Alternative Health Articles

 

Breema: Being Present is Total Fulfillment
By Dave Pratt

Breema is a teaching of the heart. It includes floor-based bodywork (with a practitioner and recipient), Self-Breema exercises (done on one's own body) and Nine Universal Principles of Harmony.

And it's fun.

Breema helps me not take myself too seriously. For many years I was on some sort of self-improvement track. I wanted the most vibrant health. I didn't like that speaking in public made me feel frightened. There was always more to correct. I sought out all kinds of herbs, elixirs and bodyworkers and meditated as if it were a prescription.

Then, in my first Breema session, I received, without words, acceptance as I was and an upwelling Knowing that an aspect of myself had always been and always would be okay.

I still remember sitting up after the session and having the same splitting headache I'd arrived with. The difference now was a deep, warm presence I felt throughout my whole body -- and I was smiling!

In that session, there seemed to be a shift in my relationship between mind, body and feelings. Instead of being Dave with a headache and feeling tense and annoyed about it, there was complete acceptance of the whole moment.

In fact, perhaps it is too much to say there was acceptance, but just that things were as they were. There was nothing extra added on by my mind. The mind was quiet and serene. With the new energy available, I found that the headache gradually subsided too.

As I have worked with Breema over the past eight years, I see the ever-unfolding value of this art's simple method of bringing mind and body together. If I see that I am tense or over-thinking a problem at work, I may stop for a moment and experience that I am breathing.

Or I may do one Self-Breema exercise and return to work refreshed and including the added support of knowing there is a body here too.

In the mornings, I usually do some Self-Breema and always see how grateful I am. Doing Self-Breema is like eating vital and delicious food. I am fully nurtured by the experience and enjoy each movement, lean, brush or playful tap that I give and receive with my own body.

The diverse postures and holds that I get to experience really bring my mind to the activity at hand. I am continually moving in a direction of more Full Participation with body, mind and feelings all working together in greater harmony.

When sharing Breema Bodywork with another person on a softly-padded rug, I begin with the aim to let this be for myself. It's really no different than Self-Breema. As I raise my partner's legs, or lean into her arm, I am aware of my body's comfort.

Can I be more comfortable?

I continually make adjustments that include myself in this activity and this single moment. Again, my mind is invited to join in, instead of wandering to the past or future as it often does. I discover repeatedly that this experience of being unified has a taste, and in that is a natural joy and fulfillment.

I also see that those receiving Breema respond to the treatment with a sort of wonder. They are often happily surprised at the variety of postures and movements they comfortably receive. The body loves Breema!

Perhaps even more profound is their response to being touched not as a body needing to be fixed, but as a vital support for the practitioner to give a treatment for him or herself.

With this, there is gratitude in the exchange from both sides. To give or receive a treatment offers each person a chance to really know that they exist in this moment.

The beauty of the Nine Principles of Harmony is in their simplicity and in how easily they can support us in our daily lives. From giving Breema Bodywork treatments and doing Self-Breema, students get firsthand tastes of working with No Force or Firmness and Gentleness and the other principles. This makes it easier to work with the principles in other moments throughout life.

In my experience, being in a Breema class with others with the aim to work with these principles is amazingly transformational. The group atmosphere allows us to continually let go of judgment, because this is everyone's aim here.

We let go of notions about how we appear to others, because we are doing Breema for ourselves. Oftentimes, as a class progresses there is a relief and ease in the room, and we all benefit.

I've found this to be most profoundly true at intensive classes at The Breema Center, which is the world headquarters for certifying practitioners and instructors. Each year, long-time students and first-timers gather at these week-long intensives to experience this teaching at its source.
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Jon Schreiber, D.C., founded the center and the Breema Clinic (both in Oakland, California) in 1980 with a core group of people who all had a similar wish for a truly holistic approach to health and life. Although Breema is now taught and practiced around the world, the original aim remains very much alive: to support true health by using the Nine Principles of Harmony and connection to the body as practical tools to cultivate the art of being present.

Dave Pratt, L.M.T., B.A., is a Certified Breema Instructor and Director of Spa Services at The Inn at Honey Run in Millersburg, Ohio. He will be teaching a 6 hour Breema workshop in Columbus on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009. For more details and registration information, go to www.breemajoy.com or call him at 330-473-0402. For information on classes and intensives at The Breema Center, go to www.breema.com

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