Jason Alan Griffin :: The Blog

Observations from the second day of my apprenticeship. “Most people do too much, or not enough. People who do too much, need to tune their bodies. People who do too little need to tune their bodies.” Words of wisdom from Shmuel Tatz, creator and practitioner of Body Tuning . You take your car in for a tune-up at regular intervals, you have your musical instruments tuned regularly to keep them running optimally, so why wouldn’t you treat your body with the same care? Do you like your body? Do you love it? When was the last time you told your body that you love it? Even though literally saying “I love you” to your hand may have benefits, I’m talking about a different kind of communication. Most people don’t really have much of a relationship with their bodies. They don’t really give their bodies much notice until there is a pain or discomfort. But this is not good. This is your body’s desperate way to get your attention and alert you that something is wrong. By the time you feel...

Earlier this year I noticed what looked like an ingrown hair on the back of my neck. When it didn’t go away after four months, I went to a doctor. She gave it a light squeeze and said it was nothing to worry about. I’d had ingrown hairs before and I know that they go away after a few weeks. Unsatisfied, I asked for a referral to a dermatologist. The dermatologist looked at it, squeezed it and also said, it's nothing to worry about. He suggested, if I wanted, that he could take a biopsy and send it to the lab. That was what I wanted. So we did. I got the call back that it was, in fact, squamous cell carcinoma and I needed to see another dermatologist to have it removed. She dug a giant hole in the back of my neck. In order to ensure removing the offending tissue in its entirety, they also remove a ‘margin of healthy tissue.’ In my case, she wanted to remove 4 millimeters all around. Check out the hole in my neck, here. I was instructed to keep Aquafor or Vaseline on ...

I have recently had a distinct and rare opportunity presented to me: to serve as a protege under Shmuel Tatz. He created and practices “Body Tuning” which is a kind of body work that amazes and delights anyone who is fortunate enough to find themselves underneath his hands. Part art, part science and part intuition, Body Tuning has helped many people overcome pain by literally tuning the body. After a few interviews, I was finally invited today to shadow him and watch as he worked on a few of his clients. It was a humbling honor to watch him at work. If you’ve ever watched an artist create, you can relate. The artist will stroke and swipe at the canvas in what appears to the layman to be random applications of colors and textures. If you watch long enough, the piece of art begins to take form before your eyes. Watching Shmuel work today was a lot like this. His first client walked in and before getting on the table, he tells Shmuel, “I’m feeling less pain and stiffness” to which ...