SHEN Blog
First SHEN Workshop in Athens June 8 -10 2012

Report from Poppy Palimeri
During one of the most difficult political and social periods for Greece, SHEN was present and gave emotional release and hope for the future.
I am happy to share with you that during the last weekend of January 2012 Tony Bailey visited Athens and made a presentation on SHEN to a 25 strong audience, as well as offering 10 SHEN sessions to 7 Clients over 2 days and still found time to accept Greek hospitality of a Sunday lunch overlooking the Acropolis. Tony left us on his birthday, as dark clouds from Northern Europe brought snow flurries across a frozen Athens.
…….I have no words to express my deep appreciation for Tony's decision to visit Athens under such difficult circumstances. For me his presence and guidance was a great support. Thank you Tony.
We plan to organise a 3day Part A SHEN Emotional Healing and Personal Empowerment Workshop from Friday 8th to Sunday 10th June in Athens when the weather is ideal with sunny and fresh days and warm nights.
As I mentioned at the beginning, my country is going through a crisis. Greece is not the only one. A lot of European countries have difficult situations as well as countries in the Middle East. I believe that 2012 is for our planet a period of transformation, a chance for evolution. We are at the gate of a radically different kind of development based on values that include the well being of the Planet and its inhabitants.
SHEN can help people. It is a way that offers respect and genuine caring. SHEN can help people find their own source of trust, because basically SHEN is based on a profound trust for the human organism.
We are making an open invitation to anybody that would like to join the first workshop in Athens. For us in Athens your presence and experience will be a great support.
For more information and Registration contact Poppy Palimeri at poppypal@hol.gr Tel: 003 0 210 808 4457
Profile for Irene McLane, CST – Newcastle-upon-Tyne
I was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne in the North East of England where I now live and practice SHEN Therapy.
My early career was spent with the Civil Service, initially in Newcastle and then transferring for a 2 year stint to London.
I returned to Newcastle, married and shortly after the birth of my first son, added triplets to my family – identical twin girls and another boy.
I took a career break to bring up my young family and as a result of continual visits to the Doctor with the usual range of childhood health issues, discovered homeopathy and witnessed an incredible turnaround in the family’s health. This was my introduction to complementary/alternative health.
During a particularly stressful time I was recommended to a SHEN Therapist. A short SHEN series for a family member just turned things around and I couldn’t wait to experience SHEN for myself.
The effects for me were quite subtle, but others noticed a difference in me and I enrolled on the next available workshop to learn the SHEN techniques so I could help friends and family.
I completed the Internship and became a Certified SHEN Therapist in 1998.
Apart from my SHEN practice, my time is taken up with my 5 Grandchildren and membership of a 300 strong choir based at SAGE, Gateshead.
To book a Session, contact:
Irene McLane, CST. Tel: 0191 266 7075; mobile: 07746 982 862
Email: Irene.mclane@gmail.com
Shona Neil, New SHEN Intern for Glasgow


I left work in 2007 after a career in health and social care spanning over 30 years during which time I occupied a variety of clinical and managerial roles. I have experience of various ‘talking’ and complimentary therapies and of working with people with a wide range of emotional and mental health problems in particular those who have experienced abuse, trauma and loss. I am interested in the benefits to wellbeing that mindfulness and contemplative approaches can offer and practice meditation myself.
A chance meeting with a SHEN therapist in 2009 introduced me to SHEN and its benefits. A year later, when increasingly severe and prolonged migraine headaches (for which no physical cause had been isolated) had become a regular occurrence, I remembered that SHEN could help migraine and sought a course of therapy.
SHEN helped me enormously – not only with the migraine but also with various other issues which had been lurking in the background and which I had become more aware of in the absence of the diversion which my work had offered!
Having benefited from SHEN, I wanted to be able to offer it to others. I like the integrity inherent in the link between the requirement to deepen and intensify the personal growth of the intern / therapist through on-going personal SHEN and the ability to effectively benefit the client.
