Woven on a loom by hand, tapestry work is a highly delicate artisanal craft. It takes a great deal of time, focus and patience by the textile artists who create them, thread-by-thread, warp-by-weft. In medieval Europe, tapestries were considered the most extravagant form of two-dimensional figurative art. As such, they were highly sought after and typically held a very prestigious status, even as painting took over as the premier art form.

Longtime Advanced BodyTalk Practitioner, retired Instructor, Coordinator, co-editor of The Science and Philosophy of BodyTalk, and manual proofreader, Rosilyn Kinnersley, from Australia, creates beautiful tapestries and quilts in her downtime when she is not tending to her longstanding and successful BodyTalk practice. She says her two goals for all clients are to help them return to their most vibrant state of personal health and to help them find their zest for life.

Having already created three major tapestries over the past forty years, including a likeness of her daughter, Delina, then aged 10 playing her violin, and her son, John, aged 13 riding his push bike and one of herself at 50, sitting pretty, Rosilyn felt sufficiently experienced to embark on a tapestry of Dr. John Veltheim.

The tapestry of herself coincided with the beginning of her PaRama study. It took 18 times listening through the PaRama Unit 1 DVDs from beginning to end and 15 times through Unit 2 to complete her self-portrait. Although she kept up with various creative projects, she didn't do any more tapestry for fifteen years until she began John's.

Having recently completed a major project which consumed four years of her life, Rosilyn wondered what her next project should be. Because BodyTalk has been her way of life for many years, she turned her sights toward John Veltheim. She had been contemplating a tapestry of John for quite a number of years. Now she was ready to start, and the timing could not have been better. She began the stitching just as COVID-19 hit Australia. A country in lockdown and a tapestry to work were a great combination incidentally coinciding with the release of the revised PaRama material. The tapestry was completed within six months; revised PaRama still a work in progress.

"Actions speak louder than words. The tapestry is my action in appreciation and gratitude of John's work as the founder and creator of BodyTalk. There is an infinity of love and appreciation for John built into each and every stitch--all 56,000 of them--with the idea that he will never be alone because of the affinity reflected back to him from the tapestry."

Once the stitching of the tapestry was complete, Rosilyn double-checked to ensure she didn't miss any stitches and cleaned it of extraneous markings. It was then professionally framed and shipped to the IBA to long grace a wall at the IBA headquarters.

Rosilyn has since completed a tapestry of the Kinnersley family coat-of-arms and motto to go with the family tree quilt she made for her son's 40th birthday (see below). She, in fact, made ten of them! Each one taking about four months. She made one for each male member of the families, carrying the name on both her maiden maternal and paternal sides of the family as well as her married family. Through the ancestral research for the quilt, she traced a direct lineage back to 1200 at Kinnersley, Hereford, England. She is currently writing a book on their long history, over nine centuries, focusing primarily on the story of the original family who emigrated to Australia.

The idea came about when her only grandchild, Nicholas, who has just turned 5, was born. She realized that once the four grandparents, and his parents and paternal aunt have gone upstairs, he will stand alone. The quilt, tapestry and book are her legacy so he will know his past to enable him to stand strong in his future. Each corner tells the story of the four family lines migration to Australia.

Workwise, Rosilyn limits herself to seven sessions a day now so that she can be free to create to her heart's content. Her generous heart and sewing talents are currently focused on finishing off projects that many elderly women living on the island where she lives had begun but no longer have the eyesight or the dexterity to complete themselves. In the heat of the pandemic, she worked around the clock making masks for her families, and for friends 2000 kilometers down south in Victoria.

Thank you We are so grateful for Rosilyn's inspired gift, dedication, unceasing generosity, and positivity. Thank you, Rosilyn. For more information on Rosilyn you can read her IBA bio or visit her at khalyndawholehealthservice.com.au.