The Healing Journey – Part 4 (Final)
By Tara McGee, MSW, RSW, Dip TIRP Psychotherapist, OCSWSSW Yoga Therapist, IAYT
Healing is learning. This is what I’m discovering from writing this article. Healing is a process where you move towards a goal and then other goals emerge as you clear the first hurdles. In Yoga Therapy, there are short term goals and long term goals. The short term goals tend to be things that are immediately bothersome (i.e not enough sleep, back pain, frozen shoulder etc). Once these have been resolved, long term goals are worked with; alleviating things that are more intractable such as chronic conditions, trauma symptoms, degeneration from aging and most essentially, moving towards deeper connection within and without.
Along this healing path, as people engage in the practices that will improve their lives, they learn things about themselves, about the world and their lives. The practices allow them to direct their minds enough that they start to not only alleviate their symptoms but to become more curious about the other things they may observe within. They may develop new goals as their symptoms subside, they may want to go deeper within, or the practice may simply facilitate this. Some people are just happy with symptom reduction and don’t want to go any further, but they have learned that they have the power within to change their own constitution if given the proper tools.
I recognize that I am a person who is a real purist and I am dedicated to my own healing journey. For me, the paths I choose to take and which teachers to trust are not measured by their social media presence, but by the presence they exude when I am with them. It is in the internal experiences I have with them and through the modalities they offer that allows me to trust in their offerings.
At CPYC, it is my goal to build a therapist team of real, true seekers who are similarly dedicated to their own evolution. I believe that if we as healers are walking this path, when a client or yoga student shows up who is dedicated to their own healing or is mired in their own version of suffering, we will not only know the tools to offer at the right time, to the right person, but that we will also be inspired from our hearts to offer all that we can to assist in and be a part of that journey; because that’s what healing is.
Tara