Open Forum with ZB faculty (Back to Top)

Open Forum is designed to meet the needs of the individual ZB practitioner. The workshop content varies: it may include problem-solving, refinement of touch, advanced understanding of body handling and deepening of fundamental concepts. It is an opportunity for practitioners to be together for rejuvenation and advancement of skills.

Course length: two, three or four days
CE Hours: 12.5, 18 or 25
Prerequisite: ZB I and II
This course satisfies requirements for the Certification Program.

Promoting ZB for Practitioners-A New Wind for Your Sails with ZB Faculty (Back to Top)

David Lauterstein and Karli Beare, Zero Balancing Faculty members, have developed a unique training on the promotion of Zero Balancing. In this pivotal one-day workshop, participants explore applying the fulcrum model and other natural principles of Zero Balancing to the successful wholistic promotion of their Zero Balancing practice.

Course length: one day
CE Hours: 6.5
Prerequisite: Core ZB Program

Review Days with ZB Faculty (Back to Top)

Review Day classes enhance the process of learning Zero Balancing, sharpen the skills of those who have not taken courses recently, and develop relationships among ZB practitioners. Student questions shape the lessons, and the format may include presentations, demonstrations, touch feedback and session swaps.

Course length: one day
CE Hours: 6.5
Prerequisite: ZB I
One Review Day can count toward Certification Program requirement.

The Roots of Zero Balancing in the Chinese Traditions with Alan Hext, M.Ac. (Back to Top)

This course reveals how Zero Balancing instinctively embodies wisdom from the Chinese traditions. It will be of value both as an introduction to those who know nothing about Chinese medicine as well as being relevant to Zero Balancers practicing both approaches.

Key features of the course:

• Use the insights of Chinese medicine & ZB to deepen the harmony and integrity of your own structure and energy.
• Using ZB bodywork, movement and meditation, the workshop will explore the three core centers of transformation which the Chinese know as the Tan Tien.
• Appreciate the way ZB fulcrums activate the pivot which maintains our dynamic center and homeostatic balance.
• Explore how the Zero Balancing protocol provides a harmonious awakening to the embodied awareness of being human. One of the pivotal events which challenged Dr. Fritz Smith's understanding of the anatomy of the body and the process of healing was studying Traditional Chinese Acupuncture with JR Worsley. Fritz originally presented Zero Balancing bodywork as his study of excellence for a Bachelor in Acupuncture degree and first taught it to his fellow students. This course will provide an opportunity for a review of the skills and principles of ZB and to explore its potential through the insights of the Chinese traditions. The body's structure will be presented in relation to the Chinese knowledge of our energetic anatomy.

Course length: four days
CE Hours: 25
Prerequisites: Core ZB Program

Spirit of the Organs with Judith Sullivan (Back to Top)

This stimulating, four-day course will teach evaluation, mobilization and balancing the energy and structure of the internal organs. Using "ZB Anatomy" and ZB principles (including interface, fulcrums, working signs, etc.,) ZB practitioners will gain the skills and confidence to integrate visceral work into their Zero Balancing sessions.

Protocols and specific techniques will be taught for individual organs as well as general principles for constructing visceral fulcrums. The class will also explore the 5-element acupuncture concepts of Elements and Officials, which will introduce the spirit of each organ and its relationship to the cells, the entire organism and to Nature.

This course will specifically address the Liver and Gall Bladder, Stomach and Spleen, Large Intestine, Small Intestine, Pancreas, Kidneys and Bladder, Heart and Lungs and the Uterus.

Course length: four days
CE Hours: 25
Prerequisites: Core ZB Program

Spirit of the Organs Review Day with Judith Sullivan (Back to Top)

One-day refresher and update class for Spirit of the Organs: Review, Revisit, Renew!

Course length: 1
CE Hours: 6
Prerequisites: Spirit of the Organs course

Study Groups (Back to Top)

Zero Balancing Study Groups provide an organized and supportive venue for ZB students of all levels to refine and review skills, to regularly give and receive ZB sessions, and to be in community with other practitioners. Participation in study groups is open to all students who have attended at least Core ZB Part I.

Location and contact information for ZB Study Groups throughout the United States is available through the ZBHA office or the Study Group link on this website.

