This hands-on approach bypasses sometimes decades of endlessly talking through struggles by working directly with the body's building blocks of experience—its tension patterns, internal chemistry, unconscious posture, breathing, movement, and perception.
These are simply learned reactions to the world that have become instincts. Retraining those unconscious instincts gives the brain a chance to rapidly create new instinctive habits that eventually lead to happiness, health, and well-being on autopilot.
– Jamie Crawford, LMT
What you'll learn throughout the course of this training will include everything I've learned how to do and distilled down over the years from training and certifying in:
Decades of movement training
Posture assessment and alignment
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy
Subtle sensitivity training
Identifying and dismantling root psychological issues and limiting beliefs
Facilitating cathartic releases
The anatomy and deployment of breathing for various therapeutic uses
An old Siberian form of bodywork handed down from teacher to student
Effective use of percussion (think massage guns, but with hands and other tools of the trade)
Trigger point release
Traditional Zen mindfulness exercises with a long-time teacher
Combative training with ex-Russian operatives to understand the nature of fear and instinct
The physical source of thoughts and emotions, and how the body can make them come and go once it learns how.
And much more, most of which I had to piece together with myself as the guinea pig in order to make it so effective.
This is your chance to join others in learning how to do that same thing both for yourself and for those around you.
Whether you are already a licensed body worker, a therapist or counselor, a mentor or coach, or simply a mom or dad wanting to know how to help your kids let go of the nonverbal stresses of life, this training will give you some of the fundamental skillsets to start making a real (or even bigger) difference right now.
If being able to create and facilitate that kind of change feels up your alley, or if you simply feel drawn to understand this for yourself...
On April 23-25, 2025, in Salem, Utah, I will be leading the next group of trainees through Level 1 of the training (and/or certification process, if you want that extra support, attention, and guidance).
Essentially, we will be covering the foundational skills for you to be able to sense where the body is holding things and then to help it drop the misery, pain, or struggle.
This is a highly immersive experience where you will learn partly through discussion, but mostly by receiving, feeling, and doing — just like all the old school therapies have been taught for millennia.
What you’ll learn is an approach I’ve developed from:
Years of training, certification, and experience in an old Siberian style of using sticks and other tools to invite the body into catharsis and relaxation
Whole body listening from two and a half decades of training in Chinese qigong and Taiji
Subtle anatomical sensitivity from years training, certifying, and working as a Registered Craniosacral Therapist
The anatomy of pain from a deep dive into practical neuroscience, and my own approach to transforming it first into ease and then into pleasure.
Breath coaching from nearly 30 years of exploration in a wide array of meditative systems, yoga, Russian Systema, Chinese breath control, and practical experimentation on my own
My own experience delivering over a thousand individualized sessions in on a wide array of people with different body types, ages, ailments, mental and emotional struggles, and more.
All the adjustments I’ve made over time that allow me to deal with the whole person instead of only working on their muscles. Rest assured, this goes well beyond physical therapy.
I will supply for you your own set of sticks to use (unless you want to make your own). This will be included at no extra cost. My first sticks were a gift to me from my teacher, and I feel something significant about that. So I want to do the same for you.
I'm also planning on making at least one other tool for you as well (something that kids in particular seem to love when it's used on them)
Further trainings will go deeper, but I’m willing to give as much as you can handle (as you well know from your experience with me already).
We’ll convene in the morning to receive your sticks and introduce you to science and anatomy behind the technique. You'll begin with basic, high-level work to understand how the body responds emotionally to pressures as we discuss the guiding principles behind the work—sensitivity and adaptation. You’ll be able to ask questions, and (most importantly) deepen your own feeling of biological freedom even on the first day. More importantly, you'll become more familiar with what those you help will feel AND learn to free yourself from it in the process.
That is key. The freer you are, the more freedom you can facilitate in others.
Time permitting, we’ll end the day (and each subsequent day) with restorative practices and old school techniques I’ve learned from my travels.
We'll move onto the next piece of the puzzle that you can do anytime, anywhere without having to have your partner get all prepped for a full session—point work and percussion.
These particular skills are what I used in the beginning a LOT. They are the methods I used to help people get rid of small injuries, years of chronic pain, deep fears, and also long-held traumas and negative self-image. What's nice about these particular skills is that they don't have to take a long time and can rapidly accelerate a lot of the psychological and emotional releases that STICK WORK™ can produce.
Each day will also include some sensitivity training as well as movement practice to develop your structure so the massages aren’t taxing on your body.
Now we get to play! Especially with children, movement, play, and breathing help to get rid of the sense that you are "fixing" them. It taps into their natural ability to let things go and move on. Ironically, it does the same for adults... just takes a bit longer.
So we'll get to explore how muscles fire and how to relax them while in motion. Plus, we'll review everything we've learned, answer questions, practice some more, and get you ready to head home with some sauna and ice bath! (so bring your swimming suits.
* Note: This training will all be happening at my home in Salem, Utah, USA (about 1 hour south of the Salt Lake City airport - SLC), so you will need to arrange for your own housing, food, and transportation outside of the seminar. We will likely have some light food to munch on during the day, but plan accordingly if you will need more. There will be naturally be breaks for lunch.
I can see how much won’t be addressed. Yet this is still far more than I received my first time training, and it got me competent enough to start working with my family first.
The second and third sessions I gave, even with this limited training and an incomplete set of sticks, still radically changed my son’s life and eliminated so much anger that he had built up in his body—likely in part because of the way I parented him all those years prior.
So yes, there’s a lot more to cover. And yes, you’ll have enough to start. This will allow us to build a network of practitioners across the globe who can help the billions of people struggling.
You get to be one of them if you choose.
So choose your route below...
To your freedom,
Bob “Let's STICK Together” Gardner
* FYI - Depending on demand, this may be the last Level 1 Group I run until sometime in 2025.
or pay in full and save $200
Custom Made Set Of Sticks
Mystery Tool for Use with percussion (and kids)
3 Full Days at the in-person STICK WORK™ training seminar including:
Sensitivity Training for Any Level
Hands-On Practice w/ Other Students
Lunches Each Day
Sauna / Ice Bath On Some Days
3 months of Group and/or 1-on-1 Support for help/Q&A when you get home
Chance To Work Directly On Bob For Corrections And Feedback
Like I tell everyone, if you can't have a little fun on your journey to freedom, you're just training yourself to be miserable. Life's happening anyway, you might as well enjoy it!