MASSAGE THERAPY

By early 2005, I was performing so many massages one after the other that it began taking its toll on my physical well-being. I didn't fully realize just how inflexible my body was at the time, but I could feel the aches, and I knew that my posture was stooped-over and out of balance. I had developed many unhealthy physical patterns and routines. I couldn't fully appreciate it at the time, but, my body mechanics were inefficient and causing me to exert greater effort than should have been necessary.

I knew that yoga could help me regain my physical, mechanical health. So I found the perfect yoga studio, Yoga Pura, and in March of 2005, I began my yoga practice in earnest. The results for me were immediate. As my body regained flexibility and range of motion, I also became stronger at the core of my physical being. In an ironic twist, as the benefits of my yoga practice emerged, I found that I was actually able to perform more massages than before, and with less effort!

But the truly amazing thing about yoga is this wonderful secret that was revealed. There is a magic that emerges from inside the person who practices yoga. I became more grounded and integrated in my whole being: body, mind, spirit, and emotion. As the observer inside of me emerged with greater clarity, my mind became calmer and more relaxed. As the energy began to flow and move through me in the yoga postures, I became more aware of my body and my feelings. And best of all, my connection to my higher self, that inner wisdom and guidance, became stronger.

I highly recommend yoga to anyone who is considering it. Please realize that not all yoga classes, and not all yoga teachers are the same. It may be necessary to experience a number of different studios and/or teachers before you find one that resonates with you.

Find the Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga DVDs here!

Currently, Ashtanga yoga is my practice. This YouTube video sparked my Ashtanga aspirations, and Gabriel Azoulay was my first Ashtanga teacher. This practice has a set sequence of postures that flows uninterrupted, with a slow, steady breath, from one posture to the next. This flowing style is known as Vinyasa, and Ashtanga is the basis for all yoga classes that are called Vinyasa yoga, Power yoga, or Flow yoga.

Ashtanga yoga is the most beautiful asana practice because it is so complete. The sequence of the postures is so brillantly and intellegently composed, that by the end of the practice, the body sings like a finely tuned instrument.

Ashtanga yoga comes to us from Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois (1915-2009) as handed down from his teacher, Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888–1989).

Ashtanga is founded upon the ancient esoteric teachings recorded in the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali in the first or second century AD. Patanjali explains that yoga has eight limbs. Asana, or the yoga postures, is just one of the limbs. The other seven limbs are Yama, Niyama, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. Asta means eight and anga means limbs; as Ashtanga yoga emphasizes all eight limbs of yoga as described in the Yoga Sutras.

For those of you who practice Ashtanga yoga, I would be delighted to have you join me for 6am Mysore practice Monday through Friday with John Salisbury at LifePower Pima Crossing.

Ashtanga yoga is a demanding and rigorous practice, but for those who can overcome it's obstacles, Ashtanga yoga offers strength, purpose, vitality, and radiant health.

Left to its own organic devices, without the exertion of sensibility and will, protoplasm will simply respond to local forces, bad as well as good. We are sol/gel, semi-solid, fluid crystal, and when we are not actively firming ourselves up into functional structures we are sagging and slipping. Our flesh is like silly putty that distorts when it is ignored. We are constantly obliged to actively participate in its formation, or else it will droop of its own weight and plasticity.

This incessant formation we cannot stop. We can only make the choice to let it go its own way - directed by genetics, gravity, appetites, habits, the accidentals of our surroundings, and so on - or the choice to let our sensory awareness penetrate its processes, to be personally present in the midst of those processes with the full measure of our subjective, internal observations and responses, and to some degree direct the course of that formation.

We do not have the option of remaining passively unchanged, and to believe for a moment in this illusion is to invite distortions and dysfunctions. Like putty, we are either shaping ourselves or we are drooping; like clay, we either keep ourselves moist and malleable or we are drying and hardening. We must do one or the other; we may not passively avoid the issue. Like Job, we must learn to take our flesh in our own teeth, put our lives in our own hands, and actively participate with the subtle and awesome forces which weave the web of our existence.

From Job's Body : A Handbook for Bodywork
by Deane Juhan
pp. 18-19

Here's the bottom line with health and wellness, or, the lack of it. Our bodies are an expression of our energetic being. There are many forms of energy in the body; emotional, spiritual, life-force, etc. Energy moves like water flowing in a stream, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. Generally, it is not a good thing for energy to stagnate, like water in a pond. This is typically how disease begins to manifest. But what you need to realize is that the manifestation of the stagnation in the body is not the problem. Ultimately, the underlying cause of the stagnation is what needs to be addressed and dealt with. The problem that conventional (western orthodox) medicine is confounded with is that they approach the symptoms, (the stagnation or blocks,) as the source of the problem. Look, if you have a headache and you take aspirin, your headache may go away, but, all you've done is masked the symptom. Why did you have a headache in the first place? If the red oil indicator light on your car's dash board is lit, that's telling you that your engine needs oil. Now, you can ignore that information by putting a piece of black tape over the red light, but then your car engine is going to seize and die. Human bodies do the same thing, it only takes longer because we are much more resilient than metal parts.

When our lives are out of balance, our bodies are out of balance. What is your wisdom trying to tell you when things go wrong in your body? The least invasive means of exploring our problems is the best. Different therapies will help different people access their blocks (or stagnation), depending on their situation. Ultimately, people have their problems for a reason and it will not be so easy to take that away from them. So, I help people along as best as I can. I enjoy doing massage therapy, and prefer yoga, because these are the least invasive ways to stimulate or sedate the flow of energy in the body. Massage is physically demanding work for the giver, but human touch is very rewarding.

Oriental medicine is also a fairly non-invasive modality that uses needles and herbs, so that might be something to look into as well. Homeopathy, another non-invasive modality, treats energetically with sugar pills. If you really want to see a doctor, look into naturopathic medicine. They are more holistic. Try looking in a health food store to get a good angle on the alternative health scene. Ultimately, however, all the nutrition, herbs, vitamins, exercise, or whatever, is not going to make any difference if the person is not doing the "work" on their path. We have all come into these human bodies to learn. When a person is on their path, typically, they will be in good health. Unless, of course, the person's path requires them to be sick!