In my last blog, I talked about the first and second causes of disease. The third cause of disease is considered the most important of all, time. “Time” means living according to the rhythms of nature and understanding the symptoms of change, which Patanjali also speaks about in his Yoga Sutras III-13 to III-16. As the sun moves and changes in quality and form, it governs specific functions and abilities. For example, the rising sun and its quality and function of creation; the mid-day sun and its quality and function of sustaining and nourishing life; and the setting sun and its quality and function of transformation. The same sun shines through each one of us, like unique pieces of stained glass, mirroring the same changes throughout the day, season and lifetime. Yoga practice is primarily for balancing the qualities of the mind, and Ayurvedic practice is primarily for balancing the qualities of the body.

They overlap and interconnect, as both are the synergy of understanding how the body and mind, with all of their qualities and functions, are subject to change. An example of this is given by Swami Shyam in his Patanjali Yog Darshan: the transformation of water into vapor or ice and back again is representative of time, or the natural movement and change of the water element. Thereby, living according to Time means living according to the time of day, the season, the age, the constitution (dosha), and the condition of the individual — and this brings and maintains balance and health.

This is a fundamental principle of Yoga and Ayurveda and a prominent feature in Ayurvedic treatment. The formation, vitiation, aggravation, and alleviation of doshas or biological humors or elements, organs, tissues and waste products are governed by this alchemy. The Ayurvedic treatment process and the Yoga Sequencing is based on this principle of balance, and the purification and harmony that these practices together achieve. The removal of these obstacles to health also creates the environment for the individual to know who they are, bringing the freedom to be fully alive and one with creation.

All changes at any level of the body and mind are influenced by the forces of time and intelligence, as well as one’s ability to live in this awakened state of pure consciousness. This in turn allows for clarity, infinite wisdom, longevity and good health.

Ayurveda Defines Three Root Causes of Disease

Three Root Causes of Disease 1 – 2

Chaya offers Yoga and Ayurveda Wellness and Panchakarma Retreats, her book Yoga of Action, a good tool for those wanting to understand the synergy of Yoga and Ayurveda along with modifications and adaptations for those with special needs and is available for consultations by phone or skype. You can contact her through her website www.ayurvedaalternatives.com

Tags: Ayurveda, Chaya, Conscious Living, harmony, awaken, pure consciousness, disease

The other day on our daily walk, we noticed that our neighbor had just cut back her roses. These are the roses we stop to smell together every morning. Pink, red, white, yellow and — our favorite — mauve, which gives the most incredible scent.

Well, this morning there lay a pile of stems, flowers, petals, leaves. My son was sad, looking at this pile as he questioned why they were cut off. It’s not like he hasn’t seen this before, but at each stage of his life he sees it with a new set of eyes.

He asked me if we could take the cuttings home. I told him we couldn’t as they were old, wilted and falling apart. I kept walking onward. He did not. I turned to see what was happening. I must have been 100 meters ahead of him by then. I called out but he did not move. He was still squatting down looking at the pile. I called again. He stood up and held his hand high, holding a beautiful white, fully blossomed rose. He proudly ran up to me, sharing this slightly wilting rose.

“Mummy, this one is still really good, right?”
“Oh Yes”, I said, “very nice.”
He was adamant. “No, it’s beautiful and it still smells good”.

This was another one of those moments when my “Zen Master” has reminded me how so much beauty in this world goes unnoticed. It’s also a reminder of how society looks at aging. How so many of us are only concerned with how we look or judge others for how they look, especially as people age.

We spend so much time and energy worrying about aging — oh, the vanity of it all.

Let us be reminded that it is not the wrinkles and sagging skin that define our beauty, but what is on the inside. I looked at my 92-year-old uncle that evening and truly saw what a wonderful and beautiful being he was.

Have you taken a moment to smell the roses lately?

Tags: inner beauty, through child eyes, rose, cast aside, stop smell roses,

We have established previously that the breath is not only vital to the survival of our physical being, but that it is also vital to the sustenance and maintenance of our spiritual and emotional bodies.

