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Dru Yoga Therapy –tackling emotions intelligently

Who does not experience anger, fear, anxiety and stress on a regular basis? It’s all a part of being human. It is important to know, however, that each emotion and its accompanying set of thoughts create very specific reactions in the body/mind complex. Every thought and feeling we have creates a corresponding energetic effect in the body that affect us at every level. Thinking negative thoughts create ‘heavy’energy which collects in various little pockets in and around the body, contributing to feelings of lethargy and depression. Any emotions which are unexpressed will also add to this internal weight which can even be stored as fat around the thighs, abdomen and buttocks. People have been known to lose weight rapidly after shedding old emotional baggage they have been holding onto for years!

Cell memory
Dru Yoga is a revolutionary approach to the ancient form of yoga introduced into the West by a small group of university graduates –Mansukh Patel, Annie Jones, Rita Goswami, Chris Barrington, John Jones –under the training of Mansukh’s parents, custodians of the Dru tradition, who had worked in Gandhi’s non-violent movements in India.

Mansukh Patel harnesses the principles of the Dru tradition in his book, The Peace Formula.

One of the key principles of Dru Yoga is that the body and emotions are directly linked. Research professor Dr Candace Pert has talked about the ramifications of this connection in her book Molecules of Emotion. In her work on neuro-peptides, which she calls ‘messenger molecules,’she discovered that these chemicals, once thought to exist only in the brain, actually travel throughout the body and can be received by nearly every cell in the body. They transmit all kinds of information to the cells directing that cell to carry out various critical functions.

Distinct groups of what Pert calls biochemical correlates of the emotions have been shown to correspond to emotional states. She says that this coupling of molecule and cell is the point at which emotion actually becomes physical and that they are actually the same thing.

The principle that energy follows thought is key to Dru Yoga therapy, according to Mansukh Patel. Harvard University’s Centre for Mind-Body Medicine has published many research papers validating this concept. For example, a study of heart patients going into surgery showed that those people who had people praying for them had significantly shorter recovery times. They also needed less medication and had fewer follow up visits than those patients who did not have any faith or anyone directing thoughts of healing towards them. It is now generally accepted that every thought creates energy, but the question is, where does that energy go to? If you have an inspirational thought the energy of that thought propels you into action and is used up in the activity. If you have a great idea for making money for instance –it fires you to take the steps to make it happen. Unfortunately we have millions of thoughts and emotional reactions every day which have no clear direction to move in. Each one is creating energy according to the above principle, but without a clear direction or outlet, become stuck.

One of the main issues that Dru Yoga addresses in Mansukh’s view is that when energy is stuck it manifests in the body as painful muscles, sore backs, aching legs, headaches, fatigue, emotions and depression and if allowed to stay blocked will start to travel and lodge itself into the organs. Mansukh Patel maintains that this can cause real problems leading to disease and eventual total disintegration of health. In The International School of Dru Yoga’s latest book entitled, ‘Stillness in Motion’, Annie Jones, Chris Barrington and Anita Goswami talk in great depth about the importance of avoiding this kind of disintegration. The book outlines many different ways to balance the body, mind and spirit using yoga sequences, breathing techniques, subtle hand gestures, postures, meditation and visualisation.

Effective Solutions
Many people have been conditioned to believe that their emotional issues are just too difficult to deal with. In our hard and fast society we may think we have to ‘be brave’–to put our heads down and just keep on working ever harder to avoid painful feelings. Statistics show that more and more people are turning to alcohol and drugs as a means of coping, but ultimately the unresolved emotions are still there in the morning lurking somewhere in the body/mind complex –and so are the accompanying aches and pains.

Emotional detox
People are often amazed at how easy and simple the solutions to this dilemma can actually be. Mansukh Patel and colleagues have tailored a set of unique ‘energy block release’sequences for the modern western context that effectively release old, stagnant energy from the muscles, joints and organs simply by moving the body in specific ways. Every movement we make moves energy and Dr Patel’s movements are specifically designed to move blocked energy freeing the mind of emotion and the body of pain, stiffness and fatigue. People do not tend to believe that emotions really can be released gently and easily without a great deal of hard graft. Many equate yoga with complicated and often competitive contortions and many people, on their first experience of Dru Yoga comment upon its slow, graceful movements and softness. Mansukh’s approach to Energy Block Release (EBR) movements and sequences are founded on modern clinical evidence acting upon the places where emotions become trapped in the body. The idea is to gently and easily release them, thereby transforming the energy. A great benefit of this approach is that instead of experiencing emotional catharsis the Dru Yoga practitioner often finds there is only a feeling of lightness and wellbeing as old emotions are released from the body.

One lady in the US was practising Mansukh Patel’s sequence of movements to remove fear and was amazed to find a few days later that she had completely forgotten she had been afraid. She was surprised to discover this, because she had been expecting something to happen, the emergence of something from the depths. Instead she just felt lighter and freer.

Often in our frenetic civilisation we tend to take the tough and hard stance –give the body a good workout, earn your relaxation. In Dru Yoga relaxation is placed at the top of the agenda. You are taught how to soften the body and take your time. Mansukh explains that as you soften and enter a deeper space of awareness, you may find a strength, both of mind and body, that you would not have previously believed possible.

Mansukh Patel and the other Dru founders have encapsulated Dru Yoga’s approach to yoga in the following very specific steps:
Activation –The body is taken through a sequence that warms and prepares it for stretching and strengthening movements activating subtle internal energy flows.
Energy Block Release –These movements are specifically designed to release trapped physical, emotional and other subtle energies.
Sequences –These include a series of movements, postures to direct the body’s own natural healing and empowering responses to where they are most needed.
Relaxation –The benefits of any movement or posture are felt in relaxation and not in the action itself.
Meditation –This involves stilling the mind and finding a quiet place inside oneself. It is about making friends with your mind which is essential for a lasting experience of peace. It also provides clarity and strength in facing the inevitable challenges of life.

When your yoga practice is working you inevitably feel much more alive and vigorous. This sometimes surprises people because they simply do not realise how much of their natural energy has been lost until they feel it coming back. Mansukh Patel constantly prescribes Dru Yoga movements to people in great distress either emotional or physical who find this self help approach much more effective than passive therapy. Mansukh encourages the use of yoga early on in the management of any common health complaint, in addition to those which do not respond well to orthodox approaches.

Mansukh Patel has written an illuminating book with Rita Goswami entitled The Dance Between Joy and Pain which covers the thirteen primary emotions in depth.

Dr Patel and Ms Goswami offer Dru Yoga movements, affirmations, visualisations and mudras to resolve everyday emotions such as anger, fear, anxiety, depression, loneliness and guilt. Mansukh Patel’s philosophy is that when you know what to do, there is no reason for negative emotions to dominate your experience. They are only energy in motion. The key is to keep them in motion!

For more information, consider:
The Dance between Joy and Pain –Mansukh Patel and Rita Goswami
Dru Yoga DVD –Mansukh Patel and Coby Langford
The Peace Formula –Mansukh Patel
The Secret Power of Light –Mansukh Patel
Dru Yoga –Stillness in Motion –Chris Barrington, Anita Goswami, Annie Jones, Mansukh Patel
Easing Backpain - Mansukh Patel and Coby Langford