I’m standing on the deck of Jennifer Groves beautiful old Queenslander in Mullumbimby, and she’s explaining to me the principle behind Movement Intelligence, the modality she teaches around Australia designed to help people consciously understand how their bodies work, and to move with, rather than against them. I’m specifically here to do a class in Bones for Life, one of the programs within Movement Intelligence.

The first thing I notice is how graceful Jenny is – if ever there is a case for someone advertising their own work, than she is surely it. She moves with the grace and poise of a dancer, and her hands move with her, helping her describe what she’s explaining to me.

“Think of your body as a wave,” she says. “It’s a wave of movement.

If you think about African women, and how they move when they are carrying a heavy load on their heads, the reason they are able to do it is because of their dynamic walking style which integrates the forces of gravity.” She points out that osteoporosis is a Western disease, and that whilst a sedentary lifestyle is part of the cause so is exercise that doesn’t build up bone strength.

The ‘wave’ in action – balanced and graceful.

If ever there is someone who should know about the effects of exercise on the body it’s Jenny, who came to Movement Intelligence via her work as a Feldenkrais teacher, and to that via 20 years of yoga practice which included the setting up of Byron Bay’s first yoga centre, ‘The Byron Yoga Studio’.

“To be honest, it was partly because of my years in yoga that I was drawn further into the somatic and remedial fields,” she tells me, while she quietly observes how I walk, stand and sit. “Yoga can be a great practice but it can also inflict quite a lot of damage long term if too much strain is put on the body. It was my own health that led me towards Feldenkrais, and while I was studying it I was really drawn to the work of Ruth Alon. Ruth was one of Feldenkrais’s early students and became a well-known teacher, but she wanted to take her study further into the somatic field, and Movement Intelligence is the result.”

There’s a bit of Movement Intelligence being practised right in front of me, but it’s not actually another student, it’s Jenny’s dog, Coco, who lost a front leg in a car accident some years before. Coco has had to learn intuitively what humans can learn through practise – to use her muscles in a different way to help her in her new three-legged life.

As we talk, and Jenny points out to me various postural ways in which I am not helping my body, she explains to me that Movement Intelligence challenges, through an amazing 90 processes, the habitual movement patterns that can lead to muscular and skeletal problem such lower back pain, joint injuries and core stability. The program offers gentle movement patterns that allow for flexible posture and movement for a lifetime.

Jenny explains the waves of movements, both lateral and vertical that pass through our bodies every time we take a step. At first it feels unfamiliar to try walking with this rhythmic feel, but before long, I can sense, in a way which is quite unusual for me, every step I’m taking, and how I’m taking it.

‘Bones for Life’ – practicing feeling the movement…

Bones for Life is not the only program that Movement Intelligence is the umbrella organisation for – there’s also a Chairs program designed to teach dynamic sitting so that we can avoid degenerative problems related to bad sitting patterns; Walk for Life to encourage us to be able to walk the long distances that our bodies are actually originally designed for; Mindful Eating, where even how we chew our food is examined and other training and education programs.

The beautiful Queenslander Jenny lives in, was brought down to its current resting spot when Jenny and her partner, psychotherapist and gestalt trainer Brendan Healey, bought the big old house for the block of land they’d purchased just near the hospital in Mullumbimby. A studio near the front is the usual exercise spot, but due to some renovation we’re using the front deck.

It strikes me, when it comes time to leave, that there was a fair amount of ‘movement intelligence’ going on in the careful placement of the big old house on their beautiful block. Douphraite House, as it’s called, has become well known in the Byron region for its nurturing of the mind, body and spirit, and I for one can notice even after a single session how much lighter my body feels, with a corresponding state of mental wellbeing. Bones for Life – what a nice idea.

For more information on Jennifer Groves and Movement Intelligence go to: https://www.movement-intelligence.com.au/

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Some people think I live the ideal life. I teach yoga, travel worldwide and have a stable loving partnership. But things aren’t always as they appear.

In 2008 I was diagnosed with diabetes. The diagnosis floored me. How could someone like me – a yoga teacher and a health and wellness advocate get diabetes? And worse why didn’t I recognise the signs?