The Tao of Zero Balancing by Paul Cohen (Back to Top)

Underpinning the essence of The Tao of Zero Balancing course is the exploration of "The Art of Doing Non-Doing". Students will explore ways they can take out the effort doing bodywork and Zero Balancing, to a place of intense yet effortless activity and concentration. This will help students follow the “Tao” and flow of the session that is determined by their clients.

Students will practice working with different combinations of energy and structure, helping them to deepen tactile perception.

Students will also look at the Taoist concept of the Wu Wei (“The Watercourse Way”), which is based on the principles of following the path of least resistance. They will apply ZB techniques/fulcrums that contact a sense of oneness and a technique of getting in touch with the energy of least resistance.

Breath work will include exercises to help students understand the importance of both chi (the Chinese concept of energy) and oxygen. Breath fulcrums will include:

• Fulcrums that hold chi energy and fulcrums that work directly on the breath.
• Fulcrums to help with weakness in the tissues.
• Fulcrums that work on the Wei Chi, our protective or defensive chi level.

Students will learn and practice specific guidelines for working with clients going through a process during a Zero Balancing session.

Course length: four days
CE Hours: 25
Prerequisites: Core ZB Program

Touching the Whole Person I by Jim McCormick, L.Ac. (Back to Top)

The focus of the course is to learn to feel more deeply into the held energy in the bone and the energetic field. To go beyond merely identifying an imbalance in a joint or bone to learning to identify the quality of the energy held in the imbalance - including the client's emotions; self-image; concerns; etc. The course will teach how to identify the archetypal signature of the five elemental emotions, and to provide fulcrums to help balance these emotions. The course will include work on framing, processing, and listening to both the words of the client and the donkey's message.

There will be a focus on deepening evaluation skills - exactly what to look for; how to evaluate with more depth and precision. In addition, the course will explore how to put fulcrums into any aspect of the person - into their emotion; their wellness; into their basic energetic imbalance, into their core self. Lastly, participants will have the opportunity to identify their own blocks to progressing as a Zero Balancer.

Course length: four days
CE Hours: 25
Prerequisites: Core ZB Program
Recommended reading: Inner Bridges by Dr. Fritz Smith, Zero Balancing by John Hamwee

Touching the Whole Person II by Jim McCormick, L.Ac. (Back to Top)

This class is a stand alone class. It is not necessary to take TTWP I to take TTWP II. It is designed for Zero Balancers with at least ZBI and II and one third class.

The aim of the class is to continue development of participant's ability to feel the signature vibrations of emotions and feeling states in the client, and to learn how to use this skill to benefit the client with ZB.

Included will be topics: Connecting to the spirit of the donkey; connecting to the practitioner's own spirit; putting more of yourself in to your fulcrums (while still at interface); awareness of one's own signature.

There will be individual feedback from the instructor, and a premium placed on individual personal growth, which allows more high level ZB work to be successful.

Course length: four days
CE Hours: 25
Prerequisites: Core ZB Program
Recommended reading: Inner Bridges by Dr. Fritz Smith, Zero Balancing by John Hamwee

Tutorials with ZB Faculty (Back to Top)

Receiving high-quality Zero Balancing and touch feedback accelerates the process of embodying ZB principles. Tutorials with faculty members are ideal for addressing specific learning and personal goals. Inquire about availability and fees by calling faculty members directly. Click on Practitioners to locate members and their contact information.

Unity at Mid-Line with Sandra Savine (Back to Top)

Unity at Mid-Line is a mini-protocol to substantiate one of the principles of Zero Balancing: Bones are the conduits of the vibrations of Heaven and Earth, the essence of who we really are.

• This protocol helps the practitioner focus on freeing inner bridges, thus allowing the higher vibrations to flow easily and effortlessly.
• With this protocol the practitioner focuses on well-being.
• Practitioners could use this mini-protocol for demonstrations.
• Unity at Mid-Line facilitates the experience of feeling connected with something deeper than habitual patterns.
• Unity at Mid-Line protocol addresses clients who complain of feeling disconnected or overwhelmed.
• This protocol benefits meditators who want to be open but are in resistance.
• Unity at Mid-Line recognizes a spiritual aspect of Zero Balancing.

Course length: one-day
CE Hours: 6
Prerequisites: Core ZB Program or ZB1 level students with permission

Unlocking the Secrets of the Skull I with Judith Sullivan (Back to Top)

In this two-day course we will:

• Review skull anatomy and its relevance to ZB.
• Talk about different qualities we feel in the skull and their significance.
• Discuss how sutures can be energetically significant.
• Find and evaluate sutures.
• Experience the value of sliding fulcrums.
• Learn new cranial fulcrums.
• Nestle with the skull and brain.
• Have lots of fun!

