Let’s begin by considering how to answer the question – Is Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy (PRYT) an appropriate modality for an audience larger than those who feel a need for “therapy?” As practitioners, we often focus on the fact that we are offering a way of accessing our deeper selves through the body. We talk about PRYT as a healing modality, however, the intention seems to be more about healing from a holistic perspective in which each of us has the potential to benefit from developing a healthier relationship with ourselves. In this respect, perhaps what we are offering is “therapy” in a truer sense of the word that we are generally accustomed to witnessing.
With PRYT, the benefit can be more comprehensive than the fix applied to an overstretched muscle, to trauma stored in a part of the body or for other physical and emotional problems. Consider that when a client is invited into the session, he is guided to become aware of all parts of himself, not only a part that is wounded. We are not simply focused on what is hurt, but instead, on all aspects or parts of the person in front of us. Practitioners spend long hours of training and much effort learning how to meet this person with open acceptance. The invitation we extend is to pay attention to what is currently happening in a mindful way – this is the path that leads us into the healing process.
The world of health care and service providers has become progressively more focused on specifics – the target has shifted to a smaller part of the client who shows up – to the point where the whole person may sometimes be missed altogether. PRYT appreciates the whole person first, accepting all the parts that show up. The next step is that the client decides what the focus is in the present moment or, more accurately, in the moment of being present to himself. The PRYT practitioner follows, guiding the process but ensuring that the choices are those the client makes.
Given the nature of this work, it is understandable why we as practitioners don’t offer a specific promised outcome for a session. A session may be relaxing or rejuvenating and, then again, it may take you down the rabbit hole of difficult emotions. You may not always feel better after a session, but there can be a shift in how you experience yourself that leads you to feel better about the “you” you are getting to know.
What can be promised is that you will have been listened to and witnessed in an accepting open way. You will also have been offered opportunities to look more deeply at what you notice about yourself through the inner experience of yoga postures and movement. You may, as a result, develop a fuller relationship with yourself that shifts the way you also relate to the world and to people around you.
So, who are the clients that we seek? Perhaps mostly it’s all who want a better understanding of who they really are. And maybe, just maybe, the only prerequisite is that they be a bit curious to learn more about themselves…
