By Agnes (Aikya) Hetherington

Driving along, I realized that an oblivious driver was pulling out into my path.

To avoid the collision, I stomped on the brake and wrenched the steering wheel sideways. The fright and violent movements put my SI joints into spasm. My sacrum caught fire.

A month later the pain had not abated, even with my regular home yoga practice. Exhausted by relentless pain, I said to my sister, “I just want to go back to normal, or is this my new normal?” What a depressing prospect!

So I decided to get help from the experts. Five Svaroopa^® Yoga Therapy sessions online with Swami Shrutananda brought temporary relief. Still, the activities of daily life continued to fire up the pain. Shrutananda observed that I was doing everything with my back muscles. I needed to strengthen my abdominals and legs to give my back a rest.

Evidently, my regular practice was no longer enough to combat the effects of time and gravity. At age 72, I had become weaker with every passing year, but without noticing.

Over the next three months, Shrutananda patiently guided me through a delicate balancing act. We worked simultaneously on strength building and pain management. This took us into April, and in May I put it to the test.

After my back seized up in December, I was dubious about attempting anything strenuous.  But my siblings and I had arranged our May hill-climbing vacation a year in advance. Shrutananda’s advice was to spend at least as much time doing yoga as I spent hiking.

So I  brought my yoga props along and continued with the therapeutic poses Shrutananda had taught me. On non-walking days I did lots of strength poses.

During one uphill walk, I realized I was flagging, leaning heavily on my walking poles. I told myself, “You’ve been working on strengthening your legs and abs. Use those muscles!” I straightened up and engaged my abs and hamstrings.

I picked up the poles and carried them. Instantly I felt better, more energized. I used this reminder multiple times during the trip.

Now back home, I continue with my twice-daily practice incorporating the therapeutic poses. The sacrum pain has dissolved and I have a spring in my step. Better yet, my new practices are also improving my mind and mood. Someone recently told me I was glowing.

This is my new normal! It’s even much better than the old version before the driving incident. I am deeply grateful for the gift of Svaroopa^® Yoga Therapy.

By Carolyn (Karuna) Beaver

Vicky has been taking Svaroopa^® yoga classes for nearly 20 years.

Even though she doesn’t teach, she has taken Foundations and Embodyment^® Yoga Therapy training. This spring, she took a bigger leap. At Lokananda, she took Embodyment^® Plus; she took the Magic of Ujjayi course online.

Preparation for Embodyment^® Plus required her to give a large number of Embodyment^® sessions. We happily embarked on an Overlap Healing Series with one another. I also gave Vicky some yoga therapy sessions, targeting specific physical issues.

She says, “I always stand up straighter, feel lighter, and more easily experience joy after a class or a session. This happens every time. That’s why Svaroopa^® Yoga is so attractive to me.”

Now Vicky finds that this experience is ongoing, especially after Overlap Healing and yoga therapy as well as Embodyment^® Plus training and the Magic of Ujjayi course. She says, “My experiences last longer and are more sustained. It’s pretty profound. Things are going deeper.”

She has noticed subtle, yet profound, changes in her body mechanics as well. In college, she sustained a bad ankle sprain. Although she had a cast, she had no therapy for her injury. That, in combination with some mild scoliosis, has caused 45 years of lower leg, ankle and foot pain. One leg is slightly misaligned and shorter than the other.

In her “do more yoga” mode this spring and summer, things changed. “As my sacrum would relax, my leg would literally unwind. It didn’t feel ‘screwed in’ any more. I felt muscles in my glutes, thigh, hip, calf and foot that wanted to unwind and be on point — just like a ballerina. That release in my spine was releasing the tension in my leg and unwinding all the way down to my foot.”

Because of travels, she has not been doing as much yoga practice or therapy recently. Yet she is still noticing the benefits. “I can tap into it more easily. It’s just waiting to be acknowledged again. I pick up more readily.”

“And, my feet are not hurting. At the end of the day, my feet would be yelling at me. Now they are not.”

Vicky also has a much better understanding of how all the practices work together. “I used to think that Embodyment^® or asana or Ujjayi were just replacements for one another. But they’re not. You get so many more benefits when you work with all three together. They don’t merely complement one another. They build upon each other.”

As a student. Vicky has always asked lots of questions. She wants to know how to get precise alignments and how things work. “In the past, when the releases have happened,” she recalls, “I’ve felt the benefits, and I’ve wanted to know why. But now, I don’t have to. I know my body is doing what it needs to do. That’s the biggest take away for me.”

By Maryanne (Murti) Leagans

My growing up years were filled with significant abuse and trauma. This set me up to lack conflict resolution skills. I completely mistrusted authority figures. Later, I struggled in relationships because I inherently found it difficult to trust anyone. 

In my twenties, I began a decades-long process of working with various talk therapists. I was always seeking “the one” who could give me answers. I sought relief from the darkness that filled my mind and heart. Stronger and stronger doses of antidepressants became the crutch that kept me functional. 

And I was highly functional. I held down jobs, excelling in performance, though I changed them frequently. Without conflict resolution skills and trust in authority, my employment in any organization was one to three years.

Fast forward to September 2025. Chelsea (Rajñi) King, who teaches Svaroopa^® Vidya Meditation, posted an invitation on Facebook for her three-class introductory series. As soon as I read her post, I signed up. With Rajni’s gentle teaching style and encouragement, I began meditating for 20 minutes each morning.

