballwork Method is very compatible with yoga practices, as well as with other forms of bodywork therapy. What I like most about the book is how elegantly Saltonstall explains the science behind the movements she teaches, while revealing how our unfolding consciousness on the balls is an integral part of this healing modality.

Judith Hanson Lasater, PhD, PT, yoga teacher, and author of nine books, including Restore and Rebalance: Yoga for Deep Relaxation

Ellen Saltonstall is a teacher of integrity who puts her arms confidently around her subject and delivers a clear path for improving interoceptive awareness. A terrific adjunct to any movement practice.

Tom Myers, author of Anatomy Trains

After a lifetime exploring embodiment, I appreciate Saltonstalls enthusiastic embrace of embodied self-awareness as a key to healing. The effective and easy-to-understand chapters on awareness, stress, trauma, the nervous system, and peripheral receptors place each of the beautifully detailed and illustrated ballwork exercises in a clear conceptual and embodied context.

Alan Fogel, professor of psychology emeritus at the University of Utah, Rosen Method Bodywork practitioner and senior teacher, and author of Body Sense: The Science and Practice of Embodied Self-Awareness

Ellen Saltonstall has written a comprehensive, yet concise, guide to the wonderful world of ballwork. She covers much more than technique (though she does that too!) giving the reader a way into a deeper level of awareness and embodied knowledge.

Carrie Owerko, senior certified teacher of Iyengar Yoga and Laban Movement analyst

Nobody needs to live in chronic pain. Ellen Saltonstall is a veteran in her field and has been using ballwork long before it became popular. Her vast knowledge of anatomy and movement is compiled in this book. The reader can either dive deep into the foundations of bodymind connection and/or choose to explore the ball exercises for his or her individual needs. The rewards are great, and a feeling of empowerment and lightness arises when chronic pain disappears after doing one of her routines. Self-myofascial release allows a person to take their life back into their own hands. Whether you are a beginner or an athlete or a person in constant chronic pain this book is for you.

Simone Lindner, Structural Integration practitioner

Copyright 2018 by Ellen Saltonstall. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the written permission of the publisher. For information contact North Atlantic Books.

Published by
North Atlantic Books
Berkeley, California

Cover photos by Paula Court and Ellen Saltonstall
Cover design by Emma Cofod
Book design by Happenstance Type-O-Rama
Illustrations by Emily Ciosek

The Bodymind Ballwork Method: A Self-Directed Practice to Help You Move with Ease, Release Tension, and Relieve Chronic Pain is sponsored and published by the Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences (dba North Atlantic Books), an educational nonprofit based in Berkeley, California, that collaborates with partners to develop cross-cultural perspectives, nurture holistic views of art, science, the humanities, and healing, and seed personal and global transformation by publishing work on the relationship of body, spirit, and nature

North Atlantic Books publications are available through most bookstores. For further information, visit our website at www.northatlanticbooks.com or call 800-733-3000.

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication data is available from the publisher upon request.

North Atlantic Books is committed to the protection of our environment. We partner with FSC-certified printers using soy-based inks and print on recycled paper whenever possible.

Chapter 7: The Best Basic Everyday Practices

1. Upper photo: Paula Court
2. Lower photo: John Pilson
3. Paula Court
4. Ellen Saltonstall
5. Paula Court

Chapter 8: The Spine

1. Paula Court
2. Ellen Saltonstall

Chapter 9: The Neck, Head, and Face

1. Paula Court
2. Ellen Saltonstall
3. Paula Court

Chapter 10: The Abdomen, Ribs, and Breathing

1. Paula Court
2. Ellen Saltonstall
3. Paula Court

Chapter 11: The Shoulders

1. Ellen Saltonstall
2. Paula Court
3. Ellen Saltonstall
4. Paula Court
5. Ellen Saltonstall

Chapter 12: The Arms and Hands

1. Paula Court
2. Ellen Saltonstall
3. Paula Court
4. Ellen Saltonstall
5. Upper photo: Paula Court
6. Lower photo: Ellen Saltonstall

Chapter 13: The Pelvis, Thighs, and Knees

1. Ellen Saltonstall
2. Paula Court
3. Ellen Saltonstall
4. Paula Court
5. Josef Kushner

Chapter 14: The Lower Legs and Feet

1. Paula Court
2. Ellen Saltonstall
3. Josef Kushner
4. Ellen Saltonstall
5. Paula Court

About the Author

1. Nancy Adler
2. All illustrations other than photographs by Emily Ciosek

T hanks to my parents for their unconditional support of me and for the values of diligence, honesty, and generosity by which they lived. From decades of my professional life in dance, yoga, and bodywork, I have been inspired by many teachers, notably Elaine Summers, Merce Cunningham, Anahid Sofian, Twyla Tharp, John Friend, Thomas Myers, Judith Lasater, Mary Dunn, and Carrie Owerkotheir fascination with movement is contagious. My students and clients have supported me, challenged me, and fueled me to continue learning. The Bodymind Ballwork method is greatly enriched and inspired by their questions and explorations over many years and in many contexts. Im particularly grateful for the students who gave permission for their stories to be told in this book.

I heartily applaud the growing community of bodywork professionals, neurologists, and psychotherapists who are forging an ever-new understanding of the bodymind connection. They are pioneers, integrating the scientific, psychological, and spiritual perspectives of who we are as humans, and highlighting the incredible healing potential of this kind of practice. Many of them are represented by quotes within this text, and by their books that are listed in the bibliography at the end of this book.

Thanks to those who modeled for the photographs in this book: Susan Genis, Lucia McBee, Yukiko Matsubara, Joyce Cohen, Eduardo Martinez, and Nick Fitch. Thanks to the photographers Paula Court, John Pilson, and Josef Kushner, and to the illustrator Emily Ciosek. David Fink generously provided comments and suggestions as I developed this book. Thanks to editors Julia Hough and Miriam Seidel, whose word skills helped me to shape this book.

As this project came to fruition, my literary agent Jill Marsal found a home for it at North Atlantic Books, where editor Pam Berkman has been its skillful shepherd through the editorial process. I appreciate their expertise in helping me to refine what I have to say.

Lastly, special thanks goes to my family for their constant love and support.

There is a unity of experienceof one experience with another and all experiences togetherin which all the thousand-fold occurrences in life become inseparably connected. This unity must be so fully thought through that it becomes an essential part of the person, by which she/he is led intuitively in every moment.