Chakra Healing Therapy by Glen Park
Book Review by Caroline Blackshaw
As someone who came to Alexander Technique after many years of teaching yoga, the relationship between the practice of yoga and the principals of the Alexander Technique have always interested me. Many of the more mysterious aspects of yoga became clearer to me when I first experienced an Alexander Technique lesson.
Glen Park’s book “The Art of Changing”, was in the library at the School for FM Alexander Studies in Melbourne, and I enjoyed reading Glen’s take on how the subtle physiology, which forms the basis of yoga, might also be what we are learning to understand more clearly in Alexander Technique.
For many the Chakra system is esoteric, and an unmeasured concept that makes little or no sense to our modern western thinking. It was through Alexander Technique that the chakras started to make more sense to me and I could see them as a pragmatic system developed in an ancient language to suit the time and culture in which it evolved.
Glen Park’s latest book, “Chakra Healing Therapy” goes more deeply into this topic and is an opportunity for those of us who teach both yoga and Alexander Technique to think more deeply about the Chakra system in relation to the spine, co-ordination, human psychological development and more.
She draws on many years’ experience as a Chakra therapist, an interest in the study of western psychology, and her knowledge of the workings of the physical body as an Alexander Technique teacher.
This book is an excellent reference for those wanting a greater understanding of the subtle body of yoga physiology and how this system correlates to western psychology and neuroscience. This approach to understanding our bodies will not be for everyone, but I have welcomed this opportunity to hear Glen’s thoughts from her wealth of experience in working in this area. It is always reassuring when healing techniques and modalities and science come to similar conclusions.
I am grateful to Glen for writing this book. There has been much thought and many years of experience compiled here. It is a book that I will refer to on an ongoing basis as there is so much information, along with case studies and practical exercises in it. I also had an opportunity to have a chat with Glen earlier this year and mentioned the possibility of her running a workshop or series of classes for us here in Australia. If you would be interested get in touch with me and if we have numbers hopefully we can arrange this with Glen.
