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Ayurveda and Yoga combine to create a whole person package. They enable a personalised roadmap to reclaiming and sustaining optimum well-being in body, mind and spirit. In this way, I believe that together they surpass any other medical or healing modality available to us”. Sara Shama Palmer

A few of you already know that when I first moved back to the UK from Bahamas in 2010, it was due to chronic health issues. Medical intervention went wrong and, after a severe reaction to medication, I was left hardly able to walk for some days, and for a number of years severely fatigued, barely able to leave the house and on certain days even to walk across the room to turn on the kettle or a light switch.

 

My life changed from one of international travel, training, work and living to one of virtual isolation within the confines of the four walls of my UK home. My world became very small overnight. I was diagnosed with M.E. and doctors told me there was nothing to be done. I would simply have learn to live with it.

I could not accept this prognosis. I knew that I had a choice. I could either breakdown and let my broader life and prospects be directed by my current symptoms. Or I could breakthrough. I chose to breakthrough! I firmly believed that if even one other person had recovered from a so-called incurable illness then I too could recover from this. I took faith and courage and researched alot, in the process finding many stories of recovery from challenging illnesses.

I came across numerous private practitioners through my research, who made big promises with special formulas for curing M.E. They charged big fees too and all too often to no avail. I soon became aware that many of those claiming to have a cure for the illness actually had inadequate understanding of its complexity.

Some insisted that I could only get well if I turned to a high-protein meat-based diet. Or if I took high doses of “natural” (animal-derived) hormones, which “by the way”, they said, “you may have to take for the rest of your life.”

“No way!” I thought “That’s not recovery”. These so-called “only reliable” cures for  M.E. did not sit well with my Yoga lifestyle and alignment with the Yoga teachings of non-harming, which includes non-harming of animals. And so I embarked on my own path. I knew that if, or when, I recovered from this illness, I would share the path of recovery with others. And so my path of recovery, had to be a pathway aligned with the teachings of Yoga.

I remembered the 5 Points of Yoga that I had learned whilst living in the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat, and how strong, resilient and healthy I had felt at that time. The 5 Points of Yoga build “sattva” (harmony and equilibrium) in body, mind and spirit. And sattva supports health and happiness in body, mind and spirit. I decided to return to daily practice of these, as I had in the ashram. After all, they had given great results back then.

The 5 Points of Yoga are:

• Proper Diet – Yogic vegetarian diet
• Proper Movement – Yoga posture
• Proper Breathing – Yogic breathing
• Proper Relaxation – Deep relaxation in savasana (corpse pose)
• Positive Thinking and Meditation.

In this new state of reduced health, however, I soon realised that what is “proper” Yoga posture, breathing, relaxation/visualisation, meditation and intentional use of the thought-processes in a healthy body and mind can have deleterious effects in a body and mind which is chronically ill and debilitated. I discovered that breathing practices that had once energised and grounded me as a healthy adult, now left me feeling more wired and tired as an adult with M.E. A yoga posture practice that had once been rejuvenating and stress-reducing, was now out of the question in my debilitated state and would leave me in a weak and collapsed state.

I soon awoke to the fact that I had to go right back to basics: that meant the most gentle approach in diet, posture, breath, relaxation and meditation. Positive thinking of course was totally relevant and I engaged with it to overcome the many doubting voices –external and internal – telling me I could not expect to fully recover and enjoy a full life again. I enquired into the roots of my deep-seated inner stresses and worked with the five points to antidote them.

It was with this approach, and with the support of deep, body-cleansing dietary approaches, that I slowly began to recover. It took time. The body has its own timings and one of the most transformational teachings in this particular condition is that there was no pill or herb or surgery that could change things. This condition and this approach taught me first-hand the power of  providing the body and mind to return with the optimum conditions for them to work their intelligence and return to a state of equilibrium healthy functioning once more. Slowly, graduallly over time this deep healing worked.

I now live a full and active life. I run my own business and manage my own home, and I take care of all the needs of a gorgeous though rather large dog, walking her twice a day and cooking for her recent health needs. I can enjoy long walks in nature again, overseas travel, and days and evenings out with friends without taking days to recover energy reserves again as would happen on the path of recovery.

This now remains my regular formula for sustaining health and well-being. I consistently enquire into the changing state of my body, mind, and spirit through the fluctuating days, weeks and seasons of each year. And I adapt my lifestyle, diet, Yoga practice and meditation practice according to what I uncover. This regular enquiry and application of the adjusted 5 points is proving to be a wonderfully empowering and transformational formula. I really want each one of you to learn the same in my group and individual programmes.

Ayurveda has helped me to successfully take this adjusted and adapted approach to the Five Points of Yoga even further, and with greater effect. I began to appreciate in more recent years that we not only need to adjust our lifestyle, diet and practices to individual states of body, mind and soul: but also, determining and selecting lifestyle, diet, posture, breath and meditation/visualisation practices according to each one’s Ayurvedic metabolic type adds extra force to this pathway back to health and happiness.

