Course Overview

Unfortunately, the stress that we experience as a human being living in an often demanding and unforgiving world is the number one cause of disease in the Western world. Severe stress in various forms is a problem for many people. This can be due to relationships, work, children, etc. When you are in an extreme stress state, your body cannot get into a relaxed state of being which is required for it to rest, digest and repair itself. In this course, John takes a look at the various types of stress disorders, including types of PTSD (which more of us many have than you realize) and how to treat them.

John Veltheim

John Veltheim was the founder of The BodyTalk System and the cofounder of both the International BodyTalk Association and the International BodyTalk Foundation, which continues to fund research and bring BodyTalk Access to people in regions where healthcare is limited.

Formally trained as a chiropractor and acupuncturist, he served as Principal of the Brisbane College of Acupuncture and Natural Therapies for five years. Dr. Veltheim’s extensive postgraduate studies included applied kinesiology, Bioenergetic therapy, osteopathy, and sports medicine.

His broad expertise also spanned counseling, comparative philosophy, and theology. Deeply curious about the intersection of science and consciousness, he lectured internationally on quantum physics, healing, and human potential.

Dr. Veltheim authored numerous journal and magazine articles on BodyTalk and related fields. His work was featured in the Journal of Alternative Medicine Research, which dedicated an entire volume to The BodyTalk System in recognition of his groundbreaking contributions.

He also published several books on Reiki, acupuncture, and BodyTalk, and was the visionary behind many BodyTalk courses, including the advanced PaRama BodyTalk program—where science meets healing at its most profound level.

John Veltheim’s legacy lives on through the global BodyTalk community and the lives transformed by his work.

“PTSD is a whole-body tragedy, an integral human event of enormous proportions with massive repercussions.”

– Susan Pease Banitt

Course Description

How we respond to stress is very important. A variety of factors can contribute to the body no longer responding appropriately to stress. When this happens, even minor amounts of stress will cause problems. In this course, we will look at how we can reprogram injured stress response systems. We will look at how such systems become damaged in the first place, the brain and body parts involved, the symptoms, as well as the difference between stress in the brain, the heart and the gut. This subject is particularly important for children whose stress response system has been damaged.

We will also explore post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While this condition is common and often extreme among military veterans, PTSD can affect anyone who has been through a period of trauma, which includes most humans. Trauma can include difficult relationships, serious illness in self or family, any kind of brush with death or feeling powerless, even simply seeing something frightening or terribly confusing. We will look at what’s happening in PTSD physiologically, and the brain and body parts involved. We will also look at the some of the psychology and how BodyTalk can help.

Topics addressed in this course will include:

Amygdala stress response and stress pathways

Stress effects on the three brains

Neurotransmitters produced by the various brain centers

The forms stress can take, e.g. physical, chemical, emotional, nutritional

Types of stress, e.g. acute, chronic, PTSD

Complex PTSD

Gaslighting (a type of PTSD involving psychological manipulation)