It’s been a long eight years and I’ve learned many valuable lessons as part of my personal journey back to health. In fact, it’s driven me to pursue my passion for writing.  I’ve written a book for people just like me who are longing for simple and effective ways to achieve radiant health through yoga and ayurveda. To get this book out there I’ve set up a crowdfunding campaign.  If you’d like to support me in this dream of helping others the site is:  https://www.pozi.be/yoga4diabetes

Looking back I’m convinced my health issues started when I was living in New York City during 9/11. I had moved from Byron Bay to New York City to support my-then husband who had dreams of landing a job in radio. We were crazy. We sold everything we had, rented out our four-bedroom mud brick home in Goonengerry, in the hills behind Byron Bay and moved to New York City with absolutely no idea how we would survive financially. Miraculously not long after our arrival things fell into place. I landed a job at one of the biggest and most well known yoga studios not only as a yoga teacher but as one of the co-creators and mentors of their teacher training program.

And then 9/11 happened. It was impossible not to be shocked, disoriented and overwhelmed. I don’t think I ever really recovered emotionally or physically. Six months later I started experiencing a lot of strange physical symptoms. Things like tingling in my fingers and toes, difficulty concentrating, insomnia, a feeling of being overly expanded, frequent urination, hives and skin rashes, racing heartbeat, difficulty digesting and many more things which turned my previously healthy life into a living hell.

I now know that all the various symptoms happened because my immune system had turned in on itself and was attacking the insulin producing cells in my pancreas. Diabetes runs in the family and the stress had triggered the gene. But at the time I was deeply confused and frustrated because no matter what I did, no matter how many doctors I saw, I just couldn’t get better.

When I was finally diagnosed nearly eight years later, my doctor thought I was pre-diabetic. We discussed the possibility that if I changed my diet and increased my intake of various essential nutrients like Vitamin B12 and Iron that there was a chance things would normalise. I took what he said as a sign of hope and assumed whole-heartedly that yoga would come to the rescue. And for a year I succeeded. However, by the end of the year and after more testing my doctor informed me that my high blood sugar was being caused by an autoimmune disease.

I’ve always been rebellious. My dad calls me a crunchy granola girl. It’s why I moved to Byron Bay in the early 80’s and chose to live an eco-friendly, yoga-loving lifestyle instead of a fast-paced city life.

But being rebellious has its drawbacks. I refused to believe that my condition was incurable and set about trying everything from acupuncture, to herbs, homeopathy and ayurveda. The more I searched for answers the more confused I became.

I was told it was a parasite, a weak spleen, too much heat in my liver. Everyone kept telling me that I couldn’t possibly be diabetic, I was too healthy, too fit.  But what people think and what’s actually true are two different things. There’s a lot of misinformation out there about diabetes. Most people think of it as a lifestyle disease. They don’t even realise there’s more than one type. And I was one of those people too – there I was living with the disease thinking it was something else. Anything else would have been better than what I actually had.

And then I hit rock bottom. Rock bottom for me was dragging myself up hills to try and get my blood sugar down. I was eating green veggies and eggs and nothing else. I started losing weight, peeing relentlessly and had less and less energy. My blood sugar levels crept up to unsafe levels. Something had to change.

The hardest thing I’ve ever done is face failure. I’m someone who prides myself on being strong and capable. So when I dragged myself to the doctor and admitted I couldn’t do this on my own we both breathed a huge sigh of relief.

At last I was willing to listen. He told me I had LADA diabetes. Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults. It’s called type 1.5. In type 1 the pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin, in type 2 the body resists the insulin. In type 1.5 there are aspects of both. His recommendation was to start Insulin injections. One shot a day.

When I stood on my yoga mat that evening I couldn’t stop crying. I felt so relieved. Finally I had an answer to why I just couldn’t get well. Insulin, I realised, wasn’t a bad thing – it was going to save my life.

Insulin gave me back my energy and inspired me to get informed. One of the first things I did once I accepted my diagnosis was to go online and join some support groups. To my surprise I discovered a global community – people just like me living with diabetes and thriving.

Once I looked back at the timeline of my illness and understood a bit more about the complexity of the disease I realised that rather than failing me yoga had been my constant companion. Things could have been much worse. My passion for practice and the depth of my understanding had actually kept the disease from progressing faster.

In my 30 years of experience I can absolutely vouch for yoga and its benefits. Yoga works.

Diabetes is a stressful disease, you’re on call 24/7. You have to literally think like a pancreas using medication to mimic what the body does automatically. Just one miscalculation can threaten your life.

With all these challenges in play it’s hard not to fall prey to emotions. That’s where my yoga practice has helped me cope. Every time I stop, drop and breathe I feel better. Every time I stretch and focus my mind on a posture, the worry melts away.  Each time I practice a simple meditation I gain perspective.

Reaping the benefits of my practice while living with a chronic condition has inspired me to write a book to share how yoga can be incorporated into a daily diabetes management regime. And what’s in the book isn’t just for people with diabetes, Anyone can benefit from bringing simple yoga practices into their daily life. In fact here are eight things you can do every day to feel your absolute best.

