INTEGRATING HEALTH INTO YOURSELF
ABOUT
James is an Integrated Health Consultant, massage therapist and founder of Anima Prioritas. He teaches people how to listen to the signals of their body and conditions to be clear about what they desire, need and dream of.
He works with simple, as well as complex cases; with or without pain; confusions, discomforts and unresolved experiences with food, nutrients, calories, diets and correct eating for your needs, detoxification, fungal and parasite overgrowths, injuries, repeated injuries, low back pain, spinal pathologies (disc bulges or herniations, the spondys, stenoses, scolioses, sacroiliac joint dysfunction, etc), diastasis recti, hernias, pregnancy recovery, PCOS, endometriosis, autoimmune conditions, CFS / ME, gut healing and digestive function, organ health, adrenal fatigue and thyroid conditions, supplement usage, the nervous system, motor development, infant development conditions, injury rehabilitation, mobilising joints and stretching muscles and fascia, posture and its realignment, weight loss, hormonal balance, athletic performance, strength and conditioning, relationship to self and other, spiritual dogma and more.
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The bulk of his training to date has been from the CHEK Institute, making him an international CHEK Professional, where he continues to learn about posture, corrective exercise, gut health, nutrition, detoxification, viscerosomatic reflexes, biological laws, body-mind connection, care for the body and the soul, the nervous system, the Pain Teacher, and has begun to learn about the psyche.​ His work often uses biological and physics-based laws, as well as ancient practices, in conjunction with cutting-edge, frontier science to teach his clients how to facilitate rehabilitation and whole-healing for themselves so they can begin enjoying their life more, pain free!
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The bodywork he currently offers is Rebalancing Level 1, from the Osho School of Creative Touch, and Kahuna Bodywork Level 2, from the Aloha Life Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.
His passion and love for people, Truth and being human is what drives him to work with people, and continue learning about our bodies, our relationships, our behaviours, our experience and the Pain Teacher. He is committed to lifelong loving, becoming fully human and vitally alive.​​
WHAT IS A CHEK PRACTITIONER?
It’s hard to explain what we do, because no one really does what we do.
Jack of all trades, master of one - holism.
The Generalist Specialist.
What sets us apart is largely our personal journeys and story. As a CHEK Practitioner, you have likely overcome and continue to heal your inner battles. We do this because we know that the medical, mental health, fitness and even alternative healing industries are often very broken and misleading in many areas and they’ve failed us personally.
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We’ve found the truth in health, and we’re dedicated to passing this along to the world. When you meet a CHEK Practitioner, you’ve met someone who has likely dealt with, on an intimate level, anything and everything from digestive and autoimmune disorders, spinal conditions, mental health disintegration, excess weight, depression, anxiety, c/PTSD, fungal and parasite infections, the list goes on….
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The CHEK Practitioner does not diagnose, rather, helps you to find a stage (not state) of ascended health which makes ill-health, conditions and ailments very unwelcome and difficult to continue long-term. We deal with the long-term, not the short-term.
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Physical and spinal rehabilitation, sport-specific training, posture, gait, infant development, motor programming, self-intimacy, realising who is most important in your life.
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We leave you better than you were found.
We're here whenever you're ready.
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Humans are a composite / cybernetic system of systems which all interact with and affect one another some way. CHEK Practitioners come from a variety of backgrounds ranging from chiropractic and osteopathy, personal training and functional medicine doctors, to physiotherapists and regular everyday people.
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Here are a few systems a CHEK Professional would be proficient in, to name a few:
Spinal Structure and Function​​​
Central Nervous System
Musculoskeletal System
Digestive and Eliminative System
Lymphatic and Glymphatic System
Detoxification Pathways
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Using awareness of this system of systems, I trace back the presented symptoms to the core, while 'scaffolding' the client at every junction possible, rather than assuming a localised point of view. A common example is middle or low back pain. Where many professionals look at the site of perceived pain, or only the musculoskeletal system. The back and the greater skeleton - the spine - is stabilised by the muscle and fascia, particularly the core and its ability to create stabilising pressure. However, the core shuts off when digestion is impaired thereby destabilising the spine and all joints in the body. This is a simple example of how whatever affects our digestive function can have a profound affect on pain and injury in the back, and elsewhere. Because of the interconnectedness of us, it makes it important to assess the body in full, giving the individual the ability to thrive.
Assessments include atlas positioning, spinal function (flexion, rotation, extension and bending of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar areas), the RC factor of joints, functioning of all joints, primal pattern movement screenings, body-mind integration, nutrition and lifestyle factors, as well as looking into the detoxification pathways, gut health, stress, prevalence of fungi and parasites, hormonal, emotional, organ and gland screening. All of these assessments hopefully are done before injury takes place or pain begins, but are commonly done after.
