By Margie (Maitreyi) Wilsman

Beginning yoga in 2018, Kathy kept her right hand at her waist in Seated Side Stretch.  She needed to sit on the highest possible blanket stack.  In Alternate Leg Diagonal, her right leg couldn’t move to the diagonal angle.  In a yoga therapy session, she reported high pain levels in her right leg, knee and shoulder.

During Covid, Kathy’s lifestyle and mobility became restricted.  No more riding bikes or playing four-square with her granddaughters.  She could no longer even walk to the end of her driveway safely unless she used walking sticks.  

When I reopened my studio, Kathy immediately requested Overlap Healing, a series of yoga therapy sessions.  For the first time, I learned about her 2013 low back injury from doing a flip.  I asked to see her MRI report and used it to guide subsequent discussions and sessions.

In one session, I moved her slowly into the diagonal angle in Alternate Leg on her right side.  She felt tingling and pulsations in her hip crease and buzzing on the outside of her right knee.  She told me about losing bowel control.  I urged Kathy to see her primary physician and request a new MRI.  It revealed the need for a right hip replacement.  I supported her in pre-surgery toning per her physician’s handouts as well as Ujjayi Pranayama along with a few “safe” poses.

After hip replacement and PT, Kathy arrived at yoga without walking sticks.  She said, in addition to her new hip, she had gained new perspectives on her body and mind.  She’d thought exercise could correct any pains.  She could not believe how she’d denied and rejected her pain.  She had wanted to look strong to her family and friends.  She credits Svaroopa^® yoga for teaching her effective body awareness.

In a conversation after class recently, she said she no longer pushes herself through injuries and pain.  She first does Ujjayi Pranayama, or comes to class or a therapy session.  Then she decides what to do next.

Trained as a Svaroopa^® yoga therapist, I move clients through their own healing process as well as empower them to keep it moving.  To do this, I engage deeply in the Svaroopa^® Sciences practices to stay based inside in the One Self Being All.  I know that all breakthroughs come from this inner source.  Hearing Kathy speak of her miraculous changes I said, “Thank you, Self.”