One of my clients says receiving SHEN is ‘like a touching meditation.’ In a way, I think that SHEN, like meditation, can create a spacious and compassionate awareness which enables the release of painful emotions, the unhooking from limiting behaviours and the development of insight – all of which contribute to personal growth and transformation. I also believe that for many of us who are expert at analysing and talking about thoughts and feelings, SHEN can provide the bridge back to our bodies and to the roots of many painful emotions, enabling them finally to be released.
I am delighted to offer SHEN under the supervision of its founder, Richard Pavek, in Goa and during the summer and early autumn in the Glasgow area and South West Scotland.
For more information please contact me as follows:
India telephone number: (0091) 8975980104
UK telephone number: 07400 142808
email address: shenshona1@gmail.com
SHEN Part ‘A’ Workshop March 2012
The March 2012 three day Part 'A' SHEN Emotional Healing & Personal Empowerment Workshop held at Sanctuary, home to Heart of England SHEN Therapy Centre in Bewdley was a sell out!
The participants included students from Canada, USA and Europe
Comments from Workshop participants:
“I thank you from the bottom of my Heart for helping me bring my issues to the surface and releasing them. I had a spiritual Awakening! I’m definitely coming in July for the Part B.”
“I just wanted to say thank you for a lovely weekend in Bewdley. Thank you for making it feel so safe, especially Tony, it was so good to be able to open up more and not keep on pretending that everything is perfectly ok as it is. I learned more about myself as well and it was quite an eye-opener. …. I even had the chance to use the lovely golden key that I was given during Tony's sound meditation – quite amazing. I set free younger aspects of myself that were in hiding – and I'm sure that there are a few more lurking about.
It was an honour meeting you all. Love & Blessing ”
“The Postman remarked that I looked younger!”
Time to Celebrate! Dinner at The Sampan Chinese Restaurant

Newsletter Issue 17
1st SHEN Workshop for Greece
SHEN Instructors Council Meeting in Sedona
New SHEN Appointments
SHEN Community Forum
SHEN with Children
Profile of Poppy Palimeri
Profile of Shona Neil
SHEN & the legacy of Hippocrates
Aspects of SHEN – A Book Project
New Zealand Workshops
Ireland - News & workshops
USA -Special Workshop in Sedona, Arizona
UK Workshop Schedule
Newsletter Issue 16
2 Clinical Skills Seminars scheduled for either side of the World in 2012
2 New Appointments
- Corona McGurk, Mentor
- Saranya Tarrant, Clinical Skills Seminar Teacher
The Role of the International SHEN Therapy Association (ISTA)
Feature on SHEN Retreats available worldwide
SHEN reunion in Victoria, Canada
Cathrine Greene Revealed
- SHEN Therapist
- Acclaimed Artist
- Author
New Zealand news and Workshops
Communication from Cameroon
UK Workshop Schedule for 2012
The role of the International SHEN Therapy Association (ISTA)
The Role of the International SHEN Therapy Association
from Vanecea Greene CSI, CST, Mentor, ISTA Trustee/President
The purposes of the Board is to:
Serve the collective needs of the worldwide professional SHEN Community and to be the collective voice of the independent professional SHEN Practitioners in common matters. To further these ends it shall while striving to embrace and practice the principles and philosophy of SHEN Therapy.
What does the board do ?
1) Oversee the development of the professional practice of SHEN Physio-Emotional Release Therapy as determined by Richard R Pavek and the Instructors Advisory Council of the SHEN Therapy Institute.
2) Establish guidelines for appropriate standards of practice in the several countries and regions where its members practice.
3) Establish, maintain and enforce a uniform code of professional ethics.
4) Establish and administer the SHEN Internship Program.
5) Establish and maintain current standards and criteria for Certifying SHEN Therapists.
6) Assist in defending against misuse and infringements of the SHEN Service Mark.
Governance of the Board
The board of trustees will determine, authorize and supervise all activities of the Association. Given the sensitive nature of the members own therapeutic work, and recognizing the need to promote the unfettered exchange of information , ideas and concerns, all matters under discussion by the Board of Trustees and or its Executive and Standing Committees, whether during or outside of meetings shall be held in completed confidence by the Officers, Trustees, Committee members and other necessary participants.
