“Acupressure has its roots in traditional Chinese medicine,” Tayal said. “It is a holistic approach to better health and is connected with acupuncture but without the needles.” Born in Hissar, India, Tayal first immigrated to Eastern Canada and then settled in Rossland in 1972. He worked as a mechanical engineer at Teck Cominco for 10 years before he realized the pressure and stress he was putting on his body. “I used to have a lot of back problems and I would go for massages,” he said, While they were relaxing, the massages didn’t take the pain away, however. “In four sessions of acupressure, my pain was gone. I said, ‘If this can happen to me in four weeks, think of how many people I can help by doing acupressure work.” Learning yoga from the age of eight, Tayal was no stranger to the healing arts, but after the success of his experience with acupressure, he immersed himself in learning more.
In 1991, he and Kavaloff started the Canadian Healing Arts Institute in Rossland and began teaching students from around the Kootenays and beyond. “We have had students from Prince George, Vancouver, Medicine Hat, Grand Prairie, Edmonton, and Washington state, as well as, from the East and West Kootenays.” The school ran regularly for a number of years before interest seemed to fade. Last year that interest was renewed and a small group of students celebrated the course completion in June. Run as a registered non-profit organization, the school has six directors on a board that includes Tayal as “chief director.”
With a vast knowledge of different schools and methods of acupressure, Tayal said he offers students a unique perspective.
“We deal with nutrition, with traditional Chinese medicine, and with acupressure.” Students who complete the course often find their lives forever changed, he added. “People who come to learn are people who want to heal themselves. They are not interested in going to doctors and letting someone else take care of them. They are interested in what they can do for themselves and how they can keep better health.”
According to the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Acupuncture in Burnaby, there are currently no license requirements to teach or practice acupressure in B.C.
Tayal’s course is limited to 15 students who attend classes one weekend a month for 10 months. “Students also do 100 hours of practicum during the course; this works out to about 10 hours a week and often they work on family, friends or clients.” Often, new students will begin to change their eating habits after starting the course, he said. Many will lose weight, and their posture and attitude to life will change, becoming “healthier and happier.” Sometimes Tayal will take photos of the students before they begin the course and then when they graduate so they can see the change their mind and bodies have enjoyed.
The next session will begin on Sept. 24 and already 30 people have made inquiries about the course. “We are now waiting for Students to confirm their space,” he said. “Hopefully we will have between 12 and 15 students enrolled.” At 71, Tayal said he has definitely found his life calling.
“My belief is that healing comes from God,” he said. “We are just God’s channels to bring that healing to the person. But healing only happens when we are willing to change. “Whatever we are experiencing either good health or bad health — poor relations, poor financial situations. . . we create it in ourselves. Unless we are willing to change and create something different we will keep going through the same cycle again and again.” When not working three days a week in his store (Kavaloff works the other three), Tayal offers acupressure, neuromuscular and polarity work, and reflexology to the public. “Bonnie and I also work on each other,” he said. “We find if we don’t, we become ‘squeaky.”
The beauty of acupressure is that it relates to all the meridians throughout the body, he said. “You can affect the organs, the nervous system, the digestive system, the circulation system, and all the senses. It is the miracle of Chinese healing through your fingertips.” To find out more or enroll in the Acupressure Certification Course, Sid or Bonnie can be reached at
362-9481.
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