In the last issue of Energy the APTA Board of Directors set forth a policy of diversity for APTA. This diversity statement makes it clear that anyone regardless of race, color, creed, religion, sexual, and eating preferences can practice polarity. Although APTA has always been diverse the statement emphasizes the importance of that diversity in all aspects of living. I believe this diversity statement has very important ramifications for Polarity.
Taking a stand on diversity opens the doorway for us to reexamine our relationship to Dr. Stone’s lifestyle and beliefs related to the practice of Polarity Therapy. When Dr. Stone wrote and taught he often times intertwined his own beliefs with the energy principles he was setting forth. For example Dr. Stone believed that we needed an enlightened guru to evolve spiritually. He believed we needed to be vegetarian to evolve spiritually. And he believed that everyone should be heterosexual and married before having sex.
It is important for us to consciously separate Dr. Stone’s lifestyle and spiritual beliefs from the energy paradigm we call Polarity Therapy. The confusion which sometimes exists between Dr. Stone’s beliefs and his work with Polarity Therapy has given rise to a sometimes stated and often times implied belief that there exists a “right” lifestyle for a Polarity practitioner to be able to really evolve.
Dr. Stone’s lifestyle and beliefs may have worked for him, however it is up to each to rediscover the energy principles in our lives. In other words, he who knows the “right” Polarity Therapy lifestyle doesn’t know Polarity. I have no desire to live my life like Dr. Stone lived his. This is like saying, “In order to compose great music I should live my life like Mozart or Beethoven”.
The energy paradigm set forth by Dr. Stone is such a masterful and beautiful work that we tend to forgive him for his excursions into the “right way”. Dr. Stone passed on to us a body of knowledge which we are entrusted to honor and protect. It is the mark of a truly great teacher that their teachings can transcend their personal life. It is for this reason that Polarity Therapy classes always amaze me. I once taught a Polarity Therapy class in NY attended by an Orthodox Rabbi, Presbyterian Minister, Buddhist Monk, a lesbian couple, one gay man, a married couple who were both psychologists, and five single women who were social workers and massage therapists one of whom was a born again Christian. They all came from different racial and ethnic backgrounds and their dietary habits ranged from vegetarian to eating lots of meat. I thought, “How beautiful Polarity Therapy is to attract so many wonderfully different and diverse peoples in the name of healing”.
Dr. Stone has given us something very special. It is up to each of us to live the energy principles in our lives and to discover how the energy principles can be applied in our lives. When we confuse Dr. Stone’s personal lifestyle and beliefs with the practice of Polarity Therapy we divide our community into those that practice the true Polarity and those that do not. This type of behavior does not in any way represent the essence of Polarity Therapy. I support our BOD’s and I believe that it is only through diversity and acceptance that we can truly come to unity.
Enrich your life and the lives of others by learning Aromatherapy, Reflexology or Color/Crystal Therapy at the Alternative Healing Academy! Convenient and easy-to-handle payment plans are available!