When the breath is fluid within us, encountering no obstacles or blockages, we can utilize the oxygen, prana and renewing energy of the breath, unencumbered. In this case, the breath is pure nourishment. It feeds all of our systems, physical and other, allowing us to be ready and available for whatever the day asks of us.

We become ready for physical activity, we are full of vitality for emotional interactions…spiritual openness flows through us. Our intuition is free and clear of encumbrance to its purity and clarity.

The breath is therefore required for physical survival and is equally available to support our emotional survival.

Pause for a moment… contemplate your breath as it is right now. Close your eyes and become aware of the sensation of the breath as it flows in, and as it flows out. Be aware of how it is entering your body. Are you breathing in through your nose or through your mouth?

Where does the breath flow to next? Can you feel it moving through your throat, into your chest, or into other parts of your body? Do you notice that it flows easily in some places, and becomes glitchy, shortened or strained in others? Do not be aggressive or judgmental with this evaluation and assessment…you are observing how you breathe, no more and no less. There is no “right” or “wrong” to the way you are breathing.

There is a way to become aware of how you do breathe, and to become aware of what that means to you in your life. These are some of the things that we will continue to explore.

Before I asked, were you thinking about your breathing at all? Or was it flowing in and out of your body without conscious awareness on your part? I am by no means suggesting that we have to be aware of the breath in every moment. But we can be.

Imagine what it would be like if you always had some sort of awareness of your breath. You would always know, through a part of your consciousness that is also tuned into other things, how your breath was flowing (or not flowing)

Our breathing reflects the way we feel, physically and emotionally. It is a constant source of information about how we are doing in any given moment. Pay attention to your breath for five minutes at a time, at intervals throughout your day. Notice if you are at ease or agitated, and then notice what the flow of your breath is like at those times.

Notice if there is a correlation between the breath, happiness, or stress. In the next discussion, I’ll start to describe how to utilize the breath for comfort, and how to create equanimity and action depending on what you want.

The breath will develop into a voice for your needs and a solution to some of your questions.

Check in with your breathing now and then. Make note of what is happening around you and inside you, and how it correlates to your breathing. Allow this exploration to be interesting and fun! See what it can inform you about.

Tags: breathing, conscious, correlation, happiness, stress, flowing

Ayurveda’s first cause of disease is a mistake or misuse of the mind, where one observes or perceives incorrectly. When we try to solve it by suppressing or thinking what to do about IT, that creates further fragments and divisions. Observe holistically, observe the whole movement of life as one; then conflict – with its destructive energy – not only ceases but also, out of that observation, gifts a totally new approach to life!

The second cause of disease arises out of its first – mistake of the mind or, even more specifically, the misuse of the intelligence, which is the misuse of objects of the senses. We can also view this as wrong relationships to such objects like people, places, things, activities, and even our own mind, including its thoughts, emotions, perceptions and conditioning.

To be alive is to be in relationship, and we are in relationship to all things based upon the health and condition of our five physical senses: hearing, sight, taste, smell and feeling – plus a sixth and subtle sense, the mind.

The practices of Yoga and Ayurveda work synergistically, and traditionally. Ayurveda cleanses and balances the bodily humors or the material body, and Yoga cleanses and balances the mind and the subtle body. The mind can take the senses, and thereby the physical body, in any direction. When total awareness is achieved, and you know who the driver is, you can go in the direction that you, the real you, really wants to go.

Stay tuned next week for the third cause and the relationship of all three as a road map to awakened states and self-healing.

Ayurveda Defines Three Root Causes of Disease

Three Root Causes of Disease 3

Chaya offers Yoga and Ayurveda Wellness and Panchakarma Retreats, her book Yoga of Action, a good tool for those wanting to understand the synergy of Yoga and Ayurveda along with modifications and adaptations for those with special needs and is available for consultations by phone or skype. You can contact her through her website www.ayurvedaalternatives.com

Tags: Ayurveda, Chaya, Conscious Living, Holistic, self-healing, awakened states

This comment seems almost redundant. In fact, how could we live if we were not breathing? And at the same time, it is a fact that we don’t always pay attention to this life-giving mechanism on which we are so dependent.

