Naam Yoga and Harmonyum Healing System

Christina Pabers has served in the field of health and fitness for over 19 years. While she currently holds her four-year Master’s Degree in Chinese Medicine and has completed her PhD in Classical Oriental Medicine, she has also served in the field of fitness with her Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology, emphasizing Exercise Physiology and Biomechanics. She teaches anatomy and physiology for Naam Yoga teacher training certification programs.

The Luxonomist: How did your relationship with Yoga begin?
Christina Pabers: I began a serious study of yoga with Dr. Joseph Michael Levry, founder of Naam Yoga. I have been teaching in the fitness industry since 1989 and got my first degree at California State University Northridge in Exercise Physiology. After studying adaptive physical education for the disabled, martial arts, dance and weight training I developed an appreciation for exercise as a therapy.

TL: Tell us about your journey to becoming a Naam Yoga teacher.
CP: When I began my second degree, Masters in Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1995 where qigong and taiqi were an integral part of the program, I simultaneously began a serious study of yoga with Dr. Joseph Michael Levry, founder of Naam Yoga. During those years, I learned that the wisdom behind this form of yoga provided prescriptive techniques that worked similar to the way acupuncture and herbal medicine. In other words, not only does this yogic technology pinpoint particular symptomatology with a single exercise but it also provides methods that support organ function such as liver detoxification, endocrine balance, improved digestive function and mood enhancement. I felt deeply that as an aspiring physician, it was my responsibility to provide education that empowers people to self-heal with methods that are available to all free of charge, using their own body. This system is Naam Yoga.

TL: What is Naam Yoga? Can you explain more about the concept behind Naam Yoga?
CP: My life and education have uniquely prepared me for understanding how Naam Yoga works and why it is so very important for addressing the needs of people at this time. It works on the exact health issues that people are challenged with today such as hormone disorders, stress, diseases of the brain, toxic exposures and obesity. In order to explain why, I would like to provide a bit of background. Naam Yoga is known as the ‘Yoga of Immortality’ and its foundation was developed in the Himalayas by a holy man named Karthikeyaji Maharaj who lived to be over 300 years of age. While working toward my third degree a PhD in Classical Chinese Medicine led by Jeffrey Yuen, an 88^th generation Taoist priest from the Jade Purity school of Taoism, I focused on longevity and overcoming serious diseases such as Cancer.

This education was integral in helping me to understand how Naam Yoga works. In essence, the midline of the body is the location of the most important control aspect of the body. It includes the pituitary and pineal gland, thyroid, heart, ovaries, uterus, prostate, testicles, the spine, gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, central nerves, air ways and blood vessels and much more. In Chinese Medicine, this central line is treated in various ways for the purpose of reestablishing total body health because it represents a central river that flows to the limbs and the rest of the body providing nourishment and energy.

In essence, if there is a problem with any part of the body, the most efficient way to heal it is through its source of nourishment and circulation, which is the central line. This ‘River of Life’ is like a fountain of youth and many world medical traditions recognize it for its value in providing long life and the power of overcoming sickness. Naam Yoga focuses primarily on this central line leaving students feeling immediate benefits as well as providing a long term solution to their body’s challenges.

TL: How is Naam Yoga a different practice from other types of yoga?
CP: Aging and antiaging is a total body phenomenon that involves every system to slowly failing or consistently thriving! The key to growing younger lies in the mind, emotions, diet, sleeping habits, detoxification systems, hormones and much more. The exercises contained in this system literally lifts sinking organs and sagging tissue, vibrates glands, creates an internal suction within the cavities and stimulates the sinuses while encouraging a sense of joy and community within the classroom. I tell my students to forget about their preconceived ideas of what a yoga class is supposed to be and instead to think of this as an appointment with the doctor inside themselves.

TL: Harmonyum Healing sounds interesting; talk us through this treatment and how it works.
CP: In an age when humans are struggling to neutralize so many challenges to health such as stress, lack of sleep, toxic exposures and pour diet a system of healing that is time efficient and capable of addressing a person’s global health is invaluable. We have many seemingly contrary needs, for example too little sleep and too little exercise leaving us tired with a slow metabolism while strongly in need to energy exertion. It’s interesting to note that a lack of sleep is associated with obesity.¹ Working at night is associated with higher rates of cancer at various sites of the body, in men.²  We need more quality nutrients but fewer calories.

