Sept 1, 2011
I have been tremendously blessed with the opportunity to be around some of the best healers and teachers in the world, truly. It humbles me so to be in the midst of such inspiring greatness so often. I never had any direction growing up, and being around this angels embodied became iconic for me. From my beginning in 1996, I discovered yoga in the Catskills of upstate NY in a Sivananda Ashram, and later that magical summer sat next to the statuesque Sharon Gannon and David Life nightly for dinner with expansive conversation at a dear Jewish Retreat without even knowing who they were. My life was forever changed. I decided I wanted to be just like them when I grew up.
Since my Spirit infused trek began then, when my life really started to spiral upward, I started to seek as much yoga as possible in the form of many high quality styles, teachers and places, from large oversized conventions, to small private secretive settings, even on the phone, from India, to suburbia. You never really know when the Divine will appear, coming in many forms. Your eyes must stay pealed wide open. I remember a great teaching from the Ramayana about Hanuman that I never wanted to forget once hearing it. It was a revelation of his devotion when he as even able to recognize God in form, in this case Ram. Most people walk right by God daily, and miss it. Hanuman was quite evolved to "see" right away.
I have stayed in John Friends home, the founder of Anusara Yoga, taking notes in his extensive library of rare additions, meditating with him in his puja room, and watching the Cowboys and the Saints take one another down. I asked, and have been Lama Christie McNally's chauffeur right before she did sacred Tibetan Buddhist Rituals to Kali while in New Orleans. I have spent personal time with Jai Uttal in Maui, and swam in the Pacific Ocean with Ram Dass and John Friend there, a satsang on the beach. I have learned about sacred plants, the Mayan calendar, and many forms of ceremony's in private settings from Shaman's, and been to the origin of both yoga and Shamanism, India, Mexico and Peru, from sweat lodges in an Astro Lodge to being in the Astro fields myself. Most recently, I have been delving into the realms of Thai Yoga Therapy with Sudevi, as soon we will take students to Thailand. Oh my goodness, the list goes on. There are so many cultures and beliefs to draw upon, and in the end, what resonates with you comes directly from your Higher Self. Looking back from time to time I can not believe the blessings that come, and I see it is a matter of wanting it so much One must first recognize the moment is so precious, and beyond your wildest dreams, before ceasing the moment as it appears.
One of my biggest dreams is to share with my community all of the blessings I feel I have received. I have been exposed to some pretty esoteric forms of healing that to some are the regular everyday for them, and to others, are way out there, and very esoteric. It is my humble humble joy to now present a list I have been working on, dreaming about, and downloading directly from Source in my meditations.
This is a dream menu to me, as we begin to expand our horizons of what yoga and healing truly is. It comes in many forms.
Please enjoy the list from Source that we will now share with you in the Blue Swan Healing Room, newly renovated with the Highest Vastu, in the Mid-City Mandir of Swan River Yoga.
Blue Swan Holistic Programs
by Michele Baker
Specializing in Anusara Inspired Therapeutics, Reiki Energy Clearings,Yoga Nidra, Vedic Thai Yoga, Puja Ceremony, and Vastu Space Consultation.
Menu:
*Private Anusara Inspired Therapeutic Yoga Session: A personalized, physical prescription for optimal health, reducing injury and prevention of pain .
Telling Gabbi Salazar, from Costa Rica, about the correct alignment for her shoulder after a shoulder injury, so she can safely practice advanced poses like she use to.
Private physical therapeutics is based on the Anusara Universal Principles of Alignment. In this private, receive a full analysis of the framework of your body from the hips down and the shoulders up. Looking at the "loops and spirals" of energy within you, as based on this method, you will gain knowledge to the tendencies the body has built, and receive personal ways to regain and implement symmetry for optimal health and vitality. This session is effective for injuries, daily and/or chronic discomfort, and personal alignment or health issues, unable to always be addressed in a general class. Take advantage of in depth discussion and time for questions. Personal homework will be prescribed for you in your practice daily. This session is meant to give you tools that will leave you feeling more aware and confident about taking control of your health, practice, and life safely, skillfully, and joyfully. The efficacy and quantity of sessions you need is dependent on the severity and action that you put forth. The tools are "Universal", meaning, that they work the same every time, if done correctly, and consistently, revealing to us our optimal health.
*Energetic Kundalini Reiki Clearings: Clearing stuck energy, holding, and attracting a clear source of light.
Kundalini Reiki Energy clearings is working with the subtle body to navigate more light into the physical by means of the direction of the Higher Self. Based on the 3 Levels of Reiki that Michele has graduated from and practiced since 2003, as well as her mentoring Tree of Life Program, this method is subtle energy work of the Pramamaya Kosha, the energy sheath. Based on the Chakra system, each of your chakras will be read to determine their level of clarity and strength. Guiding life force into the central channel, Reiki will tune misaligned chakras back to their natural frequency. Beyond traditional Reiki, this session more specifically assists one in getting to the core issue of energy blocks and patterns that no longer serve you. These patterns often disconnect us from our maximum potential of flow within our health and lives.
A Reiki session clears psychic debris and entanglements one may feel caught in energetically and prevents patterns from re-occuring with protections, attracting light more consistently. Lead by the guidance of Spirit, your Higher Self, and Spiritual Guides, this session can also clear a path for new goals to manifest by releasing the causal residue of past experience or trauma, radiating light.
*Vedic Thai Yoga Therapy: An elegant Ayurvedic Healing Style of Receiving Gentle Yoga and bodywork.
