October’s Man of the Month was:
Philip Clement
Philip Clement
Here’s a little bit about him:
At the ripe ole age of 30, after years of working in farming on a kibbutz, and driving for a living, with no direction home (hey Bob), I wandered into an expressive dance workshop, bitten by the improvisation bug and have been infected ever since. Within three weeks I had quit work, gone on UIC, bought contact lenses, and was on a dance floor 4-5 times a week. For the first time since I was 13, I had a major breakthrough in my chronic back pain, and began the path to discovering what made me an’ my body ache, tick, crash and fly.
California in the 70′s and 80′s, then called a state of mind, is where I immersed myself in what was to be known years later as the field of “Somatics”. When I told one of my bodywork mentors that I had been diagnosed with ‘permanent muscle tissue damage’ he blurted out: “Permanent eh? — that just means the doctor didn’t know how to fix it!” and by the time that exclamation mark punctuated his sentence, some of the pain in my back was gone. His empowering image instantaneously sparked a shift in my attitude, which shifted my posture, which shifted my entire relationship to pain. Capable thumbs digging into muscle, sensitive souls showing me the motion in my emotion, opened me up and I found home in my body.
And here’s how he answered my 6 questions about creativity:
What inspires your creativity?
Helping people bring out their best. Observing innocence. Simplifying complexity. Shamelessness. Chance dance floor meetings. Making people laugh. Giving people hope. Winning a child’s heart. Making my woman feel loved and wanted. Treating my adult children like children-ish adults. Wrestling with dogs. Heart based relationships. Erotica.
From another angle illness and cowardice inspire great creativity in me! Over the years I have been scheduled for and cancelled surgeries for abdominal hernia, shoulder and back repair, and to remove a growth on my eye. All problems (thank God) were creatively solved sans.
How do people respond to your creativity?
With gratitude, skepticism, appreciation, controversy, contagion. Ever since I pushed my identical twin down the birth canal 6 minutes before I followed, I find myself often playing a role of catalyst, with friends, family, colleagues, clients, animals, birds, projects, ideas, buying chocolate, and life transitions.
What is the wildest journey your creativity has taken you on?
There’s a two-way tie for my answer. In 1977, compelled and inspired, I spent 12 months living in, and driving my faithful ’67 two door Volvo from Vancouver to Israel and back again. A long spiritual quest which I only truly grasped when it was over.
I have also been privileged to have been a lay birth attendant and ‘caught’ seven babies, six at home. That same privilege has had me attending as many loved ones in their final transition.
Death is the truest teacher, death never lies.
Love is the truest healer, love never dies.
Who loves you for your creativity?
Uni-lingual couples whom I’ve helped with translations from manspeak to womanspeak. ‘Non-dancer’ types who find their dance. Bodies relieved from pain. Various beloved dogs, cats, and birds who think I’m weird but cool.
In which ways do you see yourself as Breaking New Ground?
No one can heal another. Similarly, no one can teach anyone anything. The most one can do is create an environment where healing (and learning) take place. After 30 years as a health professional, it all comes down to kindness, empathy and respect.
What’s next for you?
Maintaining the illusion of being a 49 year old while in a 62 year old body 
Continuing to provide a safe space to cry without shame, laugh louder, dance harder and eat more chocolate.
And here’s a few of the things that inspires Philips creativity:
Albert Einstein
His Mother and Father
Kindness
His wife’s unconditional love
Team Hoyt: Rick and Dick Hoyt, father and son team.
Jill Bolte Taylor: Stroke of insight
To check out Philips website go to: http://www.philipclement.com/
Thank you Philip! I look forward to a dance floor meeting, by chance!