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Specialising in medical failures due to the comprehensiveness of their assessment process and overview of the body, this systems approach to health and healing is a model for success becoming popularised today. Autoimmune, spinal instability, injuries, illnesses and mysteriously unsolvable cases are the bread and butter.
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​Here at Anima Prioritas, James Stewart Gibbs is our CHEK Practitioner, and the only one based in South Africa. As a "Chekkie", he is placed in the top 10% of the health & fitness field worldwide and is widely demanded – and often a first choice – by professional athletes and sports teams, as well as celebrities and stunt trainers; fitting into the highly demanded "middle ground" niche between trainers and medical professionals.
Trainings
​CHEK Practitioner Level 1:
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Scientific Core Conditioning
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Scientific Back Training
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Movement that Matters
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How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy
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Primal Pattern Movements
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Program Design 2nd Edition
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Holistic Lifestyle Coaching Level 1 (HLC1)
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Integrated Movement Science Level 1 (IMS1 - Holistic Corrective Exercise and Performance Coaching)
CHEK Practitioner Level 2:
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Advanced Program Design 2nd Edition
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Primal Pattern Eating
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The Last 4 Doctor's You'll Ever Need
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Walking Tall, Gait Analysis (In Process)
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Scientific Stretching (In Process)
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Holistic Health and Performance for Women
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Holistic Lifestyle Coaching Level 2 (HLC2)
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Integrated Movement Science Level 2 (IMS2 - Neuro-developmental Movement Analysis) (In Exam Process)
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Kahuna Level 1, the Masculine
Kahuna Level 2, the Feminine
Rebalancing Level 1, Erector Spinae - Trapezii - Rhomboids - Levator Scapulae - Splenii - Scalenes - Sternocleidomastoids - Pectorales
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Teachers and Experience
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Joshua Macin’s Method of Detoxification
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Teaching and learning from mentor Robert A. "Healing Hands" Young (Physiotherapist), Paul Foley (Functional Medicine Practitioner, Naturopath and Phlebotomist), Leigh Brandon (Functional Medicine Practitioner, Master CHEK Practitioner, Manual Therapist), Warren Williams (Master CHEK Practitioner, Manual Therapist, Alchemist), Paul Chek (Holistic Health Practitioner, Founder of CHEK Institute), Claire Graziano (Integrative Counsellor, Somatic Bodywork Therapist, Founder of ECM Integration Therapy), Charaka Satyam (Family Constellation Facilitator and Yogi), Lindsey Harris (Jungian Psychoanalyst and Art Therapist), John Wineland (Embodiment Teacher), Marcelle Muse (Tantra Yoga Teacher), Nicole Antonie (Kahuna Bodyworker and Teacher, Aloha Life Centre), Prasado Dan (Rebalancing® Bodywork Trainer), and Swami Rahasya (Advait Tantra School)
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Tamboo:
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​Miriam, Jungian, Archetypal and Imaginal Psychotherapist (South Africa)
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​Dreams, Madness and Internal Dialogues (South Africa)
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MORE PERSONAL
Having lived in a confusing, terror-filled and unstable family with strange dynamics, I began to develop unpredictable energy fluctuations, behavioural obsessions and bodily health distortions and dysfunctions in my early teenage years which affected my concentration, overall health, desire to live, relationship to self and capacity to socialise with people at school. I tried many ways of exercising, dieting, self-diagnosing psychological online questionnaires, isolating myself. It wasn’t until I consciously chose to drop out of university did things become a little clearer.
Experiencing the work of functional medicine doctors, family constellations facilitators, therapists of many kinds, I now know that a whole-person approach is not just needed, but desired! This whole-person approach is the true definition of what “Holistic” means. In light of the confusions and difficulties around my healing and the phenomenon of healing itself, I choose to work with complex cases of health, movement and dysfunction where possible.
Since 2020 I have been training with the CHEK Institute to learn their system of holistic health, rehabilitation, elite performance and mind-body connection - this is their system of the science and art of well-being, aka of being well.
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We journey so much while being here. So much experience, and Experience. Such overwhelming, rich yet often horrific internal and external states. We seek, strive, love, break, numb, feel, fall and dream so voraciously, and for what?
I believe we all just want to be okay, and to find, connect with, hold, contain and love what is here for us.
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Rarely do we stop and question why, what the motive is for doing something, for being a certain way or living in the greater sense. If we don’t identify what our one love is, as well as our core values, we often go through cycles of repetition with health conditions, injuries, chronic pain and confusion.
It is said, if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.
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Working with me, whether for only bodywork or the full holistic health and performance package and regaining your desire for life again, with pain-free body, is an invitation.
If you’re ready to feel great in your skin, get out of chronic pain, to book a free discovery call or you have nuanced questions, click here to reach out.
