In periods of major social change and upheavals many feel the need for a more holistic approach to these challenges and changes. Elizabeth Field visits the Seraph Centre for Learning
One could be forgiven for calling Adrienne Crowe's Seraph Centre for Learning a "house of the spirits". To give the centre its fulltitle: Spiritual Energy Release to Adjust Physical Harmony. A variety of alternative healers and practitioners - rolfers, reiki trainers, massage therapists, yogis, process-oriented psychologists, mystical meditation teachers, art therapists - come and go, plying their trades in two comfortable therapy rooms in her house in Heytesbury Street, Dublin.
The "New Age" practitioners sometimes pass their fellow denizens, tiptoeing, say, through a bio-energy healing session in the front room, as they make their way to the turquoise-walled, wood-floored yoga practice room behind it.
"There's a great energy here," says Brian Potts, one of a close-knit group of yoga enthusiasts who practise early in the morning, paying a small donation, before going to their day-jobs. "It's our 'yoga home', with no distractions, and yet very sociable," adds his friend Anthony Kearney .
A lot of the energy stems from Adrienne Crowe herself; a tall, strong, 46-year-old shiatsu therapist and yoga teacher, who is usually accompanied by her two big, black, playful poodles. A professional potter, who works in the basement, she founded Seraph in May, 1999. "I had been having difficulty finding meaning and purpose in my life," she says. "I came to the conclusion that the reason I was alive was to learn spiritual lessons; I normally would have been a very judgmental and analytical person.".
At that time, a friend offered Adrienne £5,000 - money which the friend felt morally uncomfortable about having. Originally envisioning a centre as a place where people could get in touch with their creativity, she converted her two front rooms into healing/work spaces that could be let for a small fee. Now, some 15 healers are affiliated, and Seraph has evolved into a "place to learn strategies for getting on with your life in the 'abnormal normal world'."
So how have things changed between 1999 and now? "People weren't prepared to pay to do workshops then. People are now prepared to pay €75 for a day-long workshop," says Adrienne.
Peter Mulholland, who is completing his PhD thesis in anthropology at NUI Maynooth on the role of spiritual flux and healing in Ireland since 1959, says that there has always been faith-healing and religious-healing here. But people are now updating and modernising their approaches to healing. He estimates there are some 300-400 healing centres in the State, with approximately 70 centres in the Dublin area.
"Big changes come during periods of rapid socio-economic movement, and we are certainly riding on the back of the Celtic Tiger," he says. "The big question will be what's to come if we suddenly experience a severe economic downturn."
MARY Tuohy was the first therapist involved with Seraph. A veteran primary schoolteacher-turned reiki practitioner, she was originally a customer of Adrienne's small basement pottery shop, Kelly Green. "When I saw the wooden floors, and the place being re-done, my whole system said 'yes', " says Mary.
Reiki is a very gentle form of healing, with ancient roots in Tibet.
The fully clothed client lies on a plinth or sits in a chair as the therapist performs either hands-on or hands-off healing, with no pressure applied.
"It's very subtle, but it has a powerful physical, emotional, mental and spiritual context," says Mary. A client may come seeking help for, say, a broken leg, but the reiki energy may focus on an entirely different area of the body.
Most clients experience reiki as a very deep state of relaxation. Some sleep through it; some cry, or tap into childhood memories. After the reiki attunement, there's a 21-day clearing process, in which all kinds of old "baggage" may emerge. Mary follows the attunement with three support-group workshops, where clients use meditation, visualisation and laughter to negotiate detox symptoms.
Paul Congdon, a 34-year-old actor, recalls the huge impact of his first experience with a reiki "spirit woman" in Spain last year. Ill with a chronic throat infection and panic attacks, he says he began to laugh uncontrollably when the healer placed her hands on his heart. "She told me, 'You have a beautiful heart'. " His ailments have since cleared up, the reiki has helped him cope with stage fright, and he is now doing reiki teacher-training with Mary.
While Muread Hughes may be pummelling one client's flesh in a penetrating but effective deep-tissue massage in one room of the house, Ciara McParland may be conducting her "Soul Voice" workshops in another. McParland hopes to bring her programme for 16- to 18-year-olds who are confronting anger issues to Mountjoy Prison.
Mary Tuohy believes we need holistic healing to nourish our souls in today's mad world. "We sometimes forget we have souls."