GROW WITH US at Beyond Natural Health Center

Seeking self-motivated and enthusiastic healers and teachers... just like you.

BEYOND NATURAL HEALTH is a place to teach, to guide, to listen, and to embrace the spirit of all who step inside. We're about helping others move forward, living their lives on purpose and manifesting their dreams.

We invite you to come see our vision and share your wisdom and gifts. Be a part of this center that has already opened doors for many healers, teachers, and students.

Our healing space holds several healing and class rooms, each set up and ready for you to use. We can accommodate a variety of class settings and healing modalities.

Check us out at www.beyondnaturalhealthcenter.com and contact us at 315.314.1300 or beyondnaturalhealth@hotmail.com to learn how we can help you help others.

Beyond Natural Health Center

7174 State Fair Blvd. Syracuse, NY 13209 

www.beyondnaturalhealthcenter.com

Exercise: Automatic Patterns

While sitting in a chair, cross your arms at your chest.  Did you cross right over left or left over right?  Whichever you did is your automatic pattern.  Now cross in the other directions.  Which is more comfortable?  Which feels awkward or strange?  Try the same thing by crossing at your ankles and knees.  Do you always cross from the same direction? Clasp your hands.  Does your right thumb rest on your left or vice versa?  Is that crossing the same as with your legs?  Now stand up.  While standing, notice to which side  you shift your weight.  Do you tend to twist your torso always to the left or to the right?  Are you doing all your crossing in life from the same direction?  Achieving balance is what it’s all about… and also gives you a taste of other possibilities….

Discovering the Body’s Wisdom by Mirka Knaster

Exercising: Deciding on your terms

Since no one approach can do everything for you, and because there are so many available today, selecting which one to work with may confusing and daunting.  Practitioners themselves often disagree on how to deal with certain conditions and which way would be most effective for you to reach a certain goal.

            One way of looking on your terms is by way of the arts.  For example, pottery, painting, drawing, and sculpture …. all use different materials….clay paper, canvas, charcoal, paints etc… but the underlying creative process itself remains the same in every art. This is also true in healing. While there are different ways of working with the body, healing as a process remains the same.  What was static or blocked gets moving again; where there was separation or fragmentation, there is now unity or wholeness… so the decision becomes which  one may serve you best in what you’re seeking help for at this particular time.

            Knowing your preferences can help you in choosing……  

1. Are you more at ease in one-on-one exchanges or in groups?

1. Do you like attention focused exclusively on you in private sessions, or do you learn better in a class situation?

1. Are you uncomfortable being alone in a room with someone?

1. Do you prefer to be a passive receiver and let someone else take over, or do you want to know what’s going on and be involved in the outcome?

1. Would you rather work with a method that is self-directed or with one that is teacher-directed?  Do you need a structure imposed from without to keep you focused?

1. Do you want an orderly series of appointments or would you rather wait and see what happens?

Example:  When you want to travel, how do you pick where to go?  Do you need nothing more than a captivating photograph to send you to the phone to make reservations?  Or do you carefully weigh one country, state, national park, island, or mountain range over another by reading everything you can get your hands.

            Gardening is a useful metaphor for understanding the difference between seeking symptomatic relief, on the one hand, and trying to get at underlying causes of hurt and caring for the hurt area, on the other.  When your vegetables grow small, disease-ridden, and lacking flavor, you have two choices.  The choice is between attacking and nourishing…… The sages of the world over have affirmed for centuries….. love is the greatest healer there is….. that’s why it is important to approach your choice with a gentle attitude of nurturing that which is already good and wise within you rather than an aggressive stance…   

Discovering the Body’s Wisdom by Mirka Knaster

Experience: A Journey Toward Healing

Lie or sit down in a comfortable place and loosen your clothing so you can breathe without restriction.  Close your eyes and focus your awareness on how you’re breathing.  Take deep, full breaths….

