Stay in Touch - Alternative Therapies/practices
The word Alternative Therapies will stop most people from going down that path, even though their life is out of balance in one way or another.
People who find it hard to accept change are more likely to stay with what is familiar and comfortable, rather than go down a path that is unknown, as if it is scary.
A lot of the so called alternative therapies have been around for a very long time and time has proven their success.
We live in the so called modern age where technology is supposed to be advanced and making our life more comfortable, sometimes I wonder about that.
I look around at the state of our country's health and it is far from healthy, maybe because the way we treat health is in a symptomatic way, instead of getting to the cause.
A lot of these ancient therapies do get to the cause and if we are patient and allow time to be a healer, we can get to the root of our dis-ease and heal other issues in our life at the same time.
For me up until I was 42 I just went with the materialistic flow, I was not aware of anything other than modern medicine and chasing the dollar to fulfil my needs. During this same time my life had problems that kept coming.
These days when I look back at that time, I’m aware that my life was very much out of balance, my materialistic focus was very much more than my spiritual focus.
It was not till after my marriage separation and then Divorce, that I started to open up in a more holistic way. It was a gradual and subtle shift from living life in a materialistic way to embracing the spiritual aspects of my life.
Meditation was the first alternative experience for me. Meditation has been practiced for a very long time and there are many different types to suit all types of people. At the time my life was very stressful especially with the break up of my marriage.
Transcendental Meditation ™ was my first connection to the spiritual that I was aware of. I used this type of Meditation for three years, in the first year it was a great help for me to stay centred and focused in my life, at a time when everything seemed to be falling apart.
Meditating twice a day for twenty minutes taught me to deal with stress on a daily basis and then after a time it released stress from a deeper level. This helped me become more balanced during my day.
Also within the TM philosophy of life there are various science’s of different aspects of life, which is under the science of Ayurveda, these concepts of our life are very interesting and worth checking out.
My first experience of yoga was through the Ayurvedic way, and once I started practicing it along with not eating late at night, my lower back problem became no more.
I am very disciplined with my yoga and I do it every morning for 25 minutes, it has strengthend my back, which before I was always having back problems being a carpenter.
Because I do it in the morning it not only helps me be flexible during my day it also helps me focus on staying balanced, I stretch out my limbs to prepare for my day.
The flexibility also helps me to allow change to happen in my life, it stops me from becoming stuck. But most important of all at the age of 52 it prepares me for the swimming, walking, bike riding and most of all Ski-in, which is my favourite sporting activity.
I have never before felt this combination of feeling fit, healthy and balanced at the same time.
The next therapy that has been important for me in my life is Massage. My first experience of this was at 43.
After a few months of weekly visits I started to feel the benifits, its a shame the stigma around massage keeps people away from enjoying and feeling the benifits of this therapy.
It would be very benificial for people in the building trade to use this therapy on a weekly basis.
As well as the stigma about massage people are also shy about their bodies and sexuality, this therapy would help to heal that.
Not only is massage a very good healing process for the physical, it is also another form of communication.
Part of my philosophy with this web page is to try and introduce Massage tables as a part of our household furniture.
The cost is very minimal compared to other household items but the rewards for the family when used regularly are unlimited on all levels of our life.
The next therapy that came my way was Reiki. This is a hands on healing process, which connects us to a universal healing energy that speeds up the healing process and also harmonizes and balances our Chakra centres.
My first experience of this was after my weekly Massage, my massage therapist was also a Reiki practitioner and she used to give me 15 minutes of Reiki after a massage.
I had been meditating for two years at the time and the Reiki put me into a deeper meditative state than Meditation ever did, so over the next year I became attuned to receive Reiki One which enabled me to give myself Reiki daily and this over that time replaced my meditation.
For 10 months I spent a hour every day treating myself to Reiki, it was a wonderful time of change for me, lots of issues came up for me and the release of trapped emotions and the awareness and understanding about my life that replaced those feelings was unbelievable, as time went by I became a more balanced and a free spirited person.
Negativity was taking a back seat and a new positive direction was taking its place. I then became attuned to receive Reiki on the second level that enabled me to send this healing energy to others.
This practice is with me for the rest of my life and although I do not use it as regular as I used too it is very useful with injuries. I also used it a lot after an operation I had in 2001.
I use it to send healing energy to family and friends who are not well and occasionally when I’m feeling a bit out of balance I give myself a treatment.
This is an instant first aid kit in our hands and for the family it is very good for all those knocks, falls and ill's our children have growing up.
The next most important therapy that came my way was Men’s Groups. Now in our culture some would say this was a new process. Some would say they have never heard of it and some would think it was for gay people. This again like Massage holds a lot of stigma to it, which prevents it from being a reality in our culture.
Men in our society have been conditioned to not show their emotions, especially not to cry, this is not a healthy way to live, surpressed and blocked emotions will manifest within the physical and create an unbalance/dis-ease.
On a community level sharing circles/groups is an ancient process that the Native American Indians, NZ Moari’s, and other ancient cultures have used for a very long time.
It is a space where people gather to share their feelings, views, concerns, skills, crafts, etc, in a safe and supported environment. Where they are not judged, ridiculed or put down.
It brings people together to create positive change, not only in peoples lives but also their families and communities, most of all this process empowers the individual.
There is more information to this process in the sharing circles/groups section of this web site.
Anyone can start up a group at anytime and it is each group’s collective decision on what direction they wish to take. We all have different ideas and views about our community and it is good to share them with each other to create a direction which is for the highest good of the community.
I have been trying, unfortunately with not much success to introduce this process on a community level, on my visits back to England. To try and empower people to take responsibility for their own direction, to create and rebuild their own communities. These circles and groups are a great way to bring people together to create a real sense of community.
In all since I have connected more to the spiritual and these Ancient and time tested aspects of life, my life has become fulfilled and more balanced.
I no longer chase the dollar, it comes to me naturally to fulfil my monetary needs. I am not wealthy with money but I feel very wealthy with life.
Problems go as quick as they arrive, I look for the solution and also the resolve in the issues that arise.
I feel that these therapies are not mainstream because the negative aspects of capitalism domineers and controlls peoples lives through the consumer society, with greed through profit.
There is good in Capitalism, socialism and communism and all aspects of past cultures and their experiences.
We are now in the 21st century, I would have thought that by now we would have taken the best from the past and created a peaceful way of life.
Sadly we have let Materialism out balance the Spiritual and a minority of aggressors have been allowed to control us in a way that is not for our highest good.
If we start embracing the spiritual and use some of the tried and tested healing therapies that are available, in time we will create peace in our world.