Roots & Wings Yoga and Healing Arts opened its doors in 2006 with the vision that "healing work can happen here". Karen Kuhl, who has kept the center open for all these years, started with hope - to create a space where people can come share their healing work that they incorporate in their sessions and classes and for people to come receive the support and care that they need.
We believe it is important to learn about and acknowledge the ancient teachings and practices from which present-day "healing arts" methodologies derive. We honor the great wisdom and deep healing work that began tens of thousands of years ago. Many of the offerings at Roots & Wings trace back to ancient teachings in India, China, Greece, as well as those by Indigenous Peoples all over the world.
Through Chinese Medicine, which dates back for thousands of years, all sorts of ailments of the body have been treated. Perhaps one of the oldest practices, Gua Sha, was performed by brushing the skin with smooth stones. Throughout time, many variations of Gua Sha were developed, both with and without tools. These same techniques are common procedures used in massage, skin therapy and physical therapy. Also, it has been recorded in ancient times that stones and bones were sharpened into points and used in the first form of Acupuncture.
Yoga, Massage, Ayurveda, Meditation and Chakra energy practices are all part of the sacred healing system with deep and ancient roots in India. Physiotherapy, the precursor to Physical Therapy, was initially a water-exercise for body repair that has its origins in Greece. It is from all of these methodologies, and likely many other ancient practices, that modern day healing arts practices have been created.
Indigenous people spanning from over 25,000 years ago in Siberia and Central Asia to more recently, such as those native to Turtle Island (the lands known as North and Central America), have carried out many ways to heal the psyche, bring order to communities, deepen relationship among the human, plant and animal world, honor ancestral teachings, and explore the dream world. Counseling, psychotherapy, coaching as well as meetings for affinity gatherings, support groups, and the like derived from these ancient indigenous practices.
We are deeply grateful to our ancestors and their teachings and to the ancient wisdom that's been carried throughout time. It is our hope that the practitioners and teachers at Roots & Wings support the healing and health of community and the broader collective while continuing to learn about and honor ancient practices.