Body Stress Release Association - South Africa

BODY STRESS RELEASE ASSOCIATION

SOUTH AFRICA

The Body Stress Release Association of South Africa (BSRASA) was established in 1987 by Ewald and Gail Meggersee. In effect this was the “official” birth of BSR, an exciting time for the founders, as the Body Stress Release technique could now be considered a profession in its own right.

In these early days there were still only a handful of practitioners but BSR was fast gaining momentum in South Africa and the influx of practitioners to the South African Academy was increasing year on year.

The Association was formed with all the all the provisos for a profession – a constitution, code of ethics, scope of practice, disciplinary procedures and educational standards. The BSRASA serves a number of functions, one of the most important being that of regulating the profession.

Currently there are more than 190 practising members in South Africa and the Association is responsible for managing Professional Indemnity Insurance, record keeping and continuation of practitioner education.

Another important role of the Associations is to promote the profession using various media, such as Body Stress Release websites, social media and various print publications.

In addition to the South African BSR Association, national Body Stress Release Associations have been formed in The Netherlands and in the United Kingdom and the International Body Stress Release Association oversees the practise of BSR in roughly 20 additional countries. In 2024 there were more than 460 BSR practitioners active in over 26 countries worldwide.

The committees of these BSR Associations are responsible for running the day-to-day operations of their associations. These committee members are elected at the Annual General Meetings of their associations.

The UK Association is affiliated to the British Complementary Medicine Association (BCMA).

The Association hosts an annual Conference just before the start of the new South African Body Stress Release course, where new students are introduced and welcomed before they start the 5 months course. Regions in South Africa also host separate workshops for practitioners to re-connect and sharpen their skills on technique and client management.