As you inhale, silently repeat to yourself ,  “ I am.” ..  As you exhale, say “Relaxed.” …  Spend a few minutes getting relaxed……

Now bring your awareness to whatever area of  your body needs your attention because it is in pain or under some other stress.  Don’t try to analyze why it’s so, nor try to change or control it.  Just notice it as it is.  As you become aware of this area, are you also aware of any emotions ?....  Again, don’t analyze, change, or control them.  Just notice what they are.

With your eyes open or closed, make your right hand into a shape of expresses how the area you’ve focused on feels.  You might want to stretch your fingers long or curl them into a hard fist.  Let your hand do whatever it needs to do to reflect how your body feels….

Hold your right hand in that position for several minutes and observe it.  Then let your left hand take on the shape of how you’d like your body to feel if it were not in pain.  If your right hand is closed and tight, maybe your left hand is open and loose… Do what feels right to you.

Slowly move your attention between your two hands, between the shape that represents how you’re experiencing your body now and how you’d like to experience it.  Gradually let your right hand change into the shape of your left.  Notice how your body feels after you do that and how you experience the related emotions…..

When you’ve finished,  if you’ve had your eyes open, close them and bring your awareness back to your breathing… breathe deeply several times before you open them….   Courtesy of Clyde Ford, D.C.

Experience: Identifying Your Needs or Goals, As Well As To Be Able To Communicate Them To Your Practitioner …

It is useful to have a sense of what’s going on in your body.  Let’s begin by writing some things down……Before you begin answering some of the following questions…. Take a few deep breaths with your eyes closed so that you can focus inwardly.  When you feel ready, open your eyes and read a question.  If it helps you to feel more, close your eyes again.  Do whatever you need… walk, sit, lie down …..to sense what’s happening in your body.Do I feel balance in my body ?  Are the top and bottom halves, front and back, right and left sides equally developed, strong and flexible ? … ( note any area that feels massive, weak, flexible, or rigid. Where do I feel limited or restricted in my movements ?...  Where am I anxious and tight or tense or fearful ?..... write in what matches your feelings. Where do I feel free and relaxed ?.....Where am I easy and comfortable in my body ?..... Where do I feel pain ?....What does it feel like ?..... Does it burn like a hot poker ?..... Is it sharp as a knife ?..... Is the ache as heavy as a truck ?....  Does it pierce like needles ?..... Does it have a particular color ?.... If you have difficulty describing it, just write “pain in this area” ….. Where do I not feel anything ?  Note places of numbness…. Is a part of my body trying to tell me something ?......  What is the message? You can ask a general question… such as “What would help you the most” .. If nothing comes up as a word, image, or feeling you can be more specific and ask for a yes or no.  Any doorway you walk through first will lead you to many others.  As you experience, you will gradually empower yourself to make your own decisions. Over the years, the more you do this, the more adept you become, and the more your body becomes your friend and ally in living with greater ease and comfort, with greater well being.    This allows you to prevent exhaustion, pain, and disease, or at least to understand it.  This is a lifelong process, and at times can be frustrating because it involves zigs and zags rather than moving in a direct line.  Learning the language of your body develops from an enduring commitment to know yourself, to undo the physical and emotional patterns that limit your sensitivity and authentic expression.      Discovering the Body’s Wisdom by Mirka Knaster

Everything is Connected……

Stand up and walk around the room or through the house…..  be relaxed and loose as you can….  How easy is it to move ?......  Notice how you feel ... then stop !

Now tighten part of your body… for example, tighten your right fist.  Holding that tension, try walking again.  What happens?......

Can you swing your arms freely, or does your whole right side get stiff ? …..

Does your throat tighten too ?.....

Does your step change ?.....

And how do you feel overall ?.....

Is it possible to smile genuinely when your fist is a big knot ?.....

Try this with any other part of your body – squeeze your buttock, clench your jaw, suck in your belly… see what happens….

How we are in one part of the body can’t help but affect the rest of the body… And how we feel physically can’t help but affect how we feel emotionally…..

The power of love to change bodies is legendary, built into folklore, common sense, and everyday experience.  Love moves the flesh, it pushes matter around…… Throughout history,” tender, loving care”, has uniformly been recognized as a valuable element in healing….  Larry Dossey