Later in the course, she introduced us to the Ashram website. I thought I had struck gold! I took one of Gurudevi’s free online meditation classes.

Later I joined her daily online Meditation Club. By then, I was meditating an hour each morning as well as slowly increasing my at-home yoga.

It was clear to me that meditation was rewiring my brain. My emotions and reactions to things were changing.

I questioned whether I still needed antidepressants. Working with my doctor, I set up a plan to slowly decrease the amounts over a four-month period, beginning December 1, 2025. It took only three months! Simultaneously, I had already begun taking various Ashram offerings.

In mid-January, I attended Swami Sunday in person for the first time. By then, I was down to 50% of my dose without any negative side effects. At the end of January, Gurudevi’s Shaktipat Retreat powerfully boosted my engagement in our Ashram’s full-spectrum yogic practices.

Several Enlightenment Studies series, the Guided Meditation course, a weekly Svaroopa^® yoga class and Embodyment^® Yoga Therapy sessions produced significant changes. I also attended Gurudevi’s satsangs regularly and took advantage of the Shishya Vichara Club. My intention was to stack everything that I had control over — in my favor.

For more than fifty years, I had believed that antidepressants were keeping my brain in “safe” mode. Although seeing my dosage decrease was scary, I was supported in my process by Grace.

Flowing from Svaroopa^® practices, Grace opened me to feeling joy, love and compassion when interacting with fellow yogis. This kept me steady in my resolution to end my drug dependency. By the end of February, I had accomplished that.

Gurudevi ceaselessly invites us to “Do more yoga.” I did it and it works!

Click here to find your Pot of Gold

By Lori (Priya) Kenney

As a longtime Embodyment^® Yoga Therapist, I took the Embodyment^® PLUS course recently. 

During the course, I became acutely aware of what was happening in my body. I accepted the emotions. I let go of wanting a certain outcome and surrendered to the process. The results were magnificent, beyond my imaginings. This training gave me a yoga miracle!

I took the course for two reasons. First, I wanted more tools to help clients who are dealing with knotty issues. And I knew the training would bring me much-needed personal change.  

We learned powerful therapeutic Embodyment^® techniques to use on clients while in poses. I was not disappointed by what I can now offer clients. 

I was also amazed by a training taking me so deep. My whole body and mind changed. I had no shortage of knots in both. 

Some of the unraveling was challenging and uncomfortable. On the third day, my whole body hurt to the bone. I felt weepy and overwhelmed. Knowing this was a good sign, I embraced it. The roto-rootering and openings took me beyond what I’ve ever known. 

Time got stretchy. It wasn’t even lunchtime, yet I felt like I’d experienced several days.  

Gurudevi giving us an experiential anatomy lesson was a highlight. She got down on the floor with us! She gave us the experience of knotting and un-knotting. 

Earlier, we had learned a brand-new pose. She created it to release a hard-to-reach knot, tight muscles at the top of your tailbone and the bottom of your sacrum. This pose works wonders!

Then my yoga miracle happened. In another awesome session, I felt my tailbone and sacrum flying free. It was more than release. It was liberation from bondage that I was only aware of after it was gone. 

I experienced total freedom, beyond bliss. The crazy thing was that it felt natural to be free. 

Crazier still is how “normal” the bondage had been. My clamped down sacrum and tailbone were so familiar, just part of me. Giving up that bondage gave me the experience of formlessness, while in my body.

At the same time, I felt more anchored within. What lies within me is so much greater than my physical form and identities. Svaroopa^® Yoga is so effective at dissolving cramped, heavy places inside and outside. 

I’m so grateful to have new tools to share. I have increased confidence about helping others. I have the experiential knowing that gnarly knots can dissolve.

By Kelly (Kushala) Sharp, Yogaratna

Elizabeth, who is 90 years old, has taken Svaroopa^® yoga classes for 15 years.

An avid gardener, she often loses track of time when working in the yard. In the spring, she stopped taking yoga classes because she strained her neck and right shoulder.

Her neck continued to get worse. So Elizabeth signed up for a package of yoga therapy sessions and then an Overlap Healing* series. Her treatment goal was to feel as good as possible for the rest of her time on Earth.

After five yoga therapy sessions, Elizabeth’s neck and shoulder pain was gone. As it lessened, she had become aware of an old pain in her sacrum.

Embodyment^® in a yoga pose became the focus of our sessions, and Elizabeth continued to deepen. During her Overlap series, she joked saying she didn’t know how she could feel any better. And yet she did!

Elizabeth started to incorporate changes into her gardening routine. She set a timer while gardening so she wouldn’t overdo it. She did Slow Motion Dive as soon as she came into the house. If she had more gardening to do, she took a break before heading back out. The changes in her gardening behavior supported her changes from the Overlap Healing series.

Then Elizabeth took a fall when the wind caught her foot. The next thing she knew, she was on the ground. Elizabeth was concerned that she’d aggravated the areas yoga therapy had improved.

Aside from her left knee being a little tender, however, Elizabeth was no worse for wear. At her age such a fall could have been a real game changer. She was delighted with the unexpected outcome.

The changes that the yoga therapy made in Elizabeth’s body noticeably increased her resilience.  When we discussed the event, Elizabeth said that the fall had felt different. I told her, “That’s because yogis bounce!”

*Overlap Healing is a series of yoga therapy sessions done daily for 5-10x, then every other day, then twice weekly.

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.