I have spoken about the vital link that we have with our breath, and with our breathing before. It seems appropriate to revisit it here now.

Every day, I talk with people who are struggling to find a corner of peace within the frantic nature of their lives. So many of them feel that they are barely hanging on. I am noticing as well that many of us are holding ourselves in a rigorous vice-like stasis, bracing ourselves for the unknown hammer of change to fall on our heads. (I wrote about this in my last blog entry “2012, Apocalypse Or Not”)

This static existence precludes a lot of moments of spontaneous creativity and joy. It precludes moments in which we can truly relax with all that is naturally occurring around us. When we keep ourselves rigid with fear, we don’t let in the things and the tools that we have to help us cope with what we think we are afraid of.

The breath is a perfect example of a tool available to us, which we don’t always acknowledge or employ to foster our own well being.

I teach clients to the use the breath to remind them that there is a peaceful space available within, from which they can easily hear the voice of intuition, the voice of truth that is expressed through their deepest and most transparent nature. If you study yoga, you are taught that the way in which you breathe determines the way in which you live your life. The air around us is literally filled with the energy of existence and creation, prana, which is life giving, life favouring, life restoring. As we breathe this air in and out, we tap into the collective creation of all of existence!

Through the breath, we can have an immediate experience of being at peace with and at one with the moment. Our creativity and openness to the moment is not usually held back when the breath is flowing easily.

Take a moment to consider breath, your breath, as an instrument of focus and change. Are you holding yourself in rigid stasis? Are you afraid to move or breathe because you won’t be safe if something changes?

Throughout my newsletters and website are many offerings in the form of meditations and exercises related to breathing. Try one – you might find the words to lift your awareness of the breath to a renewed place of practice and excitement.

In my next entry, I will begin to describe the ways in which we can work with our breath to achieve peace, relieve stress, create healing for ourselves and others, and ride the tumult of change. The breath can be our most powerful ally in creating a gentle change in perspective.

And as always, have fun with it!
With Love and Blessings,
Anatara

Tags: Breathe, life-giving mechanism, energy, exercises related breathing, restorative

Calculating the rate of bladder filling and hours before surgery, it was painfully obvious I would have to catheterize myself and penetrate the Three Gorges of Hell (see Act Three), hopefully, for the last time in this life time. I awoke early. Mission accomplished.

Trying to remain in a very positive mental state,I crossed the Hospital threshold at 0500 hours.

While following the nurse along the corridor to the pre-op room, I contemplated my preparation ritual. I envisioned a quiet meditation, fine tuning body, mind, spirit connections. This seemed the best strategy for the high energy laser assault looming in the nearest future in a corridor not far, far away.

A lesson was presented as I entered my room. Another man, also anticipating surgery, occupied the bed nearest the door. I walked quietly past the bed as one of his family member’s sneezed and coughed. “Great” I thought, as I pictured billions of tiny viruses surfing the air waves and targeting my immune system, which I was trying to protect and booster.

For the entire hour and a half, he engaged in loud conversation. I finally let go and released my envisioned meditation and sacred space. I tuned in to him instead. He was positive, humorous and harboring no apparent fear. He shared personal stories with nurses, orderlies, lab techs and family. It was only in the final seconds, as he was being wheeled out to the operating room, that I overheard him reveal how his bladder cancer had spread to a ureter. The surgeon intended to remove one kidney (nephrectomy). His malady and surgery were far more serious than my outpatient procedure. We never met but, in that moment, I offered silent gratitude to have been in his presence. I think he prepared me in a far better manner for my procedure than anything I might have done in my sacred space.

I was transferred to the operating room and assisted on to the surgical table.

I was awake. I smiled.

I was out (anesthetized).

I was marginally awake (in recovery).

Acknowledging consciousness, I smiled again, to pillar my surgery by two smiles (see Blog Prime Cut tip #9).

It is always strange to recover from a drug-induced anesthesia sleep, but I was grateful for the intravenous tubing that carried the medications through my vascular tubes (blood vessels) to my central nervous system (big important tube).

