Yoga for Health Foundation in England - Assisting a Retreat on Yoga for MS

My 5 weeks in Scotland started with work the first week of September on a tree conservation project in the Caledonian Forest, sponsored by the organization "Trees for Life". I spent the 9/11 week in Inverness, where I took day trips and was in a laundromat when I first found out about the terror attack in New York City. I participated in Experience Week at the international, spiritual community of Findhorn, and worked in the Findhorn Garden. After Findhorn I traveled across Scotland for a week on the Isle of Erraid off the coast of Mull, off the Western coast of Scotland. Living on this island that is 1-square mile in size is a small community of people affiliated with Findhorn, and here I worked in the gardens and kitchen. The few houses on Erraid were built by Robert Louis Stevenson and his family, who also built a lighthouse on the island. All these structures were made of (if I'm not mistaken), granite. Stevenson mentions the Isle of Erraid briefly in his novel "Kidnapped". From Erraid I went on a day trip to the Isle of Iona which is just across the bay, and there I joined a Christian walking pilgrimage around Iona. After Erraid I spent 4 days in Edinburgh and went on a lot of interesting walking tours. It's a great city for ghost tours.

After Edinburgh I traveled down to England and spent 10 days at the Yoga for Health Foundation (YFH), in Bedfordshire north of London, in a beautiful old estate called Ickwell Bury ("The Bury"). I had time to rest a bit after all my travels and then I helped out with a weekend retreat for Yoga for Multiple Sclerosis, but I was officially there to be assisting staff for the 5-day retreat on Yoga for Multiple Sclerosis.

I felt the Yoga for Health Foundation did very great work with people with illness. Sadly, I had wanted to return there and work again at the Yoga for Health Foundation again but never did... I arranged to go in 2002 but had to cancel my plans. After that it didn't work out to go again as the Foundation was fighting real estate developers who over time took over more and more of the property. They finally won and took over the whole estate. The Yoga for Health Foundation has since disbanded, and Howard Kent, the visionary founder, who simplified Yoga and made it accessible to those with chronic illness, died in February 2005 around the age of 85.

There is a new foundation in England that is being built on the ashes of the old, visit the YFH website for info:
http://www.yogaforhealthfoundation.co.uk/

When I returned to New York City I wrote an article about my experiences at the Yoga for Health Foundation for the New York Yoga Teachers' Association which was published in their newsletter. While the newsletter's editors made some good suggestions which I implemented, they wanted to cut out parts I felt were important. What was of most concern to me was that they did not let me edit the final copy, so what resulted was that I did not feel comfortable with the published article as I didn't like some of their editing choices.

I am going to take the best of the original article I wrote, putting back in some omitted sections and using the editing suggestions that I do value. That's my opportunity here, see below..

The Center's founder, Howard Kent, discovered Yoga through the teachings of ahimsa (non-violence), a quality which he recognized within himself. Gandhi's translation of the Bhagavad Gita - "The Gita According to Ghandi" made a great impact on him - the war in the Gita as symbolic of the battle of life. As producer of a popular television series called "Yoga for Health", in 1970 Kent arranged to bring Richard Hittleman, the instructor of the series, over from America to London to give a presentation at Albert Hall. The response was so favorable that Kent was led to start the organization Yoga for Health in 1972/73, and in 1976 the Yoga for Health Foundation began as a registered charity. In 1978 the Foundation took a lease on a large and beautiful property called Ickwell Bury ("The Bury"), in Bedfordshire north of London. The Bury was to be run as a residential center, where the holistic approach of yoga could be brought to many people, and the building equipped with special facilities such as gentle ramps and a stairlift.

A growing realization developed of the value of yoga's contribution in healing all forms of stress and chronic conditions. Illness is viewed as a complex integration of factors - body/mind/spirit, and Yoga deals with the cause, going much deeper than the treatment of symptoms. The Foundation undertook much research and worked with doctors and others to understand the internal revolution which is yoga. The emphasis is on human energy and its development through the breath, as Howard Kent quotes from the Upanishads - "Life is breath/and Breath is life." All forms of illness and mental unease manifest themselves in the breath. A person with a disabling disease suffers from impaired breathing, caused by nuero-muscular attempts to resist the weakness or loss of balance produced by the symptoms of the disease.

Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which the body's defense system attacks the myelin sheath surrounding nerves. Without the myelin, nerves begin to short out, thereby blocking pathways between the brain and the body. The practice of Yoga is beneficial as it can help open up new pathways in the brain.

The retreat I assisted had 23 participants including about 7 in wheelchairs, some of whom came with helpers to assist them. Participants ranged in ability from an ex-lawyer who has had MS for 20 years and still runs, to a woman who came with her husband and her helper, who both would move her limbs for her in Yoga class, as she herself could not move her own body.

Each retreat day started at 7AM with a 1-hour Yoga class. Those in wheelchairs usually attended the longer class at 10:30 AM, where they were helped down to the floor to lie on their backs. With prolonged wheelchair sitting (and worse, slouching), the diaphram moves little and one's energy level sinks more and more, so it is very important to move wheelchair students out of their wheelchair, thereby freeing their bodies so they can relax and breathe on the floor. A plastic support with handles was placed on the wheelchair seat and the student would sit on it. Three or four helpers holding on to the handles would all inhale to easily lift the student out of the chair and exhale to lower him or her gently to the mat.

Classes started with relaxation, lying on the back with pillows and blankets for support as needed. Breathing is emphasized -- both relaxed, rhythmical abdominal breathing, and a more energized rib cage breathing. In the latter, hands are placed on the sides of the lower rib cage, and on exhalation, the ribs are pressed firmly into the middle, which deepens and lengthens the breath, aids relaxation and encourages the intercostal muscles to move and regain elasticity. Simple arm movements were synchronized with the breath to open the chest, deepening breath awareness and mind-body connection. The class would include movements such as full-body stretches, twists, leg work, bridge pose, cat/dog stretches and also sometimes included cobra and other gentle backbends. Seated forward bends were minimized due to participants' difficulties in sitting up on the floor. Class ended with a long relaxation.

Some of the students needed assistance to move into the various positions. One woman who had hip replacement surgery couldn't bend her leg. After I worked with her during the retreat, by the end of the week she could bend her knee into her chest! I showed her husband what to do so she could continue her good work.

Yoga class was followed by a well-attended meditation session, and then lunch. After lunch there was free time and I'd go into the beautiful old brick-walled gardens, which were an integral part of the healing whole that is offered at YFH. The vegetable garden had massive pumpkins and squashes, and while there you might just see the cook run out and pull up some leeks for dinner. The multi-colored rose garden had a little lotus pond and well-situated benches which beckoned for relaxing, inner moments. I weeded the rose beds, creating breathing space for the roses, and restoring my energy. On one of my walks around the lake a friend found a branch from a Yew tree, which he said was used to make shooting bows perhaps back in the time of Robin Hood. I was able to approach a rabbit (who wasn't supposed to be there), and pet her, tentatively at first. Participants from the retreat would sit quietly in the garden, some in their wheelchairs, absorbing the gardens' stillness and energy. It seemed that the spirits of nature knew that people come for healing and so provide a healing haven.

At 4PM there was an afternoon program on yoga-related topics such as breathing and mudras, and then an entertaining evening program after dinner.

It was rewarding to be part of this and to see all the participants coming to drink in yoga for their health. Most enjoyed the shared group experience and felt that they noticeably improved in their health and physical ability (were able to walk better, for example) after the retreat.

Since 1978 more than 3,000 people with MS have stayed at the Center. Many came several times a year, and some keep up their Yoga practice in classes closer to where they live.

My schedule did not permit me to stay and assist in the next retreat "Yoga for Arthritis and Cancer", but I had hoped to visit YFH again. The Foundation underwent a long campaign to "Save the Bury", with the intent to raise money to purchase the estate. Unfortunately, as I post this in 2007, the Yoga for Health Foundation is now closed, as stated on their website.
http://www.yogaforhealthfoundation.co.uk/