Rachel’s eight-point list

Wake up just before sunrise, sit quietly and take a few moments to feel grateful.

Find a physical practice that inspires you, it could be yoga, walking in nature, swimming in the ocean. Whatever it is just do it!

Take a few moments for reflection and stillness. You don’t need to label it. Just stop for a moment and be.

Eat fresh, wholesome and organic foods.

Express your creativity in a way that nurtures you.

Make time for your friends and reach out for support.

Sleep when you’re tired. Eat when you’re hungry. And laugh and cry when you feel the need.

Explore life’s deeper meaning. Understanding yourself and your relationship with creation is vital to being able to accept whatever comes along.

Rachel Zinman is a senior yoga teacher and teacher trainer with over 30 years experience teaching nationally and internationally. She is currently completing a book on Yoga for Diabetes. If you’d like to preorder a copy or want more info visit https://yogafordiabetesblog.com/yoga-for-diabetes-book/ <https://yogafordiabetesblog.com/yoga-for-diabetes-book/>  and her blog https://www.yogafordiabetesblog.com

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Yoga teacher Sue Hawkins greets the dawn in Byron Bay

Television and radio producer Sue Hawkins was working 18 hours a day and suffering from stress overload before she discovered yoga. 20 years later, Hawkins is one of the pioneers of yoga retreats, holding them regularly in Byron Bay, Bali and Europe, writes Georgina Bible.

“I felt something was missing from my life,” Byron-Bay based Yoga Health Retreats founder Sue Hawkins says of her past career in Sydney. “I was burnt out – like so many people working in advertising my entire life was built around work and eighteen hour days were not unusual. I was under huge stress and I’d started to read books about raising consciousness to try and deal with the pressure.” Scanning the pages of a new book, the words, ‘I need to find my centre,’ struck a deep chord, and Hawkins began the process of dissolving her life as she knew it. “When I read those words about finding my centre, it was like something fell into place,” she says. “I didn’t know how I would find my centre but I knew that somehow it involved going to yoga.”

Hawkins had already had a brush with yoga as a 21 year-old. But somehow she caught the attention of the teacher who was a 65 year-old yoga matriarch. “She was strict and was so hard on me if I missed class,” Hawkins says. “But I wasn’t looking for anything serious – I was just trying it out, so I stopped going.”

When the call to find her centre came seven years later, Hawkins inadvertently picked another taskmaster for a yoga teacher. But this time, she welcomed the discipline of a daily early morning yoga routine. However the more she studied the more yoga began to expose her inner conflict about working and living in the two divergent worlds of advertising and yoga. “I was running my own production company and was putting in huge hours every week,” Hawkins says. “My adrenals were burnt out. I was unhappy and ready for a change. So when a boyfriend told me he was moving to Byron Bay I jumped at it. I told him, ‘You’re my ticket out of Sydney!’”

Sue Hawkins: Founder of Yoga Health Retreats

Hawkins made the move from Sydney to Byron Bay in 1993. She continued with her yoga classes, bought a clothes shop and began importing clothes from Indonesia. One day she noticed a sign advertising a nine-month yoga teacher training course – it was a defining moment when everything fell into place. “I’d always wanted to be a teacher,” Sue says. “I remember as a child I loved to play games where I would pretend to be a teacher in front of a class of students. So becoming a yoga teacher was the most natural thing.”

In 1999, Sue sold her clothing shop and headed to India to deepen her knowledge in Astanga yoga, Ayurveda and philosophy. In Mysore she received a mantra and underwent initiation with a Vaishnava Guru which cemented her on the yogic path. Hawkins returned to Australia and taught yoga for Yoga Arts studio in Byron Bay where she also began to develop her dream of hosting yoga retreats.

Since 2001, Hawkins has been hosting yoga retreats internationally. Retreats are now held regularly in Byron Bay, Bali and in Europe. Sue says the main focus of the retreats is to nurture and inspire others to live a healthy and empowering life. However, it’s something she’s had to remind herself to do, especially earlier this year when her father died and after a major relationship breakdown.

“It was a difficult time,” says Hawkins. “There were days I did not even want to get out of bed in the morning, let alone do yoga. But I found that if I nurtured myself by going outside and just letting myself be in nature, nature gave me the energy to move. Nature gave me the energy to get out of bed in the morning. Nature gave me the energy to move to the mat, to continue my yoga practices and to be present with what was happening – to be present with the grief – and I feel great now. Life is cyclic – there will always be good times and hard times. You just have to be with what is – you have to find your centre in it.”

