Since 1974 hundreds of thousands of people have made meaningful connections through OPEN EXCHANGE. To celebrate our 30th Anniversary, we invited the artists, therapists, consultants, and healers that list with us to share their favorite client stories. A big, heartfelt "Thanks!" to all who participated and, more importantly, for the wonderful work they do. These great friends and colleagues represent the community of practitioners that are indeed the heart and soul of OPEN EXCHANGE....
Richard & Natica Angilly
Dancing Poetry Festival
We love you guys! We love what you do! I have to tell you a story! I was in a copy store and met a woman who said she didn't know about Dancing Poetry. So I went outside of the store to an OPEN EXCHANGE newsrack, took out the latest issue, opened it to the part about us and said, "Here you are! This is what we are." That was so great! We laughed and laughed, and the woman then knew about us!
Natica and Richard Angilly, longtime OPEN EXCHANGE listers, produce an amazing annual event which melds original poetry with dance performances. This year's event is on October 2 in SF. Other work is ongoing. See Dance.
Joseph Feinstein with Anat Baniel, Movement Coordinator
OPEN EXCHANGE provided me with the opportunity that changed my life. Five years ago I left a university teaching position and moved across the country to find my teacher. I knew there must be a better way to transform my own life and my students' lives. Through OPEN EXCHANGE I began a remarkable transformative process. I joined the Anat Baniel Method of Feldenkrais Training and have had the privilege to study with Anat Baniel. Today I am empowered personally—physically, emotionally, and mentally—and I am also able to provide transformational opportunities for my students. I have a successful private practice helping others access their well-being and vitality. I can't thank you enough for the opportunity you have provided.
Joseph, many thanks for sharing this story!
Joel Koosed,
Entrepreneur & Singles Mentor
OPEN EXCHANGE should be subtitled "A Resource for Pleasant Surprises." As an entrepreneur and founder of many businesses over the last 30 years, including The Original San Francisco Roommate Referral Service (1975), KICKS - Dance Around the Bay (a dance magazine, 1979), the Avenue Ballroom® (1980), Mentor By The Minute® (business consulting over the phone, 1985), The Meeting Game ® Salon (evenings of conversations and ice-breakers for single adults), and most recently, Capturing Women's Hearts™, a dating and relationship group for heterosexual men, I've turned to OPEN EXCHANGE many times to help jump-start a new business. I know I can count on it to get the word out to the people I want to reach.
The most unexpected benefit that's come to me through OPEN EXCHANGE, however, has been the people I've met through its pages. When I started my phone-based business consulting service, I looked in OPEN EXCHANGE and found Gene Chamson. It turns out that Gene had been attending dances at the Avenue Ballroom for many years, and so knew who I was, but we had never met. Gene gave me a great deal on my 900 number, as well as lots of excellent advice, and we became friends and business associates as well.
Then, a few years ago, when I decided I wanted to learn to play the congas, I looked in OPEN EXCHANGE for a drumming teacher. To make a long story short, she and I had a brief, but exciting, long-distance romance.
So, whether you want to learn something new, or want new clients for your own business, I've found OPEN EXCHANGE to be not only an excellent resource, but one that can be full of pleasant surprises!
Joel Koosed is the quintessential San Francisco entrepreneur who has made a specialty of bringing people together with his innovative programs.
Roberta Godbe, Therapist
Having been with OPEN EXCHANGE for over 15 years, I've seen lots and lots of clients from you, wonderful people who might not have found me otherwise. One woman had previously seen six therapists; it just hadn't been the right fit. She read my listing carefully, and we did some deep, meaningful work on personal relationships. Another person that found me through OPEN EXCHANGE was my most challenging client. He suffered from severe negative thoughts, and it took him months to feel safe enough to talk and start to work through the trauma of neglect, abuse, and pain. Once I identified that safety was his biggest issue, we used hypnosis and EMDR to create safety. With time we built a therapeutic relationship that provides a foundation for change.
Roberta Godbe uses a "non-dual" perspective, blending a spiritual perspective into the therapeutic milieu. See her listing.
