Thoughts On TPYT

I’m not sure that I can say anything that hasn’t already been said about the TPYT workshops.  Life-changing definitely sums it up.  I will simply ramble, as my thoughts wander over and through my experiences in the last year and a half. 

The spring of 2009 I was inspired to offer as a birthday gift to my husband, WM, a 2 hour TPYT session with Syl.  In July, he received it while I watched, fascinated and enthralled with the whole process.  Though both WM and I had attended a guided TPYT workshop years previous, and consistently worked on each other with what we could remember—I was not prepared for the beauty of a full session…and I was only watching!  I was brought to tears repeatedly through the session, simply watching Syl, the master that she is, offer TPYT to my husband.  For months after, I couldn’t get TPYT out of my mind, and when I received an email about the next summer’s TPYT training, I had no peace!  I pondered and thought about it constantly, until I finally asked WM what he thought about my attending this training.  He simply said he would support me in whatever I chose to do.  So, excited and scared, I filled out the necessary application—praying my internal hard-wear, residual scars, and still daily pain from a traumatic accident would still allow me to participate fully.  In January of 2010, I received my first, full 2-hour session from Syl, and it was everything I’d hoped.  I was able to gain some insights as to what could help me to continue to recover from my past trauma. 

Around the same time, I was prompted to do some TPYT (the little I knew) on my 9 year old daughter, WG.  WG had been suffering from some sort of tic disorder that appeared to be similar to (if not completely) Tourrette’s Syndrome.  She had been having symptoms off and on for over 2 years, however, her symptoms had increased dramatically in the last 4 months, and were nearly constant for the last 2 months.  At a loss as to what to do for her, one evening I just had her lay on the floor and I did TPYT with her for 30 minutes.  After the first 5 minutes, her nearly constant sniffing, twitching, throat-clearing, neck-stretching, eye-blinking tics disappeared.  Completely.  I was astounded.  I couldn’t believe it…in fact, if I hadn’t witnessed it, I would have laughed if someone had told me about it.  I kept waiting for them to reappear, but they didn’t for about a week.  They started to appear again, and I did about 15 minutes of TPYT with her.  That was over one and a half years ago.  We never did take her to the specialist we’d talked about, because her symptoms are gone.  Only once in the last couple of years have I seen any hint of her tics, and they are so mild that only a mother who watched her like a hawk would notice them . In fact, very few people believe that she had tics so badly.  I thought, if TPYT can open the door to these kinds of miracles, no wonder I was so strongly inspired to learn this!

Now, after having completed not only the summer workshops, but the whole certification process, I look back and wonder what I would have done without TPYT in my life.  Maybe that sounds a bit melodramatic, but it’s true anyway.  ;) I was able to “rub shoulders” (literally) with some of the most amazing people, and I will never be the same.

Though I still struggle with consistency in my personal yoga, knowing I can do TPYT for people keeps me more motivated to keep trying.  The whole learning process has helped teach me invaluable things like self-compassion, faith, patience, acceptance, and how to actually apply these things on a day to day basis.  Syl and her teaching were like a breath of fresh air…full of light, life, insight, and compassion.  I truly can’t think of a better way to have learned TPYT, and through TPYT,  I am still discovering new insights that make my life more peaceful, more playful, more present, more faithful, and more grateful.  I look forward to future workshops where I can remember, relax, and rejuvenate. 

Namaste, Syl. Namaste.