The Story
I have spent the better part of the last ten years traveling around the world teaching Thai Yoga Massage to small groups of people in radically diverse settings. What I have noticed is that it doesn’t matter whether I am sharing this ancient discipline with villagers in rural Tibet, single moms living on the street in London, an HIV positive group in Chiang Mai, or special needs children in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, the basic response is the same: language, age, cultural and socioeconomic barriers dissolve; hearts open; deep, healthy connections are made; and lives are transformed.
The Impact
Sometimes the transformation is subtle. A person might notice that they are breathing a little deeper, feeling a little calmer, thinking a little clearer, or better able to make good decisions. It is also common for someone who was initially too shy to look me in the eye to become very animated and eager to communicate. As they share their experience, I notice that the light has returned to their eyes, and I enjoy the broad smile that now decorates their face.
But sometimes the transformation is profound. A person who once identified himself or herself as a victim, now recognizes that they have something valuable to give, and feels inspired and empowered to help someone else. This type of insight often leads those individuals to incorporate some of their new stress management exercises and massage practices into their relationships with family members, especially their children, thus breaking the cycle of violence and/or neglect that they grew up with. Others resonate so deeply with the experience that they choose to pursue a career in the healing arts. When an individual makes this choice they are not only generating a valuable resource and ray of light in their community, they are often actively taking a significant step away from ending up in a more common default trade such as prostitution.
Everything that I have seen, heard and experienced through these simple exchanges has indicated to me that the impact of creating a safe space for individuals to explore the relationship between mind and body, breath and movement, and self and other, within the framework of Thai Yoga Massage, has been overwhelmingly positive. My sense is that the world would be a healthier place if more people had access to this type of knowledge and experience, therefore; the mission of the ZIA PROJECT is to literally reach out and give people access to healing arts education.
The Zia Project vision is divided into three phases. In the first phase, a small team of volunteers will offer an introductory Thai Yoga Massage workshop in a marginalized or displaced community. During the workshop, individuals who have the aptitude and desire to continue on this path will be identified. In the second phase, we will provide those individuals with scholarships and/or mentorships in an effort to prepare them for a career in the healing arts. In the third phase, successful individuals will be given a small loan to start their own health oriented small business.
This year we plan to work primarily with communities that we have already established a relationship with. Our focus will include careful documentation and analysis of the project in an effort to refine and improve upon our model. In the future, we hope to use this model as a basis for similar programs in new communities. I am specifically interested in expanding our relationships with indigenous peoples in the United States, Central, and South America.