Based on the Nuad Boran Thai Technique of the Vedas, this is an Ayurvedic healing style of "receiving" yoga. The recipient, lying down, receives yoga positions and a unique form of Thai bodywork. This consists of following and clearing the "Sen" lines, or nadis, in a rhythmic manner for the release of pressure points, called "marmas". The therapist uses all parts of their body for the rhythmic stretching, through pressing and compressing by use of their feet, hands, palms, arms, knees, legs. Gentle pressure is given from head to toe, freeing all the systems of the body, including the lymphatic system, detoxifying, and softening tense muscles and mental blocks. It frees inertia, emotional stress, and tranquilizes the entire body by creating a harmonious symbiotic communication integrating all of the bodies systems. A yoga practitioner will recognize many of the poses, known as asana, all gentle and done in repetition for efficacy, as well as the breathing techniques implemented, known as pranayama. Revered as a medical folk art for it's dignity and sophistication from India and Thailand, it is similar to having yoga done on you while getting a full body massage at the same time; the equivalent to heaven, Samadhi.
*Vastu Shastra Space Consultation: setting up and clearing a space for optimal energetic flow in your environment.
"Vastu" similar to the Japanese concept of "Fung Shei", is translated as "essence in form" in Sanskrit. It relates to the directional and architectural design of a space. Vastu aligns with the optimal flow of energy with the 4 corners of the earth, and the 5 elements, called the "pancha maha bhoota" . Michele was taught, in her many years of training in Ashrams and temples, this way of setting a space, and all spaces, like a temple. It recognizes, as an art, where things should be placed, as well as their aesthetics for optimal "Shri", or shine, like the temples in India. In a Vastu consultation, Michele will go through and energetically cleanse spaces such as your home or work with the order given in the Vedas, ceremonially, and with rearrangement advise. Enjoy the maximum potential environmentally, remove stuck or negative energy, redecorate and reorder your home so that it is fresh, mirroring to you the greatest abundance, health, creativity, healing, joy, intuition, love, and lucid dreams possible. In India, all architecture and dwellings is a human temple, a "manushyalaya". It is not just utilitarian. Vastu aligns us with the patterns and qualities of nature, invoking ecological friendliness so that our everyday is a sacred shrine.
*Ceremonial Pujas for newborns, weddings, or special occasions: Make poignant times in your life a memorable yogic celebration.
Brigs and Brigette for the welcoming of his soul and dharma in puja
There are many special occasions in our life that can be honored in a creative, colorful, elaborate, and yogic way. Puja is yet another way to bring the yogic teachings into your life in a vibrant manner. The word "Puja" is translated as "ritual" and is performed daily in India. It is an offering to honor and support special people in our lives and their memorable moments, such as their birth, birthday, accomplishments, new ventures, weddings, and leaving their body upon their last breath in life. Pujas can also celebrate specific deities and cultural events. It can be an extravagant festival or a private ceremony, where gifts and offerings are brought to the individual(s), and to the altar or setting present in invoking Spirit. Sweets are often brought by the guests as "prasad" (blessed food), which are blessed by the participants of the ceremony through song and prayer. Numerous devotional chants are sung to provoke high vibrations, and there are specific ingredients, attire, mannerisms, colors, and order to the puja, according to the Vedas, depending on the ceremony and ritual one is celebrating. A form of Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of devotion, it is a special way to invite offering and more ritual in our lives, even beyond the mat, and a thoughtful way to honor others.
*Yoga Nidra: guided sleep trance states to clear & re-pattern the autonomic nervous system & enhance the theta state of mind.
"Yoga Nidra" is the sanskrit word for "yogic sleep". Different than regular sleep, it releases trauma, tension, anxiety, insomnia, & old constructs that no longer serve you. Similar to hypnosis, it can assist in freeing old patterns, addictions, compulsions, attachments, fear, paranoia, illness, & illusion. From our mental seeds, physical ailments can result such as unease, anxiety attacks, palpilations, chest pain, sweating, or stress related pain of any kind, making one feel out of control. Yoga Nidra trains the mind to gently guide us back into our original state of bliss, accessible to us all. It is a state halfway between wakefulness and dream, opening deep phases of the mind that have somehow become shut off. Nidra is a tantric practice called "Nyasa", mentally placing all of the body parts back in order so that the nervous system discharges the memory of the tension first implanted, as it awakens the most relaxed wave of the mind, the Theta wave. Lying down in Savasana, a soft voice will lure you into safe a internalization, rotation of the mind, breath awareness, awareness of opposites, visualization, and externalization, which is the prescribed order of Nidra. Although one appears to be sleeping, a profound repatterning of the body is taking place and the mind is "rebooting". This is a communion with your Higher Self and the Divine as the Ultimate guide, who have no agendas or imprints, reminding you of your inherent freedom.
*Ionic Kriya Foot Bath:
"Kriya", translated as purifying action, of which then creates pure actions, is an important first stage in our yoga practice. In the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, numerous unusual Kriyas are listed. This Kriya, or purification practice, clears out the lymphatic system of many modern day toxins such as draining heavy metals, toxins, pesticides, and pollution. Balancing your PH level in your body and rejuvenates your energy level back to a heightened state of harmony, where you may discover more energy than every before. This is good if you ever feel overloaded, inert, sluggish, or toxic, so that you feel vibrant once again.
This is done with an Ionic foot machine, immersing your feet in a saline water solution. The feet have an incredible amount of pores to release toxins within you, and any good healer will tell you, if you don't have time for much, go directly to the feet. Enjoy a foot spa treatment after one of your sessions for an extra kick of detoxification.
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