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Wendy Gwen Hammarstrom Licensed Massage Therapist, BFA in Dance
- 0 Articles
- 1 Website
- 1 Event
- 86 User points
Yoga, movement, bodywork Expert
Wendy Gwen Hammarstrom Quick Facts
Main Areas: Yoga, Movement, Bodywork, Self-care, Relaxation, HealthCareer Focus: Teacher, Practitioner, Consultant, Event Organizer, Author, Mandala Artist, Performance Artist
Affiliation: American Massage Therapy Association, Korrie's Pilates Place
From the time I left home as a seventeen year old until I got married as a twenty-eight year old, I lived in nineteen different homes and worked at innumerable and varied jobs, including Peppridge Farm Factory Frozen Food assembly line, as a maid, as a secretary for Univ of Penna, Temple University, Bryn Mawr Hospital accident ward, many temp jobs, a donut shop, and in 1970 I was introduced to the world of visual arts by my husband at the time, Gary Grissom. After majoring in art at Philadelphia Community College and Philadelphia College of Art, I decided to leave the loom behind and embrace the world of modern dance and movement. But before I became immersed in the field of holistic health, I also worked for the American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia, for about eight years in the 1970s. Being raised as a Quaker continues to influence everything I do. I have been teaching and practicing yoga, movement and massage as many of us do--as if we were weaving a tapestry, and at the same time becoming part of the tapestry- for over thirty years. I was a student of Kundalini Yoga, then Kripalu Yoga, followed by years of study with Iyengar teachers such as Joan White at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1980s. In 1978 I received my BFA in Dance from Temple University in Philadelphia and soon after formed Agape Dancers, a modern dance company that choreographed using elements of yoga, kenpo karate, tai chi, white crane kung fu and images of nature. We travelled around Pennsylvania and performed environmental dance in parks, museums, art galleries, and schools. We were funded in part by the Pennsylvania Council of Arts, the National Endowment of the Arts, and we received a grant from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council to go area schools along with a Lenape Indian storyteller, historian, musicians and others. At many of the performances, and sometimes separately, we led workshops to share the movement modalities that we choreographed with. At our studio in the East Oak Lane area of Philadelphia, I taught yoga and dance and bodywork classes, and brought in the best of Philly's instructors. Innerworks became a school, in my own home! We were privileged to study from Bradford Chien, a black belt in White Crane Kung Fu from Taiwan who was not able to hear, or speak, but was an outstanding communicator. We had tai chi classes and shiatsu classes with Jerry Fleischman, a student of Ohashi's in New York City; and all aspects of anatomy and kinesiology with Olena Nitefor, a Toronto bodyworker and anatomy instructor for Feldenkrais trainings. My classes in the Philadelphia area at Philadelphia College of Art, Tyler School of Art, Beaver College and at Innerworks led me to my yoga classes for Long Beach Parks and Recreation. In my workshops with physical therapist Jacquie Maroun, we taught movement and massage for the childbearing years to parents and infants at Long Beach Community Hospital, St. Mary's Medical Center, Saddleback Hospital and more. Since moving to Murrieta, CA in 1995, I have taught yoga, movement and practiced bodywork at Wellness Professionals (formerly Alive Polarity at Murrieta Hot Springs in the 1980s), Mt. San Jacinto College, Murrieta school district, Innerworks/West Coast and at A Balanced Body Center. In 1996 I co-founded Inland Holistic Health Association. In 2001 I began a holistic health column in the Califorian newspaper, In Touch. Soon after I began writing Massage and Yoga in Special Places: 30 Years of Hands On, a compilation of articles from Awareness Magazine and the Californian newspaper, and my own and others' experiences working with special needs students/clients and in a variety of locations including half way homes for people overcoming addictions, prisons, hospitals and hospices, at natural and manmade disaster sites, and with animals. (I am looking for an editor/agent and/or publisher.) Recently I have been dipping back into my art background to create mandalas, in the form of greeting cards, and to teach people to get them started in this very relaxing, peaceful and even health-giving practice.
Other Programs & Highlights
Yoga classes at A Balanced Body Center in Wildomar Massage therapy at my home office in Murrieta, in clients' homes, and at Pierce Chiropractic Native plant caregiver Animal rescue and advocacy for pets, farm animals, and wildlife Mandala art
Favorite Quotes & Thoughts from Wendy Gwen Hammarstrom
When you hold your breath, you hold your soul. BKS Iyengar Energy is the real substance behind the appearance of matter and forms. Randolph Stone, D.O., D.C., Founder of Polarity Therapy If anything is sacred, the human body is sacred. Walt Whitman Of all forms of inequity, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and the most inhumane. Martin Luther King, Jr. The physician must be skilled in many things, but most assuredly in rubbing. Hippocrates, the "father" of modern medicine Feet to a dancer are like a paintbrush to an artist. We cannot heal others, we can only heal ourselves so that our presence will be healing to others. Irene Smith, Founder/Director of Service Through Touch No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted. Aesop Movement never lies. Martha Graham Women are like teabags. They don't know how strong they are until they get in hot water. Eleanor Roosevelt A rooted body grows branches then blossoms. In the beginning of all things, wisdom and knowledge were with the animals, for Tirawa, the One Above, did not speak directly to man. He sent certain animals to tell men that he showed himself through the beasts, and that from them, and from the stars and the sun and the moon, man should learn. Pawnee chief Letakota-Lesa Water flows over these hands. May I use them skillfully To preserve this precious planet. Thich Nhat Hanh
Getting Started With Wendy Gwen Hammarstrom
Please go to my website: www.WendysWellnessWorld.com, or my blog:www.WendysWellnessWorld.Wordpress.com Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo Or email me at Wendy726@verizon.net.
