Energy Balancing and Gentle Yoga
Jul 01, 2021 06:00AM ● By Sheila Ewers
Terri O’Connor (Photo: Terri O’Connor)
Science is just beginning to prove what ancient yoga sages and rishis have understood for millennia: everything we know—from the earth, sea, trees, animals, stars and planets to our thoughts, feelings, sounds and colors—everything pulses with energy. Quantum physics now tells us that what we perceive as matter consists of vibration within a field and that all fields are connected, permeating one another and vibrating together. Just as ancient spiritual texts have suggested.
In yoga, we call this all-encompassing energy “prana,” and most yoga practices focus on optimizing the healthy flow of prana within the body. Yoga asana uses movement to free stagnated prana and release tensions that can cause “dis-ease” and pain, feelings of lethargy, anxiety and depression. Over time, yoga practitioners can learn to gain some control over their own energetic field, often leading to better health and a sense of equanimity, peace, balance and connection to all other beings.
Energy healers also engage with prana; they work with clients to help balance, clear and direct the flow of prana in the body and the energy field surrounding the body. All energy healers—whether they practice reiki, acupuncture, pranic healing, auric cleansing, chakra balancing, sound therapy or any other type—understand that the human energy field is a dynamic system intimately related to one’s physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. Working with energy can be a tremendous path to healing.
Yoga + Energy Healing
Recognizing the commonalities in the two practices, yoga teacher Terri O’Connor has developed a unique service that combines energy healing with traditional yoga movement. The owner of Plum Tree Yoga in Roswell, O’Connor is an ERYT500 yoga teacher, a certified reiki master, a graduate of White Winds Institute ofEnergy Medicine and a student of Dee Wagner’s Chi for Two relational energetic training. She supports her clients’ ability to feel integrated by providing them with tools to help them build and maintain well-being. O'Connor believes that the combination of physical and energetic modalities enhances each client’s ability to become more vital, aware and functional in their lives.
O’Connor’s private sessions typically begin with a conversation to discuss the client’s concerns and requests for support. As the client relaxes on a massage table, O’Connor observes the alignment and tensions of the physical body, the flow of energy through the spine, joints, organs and major energetic vortices, or chakras, as well as the bio-energetic field that surrounds the client’s body.
As she tunes in, the client’s energy field directs O’Connor to the areas that need to be addressed so she can help restore the energy fields. As a result, cells, tissue and organs are revitalized, and the functions of the physical body are renewed.
The uniqueness of O’Connor’s sessions comes in the way that she folds yoga practice into her energy healing process. Each of O’Connor’s sessions includes a unique, customized sequence of gentle and supported yoga poses to decompress the body, mind and emotions. The client moves off the table and onto a yoga mat where they are given a series of active and passive poses to strengthen, lengthen and align their physical bodies that will help them maintain the energetic openings from the session. Having a physical practice to take home between sessions provides the client with insight and tools to help integrate greater awareness and well-being into their daily lives.
O’Connor’s “hybrid” model empowers clients to take responsibility for maintaining balance within their own physical and energetic bodies. Penny Summers, a client of O’Connor, says, “O’Connor’s work is deep energetic healing. She engages the body’s intelligence to clear old energy and allow for more vitality. When I receive a session, I feel like tight places have unwound mentally and physically and that I have more access to myself and my energy.” Client Steve Howard says, “The pictures and the follow-up via text were huge in helping me develop the techniques I needed to use.”
O’Connor says that energy balancing can also be instrumental in relieving mental and emotional stress, so good health and well-being can be re-established. “Our physical and energetic bodies are in constant communication and always in a state of flux relative to our lifestyle, relationships, families, jobs, activities, challenges and celebrations,” says O’Connor. ❧
For more information about O’Connor’s Energy Balancing & Gentle Yoga sessions, visit PlumTreeYoga.com/healing, contact her at [email protected] or call 404-434-3542.
Sheila Ewers, ERYT500, YACEP, owns Blue Lotus Yoga in Johns Creek. A former professor of writing and literature, she leads group and private lessons, yoga philosophy workshops, yoga teacher training and retreats. Contact Sheila at [email protected].