Through the mental fog, I heard a voice inform me that the surgery had gone well. One minor detail, however: I still required a catheter to keep my non-functioning bladder empty. It differed from the prior catheters. It had to be supra-pubic. It was connected to a very large removable needle and inserted through the skin of my abdominal wall (between my navel and pubic bone) directly into my bladder. It would remain for an unknown time.

I didn’t want to deal with anything except clearing my body and mind of very appreciated toxins and continuing my healing strategy.

Every person interacting with me in the hospital that day was a super-hero. All were professional, pleasant, courteous and competent. They made everything go smoothly during a time and in a place where bumps would not have been stellar. I was and am grateful.

I recovered well. After being formally introduced to my supra pubic catheter and receiving instructions on emptying, cleaning and plugging, I went home in the late afternoon, with my fiancée taking care of me.

On my third day post-op, a new superhero was seen for the very first time and I experienced a humorous lesson.

My abdominal incision began leaking profusely around the exiting part of the catheter. I shifted out of “patient mode” and into “doctor mode”. I called (begged) my wonderful neighbor (Bea) to procure some type of adult diaper and specific medical supplies that would allow me to stop the leak and change my own dressings. I was trained for this. I may never know all the decisions and visuals she experienced deciding sizes, amounts, absorbency capabilities, etc., but I do know that her light shattered the darkness of the moment as she handed me the bag of supplies. Her choices were perfect.

Out of the darkness and into the light, and for my own personal entertainment, emerges a “man of steel” (well some parts of me are steel). I stood poised to protect the sacred space (bathroom) while keeping gratitude and compassion from being misplaced (lost) from the hearts and minds of the walking wounded. Resplendent in a giant panda-faced shower cap with extended, giant panda ears, surgical gloves and mask, red cape (towel around my neck) and a cool pair of stripe-colored mid-calf socks, appeared for the very first time…

PAMPER MAN (DEPENDS DUDE)!

After an evening of primum non nocere (first doing no harm) and protecting my local Universe, I wanted to take my first shower since surgery. The brilliant idea manifested in my super mind that wearing the pampers (sans accoutrements) might keep the incision, dressing and catheter dry.

Obviously, it was my sub-mind in control. This exquisite shower (which I took in the dark) changed rapidly when a feeling of heaviness developed in my lower body as if I were being grasped and tugged from below. I was rapidly losing height. 5’9″ became 5’3”. My knees were buckling as I was being inhaled by the drain dragon. Finally, at 4’6” and with my last bit of strength, I managed to rip off the pampers that were stockpiling enough water to fill a….

Stay tuned for ACT Five. Dealin’and Healin’

Magical Medical Tour:

Act 1 and 2: Signs and Symptoms

Act 3: A Nightmare Week

Act 4: Surgery and Superheroes

Act 5: Healin’ and Dealin’

Tags: Glenn Wollman, Kidney Stones, supra-pubic catheter, post-op shower, depends

IN GRATITUBE: A NIGHTMARE WEEK

Act three:

Time, in my mind, was moving at a different rate than real time. The reality of imminent surgery was circulating in my brain cells. Would it happen in hours or days?

The Doctor held an anatomical model of the entire exposed male genitalia in front of my eyes. While focusing on the plastic model and relating it to my own anatomy, I learned that a green light Boron Laser would be inserted into my urethra. Under the steady hand of the skilled surgeon, a beam would generate 190,000 joules of energy, turning my prostate gland to fried sweetbreads. The tissue would be melted to a liquid then boiled to a gas, and then finally vaporized inside me. Who would want to turn down that E-ticket ride? “Evaporate it!” I said. “When do we do it? I can’t wait too long. My bladder is already filling”. The doctor informed me that he would not be able to operate for a week because of a previously scheduled medical conference.

So I was going to have to empty my bladder by self-catheterizing (inserting the tube into my own urethra) multiple times a day for one week — that is, seven days or 168 hours. I took my now familiar position on the table. “I know it sounds bad but I can tell you it will get easier”, the doctor whispered as he placed a 13-inch long catheter in my right hand. Using a reverse overhand vice-like grip, I did it without any thought. It was equally painful entering and exiting.

