John Rierson has been a leader in Radix practice for almost 30 years. 

He started his career in another field entirely, working as an ordained minister in the Methodist church from the mid 1950’s through the mid 1970’s.  Here he developed pastoral skills in dealing with the frailties and strengths of his parishioners. 

In the late 1970’s John pursued Radix training under the direction of Charles Kelley, Ph.D. and in 1980 he was certified. 

John traveled widely throughout his Radix career, providing ongoing work in Texas, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.  In addition, he offered residential workshops that were attended by people from throughout the United States.  He has impacted countless lives throughout the course of his career.  People who know him continually emphasize his “sensitive, open manner and welcoming attitude,” along with his “ practice of the blend of spirituality and therapy.”

John brought years of diverse experience and training to his Radix work along with a generous spirit of collaboration, a willingness to expose his work to other therapists, and a unique blend of Radix work, Jungian psychotherapy, meditation, and ministry. 

Many of us owe him a debt of gratitude for the generous, expert, caring help he provided to therapists and clients alike.  As one person said, “John aged gracefully.  Years after the fact, patients speak of him with admiration, gratefulness, and affection for his human contact with them.”

In February of 2008, at the age of 77, John retired unexpectedly because of a leg injury.  We miss his presence and work among us greatly. 

In May of 2009, a fund was established in honor of John and his vast contribution to Radix work.  The Radix Institute invites you to offer comments, tributes, or memories about John on this website. 

You can also make a donation to the John Rierson Fund, which at John’s request will be used to fund outreach efforts and a new training curriculum.

Dear John,
On this, your 80th birthday, I pause to reflect upon the influence our work together has had upon my life. All of it, without exception, was positive and life engendering-though not without challenge and hard work on both of our parts! I recall first meeting you in Dallas, Texas in 1984 when my life was falling apart, and I had no idea why it was happening or what I could do about it. A member of the Stelle group told me about a “therapy” called Radix and invited me to do a few sessions with you. I still recall that very first session in which you skillfully introduced me to the suppressed rage that had been with me for many years and was at the root of my dysfunctional relationships. The power of the emotional contact and the beginning of its release was a crucial turning point in my life.

From there, you recall, we worked together sporadically for about a year, and then more regularly when I moved to KY and came to your office in IN. I remember the mix of joyous excitement and gut level anxiety I would experience prior to every session, series or workshop I attended, but the results were always so profound that I wanted to do more. I recall fondly how you balanced genuine compassion with firm determination to keep the process grounded when my hysteric process would surface-how you encouraged me to see, experience and integrate the sensations, emotions and memories as they poured forth from early childhood. From you I learned how to pace myself emotionally and develop boundary. Through you I was exposed to other excellent radix teachers, who I still value deeply. In retrospect, I see that I was not always the easiest client to work with, and that causes me all the more respect for and appreciation of your love and skill as a Radix teacher and as a genuinely caring and contactful human being.

It was on the basis of your work with me that I decided to enroll in the Kelley Radix training group in 1991. It was through your program that I met and worked with Dr. Kelley directly, and ultimately immersed myself in Reich’s biology work and Chuck’s Science and the Life Force Course. That work has been some of the most powerful and satisfying I have ever done, and it led me into my current search for technologies based upon the conversion of life force into usable energy, such as those of Nikola Tesla. It was also your capable hands that first introduced me to CranioSacral therapy, showing me a safe and successful way to release layers of fear I had never experienced before. Please know that it was that session with you, when I first felt those powerful psoas muscles writhing in my back, that propelled me into CST training, culminating in my becoming a certified CST therapist and 10 subsequent years of practice. Thank you also for encouraging my life partner to attend the workshops with me, as that first of training was a life altering experience for him too--one that supports our relationship to this day-- precisely 25 years since I met you!

When our first year of training was completed but could not go on, I recall with hear felt appreciation your encouragement and support for my continuing with The Radix Institute. I will always be grateful to you for that, as I was able to finish and certify in 1994. We have not seen each other much in the last 15 years , but living here in MI I have been aware of your wonderful work with therapists here. John, I can truly say that without your expert assistance at a critical time in my life, I would likely not have achieved all that I have. There have been many other skilled and loving teachers in my life since that first session with you in 1984, but you were the first and the one that showed me how to have the life I always dreamed of having. I do not have words to convey the full extent of my gratitude, but from the soft place inside that you helped me recover, I offer this poem to you, with Love. A Rose is a Rose, and I know God placed you on my Path……. Ellen Costantino

