Phanganist recently caught up with Chandra (Andrea) Polyak, who has been a Rebirthing practitioner since 2004 and facilitator for nearly 10 years, as well as a resident of Koh Phangan for more than five years. She left a successful importing and supplier business in Hungary to nourish her spiritual yearnings and soul-level attraction to Transpersonal Psychology, Parapsychology, and Breathing Therapy.
Simultaneously, she earned her Masters degree in Jewish Studies and History (2011). Along the way, in overseas travels to India and Thailand, Chandra was led to the Agama Yoga School on Koh Phangan, where she became a Yoga teacher (2010) and began a long journey of highly transformational studies in Yoga and Tantra.
She also realised this community and island had all the makings of home for her and, in 2011, she decided to move here.
Chandra’s specialisation is Rebirthing facilitation. She feels blessed to have received the transmission of this great healing art directly from its founder, Leonard Orr, with whom she studied in the United States, India, and Germany. She has also supplemented her practice with other trainings, such as those with Sondra Ray (Loving Relationships: 2013, 2014) and Monika Nataraj (Mystical Dance: 2015, 2016). She has been offering individual Rebirthing sessions since 2008, teaching workshops since 2011, and leading trainings since 2015.
What is Rebirthing?
Rebirthing is considered a complete system of transforming, healing, or realigning yourself. However, in actuality, it is more about shedding the layers of your personality that prevent power, light, and love from shining through – i.e. becoming the person you really are. Of course, that is transformative; when we shed these layers we come into alignment with the energy and truth of our being.
Rebirthing is a complete system classified into three sub-categories. Only one category relates to breathing, which is most commonly associated with Rebirthing. Another is spiritual psychology, using techniques to understand emotions, thoughts, and belief systems and transform them with specific tools. And the third is spiritual purification practices through which we learn about the different elements – earth, air, water, and fire – and how these form the basis of our body and can support us in transformation via fasting, exercises, breathing under water, fire ceremonies, etc.
There are also two methods of Rebirthing. Dry Rebirthing is when we lie down on a mat and – with the guidance of a professional – breathe through those layers. Leonard Orr’s teachings say that after approximately 10 dry sessions a client can begin water sessions, which are more intense, simulating the subconscious mind on a different level. And among water sessions, we can do warm water sessions – a few degrees higher than the body temperature is best, although we use the sea just fine here – as well as cold water sessions. I lead both of these. Who would you recommend have a Rebirthing session?
I recommend Rebirthing for everyone except those suffering from schizophrenia, serious heart disease, or women who are in their last two months of pregnancy. I also recommend it for people who have done a great deal of inner transformational work already, having integrated their own techniques in daily practice such that they can deal or have dealt effectively with their blockages. In these cases, it’s not necessarily about healing but about connecting with their supreme self, reaching higher states of consciousness and a specific sensation like a state of meditation. If someone did enough healing or letting go of their obstacles and issues from the past, they will directly have a beautiful spiritual experience. It’s not always about drama, crying, and pain. For many it’s like downloading future plans or a new direction in life, newly unfolding life purpose, kundalini rising, etc. During the facilitator training I held in 2015, almost everyone reached this higher level by the fourth week of the program. Some clients of mine with an active, intense meditation practice have joined my programs in order to reach the same high levels of meditative experience through Rebirthing without having to make hours of effort in meditation.
Rebirthing can create breakthroughs in relationships, dramatic personal growth, great positive changes that did not seem possible, and the ability to overcome limitations. One of my clients was a 30-year-old woman who, since she was 12, couldn’t complete anything due to her highly traumatic family background. Yet after nine days, she had an enormous breakthrough. Rebirthing is a healing methodology, like Yoga – part of a lifestyle dedicated to evolving, learning techniques that you apply to yourself and your life regularly. You can’t compare drop-in Yoga classes with a full course of studies, and this is the same – it’s a system you rely on for your own personal growth. One of my students observed very astutely that one of the best reasons to do Rebirthing training is to save money on healers, because you become your own healer.
How important is the experience of the facilitator in the Rebirthing process?
If you are new to Rebirthing, it’s important to have an awareness about the quality and purpose of the sessions. It’s a very intimate process which, therefore, creates quite a deep connection between the client and facilitator, and thus requires special attention, empathy, patience, ample time, etc. As a result it’s also crucial to be able to rely on the experience, integrity, and solid integration of the facilitator.
I’d also advise that since everyone’s case is different, it’s best for people to focus attention on themselves at the beginning. I prefer one-on-one sessions but sometimes offer group sessions, although only for a limited number of people. Many times I received feedback from people who thought they had known what Rebirthing was when they came to me, but in fact they hadn’t – they had only participated in many big group sessions. Then they realized – when joining my small group sessions or individual sessions – what it was really like. The ideal circumstances for Rebirthing are actually one-on-one. I lead some small group sessions selectively because I can’t encompass all those interested in my work in one-on-one meetings.
Since 2011, I have offered workshops in Thailand, Australia, the United States, Hungary, India, and China. In addition, following two Rebirthing workshops with Sondra Ray in 2013 and 2014, my facilitation and teachings were substantially refined and, through my self-practice and growth, I felt that I had emerged into a very empowered space for going further in what I could offer. Now, with the support of Agama – with whom I am a certified Yoga teacher – I offer three-week practitioner trainings and four-week facilitator trainings.
I am happy to see that my students are active, not only on Koh Phangan but also in Cambodia, Israel, Austria, and the United States. This harmonizes a lot with my larger wishes around Rebirthing reaching out to help more and more people.
What are your future plans?
As a field, Rebirthing is expanding. Personally, not only are my students teaching, but also my field of teaching is expanding. I began teaching in China late last year to sold-out events – a surprising potential for such a long-hidden people and culture. I will teach my third program in China already in June, and will for that event co-facilitate Rebirthing with a practice called Family Constellation. I’m looking at all kinds of similar symbiotic visions for Rebirthing. I will also hold some trainings in India in the near future.
In the big picture locally, I would like to create a Rebirthing community where facilitators support each other here on Koh Phangan. I would like to see some sort of educational system as well as an apprenticeship program, which I hope to spearhead as a means of building up the Rebirthing community. Leonard Orr does the same, offering the space next to himself in workshops as an apprenticeship, and it has inspired me very much.
Essentially Rebirthing is me. I’m very committed. A friend of mine once said to me: “When someone is following their dharma, angels are everywhere.” That feels like my work all the time.
Chandra can be contacted via her website or directly through email. She will be offering an Unlimited You: A Rebirthing Journey Workshop May 2-6, as well as a practitioner training May 2-20, and a facilitator training May 2-27. In a remarkable testimonial to her skills as a facilitator and teacher, during her very first trainings in 2015, every workshop and practitioner training participant upgraded to the facilitator training. So apparently, she is doing something very right!
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