For the rest of the day, my mind was dreading the night. Thinking about having to do something I didn’t want to do. NEVER, EVER AGAIN. Yet I knew I was going to have to do it multiple times over the next 10,080 minutes. Fight or flight. My autonomic nervous system kicked in and put me in fear mode. Where did the fear originate from? Thus began an internal mental Google search for an old software pattern of behavior. An inappropriate survival strategy downloaded at a time when I had less understanding of things. In my meditation, I couldn’t find the root cause of the fear so I decided not to worry and just accept the fact that I needed a newer survival software program that would enable me to get through this major dilemma.

First, I granted myself Authorization (permissions) to change (grow). Next, I needed to invoke an inner power. With permission and power, I developed a ritual, creating a sacred space containing an altar organized with the following: gloves; surgical instruments; tubes filled with ointments and balms; tubes of bandages and dressings; and I think even a tube of tubes next to a glass measuring beaker.

The first night, it took me three hours to prepare for a procedure that lasted, on average, around 80 very long seconds. Positioning my body in a horse stance learned in martial arts training, I calmed my mind through a special breathing technique (see Meta4 square breath) and visualization. I grounded myself in compassion and gratitude and inserted the device slowly through the Three Gorges of Hell (three places on the path that cause intense pain). The ritual was repeated each morning when I awoke and each evening before I went to sleep. It was a long week that included a total of 15 feet of catheter tubing. It never got easier.

However, there were a few highlights and lessons:

The “words” I used to describe my clinical condition, emotions, physical issues, etc. had an energy or charge. When someone asked how I was doing, I thought “it is a nightmare week” and I immediately felt worse. But when I actually answered “it is a challenge”, I felt more tranquil. Awareness of the words hovering in my thoughts and speech resulted in softer and more healing choices. This had a positive effect.

Whenever I told people about the self-catheterization, everyone reacted with their own version of “The Squirm Boogie”. There were combinations and permutations of instantaneous, involuntary facial, body, and extremity contortions. Some even produced unintelligible sounds. Realizing the potential of entertainment I could achieve in the degrees of squirm, I was incentivized to provide increasingly elaborate descriptions.

Ok, there was one other good thing I learned. While going through the Three Gorges, I thought “I would not wish this on my worst enemy”. I started scrolling through my mental rolodex (yes, I still use one) and realized that I didn’t know anyone I disliked enough to consider an enemy.

Stay tuned for Act Four: Surgery and Superheroes

Magical Medical Tour:

Act 1 and 2: Signs and Symptoms

Act 3: A Nightmare Week

Act 4: Surgery and Superheros

Act 5: Healin’ and Dealin’

Tags: Glenn-Wollman, Urinary Bladder, catheter-urethra, prostate-gland, photoselective-vaporization, calming-the-mind, Meta4-square-breath

I was absorbing the beautiful light of a mid-May dusk when my right kidney decided to gift me with a nugget made of calcium oxalate (a chemical compound that forms needle-shaped crystals and is a major part of human kidney stones). I was grateful that the diameter of the tube (Right URETER) from my right kidney to my urinary bladder was larger than the diameter of the needle nugget slowly slashing through it(me). The “passage” was still painful enough to bring me to my knees while causing involuntary emesis (vomiting). The pain subsided in 24 hours on a regimen of anti-inflammatory medication, increased fluids, rest and meditation. But I didn’t realize this episode was a harbinger of things to come. Two months into the future, I will be viewing this kidney stone and more on a CAT (computerized axial tomography) scan.

In June, I was grateful for the second tube that carried water from my camel back to my mouth so that I could endure the 100+ degree temperatures at an elevation of around 6000 feet, climbing to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park Utah, where I became a fiancé to my fiancée .

Three days later, it was July and I was NOT grateful for the tube (The URETHRA) that traverses from my urinary bladder to the outside world. It refused to work on my behalf or request. My kidneys were producing urine and my bladder was storing it but my urethra closed off and would not allow me to relase or empty. As a doctor, I began to evaluate signs and symptoms on my quest for a clinical diagnosis. While I am in the mode of believing that everything happens for a reason, I also search for lessons. Of course it was the first day of the July fourth weekend and I did not want to go to the Emergency Department, at least not yet. Fortunately, having medical friends with benefits, I was able to call my friend, a surgical specialist (UROLOGIST), who agreed with my potential diagnosis. He gave me a few pills to take to assist me through the weekend. It was not a fun Fourth.

