Hi and welcome to the Google Postural Alignment Specialist Group!
I have created this page for new group members to share a few tidbits of information of how we work with the group.
First of all, I am not affiliated with The Egoscue Method or Egoscue Institute, or in any other way with headquarters! I am just an independent PAS practitioner like you who was interested in a platform for exchanging information amongst fellow PAS.
Two different groups
There used to be two different Google groups: The internal group and the external group.
Internal group
This is now the only group we use. When you receive an email from this group it will look something like this (of course, depending on your mail client):
As you can see in the subject line there is always the [Internal PAS Group] tag so you can recognize from what group the message is.
Purpose
In this internal group we discuss all sorts of subjects amongst ourselves, ranging from advice with clients, to technical (anatomical/Egoscue-related) questions, to business advice. Or experience with ePete, experiences with EI/headquarters etc. For that reason it is important to know that there are no EI / Egoscue Method staff members in this group. If we need to include them, we use the external group but at least we can discuss amongst ourselves first.
External group
We don’t use this group anymore.
Safety and confidentiality
By participating in this group you acknowledge that you will not disclose any information discussed (applies mainly to the internal group) to EI / Egoscue Method headquarters. The group is a safe place where we can discuss amongst ourselves. Sometimes it is good and/or necessary to form a shared opinion among us therapists that one of our members can then bring to EI as our opinion. For that reason we should be able to discuss freely without this information getting back to EI before we have formed an official statement.
Using the group
There are two methods of using the group: using the web interface and use with your own email client.
Web interface
When you go to groups.google.com you will find, among other Google groups if you are a member of those, the Internal group. The screen will look something like this:
In this example, the external group is selected. But the internal group looks similar.
Reading and writing
You can read messages by clicking on the subject title. This will open the whole message thread. Read from top to bottom to read original message and any replies that may have been posted. If you want to add your reply click on red “post reply” button on the top of the page.
If you don’t use the web interface normally but only email and occasionally visit the web interface, and you are bothered by the number of unread messages (you have already read them in email) you can click on the “Mark all as read” button (next to the ‘refresh’ button on the top of the page).
To start a new topic, click on the red “New Topic” button on top left. However read the following..
Searching
What I recommend the web interface for is to do searches. We have already discussed a lot of topics so first try searching for your search term (e.g. “Scoliosis”). You can use the white bar above the red “New topic” button.
E-mail only
Most members only use email to interact with the group and don’t use the web interface. By default you will receive an email for every message that is sent to the group (the group is basically an email list). See below paragraph for changing that, by the way.
To reply to a group message please press reply to all if you want all group members to read your reply. Otherwise, if you press ‘reply’, your reply will only go to the original sender.
Filtering
Tip: because group messages contain [Internal..] in the subject title, you can use your email client’s functionality to filter out these messages and for example to move them to a folder. When the going gets tough there can be a lot of messages going back and forth. Most people find it useful to keep this organized and create a rule in their email program. Please refer to your user manual or to the internet how to use this filtering/rule functionality, please don’t ask us (see support paragraph below). It is just a suggestion to keep life simple and organized. Alternatively, you can change your settings to receive an email digest (once a day) or no email at all. See below.
Changing group settings
You can change your group settings. To do this, click on the button top (almost) right:
Here you can change several settings. Please experiment with them (except “Leave this group” obviously 🙂 ):
- My global settings applies to all Google groups you are a member of.
- My topic email subscriptions lists the topics you have ‘subscribed’ to. You can subscribe to individual topics to easier see follow up messages for that topic.
- Membership and email settings, if you click this you see the following:
Here you can change several settings.
- Please change “my display name” immediately after joining. So that we see that you, Jane Doe, posted and not “Posturediva678@google.com”.
- You can change which email address is used / linked to your group membership. Only the email addresses linked to your Google account are listed here. If you want to use another email, register it with your Google account first. Please look online how to do this. E.g. this link
- Email delivery preference is selected by default to send each new message as it is sent (the number on the bottom is estimated based on group activity). If you want less email, select one of the other options. If you select “Don’t send email updates”, obviously you are not receiving any more email messages from that group, but you have to go to the web interface yourself to read the messages.
Rules of conduct
There are no “rules” per se but please use the following guidelines:
- use common sense and the usual guidelines for communicating on the internet (no excessive use of CAPITALS, stay courteous, et cetera). We are a friendly bunch and here to help each other. No profanity or insulting other members or you will be removed immediately. While I’m a bit of a spelling/grammar nazi myself, this is a group about postural alignment and not for correcting each other’s writing and such.
- Consider writing an introduction message to the group. It’s only common courtesy. Having said that, most people introduce themselves in the first message they reply to. Either way it’s not obligatory but we like to know who is who and get to know you (hey, we could even have clients to refer to your neck of the woods if we know where you are).
- Please sign your name under your message. It will be sent out to the group (which basically is an email list) on behalf of the group. By default your email address will be the only thing that is visible but not everyone knows who “posturequeen123@yahoo.com” is. Alternatively, change your display name as is described above.
- Please remove unnecessary history of the post. The more replies there are, the longer a post becomes and it gets harder and harder to read. So please select the (bottom) part you don’t need and delete that part. Makes it so much easier for everyone!
- Please reply to the thread that was started, so as not to clutter the email programs and the web interface. For example, if someone starts a message “Achilles question”, reply to that email and it will become “Re: Achilles question”. So don’t start a new email thread with the subject “About that Achilles question” for example – that way the email programs and the group web interface can’t group the messages together. Many of us are struggling with time to read everything, let’s keep it as easy as possible.
- No posting of client pictures / information without their consent. Or any other private, identifiable information. Most clients are happy to give their permission if you explain to them that you want a second opinion of other therapists. If/when you post a client picture/movie etc. we assume you have their explicit permission so we are not going to ask every time. In the end you are responsible though for choosing to break this rule. You may anonimize the pictures e.g. by blacking out the face.
- Again, please respect confidentiality and safety of this group. If I find out certain inside information has been ‘leaked’ to EI / headquarters I will promptly remove this person from the group without warning or possibility of reinstatement.
Adding people to the group
If you know PAS who are not in this group, and they are not employed by Egoscue, you can invite them (all group members can). One of the admins has to approve the request I think. Please only invite those that are at least PAS certified and not e.g. clients, as we want to discuss therapist-related issues among ourselves. For therapists who have almost completed their PASII we can sometimes make exceptions.
Regarding the Egoscue staff members (the “official” Egoscue Therapists) , if you feel that they should be able to join (for example therapists working in a clinic) or if you become a franchise owner or Egoscue therapist yourself, and you feel they should be able to join the group / you should be allowed to continue to be a member, please start a discussion as this is something we have to discuss in a democratic way. There are no “group leaders”, we are all equally important and have to feel good about this situation.
Support
I (Patrick) am the admin for the Internal group. But we are not here for solving technical issues. I am not a Google (group) expert. So please do some searching yourself if you run into any issues (Google goes a long way). The groups are provided to you “as is”. If, after doing your own research, you still have questions of course feel free to ask and hopefully we know the answer. Again, most questions can be easily solved by doing a Google search for 30 seconds! We all have busy jobs and practices!
In closing
Feel free to explore the rest of my website 😉 even though it is in Dutch. And if you know any opportunities in The Netherlands let me know!
Thanks! Patrick.
