IN THENOW
the latest
No more health rebates for yogis
If you were hoping to claim your yoga classes or naturopathy sessions on your
private insurance, you’re out of luck. From now on, your private health cover won’t
allow you to claim a variety of natural health therapies – including Pilates,
Yoga, Naturopathy, Homeopathy, Reflexology, Tai Chi and Aromatherapy.
It’s a long story, but basically these therapies were removed after a government
review couldn’t find enough evidence for their clinical effectiveness. Apparently,
the growing research that points to yoga’s effectiveness isn’t enough –
despitethingslikereikiandcrystalhealingstillbeingeligibleforbenefitsby
virtueofnotbeingincludedin thisstrangeprohibitionlist.Another café is jumping on the vegan
bandwagon and wowing foodies with their
friendly fare. Located in Sydney’s inner west,
KHAMSA in Newtown is the latest and
greatest vegan meets Middle Eastern
eatery. Owner Sarah Shaweesh’s cooking
career has been inspired by her Palestinian
family, who she remembers enjoying many a
communal meal with in her childhood. She
hopes to show that food can be conscious as
well as delicious. She says, “The word
‘Khamsa’, which translates to five, is also the
name for the Hand of Fatima which many
Middle Eastern people wear [as jewellery]
for protection, but it also related to the yoga
principle, Ahimsa, which is about not doing
harm to others”. And it looks delicious!KHAMSA CAFÉ
Australia’sfirst adaptive
yoga retreat
In February, Australia’s first
adaptive yoga retreat took place.
Facilitated by Brooke and Lara
from Back2Roots Retreats, the retr
hosted five students living with varyingdegreesofspinalcord
injury (four quadriplegics and one paraplegic). What evolved
was a collaborative exploration of the intricate layers of body,
mind and human potential – yoga really is for every body.
The retreat was received so warmly that the girls plan to run it
twice a year, with the next event locked in for 21-26 October
and open to anyone with a spinal cord injury.
Seewww.back2rootsretreats.comfordetails.The down side of meditation
With so many studies highlighting the benefits of a meditation practice, one group
of researchers sought to discover the down sides. Led by the University College
London (UCL), UK, the study found that over 25% of regular meditators had
experienced “particularly unpleasant” psychological experiences during
meditation, including feelings of fear, anxiety and distorted emotions. More
than 1200 people were surveyed, and findings illustrated that men and
atheists were more likely to have had these negative experiences than
women or those with religious beliefs. Before you protest – of course it can
be argued that these so called ‘unpleasant’ experiences are an almost
essential element in the potential growth and wellbeing on the other side
of meditation and definitely can’t necessarily be directly related to the
practice, the researchers acknowledge the study’s limitations. However,
the researchers simply aim to give people a more realistic perception of the
practice, and hope that further research can discover when and how
meditation can be most beneficial. For the full study, look for ‘Unpleasant
meditation-related experiences in regular meditators: Prevalence, predictors,
and conceptual considerations’ at http://www.journals.plos.org