Sylvia Muiznieks and John Veltheim, Body Talk Access Training Manual, (Sarasota, FL: PaRama LLC), 2007.

The Body Talk Access class has been offered in our building a couple of times with different teachers. This spring, I decided to enroll in the class partly because I have known and trusted the teacher for many years, partly because I needed some personal time and stress-reduction in my own life, and partly to provide support to members of my congregation who have been touched and impressed by this particular branch of alternative medicine.

The International Body Talk Association calls those who complete the one-day training "Technicians." Each step of the system is taught both as a practice for self and something that can be offered to others for relaxation, healing and integration.

I remain one of the skeptics. My way of thinking is different from that of the proponents of Body Talk. On the other hand, it is easy to agree with the assertion that it does no harm to engage in the Body Talk practices. As a response to the class, I have taken the Body Talk challenge to engage in Body Talk practices daily for 30 days. As I write i'm about half way through those 30 days, so it is simply too early for me to judge the effectiveness of the practice. At this point I'm not ready to begin practicing Body Talk on others, but I can see some value of concentrating on one's own body as a path to meditation. Breath prayers and breath-focused meditation have a long and deep tradition in the history of spirituality.

As I took the class, I also obtained two additional books on Body Talk which I will read and review as well.