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As a longtime devotee of both
the therapy couch and the yoga mat, I was curious how the two
blend together in Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy.
Michael Lee created Phoenix Rising
specifically to help students cope with emotions. It combines
assisted yoga postures, breath awareness, and nondirective dialogue
based on the work of Carl Rogers, in which the therapist acts
as a sounding board, repeating much of what the student says
to allow her to stay with her own train of thought.
Lee drew inspiration from his
own encounter with emotions on the mat in the early 1980s. He
was living in an ashram where morning practice took place each
day at 5:30. "Every day for a year and a half, the guy on the
mat next to me would get about one-third of the way through
class and begin to sob profusely," Lee remembers. "Some people
found it disturbing. One day, I said to him, "What's going on?"
"I don't know," the man answered.
"I just get overwhelmed by sadness. I try to hold back a little
so I don't bother people." It turns out that he had been experiencing
these intense outbursts every morning for 10 years.
"The guru had previously instructed
the man to just stay with his practice, because he believed
his emotions would work themselves out through asana alone,"
Lee recalls. "But even back then, I thought the experience required
a more integrated approach. "
Lee talked with the man extensively
about his experience and, in helping him, created Phoenix Rising
Yoga Therapy. He launched the program at the DeSisto School
for emotionally troubled teens in Lenox, Massachusetts, in 1986,
building on his background in group dynamics from the psychology
movements of the 1970s. (Lee is not a licensed psychotherapist.)
Practiced by yoga teachers, body workers, physical therapists,
and psychologists, the method aims to bridge the gap between
body and mind. Unlike traditional therapy - which might focus on
eliminating a phobia or improving a skill, such as communication between
spouses - Phoenix Rising sessions focus on helping people recognize
their own body's wisdom and get to the source of emotions that
may be causing aches and pains, physical or otherwise.
I wanted to experience the method
for myself, so I turned to Carol S. James, one
Training info: 800.288.9642 or
www.pryt.com
Text reprinted with permission from
the March/April 2004 issue of
Yoga Journal.
of 1,012 Phoenix
Rising Yoga Therapy practitioners
around the world. We began
by talking on a couch, where James asked me about my health,
state of mind, and background_ After telling her about a few
things that werE! troubling my mind on that particular day,
we moved to another area in the softly lit room, where we sat
facing each other on a large, puffy mat. James asked me to focus
on my breath, which brought me into the moment and allowed me
to begin to talk.
Throughout the session, she moved
me into very gentle supported poses (backbends, forward bends,
and leg stretches), almost the way a personal trainer might
stretch a client at the end of a workout. She asked me to tell
her more about my thoughts, and repeated many of my words. The
session sounded something like this:
"I feel sad that I'm 40 and alone."
"You're sad that you're 40 and
alone."
"It's surprising I didn't
expect this to happen."
"You're surprised. Tell me more
about that."
And so on, until I found
myself leaning back, physically, directly onto Carol and
telling her more - a "more" I had never gotten to before.
The experience of physically
leaning on someone while revealing myself to the person was
one of the most profound I have ever had. During my session,
I felt a conn.ection to my deepest self, the self that is at
peace. The combination of discussion and touch was sweet and
deep.
At the end of the session, my
heart was as open with love toward myself as it had ever been.
The emotional breakthrough was not traumatic but physically
and spiritually enlightening.
I hate to glibly paraphrase Bob
Dylan, but Itruly felt released, and as Richard
Miller said, I met myself right where I was ,with love.
-Donna Raskin
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