Course length: two days
CE Hours: 17
Prerequisites: Core ZB Program

Unlocking the Secrets of the Skull II with Judith Sullivan (Back to Top)

Unlocking the Secrets of the Skull II progresses your work with skull fulcrums and introduces new material, including mouth work. In this class we will have an intensive review of Secrets of the Skull I, and work with case studies as well as feedback from students and instructor.

• To remove trauma from the teeth
• The "neighbor" bones theory expanded
• To work with the "Key of the Keystone" (the relationship of the palatine to the sphenoid)
• How facial trauma affects the whole cranium
• More brain anatomy including the Hippocampus and Amygdala

Course length: two days
CE Hours: 17
Prerequisites: Unlocking the Secrets of the Skull I

Unlocking the Secrets of the Skull Review Day with Judith Sullivan (Back to Top)

One-day refresher and update class for Unlocking the Secrets of the Skull: Review, Revisit, Renew!

Course length: 1
CE Hours: 6
Prerequisites: Unlocking the Secrets of the Skull course

Verbal Fulcrums in Zero Balancing I with Jim McCormick(Back to Top)

Using Zero Balancing principles, this class looks at how we can use words in all aspects of Zero Balancing to deepen the effects of our ZB sessions. Learning how to feel comfortable and successful using verbal fulcrums within a session is of great value for the Zero Balancer. Experience has shown that certain held areas, and certain clients, need verbal processing to more fully heal.

The class will include theoretical presentations of dynamic models for better understanding the transformational processes that take place in Zero Balancing. It will also include experiential exercises designed to help us practice working in all areas of ZB where we use words – from getting rapport with the client initially; to the framing process; to using verbal fulcrums in a ZB session in a way that allows clients to stay in the right brains; and using words after sessions – both in evaluating the work; helping the client become more aware of the learning that occurred; creating “homework” for clients that energetically matches their need; to the final goodbye.

In this class a premium will be placed on individual personal growth, which allows advanced ZB work to be more successful - exploring how "who we are" supports and Influences the Zero Balancing work we do.

• Learn when (and when not) to use verbal processing in Zero Balancing sessions
• Learn how to use words safely, respectfully, and effectively in many different situations in Zero Balancing
• Learn how to create deeper rapport and deeper frames with clients, which allows more change in ZB sessions
• Learn a “Short Processing Protocol” to use for verbal processing with appropriate clients
• Through individualized feedback from working on the instructor, participants will enjoy the chance to deepen their own transformational process as a practitioner in order to better walk the journey of transformation with their clients

Course length: four days
CE Hours: 25
Prerequisites: At least three ZB courses or permission from instructor

Verbal Fulcrums in Zero Balancing II with Jim McCormick(Back to Top)

This class is designed to be taken after Introduction to Verbal Fulcrums in Zero Balancing, but it may be taken without taking Introduction to Verbal Fulcrums, with the permission of the instructor.

This class will review and extend the principles and skills taught in the INTRODUCTION TO VERBAL FULCRUMS IN ZERO BALANCING – how to use our words with Zero Balancing principles to help our sessions go deeper and faster. There will be extensive practice with processing in small groups with feedback for developing greater skill at using verbal processing. The class will include deeper presentations on theoretical models for understanding the transformative process clients undergo in Zero Balancing and for seeing bone held energy as often being protections against deeper feelings.

In this class a premium will be placed on individual personal growth, which allows advanced ZB work to be more successful.

• Learn a full Processing Protocol for verbally working with clients in a safe, respectful, and powerful way, without interrupting the flow of the session.
• Build a repertoire of techniques that work and those that don’t work; using journaling to record the learnings.
• Learn how to use verbal fulcrums in a ZB session in a way that allows clients to stay in the right brains during the conversation.
• Learn how to listen to the body’s messages (the clients and our own) to follow the body and the client’s lead, and not take over.
• Explore how our own internal issues get in the way of being present with clients – and how to work on those issues. Learn to track our own feelings and sensations as we work with clients

Course length: four days
CE Hours: 25
Prerequisites: At least three ZB courses or permission from instructor

Weekend with Fritz Smith with Fritz Smith, MD (Back to Top)

Complete description to come.

