Healing Touch in Auroville, India

Transcription

1 Healing Touch in Auroville, India by Martha Rather, Rev, BFA, CHTP/I When we presented our poster on Healing Touch in India at the 2006 Healing Touch Conference, the two most asked questions were: Where is Auroville? and Why is Healing Touch welcomed there? Auroville is an intentional community near the city of Pondicherry, in the state of Tamil Nadu (TN) along the southeastern coast of India. Auroville began as an experimental social project in 1968 with the aim of becoming a universal township dedicated to the realization of the ideal of human unity. Originally waste land was purchased and reforested by the Sri Aurobindo Foundation under the direction of The Mother. The Auroville Charter states that it belongs to humanity as a whole and is a place of unending education and constant progress. People visit from all over the world to attend classes or to become residents. It is a complex community dedicated to a sustainable lifestyle, (pioneering in solar energy, organic gardening, etc.) and cooperative organization in all areas of life. It is located far enough inland that when the tsunami hit, Aurovillians offered a safe haven to the tsunami victims in the area. (For more information about Auroville visit ) When one looks deeper, one finds a much more interesting and subtle energetic connection to this area. I will first introduce you to some historic figures so you will understand the energetics of Auroville. After which I will explain my 3-tiered vision for Healing Touch there.

2 Sri Aurobindo was born in India in 1872, educated in England, returned to India to work as a government administrator and later was briefly imprisoned as a freedom fighter. (India won her independence in 1947.) His imprisonment sparked his inner spiritual life and he withdrew from political life. His name Aurobindo means point of energy. In 1910 he arrived in Pondicherry and spent the first four years in silent yoga. Then he began writing books on spiritual and social consciousness which have continued to be highly revered today. The Mother, as she is affectionately known, was born in France in 1878, met Sri Aurobindo in 1914, but could not move to Pondicherry until after WWI. In 1920 she became his assistant and in 1926 assumed charge of the ashram to give him the freedom to write. Her own spiritual journey is published as a 13 volume journal entitled Mother s Agenda. She emphasized education of the children and healthy sports activities to strengthen the body for the spiritual work it would do. She saw herself as being dedicated to making her body and its cells receptive to what she called the supramental force. As she watched herself evolve, she called her energy experiments on herself the yoga of the cells. Meditation could lower blood pressure and improve health. Thankfully that has now been proven to be true. He referred to the energy within the body s cells as lifetrons years before the discovery of subatomic particles. He also said positive things about the future of energy medicine long before anyone had a clue what that meant. In addition, he was a relative of Sri Aurobindo. They shared the family name of Ghosh. ( ) When I saw all these connections, it felt like a full circle moment! With Healing Touch we are now taking energetic techniques back to the spot in India where the original impetus began trickling down through history to us in the present. These historic energetic connections are the deeper meaning of why we are in Auroville. In 1999, Kathleen Rosemary, LMT, CHTP/I, from Tennessee, attended a conference on intentional communities in Auroville. When she offered to teach a class on Healing Touch, it created a lot of excitement. A young man named Sivaraj attended her class and knew this was the awaited curriculum he wanted to add to the natural healing center he was building. Auroville was her Dream and she wrote extensively about the kind of life it could offer people. She left her body in 1973, but her dreams are living on in the lives of the people in Auroville. Now you can begin to see how the idea of energy and self-healing was already present in this cultural setting. The third historical figure, Paramahansa Yogananda was born in India in 1893 and came to the United States in He remained here until his passing in 1952, and played a pioneering role in making known the age-old philosophy and science of Yoga meditation. His international organization, known as Self-Realization Fellowship, continues that work today. His most famous book The Autobiography of a Yogi has just celebrated 60 years of continuous publication. Yogananda brought Americans startling news from India. Above: Martha Rather with Abayakoon from Sri Lanka

