Christina Montes de Oca
BA, APO-B, AIO-B, LMT, NCBTMB Approved Provider
I had the good fortune to discover Ortho-Bionomy® early in my bodywork career and the practice has provided me a doorway into understanding the body — my own and others’ — in a deeper way for 40 years and counting. It has been a journey of continual learning about a living organism’s capacity to learn, change, heal and self-regulate. Ortho-Bionomy continues to be a deep and rich source of learning and professional skill development.
I think any help we can get as humans to open our understanding of ourselves and others is valuable, and I think O-B resonates with many other approaches and philosophies that help us along that path.
How do we understand ourselves? Some possibilities: through our own experiences, our inner connections physically and energetically, our perceptions of ourselves as we evolve over time.O-B offers an opportunity for both exploration and learning in these domains -at the same time bringing more ease to life in human form.
Time and again I see the process of self-understanding unfold along with benefits such as pain relief, improved posture and balance, easier range of motion, better circulation, calming and enlivening of the nervous system, increasing awareness and self-care.
I love teaching because I have found O-B to be such a valuable approach to natural well-being and I enjoy the creative dynamic process of exploring and sharing in a group. Learning from each others’ experiences enriches each person’s larger perspective. A goal for me in teaching is to provide inspiration, clear information, practical experience and guidance so that an understanding of what O-B is about can take root in each individual and grow from there.
Education and Acknowledgements
I hold a BA from McGill University where my concentration was in cognitive psychology and linguistics. I was licensed as a Massage Therapist in 1981. In 1986 I became certified as a Practitioner of Ortho-Bionomy, an Advanced Pracititioner in 1999, Instructor in 1991, and an Advanced Instructor in 2000.
I am grateful to the Founder Dr. Arthur Lincoln Pauls, DO for bringing Ortho-Bionomy into form and I am fortunate to have had opportunities to learn from him in the course of my training.
Every teacher I have studied with has been important. I give thanks to all of them for their teaching and support of my development as a practitioner and as a teacher.
Special thanks to my colleague Ursula Hofer, who originally introduced me to Ortho-Bionomy, and continues to inspire and open my deeper understanding of the work both as a practitioner and a teacher. And to Luann Overmyer, an influential early teacher and friend, who has made Ortho-Bionomy tangible and available to so many through her classes and writings.
Thanks to Ursula Hofer, Lee Cartwright and Kathy Kain I have gained both practical knowledge and inner understanding of the biological model of trauma, which has informed and benefited my work and my life. I am grateful to Robert Schrei and Donna Thomson for ongoing education in SourcePoint Therapy®, also informing and benefiting my work and my life. And deep appreciation to my teachers in the Taoist movement arts over the years.
