Yoga – a healing practice
There is a certain brutality to great truths. For instance, this quote “If the dead past is not buried, our whole mind begins to stink and makes life impossible for us”. Swami Sivananda was well loved, for many reasons, and my teachers at yoga school, who learned directly from this great yogi, told us he often meant these blunt truths to sound humorously.
Anyway, move on, or rot and stink, the statement says. Be in the moment, in the present, let go, of past programming, fear, hatred, gripes, envies, the list goes on. Just let go. Our bodies remember these energies, just like we store them in the minds. Together they form an unhealthy allegiance polluting our being with unhealthy emotions and thoughts. When unchecked the unwholesome energy stays with us, locks our bodies into the un-well energy field, causing disease.
Chronic stress tightens our bodies, resulting in a severe bodymind state that has severe consequences for our nervous system, digestion, sleep, everything, A stiff, tight body is an unhappy place to be. And if we don’t transform theses energies the stress becomes imprinted on us. Release of stress, habitual, chronic stress, helps bring healing and a greater sense of well-being. As they say, “let go, let god”. Don’t worry. Swami Venkatesananda also said “Turning away from God is disease, he who turns to God is at perfect ease within”.
Yoga helps us, much, to let go. We also, more often than we realize, require help in letting go of our mental, physical and emotional stress. So we sometimes require treatments that are holistic, works on many levels, addressing the physical, spiritual and emotional release. Always search out a therapist that is experienced, holistically minded, that is prepared to give you the time of day you deserve, that is happy to refer you on if required, have a kind heart, and someone you resonate with. In my opinion the therapy has to help the body unlock whatever trauma holds it “closed” – treatments may be gentle, or firm, but should not be severe.
Check out this interview with Dr John Upledger (inventor of CranioSacral Therapy) on crania work and bodywork.
The list I provide here is by no means exhaustive, and view it as a starting point to find a person to help your bodymind help itself. I prefer to suggest rather than recommend a therapy or therapists, every person has unique expectations and needs and so on. I do always recommend my clients to have either regular treatments, i.e. once a few weeks, like a haircut regular, and or 3 or more sessions in a series once a year. This is quite an essential practice, a lifestyle investment, not a luxury. I remind you that you have one body, and you everything you do, your entire life, in it.
This list is in no particular order of importance. The therapists I list are holistic, healing practitioners in areas of Stellenbosch and Muizenburg (where I teach), some work from both.
Natasha Wrightford
Neurosoma Myotherapist
Muizenburg & Stellenbosch
0823033150
Sandra Smit
Cranio Sacral
Muizenburg & Stellenbosch
084700690
Candice Jones
Holistic Massage
Energy Work
Stellenbosch
0848000448
Cecelia Britz
Reflexology
Stellenbosch
021 8864710
Dale Simpson
Body Stress Release
Muizenburg
0832617498
Robyn Lewis
Shaitsu
021 7881101
Tony Edwards
Shaitsu
Stellenbosch
0725850483
Anna Scheltema
Cranio Sacral
Stellenbosch
021 8866819
Dr. Chris Muller
Chiropractic
Stellenbosch
021 8874488
Enjoy your bodymind work!
Blessings,
Johann,
8 July 2014