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Chakracise - To Nurturing

Building on her early years as an aerobics teacher and physical therapist, Harrison layered in techniques based on her studies in Kriya Yoga as well training in a whole host of healing modalities from Neural Organization Therapy and Kinesiology to Systemic Conversation.  

The main component of the workout is Chakra Dancing in which women (and men who dare!) connect with the negative emotions and energy stored in the chakras, clear them out, and replace them with new experiences.  

Harrison added meridian tapping, physical and spiritual stretching, a relaxation in stillness, and then tied them all up with Systemic Dialoguing questions designed to invite clients to reach deep thoughts and emotions. 

CALL WILLOW SYSTEM INTERNATIONAL TOLL FREE at: (800) 790-6140

or Val Joy 510-381-9997.

Chakracise - From Conception

Harrison’s Chakracise has been 30 years in its evolution from the notion that traditional yoga and meditation techniques don’t quite work for most women, and that our moments of clarity come after movement like walking, running, exercising, or dancing.  Her research began as casual survey of women around her and led to the discovery that the feminine energy flow is like “a water wheel or propeller” on either side of our bodies. “Women can activate all of our chakras at once and stay connected while being active,” she says.   

Drawing an invisible circle about her head, Harrison goes on to show how the male energy flow is more "like a sombrero around the Third Eye and pineal gland.” “Those in the male flow," she adds, "only activate one chakra at a time and are either in the physical or the divine.”  

With this acknowledgment that men and women are very different, Harrison set out to create a meditation program for women, first called AIM for Active Inspirational Meditation, and then AYM for Active Yoga & Meditation.  She realized early on that as she incorporated techniques culled from her years of experience, she had developed a constant healing system.  In keeping with the philosophy she employs when treating her Willow System clients, Harrison uses a “feminine” or non-linear approach, pulling the best or most applicable pieces of different modalities into a unique program that gives results on any or all of our levels - physical, mental, emotional, systemic, spiritual, even DNA.  

CALL WILLOW SYSTEM INTERNATIONAL TOLL FREE at: (800) 790-6140

or Val Joy 510-381-9997.

Why Chakracise?

I felt the carpet between my toes, yes, my knees were slightly bent, yes, I was sitting slightly, yes, my arms fell relaxedly by my side, and were there any thoughts in my head?  “Don’t think,” I played those words in my head.  Was that a thought?  As I stood there not thinking, my body started to gently sway.  Oh nice, I thought, that’s my qi.  I can feel it.  

The teacher came up behind me and would affirm my good work, I thought.  Instead she whispered, Keep your body still.  

That scene plays out every day, as women are prodded to separate the yin from the yang by quieting the chatterbox in our heads and stripping the movement out of stillness.  As Rita Harrison, founder of Chakracise, so colorfully puts it, “Meditating like a man is like having women pee while we’re standing.”

Chakracise - the only workout built on the feminine energy flow.

CALL WILLOW SYSTEM INTERNATIONAL TOLL FREE at: (800) 790-6140

or Val Joy 510-381-9997.

AYM to Chakracise

I flash back to an AYM (Active Yoga and Meditation) workshop in late 2014 where Rita Harrison is chatting comfortably with women who have come to see what this “yoga” technique is all about.  

Her brief description of how AYM taps into the feminine energy flow is followed by a 90-minute musical journey through Africa, Europe, the high mountains of Tibet, and into the depths of the ocean.  The physical and emotional journey involves everything from squeezing and burning to mad Salsa steps and the Pony.  The accolades range from “So fun” to “Wow,” and I see women thrilled to find an exercise and meditation practice all their own and for each one, slightly different.  

Fast forward to Wednesday and Thursday's classes, and the women are invested.  They want to name, actually re-name, the "baby."

“Yoga is the wrong word.” “It’s not like any yoga class I’ve taken.”  “It’s like dance and this amazing journey.”  

In the midst of class, a woman holds up her hand.  It's not that she's not engaged in the class, she says. It's just that a thought has come to her, and she just has to share it.

“I’ve got it," she says.  "Chakracise.”

CALL WILLOW SYSTEM INTERNATIONAL TOLL FREE AT: (800) 790-6140

or Val Joy 510-381-9997.

This Isn't Like Any Yoga Class I've Ever Been To

And that's the good news!

Ignore for a moment the "Crowded Classes" that "Test the Zen of Yoga" (Wall Street Journal 2-16-15).  Ignore the competition, class etiquette, and flying yoga blocks.

Imagine instead a sanctuary deep inside yourself.

Here, you can ponder what yoga and Yoga mean to you.

The word yoga has among its many meanings, "to unite," "connection," and "oneness," while the word Yoga can simply mean "the goal of Yoga practice."

AYM hinges on the "oneness," and if the goal of Active Yoga & Meditation classes is to connect us with Everything that Is, I can imagine that there are as many ways we can connect or be in our center as there are bodies on this Earth.

So what the heck is AYM?!

Santana on a cool night, moving and dancing with Marsha, Barbara Joan, Wilma and family, stretching ourselves physically and spiritually, and just plain fun!