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Elements & Practices
All creation/Nature is made up of the five elements in different proportions, including these bodies of ours. Direct contact with these elemental forces allows us to remember, in a simple and direct way, our belonging to the great cosmic ocean. It helps us understand not only the laws of Nature but also the workings of our inner nature, our subtle bodies and thus the functioning of our minds.
Knowledge of the five elements helps us understand not only the laws of Nature but also the workings of our inner nature, our subtle bodies and thus the functioning of our minds.
We are living in an era of disembodiment, disconnection and physical isolation, where our relationships with Nature, each other and our bodies are becoming weaker, prioritizing images over actual sensing and feeling. We are losing the ground and aliveness of the present moment as individuals and as a collective. Our minds are overdeveloped and our bodies and hearts are closed.
We have a body which is interconnected with all life and its organic processes (birth, life, death, transformation, regeneration). The body is a map of our life’s experience, a precious book of wisdom. It moves along like trees do in the wild woods, from strong winters to fruitful springs.
Body centred practices refine our presence and connection within inner and outer worlds. They are nourishment for our steps, our creations and our new ways of being.
Meet the practices that are part of this investigation and their connection to each elemental force.
We consider each practice focusing on a specific element, even though all elements are present in all practices.
They all aim to embody our subtle essence through Movement, Breath, Sound and Touch.
Earth
Thai Massage
Traditional Thai Massage, or Nuad Phan Boran as it is called in Thailand, is a therapeutic technique that consists of a series of interactive, flowing movements, stretches and rhythmic massage, along all the body's energy lines and pressure points. It combines elements of Yoga and Ayurveda with universal energy healing principles to harmonise and balance the flow of energy throughout the body. It is seen as a practical application of the Buddhist principle of 'Metta' or loving kindness, as the base of an effective healing art of body, mind and soul.
Performed with the receiver comfortably clothed and on a padded floor mat, which allows the therapist to easily manipulate the body of the receiver. The therapist stretches, flexes and bends the body to free up tension and improve flexibility. Breathing techniques are also incorporated, along with acupressure points and trigger point techniques. Unlike other forms of massage therapy, Thai massage involves active participation of the receiver, who works with the therapist for a successful healing session.
Both therapist and receiver usually feel less tension and more energy at the end of a session, as the therapists themselves are stretching and moving their own body to perform the work. The synchronisation of therapist/receiver’s breath, combined with a set intention of loving kindness (Metta) from the therapist, creates a constant flow of healing energy between all involved.
This often deeply meditative experience can result in a profound release from both mental and physical stress. The benefits can go as deep in the subtle body as the receiver and therapist allow. An extraordinary method of aligning the energies of the body, bringing healing and clarity to the mind and thus aligning ourselves with our original essence.
Its precise origins are unknown, but practitioners traditionally trace their lineage to Chivaka Komarapatr, a private doctor of the Buddha, who is said to have successfully used massage along with herbal and other remedies to treat ailments and conditions amongst the nuns and monks that were travelling with the Buddha, spreading Buddhism and these medicinal techniques all over Southeast Asia.
CHI NEI TSANG
Chi Nei Tsang, abdominal massage or internal organ Chi massage, is an ancient Taoist system for detoxifying and rejuvenating the internal organs. It works mainly on the abdomen with deep yet soft and gentle touches, to train internal organs to work more efficiently and therefore clearing blockages in the body’s energy flow.
This massage technique was developed following the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s which assert that emotional blockages are physically stored in our bodies. They realized that emotions affect the organs, and saw that one of the main causes of disease is emotions getting ‘stuck’ in the body. This means that the way we feel can translate into physical pain and illness.
The digestive system is believed to be an emotional regulator. This is why we usually talk about “digesting” our emotions. Emotional digestion is just as natural of a phenomenon as breathing or digesting food. Like breath or digestion, it usually remains non-‐conscious, but if we pay attention to it we can automatically improve it. Our consciousness is able to aid the performance of any process in the body, including emotional digestion.
