Melinda Franceschini, Workshop Instructor

Certifications

Energy Gates Chi Gung - Level 2
Longevity Breathing - Level 1
Wu Style Tai Chi Short Form - Level 1
Dragon & Tiger Chi Gung - Level 2
Gods Playing In The Clouds Chi Gung - Level 1
Heaven & Earth Chi Gung - Level 1
Wu Style Tai Chi Long Form - Level 1

Bio

There are animals and other living beings we see all the time that we overlook,” says Melinda Franceschini, who has been teaching at BTC since 2002. She is talking about the numbing effect that these energy arts overcome-helping people feel alive in their bodies and in healthy relationship with the world around them, “the flow of nature.” The perspective is informed also by her scientific and academic background.

Melinda has studied stress in zebras in Kenya, in monkeys in the Amazon, and in birds in the U.S. Northeast, because of factors such as translocation, captivity, and pollution. She completed her doctorate in veterinary medicine from Tufts University in 1997 and is just finishing a second doctorate there-in Biology, studying environmental stress and wildlife health/conservation.

Far afield from chi gung? “I actually do see it all as related,” she says, focusing on that moment when her students start really to experience chi, opening up to a whole other dimension of awareness. “It's like a part of themselves has been freed, when areas that used to feel tense feel relaxed and spacious and people become less reactive, able to cope better with daily life, and more natural and alive.” Also licensed as an Asian bodywork therapist (who focuses on chi gung tui na, acupressure, and shiatsu), she works especially with students who do Chinese movement arts. That work as well goes beyond hands-on bodywork to teaching people techniques that they can integrate into their personal practice. “It's also about relationship, and helping people find their own way.”

In the fall Melinda will be one of the teachers of the new Gods Playing in the Clouds chi gung curriculum. She has been studying at BTC since 1998 and is certified by B.K. Frantzis to teach Energy Gates, Dragon & Tiger, and Heaven & Earth chi gung plus tai chi Short Form and Longevity Breathing. The future also likely holds a book she has started writing, more teaching in nature retreat settings, and some time off after completing her doctorate just to feel out what directions she wants to take.