As I begin a new summer season of teaching, I am excited to have added a new Meditation class to my list of yoga classes. The class is being really well received and I’m getting great feedback in terms of the effect of the teachings and of the meditations themselves. People are not just hearing the words “be present” – they are feeling them. It’s extremely gratifying work. Stay tuned for new 4-week Introductory session in the fall.
I’ve also just completed my 300-hour certification as a teacher of therapeutic yoga, and am in the process of doing all the paperwork needed to have my services covered by insurance. I’ll be spending this summer preparing my offerings, and going to see as many members of the health and wellness community as possible, to describe what it is that I’ll be offering. I believe that my services will be a great complement to clients who are currently living with anxiety and (may be) seeing other professionals for treatment and support. Using the therapeutic tools that yoga provides, we look at the client as a whole being. As has been shown, anxiety (like physical pain) is just a symptom of other things that are out of balance; with anxiety, it is often the nervous system that is out of whack.
By asking the right questions, over time, we get the client to come up with what lies at the “heart” of their issues.
Through movement, breath work, mantra, guided imagery, meditation, we empower clients with the tools they need to begin their own personal healing.
As I’ve said before, there are many tools available, and what we do is teach the client how to use the tools that apply, guide them through the practices, but the motivation and the actual work has to come from the client themselves. There will certainly be those that need conventional medicines or some kind of talk therapy before they can start to apply the tools of yoga as an additional form of therapy.
I love this work because it sees health as a “process” and not a state of being at a single point in time. It sees health as a mirror of how we live our lives. It sees health as an awareness that we are connected to everyone and everything around us; that our actions affect others and vice versa. It sees health not only as the absence of disease, but as the balance between our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual selves. It meets every person where they’re at. It also sees stress as an early warning system; a warning that at some level there is an imbalance in how we are living our lives. It sees mindfulness (awareness of our stress) as a first crucial step, a doorway through which we can reclaim quality of life, meaning, connection, wholeness.
I love this work, already.
♥