Markate Daly,
Philosophical Counseling
A young woman came to me from OPEN EXCHANGE who only had romantic interests in abusive men. These were the only men she seemed to have interest in. Her current relationship involved a man who drank too much and abused her. During the course of our conversations I helped her reinterpret her relationship from outside the romantic lense. "What would have to be true" for you to stay with this guy? She came to see this relationship for what it was, loveless and doomed to unhappiness, and she finally broke it off. Meanwhile she told me about a friend (let's call him Jim), a sweet guy but one who didn't interest her romantically. We talked about what she wanted in a mate, and Jim possessed all those qualities. In the course of our conversations she finally turned to Jim for companionship. Now she has a healthy relationship with a caring man and a beautiful baby. I simply helped her recognize what she wanted; she did all the changing herself.
Markete Daly offers Philosophical Counseling, an alternative to both psychotherapy and spiritual counseling.
Improv Teacher Marcia Kimmell Meets Frances Oman,
Time Banishment Coach
Although I am a successful improvisational acting teacher, director and actor, before working with Frances Oman as my coach, I always felt overwhelmed with all the things I had to do. I had no peace. It has been said that we teach what we most need to learn. In my work I teach people to play and to focus. Frances is the only person I've found who could help me do this in my life outside the theater. It turned out the key to this was my misunderstanding and mishandling of time. In taking her Time Banishment Workshop and with weekly coaching with her I learned:
1.) How to FOCUS on my TOP priorities and let go of the others. Before, I would have a theater production but the media wouldn't be alerted in time so I wouldn't get reviews. Things are different now. I've just had a successful run of a performance for which we got several great reviews because of my work with Frances.
2.) How to PLAY. I have not had a vacation other than requisite family visits for decades. Tomorrow I leave for a vacation at the beach, having promised Frances I will not think about work the whole time. This is a breakthrough for me. Frankly I'm terrified. It's like the stage fright my students sometimes have until I teach them how to play. But, now it's my TIME to play.
Marcia Kimmell offers improv classes. Frances Oman, longtime OPEN EXCHANGE lister, offers Time Banishment Workshops and private work in our Coaching category.
Jim Grantham,
Jazz Musician
I've specialized in jazz theory and musicianship all my life, ear training and practice techniques integrated into one program. Since I offer students a practice routine the class is never really over! It gives participants an individualized approach for practice on an ongoing basis. For the hours and depth of instruction it's an incredible bargain. OPEN EXCHANGE has brought me students who have retired and have taken up instruments they played in college. Or singers who have wanted to learn about jazz theory but never were taught it. They learn just as much as instrumentalists do in the theory class.
Jim Grantham, longtime OPEN EXCHANGE lister, offers theory and musicianship classes in our Music category.
Hal Isen, Core Wisdom
Here's the story of one client of the many who found me through OPEN EXCHANGE. She had lived her whole life against a background of despair. She had created a perky, happy persona to hide it, and was successful in her work, but the despair was always there, suppressing any experience of ongoing joy. Joy and contentment seemed unattainable. Various methodologies had offered only temporary relief. In the Core Wisdom class I invited her to do a simple, powerful seven-step process to dissolve the despair at the energetic level. During the third step (which addresses the origins of the issue), she experienced an image of herself in the birth canal, about to be born, experiencing her mother's feelings of despair. She realized that in that instant she had simultaneously made two erroneous conclusions: (1) she had believed her mother's despair was because of her (it was her mother's chronic condition), and (2) she misidentified that despair as her own. Then she heard her inner awareness say, "it (the despair) is not mine!" In that instant, the despair dissolved completely and has never returned. That life-changing session took only 20 minutes!
Hal Isen, longtime OPEN EXCHANGE lister, offers Core Wisdom workshops and private sessions.
Surja Jessup, Therapist
Andrea, who responded to my OPEN EXCHANGE listing, was very stressed and wanted to release weight. After seeing me for a few months she wrote the following: "Through Surja's hypnotic techniques, including creative visualizations, dream interpretations, relaxation, acupressure massage, and walking me through very deeply buried feelings during hypnotherapy, I watched my body spiritually transform. I no longer carried the emotional baggage, and in doing so, lost weight. I came to accept my body image as being healthy, attractive, and strong. More importantly, I came to learn that my body's wisdom would tell me what to eat and when and how to exercise. As a result, I became so comfortable with being healthy I finished my first triathlon and am training for another."