In the Board we have the following Standing Committees:
1) The Certification Committee (Laurie Hoover, Chair)
2) The Ethics and Grievance Committee (Gabriela Beisel, Chair)
3) The Financial Committee (Russell Fox, Chair)
All Board of Trustees take precedence over the Executive Committee which reports to the Board. The Executive Committee shall take any actions it deems necessary between the regularly scheduled and ad hoc Board Meetings.
We have Annual meetings by phone and Interim Board Meetings via email
Exciting News!
2012 will see 2 Clinical Skills Seminars –
one in the Northern Hemisphere – in Ireland,
and one in the Southern Hemisphere in New Zealand.
Participating in the Clinical Skills Seminar is a major requirement towards Internship and these 2 Seminars will boost the number of Interns and in turn Certified SHEN Therapists.
In the Spring of 2012, Sedona, Arizona will be host to a Certified SHEN Instructors Gathering with the theme: “SHEN & ISTA's Next Steps; Preparing Now for the Future”
The Relationship between ISTA and the SHEN Therapy Institute
Richard Pavek, SHEN’s Founder & Developer, describes the relationship between ISTA and the SHEN Therapy Institute.
“SHEN is composed of two branches, the SHEN Therapy Institute and ISTA, the International SHEN Therapy Association. Though both share a single office, they are separate entities and have separate purposes.
The SHEN Therapy Institute
The SHEN Therapy Institute is the center of training and maintains all student records, here in Sausalito; the Institute supplies all training materials. This is why students desiring to become Interns are able take their requisite Workshops anywhere in the world – or take part in one region and the rest in another – and have them count towards their entrance requirements. There is little confusion because all the Instructors are teaching from the same book(s).
The Institute has a Director and an Instructors’ Advisory Council; Instructors automatically become members of the Council when they are appointed Instructors. In the past, bi-annual meetings were held the day before the bi-annual ISTA Board meeting. Now, with the advent of Skype the Council is able to hold meetings on the internet. Any Instructor can call for a meeting of the Council, which is held if the issue involved cannot be handled through a short round of emails.
The Director appoints all Workshop Instructors, Seminar Instructors and Mentors.
SHEN training materials.
The SHEN Therapy Institute is responsible for developing all training, formal SHEN courses (Workshops and Clinical Skills Seminars) and Mentoring, worldwide. The SHEN Workshop Manual, the Clinical Skills Training Manual, and the Table Charts are the accumulated wisdom of myself, the early Instructors and the current Instructors’ Advisory Council.
While there is considerable allowance for emphasis and individual teaching styles, all Instructors are required to teach the techniques and principles outlined in those manuals. Instructors who develop useful new techniques bring them to me to circulate among the other instructors, so that the others can test them. When a majority find the new techniques to be useful, they are added to our procedures. In this way, SHEN remains alive and current. Minor updates are made and incorporated into the training manuals as needed.
When I become aware of errors in practice, I investigate the source and will send out a Good Practices note to all ISTA members who are current in their dues.
It is worth noting that the fundamental principles on which SHEN rests, have not changed since SHEN’s beginning, thirty-four years ago."
SHEN Part A Workshop, Bewdley – a real Catch!
October brought glorious weather in which to hold the 3 day Part 'A' SHEN Emotional Healing & Personal Empowerment Workshop at Sanctuary, home to Heart of England SHEN Therapy Centre in Bewdley.
For one student, Jonathan Chambers, the workshop was a real catch in more ways than one. Taking a walk along the Riverside during one lunch break, Jonathan helped a struggling fisherman land a huge catch!
Comment from Workshop participant:
“I feel that we were all open and shared a special time together and meeting up after the training hours was delightful. All the Instructors were wonderful and I appreciated learning from each of them with all their experience. The atmosphere was very harmonious as we were all intent on learning and sharing. The SHEN Part A workshop was a wonderful life enhancing experience and I highly recommend it! I have already been enthusing about the course as I think it is such and enriching workshop to attend!" Workshop Evaluation Form. Time to Celebrate! 
