Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/68174
THE TABLE AND THE MAT What do bodywork and yoga have in common? They both: • Allow the breath to rule, leading inevitably to elasticity. • Approach pain as a teacher. • Embody fl uid expressions of life as change. • Increase self-awareness and self-knowledge. • Increase the speed of healing from injuries and accidents. • Maximize human potential. • Present opportunities for the mind to rest and the body to speak. • Provide mirrors for an individual's life journey. • See the body as an expression of the soul. • See the body as interactive and unifi ed. • Seek to erase traumatic imprints through practice and experience. • Share the perspective that our histories are in the fi bers of our connective tissue. Partnering for potential is the subtitle to all yogic and healing events. Being in the body is a precious gift we share with all other human beings. When we are truly embodied, we know this, unconditionally. In a material culture, there is pressure to be checked out of your body. In a learning, evolving, and growth-oriented culture, there is a yearning to be checked in, to experience your own body of self- knowledge—to know transformation as sustained change and to thrive on the inherent motion of life as the fuel source for potential, even in rest. In bodywork and energy medicine practices, the process is always a partnership, but the partnership may or may not be clearly identifi ed. In yoga classes, Heintz articulates the partnership between student and teacher. Without ownership of the role in accessing potential, a student cannot grow. Once again, Sevareid and Sugrue have taken this principle and introduced it into their healing arts, providing their clients with self-care, whether it is yoga, stretches, or energy medicine practices. Partnering for potential in bodywork also includes incorporating multiple modalities for the benefi t of the client and according to the individual needs of each client. Knowing yoga, Sevareid and Sugrue cannot help but suggest asanas to their clients, along with other stretches and movement options to maximize recovery, alignment, and, of course, the potential for full range of motion and expression. Heintz enforces the partnership for potential concept at Balancing Monkey by offering workshops that support the principles of yoga and evolution. She brings workshops in energy medicine/energy psychology to the Balancing Monkey and forges the bond between yoga and other disciplines based on the full realization of embodiment. Building learning environments for the purpose of embodied evolution is a contribution we can all make in our practices, whether in private bodywork, clinics, yoga classes, or even in our own homes. The creative, symbiotic, and dynamic interplay of yoga and bodywork is a paradigm of outside- the-box generative experience that benefi ts individuals and collectives simultaneously. It is part of a wave of organizational and personal exploration that takes us beyond survival to peak states of life. the TARA Approach for the Resolution of Shock and Trauma (www.tara-approach. org), an international training program that incorporates Western neuropsychological and traditional Eastern healing arts, including energy medicine. She can be reached at tara- approach@prodigy.net or 800-493-6117. Stephanie Mines, PhD, is founder of connect with your colleagues on massageprofessionals.com 49