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| Who Is Brandon Raynor |
Who Is Brandon Raynor
Diploma of Naturopathy, Diploma of Remedial Massage, Diploma Shiatsu, Diploma Chinese Herbs, Diploma of Ayurvedic Medicine, President International Natural Therapists Association (I.N.T.A.)Brandon Raynor was born in Ottawa, Canada in August 1969. Brandon was brought up in Canada, Central Africa, the United States and Australia. He now lives between Hawaii and Australia while frequently visiting Canada and Europe. Brandon had his schooling all over the world and learned a lot about different cultures by his travels. He attended Sydney University in the late 1980s for almost 2 years and studied Psychology, Philosophy, Comparative religion, Sociology, Education, Government and Economics. He then went on to study yoga, meditation and the Vedic philosophies of India, as well as different martial arts such as kung fu, karate, aikido and judo. 
Brandon first started to study natural medicine in 1990 by starting his Diploma of Naturopathy with health Schools Australia. He also completed his Diploma of Remedial Massage in 1991. Brandon's travels had led him to understand the benefits of a vegetarian diet and he has been vegetarian since 1987. He has studied wholefood nutrition and has worked in health food shops and health food restaurants for several years dispensing nutritional advice and learning about whole foods and their preparation. He has also taught numerous seminars on vegan wholefood nutrition and how to obtain all your nutrients from a vegan diet as well as food preparation methods and the Ayurvedic approach to nutrition. Brandon first started his interest in Eastern medicine in 1992 when he was working at health food shop where there was a shiatsu clinic upstairs and he found this method of massage treatment so fascinating and effective that he decided to study it. He had completed his course in shiatsu by 1993 and was practicing in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney before moving to Byron Bay, the alternative lifestyle capital of Australia in late 1993. 
By 1994 Brandon had completed his Naturopathy Diploma and was practicing as a Naturopath and massage therapist in Byron Bay. He learned a lot here also by trading massage treatments with many of the other therapists of many different healing arts practicing in Byron Bay and the Gold Coast at that time. It was here also that Brandon learned a lot about rebirthing and the Integrative Breathe Therapy and started to understand the power of using the breathe to get rid of deeply held emotions in the body. He would later combine this with massage to help make his unique style of massage called Raynor bodywork. Brandon also loved Chinese Medicine and decided to study Chinese Herbal Medicine and he completed his Diploma in that in 1995. Chinese Medical theories especially the yin-yang theory and the 5 element theory also would greatly influence the development of his massage style later on. 
Brandon understood the importance of diet in dealing with a large numbers of the worlds problems from environmental issues to health to animal welfare and to world starvation and became involved in political campaigns to highlight these issues. He formed a New South Wales state political party called EarthSave and was almost elected to Parliament. He also ran for Byron Bay council twice and formed a federal political party called Brandon Raynor's Green Liberals with a business friendly environment platform.
Brandon's other political activities included being the head of the campaign to stop McDonalds setting up in the Blue Mountains in 1997 which was very successful. He was also involved in the campaign against old growth logging in Goolengook forest in Victoria in 1998 and also the Vice president of the Dharam rakshak, a group of yoga and meditation ashrams in Sydney who objected to the perverted depiction of Vedic and Hindu culture that was being put forth by the organizers of an event called the Sleaze ball in 1999. After seeing a lot of the corruption behind the facade of democracy in Australian politics Brandon decided that business may be a better way to help people and so he started teaching massage courses in Sydney between 1998 and 2000 around the time of the birth of his first son Jayananda (Jai) in 2000. 
10 years after he first started studying massage Brandon had developed a unique style of massage that was becoming very powerful. Combining much of the knowledge from the various traditions of healing that he has studied Brandon was doing massage that were moving the chi in the body as well as working on very deep muscular levels to provide a power ful physical and emotional release of tension and stress.
Brandon had learned a lot about the power of the abdomen through shiatsu, rebirthing and some of the other practitioners he worked with over the years. Brandon continued his studies at this time and completed his diploma in Ayurvedic Medicine with Ayurvedacharya David Frawley in 2002. Ayurveda had a profound influence on Brandon philosophy of healing his way of viewing the world. Ayurveda has very detailed understanding of the connection of the mind body and spirit and along with the understands that Brandon has gained through studying meditation for almost 25 years this has also had a very large influence on the way he views people and the nature of healing. By 2001 Brandon's massage classes were very popular and he had started teaching all over Australia as well as running how own clinics in Sydney and Brisbane. By late 2001 Brandon had begun full time teaching and administering his now Australia wide school. 
Brandon teachings were very controversial when he started and still continue to be today because Brandon teaches as much as he possible can in very short courses. He also believes that he wont teach anything he doesn't use. He only teaches practical ways to help the practitioner totally free their client up from tension, stress and emotional blockages. Brandon's choosing his own path and following what he believes is the best way to teach people massage has won him a lot of friends and also made opponents of people in the more conventionally minded massage industry who tend to emphasise more western rather than eastern approaches to the body and who don't see massage an art form. They see Brandon's ability to teach people massage in short courses to be a threat to their livelihood and status. By 2002 and 2003 Brandon had expanded his very successful classes from Australia to now teach in the United States , the UK , Ireland, New Zealand and later Canada. Since 2002 his school has held classes in the London area every 3 months and has held many classes across North America. In the years between 2003 and the present Brandon's school has also taught in countries such as South Africa, Malaysia, Singapore, Germany, Dubai and India. 
