Sometimes we get messages in interesting ways, you know, little things that pop up in our lives and keep returning until we acknowledge them.
Lately, I have been receiving new students in my classes with a wide array of physical challenges. Over the course of two weeks, I had the pleasure of sharing practice with such inspirational students as a gentleman with very advanced Lyme diesease, a teenager with a prosthetic leg, a woman with quite a bit of metal supporting her lumbar spine and another with untreated high blood pressure.
I did a lot of research in that time to understand how to support and modify postures for these incredible yogis. While there are many wonderful resources for Yoga therapy and posture modification for special conditions, I felt something was missing from the resources I found.
My inner teacher felt there was something other than the physical body conditions to address. I continued to ask myself, what about the mind body connection when such special conditions exist or arise in their bodies? And isn’t it traumatic to be challenged in these ways and what emotional and energetic healing would be beneficial.
Last week I received an e-mail from Jivamukti School announcing the following event:
TRAUMA, HEALING, AND THE HEART OF YOGA – Free Public talk With Matthew Sanford
November 9, 2007 8:30pm-9:30pm
I was in a hurry and didn’t delve too deeply but was curious about this remarkable teacher who has adapted Yoga for people with paralysis and teaches from a wheelchair.
This week I received an e-mail from yogafinder.com with the following headline link:
In the Wheelchair, On the Mat: Matt Sanford Shows Yoga is for Any Body
So, I took the time and did some reading about the adaptive Yoga practices Matt Sanford has developed on his own and working with an Iyengar teacher, Jo Zukovich. He has written a book about his life, how Yoga transformed his path and what practices have healed his trauma and the mind body split he suffered as a result of the car accident that paralyzed him as a child.
Besides that his work is profoundly useful to me as a teacher, I found his story inspirational, maybe you will too.
Read more about his work here.
His book is called “Waking”. You can buy it here.
