Who We Are — Body Harmony Association

our

Values, vision & mission

We are the professional organisation for Body Harmony Practitioners and Teachers, worldwide. We are dedicated to promoting the unique Body Harmony bodywork system and ensuring our members can access the highest quality training, events, and support. We also offer associate membership to anyone training to become a Body Harmony practitioner or just interested in the association’s goals and values.

All BHA members must comply with a code of ethics and standards of practice, and undertake to work in alignment with our core principles. We are a legally recognised not-for-profit organisation, incorporated in Queensland, Australia in 2016.

We operate with full financial transparency and present all annual financial reports to the membership as part of our annual general meetings.

The BHA holds the trademarks for the use of the words ‘Body Harmony’ in the UK, Europe, and Australia.

The BHA is managed by a committee whose members are elected annually and are committed to maintaining the high standards which inform our values, vision, and mission and guide our processes and strategy.

learn about sessions

Values

BHA’s fundamental core values are:

Transformation
Collaboration
Harmony

Vision

The BHA vision is to “inspire people globally to listen to their body’s natural intelligence, so creating happier, healthier lives”.

Mission

The BHA mission statement is to “bring the benefits of quality transformational bodywork to the world, through a professional organisation that embraces diversity and fosters excellence in its practitioners and teachers”.

Body Harmony's

Founder

Dr Don McFarland (1931-2015)

Our founder was Dr Don McFarland who synthesised more than 60 non-traditional forms of healing into a single, unique non-systemic approach to create Body Harmony.

American-born Dr McFarland was a fully licensed doctor of chiropractic who also used osteopathy in his practice and had studied clinical psychology over many years, holding a BA in the subject.

He was also certified in Rolfing by Ida Rolf, Aston Patterning by Judith Aston, cranial sacral therapy, and he specialised in dance medicine. He studied at the International Sports Medicine Institute with Dr Leroy Perry Jnr, studied Gestalt Therapy with Fritz Perls, and Rosen Therapy with Marion Rosen. He also explored many other traditional and more esoteric physical, energy, and psychic approaches to healing.

Dr McFarland travelled the world to deepen his understanding and in 1985 drew on his deep and extensive credentials as both a healer and a teacher to create Body Harmony. He would always say his experiences and education were merely the ‘prologue’ to founding this dynamic, open system of healing which he went on to introduce to more than 20 countries.

He had begun by questioning why he was using one approach or technique with one person but was drawn to try something different with the next. He eventually understood that it was the client’s body that was directing the session, and not him. Each session was unique and the results were more profound if — rather than following a linear prescribed approach — he listened somatically and responded to the client as an individual.

During the last 20 years of his life, he collaborated with Body Harmony Teachers Gina Carruthers and Duncan Hogg to organise a series of one-month Body Harmony retreats in Australia as well as international conferences held every 18 months at different locations worldwide.

Dr McFarland died in 2015, the day after finishing his last teaching event at a small international gathering in Carmel, California.

"If you let it, the body will tell you its secrets, and having told them will be free to move on"

– Don McFarland

our current

Committee

Our current BHA Management Committee is made up of elected volunteers who share a wealth of Body Harmony experience. Elections take place annually at our annual general meeting, and all Practitioners and Teachers can stand for election and vote.

Serving on our current Management Committee are…