Worse than I thought at first

Today was wonderful and terrible all at the same time. It was wonderful to have lunch with a lot of alternative health care practitioners at the hotel and feel what it was like to be a part of a group of healers. I've spent most of my life alone and have, most of the time, felt alone. However, today I was a member of a group that I can honestly say that I am proud to be a part of. That was the wonderful part.

The terrible part came at the capitol, when I got more of the details about what we are facing. To be honest, it is worse than I thought at first. Several Reiki practitioners in the Dickinson area have actually had the police interrupt their sessions. The police officers had massage therapists with them who made them do their work under close scrutiny to see if there were any massage techniques in use. THIS IS IN AMERICA, FOLKS!!! IN FACT, THIS IS IN NORTH DAKOTA!

There were about 30 people in the very small room. I was very proud of everyone who spoke up for themselves! I had no idea whether or not I would speak as I prefer to let Elizabeth represent us BodyTalkers. She's been in BodyTalk for 7 years and I only 2 1/2 years . However, towards the end of the meeting, Elizabeth turned towards me and asked me quietly if I had something to say. DID I!!!!!!!!

Elizabeth had said in her testimony that, through BodyTalk, she had been able to save several people's lives who were in the room. When I spoke then, I shared that I was one of the people that she had saved. I told briefly how I'd had shingles on my brain and almost died in 2006. I shared how I'd had almost 750 beestings in my head to try to keep living. I also said that I now work with others, some who are very ill, and that we NEED BodyTalk to be available to the people of North Dakota. I said that I happen to resent the massage board for thinking that they can try to keep me from helping others. This was a common viewpoint amongst all of us practitioners from every modality there--I think there were 5 modalities represented.

We all agreed that the Massage Therapy board MUST print a rebuttal in EVERY newspaper in the state and apologize to all of us!!! Elizabeth said that 2 certified BT practitioners in the state have decided not to do BT until they feel that it is safe to do so again. It's up to each practitioner to decide whether or not they want to take the risk as there is a $25,000 fine attached here. THIS IS CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What we need now is for all of you who have had BodyTalk sessions, to sign a form that states that you know that I was NOT doing massage on you when I worked on you. If you are willing to do that, please send me an email here: savedbybodytalk@gmail.com. I'll email you the form and you can send it back to me. I'm collecting these forms and will send them in together, along with my personal story of how BT saved my life. They will all get sent to the massage therapy board. One of the Core Synchronism people said today that many of her clients were a bit upset about this whole deal. They made comments about the massage board thinking that they're pretty stupid if they don't know the difference between a massage and a Core treatment. I could say the same thing about BT sessions. All of my clients would be deeply disappointed if they had thought I could give them a massage!

I asked Elizabeth how she will proceed with her business in light of this threat. She said that she is in the process of revising her consent forms. She'll include something about BT not being massage and her not being a massage therapist on the new forms. I guess I'll do that too. This means that I will need to have all of you resign consent forms the next time that you come in for your session. I apologize for any hassles here but it looks as though we need to take this extra precaution because SOME people want to rule the world. ): By the way, that's why I picked this picture. It's a little poke to those who think that they're so high and mighty that they just tower above everybody else.

Well, I am tired now and I have an hour and a half until most of my family gets home, so I'm going to rest a bit. The family went up north to look at another grain cleaner for Andrew to start cleaning with. After they decided to buy it, they went to the Bartlett's farm for a short visit. They left Andrew there for the weekend, so he is elated. This means extra work for me tonight at chores so I'd best get a little bit more energy before I need to do that.

Thank you to all of you who were praying for the Lord to protect us today. Actually, we don't know anything yet as the Assistant Attorney General (a very nice man) was merely collecting our thoughts. They will be passed on to to the massage board which should make some ears a bit red.

He asked us if we would be willing to meet with the massage board soon, in a bigger room, to discuss all of this. EVERYONE AGREED THAT WE'D DO THAT but that means more stress while we wait and another day at the capitol. The state's attorney told us after the meeting was over, that hardly ever do people attend these meetings and here we packed the room. I told him that he had hit on a nerve. He said that he had noticed. We all laughed because it isn't HIS fault--poor guy!

Well, I wish you all a blessed Sabbath rest. I miss my whistling boy already. Cora is bringing something home, though, that may help with the empty house syndrome. You'll want to check her post late tonight as I doubt very sincerely that she'll be able to sleep without writing about it.

Weary,

Dawn

PS. One awesome bit of news is that I picked up my courage when Bel and Tone-Lise, fellow BodyTalk practitioners, said that they were going to climb the stairs up to the 17th floor to get a little exercise. Bel and I both (we're both in our 50s) had to stop every couple of floors to pant, but we MADE IT TO THE TOP. Then we enjoyed the view together and went down one story to the meeting room. I just hope that my legs aren't stiff tomorrow. :) Thanks for your patience Tone-Lise--you're in GREAT shape!!!!!!!!!!!