By Margie (Maitreyi) Wilsman

My student Anna came to her first yoga therapy session wearing a fentanyl patch.

This was to treat acute pain in her middle back, behind her heart and under her shoulder blades.

She continued wearing the patches on and off during twice-weekly Svaroopa^® yoga classes and Embodyment^® Yoga Therapy sessions, which included Overlap Healing.

Anna could rarely feel her lower body. After students do the first side of a pose in class, I also ask, “What differences do you notice between sides?” Anna’s usual response was “I can’t really tell any differences.”

Upper spine poses often led to a spasm in her upper back. She learned to come out of an upper spine pose early when she felt a spasm coming on. Yet Anna attended classes regularly and came to private yoga therapy sessions.

In time, a yoga miracle happened for her. She began staying in upper spine poses for the full time. She no longer winced. When I inquired about these changes, she said that she was no longer wearing pain medication patches. In upper spine poses, Anna no longer experienced spasms.

In classes now, Anna is aware of changes in her body during poses and afterwards. This new awareness of her body is also evident in Embodyment^® Yoga Therapy. Plus she has the ability to express aloud her understanding of the benefits of self-adjustments that I teach.

And she asks questions. Recently, for example, during my demonstration of a new pose, she asked about the purpose of abs activation: “In this pose you said to activate our abs.  Is this to prevent using back muscles so I can use my legs effectively instead?”

I invited Anna to repeat her question. I wanted other students to hear the reason she’s aware of the importance of using abs instead of spinal muscles. The other students did not know Anna’s history of severe back pain. Her story of how Svaroopa^® yoga released the tensions in her spine, so she no longer needs pain medication, amazed them. They “got” the importance of abs activation and spinal decompression!

Gurudevi alerts us that it takes time for us to live in our body instead of in our pain and in our mind. It takes time to experience the experiences provided by poses and yoga therapy. Anna is testimony to the truth of this adage. 

Anna is committed to consistent classes. To arrive at our studio out in the country, Anna drives 20 miles through all Wisconsin weather conditions on heavily traveled highways. Clearly, Gurudevi’s perennial guidance to do more yoga created miracles for Anna. 

By Lissa (Yogyananda) Fountain, Yogaratna

I had two choices when I was diagnosed with cancer. I could be miserable and just try to gut it out. Or I could harness the power of Divine revelation.

A few weeks before, Gurudevi had suggested I look more closely at my fear of death. It had been running me my whole life. But now this fear had begun provoking panic attacks.

What came next was Divine perfection. I received a serious breast cancer diagnosis. “Curing me” would require surgery and 14 months of rigorous treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation.

Yet “healing me” became an inside job, fueled by Consciousness. I decided to embrace the teachings of yoga like never before and put them into action.

Of course I didn’t get there alone. A beloved Guru sister, a cancer survivor herself, guided me weekly through the process. She helped me see what a gift cancer was: an opportunity for a profound purification of body, mind and soul. But first, I had to learn to accept that nothing would be on “my schedule.”

What a difference radical acceptance makes! From confusion grew clarity. From fear, gratitude blossomed and kept rippling into more and more waves of bliss.

It was as if I took a magic carpet ride into the unknown skies of my own Self. Every day, I discovered each moment could be made holy as I looked through Shiva’s eyes.

The infusion lab became my temple. My oncology nurse, a Divine priestess. I began my first treatment with out-loud japa, of course. She chimed in: “Oh I know that mantra: I bow to my own Self.” A yoga miracle!

It also became a sweet, intimate time with my ever-present husband. At the last round of chemo, I taped a flower on the infusion bag, with great honor and respect for its role in my healing.

Daily Embodyment^® sessions grounded me in Consciousness. Weekly acupuncture balanced my immune system. And as the chemo killed cells, three hours of Ujjayi Pranayama re-plenished my body with more prana. 

My meditations deepened. I taught my Zoom Svaroopa^® yoga classes throughout my treatments. Retaining that normalcy was a real spirit booster. It seemed that everywhere, everyone was touched by this miracle called yoga.

My doctor has proclaimed NED (no evidence of disease). I am humbled by the cocoon of love and Grace that surrounded me in my time of need. These yoga practices are pure alchemy.

The scary can become a profound opening. The dross of something like cancer can transmute into the gold of Consciousness awareness.

Now I want only to live and serve from a place of inner knowing. Fear of death no longer runs me in the same way. I am at peace.

It is said, “You never know what life will bring.” Yet yoga promises that you will know who you are while in the midst of it all. And that, for me, is everything.