Brandon has also run massage centres in Brisbane, Tasmania, Sydney and Melbourne and is still running the clinic in Sydney and Melbourne.
With Brandon's unique approach to training massage therapists as well as his own unique style of massage he decided to have an association to represent the needs of his graduates and so in 2003 he formed the International Natural Therapists Association. This body has been active in campaign to keep freedom of artistic expression and respect for cultural diversity on the massage profession. In 2007 Brandon and one of his teachers Terry Masson, traveled around the US protesting at the lack of freedom in various states for massage therapy training and practice. This "Freedom Ride" as it became known attracted a large amount of interest and still generates many discussions and debates on the internet and in the newspapers. 
Brandon settled in Hawaii in 2005 and became a licensed massage therapist there in 2006. He is setting up a retreat centre in a very beautiful setting on the West side of Oahu at a place called Makaha. His land will be a permaculture type retreat centre with organic food grown there and beautiful ocean and sunset views. People will be able to come there and stay and learn to massage in an idyllic setting. This project is being worked on at the moment and will be ready in a year or two.
 Brandon had his second son Balaram in 2008 and his duties as a father continue to be a great source of joy for him. As well as looking after Balaram part time Brandon looks after his older son Jai full time and home schools him.
Brandon travels the world both teaching and researching massage and natural healing methods and philosophies from around the world. So far he has traveled to almost 45 countries and many different regions within those countries both receiving massage and healing from local practitioners and also sharing his methods and knowledge. Student Testimonial
How wonderful that massage was that you gave me in the course and how much it has changed my life. As I mentioned, since my lung collapsing and being off the pill, my cycles were around 54 days long without ovulating. I had tried all kinds of herbs but after the massage, my next cycle was exactly 28 days with ovulating and, as a result, guess what.... I'm pregnant! An absolutely wonderful surprise and byproduct of an amazing therapy. I'm 13 weeks currently and have been really well, happy and healthy since the massage. I just thought you should know how amazing the therapy actually is and what incredible things it can change not only mentally but physically and biologically as well. So a BIG thank you for your amazing gift of healing. Todd and I are both so grateful and happy for all of your invaluable help. Hope you have a great day. K xoxoxo Student Testimonial
I have just completed the Advanced Raynor Massage course in London taught by Mr Brandon Raynor himself. I had previously completed both the Certificate and then Diploma courses taught by the amazing Karen French also in London. Brandon I'm trying to find the right words to express how much your therapy and teachings have changed my life but to be honest I'm struggling to find words that are adequate. Maybe it's best if I tell a little about myself, my story and my own personal journey with Raynor Massage. So starting from the beginning my name is Dave Taylor and I was born in Paisley, Scotland but now live near Sutton, London. After finishing my education, I decided to indulge my passion for travel. What an adventure that was! I started off working in the entertainment business in South Wales, then on ships cruising around the Mediterranean, with stops in Menorca, Malta and Tenerife before exploring South America. It was whilst I was working in Spain that I was involved in a serious car accident where the whiplash I suffered caused me to have debilitating neck and back injuries. Conventional doctors helped, but I was still left in near constant pain. It was this pain and my reluctance to be dependent on medication that drove me to seek alternative treatment and how I first encountered the life changing benefits of massage. I was still travelling and went on a mission to find new practitioners in the different countries I stayed in some were great others just seemed inneffectual and left me feeling frustrated. However, one therapist I encountered in Greece made such an impact on me that I decided to enrol on his massage course. Learning this new skill was such an enriching experience and it was driven by the realisation that I could help others also to be relieved of pain and tension. The various treatments I had experienced accross the world made a massive improvement to my condition but the dreaded pain would always eventually return to some degree. I then discovered Raynor Massage, (some would say by chance, I believe in fate though) it works at a deep level, getting to the root of the problem and releasing the tension. After a course of treatments I not only found my neck, back and shoulders to finally be free of pain but I was now calmer and yet more energised. It was clear to me that this really was a style of massage unlike any I had experienced before and I was determined to learn this particular technique for myself. The courses were intense but immensely rewarding. Doing the advanced course with Brandon Raynor was a truly amazing experience and I am so proud to be one of just a few advanced Raynor Massage therapists working in London and the only one in Sutton. So how has Raynor Massage changed my life? Well, I am now pain free! and I have not popped any kind of pain relief medication for my neck pain for over a year! Having regular Raynor Massage has left me feeling so much more relaxed and well. The better I feel health-wise the better I feel about myself and I am now listening to my body and feeding it good food and cutting down (but not out) on the booze and bad stuff! I have also made some amazing new friends. People I met on the Raynor maasage courses have remained good friends to this day. But maybe best of all, it has given me a new career. I am now established as an Advanced Raynor Massage Therapist, working from a private Health Centre in Sutton, London sharing this wonderful therapy and treating real people with real problems every single day. Of course the financial reward is nice, but the reward in making people feel better is simply priceless. Erm, for somebody who was struggling to find words, I think I have probably said enough now! So Brandon, let me finish with this final, single word. Thanks Dave Taylor www.davetaylormassage.co.uk |
