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Monday, July 9, 2007

Vacation - Healing - They go hand in hand

Did you ever have a wonderful massage, wonderful dinner out, or awesome Yoga practice and feel this sense of peace and relaxation? A bit more expensive and time consuming, but that's what a vacation does for me in the ultimate sense.

Time on the mat and meditating is like a mini-vacation. A Yoga practice can be a brief time to stop the external world and focus on just being. It's a time to breath, center, and remember what's important in our lives.

The last 2 weeks have provided me with a wonderful road trip through Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky. Only a few formal meditations and one Hatha practice made it into my days. My practice was to truly be present and absorb everything around me.

It was great! Even if you love what you do, the sense of freedom and just loving life is awesome. No laundry, no phone calls, no email, nothing but exploring new places, foods, and people.

One of our stops was in Black Mountain, North Carolina. There were a number of neat shops. I'm not much of a "shopper", but the people that were in this small town of about 7000 were interesting, friendly, and down-to-earth. In one of the shops, New Earth , the gal working there was talking about how important it is that each of us accept responsibility for our own healing. Caroline Myss has talked about this as well, saying that healing modalities such as acupuncture, massage, crystals, etc are all fine, but you have to have our prana, life force, in us.

In her audio book, Why Don't People Heal, Myss says, "We lose life force to our past, leaving less for our present life.... We need 80-85% of our prana in present time to create what happens in our life.... To use spirit to create and heal, it must be in the now." I believe that Yoga can help you bring your spirit to the now, using Myss's jargon, but no teacher can force that to happen. In the end, it's up to each of us to direct and guide our own prana.

That night, after chatting with the gal from New Earth and thinking about healing, this is what I wrote. (Please, understand, this is not poetry or an attempt to be grammatical in any way. What follows are thoughts that flowed in and around my mind as I journaled.)

Crystals. Vibrations. All around.
Pains. Aches. All abound.

Heal thyself. Look within.
Remember. Remember. Look within.

Teach. Learn.
Teacher. Student.
What is the relationship?
How does it operate?

Teacher. Healer.
Healer within. Teacher without.
How can this be?
Is the teacher me?

Connection.
Connection is the answer.
Heal thyself.
The answer lies within.

The teacher guides,
suggests,
and sees the student's own healer.

The teacher and healer do not actually heal!
Yes, this is true. Do not be shocked or run away.
Just pause to listen to this new way.

The student is lost.
Searching for aid.
The teacher or healer
is who they pay.

Now listen close,
as the wisdom,
the secret
is told.
The teacher doesn't fix you,
even when you're old.

The teacher sees
the healer in you.
They suggest, teach, and guide
to show you your within.

From here it is all up to you!
Yes, it's true!

YOU are the healer.
The only one that can banish the pain.
If YOU don't participate,
then all the teaching will be in vain!

So, go to your teachers and healers too,
listen and learn.
Use what they say,
and remember, in the end, it's all up to you!

Success or failure.
Pain or health.
It's all up to you.
Now. What are you going to do?

Love Much,

Kris
www.TotalHealthYoga.com
www.LearnYogaOnline.Blogspot.com

Today is the first day of the rest of your life!

3 comments:

Mary said...

Gorgeous post babe! Time on the mat is like a mini vacation for me too but then sometimes it's like an intense therapy session also :-)

I agree, we all have to take responsibility for our own healing and that is what so many people don't get yet. They are still looking for something external to help them. We all have to find it from within. It's funny, I was only just reading about prana last night.

Thank you for sharing your words. It means a lot.

yogaglamgirl said...

Welcome back Kris! So glad to hear that you were able to nourish yourself and had time to go inward a bit. I think taking ownership and responsibility for ourselves is the first big step in changing ourselves and making a difference in this world. I might have to read more from Caroline Myss...just the right inspiration for me right now. Thank you!

Dr. Oscar Barrera said...

I like your post. And the "poetry" is awesome, sounds really neat.

What you mentioned about teacher-student and/or healer-patient relationship is very true. This is what I do and believe in my healing practice myself.

The healer can do his/her guiding healing work as far as the patient is willing to take action upon his own healing. The healer, however, heals too. It is a two way street. The power of healing is in the "magic" that while I help/guide other to heal themselves, I am healing myself.

Keep your insightful writing