by Lys Wild

Endowed as I was with a fair degree of physical flexibility meant that in my younger days of learning in yoga classes I was often ear marked as the ‘perfect posture’ student.

A phrase that now sends me screaming for the hills!

At the time in pursuit of pleasing the teacher and fluffing up my ego I eventually sustained ligament injury.  On top of this I also managed to injure my body off the mat.

So suddenly personal daily practice became essential, and classes and workshops faded as I could no longer keep up with the teacher’s requirements. My body now dictated the path clearly and pushed me to new heights of discovery and the deepest listening I have ever experienced.

I contest that there is nothing more focusing than pain.

And practicing with pain is an overwhelmingly humbling process.

It was here that I reached furthest within.  In those quiet mornings when all I could do was lie and rock or spend the whole session moving into the gentlest of forward bends, cell by cell, breath by breath, I learned more than I have every learned before.  The depth was astonishing and the quality of that profound meeting with myself has never departed.

In giving myself permission to be where I was in my practice, I found myself there. Exactly where I had been all along.

This is the quality that a truly quiet and listening daily practice brings.  To be receptive enough to be as you are beyond learned forms.

And whilst my journey was defined, in part by pain, I suggest that yours does not need to be.

I can hear you mumbling about there not being enough hours in the day for a daily practice.  So for now I suggest you forget your mat, the candle lit room, inspiring music and dawn light.

Instead take a moment to follow your breath as it expands into your precious lungs and let this moment be your practice. This attention to your existence in time and space.  From here, who knows maybe you will feel inspired to explore further.

Classes are valuable resources, but treat them as such and not at the be all and end all.

Lys offers Yoga and Qi Gong courses and private 1-1 sessions in Charlton Mackerel and Glastonbury.  She also offers Shiatsu sessions at the Apple tree therapy centre, Glastonbury.  For more information and bookings www.wildrelease.weebly.com  or email wildlys@hotmail.com

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In the heady days of 90’s London, amidst a booming alternate scene.  I found myself fly pitching as a hair wrapper on Camden Lock.  And in that time of weaving colours into folk’s hair, I began to sink more deeply into the conversations that created the backdrop to the patterns I wove.  I started to feel like I could really be of service to people in that market madness. And so I commenced my reiki masters training over a number of years and worked with various groups offering this hands off energy work.

But you know, it wasn’t enough. I kept feeling the urge to touch, pulling an arm here, holding a point there. This was scary territory, I was not trained in massage or other body work and had no idea what this all meant. So I did what many of us do in our spinning 20’s, and I turned from the healing work and began to point my search into learning about my own body.

Healing my traumas and harnessing my emotions with the help of my yoga really helped to focus me and has given me the backdrop of a now 25 year daily practice. I call it my drip drip transformation! I qualified as a Contact partner yoga and Amrit hatha yoga teacher.And have gained other numerous qualifications over the many years since. Teaching yoga has satisfied my urge to connect and support others well.

But still, at the back of my heart, I could feel a calling. The spoke of my wheel was yet to be found in terms of the service I could be giving to others. But what? I mused and toyed with thoughts and research into different trainings, but none ignited my soul. Until I stumbled into my first shiatsu treatment and a moment of eureka enfolded me.

Because this was what I had been guided to be doing all those years ago in my reiki days, and the more I uncovered during my shiatsu trainings, the more I fell in love with the simplicity and majesty of such an ancient map to view the body from. Its profoundly healing and yet meets each person wherever they are.  The depth and versatility of this fully clothed hands on system of informed touch is nothing short of magic.

In my years as a practitioner I still rise in joy at the transformations I witness in my community of clients. To be privileged to hear people’s story and to have the tools to be able to hold them, wherever their body is needing holding, is almost indescribable. I love what I do. I bring everything to my treatments. And in those precious moments of supporting others, I come alive. I finally know who I am. And this is what has brought me here and will keep me here for many happy years to come.

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