Larry Kaufman, LMT, ASI
Director and Founder of the NW Center
Larry Kaufman has practiced integrative bodywork for more than three decades. He holds Basic and Advanced certifications from the Rolf Institute in Boulder, Colorado, as well as a degree in psychology from Antioch College. He is a former member of the Integrative Medicine Center at St. Mary’s Hospital (Grand Junction, Colorado) and past Director of the Weber Street Center for Process Oriented Body Work and Conflict Resolution.
As a “second generation” practitioner of Dr. Ida Rolf’s method of Structural Integration, Larry has developed his own interpretation of the work. Much like a martial artist must leave his sensei’s dojo to let his own style emerge, Larry has developed a unique perspective of this work. He blends classical SI techniques with understandings from process-oriented and developmental psychology, Chinese medicine, restorative physical therapy and movement dynamics.
A former professional river guide, Larry has synthesized his intimate understanding of the forces of nature and the movement in our bodies. The best river guides, he points out, don’t see the rocks – they see where the river wants to go and place themselves in that line of intention. Larry sees a similar line of intention – a “main current” or “line of motion” – flowing in a vertical pathway through the body. He uses that current as an organizing principle to navigate through the twists and blocks in the body resulting from trauma, disease, repetitive motion and stress.
Learning to feel motion through the body like the current on a river – or blocks to the motion like rocks and obstacles – is the single most powerful awareness Larry offers his students. That perceptiveness coupled with Dr. Rolf’s bio-mechanical insights is what makes Larry’s school of Structural Integration so powerful.
Larry teaches and maintains two private practices in Portland, Oregon at New Heights Integrative Therapy and Grain Integrative Health, and in the San Juan Islands of Washington State.
Leslie Franklin, Psy.D.
Program Director, Instructor
Leslie has practiced counseling in clinical, community and school settings for the pa
st 30 years. In addition to working with children and families, Leslie has expanded her skills to coordinating the programming at the Northwest Center as well as teaching counseling skills to bodywork practitioners.
A licensed school psychologist with a doctorate in counseling psychology, Leslie has an extensive background as a recreation therapist with at risk youth. Her expertise includes working with clients who are experiencing mental health challenges, situational crisis response, creating a healthy working environment for staff, and counseling strategies for bodywork professionals. Working in conjunction with Larry’s Structural Bodywork and Practitioner Intensive trainings, Leslie offers seminars in understanding the process of change and counseling techniques to assist your clients through personal transitions.
What Participants are Saying………………
“Larry is one of the most skilled body-centered therapists I have ever seen. He has a warm heart and a clear mind and is a good example of the kind of healer that we need on this planet.”
Gay Hendricks, PhD, psychologist and best-selling author, Santa Barbara, California
“For over 15 years, Larry’s skills have allowed me to keep doing the things I love – hiking, kayaking, playing soccer, cycling, pumping iron and more. He’s brought me back from injuries that allopaths told me required surgery, realigned me to cure chronic pain, and sorted out lingering hurts that date back to my teens. I’m a few months shy of 60 now, and with Larry’s support, I expect to play well into my 80′s. Of all my health care practitioners, he’s the only one who doesn’t tell me to end my denial and accept my age. Instead, he says, “Go do it!”
JG, ~~Santa Fe, New Mexico
“Leslie has a wonderful approach to teaching counseling strategies. She has that natural blend of being calm yet infusing excitement into the class curriculum. I feel like I have a new skill set for working with clients in transition”.
AP ~~Portland Oregon
“Larry and Leslie are a great team. Between Larry’s extensive expertise in bodywork and Leslie’s counseling background, I feel like I have a new set of tools to work with my clients.”
JK-A, ~~Portland, Oregon