Course length: two and a half days
Prerequisites: Core ZB Program

Within the Interface: Refining Conscious Touch with Alan Hext, M.Ac. and Ida Smith (Back to Top)

This course will refine the quality, accuracy and understanding of your touch in ZB bodywork. When the world is viewed in a structural manner it is all too easy to divide it up into separated parts. When the energetic dimension is appreciated, we see the world in dynamic interaction maintaining unity through the quality of inter-relationships. This course will enhance your abilities to know what is happening at interface, reveal your personal biases towards structure or energy, illuminate your awareness of the dynamics of relationship, review the vocabulary of touch and its implications towards our wider relationships, and explore the potential for change when we build complex fulcrums. Students will be helped to mature their use of ZB and to grow their skills into an extraordinary art.

Course length: two or four days
CE Hours: 12.5 or 25
Prerequisites: Core ZB Program

Working with Special Donkeys with Zanna Heighton (Back to Top)

Zero Balancing is ideal for Special Donkeys of all kinds. People who are defined as being autistic have more than their fair share of challenges, but we all experience varying degrees of the very same challenges when pushed to our extreme edges. When we don't feel safe being who we are, or when we can't cope, through whatever predicament life has thrown up for us, we can find ourselves taking refuge in any of the behaviours attributed to autism. This has more to do with the psychology of the donkey than the more commonly understood psychology of the mind. Whether the situation is chronic or acute, the troubled donkey can find solace in the reparative touch of Zero Balancing.

This workshop will show you how to work safely and creatively using especially-created fulcrums, some of which address the front of the body.

Course length: two days
CE Hours: 18.75
Prerequisites: Core ZB Program

ZB and the Art of Living with David Laden (Back to Top)

The human body, the most complex of all forms found in nature, is an expression of divine intelligence. The ZB protocol is a precision tool for contacting this evolutionary energy and intelligence. This one-day class is a field guide to the architectural organization of the skeleton and the elegant ways in which the skeleton literally guides our progress and destiny as ever-evolving human beings.

By exploring the interface of physical anatomy with human consciousness we discover how Zero Balancing facilitates the process of becoming more whole. Many of the details of the form and function of the skeleton will be discussed and worked with in relation to the basic ZB fulcrums, demonstrating the potential of the ZB protocol to facilitate the integration of the archetypal energies of the human personality. The main goal of the class is to inspire a broader vision of our work and increase the practitioner’s appreciation for the beauty and richness of Zero Balancing.

What you will learn -

• The real significance of the "Donkey" and "Donkey Lean"
• The archetypal energies embodied in the curves of the spine
• How to balance and integrate these energies when doing ZB
• Awareness of the 3-dimensional bowls of the skeleton and their significance
• How the greater trochanters of the femur accelerate energy vertically up the spine
• Internal and external body types and the relationship between breathing patterns and personality
• How the sub-occipital structures are designed to make the head weightless
• Contacting the intrinsic intelligence within the basic ZB protocol

Course length: one day
CE Hours: 6.5
Prerequisites: Core ZB Program

ZB and Cancer: Bridges to Wholeness with Michele Doucette, D.C. (Back to Top)

Bridges to wholeness is a 3-day advanced training for certified ZBers providing clear guidelines for offering safe, effective and essential ZB sessions to people living with cancer. Confidence is developed through understanding the basic concepts and terminology of cancer and its treatment, as well as the potential impact of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual issues. Clarity is introduced as common myths about cancer and how it spreads are dispelled. The ZBer learns to effectively obtain information in order to identify precautions, establish trust, and determine session modifications for clients at various stages of the cancer experience. Meditation and artwork are used to explore the therapist's beliefs and feelings about working with this population. Ample time is allowed for discussion and hands-on practice of fulcrums developed to bridge the chaos of serious illness with the essence of wholeness and the possibilities of peace and transcendence. Review of Core ZB principles, touch skills, and fulcrums amplifies the ability to touch into the terrain of well-being creating a clearer stronger field for clients navigating the waters of cancer or other ongoing illness.

