A wise woman traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation.

The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.

I have been thinking, he said. I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.

Camel Pose is a gentle backbend asana and is important as it prepares the body (and mind) for more difficult backbends. It is best to enter this pose from either Child pose or Hero pose. Camel Pose opens the chest, working deep into the Heart Chakra, stretches the shoulders and abdomen and provides increased flexibility to the lower back.

Camel Pose is further very stimulating for the nervous system. It improves flexibility of the neck and spine, relieves backache and helps degenerative spinal problems such as kyphoscoliotic deformities and cervical spondylosis. By stretching the abdominal organs, Camel Pose helps constipation, and it also stretches the throat and thyroid and parathyroid
glands.

Ustrasana – Step by Step

1. Come up onto your knees. Take padding under your knees if they are sensitive. Place your hands onto your hips and lift the torso from the base of the spine and pelvis so as to open the chest. Tuck your tailbone under and lengthen the thighs, lifting the collarbone higher and arch your back.

2. Reach your hands back one at a time to grasp your heels, slowly dropping back and reaching for the heels. Eventually, the palms can be placed on the soles of the feet. Roll the shoulders further back and lift the ribs, arching deep into the back while pressing the hips forward. Drop the head and neck back, without straining, and lift the chin. Stay in this pose anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute.

3. Tighten your knees and inhale deeply as you release the hands and bring the body gently back up to the knees, lifting the pelvis with the strength of the thigh and buttock muscles. Rest back down into either Child or Hero Pose.

Model Penny Anstey
Photograph Brett Rubin

As with other forms of vibrational healing, colour therapy treats energy imbalances that may cause dis-ease in the body. Colour treatment can be self administered, given in the form of light. To invoke colour awaerness, it is best to limit the application to a specific chakra and not to “overdose” on it…

RED: The Base Chakra (Muladhara)
The first chakra is activated by a clear, bright shade of red. The red colour warms and revitalises and awakens life force, vitality and courage. If this red is tinged with a shade of blue, it will help you permeate your vital drives with spiritual energy. Red light is also very stimulating, increasing energy to aid blood circulation.

ORANGE: The Sacral Chakra (Svadhistana)
A clear shade of orange activates the second chakra. The colour orange supplies us with a stimulating, renewing energy and frees us from rigid emotional patterns. It encourages our self-esteem and increases the joy we get from sensual pleasures.

YELLOW: The Solar Plexus (Manipura)
A clear and sunny yellow activates and reinforces the functioning of the third chakra. Yellow strengthens our nerves and thoughts, but it also stimulates contact and interaction with others. It compensates feelings of inner fatigue, creates joy and cheerful relaxation. Moreover it aids digestion, both on a physical and spiritual plane. It strengthens mental activity and stimulates the kind of wisdom that grows out of experience.

GREEN: The Heart Chakra (Anahata)
The colour of the meadows and forests of our planet provides us with harmony and compassion and makes us receptive to reconciliation. Green has a regenerating and detoxifying effect on the body and can be used for all manner of imbalances, acting as an antiseptic.

BLUE: The Throat Chakra (Vishuddha)
A light and clear shade of blue is assigned to the Throat chakra. This colour creates calmness and expanse and opens you up to spiritual inspiration. Because it is calming, it reduces pain, enhances spiritual growth and communication.

INDIGO: The Third Eye (Ajna)
Transparent indigo has an opening and purifying effect of the sixth chakra. It provides the mind with inner calm, clarity and depth, and strengthens and heals the senses as well as opening them to subtle levels of perception.

VIOLET/WHITE: The Crown Chakra (Sahasrara)
Violet brings about a transformation of mind and soul and opens both to spiritual dimensions of being. It dissolves blockages and can guide us towards an experience of cosmic unity. White contains all the colours of the spectrum. It integrates the different levels of life to a higher unity and opens our souls to divine light, knowledge and healing.

Sources: The Chakra Handbook By Shalila Sharamon and Bodo J. Baginski; The Chakra Bible By Patricia Mercier

Expect this year to be an energetic one, filled with optimism, power and entrepreneurship…

The Symbol of the Dragon
In Chinese Astrology, the symbol of the dragon is a powerful and revered one – the dragon is the only mythical animal in the zodiac and is associated with luck and good fortune, intense strength and power. It is regarded as a divine beast and not, as commonly portrayed in the West, as a malicious monster.

