Rift Valley Reflections: RECALIBRATING THE GROVE

Sunday 13 November 2016

RECALIBRATING THE GROVE

“…Sound is heard not only through our ears but through every cell in our bodies. (It) can redress imbalances on every level of physiologic functioning and can play a positive role in the treatment of virtually any medical disorder.” Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, director of Medical Oncology and Integrative Medicine, the Cornell Cancer Prevention Center in New York

Well-being and goodwill have surfaced in extraordinary ways in the inter-religious, multi-cultural melting pot of Orange Grove. Picture a barefoot, ex-King-David boy in a white kurta, playing Tibetan singing bowls in the Masonic Lodge in 13^th Street. Jason Katz’s twice-monthly sound journeys, sometimes with support from his 15-year-old son, Gabriel have become an imperative for many looking for healing, relaxation, meditation and revitalisation for an hour and a half on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

For those who stay for tea, delicious cakes made by his wife, Robyn, and his mother-in-law are on offer.

Jason’s personal odyssey as a healer and mystic (my attribution) began in childhood when his mother told him he had “healing hands”. His understanding of his purpose and his gifts have been shaped by teachers and by life experiences, including a painful couple of years when he accompanied his older brother through an agonising process of illness and death from Lou Gehrig's (motor neuron) disease.

He grew up in Fairmont and has happy memories of traveling to town on a tram with his mother, stopping at the OK Bazaars on the corner of 10^th Street, where his father, who had a particular gift for selecting clothes and sweets that would sell, worked as a buyer.

After being told about the Oneness University by the transpersonal psychologist Pam Roux, Jason went to India to deepen his meditation practice https://youtu.be/tFGtl55LvGQ .While there, he realised that although he does not consider himself dogmatically religious, his Jewish education as a child is rooted deeply in his psyche.

To receive the deeksha (Oneness blessing) an initiate is expected to kneel down before the person imparting the blessing.

Jason was told he could sit rather than kneel because Jewish Law forbids a man to kneel down before any person or idol. There is only one ritual in the year during Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) when a man kneels before the Torah and says the words of the Shema.

Originally trained as a hairdresser, Jason is qualified to offer shiatsu, reflexology, sound journeys, and his own particular brand of D-Stress massage. He was mentored by Alice Hoehler for two years before facilitating his first sound journey and the collaborative relationship has continued. Some of the bowels Jason uses belong to Alice.

In September this year, a brutal armed robbery forced Jason to reconsider what was most important and where he needed to focus his energies. He was working for a company in Buccleuch, selling hair extensions when four armed robbers attacked him and others in the shop before tying them up and escaping with a fortune of hair pieces. Jason was left with physical scars, including a pistol mark on his forehead that somebody subsequently mistook for a bindi (the red dot worn by Hindu men and women), possibly because of the spiritual ambiance that seems to hover around him.

The incident has left Jason remarkably free of anger or animosity. He beams with gratitude now that the path ahead is clearer than ever before.

Jason offers sound journeys in Orange Grove and in others Johannesburg suburbs. He takes bookings from individuals and small or large groups. He also gives one-on-one sound journey sessions and D-stress massage at his rooms in Senderwood. Hourly individual sessions are R 600. Payment for sound journeys at the Masonic Lodge are by donation (recommended contribution is R 100 per person). All Jason’s services are portable and fees are negotiable depending on travel costs and the number of people involved.

You can contact Jason at: Email: dstressjk@gmail.com or cell: 084 378-7377, or find him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000999543557. It is a good idea to get onto his mailing list to receive a monthly newsletter giving the dates of sound journeys and other inspirational information.

Sound Journeys are held twice a month at

75 13th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues Orange Grove. Parking is available next to the hall. Bring a yoga mat or something to lie on, a pillow or cushion and a light blanket to pull over yourself.

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History of Bezuidenhout Valley and surrounding inner city suburbs of Joburg

The first owner of the farm, known as 'Doornfontein' is said to have been a Voortrekker named Barend Christiaan Viljoen. He apparently named the farm 'Doornfontein' because of the thorn trees (doringbome) and springs (fonteine) on the land.

Records indicate that the farm was transferred to Frederick Bezuidenhout on the same day that it was registered in the name of Viljoen by Mrs. Viljoen, who ceded the farm to the Bezuidenhout family.

Bezuidenhout was a young trekboer who came up from the Cape in 1848 and helped the Viljoen family with the farm. He eventually married the Viljoen's daughter, Judith, after whom the suburb of Judith's Paarl was named.

Frederick is believed to have built the homestead that can be seen today.

The farm consisted of approximately 4,000 hectares of ‘bleak, exposed and sparsely vegetated…’ land, extending from what is now End Street in the west to Bedfordview in the east and from Louis Botha in the north to beyond the Natal Spruit in the south. The Bezuidenhout's farm contributed to Jo'burg's transformation into the City of Gold.

The Main Reef Leader running across the south of the farm was proclaimed a public digging; there was an abundant water supply on the farm; and the requirement for land close to the growing town were critical factors in the evolution of Johannesburg.

Over time sections of the farm were auctioned off and the suburbs of Doornfontein, Jeppestown, Belgravia, Troyeville, Fairview, Bertrams, Lorentzville, Judith's Paarl, Bezuidenhout Valley, Observatory, Kensington, Cyrildene, Dewetshof, Bruma and Morninghill were founded.

Why this blog?

I was born in Johannesburg and have lived here most of my life. For 15 years I lived in the inner city suburb of Bez Valley, where I often felt like one of the characters in 'Road', a play by Jim Cartwright, who said, "It's so hard..."

My thespian nephew played the role of Scullery in the play, the narrator who "meanders aimlessly down his road pointing out features of the grim landscape and setting the scene for the glimpses we see of the inhabitants lives..."

But Cartwright does find hope in the lives of his characters and as Gilbert Keith Chesterton points out, "One sees great things from the valley and only small things from the peak."

I recently moved from Bez Valley to another liminal space on the Louis Botha Avenue side of Orchards, around the corner from Satyagraha House and across the road from the Torah Academy. This is an historically very rich part of Johannesburg and I am already planning a few blog posts.

So this blog will continue to explore the changing face of Jo'burg, moving slightly further afield than Bez Valley and the suburbs that immediately surround it, but not abandoning my starting point by any means. There is still so much to say.