According to Tao and Traditional Chinese Medicine, each organ is especially sensitive to certain emotions, and is therefore affected by some and nurtured by others. We may feel emotions such as anger, sadness, fear or jealousy and don’t know how to let them go. Each of these emotions is correlated to a specific organ and may interrupt their normal functioning, resulting in a number of pathologies.
That’s why abdominal massage goes to the very origin of health problems, including psychosomatic and emotional responses. It effectively addresses chronic conditions including digestive problems, headaches, chronic fatigue, menstrual cramps, sciatica, infertility, insomnia, depression - the list goes on and on. This treatment intends to free our organs from pain and bring us healing both physically, emotionally and energetically.
Water
WATER THERAPY
Water therapy, Aquatic Therapy, Watsu, Wataflow, Agua Tai, Aguahara. There are several names given to the research of exploring water as a therapeutic space for healing.
Water therapy is a profound physical therapy modality yet it goes beyond that and into a journey of surrender to the teachings of the Water element: an art of continuous flow in a timeless space. An invitation to meet our inner waters and to experience an in depth knowledge of silence.
There are many unique flavours to the water therapy world, combining a great set of multi-disciplinary healing/massage techniques. To explain it in a few words (hard task!), it basically consists of a series of subtle, sometimes still, sometimes dynamic, movements performed by the therapist both above and underwater.
In such an environment the body unwinds, unfolds and quickly arrives to a deep state of relaxation that isn’t as easily achieved in a land-gravity environment. The water provides a safe, tranquil and nurturing environment that gives the mind and body a pathway to relax and let go. In this space where time seems to stop, everything inside begins to dissolve, our blockages and tensions, eventually allowing us to return to a natural state of flux.
We can often experience the arising of insights, past and forgotten memories, awareness and a certain ‘knowing’ that important and deep information was received during a session. We may experience an array of feelings, shades of light, expressions of joy, and a remembering of a deeper connection to warm water, where all human life began. An experience of the freedom, the expansion, and the profound joy that the Water {water therapy} can provide.
WATER DANCE
Water dance is a creative research of new ways of moving and sensing, together in water. A space for contemplating the lightness of movement, the tenderness of touch, held by the nurturing womb of life: the sacred waters. The dance happens in the fusion of the flowy movement of water and its infinite relationship with our bodies {in contact} and our inner waters, as a flow of magical reciprocity.
Exploring the water not only as means but as a teacher of sensitivity, receptivity, listening and relationship refinement. Exploring and rediscovering ourselves in the dialogue between the singular and the collective, internal and external listening, the force of composition in which the whole is more than the sum of its parts.
A space of exchange, communication and union, both with other dancing bodies and with all there is, the external natural world and our inner natural landscapes. Looking for the rhythm of fluid awareness in each moment that allows us to feel the inner essence of our beings in connection.
Fire
TANTRIC HATHA YOGA
Traditional Thai Massage, or Nuad Phan Boran as it is called in Thailand, is a therapeutic technique that consists of a series of interactive, flowing movements, stretches and rhythmic massage, along all the body's energy lines and pressure points. It combines elements of Yoga and Ayurveda with universal energy healing principles to harmonise and balance the flow of energy throughout the body. It is seen as a practical application of the Buddhist principle of 'Metta' or loving kindness, as the base of an effective healing art of body, mind and soul.
Performed with the receiver comfortably clothed and on a padded floor mat, which allows the therapist to easily manipulate the body of the receiver. The therapist stretches, flexes and bends the body to free up tension and improve flexibility. Breathing techniques are also incorporated, along with acupressure points and trigger point techniques. Unlike other forms of massage therapy, Thai massage involves active participation of the receiver, who works with the therapist for a successful healing session.
Both therapist and receiver usually feel less tension and more energy at the end of a session, as the therapists themselves are stretching and moving their own body to perform the work. The synchronisation of therapist/receiver’s breath, combined with a set intention of loving kindness (Metta) from the therapist, creates a constant flow of healing energy between all involved.