And from an Ayurvedic perspective, we can also add in to the mix a consideration of the changing nature of each season and again adapt all prescriptions accordingly. Ayurveda recognises that the seasons, especially in their transitional times, have a challenging effect on the homeostasis of the body and mind

I truly want each one of you to experience the benefits of this system. I want you aso to have the understanding and the necessary tools at your fingertips to be able to do your own daily enquiry and to become alchemists of your own inner worlds, of your bodies and minds, so that you can live each day in a way that enhances your health and well-being.

For this reason, I am bringing this powerfully transformational system now into all my work. I am bringing it to group classes, workshops and retreats and to individual consultations and treatments.

Those who join my Radiant Mornings livestream classes know that we begin our classes each morning with enquiry into our state of body, mind, heart and energy. We adapt our practices through the changing seasons to support the body to remain resilient, the mind to remain steady, and the spirit to remain positive and inspired. Also I throw occasional generalised lifestyle and dietary guidance into the teachings where appropriate. Participants are reporting the benefits. You can read some of their testimonials here.

In my individual consultations, this system in effect blends the two sister sciences of Ayurveda and Yoga for a whole-person treatment approach.

For example, by incorporating the 5 point system into individual sessions, a Yoga Therapy session for muscular or joint aches and pains now includes Ayurveda prescriptions for the inner body with personalised anti-inflammatory herbal and dietary prescriptions. Whereas, on the other hand, an Ayurveda session for digestive complaints not only includes lifestyle, dietary and herbal prescriptions but now also includes Yoga postures so that we can also target symptoms through the outer body with posture and breath. Clients are expressing their delight and surprise at the holistic nature of the prescription programmes and their results

Ayurveda and Yoga wisdom teachings understand that, in truth, body, mind and heart cannot be separated. They are constantly impacting each other. And so, to effectively treat one of these dimensions of our being, we have to understand how all dimensions of our being interact and incorporate specific and individualised prescriptions which support them all.

I have called this formula my 6-step E.N.E.R.G.Y system, energy being a word close to my heart having spent 6 years with so little of it!

The E.N.E.R.G.Y. system offers you practical keys to open the doorway to a life of health, vitality, longevity, positivity and purpose. It works in group or individual programmes to give you the tools to bring optimum well-being to body, mind and spirit.

It is a pathway to a serene alignment of body, mind and energy which will allow you to reach that inner abode of vitality, grace, beauty, love and peace that is your birthright.

With this 6 step E.N.E.R.G.Y plan, you discover how to reclaim and sustain your health and vitality, uncover greater physical and psychological resilience, and maintain equilibrium through all the seasons of the year.

The 6 steps are:

E is for enquiry: Using ancient and more modern techniques, we look into your metabolic nature, lifestyle, dietary habits and psychological tendencies so that together we can begin to map your journey back to optimum health and vitality.

N is for nourish:  Based on findings, we prepare your body, mind and heart to receive balancing nourishment through dietary, lifestyle, Yoga posture, breath and mantra, meditation and herbal remedies, so that you can begin to experience the health and happiness that is your birth-right.

E is for energy: Once the body, mind and heart are able to receive proper nourishment, energy increases and flows in a harmonious and contained way to put you on the path to physical, psychological and spiritual well-being.

R is for rejuvenation: As energy is restored and begins to flow harmoniously, all the repair and restoration work can be carried out so that you can experience a renewed sense of vitality in body and mind.

G is for glow: With the body and mind replenished and balanced with right living and nutrition for you Ayurvedic type and condition, you being to shine from the inside out and experience a new sense of equilibrium.

Y is for YOU: Both Ayurveda and Yoga teach us that when we live a life of balance according to our metabolic type, when our energy (or prana) flows harmoniously through right living and diet, we begin to uncover and connect with the light and wisdom of the spiritual heart. This will reveal to you your essential true nature, and will help to uncover your heart’s calling so that you can reveal to the world who you truly are and enjoy life of fulfilment and purpose.

Why not experience this E.N.E.R.G.Y. formula for yourself?

I’m inviting you to join us for a trial week of the RADIANT MORNINGS PROGRAMME of livestream classes for just £15.00 (value £30.00).

The classes run from 8am – 9am Tuesdays – Fridays,, and 10am on Saturdays. They include a mix of seasonally-adjusted Yoga posture, breath, relaxation, sound, visualisation and meditation practices.

BOOK A FREE DISCOVERY CALL NOW to find out more.

OR

Book your 1-1 E.N.E.R.G.Y. Ayurveda or Yoga Therapy Consultation and discover a truly holistic approach to easing and relieving your symptoms.

Please also do let me have any questions you may have about this formula and how it works. I’d be delighted to answer.

For now I’m sending each one of you love and best wishes,

Sara x