Our Teacher: Ursula Popp

Biography

The common thread in my life has been my work with people. Early in my career, I worked in the field of book publishing, supporting writers and helping connect them with booksellers and book buyers. After fifteen years in the world of writers and books, I felt compelled to find work that would allow me to interact more intimately with others.

This desire led me to pursue a degree in counseling. Through years of working as a counselor in private practice, I learned that I could not access my clients fully through talking and conversation; there was a significant aspect of the person that I was not able to address with my counseling skills alone. This discovery led me to the field of bodywork. Shortly after receiving certification in Massage, I began my study of Cranio-Sacral work ~ a profound and subtle therapy. I found that this work deeply resonated with my core beliefs and values because of the focus on caring for rather than fixing, development rather than results, experience-based knowledge and wisdom, connection rather than separation, and the whole person rather than their problems.

Eventually, my desire for a medical paradigm within which to better understand the human body ~ its structure, function, and disease processes ~ led me to pursue a degree in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. Again, because this healing modality is ancient, holistic, energetic, and effective, I found it deeply resonated with my core beliefs. After being awarded my Master's in Acupuncture, I sought specialty training in Pediatric Acupuncture and Toyo Hari Japanese Acupuncture (a treatment where needles are not inserted into the skin).

Over the years, I have acquired many "tools" that I draw on in my work with patients. I am an Acupuncturist, Cranio-Sacral practitioner, and Counselor and I enjoy using all of these skills, sometimes in conjunction with one another.

In addition to my education and training, my fifteen-year Zen meditation practice has had a tremendous influence on how I think about health and well-being, and how I approach treatment and teaching. I believe that my work would not even be possible without the grounding and deepening effect of my Zen teachings, the rejuvenating benefits of regular sitting and meditation retreats, and the support I get from my teachers and peers.

Although I was born in Switzerland and raised Catholic, I have spent many years living in different parts of the world and interacting with people of varied backgrounds and ways of relating to the world. Through these experiences, I was exposed to many different beliefs, forms of faith and spirituality, lifestyles, and socioeconomic situations. I did volunteer work in Africa and healing work in Asia. I learned different languages and traveled by foot, donkey, horse, train, boat, bus, and airplane to many places. All of these rich experiences have deeply impacted every part of my being and shaped who I am today. I find that my ability to be open and appreciative of our differences and our similarities serves me greatly as I work with clients and students to see and integrate their more challenging and contradictory sides.

From a very young age, I was encouraged to teach by friends and family. Unfortunately, I was not drawn to the models of teaching I was exposed to at that time, which mainly involved the dissemination of information. However, once I became a counselor and started facilitating courses in personal development, I discovered an approach to teaching where the teacher's primary role was to create and hold the space in which others could develop and grow. I taught courses in the field of personal development for many years. In 1996, once I became proficient in Cranio-Sacral work, I started teaching it in Switzerland and the United States and launched my Cranio-Sacral Certification Program in January 2002. Though academic information is a highly important component of all of my classes, my greatest joy is supporting students as they master and embody this sophisticated therapy and discover their own creative ways of understanding and applying it.

Philosophy

As human beings, we have a profound need to listen to our souls, to relate experiences to a deeper truth, and thus find meaning in our lives.

In health all is healthy, in disease all is affected, and in growth everything opens and expands. I believe that any separation between our bodies, minds, and spirits is artificial and that any approach to healing must address all aspects of our being. In my practice, I look at you as a whole being and help you to heal and growth on all levels.

There is a saying that goes, "All sickness is home sickness." We are "home" when we experience ease and comfort in our bodies, when we are in tune with our emotions, and when we are in connection with our spirit. My work has to do with helping people find their way "home."