This often deeply meditative experience can result in a profound release from both mental and physical stress. The benefits can go as deep in the subtle body as the receiver and therapist allow. An extraordinary method of aligning the energies of the body, bringing healing and clarity to the mind and thus aligning ourselves with our original essence.
Its precise origins are unknown, but practitioners traditionally trace their lineage to Chivaka Komarapatr, a private doctor of the Buddha, who is said to have successfully used massage along with herbal and other remedies to treat ailments and conditions amongst the nuns and monks that were travelling with the Buddha, spreading Buddhism and these medicinal techniques all over Southeast Asia.
Air
DANCE
All living things express themselves through movement and rhythm. Movement is our first language. Dance is the poetry of that language. It’s not about the aesthetics, technique, or the set steps of a choreography, it’s about the love {heart} overflowing from the dancer’s soul.
Dance is a catalyst in the development of human consciousness and expansion of human knowledge through physical research into its creative and embodied potentials. An exploration of physical/mental states in the physics of motion, relational and creative action, and the articulation of presence through improvisation.
Dance is where the soul can describe its most divine stories without escaping the form of being.
“Just as the ancients danced to call upon the spirits in Nature, we too can dance to find the spirits within ourselves that have been long buried and forgotten” - Anna Halprin
CONTACT IMPROVISATION
Contact Improvisation is an open-ended exploration of the possibilities of bodies moving through contact, an experimentation of movement through improvisation. The improvised dance form is based on the communication between moving bodies that are in physical contact and their combined relationship to the physical laws that govern their motion—gravity, momentum, inertia.
The body, in order to open to these sensations, learns to abandon a certain quality of willfulness to experience the natural flow of movement. Spontaneous physical dialogues, bringing forth a physical/emotional truth about a shared moment of movement. A real time investigation of the present moment.
There is no set repertoire of movements or a predetermined choreography to be learned and performed, the dance takes place through improvisation that is born from the relationship with the other in the present moment. Dancers relate to space and time, responding to stimuli and sensations, making choices at each moment and creating movements that can never be exactly repeated.
Consciousness becomes a serene witness to the emergence of the unknown. An openness to the unexpected, imbalance and lack of control develops, seeking to be present in the ‘here and now’, savouring each movement, each discovery, without sticking to rigid patterns of movement {thinking} and taking the risk of choosing and creating at every moment.
A dance based on sensitive listening. Between the acceptance of the uncontrollable and unpredictable and the active and conscious appropriation of each movement through the body, improvisation is born where the focus is on the relationship, the encounter and the space between them.
Sounds a little bit like life, right?
Ether
SOUND HEALING
Sound and vibration, as science now asserts, are the framework of manifested reality, the source of all life. Primordial energy vibrating at different frequencies. All of our bodies – physical, energetic, emotional, mental, etheric – also vibrate at particular frequencies. If we poetically consider the human being as a musical instrument, it has its own characteristics that enable it to emit sounds in a tuned or out of tune way.
From this perspective, Sound Healing Therapy aims to facilitate this space of consonance in the individual, tuning their bodies in a way that the most harmonic sound can be produced by their essence. The natural result of this harmonious state generates health on all levels and in its broadest aspect.
The human body was created and contains the same harmonic ratios found in musical scales. In fact, everything manifested unfolds from the same harmonious mathematical proportions. Therefore, the musical notes and intervals produced during a session enter into a deep resonance with the human matrix, whether they are water atoms, carbon atoms, the structure of our DNA, amino acids, organs, chakras or consciousness itself, promoting and enhancing the process of homeostasis in the system.
It promotes the realignment of all the bodies that compose the human being, restoring the harmony between them and a state of integrality. In this state of balance, the individual is in harmonic resonance with the Universe, with Nature and with himself {in essence}. That means they resonate their fundamental note, their truth, their light, their unique song.
TOK SEN
Tok Sen is an ancient healing art used by the people of northern Thailand. It is believed this technique is about 5000 years old and was developed parallel to the development of acupuncture in nearby China.