Beginning next Monday, January 23, 2012 and ending on February 9, 2013,  the year of the Dragon is destined to be a year characterising many of the traits of those born in the year of the dragon itself. As the fifth sign of the Chinese Zodiac (which follows on from the lunar Chinese calendar), Dragons symbolise such character traits as dominance and ambition.

The Dragon Personality
Dragon personalities prefer to live by their own rules and, if left on their own, are usually successful. They’re driven, unafraid of challenges, and willing to take risks. They’re passionate in all they do and do things in a grand fashion. Unfortunately, this passion and enthusiasm can leave Dragons feeling exhausted and unfulfilled.

The characteristics of the Dragon are however further tempered by one of the five Chinese elements of Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth and, 2012 is the year of the Water Dragon. Water has a calming effect on the Dragon’s fearless temperament. Water allows the Dragon to redirect its enthusiasm, and makes him more perceptive of the needs of others.

2012 – The Year Ahead
In Sung Dynasty (AD 960 – 1279) texts, the dragon is accompanied by thunder and rain, the fierce animal moving like lightning and whirlwinds. That said, Dragon years can be powerful yet totally unpredictable too. The balance arises when the flames of fire and passion that dragons wield are used in keeping with it’s soft and vulnerable underbelly.

Popular wisdom says that while other years might see to drag on, the Year of the Dragon has the potential to breathe life-shaping fire… to be magical, quite mythical even!

There is a story of a woman running away from tigers. She runs and runs, and tigers are getting closer and closer. When she comes to the edge of a cliff, she sees some vines there, so she climbs down and holds onto the vines. Looking down, she sees there are tigers below her as well. She then notices that a mouse is gnawing away at the vine to which she is clinging. She also sees a beautiful little bunch of strawberries close to her, growing out of a clump of grass.  She look up and she look down. She looks at the mouse. Then she just takes a strawberry, puts it in her mouth, and enjoys it thoroughly.

Tigers above, tigers below. This is actually the predicament that we are always in. Each moment is just what it is. It might be the only moment of our life, it might be the only strawberry we’ll ever eat. We could get depressed about it, or we could finally appreciate it and delight in the preciousness of every single moment of our life.

When you realise that, behind all the worry, complaints and disapproving chatter that goes on in your mind, the sun is always coming up in the morning, moving across the sky and going down in the evening. The birds are always out there collecting their food and making their nests and flying across the sky. The grass is always being blown by the wind or standing still. Food and flowers and trees are growing out of the earth.There’s enormous richness. You could develop your passion for life and your curiosity and your interest. You could connect with your joyfulness. You could start right now!

Extract from ‘The Wisdom of No Escape’ by Pema Chodron, American Buddhist Nun.

Speaking on universal laws and principles such as the Laws of Attraction and Abundance, Kumi’s straightforward approach is refreshing: “Life is simple,” he says.

Explaining the downward spiral that so often affects those of us choosing to live in our fast-paced, demanding environments, Kumi explains how our apathy, negativity and lack of enthusiasm can create physical disorders or “dis-eases” that result from living out of accordance with these natural laws. “Everywhere we look we are surrounded by nature and nature is full of abundance – we just have to look at how many leaves there are on the trees to know this!”

We are all born to be abundantly successful, says Kumi, who maintains that the secret to living a prosperous life is to focus on the intentions behind your thoughts. “We create reality in our conscious state through the thoughts we think. We therefore need to focus our attention on the intention of our thoughts and go back to our essence,” Kumi expounds.

“Life is a flow of experiences,” he says. “If you don’t like the experience, change it!” Often however we are too lazy to really work with ourselves, to empower ourselves and to be responsible for our reality. According to Kumi, we look outside ourselves for our happiness when “the seat of our power lies within our creative, conscious mind”.

“By letting the mind become flexible through yoga and meditation and learning to relax, we are able to synchronise our vibrations with the universe and tune into the frequency of success. By giving ourselves the permission to feel worthy of success, we will become successful,” Kumi says.

After a half-hour guided deep relaxation, everyone had experienced an uplifting shift in energy and a healing return to our individual and collective essences, which according to Kumi, is like sugar - pure sweetness. Realigning our energy and consciously creating our realities, we look forward to a blessed and successful 2012!

