Like many others who embark on similar quests, the Fairborn woman’s journey is spiritual.
“I was trying to find myself and learn to stand up for myself and become more grounded,” explains Burt, who was in her early 40s when her search began.
She found some of her answers at The Healing Zone in Englewood, a bookstore specializing in metaphysical and holistic books and materials. The little shop, no longer in business, also offered classes in meditation and reflexology, the ancient technique of applying pressure to hands and feet in order to target the entire body. Burt signed up.
It was there that she also met Rebecca “Ria” Roth, a local massage therapist who also offers group sessions incorporating music, breathing, guided meditation and an individual hands-on blessing known as the Oneness Blessing.
“She explained it, and it spoke to me,” says Burt, who now regularly attends Roth’s groups. “Her message about learning to accept the people and things around you instead of trying to change them was important. It’s a hard lesson, and I’m still working on that. But this has helped me feel more at peace.”
Today, Burt also receives satisfaction from providing another form of holistic service — soft tissue relaxation known as Bowenwork.
Roth, 46, moved to Dayton in 2006 and says her own spiritual path led her away from a Wall Street job and “go-go life” in New York toward her current healing profession.
“I grew up as a Christian and always had a heart for the divine,” she says. “As a child I would imagine Jesus sitting in a chair so I could tell
him about my day. To me, the divine was always a friend.”
Today her Beavercreek home contains an altar with photographs of more recent “friends” — spiritual leaders from around the globe who have taught and influenced her. In India, Roth was trained as a Oneness Blessing facilitator and offers hour and a half blessing events throughout our area at a cost of $20.
The blessing is designed to “transfer divine energy and create a gradual awakening process leading to a lasting state of oneness, bliss and inner peace.”
“God lives inside us,” believes Roth, an ordained minister of the Church of Spiritual Humanism who is licensed to perform weddings. “If you are quiet enough, you can experience the divine within yourself.”
Many visitors bought relaxation as well as cotton candy at the recent Yellow Springs Street Fair. In the midst of all the tumult, a variety of booths offered massage and healing therapies.
Darrell Brann, headquartered in Buffalo, travels throughout the country to introduce his methods of sound therapy.
The licensed massage therapist and classically trained musician has come up with his own theory called Harmonics of Healing.
“It clears the trauma that accumulates in the organs, joints and systems and returns it to a state of balance,” says Brann, who produces CDs.
Elizabeth Kisch of Kettering has been a massage therapist for decades, and prefers to call herself a body worker.
“I do energy work; it’s intuitive,” she explains. “Sometimes someone will be on my table and will tell me they’re doing fine, but I will put my hand on their chest and will feel there’s no energy there.”
She says while taking a drug may fix an ailment, it’s important to figure out why you are troubled or it may crop up somewhere else.
“Alternative therapies help you to have the realization of who you really are,” she says. She and her husband, Oakwood body psychotherapist Ronan Kisch, also studied aroma therapy in France.
Ronan Kisch is the author of “Beyond Technique: The Hidden Dimensions of Body Work” and is working on a second book, “The Miraculous Dimensions of Body Work.”
“People who may be taking a spiritual approach to their practice believe there’s a unity of body, mind and spirit so that when one opens to the one they are opening to the other levels as well,” he explains.
Kisch believes all religions tell us that we’re one, and in opening to that oneness we’re opening to a higher power.
“So if there’s a physical holding or bracing due to stress or trauma or injury or illness, and a person can release that holding, then they can have a different perspective on life,” he says.
Practitioners of complementary therapies aren’t discouraging trips to the physicians.
“It’s working together. It’s bringing more to bear on whatever the incident that might be treated,” Kisch says.
Prayers and blessings to promote healing, he says, is biblical.
“Almost every religious tradition provides prayers for healing. You could take your prayer from India or Japan or the Middle East, or you could go to your own Bible or even your own spirit.”
What’s important, he believes, is for patients to open themselves up and receive the prayer or the spirit.
“When they do that, they’re opening for a change to occur within themselves. And if you appreciate that the mind, body and spirit are all connected, as you open to one, the other levels are also affected.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2440 or mmoss@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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