December 29, 2014
Live Pain-free Without Drugs or Surgery has been a best-seller since we first published it in 2012. The second edition was published in 2018.
The author, Lee Albert, had never written a book before. In fact, he knew nothing about writing, publishing or marketing a book; he was a licensed massage therapist with a unique, proven methodology for reducing and even eliminating chronic pain without the use of drugs or surgery.
Since I know that many of you feel that this is your year to finally write that book to share your knowledge, I thought you might like to hear how one of our authors did it.
This is the story of how Lee’s book came into being.
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Late in 2010, my sister Betsy and I spent a couple of R&R days at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Massachusetts. On our second morning after an early yoga class and delicious breakfast, we joined a group for a free lecture on healing chronic pain.
As we settled onto the floor, I leaned over and whispered to Betsy, “As soon as this is over, I’m going back to the room to get an Aleve. My hip is killing me.”
I was a reasonably active 60-year old who walked a lot, sometimes ran 5ks, usually practiced yoga regularly and preferred alternative health modalities to western medicine. I’d suffered with a chronic pain condition in my left hip for years and treated it with rest, bodywork and the occasional Aleve. However, it had reached a point where I was actually considering medical intervention because the pain was beginning to interfere with life; thus my interest in this talk about healing chronic pain.
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Lee Albert[/caption]
Lee Albert began his lecture by describing how he’d discovered and developed his modality, Integrated Positional Therapy or IPT, after a car accident left him with debilitating migraine headaches. IPT is a blend of muscle-rebalancing, gentle self-care, and learning new habits to heal inflamed tissue and avoid recurrence of chronic pain. Lee has been teaching and healing people for over a quarter century. He is a quiet man, not a showman, and he knows his stuff. He knows that what he does is bio-mechanics at work, but he also knows that it seems miraculous and he generously offers these miracles to those in need through his practice and workshops at Kripalu.
First, Lee taught us ways to relieve shoulder pain – surprisingly simple and effective. Then he taught us techniques to relieve wrist pain or carpal tunnel syndrome. I was amazed at how much better my right arm and wrist felt after just a couple of minutes. (I had not yet dealt with the reality that I was often unable to pick up a cup of tea because my whole right arm was weak; I couldn’t write in a journal anymore because the pain in my wrist would become too great after just a page.) Suddenly, within minutes of my applying the techniques Lee was teaching, the deep tension in my arm was relieved, all the way from my wrist, up my arm and over the top of my shoulder. It was a strange sensation. Miraculous, almost.
Then Lee asked for a volunteer with hip pain.
I was most unlady-like. “Me! Me! Oh, please take me!” I shouted as I jumped up and elbowed others out of the way.
Lee asked me to lie down on the massage table and invited the rest of the group to gather round.
He asked about the pain level in my hip and I told him “about a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10.”
He held my ankles and lifted both legs gently. He announced that my left leg was about an inch shorter than my right leg. The folks gathered around confirmed the fact – but I already knew it. Last time I’d had a pair of pants hemmed, the seamstress called me up to double check, because one pant leg measured an inch shorter than the other.
Lee explained the muscle re-balancing work we were going to do together for about two minutes. He pulled on my left leg and I pulled my left hip toward my left shoulder. That was it. We did the exercise a few times, then did it on the right side a few times. Lee showed everyone that my legs were now the same length.
Lee asked me to get down off the massage table to walk around a bit.
I slid off the table and walked a few feet – and felt no pain! It was completely gone. Not just a little bit of relief. Not even a lot of relief. Total and complete absence of pain.
Now, I understand the bio-mechanics too – my pelvis was out of whack and that put pressure on the hip joints and that was causing inflammation and pain.
But to go from a pain level of seven to zero in two minutes…it WAS a miracle.
I hugged Lee, with tears of relief in my eyes and a heart full of gratitude.
After the class, I asked Lee if he had a book, as I wanted to take this knowledge home to my family and to my yoga students. He said no, he’d never gotten around to it, although many people had encouraged him to write one.
I gave him my card and told him I would be honored to help him when he was ready.
We kept in touch and a couple of months later, Lee said he was ready. I was thrilled.
Here’s how Lee describes what happened: Gail Woodard asked me to write a book that she knew was sorely needed. Her inspiration, knowledge and guidance made the whole process enjoyable and fast. The project flowed easily and steadily without any stress. She managed to get this book from idea to on-the-shelf at Kripalu Center in just fourteen months - and the book has become a best-seller at Kripalu!
Here’s what we did: I helped Lee outline the book, first by asking him to identify the top ten conditions that cause chronic pain in the people he sees. That was easy, given his twenty-five years of experience. We set up the book’s format – with testing techniques, descriptions of the conditions, and a wellness plan for each. We created a format for the exercises. Lee dug into the writing. I guided him and edited his work. My team at Dudley Court Press moved forward on the design, involving Lee in all major decisions. Lee followed our guidance to set up his author platform and email list-building practices. He asked for and captured dozens of client testimonials – including a Foreword to the book by best-selling author SARK, one of his clients.
We made the design, production, pricing and distribution decisions based on the economics and marketability of this specific book and with the realities of the publishing world in mind.
For example, although Lee and I would both have preferred a spiral bound book, we went with perfect binding because:
- bookstores don’t like spiral bound books unless they have a cover over the spiral;
- to produce a spiral bound book meant investment in an expensive print run rather than print-on-demand production and no one wanted to invest in inventory;
- the audience’s decision to buy would not be affected by the binding.
Dudley Court Press first published Live Pain-free Without Drugs or Surgery early in 2012. The second edition was published in 2018. It has been an Amazon best-seller, and has consistently been a best-selling book at the Kripalu bookstore.
Because Lee decided to write his book, thousands of people have been able to take him home with them after they’ve heard his lecture at Kripalu or experienced the miraculous pain relief available through his IPT techniques. People all over the world who hear about Lee’s work can and do buy his book on Amazon and get the relief they are seeking. The testimonials continue to pour in from grateful readers.
By the way, the pain in my hip has NEVER returned.
Lee Albert treats patients and conducts training courses in Integrated Positional Therapy at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. Find out more here: on Amazon here.
If Lee’s story inspires you to write your book this year, hooray! The world will be a better place with your book out there. Let me know if we can help.