3 A woman named Abayakoon, from Sri Lanka, also felt an instant recognition that Healing Touch is the Key to World Peace. (So far Abayakoon has had dozens of study groups in Sri Lanka using the video tape that Kathleen gave her. She has also been able to attend all the classes we have had in Auroville thanks to the generosity of American students who contributed to the cost of her travel expenses to India.) In 2000, Savitri Kumaran, RNC, CHTP/I, (current President of Healing Touch International, Inc) continued the program in Auroville by teaching a complete Level 1. Then 2001 tragically occurred and all thoughts of traveling to India vanished. I became involved with this project in Although I had known Kathleen Rosemary since our first Healing Touch class together in 1991, I had not been able to participate in this project due to my mother s extended illness and final passing. After that, I felt I needed a break from everything and felt a calling to study Vedic Astrology. (This astrological method from India is considered more scientific for various reasons.) Above: Chakra Connection on the floor with Geraldine Hartmayer barriers. After the classes, we took several days to enjoy the sites of Southern India. It was a wonderful experience. In 2003 I won a trip to India to further my studies in Vedic Astrology. The Universal tides of energy had truly shifted for me. I met so many people on that first trip who felt like family members. I was so startled by this. After returning home, I tried to explain this feeling to Kathleen who immediately insisted that I return to India to teach Healing Touch in Auroville. They had been ing her for years requesting more teachers. But I instantly knew the appropriate answer because some members of my new family had a tour company and I knew they would help me bring a group of people to share and enjoy this experience. In 2004 a group of Healing Touch Instructors and Practitioners traveled with me to Auroville where we had two Level 1 classes on the same weekend. One class was taught in English at Verite Hall in Auroville by Ruth Muhr and Dan Snyder; Margaret Leslie and I taught the other class with the help of a translator. Our classroom, in one of the native villages, had a thatched roof and open sides that allowed the breeze to provide our only air-conditioning. The eagerness of the mostly male students to learn dissolved all language In Feb we returned for a more aggressively planned class series. Two friends from the first trip, Margaret Leslie and Debi Hood, went with me. A number of new people joined us, including instructors Deborah Larrimore, Janna Moll, Judy Meno, and Gerry Hartmayer. This time we had three locations available for classes. The first one was the same beautiful Verite Hall in Auroville for the European guests and American travelers taking Healing Touch for the first time. The native village class was now divided into two locations for men and women (or boys and girls as they like to call themselves). This was their choice and they felt more comfortable with separate classes. In fact, in order to get more women to participate, our co-coordinator Sivaraj built an outdoor classroom (thatched roof-open sides) near his home for protection of the women. He requested $750 to build this building and we gratefully raised that money and took it to him.

