FAQ

1. Does BSR always work?
2. Who can benefit from BSR?
3. What can BSR do for children?
4. What can BSR do for sportspeople?
5. How does the practitioner know where the body stress is present?
6. How does BSR differ from other health practices?
7. Is BSR a massage?
8. Is BSR like reflexology?
9. Is BSR a spiritual healing?
10. How many consultations are necessary?
11. Is BSR maintenance necessary?
12. Does OHIP pay for BSR?

1. Does BSR always work?
In practice it seems that 75% of clients experience successful healing of their symptoms and
ailments. 5% of cases are not caused by body stress, but rather by other factors such as diseases. In
these cases, however, Body Stress Release can still provide a better sense of well-being. In 20% of
cases, clients stopped attending their release sessions due to a variety of reasons - it is therefore
impossible to say whether these would have been successful or not.

2. Who can benefit from BSR?
As we are all subjected to stress, we tend to accumulate stored tension. Therefore, Body Stress
Release is for everyone, including pregnant women, sportspeople and the elderly. Each one of us
can experience enhanced quality of life by receiving Body Stress Release.

3. What can BSR do for children?
Even babies may have body stress when the pregnancy or birth was not optimal. Symptoms of body
stress in babies may include constant crying for no apparent reason, colic, poor sleeping and
constipation. Growing, active children constantly challenge their bodies into activities which can
cause body stress. During gym and sports activities, children are often expected to put real stress
on their bodies. We don't think of that as body stress, but the symptoms of body stress are then
revealed in complaints of growing pains or sore legs, a refusal to walk and wanting to be carried,
headaches, tummy aches, poor concentration in class, restlessness and bed-wetting. In general,
young children react very quickly to BSR, which is of great benefit to them in reaching their full life
potential.

4. What can BSR do for sportspeople?
Our bodies are wonderfully-made machines with miraculous self-healing abilities, but the body can
only perform optimally if we respect it and listen closely to its communication. During sporting
activities, we subject our bodies to various forms of stress: overtraining, overuse of key body parts,
emotional stress linked to competitiveness, dehydration or over-hydration, and environmental
pollutants like car fumes.

BSR can assist the sportsperson enormously in performing his/her sport optimally. Locked-in body
stress takes tremendous energy and flexibility from the body. If the muscles are released via BSR,
all that extra energy and flexibility becomes available for better sport performance. BSR also
provides enhanced coordination, balance and timing, and an upgrading of the body's ability to
handle stress.

5. How does the practitioner know where body stress is present?
Body Stress Release research has shown that the body deals with stress in a very organised way.
Stress is locked in patterns into the body. The practitioner, having been trained how these stress
patterns form in the body, performs tests according to these patterns. Although the tests are very
gentle, the body is so sensitive that it still reacts and provides feedback to the practitioner on
whether stress is present in the tested area or not. The practitioner therefore tests specifically
where the stress has been stored in each individual's body and releases are done accordingly. A
practitioner does not make an educated guess where the stress is stored, but acts only based on the
feedback provided by the specific body itself.

6. How does BSR differ from other health practices?
Body Stress Release is not a diagnosis or treatment of any specific condition or disease, and doesn't
focus on any one particular body part alone. It uses feedback from the body itself to know where
stress is located and to release it accordingly. Its primary purpose is to locate and release stored
tension in the body as a whole, focusing directly on the problem and not the symptoms. When the
tension in the muscles is released, pressure on the nerves is reduced. This results in enhanced
communication between the brain and the nervous system and ensures the healing of an amazing
array of conditions and ill health effects. The Body Stress Release technique is precise, gentle and
very effective, respecting the body's innate healing abilities.

7. Is BSR a massage?
No, BSR's focus is to activate the body's natural healing abilities to release areas of locked-in body
stress. When the body is stressed, its natural reaction is to tighten the muscles to reduce activity
and focus on healing. Therefore, tightness of a muscle is an effect of body stress, and not a cause.
It is not helpful to force the muscle out of its contracted state. Only by releasing the underlying
body stress will the muscle relax. Stretching exercises will therefore not be helpful and may even
add to the body stress.

8. Is BSR like reflexology?
No, BSR has absolutely nothing to do with reflexology. Reflexology is a massaging of the feet in
order to provide some stimulation to the energy meridians of the body - a similar principle to
acupuncture. Body Stress Release is a detailed and precise system of detecting where there is
stress locked into the body as a whole, and then helping the body to release it. This leads to the
restoration of normal life energy flow and communication in the self-healing body.

9. Is BSR a spiritual healing?
No, the BSR practitioner is not a healer, since it is the body itself that does the healing. The
practitioner merely applies impulses to stimulate the body's natural self-healing ability, based on
the indications given by the body itself on where body stress is present. The BSR technique
therefore focuses purely on the stress locked into the physical body. However, BSR does improve
the body's well-being as a whole, enabling it to better handle physical, emotional/mental and
chemical stress.

10. How many consultations are necessary?
It is not possible to say how many consultations are necessary, since BSR is an individual process.
Usually the release is rapid, but if body stress has been locked in for a long period, additional
sessions may be needed. In practice, most clients react positively after the basic program of three
sessions. Babies and children normally heal quickly.

After each release, the body undergoes changes in the process of releasing the stressed layers of
muscle. This is because the tight, protective muscle layers tend to relax back to their normal tone by
degrees, allowing restored communication within the nervous system. To assist the client through
this process, all clients start on a basic program of three consultations. These appointments are
made on day 1, day 4 (+- 3 days after the first consultation) and day 11 (+- 7 days after the 2nd
consultation) of the program.

11. Is BSR maintenance necessary?
After the client's body has obtained sufficient healing via the basic program, the practitioner will
recommend a maintenance program. The maintenance program may include monthly, bi-monthly or
quarterly consultations. The benefits of BSR maintenance are:
1. It assists the body in dealing with day-to-day stress so that additional stress does not get locked
into the body once again.
2. It strengthens the immune system - a stressed body is a body with a weaker immune system.
3. It assists the body in its continuous healing process in order to get rid of more deep-rooted
locked-in stress.

12. Does OHIP pay for BSR?
Although OHIP does not cover complementary techniques, alternative medicine is now covered by
most Extended Health Care plans.