Well the cold weather is well and truly upon us here in the southern hemisphere, and for those who have been considering a healthy lifestyle change, it all seems a bit much to cope with when we’d rather be snuggled under a blanket, next to an open fire.

But believe it or not, now is the perfect time to kick start that lifestyle change, especially when the ideal “kick start” Winter Yoga Retreat is just around the corner.

Sometimes all we need to get motivated is the promise of an amazing getaway to recharge the batteries and learn a new or re-ignite an old, health-conscious, skill, and that is exactly what you will find at the Karma Studios upcoming winter Yoga retreat.

This retreat isn’t all about Yoga though; there is meditation, an Art or Music workshop, a gourmet chef preparing and presenting gourmet organic vegetarian food with the emphasis on Super Foods and only a small group of like minded people to share the experience with.

What you will gain from a retreat like this is immeasurable and of course you will be filled with anticipation at what life will be like when you get home. Sadly this is where many of us let ourselves down. After making such wonderful “healthy” progress we slip too easily back into bad habits and allow our new practices to slip away.

It’s important to commit to the change you are making when you attend a retreat such as this and look for support options around you to assist in your successful lifestyle change.

Here at the Karma Studio, we want to support all our retreat guests and clients in the best way possible and that’s why we offer ongoing support with our 2 month block Yoga Programmes, Massage (which allows you to stay relaxed and enjoy ongoing inner peace) and Japanese Needle Therapy (which after 6 to 8 treatments, ensures your constitution remains balanced and with an ongoing wellbeing system in place, stays that way).

So you see, whilst it may feel cold outside, it won’t take much to ignite the inner heat that will keep you warm with your new healthy lfestyle.

Feeling stressed? Lacking the correct nutrition? Grossly out of balance, weak and unable to heal yourself?

Then Japanese Needling Therapy and a visit to The Karma Studio is exactly what you need.

Japanese Needling Therapy is an age old modality which originated in Japan over 1400 years ago; the particular stream practiced at The Karma Studio was developed by Dr Yoshio Manaka, poet, artist, physician, healer and pioneer of this version of the modality.

Here at The Karma Studio the modality has been available since 2007 and is growing in popularity at a rapid pace.

This modality aims to balance the Yin and Yang and 5-Phase systems, realigning the biorhythmic system completely. It works on ‘reading’ the energy information within a person that was created upon their conception and involves balancing the Ki (energy) which circulates throughout the body by pathways called meridians, which are responsible for the bodies health and wellbeing.

Japanese Needling Therapy uses many tools and processes including, needling, cupping, moxibustion (the act of burning Moxa Punk (a herbal substance made from mugwort leaves) to create a hugely pleasant warm sensation that deeply penetrates the tissue), colour and sound therapy, Sotai (postural realignment), Polarity Therapy (hands on healing, working with the body’s natural energies), magnets and other modality aspects, as suited to each individual.

This therapy leaves you feeling energized, strengthened and balanced allowing your body to come back to itsperfectly natural healthy state. It will treat any disease or complaint, as
long as you are able to trust in the process and take a vested interest in your personal healing journey. It is recommended that clients commit to a program of treatment, usually 6 sessions, including changing lifestyle habits to gain the most from this remarkable modality.

As a new member of the Karma Studio family I was very excited to receive my first session today and am now even more excited to get to share that with you via our blog.

First some interesting differences between Japanese Needling Therapy and Chinese Acupuncture –

Needling therapy is considered to be more comfortable than acupuncture, as the needles used are thinner and sharper and therefore almost, if not cmpletely pain free on insertion. The actual needling is also very shallow, only being inserted 1-5mm as opposed to the usual 10-50mm in traditional acupuncture. The sensation evoked when the acupuncture point is stimulated, is much gentler and more subtle and the warm treatment of ‘moxibustion’ is far more widely used.

So what IS Japanese Needling Therapy and what can you expect from your session?

As it is performed at The Karma Studio, it is actually a mix of several styles of acupuncture that was refined in Japan by Dr Manaka, one of Japans most respected Oriental practitioners, researchers, and theorists.

At your first appointment a thorough health and body history is recorded and discussed
in length, to ensure the correct meridians and acupuncture points are treated for the optimum benefit to you.

Confirmation and initial diagnosis is by palpation of the ‘hara’ (abdomen) and every
acupuncture point is palpated before treating it.

