Beatriz Nascimento

Beatriz Nascimento, MA, OTR, was a professor of occupational therapy at the Federal University of San Carlos in Brazil for 15 years.

Beatriz came to San Francisco in 1989 to work with Meir on her muscular dystrophy, a genetic condition considered incurable by conventional medicine that causes progressive muscle waste, weakness, and can lead to severe disability.

She spent almost a year working full time on her body and on her Self-Healing Practitioner/ Educator training classes.  She averaged 4 to 6 hours of daily bodywork, which included massage, passive movement, self-massage, hundreds of repetition of gentle, very low impact exercises, stretches, breathing, and visualization.

”It was a radical transformation of my my body and my relationship with it: from relentless deterioration, discomfort, frustration and a sense of helplessness to ever increasing freedom of movement, grace and vitality”, Beatriz said. By the end of that period her condition had improved about 40%!

Upon her return to the University she co-founded the Nucleus for Self-Healing, a clinic and research project within the Department of Occupational Therapy at the Federal University of San Carlos, which still offers free Self-Healing therapy and classes to the community, and co-authored a study of the effects of Self-Healing on muscular dystrophy.

Bea teaching on the trampoline.

Since 1993 she has been teaching at the School for Self-Healing in San Francisco, in Brazil, and in Europe.

Beatriz lives half of the time in Santa Rosa, California, where she has a Self-Healing private practice, and the other half in Brazil, where she concentrates in training new practitioners – there are already 15 graduates there, and dozens actively involved in their training.

In 2001, Beatriz, students, and practitioners founded the Brazilian Self-Healing Association, whose mission is to spread Meir Schneider’s method in that country.

Beatriz has translated Meir’s audiotapes and articles into Portuguese, produced the videos “Massage For Muscular Dystrophy” (in English), and “Self-Healing for Neuromuscular Conditions” (in Portuguese), written magazine articles, and often gives interviews to magazines, radio, and TV.