Aches and Pains as Resources

The aches and pains we experience within our daily lives are markers and pointers to where we have been, where we are right now and points in the direction of where we are going.  Each day we can wake up in and our shoulder or lower back or neck can tell us what kind of day this is going to be.  We are beholden to how we interact with these body parts and we are more than likely going to react the same way day in and day out.  What can help us to change our relationships and understanding of these uncomfortable physical messages? The massages, the accupuncture and other holistic treatments seem to help temporarily, but somehow the ache returns.  There is another way to bridge and connect that pain to our imagery and emotional life.  For example:  Ms. J had a consistant problem with a chronic pain in her neck, which after conventional medical checking and no medical problem was found.  Nothing seemed to help.  I asked her if she could describe the pain.  As she spoke she made grimaces and physically contracted her hands and feet, she mentioned an image of a "locked door" and "bars of steel".  I invited her to slow down her speech and repeat the hand and feet gestures, to 'be' in the posture and take some deep breaths, in a sense she was manifesting her neck in her hand gestures.  I also put my hands under and over her hands and feet in effect to support them.  New images arose, a sensation of melting and softening on the physical level occured, the first image changed; 'the door wasn't locked' and 'there was less rigidity'.  Emotional feelings came out and she was connecting and sharing with me.

Her neck difficulties brought her closer to insightful understandings to the pains she had in her neck.  Her difficulties on the physical level helped her to connect to emotions and images that had been held back.

This work is called Body Psychotherapy.  It has helped and is helping many people.

Don't give up, when the patterns arise, whether on the physical, mental or emotional level, they are there to bring us information, a part of ourselves, meant to be cared for and understood.  It is very often difficult to do alone, connect and communicate with another person in order to not be alone in the place we hold onto.

I send you a message of comfort and compassion.  You are not alone.

Yoga in a beautiful space

I was so fortunate this past Saturday to be invited to teach in a wonderful yoga studio in Kibbutz Evron in the North of Israel.  The environment invites one to slow down, take a deep breath and release stress.  We were a group of 6 all looking for a way to deepen our practise, both in yoga and our awareness.  We realized that our intention to practise was a good place to begin.  How we organize ourselves, was secondary to the desire to take some time to be with ourselves.  Reflecting some more, we were conscious of how many times during the day we can really afford to take in order to connect inward to the deep stream of prana that flows unrestricted.  Whether in our gardening, our tending the chores, our breaks we take from our routines, we have some time during the day where we can be with ourselves.  After studying yoga for some years, practising asanas, pranayama and directing awareness to breath during these practises, the shift to keep our awareness steady during our everyday life activities become that much more available to us and simplified.  It doesn't mean that we aren't responsive to our environment, or that we don't feel in reaction to others, it is quite the opposite.  Much of the noise is reduced so that we are more focused on the immediate moment at hand.  We are quieter and more in tune with the information that is given us and we are more able to be honest, real and compassionate. So much of what gets in the way of enjoying our lives are the voices within us that have been learned from others.  These voices seem like our own, but in fact they were given to us.  We can observe them, realize they are a part of us, but not us, we can release ourselves from their power.  We can substantially change our struggle and be free to act and express ourselves in real time without censorship.  I wish you all to make and take some free time for yourselves to explore the wonders of YOU!

Childbirth

Our ability to give birth and to nourish and raise children is perhaps the greatest of all gifts that life has to offer.  I have three children myself and recently have had the pleasure to be in contact with women who have become mothers for the first time.  Just as one forgets the pain of childbirth, one forgets the transition from being a woman or man without the responsibilities of children to become a mother or father.  It is sudden, real and sometimes shocking in the quantity of time and energy one needs to apply towards this new addition in our lives.  Unlike the descriptions of the love, bonding and wonder of this miracle, there are the drudging, bleary eyed realities of laundry, sleeplessness, financial obligations and worries about doing everything right. 
This is a part of life as is everything else, just as there are no quick fixes to things that matter, no easy answers to life changing questions, there is no alternative but to be intimately involved in our daily tasks that are connected to our lives.  We are a part of this world, the physical world, through our physical needs, our bodies concerns, and our physical pleasures.  Our joy is directly connected to every aspect of what it takes to be intimate with those we love.  I am not saying that we can be happy and blissful after a sleepless night with a crying infant and having to get on with the day with out any R & R, but we can be aware of the inticrate patterns that each step we take, each action we make and where and how they lead us to a fuller and more contented state of being.  When you are so tired that you can hardly stand on your feet, reach out and ask for help, get someone else to do that load of laundry and wash the dishes, or fix you a sandwich.  See that the effort of asking for help, comes from a place of softness and gentility rather than needieness and loss of independence.  See that reaching out is a part of that beauty of the little things.  Feeling and needing and being connected comes through the process of being in and of this world on its most intense level.  Our intimacy with ourselves helps us understand how to be intimate with others.  Enjoy and Take a nap.