Our jobs require the capacity to think deeply yet the amount of interruptions that the average person experiences during a work day makes this very difficult.³ Humans are being called upon to adapt and to operate at a high level of sophistication both in their external environment and inside themselves in order to thrive, excel and to be happy. Harmonyum Healing also works on the midline meridians as Naam Yoga does.

The client simply lies down on a massage table, listening to soft music designed to help the brain waves enter into a state of rejuvenation and relaxation. It will feel like a light touch or touch in different areas of the body. The nervous system in human beings is like a flower that closes with too much stimulation in order to protect its more sensitive receptors. As the individual learns to go deeper into the treatment, those receptors that are capable of detecting subtle stimulation begin to be active.

Most humans are subjected to loud noises, deep massage, strong flavors, and constant stimulation which causes the adrenal glands and the excitatory nervous system to be more active than is healthy. The regenerative functions in the body that are responsible for establishing youth, fertility and a strong immune system require a more subtle environment and state of being to be active. The Harmonyum Healing system is designed to help people achieve this both during the treatment as well as during sleep or any time it is needed.

TL: Have Naam Yoga and Harmonyum Healing helped you to overcome any obstacles?  
CP: These two systems have helped to be become a clearer and faster thinker. I have overcome health challenges and improved my vision. Additionally, I use these systems in my medical practice and have witnessed people using these methods for overcoming deep psychological issues, trauma, physical pain, learning disorders, fertility challenges and addiction.

TL: A lot of research has been conducted about Naam Yoga and many in the medical field are fans of this practice, why?
CP: Yes, research has been done on Naam Yoga and Harmonyum. The Harmonyum research is being published and will be discussed at a later date. As for the Naam Yoga research, the most exciting Naam research was conducted at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City on children with Neuroblastoma.  The leading research team was Sonia Sequeira, PhD, and Mahiuddin Ahmed, PhD. The therapy is known to be very painful and even maximum allowed opioids does not spare the children from intense pain. Naam Yoga meditation was delivered to the patients during treatment. The conclusions produced by this pilot study were that mantra meditation is a feasible clinical intervention in children 3-13 years of age. Additionally, one session of this combination of applied mantra resulted in a 14% reduction of nurse-administered opioids. Over the course of repeated treatments, this is significant. These results were published in the Journal of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology.⁴

TL: What are your top tips for people trying to incorporate yoga and meditation into their lives? Why you will recommend Naam Yoga as a practice for 2017?
CP: Think of yoga and meditation as your best health insurance. The cost in time and financial output is well worth the result.  Start with taking a class or working with a book or video and be consistent. Rather than addressing each of your health needs by separately, use tools that provide healing for the entire body. I look at Naam Yoga as a way to rise above the condition of modern life by evolving, if you will, or simply maximizing on our enormous potential.  Rather than compartmentalizing our approach to health by addressing each concern one at a time, look at health with a systemic eye.

What helps the body to rest well, will also allow it to detoxify well. What helps the body to digest well will also allow it to have a toner body. What brings balance to the emotions will also bring balance to the hormones. Nothing is separate and all is connected. Naam Yoga and Harmonyum Healing systems work from the perspective of interconnectedness, helping students to see the consistent threads of influence in their lives and thus engendering greater peace, clarity, creativity and health.

1. Beccuti, G., Pannain, S. Sleep and obesity. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2011 Jul; 14(4): 402–412.
2. Marie-Élise Parent, Mariam El-Zein, Marie-Claude Rousseau, Javier Pintos, Jack Siemiatycki; Night Work and the Risk of Cancer Among Men.Am J Epidemiol 2012; 176 (9): 751-759. doi: 10.1093/aje/kws318
3. Birsen Donmez, Zannah Matson, Beth Savan, Ellie Farahanj, David Photiadis, Joanna Dafoe; Interruption management and office norms: Technology adoption lessons from a product commercialization study. Elesevier 2014; 34(6): 741-750. Doi: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2014.08.003
4. Sequeira, S., Ahmed, M. Acute pain relief after Mantram meditation in children with neuroblastoma undergoing anti-GD2 monoclonal antibody therapy. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2014 Mar;36(2):152-5.