With so many similarly (albeit helpfully) constructed yoga
books available today—featuring yoga history, terminology,
photos of students in poses—it is exciting to come across
a guide like Luna
Yoga, http://www.wisewomanbookshop.com/
by Adelheid Ohlig (with additional notes by Susun Weed), which
is small, personal and straightforward while also expressing
its potent message of healing.
Luna Yoga is both the title and the name of the actual style
of yoga created by Ohlig, who was suddenly diagnosed with
a class 5 (late stage) cervical cancer when she was in her
mid-thirties. Ohlig responded to her diagnosis by listening
to her body for what it wanted as a treatment. What it wanted,
she discovered, was not drugs or surgery, but the very movements
and breathing techniques and self-love which formed the foundation
of Luna Yoga as she now teaches it.
This meant incorporating Ohlig’s own knowledge as a
yoga teacher with the methods of Aviva Steiner, a Hungarian
yogini with whom she studied, who researched a “menstrual
calisthenics.” Essential to the effectiveness of Luna
Yoga is the awareness and openness with which the student
connects to her pelvic energy. The idea here is that warmth
is generated and circulated to the pelvis, through the pelvis,
during the Luna Yoga practice, which is why it is so indicated
for gynecogical illness or discomfort. Within two years, Ohlig
was completely free of the cancer, but her journey had, as
they say, just begun.
This personal element—indeed, personalizing element—is
what makes the book so unusual in terms of yoga instruction.
It would be one thing, and certainly wonderful, if Ohlig’s
healing journey involved an exact observance of a tradition
(e.g. Yoga, The Healer). The switch here is that Ohlig made
yoga her own and this is what worked, and in this personalization
she makes room for other women and men to listen to their
bodies for answers in healing, as opposed to simply looking
to yoga (or, outside the self in general) for healing. And
she does this wisely—getting into the philosophy of
yoga in the early pages—and responsibly—asking
that the reader “seek out a teacher” and have
a health exam before attempting the exercises.
Beyond that, the reader of Luna Yoga is encouraged
to be free with her body, listen to it and move it accordingly.
While I am sure she is not the first to discuss this privately,
I have never read before in print, from a teacher, anything
like “…you need not limit your practice to these
exercises. As your pleasure in moving and sensing grows, you
will automatically bring your imagination into play, and find
yourself creating variations. The body wants variety, just
like the mind and soul.”
This book is a powerful acknowledgement of the personal in
the midst of the traditional, and will refresh the continuing
yoga student and engage any woman seeking herself. It is pocket-sized
and without pretension, and Ohlig writes her ideas simply
and compassionately. “I wrote this book,” says
Ohlig, “hoping to inspire you.”