Phase 5 and the Reflexes, with Associate Advanced Instructor Karen Sonter

In Phase 5 we use dynamic movement and/or gentle mindful contact to offer the person an opportunity to reflexively respond, and through that responsive process, find their best state

It is a person’s capacity to respond to stimulus, and the unique way they might do that, that helps them find their best state. Phase 4 offers the position where it begins. Phase 5 is what emerges next, the expansion. That is Ortho-Bionomy. 

In Phase 4 the predominant reflexive response we learn to feel is the “rebound.” In P5 we learn about the many other ways a client might respond to the stimulus we offer. We refer to these responses as reflexes.

Each reflex response enlivens the client's Nervous System toward finding their body’s best working relationship, that is currently possible. When the therapist is present to this response, it is amplified for the client. So, Phase 5 is about presence and learning to "be."  We are invited to relinquish the "doing." Productive expansive change can arise when the therapist learns to be in this more curious space, and be really present to what they are feeling.

I think it’s the Phase 5 aspect of an Ortho-Bionomy session that sometimes has clients saying: “She didn’t really seem to do anything, but my body changed in wonderful ways.”

Releases for psoas, pelvis, lumbars, coccyx, neck, shoulders, clavicle, ears, eyes, and jaw will be presented and practised.

Prerequisite: Phase 4 Ortho-Bionomy

In this class, we’ll learn a range of ways in which to offer the body an opportunity to reflexively respond, and what we feel as these reflexes emerge for the client.
Students will:

• Refine subtle palpatory listening skills

• Clarify the capacity to more clearly track mental, emotional and physical aspects

• Observe and work with tissue preferences in relationship to structural alignment

• Reinforce the body’s wisdom, not the patient’s storylines

• Detect mood in the tissues

• Use internal state shifts to influence and interrupt habituated story lines and holding patterns. 

Fee: $450
Early bird fee: $400 if paid by 11/9/25

If you’ve attended this class before, think about attending again and gaining more practice with the Phase 5 exercises and being present to the reflexes that emerge for your clients.