Travelling the world was the beginning of Tyson Bartel’s journey both inside and out. As a young man he decided visiting the Mesoamerican ruins he had learned about while studying anthropology in college could help him figure out what direction his education would take. It did. Instead of determining his major, he was bitten by the travel bug and abandoned college for lessons learned on the road.
“That was it, I was a traveller then,” said Tyson. The departure was one that deeply shaped his life and his education.
In Asia, Tyson encountered not only Thai massage, but also Vipassana meditation during his travels. During a ten-day meditation retreat, he came to the realization there was a lot of “junk” attached to his concept of self.
“I realized it wasn’t a matter of snapping my fingers and fixing everything,” he revealed, “It was going to be a lot of work.”
The next leg of his exploration led him to India, where he found a rich world filled with both heaven and hell. The strong spiritual traditions and the rigours of daily life affected Tyson, who studied yoga as well as meditation while there.
It was those experiences that led him to pass on what he had learned once he was back in Canada. Back in Kamloops, Tyson became involved with the only yoga studio in town, and when line ups for classes became too much for the lone instructor to handle, Tyson was asked teach.
“I wasn’t nervous, I was excited about it,” he said, confident that his devotion to yoga would make him a good teacher. Teaching from experience came naturally to him, and within six months he had a full-time teaching gig.
It was during a yoga teacher training session that Tyson first came across Feldenkrais, a system of movement and awareness developed by Moshé Feldenkrais. Having suffered from back trouble, he first felt a shift during one set of exercises, and continued to repeat the exercises. Tyson’s experience with the movements lit a fire in him to learn more. Finding instructional tapes, he dedicated time to studying Feldenkrais at home. Inspired by the philosophy and process, he began to tell everyone about it.
Feldenkrais is a system of movements designed to increase awareness of the body and to improve both the movement repertoire and general wellbeing. Founder Moshé Feldenkrais explored the connection between the body and mind, particularly anxiety and movement. He stated that object of the exercises was “more flexible minds, not just more flexible bodies.” A devoted judo practitioner, developed techniques designed to increase awareness of the body and the connections between mind and body.
Thanks to a teacher that came to the Kamloops yoga studio, Tyson found out about a four-year Feldenkrais program being offered in Washington state. Even though it was a struggle to get everything in place in order to go, he was excited and determined and completed the training in 2001.
“I’m still integrating Feldenkrais methodology,” said Tyson, who sees how the practise has affected how he approaches his every day life, increasing his consciousness of what is happening with every movement.
Another more recent voyage shifted his life again when he came to the Kootenays a few years ago on holidays and he saw that more of the life of his dreams – breathing clean air, planting a garden, hiking in lush nature – was possible here.
Leaving his successful yoga teaching career he had built over the years in Kamloops, Tyson has made the jump to the Kootenays with no regrets. Although he still has strong ties to family and community in Kamloops, the Kootenays are now home for him. He now teaches Feldenkrais in Nakusp and Winlaw, and periodically travels back to Kamloops to offer classes there too.
During a Feldenkrais class with Tyson, specific ranges of movement are explored, and how they affect and are affected by other parts of the body. Students are asked to note how they feel at the beginning before the exercises are done, and to compare how they feel afterward to see what kind of changes have taken place. The class is an experiment in increasing consciousness around muscles, tendons, and movement where each student is the explorer of their own bodies. Emphasis isn’t on what “should” be done, rather on learning about how your own body moves and feels. That being said, people who come to Tyson’s Feldenkrais classes generally leave feeling relaxed as well as more knowledgeable about themselves.
Living in the south Slocan valley, Tyson’s journey continues. Like any good teacher, he is also a perennial student, and has recently discovered a new realm of experience and exploration in the world of Kundalini yoga.
You are welcome to join Tyson’s Feldenkrais class at NaCoMo in Nakusp on Tuesday evening at 8 p.m. or Wednesday at 9:15 a.m. If you are interested in more information about Tyson’s Feldenkrais classes or Thai touch massage, you can contact him at 250-226-6826 or thaitouch@yahoo.com.
