She’s fallen in love, down stairs and even out of an aeroplane. Ballito’s Sherrene Coston knows all about surviving pain, how to manage it and how to get her body to heal it. Her career path has gone from the male domain of mechanical hydraulic engineering to the gentle creative field of beading, and now she is at the pinnacle of her life helping others through Body Stress Release (BSR).
“I’ve had a ‘relationship’ with stairs, having injured my back and neck a few times with bad falls,” admits Sherrene. “When I was 25 I parachuted, and even though I was the only one in our group to land on the airfield, it was a bad landing. Unknowingly I walked around for three months in pain with a broken back. The orthopaedic surgeon, who confirmed this, couldn’t believe it! I lived with constant pain for a long time.”
Twelve years ago Sherrene came to Ballito on holiday and a friend recommended Sharalee Cuthbert, a BSR practitioner in Gillitts, who later suggested her career change. “I did the five-month intensive course in Rondevlei, near Sedgefield, in the Cape. We studied anatomy, physiology, technique and client relations.” Sherrene then opened her practice in Ballito and, having helped more than 1000 people so far, she has now expanded to Umhlanga.
She explains: “Body stress occurs when the body fails to adapt to an overload of stresses, be they mechanical, physical, mental, or chemical. Tension stores in the body and accumulates over time. Eventually the body can’t cope anymore, resulting in pain, stiffnes and ongoing illness. Being human, we tend to ignore these signals, treating symptoms with short term solutions like painkillers.”
When stress accumulates, she adds, the muscular structure tightens, applying pressure on nerves, which then interferes with communication to the brain. “This is when things start going wrong.”
Using a neuro-muscular reflex response (natural reflex in the body), Sherrene is able to locate areas of body stress. Using her hands to apply precise stimuli, she brings the brain’s awareness to the point of stress, thus releasing it. “Everyone is different,” she says, “and the healing is relative to the ailment, but clients generally feel much better after three sessions.”
Her advice is to try to attend to the ailment before you are in crisis, and need surgery or major medication. Incidentally, BSR also helps relieve post-surgery pain.
Sherrene points out, “The body is designed to be self-healing. It has mechanisms that constantly monitor every function that is taking place, and is continuously adapting to external influences and stresses and also internal changes.”
Mechanical/physical stress occurs when the body is unable to withstand physical forces – bumps, jerks and falls – or even habitually sitting incorrectly or doing inappropriate exercises.
Emotional/mental stress factors include fear of the future, financial or relationships worries, resulting in violent emotions like anger or shock or milder forms of mental strain like anxiety, depression or resentment. Chemical stress occurs from air pollutants, insecticides, food additives and preservatives etc.
When the point of stress overload is reached, it becomes locked into the body and manifests as lines of tension. Defence mechanisms become weakened and we move further away from an optimum state of health.
Body Stress Release is a proudly South African initiative developed 23 years ago by Ewald and Gail Meggersee who have trained hundreds of practitioners around the world.
Johnny Baiocchi (father of golfer, Hugh Baiocchi) claims that six years ago he was living on painkillers, walking bent over and unable to sleep at night. Surgery was recommended. “After 12 sessions I was without pain, walking upright, sleeping well and playing golf again.”
Kim Wasley was physically and emotionally debilitated after three bouts of glandular fever, Epstein Barr Virus and ME. “I am now able to walk up stairs and do light physical activities without excruciating pain. I am sleeping better and am not constantly exhausted.”
It’s good news for all of us: a drug free, pain-free form of self healing – and no animals being harmed in the process!!
Useful info: Phone Sherrene Coston at 032 946 1630 (Ballito) or 084 556 5942 (Umhlanga). Or you can log on to www.bodystressrelease.com