Media Man

Mardi Kendall: Connoisseur Shiatsu

Mardi Kendall is recognized as one of Australia's, and indeed the world's, great Shiatsu yoga practitioners.

The ultimate in compassionate body massage, a total tuned-up.

*Mention Media Man Australia for a discount

Mardi's experience and training has been in America, France, Russia and Australia, spanning over 25 years. As a yoga teacher for 14 years (teacher and director at the former Sydney Yoga Centre).

"The best real massage I have ever had, and at a time in my life when I really needed it. Genuine, warm, value for money, and it works. Take 3 hours out of your life and reap the benefits" - Greg Tingle, director, Media Man Australia.

Great for mind, body and spirit

As reported in The Daily Telegraph - Body and Soul

Located at Bronte Beach, Sydney, Australia

t: (02) 9369 5324 or m: 0425 302 675

Website: Mardi Kendall official website

Interview - Mardi Kendall

Bio

Mardi Kendall is the former co-director/owner with Collyn Rivers, of Sydney Yoga Centre (founded and originally directed by Eve Gryzbowski), which for 15 years was a landmark yoga school in Australia. Known for it's pioneering teacher trainings and caring, personalized, innovative classes, Mardi continues to bring these qualities into both her yoga teaching and her transformative shiatsu treatments. The link between yoga and bodywork continues to be the constantly evolving core of her work.

Mardi, from St. Louis, Missouri in the States, began yoga in 1971, aged 16, as a response to the sudden death of her mother. Finding a way out of the suffering through teaching herself yoga from a book throughout months of summer nights, (whilst studying art by day,) led to the dawning of a sense of self that could survive and prosper. Finding a way to address depression has led to a life-long passion for alleviating suffering and a curiosity about complex human functions.

"I began formal yoga studies in the Kundalini school of yoga, which emphasized the breath and one's emotional life. So my yoga roots stem from years of self-contemplation, facing my grief, and being alone and listening as I painstakingly made friends with my psyche and body as a young traumatized woman" she recollects. "It was a sink-or-swim method of growing-up, I bit off a lot at once. But in the end it gave me yoga as a companion for life. Knowing yoga is like having an imaginary friend travelling with you who's a personal trainer, best friend, therapist and spiritual advisor all in one. Learning different forms of yoga has only added to it's original scope." She credits her Sydney teachers and dear friends, Eve Gryzbowski, Collyn Rivers and Simon Borg-Olivier of Yoga Synergy, with teaching her the deeper meanings of how yoga makes sense in daily life.

In 1979 she began bodywork studies in San Francisco with Manocher Molvai, an Afgan Kurd who was teaching a "down-to-earth" form of shiatsu developed in his isolated mountain village as a means for sustaining their health and well-being. From this time yoga and bodywork became for her two sides of a coin; one feeding the other in a symbiotic and graceful way. Though her university degree is in classical music (cello), and she walked the catwalk for top designers in Paris for several years (beginning life as a model at the age of 30 to "see the world in a different way"), her life theme remained intimately connected to the pursuit and understanding of what healing means. Her many and eclectic experiences include: travel to Russia (before Perestroika) to study with Igor Tsarkovsky who developed water birthing, living at the community of Findhorn in Scotland and Esalen in California, among others, and working and studying with many well-known healers in the USA, notably Dr. Hazel Parcels of new Mexico, who died recently at the age of 108.

The past several years her fascination has been with the emerging knowledge of neuroscience and the brain, as she feels it offers the missing link to our deeper understanding of what makes us human. "Ancient knowledge must be constantly questioned and seen in the light of the exciting discoveries being made today" she enthuses, "Many of our primary questions about life are now being addressed in a very real way, not only by speculation, as they were in the past. It makes something like yoga even more interesting when new insights about trauma and stress, nervous system repair and resilience, and the neuropsychological implications of early childhood development are added to the soup."

Mardi is known throughout Sydney for her playful and light-hearted yoga classes-that still pack a wallop. More than anything though, it is her spontaneous and delightful personality, continually curious and infectiously warm, that her students remember. She has often been invited to present her views on health, yoga and body/mind-awareness in the Australian media press, television and radio. She has taught and organized various retreats and workshops reaching thousands of people from all walks of life, from corporate executives to at-risk teenagers.

The last five years have seen Mardi's life change dramatically. After the closure of Sydney Yoga Centre, she travelled to West Africa to explore the world of music once again. She now studies the kora, or 21-string harp, and is engaged to her teacher, Ba Cissoko, a master griot of the art. She has spent many months with him in Europe and Guinea during his concert tours, and is working on a documentary from her many hours of film footage. "African life is alive and vibrant-in ways that we seem to have forgotten. It is the practice of yoga to bring about the harmony and balance of our various parts, and to help us to live more fully. I have searched hard for the scattered pieces of my life. Now that I have an African family, they seem to have fallen into place. My hope for the future is that what's inside me will continue it's rich intermingling and sharing with the incredible world outside. I hope it will continue to bear fruit. I am only just beginning to live the mysteries."

