Our History

Founded in 1977 as the Institute of Psycho-Structural Balancing, the school quickly became known as IPSB. It has earned the reputation of being an innovative school devoted to the art and science of contemporary bodywork and massage. The school was created by three individuals, Carole Osborne-Sheets, Barry Green and Karen Flynn, who wanted to teach massage therapy and combine body mechanics and movement with consciousness-raising techniques to touch the mind, body, and spirit of an individual.

Carole Osborne-Sheets, who had been an English teacher, was instrumental in curriculum development. She understood the importance of curriculum, lesson plans, the educational process, and working with the adult learner. The first class, now called the Essentials of Massage and Bodywork, was developed to combine a solid massage curriculum with transformational awareness that was grounded in good curricular organization and planning. In 1981 the business was sold to a group of individuals who incorporated under the acronym of I.P.S.B., Inc., which was changed in 1982 to Institute of Psycho-Structural Balancing (IPSB).  This continues to be our corporate name.  In 1990 a fictitious name statement was filed in San Diego to do business as IPSB-International Professional School of Bodywork.

IPSB is noted for commitment to excellence, the quality of its faculty and staff, and the quality of our students and graduates. Since its founding in 1977 with nine students and three instructors, IPSB has grown in both depth and breadth of program and continues to enhance its reputation for excellence. The school’s multidimensional, dedicated faculty are visionaries, scholars, and practitioners who offer the highest level of education and creative learning. The faculty maintains a high standard of professional competence based on developing and maintaining the practitioner’s own psychological and emotional well-being, as well as the practical application of bodywork and massage. The curriculum is designed to integrate and harmonize the student’s body/mind and to cultivate the attitudes, techniques, and skills necessary to support clients in their growth and change.

“At IPSB we teach many different methods of bodywork. No teacher on the staff is considered to be in sole possession of the truth. We are a circle of faculty and students invoking truth together. We know that the ultimate form of bodywork has not yet been invented. We hope we are preparing our students to develop the new methods of the future, to have that degree of creative freedom. The fact that the body is our subject matter means automatically that we are a wisdom school.”

“If you really want to experience the highest understandings, you approach them by developing and nourishing the body’s possibilities.”

Edward Maupin, Ph.D., former President of IPSB
Author of Body Epiphany