By Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast, Yogaratna

Sherry began weekly Svaroopa^® yoga classes with me due to mild, occasional sciatica. During the Covid 19 lockdown, she continued with online yoga classes and wasn’t bothered by sciatica.  

In March 2020, however, Sherry was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL).  To complement her medical treatment, she continued online classes and dedicated time to home practice. 

In October 2021, Sherry began in-person yoga therapy to address stiffness and ache in her neck and shoulders.  She believed the tightening of those muscles was a side effect of her medical treatment for CLL.

Though she was asking for help with her neck and shoulders, I planned her sessions for lower spinal opening, following our “it starts at the tailbone” sutra.  And it worked.  Sherry noticed sweet relief in her neck and shoulders.  

At the end of her sessions she reported, “Tension throughout my body is diminished, relaxed … Openings in waist and shoulder area.  Openness through back and shoulders and neck … Zero pain; more relaxed, less tension throughout body.  Neck and shoulders feel normal.” 

With a deep remission in September 2022, Sherry stopped medical treatment for CLL due to side effects.  By October, her pain level was only 1 at her session’s beginning and 0 at the end.

However, six months later, Sherry reported extreme pain from sciatica in an online class.  I hadn’t seen that coming.  She was using a walker when I arrived at her house to give her a session.  At the end, she could put a bit of weight into the affected leg.  Fortunately, she agreed to Embodyment^® Overlap Healing (a series of private sessions). 

After the first four sessions, she no longer needed the walker.  As the “overlap” concluded, she was walking without discomfort of any kind.  Her neck and shoulders were pain-free too.

In her last session, I could hear her miracle.  Her voice had a tone of deep peace as she said she felt calm and normal.  “It’s like all the cancer medication is gone from my body.”  Her long-term goal is to stay pain free and in deep remission.