Mardi's future projects will include building a yoga/bodywork school in Guinea. Her great dream is to build a prototype eco-centre that will house the schools and many other projects such as medical centres that could help alleviate poverty in one of the poorest but most richly alive countries in the world.

Testimonials

o Alex Roth
Principle, Roth Architects Pty Ltd

A massage like no other, a fine tune-up from an accomplished and very experienced practitioner.
I've been receiving Mardi Kendall's unique shiatsu bodywork for some years now. Because with my work I'm flat out constantly, it is essential to find the time for such a long session, because no other practitioner gets the same results. I literally feel like a new person afterwards, totally transformed. She certainly has magic in her touch, but more interestingly, I am always fascinated by her blend of techniques and I've had a lot of massage in many forms from practitioners all over the world. The pleasure is being with someone so experienced and skilled in her art and still passionate about living, and her work.

o Jane Allen
Partner, Egon Zehnder International

Mardi Kendall never ceases to amaze me. I have been a follower of Mardi's teachings and healings since arriving in Australian over 10 years ago and respect her knowledge and low key yet highly engaging energy immensely. Not only is she a knowledgeable person about many things, but also she has had a fascinating life where she has recreated herself quite successfully many times over. Her lifestyle clearly works - she is 10 years older than me and looks 10 years younger -not bad! I am a working Mom, and as a Partner in a global consulting Firm with a busy global travel role I think I fall into the "tough customer" category - I don't have much time and it's got to be worth it. I would recommend Mardi's work without reservation to the most discerning client- and have treated many I know to gifts of time with her for her Shiatsu "experience" which I of course benefited directly from myself. It is truly unique!

o Mark Philip Deal
B.Sc. (Syd.), Grad. D.C. D.O., Dip. Acup., Dip. Ed.
Chiropractor, Osteopath, Acupuncturist, Health Educator
Mardi provides a unique and holistic approach to her shiatsu technique. Combining the ancient arts of shiatsu therapy and yoga discipline the receiver will thoroughly enjoy a physical yet totally relaxing workout. I personally feel extremely relaxed and supple after a session and sleep extremely well that evening, waking refreshed and energized the next day. As a physical therapist, I have searched for a comprehensive treatment regime to balance out the treatments I give to others. Mardi's technique is one of the best and most encompassing I have found. I would highly recommend Mardi's exceptional and, so far, unrivaled treatment program.

o Donna Duggan
Editor of WellBeing Magazine for 12 years

I had the most amazing treatment the other day -in fact the most wonderful treatment I have ever experienced. It is a Kurdish Shiatsu treatment by Mardi Kendall (the woman who directed the Sydney Yoga Centre) and she works from home in Bronte. After many years of bodywork she realized that one-hour is just not enough - so all her treatments take a minimum of 3 1/2 hours - depending on what your body needs (I was there for 4 hours - and it felt like 20 minutes). She charges $250 per treatment which may seem a lot for a massage but she is worth ten times that and occasionally the treatments go for 5 hours so are definite value for money. You are fully clothed during the treatment and it is very gentle and nurturing, but works deeply on the nervous system, readjusting the body and relieving any tension and pain. I can't recommend this one enough!
From an Editorial, 2005, Issue 99: "Mardi Kendall, possibly Sydney's most gifted bodyworker"

o Margo Cairnes
Speaker, Author, Company Chair, Zaffyre Intl.

How to describe a 'Mardi massage'? 4-5 hours of relaxation, spoiling, friendship, wisdom, self-nourishment and good health. As a busy executive, wife, mother, speaker and mentor operating on the world stage I first went to Mardi seeking a boost in my sagging energy. Other practitioners had simply told me that my life was too busy and I should slow down. Mardi lay me down on her healing space for 5 hours and did what I asked - gave me more energy. Each time I return she replenishes my energy supply so that I can go on doing the things about which I am passionate. To call Mardi's healing arts a massage seems a misnomer- they are so much more. Based on 30 years of research and training in energy healing arts around the world Mardi does something that looks like a massage but feel shamanic. What exactly she does I don't know. What I do know is that it works and has transformed my life.

o Eve Grzybowski
Yoga teacher and Studio Director of Simply Yoga
Author of Teach Yourself Yoga

Sublime, lifechanging, indisputably the best in Sydney. Do you ever wonder what it would be like to have a new body? That's how I feel after Mardi's shiatsu. Aches, pains, cricks, tension gone. A fresh start. Do you ever wish that a massage would go on forever? With Mardi's looong treatments, that wish gets fulfilled. The best thing for me is the feeling of being dissolved into someone's perfect touch and that touch being dissolved into me. It takes refined skill from decades of experience to accomplish that. Mardi does it like no one else.

Media Man Australia Directory

Websites

Find Yoga - Mardi Kendall

Google Directory - Yoga

Media Man Australia