The Heart of Healing
At the heart of healing is an experience. It is the experience of being willing and able to be in the moment with your feelings. No matter how awful or repulsive or spectacular they may be, to allow yourself to stay there and feel what is there to be felt. Of course you know as well as I do we are so very creative when it comes to finding ways of mood altering out of the present moment. Alcohol, drugs, food, shopping, gambling, sex, the internet, all come to mind as ways and means of ejecting ourselves from the present moment, and into a state of dissociation from mind and body. I’ve even heard of kids taking human feces and urine and putting them into a sealed container, leaving the contents to ferment for a few days before, no word of a lie, inhaling and getting high on the fumes. It gives new meaning to the thought of the drug user being willing to do anything for a high. But I digress . . . Allowing ourselves to feel our feelings is at the heart of healing. A simple definition of healing is when we do a thing differently. Our feelings are housed in our bodies. For one reason or another our feelings get stuck and accumulate there. They need to be managed and liberated from our bodies to prevent the development of illness.
One way of liberating feelings from our bodies can be through the practice of Yoga. It works in a way traditional talk therapy doesn’t, through bypassing the thinking mind and accessing the body directly where feelings are stored. It is a safe, gentle and effective way of allowing our feelings to emerge in the present moment, being with them there, and holding this experience as a pathway to liberating them from our bodies (and by extension our minds, as the two are intimately connected). For those of us who feel the need to share our experience, talk therapy provides a wonderful environment for sharing the experience of what coms up as we allow the healing process to unfold. It too is safe, gentle and effective. Each method will usher the willing participant into the heart of healing, and as a result, an enhanced state of well-being.
I’m in the process of writing a document called ‘Ten Secrets to Psychological Healing’. It will be available soon to those of you who elect to subscribe to the site.
I look forward to reading the document.
Does yoga have some kind of diagnostic for areas of the body and particular feelings and then particular postures or whatever for their release?
April 6th, 2008 at 4:55 pmThanks Evan. I hope to have the document completed in a week or so. As for Yoga, it is a sophisticated and un-unified system for healing and personal transformation. If you asked a Yoga Therapist the same question, my guess is that they would probably say yes, you can treat various diseased conditions with posture(s) and breathing practices. For some, the chakra system serves as a diagnostic tool for the subtle or energy body. An Ayurvedic physician would know more about using the chakra system in this way. So would Oneidra Judith, PhD, who wrote an excellent book called ‘Eastern Body, Western Mind’. She weaves together the chakra system and western psychology to diagnose and treat psychological states.
April 6th, 2008 at 8:46 pmTashina
I hope there’s also a yoga for those who aren’t flexible like me…
April 6th, 2009 at 2:27 amThe beauty of Yoga, is it can be enjoyed by all body types! It’s about finding the right fit between where your body is at, your physical and psychological needs, and a Yoga style that meets those needs. The Yoga I offer for example, is a gentle and subjective approach to Hatha Yoga that gives the practitioner the opportunity to learn to trust their body rather than pushing or forcing their body into postures before it’s ready to go there. It’s also about learning about the breath in a way that relaxes the body and calms the mind.
There’s a style of Yoga for every-body! Here’s hoping you find the right one for you, so you can come to savour the pleasures of Yoga. Thanks for stopping by.
April 6th, 2009 at 8:07 pmWhat a breath of fresh air to take my mind off after a stressful day. Excellent prose that really gets the thought across. Thanks for sharing.
April 8th, 2010 at 2:57 pmAnd thank-you for your kind words.
April 10th, 2010 at 10:44 pm