The much-anticipated Eat Pray Love releases today across the UAE and no doubt anyone with a sensitive side (blokes included) will rush to see whether Julia Roberts lives up to the hype the book created.
While you may not have the funds to jet off to India to "find yourself" or nip over to Bali to stumble on Mr Right, tabloid! looks at a few alternative therapies, a little closer to home, for the body and mind.
Healing with Hall
Amirah Hall can perform miracles. No, really. And she wants to teach you how.
The clairvoyant, who moved to Dubai five months ago, claims she can make you fall over with just a touch. During telephone sessions, which she conducts for overseas clients, patrons have been known to experience light-headedness or become dizzy.
And all this, while they heal. From depression to various other illnesses, the desperate from all around the world have been seeking Hall's help. And they continue to come in droves, she says.
"It's all scientific. It's how you balance your energy. I know it can sound outrageous but once you experience it, you will be a believer," says the American, who claims she recognised her unique gift while on a pilgrimage to Egypt about a decade ago after a "near-death experience" brought on a vision.
"I describe myself as a quantum energy healer. I can basically see energy. And I adjust my energy centre and move it to the third dimension so I can see beyond the physical," she explains. "By moving blocked emotions and feelings, you open the flow of energy. And when energy can flow easily, we call it balance or wellness."
Hall is currently offering Essential Energy Tool Kits on her website amirahhall.com
A zen-like state
When it comes to efficiency, punctuality and fashion, the Japanese have it down to a fine art. So there’s no reason for not following their healing rituals either.
Reiki is a Japanese technique for relieving stress. A practitioner places hands in the aura of your body and energy is channelled to bring balance and harmony. Reiki is said to be perfect for those who are stressed about life, work, family, finances or are “stuck in a rut” and need a new direction.
Sessions are usually 30 or 60 minutes.
The Healing Zone, Dubai, offers Reiki, call 050-6542998 or e-mail anne@thehealingzone.net
Right way of living
Celebrities like Madonna and Kareena Kapoor may swear by yoga, but somehow I have never been able to understand its soaring popularity. The idea of sitting still, taking deep breaths and channelling my concentration inward was as painful as joining a quantum physics class. But three years ago, I decided to give it a shot by joining the Art Of Living ( AOL) course for beginners. Essentially, they teach you the basic asanas (yoga positions) and sudarshana kriya (the art of regulating our breathing) in the
week-long course. The latter is AOL’s trump card and it claimed to cleanse and soothe your mind after a stressful day at work. So did it work for me? Yes, it did, but only during the duration of my course. I felt relatively stress-free but my newly-acquired zen state didn’t last long because I didn’t stick to AOL’s cardinal rule — that of continuing my breathing exercises even after the course wraps up. But for all those who are disciplined among us, AOL is a good starting point. Dh750 for a week-long course.
For details, write to courses@artoflivingme.org
A breath of fresh air
We’ve all been there. You get stressed, feel like you’d like to throw something very hard at something else — and suddenly a voice of reason says “take a deep breath”.
While the majority of us probably know the phrase as something a friend blurts out to stop a mirror getting broken, Sangeeta Kapoor, co-founder of the Kayan Wellness Centre, is here to tell us otherwise. “Breath has proven to be an effective tool to remove stress and impurities from the body and bring clarity and focus to the mind,” she says. “More than 80 per cent of the emotional and physical impurities in the body can be eliminated through breath.”
Kapoor tells tabloid! the right breathing techniques.
- Innhaling, you expand your lungs and stomach, and when exhaling suck your stomach back in. Most do it the other way round. “This is the correct way to breathe to get maximum oxygen into the lungs.”
- Kapalbhati: “Short, sharp breaths which use all the muscles in your stomach which also help for toning.” This increases health and well-being, vitality and energy.
- Alternate breathing: “The breath comes in through the right nostril and out through the left. The benefits are greater creativity and clarity of the mind.”
The Breath of Joy course at Kayan uses old-age Indian breathing techniques, meditation and gentle yoga postures to bring back the natural harmony between the body, breath and mind.
For a free introduction session or more information call 04-3445612.