Biosynthesis and Heart of Yoga

I have almost completed my training as a Biosynthesis Therapist.  I have been teaching Yoga for the past 12 years, and prior to that I taught Movement and Voice, Theater, and helped people relax and connect through massage and reflexology.
David Boadella, my teacher and the founder of Biosynthesis has described this form of work as, " an encouragement of organic growth, personal development and spiritual integrity.  The objective is to forge a link between the body existence, the psychological expereince and the spiritual essence."
Through this unique method I have gone through so many layers of my being, reaquainted myself with aspects which I hadn't realized were always there and discovered ways to stay connected with myself and with those I love in ways I had never experienced before.
The "way of the Heart which is a way to learn to express our innermost qualities in our daily life and lead to wonderous transformations" is one part of the therapeutic process which leads me to an interconnectiveness with my Yoga Practise.  Heart of Yoga, which by definition is a Yoga practise that begins and ends in the heart, was taught to me by Mark Whitwell, this practise has accompanied me for the past 10 years.  A simple practical Hatha Yoga practise I can do daily without struggle and which helps me to focus my mind, strengthen and relax my body and shift my perspectives on life.
I want to invite you to join me on this path.  To discover and rediscover yourselves in new ways.
Send me an email, or click "Like" on my facebook page, just to say that you like what I am doing. 

Rainbows

When the sky is grey and full of clouds, we often want to go inside.  We forget so easily about the sun behind the clouds.  Sometimes we feel greyness within, perhaps we even are hard on ourselves for feeling that greyness which we call feeling "blue", but in reality aren't we feeling kind of grey and hazey and washed out.  As if without the sun our borders aren't clear, as they would be sharply defined on a clear and sunny day, with our shadows so markedly pronounced.  We often look down, our gaze shifting towards the earth, away from the sky and even more so, we feel the weight of gravity getting us "down". When these days come I wonder if we could just lift our eyes for a moment and imagine what is behind those clouds.  Perhaps if we look up we will notice that there are all various shades of grey, and different types of clouds, and as we allow our focus to become even sharper, perhaps we notice the clear boundaries between each cloud and the dimensions the clouds are in.  Sometimes, ,when we least expect it, we see gaps between the grey clouds, gaps of streaming rays of sunlight.  Even a bright blue sky.  And then most miraculous of all, when the drops of rain begin to fall, and the blue sky is peaking from behind the clouds, and the rays of sun are hitting at just the right angle a wonderful RAINBOW fills the sky with color and brightness.  What we see is a reflection of what is inside us.  The world with its miraculous changing ways is our greatest teacher.

Continuity

There are times in our lives when we desire change.  Change, not as the coins that we recieve in return from a payment, but change as in transformations, transitions, transcendence.  We are all a part of a reality which is forever changing.  This is not news. Our need for change, our longing for something different can be a true connection to our understanding that something in our life is not 'right'.  What we are looking for is a way to bring ourselves into a place which feels better than the one we are in now.  Often we look outside ourselves to find that place, we might even travel great distances both physically and figuratively, we might look to our partners or our friends or family members and ask for them to change in order to find that place that fits 'just right'. And more often than not we realize that since life is constantly changing, and our environment is always in a state of flux, what we are experienceing will follow us until we can focus inwards and see what it is that doesn't feel right in our being.  The moving from a place in ourselves which is uncomfortable and suffering to a place that is pleasurable and nurturing comes from within.  We start with observing that which isn't comfortable, we relate to it and give it the room it needs.  Listening to the needs as a part of our lives, a part of who we are today.  Sometimes this is enough. To listen, to observe, to be with ourselves , as one wave is a part of the ocean, so is that need.  An aspect of the flow of our nature.