Lonny's Bio

Lonny Fox

Biography

The following is a very short version of the amazing journey that has brought me to this point:

It all began with an exploration of martial arts and the resultant injuries that then needed to be healed. The blessings of great teachers taught me that there is more to the body than just the sum of its parts. These blessing began with Judith Weaver and Tai Chi, and continued with massage training with Keersha Winds and Analea McGarey. The wonderful work in Chi Gung with Mantak Chia, and finally, the mentoring and inspiring insights of both Joseph Heller and Don St. John completed my training. These people provided direction, wisdom, and clarity, and without them I would probably still be wondering where my life was heading.

I have also been extremely blessed with the love of my now departed wife, Helen Jarvis, who stood as a beacon of clarity throughout our relationship. My son Geminy and daughter Hallie, along with my two grandchildren, are now, and have always been, a constant source of light, love, and inspiration to me.

For those of you who would like the longer form of my bio, please keep reading.

Namaste,

Lonny Fox

I was born December 4, 1949 in Cumberland, B.C. which makes me a Sagittarius with Scorpio rising and a Taurus moon. I spent my first 11 years in Cumberland and moved to the "big city" of Victoria, B.C. where I went to school from 12 to 18 years of age. I did many of the usual things for that time; played a lot of pick-up baseball and street hockey as well as becoming a Queen Scout which involved a lot of hiking and camping. Graduating from High School at 17, I spent 7 months in England working in the Soho area of London. I had the good fortune to work under a retired British Black Beret who kindled in me a strong interest in the martial arts.

From 19 to 22, I returned to Vancouver Island and opened my own roofing company in Courtenay. I spent several years as a roofing contractor before moving on to framing and general carpentry. During that time I joined the Comox Judo Club and began to follow the tournament circuit. To aid my Judo, I began to study Cheng Man Ching's Yang Style Tai Chi under Judith Weaver. This began a lifelong connection to Tai Chi and Chi Gong. I also married and my great joy, my son Geminy was born in 1971.

I spent the next 9 years building houses in the Comox Valley and Victoria, studying Santorio Karate then Tai Quan Do under Sabum Woo Kim and bringing up my son. By 1980 I had moved to Victoria where, upon being granted the right to teach Tai Chi, I opened The Fox School of Tai Chi. In 1980 I also met Analea McGarey and Keersha Winds who ran the Jupiter Hollow School of Massage in Glen Ellen, California, and by 1981 had graduated from their school with a certificate in massage.

Over the next 5 years I continued to build houses as well as work with massage and teach Tai Chi. During that period I was searching for something more to bring to my bodywork and tried to enter several training programs without success. Every time I set something up there was some kind of intervention and it wouldn't work. Finally in 1987 a friend in the Mill Valley Tai Chi Club began to do this wonderful new bodywork called Hellerwork. Every 2 weeks she would go for a session and would call me that evening to report on the outcome. I was so impressed with what she described that after 4 calls I flew to Mill Valley and met Joseph Heller and Don St. John, had my first 2 Hellerwork sessions, and signed up for the training. I graduated in December of 1987, returned to Victoria and had full practices in Victoria and Vancouver by the end of February 1988. After 19 years and countless courses I still find the work to be totally inspiring and amazing.

	Helen and Lonny in New Zealand

In that same year Helen Maureen Jarvis and her daughter Hallie came into my life and Helen helped to direct me into the Citizens Counseling Training. A ten-month training in personal development, which required a 200-hour payback to the community in volunteer counseling. I graduated from that program in 1990 and stayed on as a volunteer counselor till 1998. 1990 also saw me at my first advanced Hellerwork Training led by Joseph Heller in New Zealand. Helen and I had a wonderful time at the training and then traveled the North and South Islands enjoying the scenery and meeting the many wonderful Hellerworkers that lived there.

I expanded my studies and my practice in the following 4 years. This included studying Levels I, II, and III of cranio-sacral from the Colorado Cranial Institute under Mr. Jim Asher, a wonderful cranial practitioner and rolfer. I also brought Hellerwork to the Victoria Pain Clinic where, during my 4 years of practice, it became a permanent fixture in their treatment program and the most requested follow up therapy of their clients. There is still a Hellerwork practitioner in their program to date. In 1992 I began the first of four Canadian Hellerwork trainings with Dr. Don St. John as Training Director. My wife, Helen became the second person to both produce and attend a training eventually graduating as a Hellerworker, as well as a noted Trager Practitioner. Dr. St. John brought me under his wing, training me as a teacher and training director and in 1994, as an assistant, I attended my 2nd Advanced Hellerwork Training. I did a Somatics training that year and ended the year with the status of Hellerwork Teacher.

I kept busy with private practice, trainings and creating, with the help of Harrison Wayman, the Society For Somatic Education, later to become The Canadian Hellerwork Association. These 2 years took me through another training and saw me appointed Assistant Trainer in 1996. In 1999, with Don St. John graciously stepped back to allow me to direct my first training and I was appointed as a full Trainer and Training Director. Without both Don's help, training and support over the years none of this would have been possible.

All through these years Helen and I continued to travel to Mexico, Costa Rica and Europe teaching and working wherever we went. We took up dancing Argentine Tango, which quickly became a passion. We spent 2002 and 2003 getting our Diplomas in Homeopathy and began to integrate this facinating work with our Hellerwork practices. Unfortunately at the end of 2003 Helen was diagnosed with Colon Cancer. We thought it was dealt with and I began the 5th Canadian training in 2004 only to have the cancer recur in Helens lymph and lungs. After a long fight and much innovative treatment Helen passed on in April of '05. She was a strong force in Hellerwork and well as my life and will be greatly missed. Many teachers and trainers rallied to support me during this time period and I'm proud to say that seven new Canadian Hellerworkers graduated in October of 2005.

Life has not slowed down. This year I will be teaching and working in Europe, Canada and in my new home in Costa Rica. I continue to explore structural bodywork and am doing a new course in Homotoxicology. I hope to begin another Hellerwork Training this September in Victoria.

return to top of page