Joseph Heller, a graduate of Cal Tech, spent 10 years as an aerospace engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He later became the director of Kairos, a Los Angeles center for human development, and participated in year-long training programs in bioenergetics and gestalt, as well as shorter workshops with Buckminister Fuller, John Lilly, Virginia Satir, and Brugh Joy. He became a Rolfer in 1972 and continued to study with Ida Rolf through 1978, while learning Patterning from Judith Aston. He became the first president of the Rolf Institute in 1975 and left that position to found the Hellerwork Institute and its training program, Body of Knowledge, in 1978. He lives, practices, and teaches Hellerwork in Mt. Shasta, California.

Bill Henkin hold graduate degrees in English, psychology, and human sexuality. A former university English instructor and magazine editor, he is author or coauthor of 14 books and editor or producer of a dozen more, including The Psychic Healing Book (with Amy Wallace), The Rocky Horror Picture Show Book, and Consensual Sadomasochism: How to Talk About It and How to do it Safely.