Category Archives: Breathwork

Body Dialogue Sessions are now available Remotely

I would never have believed it, but I am now teaching private sessions remotely. For all of the people who have said “I wish I could work with you, but I’m not in Orlando”, I have come up with a way to do Body Dialogue remotely.  I’m not going to lie, it’s not the same as having hands on, but it’s still highly effective. Why? Because most of us do not carve out the time we need to attend to ourselves, and particularly to our breathing. How do I know this for sure? Because even I do not do that for myself, and I teach this work!  If we make a session for 45 minutes, I can help you create better breathing habits through new information and practice tools to invigorate your life. Listening to your voice and hearing your frustrations is one way I can help resolve some of your breathing issues. More importantly, over the last year, I have developed a more sensitive attunement to the somatic restrictions that arise out of fear and stress. Because this work is so intimate, I am able to respond to some of the hidden factors that create restriction, and have developed some new techniques that free up the musculature that inhibits a deeper breath when under tension. In 45 minutes, we will be on the floor together, going through a protocol that I will design specifically for your needs. That protocol can be recorded so that you can continue to practice on your own when the session is over. 

Although breathing issues show up as a result of trauma or emotional imbalance, one develops a literal physiological weakness of the diaphragm and a restriction in the accessory breathing muscles. So repeated practice with Breathing Coordination is necessary in addition to working with the emotional problems.

$95 for 45 minutes. To schedule contact Janice@bodydialogues.com

“I came to Janice in desperate need of help because my health was not doing well and no doctors seemed to truly know how to help. Without even meeting her in person, I felt so comforted and protected. I knew that she was the perfect person for what I needed to help me get through this. She guided me through her breath work. The first day I bursted out into tears because my body had so much to release and finally felt this sense of safety unlike before. From that session I continued to work with her and felt completely relaxed and calm, unlike any other meditation or breath work I have done before! Janice is truly amazing at what she does and I will ALWAYS recommend her to everyone who I feel she could help!”

~Rachel Strever

“I had the great fortune to work with Janice for a breath session last week. Even though we worked over FaceTime, I felt like Janice was in the room with me. I would describe the work as simple but profound. Janice helped me to release the tension throughout my torso, and free up my ribs, shoulders and diaphragms, allowing for deeper fuller breathing. I came away from the session feeling relaxed and energized. I look forward to working with Janice again soon! “

~ Dr. Keren Vishny

A dialogue between Janice Rous and Madelyn Ilana about nourishment, the archetypal feminine, the great mother, caregiving, and living from the heart.

Body Dialogue founder and teacher Janice Stieber-Rous is discussing with her long-time student and friend Madelyn Ilana how she decided to have a hip replacement.

This note went out to my mailing list on January 19, 2020, 8 days after my surgery. I share it now as I continue the healing process.

Dear friends,

It’s been eight days since surgery, and yesterday I actually went to a restaurant with a walker and my new hip. I say it that way because it is not actually a part of me yet. I can feel that it’s working hard to join the rest of my body that knows me so well, but this new hip and I are not yet best of friends. It throbs at night and makes for an awkward and stiff gait that has never been really the me that I enjoy. At the worst of times I fear I will never be myself again, and then my rational mind looks at all the progress already made.At night I listen to meditation tapes to quiet my fears and discomfort, but during the day my life is pretty single focused. I do therapy, I rest and I walk. I have little attention for the world.It’s hard to chat and have simple conversations because I am preoccupied. I am delighting in all the well-wishes and love coming to me from every direction. It brings to mind my days when the roles were reversed and I was the visitor bringing news of the outside world.I understand why the sick friends whom I visited wanted to hear about me. It becomes a very insular world just thinking about your particular aches and pains. On the other hand, it has slowed my pace and made me mindful in ways I rarely was before. This morning the sunrise woke me up and I sat at the window in sheer awe and delight.
My last blog elicited many responses and my heart was filled with appreciation to hear from those of you who wrote. It means so much to know that these words actually land in someone’s heart/mind.
I send you blessings today and hope you are as filled with awe and gratitude as I am when you see the new day.

Love and blessings,

Janice

I know it is my hip that was removed and a new hip installed, but I actually feel I am rewiring my brain.

Today I have entered my fourth week after my surgery. I am amazed at how much I love the slowness and simplicity of the life I have had in those weeks.

My priorities are so clear. Every day I tend to my body in the form of my exercises and I tend to my mind by meditating. I try to stay openhearted and clearsighted as much as possible and not fall back into old thought patterns.

I remember feeling something like this when I had my hysterectomy back in 1997.

I thought I would never forget how good it felt to go slowly and to have much less on my schedule than was my usual pattern.

To focus and simplify my life down to manageable goals every day became my mantra. 

I knew then and I know now that RUSHING is not an option. It results in breathlessness and anxiety, my two enemies.

As I start to re-enter the world, I feel very tender toward this new-found energy. I want to be met with this gentle, soft awareness. I feel a kind of precious knowing that this state of being is preferable to the old way of feeling always slightly out of balance with a little too many plates spinning in the air.

Then, I believed my self-worth was dependent on how much I did. I believed life is too boring if you slow down.

Now I feel that the amount I do and what I accomplish daily is only measured by the quality with how I do it. At the center of my actions is my love of each and every encounter, be it with nature or with another human. 

Deepak Chopra says perfect health is finding daily balance. That is an awesome goal, since balance has always been a great goal of mine, but one that proved elusive.

I also think balance is not static. It is finding the flow and fluidity of our body-mind. It is recognizing what takes us out of flow and fluidity. It also makes decision-making easier since that goal is a center point for me. 

As I re-enter the bigger world, I pray I can continue to remember some of the biggest lessons I have received from this experience.

Since I have heard from many of you that these blogs are helpful,  I’d like to ask you to say more about your idea of perfect health and how it relates to FINDING your balance. 

Today I was mesmerized by a white egret in a dance of one-legged preening and cleaning on my dock.

He regally alighted three feet from me and then set out to show me his ritual that probably is part of his daily life self-care.

I marveled and sat up tall, as I am now two weeks out of my hip reconstruction and have a new self-care ritual.

Not the one I had most of my life, a new one. 

It is a new normal.

It is a chance to integrate a new body part into my beloved best friend that I have taken good care of all my life.

So once again I say YES to life. I say YES to choosing to have a total hip replacement.

Some of you have written to me in response to my blogs, feeling worried, and concerned for me.

But actually I feel like celebrating!

I was scared, but I overcame the fear, by taking a risk to create a healthier future. I said NO to fear and yes to risk and challenge. 

So here I sit typing my observations of my new normal.

I am slower, more awake and aware, and feeling immune to the rush of the outer world. I am happy to be home to reconnect with friends and to have time with my precious daughter and my partner.

All in all, I am here to report my dance is continuing and I am better than ever.

It is a new dance with a new dance partner — my body — but she is still my best friend. We are simply learning a new rhythm and some new steps. 

Is my leg stiff? Yes.

Do I need to build strength? Yes.

Do I feel encouraged and enlivened by the fact that I listen well and rest when I need to?

Yes.

So, all in all, I am not in fear. 

I am mostly in GRATITUDE. I am in awe that after two weeks my body is accepting this new way of being and we are co-creating a new series of moves.

I am not worried that this might take a while since I have the rest of my life to get better and better.

Thanks to all who are writing. It brings joy to my heart to connect and feel our relationships. If you do not write that’s fine too, BUT if you want to be in dialogue, just say hi.

Blessings to you in all your steps. 

With appreciation,

Janice