♬Dah, Dah, Dah, Daaah ♬. Beethoven was in my head as the Fifth arrived. I was happy to be seeing my Urologist. I wanted this problem to be finished. The first thing he said, when he observed my distended abdomen, was “you look like you are 28 weeks pregnant”. He confirmed with an ultrasound that I was not about to be a “fother” (not actually sure what I would have been called if pregnant). Two liters of trapped fluid (Urine) was the cause. Even with my eyes closed and still lying on my back, I could sense him reaching for the next tube (FOLEY CATHETER). This is a very long tube that was about to be inserted through my urethral opening (The MEATUS) all the way into my bladder, the goal being the release and relief of my false pregnancy. I had mixed emotions (not about the pregnancy). On the one hand, I did not want anything to enter my bladder from the outside world. On the other, I needed my bladder emptied to save my kidneys. I’m cool. I can handle an “in-out” catheterization. “Nope, it stays in for one week”, said the Urologist. “And you will be on medication.” I really did not want this because of potential side effects. What followed was a set of instructions: Here’s how you empty the bag. Here’s how you change the day bag for your evening bag. Here’s how you take the medication. In case you’re wondering, it is not easy to follow technical instructions while having a Foley Catheter inserted.

Act two: The Diagnosis

I drove to the Radiology facility and sat in the waiting room watching some very, very sick people dealing with assorted maladies, in many cases very gracefully. Trying to get up on to an x-ray table with a catheter and bag ensemble required a new set of skills. I was so appreciative of the scientists who invented a tube (CAT Scanner) that would use less radiation than a regular chest x-ray and help nail down my diagnoses of bilateral kidney stones and an enlarged prostate gland. The scan also showed that I did not have a malignancy(cancer). All other organs looked very good. Next, I went to the laboratory waiting room where I observed more courageous people. I was hoping the lab tectnician would find a willing vein with the first needle stick. The tight tourniquet exposed a plump tubular appearing vein. After the appropriate sterilization of the site, accompanied by the smell of alcohol in the air, he took the sharp needle and went for it. Relief came when all five tubes were filled with my blood and the needle was removed. The ensuing analysis would give information on the status of the rest of my body and offer parameters influencing my treatment plan.

I survived the week with my clumsy catheter, fearful at all times that I might accidentally catch the tube on something and rip it out of my body. The good news was that it did allow me to sleep a complete night without worrying and I never did catch it on anything.

The plan was for me to get up at 5:00 a.m., deflate the balloon holding the catheter in my bladder and carefully extract the very long tube. I succeeded in removing the catheter but my urethra was not in a benevolent mood. Five hours later, no liquid gold. I was unable to urinate.

Across his desk the urologist said, “Too late for medication; you need surgery, NOW!”. I was grateful to my very competent and knowledgeable friend for sending me to another specialist, who used a special surgical instrument that would be best for me.

I drove calmly across town from one doctor’s office to the next. I didn’t know if I would be in surgery in an hour or what was about to unfold. I had no idea at the time that the element, Boron (Atomic number 5 on the Periodic Table) would play such an important role in the upcoming treatment of my condition.

Can you say photoselective vaporization?

Stay tuned for Act three: A Nightmare Week

Magical Medical Tour:

Act 1 and 2: In Gratitube

Act 3: A Nightmare Week

Act 4: Surgery and Superheros

Act 5: Healin’ and Dealin’

Tags: Kidney, Urinary Bladder, catheter-urethra, clumsy-catheter-deflate, photoselective vaporization, Radiology-x-ray

Well, I have just learned that I was W. R. O. N. G., wrong, wrong, wrong-o about what yoga therapy is, and what it has the potential to do. And my apologies to all yoga therapists out there for my secret suspicion that what they were doing wasn’t quite yoga. Turns out, it is actually more “yoga” than most of the “yoga” that one might find in a traditional western-style class. And how did I reach this stunning change of perspective? Well, by listening to the profound and awesome wise-ness of one Gary Kraftsow in his two-part talk today entitled “Yoga Therapy: Ancient Insights for Modern Healing.”

