Residential course in Co. Wicklow July 28th – August 2nd 2018 led by Judith Ashton. Cost €600.00
Everywhere you look people are talking about mental health and stress. On a daily basis we are immersed in a tsunami of pressure at so many levels …. This relentless tsunami inevitably wears us down and eventually takes its toll on our bodies and our overall health.
In 1982 when I had completed my studies in bio-dynamic massage and body-psychotherapy in London I had the great, good fortune to be part of a cardiac rehab team led by a visionary professor of cardiology who was a pioneer in the area of stress and its effects on the physical body. He had advertised in a national newspaper for a physiotherapist and I took a chance (not being a physio!) and went for a job interview. He was intrigued and after interviewing many physios, contacted me for a 6 week trial. I stayed for 5 years. Later, when I asked him why he gave me the job, he said that I had what he didn’t know he needed…. An open mind to offer counselling and a good pair of hands for massage. He was (and though he has since died), still would be, ahead of his time. I learned and contributed a lot to his research on non –pharmaceutical solutions to stress related heart problems.
At the same time I was going every evening to sit with my spiritual teacher, the late Irina Tweedie who was a Sufi, she wrote The Daughter of Fire. Sufis work with The Path of The Heart….. the mystical heart of love.
I felt like I had two powerful teachers, one male, who was a medically minded, left brained, logical, intellectual and scientific who was dealing with the physical heart and the relationship between it and emotional stress; and one female, who was obviously enlightened, intuitive, meditative, and concerned with the mystical Heart, surrender to the Beloved and the Path of Love. It was a fascinating and blessed time which profoundly shaped and informed the path that I have followed ever since.
The courses which I run are called “The Heart Path of Massage and Meditation” which consist of six days of nourishment for body and mind and offer people an opportunity to use the time to switch off and to tune into themselves at a deep level ; and where they literally have time to learn to breathe correctly and to stretch out of their diminished selves and into their expanded birth-right.
Away from phones, there exist natural sounds …… silence, conversation, streams and birdsong which can be a balm to soothe and calm us back to our rightful place in Nature. During these six days, time is spent simply “being”, walking, sitting or lying and watching the beauty of the natural world of the woods and brooks. Purposefully taking this time allows us to fall back into our own individual rhythms and pace .For many these have been robbed from us by the un-natural pace and pressure which have become the daily norm. These days offer a place to break unhealthy habits and the time and space to stare into space and day dream… A place to rediscover who we really are away from the distractions that constantly pull us away from our innate selves. Simply being with nothing to do is a precious gift. Simply being with nowhere to go but surrendering and being present to the moment that is, is a great relief and easier said than done for the busy mind…… During these days you are held and supported. It’s a safe place to let go and drop the weights that burden and tire you.
People, all people need and long for human contact and non-sexual physical touch. This has long been one of my areas of expertise and during the course participants learn, in an effortless way, the power and transformative effect that touch has on each and every one of us. Many of us simply need to be held and acknowledged at the physical level, and touch, being a reciprocal experience allows the experience of both receiving and giving in a safe and structured way. When we feel truly safe, we can breathe out.
Stress and tension exist exclusively in the body. They cannot co-exist with or include peace and calm. You are either stressed and tense OR peaceful and calm. It’s one or the other, NOT both. One can learn how to relinquish the grasp that stress has on the mind and body but this cannot be done without a change in consciousness. This is where the essential wisdom teachings of meditation come in and need to be understood. Understanding brings liberation.
People speak of stress management. Stress needs to be eliminated not managed and by examining the roots of the stressors which propel us, we can come to an understanding of their origins and with understanding, choices can be made to either retain or relinquish such habits; for habits they are.
We can all learn how to listen to our own innate core wisdom, the wisdom of our bodies. When we take the time to listen, the body will communicate from its very depths. We can learn to truly inhabit the body and to respond to its inner truth.
I really learned how to listen to my gut when I spend 4 years studying with the late great Gerda Boyesen, whose unique contribution to Humanistic Psychology was her understanding of how to unblock the energy flow in the body by using specific, emotionally connected techniques including certain massage methods namely Psycho-peristalsis massage.
I find that a subtle combination of meditation, deep relaxation and massage hold a key to unlock and free our true selves. As Wilhelm Reich, the great grandfather of body-mind psychology said, “Only you can free yourself.”
To quote a past student, “I danced, cried, laughed, massaged and received more that I could have imagined. This week changed my life! I felt seen, heard, held and loved. Thank you Judith!”
This six day residential course offers you the opportunity to start a new chapter. The whole experience is designed to be deeply nourishing. The inner work, the location and the lovely vegetarian food all contribute to this outcome. It might just change your life.
Contact Judith Ashton: e mail: judithashton1@gmail.com or (00353) 0876976395. judithashton.com
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