Health & Wellbeing
First we must go within ourselves.
Holistic Wellbeing
“Medicine is internal”
Holistic wellbeing focuses on all aspects of our being. We have a physical body, emotional body, intellectual body and what to say of our spiritual body. All bodies need sufficient care and regular maintenance to sustain our overall health. The Western Healthcare System has empathized that our health solutions are external resources of care, but we know that the real medicine is cultivated from within ourselves. In a world that pathologizes our symptoms of dis-ease, so that you may be labelled with a “condition” and then treated based on your symptoms rather than attending to the root of the dis-ease or dysfunction that has manifested in one, or all of your bodies. The first point of action in healthcare should be to understand and to observe the experiences that all of your “bodies” are having.
Interpersonal Connection
“Our biology is interpersonal”. - Gabor Mate
How we relate to each other significantly impacts out state of health. Our physical, emotional and mental bodies are all influenced by the way we connect with each other and the world. The way you are looked at, spoken to etc, will most definitely affect your nervous system, this has been studied and proven. As a species, we co-create together, therefore we should co-regulate our nervous-system.
The work of Daniel Siegle, clinical professor of psychiatry, has dedicated much of his work to the understanding of interpersonal neurobiology, the way of studying the brain and the mind from multiple disciplines. His work reflects the truth, that we heal, regulate and discover ourselves through our reflections and experiences with others.
Trauma
Trauma is often described as any experience that overwhelms the capacity to cope and leaves a person feeling helpless or hopeless.
SAMSHA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) describes individual trauma as resulting from “an event, or series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well being.” (https://www.samhsa.gov/trauma-violence)
The heart of my intention with Yoga for Mental Health is to share the practices that will help people cope with and manage distress, uncertainty, fear and the sense of feeling powerless in their own lives.
Trauma can impede on our learning capacity, productive social and occupational function, and physical health and well-being. Trauma affects the totality of the organism, therefore, it should be addressed in the same way.
Fear and trauma cycle through our nervous system, wreaking havoc on our overall well-being.
Living in a cycle of distress affects our well-being, physically, mentally, socially, emotionally and spiritually - yoga attends to ALL of these aspects.
8 Limbs of Yoga
Yoga is a scientific system and pathway to holistic well-being. The postures (Asana), are only one element in the system. There are seven other limbs that are essential to our life’s journey. We will explore all the elements and how they can serve YOU best. We will leave no limb untouched. This system is comprised of moral and metaphysical codes that will significantly enhance the quality of your life without a doubt.
We will explore the ethical codes of conduct to live by, external conduct, when interacting with the world, as well as internal conduct, for how to best serve and treat your highest self. The postures and breath work will relieve you of the bodies tension and dis-ease.
This system is therapy for ALL your bodies; the physical, emotional , intellectual and the spiritual body. We will set out on the journey together to re-sensitize you to all that is happening from within your sacred vessel…the physical body. Exploring deep meditative states will raise your consciousness and bring you closer to who you really are and bring you closer to all the unity that is within this existence.
Energy
Prana is the Life Force Energy that is within your body. The science of Quantum Physics has proven that we are in fact comprised of energy, something that the great sages of the yoga system understood long before we had tools to measure this fact.
There are four main influences over your energy - food, breath, movement, and thoughts. These four element will give you Prana (Life Force Energy) or take it from you. You will discover the ways to resolve any obstruction in your Prana that is present within the 7 main energy centres of the body.
Chakra is a Sanskrit word that means “wheel” and it refers to the energy centres in your body. These wheels are spinning energy, a life force that every living entity has within itself. Each wheel has connections to certain nerve bundles and major organs within the body.
When we have obstruction in our Chakras, this will manifest itself as dis-ease within all aspects of our being, the physical, emotional, intellectual and the spiritual.