Gyan Mudra is one of the most familiar hasta mudras (hand gestures). Many of the great spiritual masters are depicted sitting in meditation with their hands in Gyan Mudra with the thumb and index finger brought together in gentle contact.

It is understood that because of the tremendous flow of energy in our hands, bringing our hands into a mudra helps draw our attention inward and aids in developing mental peace as well as sharpening  memory and concentration.

The Sanskrit world Gyana means “pure knowledge” – i.e. the enlightenment of wisdom, or, that which enables us to find truth. Working with this mudra enables us to develop the spiritual feelings and qualities necessary to awaken to our own inner wisdom that leads us to enlightenment.

According to Acharya Keshav Dev, each finger represents one of the five elements — the thumb is agni (fire), the forefinger is vayu (air), the middle finger is akash (ether), the ring finger is prithvi (earth) and the little finger is jal (water).

Specific benefits of Gyan Mudra include:
• Stimulates the Root Chakra (Svadhisthana) and is therefore very grounding
• Beneficial for those suffering with insomnia and mental disorders like depression, anxiety and excessive anger
• Helps energise the neurons in the brain for instant action
• Stimulates the centres of the pituitary and endocrine glands

Alternate Breathing

If you take time to observe your breathing and the manner in which you inhale and exhale, you will notice that most of the time respiration takes place through one nostril only. When you are not conscious of your breathing, it appears that respiration occurs through both nostrils, but this is not so. Usually one nostril remains open for a period of time, with the breath coming and going through that side only. After some time, this nostril closes and the alternate nostril opens.

What does this mean? It implies that the breath must have a special influence on the brain which requires very systematic regulation. Yoga explains how the flow of the nostril changes at regular intervals. Every hour or hour and twenty minutes the active nostril changes and this rhythm regulates the psychological and physiological processes in the body. If the nostril flow is irregular, it is a clear indication that something is not functioning properly in the body.

The Nasal Circuits

The rhythm of our breathing creates a flow of energy in the body. The word “flow” in yoga is called nadi and within the nostrils three different flows of energy are created: these are known as ida, pingala and sushumna.

The left nostril is connected to the ida network of nadis. The right nostril to pingala. When both nostrils function together the main channel or sushumna nadi network is stimulated. The energy flows created by the left and right nostrils act something like the positive and negative currents in an electric circuit. When the right nostril is flowing, pingala is stimulating the body; when the left nostril is flowing, ida is stimulating the mental faculties. When both are active simultaneously the sushumna nadi is energising the spiritual potential.

Therefore in order to maintain balance, harmony and equilibrium of body, mind and prana, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika states that: “if the air is inhaled through the left nostril, it should be expelled again through the right. The breathing in through the right and retaining it should be expelled through the left.”

This particular practice is known as nadhi shodhana (alternative nostril breathing). It brings regularity to the whole system and is extremely important in harmonising energy flow.

Watching the Breath/ Natural Breathing

Breathing through the nose only, watch the breath. Become aware of the process of breathing. Become aware of the inhalation and exhalation and watch the point where the breath turns from inhalation to exhalation; from exhalation to inhalation. Do nothing at all to control the breath or alter the rhythm. Become aware of how you breathe normally. Are you pushing your stomach or chest out unnaturally? Are you making harsh noises with your breath? Are you jerking the diaphragm?

Follow the passage of the air into your body and out again with total awareness. Listen to the sound, keeping the ears alert. The mind should be silent, but watchful.

After observing your breathing for a while, try to detect if your breathing is shallow or deep. Is the flow of air soft, or is the breathing forced? Now, time the inhalation and exhalation, counting it in seconds, and trying not to change your natural breathing rhythm. Count the turning of the breath. Do this for some time. Is there a difference in the timing of the inhalation and exhalation? Do you hold your breath unconsciously? Watching the breath will tell you about yourself – whether you are tense or relaxed. Continue to watch the breath for a while, not doing anything to change your natural rhythm.

Now, start to synchronise the duration of the inhalation and exhalation – again counting the breath if you cannot be sure of the psychological timing. Once the timing of the duration of the inhalations and exhalations are the same, you are ready to start the yogic breath technique of Nadi Shodhana Pranayama or the Alternate Nostril Breath. This breath is a purification breath and helps to balance the left and right hemispheres of the brain bringing equanimity of mind and balance to the thoughts and mind.

