Living Well: Wellness begins at Chopra

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

By Teresa Griswold

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Last week, I spent a day in an intensive care unit, but not in the traditional sense. This one was life-supportive of body, mind and spirit health. Imagine this place where you take a break from the busyness of life – relaxing, reprogramming and restoring balance. Some of us find it in the invigorating wilderness, others beside the soothing ocean, and some just being out of our everyday element. For me, spending time at the Chopra Center for Wellbeing was that place.

Located at the La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., the Chopra Center was warm and nourishing, an environment conducive to health promotion. The day I visited, a weeklong “Perfect Health” course was commencing, and the halls, rooms and reception area were alive with students who exuded vitality.

The center embraces the full spectrum of health-promoting and healing interventions available, combining the best of traditional medicine with Ayurveda, a 5,000-year-old system of natural healing. At the center, they are dedicated to helping people become active partners in their own health.

They teach people about the things they can do for themselves that support them on their own healing journey. People are exposed to and learn to practice a set of skills that help them stay in balance, which includes a healthy diet, yoga, and meditation.

Tiffany Murray, a radiant and gracious woman, showed my mom, who joined me on the visit, and me all around the center including the therapeutic treatment rooms. She served us ginger tea, a personal favorite, and bestowed us with dosha balancing treats – massage oil and aromatherapy candles specific to our predominant dosha, which is a mind-body type based on Ayurvedic medicine. Mine is Vata, the wind energy.

The whole center was incredibly comfortable and welcoming. A convention-sized pot of invigorating ginger tea was brewing in the carpeted and window-lined classroom, and the cozy library across the hall from it was invitingly furnished with a low-seated, overstuffed couch. The meditation room, draped in rich fabrics and filled with exotic cushions surrounding a large, oval stone in the middle, felt more soothing than it did monastic. A medical consultation room was in use, and Drs. Deepak Chopra’s and David Simon’s, as well as David Greenspan’s (aka davidji) offices were housed near the back, where the business operations take place.

The highlight of my visit was a therapeutic body treatment called the Odyssey massage at the La Costa Spa, which served as a sampler of many of the Ayurvedic therapies offered at the center. It was a relaxing blend of aromatherapy and four massage techniques including Garshana, Abhyanga, Vishesh and Marma Point. Each offered up its restorative benefits and relieved my stored-up tension on a deep level. Of all the therapies, the Marma Point Therapy was my favorite as it was both relaxing and rejuvenating.

The therapy cleanses energy and rebalances, using pure essential oils to restore the memory of wholeness. Marma points are considered the gateways in the body where the body and mind communicate. By stimulating them, blocks are dissolved, making the mind-body connection even more intimate.

My visit was complete, but it was the surprise encounter at the start of the morning that set the stage for the entire day. As I was walking across the La Costa courtyard toward the center, a casually, but smartly, dressed man clipped past me. I glanced over my shoulder only to recognize the center’s co-founder, Dr. David Simon, from his photographs.

After introducing myself, I witnessed the magic he expressed to me in a telephone interview with him last October: “The Chopra Center itself is an amazing environment that really cultivates and nurtures and supports loving, conscious behaviors at all times. So really for me coming to work every day is magical. It’s the opportunity to work both with my staff and the beautiful people who come here seeking guidance. It’s a great gift to be able to manage the Chopra Center.”
Likewise, it was a great gift for me to visit it. PJH
PERMALINK:
Living Well: Wellness begins at Chopra | Planet JH News Article: Living Well

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