Paper: Evening Standard, The (London, England)
Title: Evening Standard: Stretch It To The Limit: Health & Fitness: Psychotherapy through yoga is the latest buzz from the States. Lorna V put herself to the test
Author: LORNA V
Date: October 9, 2001
Page: 54
EXACTLY what I expected from Lulu Chammas I’m not sure, but when she opened the door it was like being welcomed by a family member I’d never met.
Chammas is one of four people in this country qualified in Phoenix Rising, best described as a blend of yoga and psychotherapy. The technique is hugely popular in the US, where it was founded by Michael Lee, an Australian yoga
teacher who realised by accident that if he were held in a yoga position at maximum stretch, he reached a certain awareness. If the body is given time and support in yoga postures, says Lee, it releases information relating to
the mind. Being a yogaphile, as well as having been in therapy, I was keen to try it, even though I couldn’t get to grips with the theory. It sounded like a one-to-one yoga class in which you push yourself to the limit and then get asked in therapy-speak how you feel. It was a relief to hear Chammas, in her lyrical Lebanese accent, explain Phoenix Rising with the classical practice of yoga as a starting point. If you consider yoga as being as much a meditative as a physical practice, Phoenix Rising appears to be a logical extension – and one ideally suited to modern urban living.
‘When you’re working 10 hours a day and more, and you have problems with your body and emotional life, you need tools to help you,’ says Chammas.
‘Phoenix Rising is a tool for transformation. It helps a person connect between mind and body.’
Chammas (who is 50, but doesn’t look it) discovered yoga as a mother of three whose gym-going was frustrated when she hurt her back. Yoga had such an effect that eight years ago she trained as a teacher in Sivananda Yoga Vedanta (a form of yoga rooted in spirituality). Her search for a way to focus her teaching on an individual basis led her to Phoenix Rising.
During a Phoenix Rising session the therapist puts you into a yoga position and stretches you to your limit -known as the edge. At this ‘edge’ you breathe into the position and, prompted by the therapist, express how it feels and what images come to mind. As well as benefiting chronic pain problems, Chammas says a series of sessions is particularly effective for depression and emotional problems.
When I complete the initial questionnaire, I leave out a reason for going to the session. But the astute and intuitive Chammas probes what’s going on in my life, rather than my mind. She decides to focus on three postures, which feel more like a bodywork session, more like Hellerwork, than yoga. She gauges when it’s appropriate to ask what’s going on, so that her voice is never intrusive. During the leg stretches, I get a panic attack and an intense craving for chocolate cake. As she moves on to body twists, I feel impatient. But the last posture is an assisted fish pose, in which you lie
on your back and raise the upper part of your body, head down.
In this case cushions are placed under the shoulders to raise the body. It feels good.
When we finish, I feel as if someone has finetuned me inside out. Like therapy, one session would not be enough to work on a specific problem or issue, though it has been hugely beneficial.
Whether it was Phoenix Rising, Chammas, or a combination of the two which had an effect on me I’m not sure. But I do know that Chammas is one of the most genuine and nurturing people I’ve come across in the alternative-health world. When I sit in her kitchen after the session, looking out onto a secluded, pretty, gravel patio, she tells me the jasmine tea is from Paris.
But, quite frankly, this woman could make you a cup of PG Tips and not only would it taste extraordinary, it would be therapy in itself.
Phoenix Rising sessions with Lulu Chammas cost Pounds 55 (020 7722 1355 or annapurna@aol.com). For information visit www.pryt.com. Michael Lee’s book Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy: A Bridge from Body to Soul is published by
Health Communications, Pounds 7.95 from www.amazon.co.uk
Author: LORNA V
Page: 54