Traditional Thai and Chinese medicine state that a person is healthy only when Chi {Prana} flows without obstruction. When there are blockages and Prana {life force} does not flow properly, it becomes stagnant creating physical, mental and emotional ailments.
In this technique a special wooden hammer and wedge, often made of wood from the Tamarind tree, are used to perform a rhythmic tapping along specific energy points and lines of the body, creating a resonance that helps to dislodge tension and stimulate the free flow of Prana {Chi} throughout the body, re-establishing a more natural flow of energy.
The wooden mallet and wedge are used in different ways according to the effects that we seek as well as the area which is being stimulated. The wedge can be tapped on a single point, in segments, tracing a line, etc. The manual pressure and passive stretches from Thai Massage are often applied at the beginning or/and end of a massage sequence. While the stretches seek to loosen up the body, the intense vibrations of the Tok Sen instruments work on our energy as well as physical level, reaching deep inside, healing us from within.
The constant sound of the tapping as well as the deep vibrations bring us into a meditative state and helps to clear our minds of any distractions, producing a sensation of relaxation and tranquillity {like a Mantra}. The tapping stimulates our tendons, skin, muscles, circulatory system, etc., on a physical level, whilst on an energetic level the stimulation of the energy points and lines opens up blockages and reactivates the free flow of energy throughout the body, which in turn reinstates health and well-being.
VOICING BEINGS
In this practice we enter a research of the voice through the refinement of self{group}-perception on an affective-emotional-spiritual level, seeking to facilitate the expression of oneself, and of what is often unspeakable. The voice here is not merely a musical instrument, but a tool to access a relational multidimensionality, diving into a vibrational, resonant presence with each other.
We circle together, set our intentions, connect to our hearts and open our voices to search for our purest expression and a collective resonance of love {presence}. Not as singers, musicians or even to sound good and aesthetically pleasant, but to fully express all of our colours, supporting each other through welcoming and embracing all shades of our humanness {beingness} and thus alchemizing our state of being into pure love {presence}. Accessing magick and akashic fields of infinite knowledge and wisdom through the vulnerability of our open vibrational truth.
Some of the inquiries of this research are: how do we listen to each other with our voices? What is heart language and how is it vocally expressed beyond cognitive language? How do we leverage our transformative powers both individually and collectively? How do we use our voices to give space to the life that is constantly seeking to emerge from within us?
In its simplicity, this practice is the most extremely powerful tool for unlocking our full potential in our uniqueness and connection.
Infinite love and appreciation to Andre Soares (No An), the amazing heart behind this practice and immense source of light into this world. The greatest magician I have ever encountered.
Lets work together
Do you want to know more about this research and the services I offer? I would love to hear from you!
Client love
Having lived in 5 countries in my life, I have taken Yoga classes taught by many teachers from all over the world, but never had I been so thunder-struck in a Yoga class like I was in Jana’s class. Each class fills me with feelings of amazement and a slight shock. On some occasions, I even had tears rolling down my cheeks as I just continued to sit on my mat in silence in awe, yet still hearing her beautiful singing in my head, thinking “I don’t know what she has within herself or how she got there. But I want the same for myself. I want to get there too!
KEIKO OKA, JAPAN
The Aquatic Massage session with Janaína was incredible and it has been very important to me. In addition to the experience of relaxation and intrauterine sensation, it is making my body more aligned. It greatly eased the pain of the post surgical rehabilitation process that I am going through and is helping me to walk again. Highly recommend it! Thank you Janaína.
CARLA RODRIGUES, BRAZIL
I fell in love with Jana in the first Yoga class I took with her. She is a beautiful soul who sees the best of everyone and brings the best out of everyone. Everyone is special in Jana’s heart! She can see beyond everything!
CLAUDIA MILONE-HASSALL, BRAZIL
I had a Thai Massage session with Janaina and loved it. The atmosphere of the space is very good, with comfortable facilities. Janaina is a great professional, she exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend her!
MARCELO CAMPOS, BRAZIL
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