* An exclusive to Verandah Magazine readers – Yoga Health Retreats is offering a special discount to their next Bali Joyful Retreat in October. Bring a friend and receive a 10% discount off the price per person. To book, call 0404 467 744 or visit www.yogahealthretreats.com/yoga-retreats/bali-joyful-spirit/

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Robert Drewe likes a laugh – but he’s not too sure about laughing to order, and as for laughter yoga, you can count him out…

You might have been having too much actual fun to notice, but for the past decade people have been faking laughter – pretending to chortle, making exaggeratedly amused facial expressions and miming extreme jollity — in public places all over Australia.

It’s disconcerting to encounter your first laughter club. When three perspiring grandmotherly women accosted me and my family on the boardwalk at Bondi Beach one summer weekend when the temperature had leapt to a record-breaking 46 degrees, I wondered who these lunatics were.

“Ho, ho, ho! Ha, ha, ha!” the women chanted, jumping up and down and clapping their hands above their heads. Sweat ran down their red faces and they looked ready to expire. “Hee, hee, hee! Won’t you join us?” they invited. “Just clap your hands and say ‘Ho, ho, ho.”

“No thanks,” I said, as we nervously backed away. They didn’t look too happy at our reaction but to their credit their strange heatwave endeavours did provide my children with a few genuine laughs rather than simulated ones.

Of course humour should be encouraged. We understand its benefits to physical and emotional health. Laughter helps counter stress and pain, lightens your load, keeps you grounded, improves well-being and connects you to others. Laughing is enjoyable. Laughing is the natural human response of every race on earth to something funny.

But somewhere along the line some people thought the world wasn’t funny enough any more to make us laugh. We needed artificial online instruction and laughing demonstrators and laughter conferences and special How-to-Laugh CDs and DVDs.

Such urging reminds me that in my father’s Readers Digests I’d always turn to the section instructing me that ‘Laughter is the Best Medicine’. Unfortunately it wasn’t. Its jokes were so lame they rarely brought a smile and vaguely depressed me. Even the section ‘It Pays to Increase Your Word Power’, by Wilfred J. Funk, was funnier – his name anyway.

I didn’t find Disney cartoons particularly amusing either. What made me laugh were Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, the Goon Show and Monty Python. Jerry Lewis didn’t last the distance to adolescence, and Adam Sandler and American gross-out comedies lost me from the beginning. Of the ancient humour urged on me by my elders, Charlie Chaplin seemed too simpering and sentimental, but Buster Keaton and the famous black-and-white footage of W.C. Fields dealing with sticky wrapping paper still work their magic today.

Unfortunately I’ve never been able to track down one of the most unintentionally funny films ever: Australian newsreel footage of an extremely superior outback wildlife handler, a generation before Harry Butler, and two before Steve Irwin, demonstrating how easy it was to handle a python. And the snakeman’s being gradually entwined, limb by limb, tripped over, and enveloped by the snake. The increasingly shaky film (the cameraman was obviously uncontrollably laughing) comes to an abrupt end when the camera falls over; clearly the cameraman had to rush to help release him.

“If you’re not going to take this seriously

you can leave the room…”

Now we have Laughter Yoga, developed in Mumbai, India in 1995 by Dr. Madan Kataria, a physician, and his wife Madhuri, a yoga teacher. Their website says that Dr. Kataria recognised that people were laughing less, were more stressed, and that laughter had significant health benefits.

“Laughter Yoga is a group session of aerobic activity which turns fake laughter into real laughter. It consists of hand-clapping rhythms, yoga breathing exercises and laughter exercises. The brain cannot differentiate between fake laughter and genuine laughter, and provides the benefits of laughter anyway. In a group, laughter becomes contagious and the participants gain the benefits.

“Dr. Madan and Madhuri Kataria have since travelled to 42 countries to teach Laughter Yoga. There are now 6000 Laughter Clubs around the world. Laughter Yoga was introduced to Australia in 2000 and we now have Laughter Clubs around the metro areas and in the country.”

Good luck to them, and best wishes for the 2014 Laughter Conference to be held in Brisbane in October. Incidentally, two friends of mine went to an early club meeting at a city club. They found the exercises, the grimaces and fake laughter – all the “ho, ho, hos” and “hee, hee, hees” – amusing and started to genuinely laugh.

“If you’re not going to take this seriously, you can leave the room,” said the stern instructor, and sent them packing.

PS – If you’d like an alternative view of  Laughter Clubs watch out for our post on Byron Bay’s first Laughter Club which meets every Monday evening between 6-7pm at the Byron Sport and Cultural Complex.

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