• To develop confidence by knowing the facts and dispelling the myths about cancer, its many manifestations and treatments
• To effectively obtain information in order to identify precautions, modifications, indications and contraindications to ZB for clients living with cancer
• Lymphodema: what is it and what are appropriate modifications to touch
• New fulcrums designed to access the spirit (based on 5 element acupuncture theory)
• A brief Wholeness Protocol focused on holding wholeness while acknowledging brokenness
• Clarification of personal beliefs and feelings about cancer through meditations and art in order to increase personal presence, awareness, and sensitivity

Course length: three days
CE Hours: 18.5
Prerequisites: ZB Certification or 100 hours of ZB class and instructor approval

ZB and Kids with Judith Sullivan (Back to Top)

Zero Balancing and Kids is about children and so much more. We work with a focus on children, and the inner child within adults. We mostly enjoy touching and feeling the magic of children. Zero Balancing and Kids helps you to bring ZB to children in a playful yet effective way. We learn how to approach children, respecting their boundaries, yet working with difficult issues. ZB and kids will help you expand your working territory, as children won't often lie receptively on the table. What you can expect from ZB and Kids:

• An increased understanding of children at different ages
• Remembering your own inner children
• Learning special cranial fulcrums from a ZB perspective, good for all ages
• Increased ease in working and connecting with children
• Having a good time
• Recess, naps, stories and cookies

In addition, you will observe several demonstrations and we will bring children in for the class to work with.

Course length: four days
CE Hours: 25
Prerequisites: Core ZB Program and Unlocking the Secrets of the Skull I
Please bring a special toy that entertains you, a pillow and blanket.

Zero Balancing Practicum with Jim McCormick and Hau Thi Long (Back to Top)

A continuum of practices to hone your ZB technical skills, cultivate your ZB touch and deepen your inner work. The outcome is a more experienced, happy and focused ZB practitioner who is committed to life-long learning and growth.

Course length: one, two, three or four days
CE Hours: 6.25, 12.5, 17.75 or 25
Prerequisites: Core ZB Program

Zero Balancing Relationships with Christine Baldwin (Back to Top)

In this class we work consciously on relationships through the energy and structural bodies of two people while at interface.  This work creates a clear container to meet the donkey of the relationship.  As we work at multiple levels of interface we create a clearer stronger field allowing for entrainment of the energy bodies. This creates opportunities for the relationship to grow/to heal/to create harmony, as well as a deepening within the individuals. 

• A deepening of core principles and interface
• Learning a new protocol
• Explore and deepen the energetic nature of relationships
• Create rhythms between two people
• Work at multiple levels of interface
• Increase awareness of working with the field of the relationship through the structure and energy bodies of two people
• Learn new fulcrums
• Learn how to balance chakras
• Learn how to allow energy bodies to organize and amp up coherence

Course length: four days
CE Hours: 25
Prerequisites: Core ZB Program

ZB for Survivors of Sexual Abuse with Donna Cerio (Back to Top)

As Zero Balancing takes its rightful place in the health care field, Zero Balancing practitioners will be reaching a wider variety of client populations. The statistics indicate that anyone in the health care field is likely to encounter survivors of sexual trauma in their practice. In this 25 hour class students receive information that heightens awareness of the subject as well as practical guidance needed to best serve clients with this history. Survivors of sexual trauma have said that Zero Balancing is a significant addition to their healing regime. Practitioners have said that it is profoundly useful to have training in recognizing, understanding and addressing the specific nuances and needs of this client population. Students will learn a special protocol, and how and when to apply it. Class includes lecture, interactive exercises, guided hands- on practice and demonstrations.

Course length: four days
CE Hours: 25
Prerequisites: Core ZB Program
Required reading: Intentional Touch - A Guide for Zero Balancers (available through ZBHA office)

Zero Balancing and Women's Cycles with Melissa Nussbaum (Back to Top)

This class, open to both women and men, will explore women's health issues, particularly related to cycles that can be addressed in a Zero Balancing session through touch. The class will review the basic protocol and give touch feedback. The class will focus on how to integrate what happens to women during Menstruation, Motherhood, Menopause and after, through the use of Zero Balancing.

The class will look at specific symptoms, physical and emotional, that come up during these cycles, as well as the education, social pressures, expectations and taboos that comprise the background field. We will also look at the meridians and officials and chakras that are particularly involved and see how to address these with fulcrums. Heightening awareness of the various energetics pertaining to these cycles, we will show how to integrate Women's Cycles into the universal flow of life itself.

Course length: three days
CE Hours: 18.75
Prerequisites: Core ZB Program