The Tiny Rosebud ~
It is only a tiny rosebud,
A flower of GOD's design;
But I cannot unfold the petals
With these clumsy hands of mine.
The secret of unfolding flowers
Is not known to such as I.
GOD opens this flower so sweetly,
When in my hands they fade and die.
If I cannot unfold a rosebud,
This flower of GOD's design,
Then how can I think I have wisdom
To unfold this life of mine?
So I'll trust in Him for His leading
Each moment of every day.
I will look to him for His guidance
Each step of the pilgrim way.
The pathway that lies before me,
Only my Heavenly Father knows.
I'll trust Him to unfold the moments,
Just as He unfolds the rose.
Author: Charlie Gilchrist
thegentleshepherd.net/Poem002.html

I have known John for the last 20 years - initially we met at a week long, rigorous retreat in Oregon and I remember his sensitive, open manner and welcoming attitude towards me and, generally, the whole experience.  Our relationship has continued to develop, grow and change faces throughout the time I’ve known him - he has been my radix teacher for my own sessions, providing me with his constant, loving presence. 

He has worked many times with my patients and with sensitivity and grace contributed to their growth - and I have learned from him during those times.  He has been an easy guest in my home - one of my fondest memories was when he helped my daughter with hands on touch for her restless torso and seeing how she could rest with him. 

He has confronted me with life threatening situations and stayed steady and non-yielding.  His depth of spirit and openness to speak of himself vulnerably make him a joy to be with. His contribution to the healing profession cannot be measured in concrete terms - for me it is a pleasure and an honor to have him as my colleague, teacher, and close friend.  I love you, John.

Sally Ryan
Grand Rapids, MI

John, I first met you in 1992 at the weeklong experiential workshop in Oregon co-led by Chuck Kelley and Reuven Bar-Levav.  You were a participant in the workshop, as I was, even though you had co-led another workshop the week before in the same location with Chuck.  I was impressed at the time by your willingness to continue working on yourself even though you had obviously done so much of your own personal work already.   Your openness, your readiness to be vulnerable, your desire to continually learn about yourself and about working with others, and your deep spirituality drew me to you initially and deepened my respect and love for you over the years. 

When you started coming to Grand Rapids from your home in Indianapolis shortly after the 1992 workshop, I wasn’t sure what to expect in spite of my earlier positive impression.  To say the least, you were different than any other therapist I had met up to that time.  You had the ability to be so intensely present with my clients and with me.  It was both unsettling and reassuring at the same time.  My clients often said to me after Radix sessions with you, “It’s like he can see through me!”  And you were able to go to whatever emotional “places” people needed at the time.  You gave me such encouragement that I could eventually get to the point where I would be able to do the same.  Thank you for your patience and your belief in me.

You worked with several therapists in the West Michigan area providing Radix bodywork for our clients as a complement to the psychotherapy we were doing.  As the years progressed and your road trips added up, my appreciation for you also grew.  I eventually saw first hand the toll that all your traveling took on you.  I am so thankful that you decided to continue coming to Grand Rapids even when others thought you should stop.  It didn’t take long before many of us began doing our own bodywork with you.  You were my Radix teacher, both for individual sessions and later in a group, from 1993 until a broken ankle forced you to retire in early 2008.  You helped me work through my post-traumatic stress issues in ways that no other therapist had been able to.  Equally important, you helped me open up to life in ways I was never able to before.  For these gifts I will always feel a deep gratitude to you.

You also became a mentor to me as the years progressed.  You were eager to answer questions and forever introducing me to authors whom I otherwise would never have heard of much less thought I should read.  These books were filled with gems – about therapy, history, love, relationships and ways of understanding life that continue to enrich me every day.  John, you are an excellent teacher and you frequently taught me as you worked with my clients.  You generously gave of yourself in so many ways, to me, my clients and to my colleagues.  It was your mentoring and respectful encouragement that largely influenced me to consider and then finally decide to enter the Radix Institute training program.  It has been a joy and privilege to work with you as a peer and colleague in recent years.

Over the years our relationship has developed into a deep friendship that I treasure.  Often, as I am working, I “smile” to myself internally as I recall, “Ah yes, I learned that from John, too.”  I carry you in my heart always.  I am connected to you in so many ways and am a better man because of it.  I wish you the best and look forward to years of continuing friendship.

John Weiks
Grand Rapids, MI

I met John in 1992 at a weeklong workshop conducted by Chuck Kelley.  John was 62 years old and obviously the most settled of the 19 participants in the workshop.  We met for lunch within the next year and negotiated his coming to Grand Rapids to work with patients from many of the private practices in the West Michigan Area.  At first he came for a ten-day period two or three times per year and that eventually grew to eight to ten long weekend visits.  John was scheduled for his long weekend visits in 2008 but had to cancel because of a broken leg.  I was in a group with three other therapists that John led.  He worked with us for a half day on each visit and with another group of therapists for the rest of the day.   The remainder of his time he worked primarily with patients from my six psychotherapy groups.

