Amy Ward Brimmer

“Amy brings intelligence and compassion to this collaboration, plus super clear x-ray vision and gifted healing touch.”

I have been investigating mindfulness, spirituality, and self-expression since childhood. I created Way Opens to bring together people interested in learning and practicing bodymind methods of awakening. As a trauma survivor who is continually discovering what it means to thrive, I have accumulated many tools for healing and growth and it has been my privilege to be trained by several wise and wonderful teachers and therapists. Now I find great satisfaction in supporting others as I have been supported.

I began learning Alexander Technique in 1989, and became a certified teacher in 1995 after completing my training with Alan Katz. I am a certified teaching member of Alexander Technique International and a Registered Somatic Movement Educator with ISMETA. I hold teacher qualification status from the Center for Mindfulness at UMass Medical School and have been leading classes in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) since 2014. I’ve taught at Yale, Villanova, Brooklyn College, and along the banks of the Delaware Canal. I enjoy practicing Qigong and leading classes throughout the Philadelphia area and beyond.

Alexander Technique. I originally trained as an actor/director, and I’d heard of Alexander Technique (AT) for years before I finally decided to try it. After earning my M.A. in Performance Studies from NYU, I became an editor and writer and spent most of my time sitting at a desk during the day and in theater seats at night. When I first began my lessons I had very little awareness of my body, and almost no knowledge of my anatomy or how it was designed to function. Many people seek out AT for pain relief, but I was numb in a variety of ways, and I had a vague notion that something was “off.” I felt disconnected somehow and I thought maybe I needed more than the yoga or psychotherapy I was already doing. A good friend kept raving about the positive results he was getting from his Alexander lessons, so I made an appointment. From my first lesson I knew that this was the right path for me, and my study of Alexander Technique was a turning point that began a series of significant and lasting changes in my life. My fascination with this process has never faded, and I feel blessed that I get to share the work with others.

Insight Meditation. As for the path of Vipassana, over the years I made many attempts to establish a regular meditation practice, going strong for a few weeks but eventually tapering off and stopping altogether, only to pick it back up again later and repeating the same pattern. I admired the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn and took workshops with him when he came to New York, and that always infused me with new determination to practice regularly, but my cushion inevitably ended up in the corner gathering dust, along with my good intentions. It wasn’t until I took the full 8-week MBSR course in 2010 that I was able to find the discipline to meditate every day. I began to notice how lousy I felt on the days I forgot or chose not to, and that was proof enough for me. I have continued to move ever deeper into the fascinating reality called “mindfulness practice,” and now I cannot imagine my life without it.

Find out more about me and my work by reading my blog.

Amy Ward Brimmer CV

About Way Opens

“Move, and the way will open.” – Zen proverb

Way Opens Wellness, LLC first began its life in 2010 as Way Opens Center, in Newtown, PA. After teaching Alexander Technique for 15 years in various spaces around New York City and Bucks County, and a decade of childbirth education and doula service, I longed for one central location where people came to me instead of the other way around. So we put down roots, and called Way Opens a "center." But of course, “life is what happens while we’re busy making other plans,” and the work began to take shape into many other places, and many other modalities, and there hasn't been one specific center for some years now. Way Opens went from offering only Alexander Technique to an expansion of services and classes, which currently includes AT plus Somatic Release bodywork, Qigong, and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction training.

Way Opens is more than a location. The mission has been refined by experience, visioning, and spiritual support; this is a project of promoting and investigating resilience and wellness for all humans as they encounter the changes they wish to make in their lives. Thus our slogan is awakening mindful transformation.

The name “Way Opens” is derived from the zen proverb quoted above, as well as from a Quaker saying, “way will open,” when facing the unknown in a situation that calls for faith and action in equal measure. And that’s what transformation takes, isn’t it?

When you engage in any class or service with Way Opens, you are seen as whole, not broken. You already possess everything you need to learn and grow and change whatever you wish, so you can live with more ease and freedom in body, heart, and mind. Yet fundamental change is not easy. Waking up can be a challenge that requires fortitude and steady practice, even when the path ahead is unclear. Knowing – from direct experience – that life will unfold as it needs to, we can trust the process as we move and learn together.

Humankind is faced with a wonderful opportunity to make a fundamental shift for the better, on both the micro and macro levels, in terms of personal growth and societal change. In spite of life’s seeming randomness, it’s no accident that we are here, now. How will you meet that miraculous opportunity? How is Way opening for you today?