Читать книгу Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health онлайн

97 страница из 110

Four weeks later we learned that Harry had passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family and friends. The referring medical doctor commented, “This Beyond Cancer retreat was the best present we could give him before passing on.” A few days later, Harry’s family came to visit us and were grateful that we had helped Harry. He manifested peacefulness and a sense of acceptance at the time of his passing, which they attributed to yoga.

Such a deep transformation in three weeks was mainly possible due to intensive daily yoga practice and the client’s eagerness to apply himself to the program. Six hours of daily yogic practices in a small group for 21 days had, indeed, produced a deep spiritual transformation. At the end of his life Harry transformed his guilt, shame, and deep fear of imminent death into acceptance and inner peace. This is a good example of yoga as a deep transformational practice, which heals, but doesn’t always cure.

The second story is perhaps less dramatic but also speaks about profound spiritual transformation. As a participant in the Chronic Solutions retreat, this client’s situation was completely different—his disease and discomfort was of much lesser magnitude than Harry’s. The 72-year-old psychotherapist from England had never practiced yoga before, and knew very little about it. He also considered himself to be a sworn atheist. Here we quote verbatim, with his permission, the story as he wrote it, about six months after attending the retreat.