Nadi Shodhana Technique

1. Sit in a comfortable seated asana with the hands resting upward on the knees. Hold the tip of third finger of the left hand with the thumb into the air/prana mudra here.

2. Gently close the right nostril with the right thumb. Inhale through the left nostril and, once the breath is focused between the eyebrows at the third eye, close the left nostril with the ring and little fingers. Hold and focus the eyes inwards. Lift the right thumb and exhale slowly through the right nostril.

3. Keeping the right nostril open, take a slow, deep and gentle inhale, then close the right nostril with the right thumb, bringing the breath to the middle of the brow. Hold and focus the eyes inwards. Lift the left ring and little fingers and extend the breath slowly, exhaling through the left nostril.

4. Repeat this cycle until a rythmic flow of breath is achieved. Traditionally, there is a fixed ratio of breath here: breath in for 4, hold for 4, breath out for 4. Finally, release the hand mudra and go back to normal breathing.

NOTE: For beginning pranayama students, keeping the right arm raised throughout the practice will be challenging. It quickly does get easier with practice. Keeping the breath in time to the above fixed ratio breath also may not be comfortable, so it’s best to focus only on the inhales and exhales to start with until a regular breath pattern can be established.

Euphoric would be one adjective that a person might use to describe the ancient Indian, deep tissue, hot oil massage called Chavutti Thirumal. And yet, it’s so much more sublime than even that.

The experience of Chavutti Thirumal (pronounced cha-voo-tee ti-ru-mal) is unique to Western massage systems in that it is principally applied with the bare foot (Chavutti Thirumal literally means “foot pressure”) with therapeutic benefits extending beyond just its myriad physical applications.

Originating from Kerala, South India, Chavutti Thirumal was developed by practitioners of Kalarippayatu (one of India’s traditional martial and medical arts that dates as far back as the 12^th Century). Kalari, the cultural practice from which it stems, interweaves mental, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of life and, like the Chavutti Thirumal massage technique it bore hundreds of years ago, embodies elements of Ayurveda, yoga and dance in mystical measures for profound effect.

Covering the length of the body – from the tips of the fingers to the tops of the toes – in long, deep sweeping strokes, the highly skilled barefoot masseuse is supported in their elongating movements by a suspended rope that hangs from the ceiling to aid their balance during massage. You, the recipient, lie flat on a thin mat on the floor, feeling supported and connected with the ground. With each sweeping stroke of the foot, the range and depth of movement (and breath) is deepened as the masseuse moves energy from the central spinal
channel outwards to the limbs and extremities and then back inwards towards the spine again in rhythmic motions. Working from the centre of gravity deep within their own core, the barefoot masseuse uses “heaven and earth energy principles” to channel energies downwards and restore harmony and balance and bring a deep sense of wellbeing and nourishment to the recipient.

On a physical level, the treatment focuses precise attention on unknotting tension, maintaining flexibility and suppleness, aligning and strengthening the spine as well as lengthening the intervertebral spaces thereby creating more “breathing space” and “room for flow”. Additionally working to tone and stretch muscle tissue, Chavutti Thirumal is also therefore beneficial in treating and easing back pain, sciatica, muscular spasm and stiffness in the joints as well as any restricted movements that may arise from an imbalance caused by exercise
or sport injuries.

Deeper still, it helps relieve deep-seated tensions, cleanses the body of toxins and improves circulation, metabolism and energy flow. Chavutti Thirumal assists the body in initiating its own detoxification process, facilitates the release of emotional and psychological blocks and brings the body back to its natural equilibrium. In returning to its whole and natural state, the body and mind are open and receptive and, it is only then the possibility for change can occur and that is when true healing begins.

It would be almost insulting to call such healing therapy “a massage” and so, in saying, if you have never been touched by the “art of the barefoot massage”, be assured it’s an indelible experience. Your body will remember its imprints and your mind and soul frequent the new spaces and pathways it’s quietly carved for you long after the soft footsteps of the barefoot masseuse are heard, quietly leaving sacred space.

For further information or to book an appointment, please contact Wendy Young who practices Chavutti Thirumal from the ISHTA School of Yoga & Health, 121 Atholl Road, Atholl, Sandton. Wendy also offers Wise Living Coaching, Remedial Yoga Therapy, Meditation, Indian Head Massage and Reiki.
Telephone: 072 800 4982
Email: *protected email*