I’m going to say right away that this guy is a regular font of knowledge and, if you want to go deep (I mean real deep) into the yoga therapy medium, you should check out Gary Kraftsow in the YogaHub community (where there are links to his books and DVDs for sale) and his website, where you can find out about upcoming trainings with Gary.

So, here is the role of the yoga therapist, in a nutshell (as I can figure it). Drawing on many of the ancient teachings of yoga, in particular that what we ARE is not our body or our jobs or our relationships or, in the case of illness or depression, our diagnosis – but instead what we are is the unchanging, ever-present consciousness or atman – the yoga therapist works with patients in a clinical setting to either heal or manage dis-ease (in all its many forms). But, that’s not all!! In addition to the philosophical underpinnings of yoga, the yoga therapist also draws on the anatomical and physiological precepts of the practice – mainly that, through the breath and mantra and asana, we can change and improve our thoughts, mood and physical well-being – and he or she uses these tools to additionally support patients in coping with and treating illness.

Phew, that’s a mouthful! And I’m not even scratching the surface, I promise you, of the depth of knowledge Gary put forth today.

The description he gave of the work that a yoga therapist does really just blew open all of my preconceptions as to what this yoga therapy thing was. I can actually go to a yoga practitioner/teacher/therapist who can both “prescribe” a practice that can help to open me where I’m stuck and AND who can remind me that I am not my (fill in the blank)?! Sign. Me. Up.

It was an incredible thing to listen to Gary speak – having his words beamed into my living room via this incredible medium that is the Virtual World Yoga Conference – and realize that not only is our means of communicating the wisdom of yoga growing and changing, but yoga itself is taking on all of these new and modern forms. The work that Gary Kraftsow does, coined as Viniyoga, is on the cutting edge, not just of yoga science, but also of western science. He pointed out again and again that he and his colleagues are doing as much work as they can, using western medical models of clinical trial and evaluation to prove, in language that even strictly stethoscope and prescription ears can hear, that yoga is a powerful tool in the medical world.

It all felt very 2011.

So, if you’re a yoga teacher who wants to work more closely with people in need of healing, or you’re a healing professional who wants to add in a little bit of magic yoga juice to your work, definitely check out Gary Kraftsow and Viniyoga. From what I can tell from cruising around on his website, he does events, workshops and trainings all year round.

Really, if I’d taken a bit of time to think about it, the solution would have been obvious. Glaucoma is caused by a dangerous escalation in the internal eye pressure that can often result in blindness if not treated. Research has shown that stress can play a significant part in increasing eye pressure, so it makes absolute sense that any form of exercise that helps to reduce and manage stress is the ideal solution.

More research uncovered information on how pranayama (voluntary regulation of breathing), tratakas (visual focusing exercises) and meditation have been proven to reduce the fluid pressure in the eye and improve visual perception.

So why did I ever stop practising my restorative yoga? I bought a wonderful DVD on yoga for stress relief ages ago – Barbara Benagh’s “Yoga for Stress Relief (With the Dalai Lama)” – and I used to practice it faithfully because I found it helpful in easing tension and stress. Then I gave it up because I wanted to attend a more challenging yoga class.

Isn’t it funny how I never connected the dots? It now seems like such an obvious conclusion – a regular practice of restorative yoga helps to ease stress, which in turn can significantly reduce the fluid build-up in the eye. Duh.

So I’ve added that to my health routine now – a workout on the treadmill in the mornings and a regular practice of stress relief yoga in the evenings. I’ve only just started on the latter but I’m already feeling the benefits of releasing the tension and stress from my body. Time will tell whether this will help to improve my eyesight, but I’m hopeful.

I’m now looking around to see if I can find some classes on pranayama, tratakas and meditation – that really would be the icing on the cake!

Tags: pranayama, tratakas, meditation, glaucoma, fluid pressure in the eye, visual perception, Yoga for Stress Relief, Dalai Lama, Barbara Benagh