A brightly lit star, a breath of fresh air, a flowered blossom watered by rain, and the earthy power of herbs grounded in good; all these things come to mind after conversing with Amadea Morningstar. She is inspired by the elements, and she weaves her healing guidance around them.
Her School, The Ayurveda Polarity Therapy and Yoga Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico provides hands-on experiential and academic training in Ayurvedic nutrition, herbology, self-care, Marma Therapy, and Polarity Therapy.
Amadea Morningstar has been working with Ayurvedic nourishment and self-care for over forty years. She is a well-known national and international teacher and practitioner…and author. She has written four books, all available on her website with titles like Easy Healing Drinks from the Wisdom of Ayurveda. She has a BS in nutrition, an MA in counseling, an RYT in Integral Yoga, and she integrates a variety of teaching methods, Eastern and Western into her courses.
At APTYI, she joins with other respected faculty to offer fully developed programs with a strong experiential component. For example, you can join Amadea and Sarah McDaniel Valencia for a variety of new Elemental Polarity trainings in Santa Fe beginning in October 25-27 of 2019, and May 1-3, 2020. With inviting titles like Food & Mood Panel, Fire & the Dark of the Moon, Water & the Summer Solstice, Dive Deep: Prepare for Rebirth, Earth: Awaken Ideals in Practical Life, and more, you can see how the elements become an invitation toward knowledge.
Along with these Elemental trainings, Amadea is also excited about her up-coming online courses in Theory & Basic Principles, Energetic Anatomy & Physiology, Orthodox Anatomy & Physiology, Professional Ethics & Law, Energetic Nutrition and Stretching Postures and more. It is a way for her “tiny school” to stretch out too! She often teaches outside or in larger buildings than her office, where she does Polarity every day she works. She experiences Santa Fe, with it’s Rio Grand River, as a foothold of healing history. Local Pueblos share a sacred tradition with holistic healing and this energy permeates the sacred ground. “Polarity Therapy is very popular here,” she says.
Amadea has a way of inviting openness when she relates. The warm connection she offers is an invitation to share. “Her great strength is to discover your strengths, and help you to apply them in a supportive, clear environment.” This was stated on her website, and I felt it strongly in our conversation. With great ease and humility, she summons candidness. I can imagine that her touch is similar and that experiencing her expertise in a Polarity session would be illuminating.
We talked about her teachers. It seems that many successful and established Polarity teachers acknowledge their teachers! She gives honor to Garchen Rinpoche, her Tibetan Buddhist Monk and High Lama in the Drikung Kagyu lineage, along with and amazing list of early practitioners during the “hay-day of Polarity in the 90s:” John and Anna Chitty, Damon Fazio, Moksha Kolman, Roger Gilchrist, and even Jim Said, wo studied under Dr. Stone directly, and Cindy Rawlinson who is said to have studied and worked on Dr. Stone! Amadea is grateful to have studied with some of these “original” people. She is a second-generation student under Dr. Randolph Stone.
When asked “What does Polarity mean to you?” Amadea gave me one of the most succinct answers I have ever heard. She said, “Polarity means integration and connection.” Then we talked about how moving into stillness in the session is where healing happens.
Amadea Morningstar has the gifts of integration and connection herself! Perhaps that is why she so easily integrates her work in Ayurveda, Yoga Therapy, and Polarity. She notes:
Unlike Ayurveda, which has grown and flourished in the West in recent decades, few Americans might be about to tell you what Polarity Therapy is. My clients, on the other hand, could describe for you Polarity Therapy easily. It’s nurturing bodywork that helps you make sense of things emotionally and mentally. All you have to do is kick off your shoes and climb on the table, easy. Bodywork that eases physical aches and pains and leaves you feeling alive yet relaxed. It could be called “Whole Body Energetic Psychotherapy”. It helps the stuck spots inside, whether it’s in the body, relationships, families, work, life, perspectives…
I understand why Polarity Therapy is so popular with my clientele; it’s my #1 choice for therapy for myself, for the same reasons mentioned. Sometimes old challenges or issues are ready to rise to the surface. Working with them physically, as well as emotionally and energetically, often feels more satisfying to me than a “talk” therapy session.
Her message to APTA members: “We are all part of a precious bond, and we are all connected in this work. I feel honored to be part of this group.”
I feel honored too; to be connected with such a shining-soul filled with wisdom, and the desire to share it so lovingly.
Contact Information:
Amadea Morningstar, MA, RPE, RYT
Director, APTYI
Ayurveda Polarity Therapy & Yoga Institute
505 466 4108
www.amadeamorningstar.net
www.EasyHealingDrinks.com
ArticleWritten by: By Meredith Zelman Narissi, MS, BCPP
www.Meredithnarissi.com Meredithsmessge@aol.com
