Introduction

I graduated from senior secondary school of Kannus in 1978. After that I studied psychology, social politics and sociology in Central Ostrobothnia Culture Institute. I graduated as Assistant Physiotherapist from Oulu Vocational College in 1981. After that I worked for about 10 years in physiotherapy sector in different rehabilitation institutes, in a health centre and in a retirement home. In addition to my full-time job I was also working as an entrepreneur masseuse in the evenings. As the work load in the evenings increased significantly I started to work as a full-time entrepreneur. I resigned from my vacancy as physiotherapist in the retirement home and established a company called Hierontapiste where I still work three to four days a week.

I have always been interested in naturopathy mainly due to the good care results. In the beginning of 1990’s I started to train with two talented master healers Pentti Penttilä and Olavi Mäkelä both from Central Ostrobothnia.

Back then they used to teach and work in Kaustinen Wellness Centre (Kansanlääkintäkeskus). I got to know their patient work over the years and I also went to their courses all over Finland - first as a student but later as a fellow teacher.

When master healers resigned from Kaustinen Wellness Centre around the same time as I ‘graduated’ as bonesetter in 1993, I continued co-operation with them in Kansanlääkintäseura ry.

During years 2000-2002 I wrote the teaching material for bonesetting, four basic courses and four advanced courses, which made it possible to have a cohesive and complete education as well as to train new teachers. This material is still the backbone of the doctrine of Kansanlääkintäseura ry.

I used to teach bonesetting and sit in the board of Kansanlääkintäseura ry. for over 10 years until the end of 2005 when I resigned and started to take the traditional Finnish bonesetting forward independently.

During 2008 I wrote the full training programme for traditional bonesetting which fulfils the teaching criteria of Finnish National Union for Natural Care (Suomen Luonnonlääketieteen keskusliitto, www.lkl.fi). Course venues are South Ostrobothnia Folk High School in Ilmajoki and Runni Spa in Iisalmi. I teach advanced courses to my former students in Kannus and in the summer time in Kaustinen during the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival. Today I have almost 30 years of experience from the care industry.

I love animals, spending time in the summer cottage and hiking in the woods more than anything. My family consists of my husband Jussi who also works as a chef in some of my courses and who is in every way a tremendous help and support. I also have a 26 year old son Jani who lives and works in Helsinki.

When I was young I had many sports related hobbies among others baseball and volleyball. As I got a bit older I started weight lifting and karate. In karate I also competed and progressed all the way to the black belt. My best achievement is Wado ryo European Championship silver in Italy in 1994 alongside several Finnish championships.

These hobbies have enabled me to learn bonesetting the hard way - I have had a broad variety of different sports injuries which my teachers have fixed to their best abilities.

Today my hobbies revolve around fishing, picking berries, mushroom gathering, gym, nordic walking, writing and of course karaoke. We sing a lot with the course participants in our evening gatherings. And we have fun!

Kattilakoskelle EM-hopeaa
Leila toi karate-hopeaa