For many of us John became a therapist/mentor.  He often pointed out different phenomena he observed in his analysis of body structures, physical reactions, etc. as he was working with us and/or with our patients.  At times the sessions were instructional like a physician working with a resident to demonstrate some disorder and or treatment procedure.  He instructed us and other patients in ways we could assist in the Radix work. 

In addition to being a gifted Radix Trainer, John was also a gifted psychotherapist and had a good understanding of how therapy works and how to integrate different treatment modalities in working with patients.  He had and continued to work at his own personal growth.  He was a humble man, ready to learn from us and our patients.  Due to his openness to others and his non-judgmental attitude, he provoked almost no authoritarian transference.  He helped me grow secure in my autonomy and establish greater ease with my own hunger for touch and physical contact with and from others. 

Although I considered Chuck Kelley the master of Radix technique, John surpassed him in his integration of his own humanity in the Radix work.  He aged gracefully.  Years after the fact patients speak of him with admiration, gratefulness, and affection for his human contact with them.

Kirk Brink
Ada. MI

Hanging outside my window is a wood and pipe wind chime made in Bali.  The pipes have been meticulously crafted and tuned so that no matter which ones come into contact, the sound is beautiful and harmonious.  On a breezy day I can hear those chimes sing whether I am inside or out.  Sometimes the music is loud and insistent, demanding that I listen; at other times, it is soft as a melodious whisper, gently beckoning me to pay attention.

This is the image that comes to mind as I think about you as my teacher and mentor.  You bring such attentiveness, your ears and eyes are so finely tuned, and you possess such a range of gentleness and strength.  I remember watching with surprise as you worked with clients, seeing you focus exactly on the issues at hand, simply by observing what was happening in the moment.  You inspired me to let go of my judgments, to become observant and reflective, and eventually you inspired me to become a radix practitioner myself.   Perhaps that is the highest form of praise a student can give -- the desire to follow in the teacher’s footsteps.  And now as I work, your words, images and ideas come back to me as often and as clearly as I hear the chimes sway and sing with the wind.

More personally, you provided a steady, warm presence for me as I went through the storms of life.  Your accepting attitude meant nothing had to be hidden from you.  You handled feelings of shame, fear and pain as sensitively as feelings of love or delight.  You were not put off by anger, toward you or anyone else.  Free from your own ego needs, you offered perspective, wisdom and insight.  You spoke plainly to me about my flaws and my strengths -- never judging, but also never minimizing the seriousness of what you saw and felt.  Perhaps these were skills you developed as a pastor -- I don’t know -- but I do know that I experienced your warmth, honesty and acceptance and it transformed me.  You became the means of my own fine tuning.

Some of my fondest memories with you include meditating with you by candlelight at 6am on our residential retreat, sharing meals and a prayer around the table at that same retreat, and sitting outside at Lake Michigan feeling the sun and breeze on our faces while we unhurriedly prepared for the sessions to come.  A particularly fond memory of mine is the time we changed the battery in your Nissan Quest.  Moments spent in your presence were instructive and sweet.

It is hard to convey the impact you have had on my life, but it is clear in my own heart what gratitude I have for you.  I met you when my son was six months old; now he is seventeen!  You have not been just my Radix teacher, mentor, and guide; you have become my friend and colleague.  Thank you for your commitment to radix character work, your willingness to drive from Indiana to Michigan for sixteen years, and for your commitment and friendship to me.  You are an amazing and gifted man and I am blessed to have you in my life.

When Narelle McKenzie came from Australia to do Radix workshops in Grand Rapids, she heard your name mentioned again and again.  It became clear that not only does the music of your finely crafted art resound for me, the harmonious melody of John Rierson reverberates in the lives of many people that you and your work have touched.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Nancy Jonker
Grand Rapids, MI

 

My tribute to you, John:

The Cabinet of the Heart

For loves sake I hold
The key to a precious
Cabinet.

This is an internal place.
A private dwelling
Within my core.

A place for secrets.
A place known only to a
Select few.

John,
My mentor, my savior, my dearly beloved friend,
Helped me to have the courage
To unlock the pain within.

John,
My life raft,
At a shocking, excruciating time
Of my life,
Supported me when it seemed
All others were lost to me
And I was lost to myself.

John,
Is my rock.
I am so fortunate to
Love him.

Trudy Bledsoe