Life on Land: The Story of Continuum, The World-Renowned Self-Discovery and Movement Method [Paperback]

Emilie Conrad (Author), Valerie Hunt (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 19, 2007

Emilie Conrad’s approach to movement education, health, and healing is as varied and deeply textured as her life story. In Life on Land, she interweaves the story of her Brooklyn childhood and discovery of dance with the psychic and physical collapse that led to the development of Continuum, her groundbreaking movement and self-realization technique. Readable, poignant, and ultimately triumphant, the book melds Conrad’s unique theories of the body-mind frontier with fearless discussions of Jewish heritage, sexuality, female identity, and social pressures.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“In Life on Land, Emilie Conrad offers us pulsating stories and bold insights intounscripted awakenings. This book engages those of us who dare to perceive our primordial self in the mystical and practical journey through oceanic depths of existence. Rich and alive. A great book.”—Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, founder and educational director, The Schoolfor Body-Mind Centering and author of Sensing, Feeling and Action“In this magnificent volume, Emilie Conrad details her courageous journeys–from the raw movements of jazz through the ecstatic rituals of Haiti to the pulsing rhythms studied by neuroscience—weaving these seemingly disparate worlds together into a discipline for those of us who have to find our way through the confusions of this strange era. This book gives a clear sense of the origins of Conrad’s healing work and its major implications for reshaping a more humane world.”—Don Hanlon Johnson, Professor of Somatics, California Institute of Integral Studies and author of Everyday Hopes, Utopian Dreams “…Emilie Conrad boldly unfolds the larger mystical and practical implications of her lifework, positing a “life on land” in which both the human body and consciousness can be restored to its original fluid, innate, intelligent participation in the cosmic dance of life. A provocative and thoughtful distillation of an extraordinary life and inspired work from one of our somatic elders and healers, rooted in direct shamanic experience and wisdom.”—Amanda Foulger, faculty member of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies

About the Author

Emilie Conrad, the founder of Continuum, was born and raised in New York City where she studied ballet and Afro-Haitian dance. After moving to Los Angeles in 1963, she began teaching at the Actors Studio, where her novel approach to movement helped performing artists and led to her choreographing and directing numerous plays and performance works. In 1974, Conrad pioneered a protocol for spinal cord injury, and from 1974 to 1979 she was Movement Specialist in a research study conducted by Dr. Valerie Hunt at UCLA. This groundbreaking study demonstrated that fluid, primary movement is essential in our ability to innovate. Enhancing these fundamental movements has a potential to create a rich intrinsic environment that brings forth new insights in our understanding of the human body and its potential to create alternate systems.Considered a visionary in movement education, Conrad’s inspiring work has been incorporated by an international audience of professionals from fields such as Rolfing, Zero balancing, Hellerwork, Craniosacral therapy, Osteopathy, physical therapy, dance, Psychoneuroimmunology, and physical fitness. She teaches Continuum workshops around the world.

Product Details

• Paperback: 392 pages
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books (June 19, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556436459
• ISBN-13: 978-1556436451
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #149,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Disorders & Diseases > Physical Impairments

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo, Emilie Conrad, September 16, 2007

By 

Roberta B. Burden - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Life on Land: The Story of Continuum, The World-Renowned Self-Discovery and Movement Method (Paperback)

Emilie Conrad's book is a stunning masterpiece. Her deep intelligence, caring heart, and passion for life permeate every page. And she writes like a wizard. By the end of the book the reader knows what Continuum is down to her very bones. There is also a section explaining basic Continuum movements in a way that anyone can understand and practice at home. I think the ultimate joy would be to experience a workshop with Emilie. I also read Bonnie Gintis's Engaging the Movement of Life: Exploring Health and Embodiment Through Osteopathy and Continuum and must imagine that Emilie Conrad is exceedingly grateful that she had no "medical training" to muddy her experiential waters. Bravo, Emilie!!

18 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Most Progressive Book about Health & Spirituality to Date, October 5, 2007

By 

K. Ateeka "Ateeka" (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life on Land: The Story of Continuum, The World-Renowned Self-Discovery and Movement Method (Paperback)

If you have an interest in new and innovative ideas in health, spirituality and the origin of life itself . . . order this book. Emilie Conrad has spent over 40 years developing her exquisite body of work called Continuum Movement and this book reflects her journey. The message she shares is truly fresh, innovative and gives us great possibility for our development to become "variated humans" . . . adaptable and open to much more than we know now. Emilie's writing is descriptive, eloquent and paints a picture of movement in a completely new light. Her story is inspiring. I recommend this book very highly.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Continuum may be good, this book, not so much, June 22, 2011

By 

blue jaguar (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Life on Land: The Story of Continuum, The World-Renowned Self-Discovery and Movement Method (Paperback)

Often a founder is too close to their work and cannot write clearly about it to audiences who do not have the benefit of the same history or internal references. Such writing tends to be terse and often circular. Such is the case with this book.

In the foreward Dr. Valerie Hunt takes delight in floating the grammar of her degree and sputters an almost random collection of words. She is trying to present the findings of alternative medicine and metaphysics but does not have the languaging adept for the task. Her allusions to these metaphysics would require a safari and in depth interviews to grok. Example:

"On the way up the cord, this energy affected all ascending and descending sensory motor nerves migrating in and out of the cord with a higher level of tissue instruction than the actual fluid. There were floating ideas that this magnetic energy first came from the Earth but expanded to encompass celestial vibrations."

For example, what does she mean by "tissue instruction". And who and by what process were these ideas about earth and celestial energetic action (aka vibration) formed and where are they documented (citations). So you end up feeling that through the book Emilie and Valerie are talking to each other having a shared point of reference and history. But for the average reader a legion of Sherlock Holmes would be required to follow them. Even the experienced metaphysician will not get the core messages of Continuum without a lot of headache and slow going. This is NOT what the experience of reading a good book is supposed to be about.

Here is an example of Emilie's writing style from page 317

"In using the term "Broadband Virtuoso" I am pointing to the immensity of the internal abundance that is available to us, and what we could become if we tapped into it. I am implying that depending on what is necessary at the moment we can shift our structural thought and tissue simultaneously in order to enrich the world we inhabit and, consequently, the world we are creating. The local/non-local capability we might develop could create a completely unique human being."

First, the editor should have taken a wide swing at Emilie's writing style and reworked these run-on-and-on sentences. Second there are many concepts in this paragraph that are not well defined, even within the full previous context of the book. What is "structural thought"? What process allows thought and tissue to shift? What enrichment? A good book should be able to be read with luciditity throughout. The words in a paragraph should be able to stand somewhat alone and provide enough meaning that you don't need the entire rest of the book to understand them.

So in the end I must conclude this is not a book. This is a collection of thoughts that has not yet been crafted into a book. Perhaps for Continuum someone largely outside of the genesis of it will need to come forward and re-interpret Emilie so that others can really understand what she is talking about.