Andrea was so impressed with the power of hypnotherapy that she completed a comprehensive hypnotherapy training program, left her marketing job, and moved to Connecticut where she established her own successful private wellness practice!
How's that for closing the circle! Surja Jessup, Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and longtime OPEN EXCHANGE lister, offers Body/Mind Transformation in our Counseling and Therapy category.
Sharon Knight, Bodyworker
One of the things I love most about my work as a massage therapist is that I am able to form strong bonds with my clients over the years. Some of these bonds deepen into true friendships, friendships I probably wouldn't have made if we hadn't met over my massage table.
For example, a few years ago, an Irishman, whom I will call Eamon, came to see me to get help with a frozen shoulder. I gave him a vigorous deep tissue massage that alleviated much pain and restored most of his range of motion in the first session. He was so pleased that he came back again a few weeks later, and soon discovered that regular massage kept his shoulder functioning quite well. He has seen me almost every week since then, and we have found that we have much in common, in particular our love of Irish culture.
Over the years, we have shared stories, advice, and jokes, listening to beautiful Celtic music while I massaged the stresses of life from his muscles. I have been able to help him avoid knee surgery, and he has given me many tips for restoring my new home. Just recently I had the chance to visit Ireland for the first time, a dream I have had for 20 years. Eamon helped me plan my whole trip, including arranging for places I might stay, and helping me avoid naive mistakes. It was a completely transformative journey... everything about the Emerald Isle charmed me. The abundant greenery and numerous holy wells exuded a healing presence that went straight to my core, and I gained a lot of insights about my own work as a healer. My visit to Ireland has so kindled my inspiration that I am reshaping my practice to encompass Celtic imagery and themes, for I feel this will keep my own well of healing full enough to share with all who come through my doors.
I am pleased to count Eamon among not only my clients, but my friends. I am so grateful to have made this friendship through OPEN EXCHANGE!
Sharon Knight, longtime OPEN EXCHANGE lister, offers therapeutic bodywork under Bodywork Therapies.
Karen LeGault,
Art Camp Instructor
I had several new students this last few months due to advertising in the OPEN EXCHANGE. One woman who came to art camp owns her own retreat but wanted the experience of working with art, too. Every student I have had from my listing has been delightful to work with. One student had to overcome her fear of driving by herself to get here. She was determined and made it!
By the way, students have expressed that OPEN EXCHANGE is a respectable, solid source of classes and events.
Ernie Mansfield, Sax Teacher
K.C. is an adult saxophone student of mine who found me through OPEN EXCHANGE. K.C. is a Registered Nurse and is also a very creative person who co-administrates the First Stage Children's Theater. K.C. has had a lifelong interest in the arts. Besides her interest in theater, she also studied tap dancing and other kinds of dance. K.C.'s interest in saxophone came about partly because there was a vintage saxophone in her family. It was just sitting around and not being used, so she decided to have it repaired and learn to play it. Turned out, it is an old Conn Saxophone, silver plated with gold trim, a really beautiful instrument—a collector's item!
Ernie Mansfield, longtime OPEN EXCHANGE lister, offers saxophone, flute, and theory in our Music category.
Judith McKinnon,
Bodywork Pioneer
Monte Spicer was a former FedEx employee who trained for a career in bodywork at the McKinnon Institute after seeing our announcement in OPEN EXCHANGE. For a couple years Monte worked parttime as an independent contractor doing chiropractic work. He finally started his own practice in 2000 with a specialty in sports massage and recovery. He has since worked with the Giants, a number of Raiders, the California Panthers, Oakland A's, Atlanta Braves, and the Yankees. One team member will tell another about Monte and he'll be called in.
The excitement and the love we have at McKinnon helped inspire Monte to take his career to a new level. Keith Grant, who runs our Sports & Deep Tissue Program, is an incredible instructor. Monte started with Swedish and kept adding to his training, building step upon step. At McKinnon Institute, we believe you should be able to enter the massage field easily and grow your practice organically.