4 Sivaraj told me that most of the teachers want to teach in Auroville and no one before me has ever wanted to teach in the village that s why there was no classroom in the village. Now that there is a classroom, others have noticed that the village women are capable of learning new things and the classroom has been used several times for other skill-increasing classes. Sivaraj and the new classroom a re p ro f i l e d o n t h e A u ro v i l l e w e b s i t e a t INDIA We taught Level 1 on the first weekend in three locations. We then took a five day tour of sites. When we returned, we taught Level 2 in the same three locations. Combine this with the fact that February is the heaviest tourist month. We were exhausted too much to do all at once. Auroville I will never forget the faces of some of those women. Shouts of Freea (attempting to speak English) when back or shoulder pain was gone! How they giggled during the Chakra Spread! Giggling was translated as It tickles! And the pendulums they manufactured for themselves, since I did not bring enough pendulums along, were perfectly round mud balls on a string. I was surprised and humbled by how well those mud pendulums worked! I am grateful to all the instructors who contributed old notebooks for us to take to India. These notebooks will be used over and over. Also I must thank all those who contributed to the various costs of the classes, including Abayakoon s expenses. Some people can only travel to India in spirit. Your kindness was necessary and was deeply felt. Blessings to you all! Now to our future plans. In Sept we will be fine tuning this process. The three classes will be all on the weekend of Sept The Level 1 English speaking class is open to all including Americans who would like to join this tour and take Healing Touch while there. Indians from other parts of India are invited to come. This is a slower tourist time and there should be plenty of places to stay in Auroville. Margaret Leslie will teach this class. There is room for a co-teacher (for the purpose of sharing the experience) and also some helpers to join in. The village women s class will be Level 2 because we were unable to finish the Level 2 last year due to some unusual circumstances. Kimberly Gray and I will teach, with Debi Hood and Gerry Hartmayer helping. It would be very useful to have a few more helpers in this class. Level 3 will be taught for the first time anywhere in India by Janna Moll. This will be attended by Aurovillians and village people alike. We anticipate people might come from other countries as well for this. All are welcome. Abayakoon will be eligible to take this class if we can raise the money for her traveling expenses. (If you would like to contribute, please contact martyrather@comast.net ) For the record, all classes taught in Auroville and in India in this program are offered without charge as is the custom in Auroville. All the Instructors pay for their own expenses. After the classes we will begin a more leisurely tour of Southern India. If you would like to join us, please contact me as listed above and for travel tips on traveling in India visit What is my 3-tiered vision? 1. Education of the Aurovillians and the guests from other countries. It is possible that a guest could go back to

5 his own country and request to start a Healing Touch program there. It is possible one of the Aurovillians could get so fascinated that he or she would go on to become a certified instructor and solidify the program there. 2. Education of the native village people. The native villages that are engulfed by the Auroville township are not as bad as one could imagine. Auroville provides some jobs for these people. But many are uneducated and health care is lacking. However it is obvious that they are smart, caring, energetic individuals. To teach energetic self-care to the mothers and children is an energetic social experiment that The Mother would quite possibly feel is in keeping with her vision of human unity and our own vision as well. 3. Education of Americans. This tour provides a safe way to experience a Third world or Developing country. There are many benefits to experiencing a culture that is so different from our own. Mexico in 1971, the School of Self-Healing (deep-tissue massage) San Francisco, CA, in 1990, and the American College of Vedic Astrology in She has studied with Roslyn Bruyere, Melody s Crystal Healing program, and INNERSOUND. She studied Advance Practice with Janet Mentgen. Martha was a contributor to the book Energetic Patterns: Healing Touch Case Studies, Volume 1. She has been a member of Self-Realization Fellowship since 1978, studying the ancient Vedas of India as they relate to Christianity and our world today. She works as a lay-minister at the Nashville Meditation Group of Self-Realization Fellowship and also has a private practice for energetic healing and Vedic astrology consultations. She is the codeveloper and co-presenter, with Bonnie Johnson, MS, RN, CHTP/I, of The Amygdala Connection to assist in the release of stuck reactive fear patterns to perceived lifethreatening situations. The Amygdala Connection Calming the Runaway Heart was presented at the Healing Touch Conference in Colorado Springs, CO, Jan She can be reached at martyrather@comcast.net. Travel tips are located at Anyone who has volunteered to help in a foreign country has an enriching experience. It is not simply that I appreciate my home more now, although that is true. It is not simply that what used to be big problems at home, now feel dwarfed because I have seen a much bigger picture, although that is true. There is something about looking into the sparkly clear-eyed people of India that I cannot put into words. They see the same world differently. That point of difference is a spot of creative energy and celebration of the abundance of creation. When they look back into me, I feel something become healed in my heart that I did not know was there. It creates a feeling of peace within. I want more people to feel that and bring it back to America. So this is my energy experiment which I hope contributes to world peace. I agree with Abayakoon. Healing Touch is the Key to World Peace. E Martha s Bio: Martha Rather, Rev, BFA, CHTP/I, has been certified as a Healing Touch Practitioner since 1994 and has been teaching since She is a Charter member of Healing Touch International. She graduated from the University of New