A Root treatment follows to balance your constitution. This involves non-insertion Silver Spike Points (silver-pointed electrodes) being attached to ‘extraordinary meridian vessels’ (acupressure points on your body relating to the diagnosis received through palpating the Hara) and Iron pumping cords are then attached to the SSPs allowing a very subtle current to pass through the body balancing the Chi.

Following comes systematic treatments including (but not solely)

Needling, with very fine needles, (Japanese Needling Therapy uses very thin needles and insertion is very shallow, providing a pain-free, mild and extremely effective stimulation).

Cupping (A partial vacuum is created in cups placed on the skin either by means of heat or
suction. This draws up the underlying tissues. When the cup is left in place on the skin for a few minutes, blood stasis is formed and localized healing takes place.)

Moxibustion (this is a prominent feature of Japanese Needling. Moxibustion is the warming of acupoints and/or needles by burning Moxa, a substance derived from the mugwort plant. This is amazing, especially through the needles. It creates deep and thorough warmth throughout the area which is extremely relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable)

After my hour long treatment I felt fantastic. I had commenced my treatment with a severely painful right upper arm and the pain had gone, completely. That’s not to say it
won’t return, which is why a commitment to 6 sessions is preferable, as it takes time for the constitution to stabilise and for you to maintain the energetic life-force.

All in all this was an amazing first experience with, what was to me, a brand new modality, and I am hooked! Jenn is gentle, nurturing and extremely thorough and the peaceful and calming treatment room was a delightful change for me, and one I’ll be looking forward to regularly!

Well the Melbourne Cup has come and gone and already it feels like the run- up to Christmas has begun. Unlike in the northern hemisphere, Christmas in Australia coincides with the end of the school year and the long holiday break. Life, therefore, is busy, busy, busy as we try to get work tidied up for the holiday we’ve worked so hard all year for, attend all the school events,  and do all the Christmas preparation.

Sometimes I just have to say STOP! This is madness, why am I continually creating outside the moment in preparation and planning for a single day on the calendar. How many moments am I completely missing, whilst running lists in my head. This is probably one of the hardest times of year just ‘to be’. So my yoga practice becomes even more important. It is not just a time for me, it is an opportunity to switch off the attention seeking brain and find some stillnes in body and in mind. It is also then when some sense of proportion returns and even the odd revelation – that maybe yet another silk scarf for an overseas relation won’t necessarily be appreciated.

So make time for yoga over the next 6 weeks and amaze your friends, and the staff at Myers, with your calm and centred presence!

“The Sun has got his hat on hip, hip, hip, hooray” —- all together now. Isn’t it amazing how much better we feel when the sun comes out and we can turn our faces skyward and let warmth trickle down into our bodies and souls.

Now we can begin to remove a couple of layers of clothing, put away the fleecy pjs and get out the dipilatory creams!! And then comes the shock of taking stock of the body again, noticing how it has weathered another year. Time maybe to think of stretching, tightening, cajoling and nurturing. Time to try something new and energising. Time to take up Yoga!!

Spring has once more brought the promise of warmth and growth and we instinctively feel one season end and a new one begin.

Here at the Karma Studio we have been running a very successful program of Seasonal Yoga Workshops. These workshops emphasise poses which activate specific organs and meridian lines appropriate to the season and its element. Autumn for instance represents the Metal element and focuses on the Lung and Large Intestine meridians, Winter is the Water element and hence activates the Bladder and Kidney meridian lines and next week we launch into Spring with a workshop looking at the Liver and Gall-bladder meridians identified with the Wood element.

This is a wonderful way not only to work through the body but also to be aware of the connections we have with nature and the passing of seasons. In the workshops we also look at the way seasons impact on our senses and emotions. We have just been through Winter when we should be  taking time to cleanse and assess our emotions, filtering out any fear, anxiety or negativity. Spring not surprisingly emphasises re growth and vitality. Also as the Wood element it is all about removing any uncompromising rigidity from our thoughts and aiming to keep our bodies, minds and souls open and flexible.

So if you tend to feel the seasonal flow understand that it is resonating deeply inside your body and energy system.

I recently went to the Opening of an interesting Art Exhibition called a Show of Hands on at Chapel off Chapel for the next couple of weeks. In it the artist Jacqui Grantford paints the hands of a range of people – old, young, famous, everyday - and beside each painting is the subject’s personal story many of which I found inspirational and moving.

It got me thinking about hands in yoga, an aspect of the body which can sometimes get overlooked. We use them in classes to balance and suport and to fold across our bodies in relaxation. Maybe, though, we should concentrate more on taking each pose right out through the ends of our finger tips, stretching and reaching for the whole body exercise. Our hands after all are one of our main sources of interaction with the world through touch, dexterity and movement.  To a palmist they also carry our lifestory and to a forsenic scientist our unique identity markers. 

