Body Mandala

“This is an absolute delight to read and even more to practice. A true masterpiece from someone who teaches us how to play with our posture from an embodiment perspective. Every page is an invitation to increase our loving attention toward the way we move in everyday life. Looking around me, as well as inside, it is hard to see anybody who would not profit tremendously from that investment.” * Robert Schleip, Ph.D., director of the Fascia Research Group, Division of Neurophysiology, Ulm Unive * “Mary has the impressive ability to write clearly and succinctly while also drawing the reader to connect inside themselves using bodily sensing exercises, metaphor, and story. I was inspired to engage in each of the somatic exercises as I read through the chapters of Body Mandala; as I did so, I was reminded of how easy it is to ignore certain areas of the body and certain kinds of aches and imbalances. Mary’s somatic practices are simple yet take one to a deep place of inner attention. Engaging in the exercises, I was also reminded of the importance of taking the time to deeply perceive and lovingly care for this precious body. The practices in this book have profound implications for awareness and health.” * Cynthia Price, Ph.D., LMT, research professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing at the Univ * “Mary Bond’s work is a light of clarity in the field of movement and embodiment. In Body Mandala she shares with the reader and practitioner an invitation to explore one’s knowing and being. Mary Bond is a living presence who has weaved her own experience, teaching, and knowledge into an exquisite work of art in embodiment. As such, her book is required curriculum in our Structural Integration program at the University of New Mexico–Taos. It is the foundational approach we use in our movement and embodiment training. Her book is an inspiration for the first-time layperson wanting to begin a practice in embodiment and teaches those with more experience in the field how to teach embodiment. She brings clear examples of fascial anatomy, creating ground and support through one’s system and open curiosity to explore oneself in living presence.” * Kirstie Segarra, Ph.D., somatic medicine practitioner and doctor of integrative medicine * “Depth. Clarity. Simplicity. These three words describe the magic of this book, which uncovers secrets of a life in which incarnation can become joyous. With a maturity that is rare in the study of gesture and in writing, Mary Bond makes it possible to take a path, which she maps out so well, to a movement practice that can beautify our lives.” * Hubert Godard, Ph.D., Rolf Movement practitioner and certified Rolfer * “When artisans distill their lived experience into form, an unmistakable resonance happens. Whether the medium is the written word, a practice, a painting, really any act of creation, their lived experience sounds a gong within us. It evokes a quickening of sorts, an impulse to be more deeply embodied. Mary Bond is that sort of artisan: she has spent more than seven decades in a love affair with the lived experience of being in a body. We can feel and taste this extraordinary love infused in every word, idea, and practice in her book.” * Bo Forbes, Psy.D., author of Yoga for Emotional Balance * “I view this book as a true investment in the journey to whole body health, an investment in body, mind, and future. The whole body concept introduces the new scientific foundation with related anatomy concepts and function in easy-to-digest language and order. Illustrations and video guide you into the related embodied movement skills. I gladly recommend Mary’s enlightening body of work for the movement professional and anyone in pursuit of a better body. A must-do book to always have by my side.” * Marie-José Blom-Lawrence, Pilates master teacher, movement educator, and international presente * “Mary Bond has, once again, succeeded in showing us new ways to understand and practice healthy movement, this time including additional connections to our thoughts and psyche. Body Mandala stimulates my curiosity and gets me excited to apply the practices to my own work as a choreographer and dance educator.” * Ruth Barnes, choreographer, dancer, and professor and dance program coordinator at Missouri State Un * “Body Mandala acts not only as a beautiful field guide to your body as a continuous whole, but also contains the kind of guided movement and awareness explorations that only a true master can articulate. In short, Mary Bond has written a book that is not only a cognitive game changer regarding how we understand our bodies but is also a somatic and experiential guide to coming deeply home to your own body.” * Brooke Thomas, somatic educator *