Dr Randolph Stone – the founder of Polarity Therapy
Dr Randolph Stone (D.O D.C ND) was a passionate man dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge about life, health and wellbeing. His writings provide an opportunity to share his beliefs and understandings.
He stated:
Health is not merely in the body. It is the natural expression of the body, mind and soul when they are in rhythm with the One Life. True health is the harmony of life within us … it is not merely a question of physical fitness but is rather a result of the soul finding free expression through the mind and body of the individual.
His professional training in Chiropractic, Osteopathy and Naturopathy and investigation into the great Eastern and European healing traditions enabled Dr Stone to develop a unique and inspired system of stimulating and balancing the core energy pulsations of human life. He named this Polarity Therapy.
Beginnings
Dr Stone was born in Austria in February 1890 and in 1903, migrated to the USA. As a young man he was interested in natural healing therapies, eventually pursuing this interest into his career. As a natural therapies practitioner in Chicago, in the early twentieth century, Dr Stone became dissatisfied with therapeutic results that were erratic and transitory. Continually questing to improve his understandings and outcomes for his clients, he wrote:
I searched for a principle in the healing arts that would include all forms of therapy and act as a common denominator, an intelligent answer, to all the numerous contradictory theories and claims existing today.
Dr Stone’s journeying led him to study many health traditions. The Indian Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine traditions particularly influenced his understandings … especially their views on life energy patterns and their effect on human structure and form. He commented:
It is only the energy in matter that makes matter seem alive. When the energy escapes only the shell is left … healing constitutes reaching the life currents within and re-establishing the free flow of its energy.
Dr Stone stressed the importance of experiencing the one Source. He integrated knowledge from the great European healing traditions and wisdom of Alchemy, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic Medicine, the Kabbalah, the Hermetic traditions and Paracelcus. In 1945 he became a devotee of Sant Mat. From 1973, he spent the last period of his life living and working in India. He died in December 1981 at the age of 91.
Dr Stone’s main teaching texts were published by CRCS Wellness Books USA. These texts, “Polarity Therapy – The Complete Collected Works, Volumes 1 & 2” and “Health Building: The Conscious Art of Living Well” have guided educators since their initial publication in 1954-1957 and subsequent editions up to 1986. Based on these texts, women and men teachers have framed and systematized Polarity Therapy that is practised in many countries across all continents.
Polarity Therapy in Australia and the beginnings of APTA
In the late 1970s, two Murrietta (California USA) trained, Polarity practitioners immigrated to Australia and offered Polarity Therapy in Queensland. (source R Lachlan PhD)
In the late 1980s, Alan Siegel from the USA, provided Polarity Therapy training workshops in Australia. Bill Hutchinson attended this training.
Bill spent the rest of his life learning, practising and teaching Polarity Therapy in Australia. He developed a number of teaching and self-help books about Polarity Therapy and taught many of the current group of Polarity Therapy practitioners in Australia.
In December 1990, the Australian Association of Polarity Therapy (AAPT) was registered in NSW by B Jordan.
In April 1998, AAPT members voted to change the name to Australian Polarity Therapy Association. Bill Hutchinson was chairperson of the newly named association till 2006.
Polarity Therapy in Australia suffered a premature loss when Bill died in 2006. His commitment and influence are the inspiration that many of us carry today.
Following an internal review in 2019, APTA voted to discontinue formal incorporated association status. Members expressed preference to be a more informal community of Polarity practitioners. Our intentions remain the same: to provide active support for fellow practitioners and to promote understanding in the Australian community about the values of Polarity Therapy as an holistic approach to health building and health care.