“You are in a position, starting now, to adopt the role of self-healer. By going deeper into the power of awareness, you can achieve the hidden potential of the healing system that you already depend upon every day.”
– Dr. Rudolph Tanzi, Chair of Neurology at Harvard, and Director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. You can read more from Dr. Tanzi here.
Hey everybody, I’m working on our online Shiatsu and Traditional Chinese Medicine Training this morning (coming soon, info here), and wanted to share some thoughts about healing.
I’ve had some good talks with a few of you lately, about what happens when you’re injured, sick, or just running a little slow. It feels frustrating, maybe knowing it’s from not moving so well through everything. Old habits getting in the way, too much stress and tension, too much disconnection. Often it’s some parts of you working too much, other parts not enough, not the whole you working well all together. And at the same time, knowing the cause isn’t fixing it. Plus there’s this worry that maybe you’re causing more harm while trying to heal, trying to get better.
You already know it’s not so simple as “push this button to get that result.” Wrist wraps, foam rollers, making sure there’s exactly one inch between each finger every time you touch the ground . . . nearly anything can work for a short time, if only because it gives you something to focus on. But in general, humans are not so simple. We need solutions that are a bit more holistic.
For this, I think it’s difficult to heal when you’re challenging an area, in the middle of a new practice. Often you’ll get something a little right, a little wrong, at the same time. And with an injury, sometimes it will just heal on its own, no matter what you do. But sometimes, this will keep you injured, aggravated, while you’re trying to learn something better but still have old habits.
So often it comes to this. It might be what you need is a bit of rest. But not rest while doing nothing. Just, rest what’s aggravated, and practice with other forms. Moving around on your feet can also teach you to let go of tension, extra effort in your upper as well as lower body. So forms like tai chi, qigong, or shiatsu will give you some useful information about what you’re doing, and practice for doing a bit better.
Remember you have a whole world around you, a whole life of practice. It’s not about yoga. That’s one form, a good place for practice, a lot of the time. And then there’s everything else. Everywhere is a good place for practice, many forms, many places.
It’s not so much what you do that matters. It’s how you do it. And when you make some change in how you do what you do, it has a way of also changing what you do. Things grow better, this way.
-Mike
About Strala Yoga Training
Strala combines the movement and healing wisdom of tai chi with the form vocabularies of yoga, tai chi, qigong, and Traditional Chinese and Japanese Medicine, to help people release stress, move easily through challenge, and live radiantly inspiring lives.
It begins with a mindset, that says our best way to get where we’re going is to feel good along the way. It also works miracles for whole health, helping us to find ease in our bodies and minds, and create the right conditions both for healing and optimal performance.
In our Strala Training Courses, you learn to shape your destiny on every level that counts, from your psychology, chemistry and neurology, to your chromosomes and even gene expression. The unique set of skills you develop – for connecting with yourself and others, unblocking your energy, healing what needs healing and accomplishing challenge with ease – uncovers your ability to create the life you want, and be an inspiring leader to the people around you.
Who’s What’s and When’s of Strala Yoga Training