Perhaps then it is time to have a long overdue conversation with your hands and thank them for all they help you achieve in the course of a day. Take a look at them, give them a stretch and a shake and then use them to pat yourself on the back.

I have been a massage therapist for 20 years, with qualifications in Swedish, Remedial, Polarity, Reflexology and Chinese massage. In that time I’ve worked on hundreds if not thousands of people, old, young, fit and healthy, sick and infirm, supple, tight, stressed and well the even more stressed!

I love the feeling of accomplishment I get when, as I work on a body, it starts to relax, the tension goes out of the muscles and the person’s whole being settles into the massage table. It never ceases to amaze me how much can be achieved just through well applied touch.

The health benefits for massage are well documented and include stimulating both the blood and the lymphatic circulatory systems, pain management, relief of muscle tightness, easing of tension and general relaxation. Recent research from the US shows that massage also has significant positive gains for those suffering from Parkinson’s Disease.

Why then do so many people feel that a massage is only for special occasions, a special treat or reward. Why is it some people feel guilty at sneaking in a massage as if making time for their own health and relaxation is overly self-indulgent? 

Most Private Health Funds now offer refunds on regular massage thus recognising the health benefits both as a treatment and as a preventative. So don’t feel guilty, listen to your body, choose a massage and congratulate yourself on being pro-active in looking after your health and well-being.

What is it that we expect to gain from our yoga practice? For some it is the physical challenge, for others the discipline of mind over body. For a few it’s simply the companionship of a class in their chosen exercise, while for many it is the silent connection with their inner space, a chance to retreat from busy over-scheduled lives.

The aspect of yoga practice that perhaps we don’t always appreciate is its quantifiable health benefits, not just as a preventative but as a treating therapy.

I recently came across a very easy-going but thought provoking blog by Kristen Shepherd, chiropractor, actor, public speaker and yoga enthusiast. She points out that, “There is a growing body of evidence to support the fact that meditation affects blood pressure, inflammation, chronic pain, depression, diabetes, anxiety, asthma, heart disease, memory, irritable bowel syndrome, and ADD, among others. If health care made sense, meditation would be covered the way yoga classes would be covered.”

Both Diana and I are trained as yoga therapists as well as teachers. This means that we understand yoga not just as an exercise but as a healing therapy.

The Karma Studio team of practitioners has also recently been joined by a Caroline Evans a physiotherapist and yoga therapist who offers one-on-one yoga sessions for clients dealing with serious illness such as cancer.

This reminded me again that I am working with my class participants on many levels and that yoga and the meditation component we always include in our sessions, can help heal and alleviate a wide range of symptoms. It just makes me consider yoga to be all the more precious a gift in my life and one I am committed to sharing with as many people as possible.

Well, Winter here we come. The season in which we rug up, dig out the scarves and hats and crave hot soups and roast dinners.

In seasonal Yoga, Winter relates to the water element and is a time to focus on the kidney and bladder meridians. These are our filtering organs so the emphasis is on taking time to cleanse and assess our emotions, filtering out any fear, anxiety or anger.

Winter also demands that we bring heat in and Yoga is an ideal way to get the body fired up and moving in a positive, sustainable way. While the movements are slow and strong, when done in deep consciousness, they energise at a core level, bringing breath and heat into muscles, organs and spirit.

So don’t get sluggish and retreat into hibernation, join a yoga class, meet new people and open up your body and mind.

It seems that the world is shifting, literally. It is reported that the devastating earthquake off the coast of northern Japan not only has moved the Japanese islands some 2.5 metres it has knocked the Earth 10 inches off its axis.

With that shift I feel will inevitably come a shift in consciousness. Already the world is looking at nuclear energy in a different light, and we have a renewed sense of the destructive power of natural events.

So how do we stay strong and centred when so much instability abounds? Hinduism, from which yoga derives, accepts chaos as a natural and necessary part of the human condition. It also offers yoga as an antidote, a way of developing physical, emotional and spiritual strength. Through exerting control of the mind and body we can stand still and tall, calm and centered.

The poses Tadasana – Standing Strong and the Tree Pose are ideal for centreing the energy down through the legs and into the ground. To be held they require a still focussed mind, strength of will and purpose and a straight spine. 

So when your world feels like it is spinning off it’s axis, strike a Yoga Pose and find your centre.