Judith McKinnon, longtime OPEN EXCHANGE lister, trains people for exciting new careers in the somatic therapies.
Doug Neff, Computer Pro
I met Nick Ray through OPEN EXCHANGE, and he and I have been working together for several months. He is a personal and business coach and he lives with his wife Ellen and their dog Jake in Berkeley. He first called me to help him deal with the vast amounts of spam and popups he was seeing on his computer. After clearing those up, we started focusing on things he wanted to learn how to do. We've been meeting every couple of weeks, and have just started bartering some of his coaching expertise for computer help. I have also helped his wife with some of her own computer frustrations. (And Jake sleeps at my feet whenever I sit at Nick's computer.)
Clay Parsons,
Career Consultant
John, who first came to me from OPEN EXCHANGE, is one of the most interesting individuals I have ever worked with. In the 1970s John worked in the music industry in New York City, managing several up-and-coming hard rock bands and living life in the fast lane. After burning out on 48-hour days and the pervasive drug culture, he moved to San Francisco to "get a little rest" and regain his health and sanity. He got a job as a cabbie, "just for a few months," but 20 years later he was still driving a cab.
John's lifelong dream was to become a college professor. Although he never went beyond high school, he had a remarkable intellect. A voracious reader, he consumed several books a day in his cab. He also met and talked with people from all over the world and from all walks of life. He was proficient in several languages, including French and Spanish, and could expound on almost any subject.
John had some very real fears about returning to school, believing that he would feel slow and foolish in comparison with his younger classmates. After talking with students and faculty at several Bay Area colleges and researching several types of programs, his comfort level improved and he signed up for his first class at San Francisco State University. I talked with him after he had completed his first few weeks. He was really excited. It was all he had hoped it would be. He was already planning his next semester's classes.
That was four years ago. John completed his undergraduate degree in two years and last year started an accelerated master's program in liberal arts at Stanford University. He is planning to enter a doctoral program in political history next year and is already looking for programs where he can teach. John still drives his cab occasionally, more out of nostalgia than necessity.
Clayton Reed Parsons, longtime OPEN EXCHANGE lister, is a professional career counselor and coach, with over thirty five years helping people find meaningful work and manage their careers.
Debra Evans,
OPEN EXCHANGE Participant
Upon moving to the Bay Area from Colorado in 1990, I immediately gravitated toward OPEN EXCHANGE—knowing that it would be an invaluable resource as I put down roots in my new home. Fourteen years—and many bends in the road—later, I reflect back on just how spot-on my knowing was. I've always enjoyed the articles and the social gatherings listed in the Calendar of Events, but it was a "dark night of the soul" experience that first led me to reaching out to OPEN EXCHANGE listers for the first time. A home invasion and attack by a stranger in 1994 propelled me into a two-year journey of post-traumatic stress and a determination to reclaim my whole self again. This led me to longtime lister Surja Jessup, a wonderful transpersonal counselor (longtime OPEN EXCHANGE lister in our Counseling category), and to the Soulwork of therapist Anna Billings (longtime OPEN EXCHANGE Counseling lister). Along with the support of a few other healing modalities, they helped me to come back from the depths of that experience with a grateful heart and a renewed faith in life that has remained with me since then.
Some of the other ways that OPEN EXCHANGE has entered into my life are quite varied. From 1995 until 2001, I was the director of programming for Whole Life Expos & Conferences. OPEN EXCHANGE always played a vital role in promoting our events and ensuring their success. Last year I attended a life-changing Improv workshop led by OPEN EXCHANGE lister Ann Swanberg, the extraordinary teacher and co-founder of Lifeplays Improv. This year I finally decided to follow my inner promptings and take the 150-hour basic acupressure training at the Acupressure Institute in Berkeley. Having read their advertisement hundreds of times over the years, I can happily say that taking the intensive training was one of the most exhilarating choices I've made in a long time.
Thank you OPEN EXCHANGE for your steadfast commitment to bringing our community together!
Thanks again to one and all for sharing your inspiring stories. Knowing that we have helped to bring people together is the nicest anniversary gift ever!