By Barbara (Bharati) Badia

Interviewed by Matrikaa (Matrikaa) Gast, Yogaratna

As an 84-year-old retired RN, I’ve been diagnosed with extreme sciatica and spinal stenosis as well as three bulging discs.

Physical therapy helped some.  Chiropractic treatments with magnetic cell stimulation gave me more pain relief.  But after a pacemaker implant to regulate heart rhythms, I’m no longer a candidate for this treatment.

Finding Svaroopa^® yoga a decade ago, I’ve been able to manage back pain very effectively. I’ve found that Svaroopa^® yoga is so important to do when you are older! 

Yet a couple of months ago, my hamstring muscles were cramping all the way into my ankles. I couldn’t stand up straight.  Walking any distance was impossible. So I turned to Ashram offerings and have experienced a series of sweet miracles!

In late winter, I took Swami Shrutananda’s “Freedom from Pain” Sutra Studies. In this online Enlightenment Studies series, she teaches sutras explaining that it’s the mind that causes most of the problem. 

If we can look at the sensation of pain differently, we can let go of identification with it.  Letting go of identification with pain diminishes it. Using the word “sensation” instead of “my pain” shifts the severity to a tolerable feeling.

Next, I enrolled in the online Therapeutic Yoga Series.  For six weeks, I took part in a three-student group therapeutics class that met twice weekly online.  Our Svaroopa^® Yoga Therapist, Cayla (Mangala) Allen, has an exemplary knowledge and understanding of anatomy and what happens in Svaroopa^® yoga poses. As a nurse, I greatly appreciated the way she explained spinal decompression with such clarity.  

Mangala vividly delineated how Svaroopa^® yoga pose angles target spinal compression to release the deep tensions in spinal muscles.  Her knowledge of how superficial abdominal muscles affect the psoas gave me a clear mental picture.  This increases my trust in the Svaroopa^® yoga practices, which supports my consistency in doing the poses daily. 

In the class, Mangala coached us to “lean into your bones, soften and allow the release of tensions.”  Now I remind myself of this process when doing my Svaroopa^® yoga poses for pain relief. All Svaroopa^® yoga practices move us into and through this process of spinal decompression. 

As the course description promised, I’ve learned how to take care of myself in quick, yet profound ways.  My severe pain has gone away. This is truly a miracle. With confidence, I can say the Svaroopa^® yoga decompression of the spine is miraculous.  Now I know I must do these spinal release poses consistently.

I am also practicing Ujjayi Pranayama more consistently with greater focus.  Thus, I have an increased flow of prana, the energy of aliveness.  This has caused another shift: my appetite for indulging in TV news has decreased.

Instead, I chant with one of Gurudevi’s recordings or listen to one of her talks. I do this especially in the evening before going to bed, and it has made a wonderful difference.  My miracle includes reinforcement of a spiritual perspective.  Even when difficult things come, if we look closely enough, often we can find the gift in them.

By Sheralee (Shambhavi) Hancherow

Interviewed by Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast, Yogaratna

Last year was filled with a lot of emotional tapas along with incredible support. People don’t understand how much support is available from our Ashram. 

I discovered that to undertake a healing process, I just had to stop and allow Guru’s Grace to work on different levels.

During the 2023 winter holidays, I overdid it. I pushed myself non-stop through the season. By January 2024, I flatlined emotionally. I wasn’t feeling much of anything and certainly not joy or bliss. In response, I chose “Feel” as my word for the year. I went into overdrive to try and fix myself by doing more yoga, vichara, workshops, etc. 

 In March, I saw an email about Gurudevi’s Office Hours. They are available to yogis who have a Shishya Membership. Fortunately, I’d been a Shishya for a decade. So I signed up for a phone call. I have always handled struggles on my own and was nervous in front of our Guru. Yet I knew she would help me.

Surprisingly, the help she gave me was not what I expected. But it was exactly what I needed: a mantra yoga buddy. 

In April, I took the Healing Retreat. Being in the online option, I could experience the practices and profound changes in my own home in Canada. After that, one of our Swamis followed up and provided more support by Zoom.

The Ashram then arranged for a yogi in our community to call me every week to check on my progress.  We discussed the asana and meditation practices I was doing daily to support my process. Then the yogi reported back to Gurudevi. Over the summer, I continued to work on this heavy karma and took Gurudevi’s advice to see a counsellor. Learning about the patterns that limit me opened me up to a whole new level of Grace.

During this time of releasing so much “stuff,” my word-of-the-year — Feel — was paramount. I was on an emotional rollercoaster. Vichara (guided self-inquiry sessions) with my local Svaroopa^® teacher, who is also a Vichara Therapist, provided profound learning. When she was out of town, I contacted our Ashram Enrollment Advisor and scheduled vichara with a Swami. Through these sessions, I was learning about myself. Though it was not always a joyful process, I persisted. 

At the same time, I found a local Ayurveda physician. I’d been seeking one for a long time, and suddenly I found her. Her diagnosis included the observation that she did not see joy bubbling up within me.

Yet now joy is doing just that. Cooking my breakfast this morning, I was dancing and singing in the kitchen while listening to my yoga music.

Yes, I’ve done a lot. I’ve learned it’s not about fixing myself but opening to the Grace that is always there. The support that comes from our Guru is profoundly deeper than I thought possible.

I have learned to tap into that Grace. It is transformational and illuminating, and I am forever grateful to my Guru, the Swamis and my yoga community.

By Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast, Yogaratna

“Your knee is shot,” pronounced Eva’s doctor.  An online Svaroopa^® yoga student since 2022, she injured her right knee walking her dog and doing yard work, leading to knee replacement surgery in May.  In September, I called to learn when she would resume her yoga.

Eva reported, “I was doing well with daily PT exercises, Ujjayi Pranayama, and walking.  At the gym, I spent time on a ‘new step machine,’ recumbent bike and rowing machine — 10 minutes each.  Best was the pool. I felt so buoyant!  I even did the can-can in the water — and, unfortunately, over did it.

“Two days later, I couldn’t walk with a straight knee.  To straighten it, I could barely do 2 seconds of the 5 minutes of my PT exercise.  Once every hour, I sit upright in a chair with a bench at the same height across from me.  My knee is straight while my foot rests on the bench.  I lean forward without bending my shoulders until I feel a moderate stretch.  But after my pool can-can, the pain at the back of my knee is unbearable, and my thigh spasms.”

Hearing this, I recommended yoga therapy.  Online, Eva settled into a supported Shavasana, I led her through Ujjayi Pranayama for about 5 minutes.  Then I guided her in a gentle tailbone release pose followed by Dhanurasana Leg with a therapeutic adaptation.  

Afterward, she reported feeling exponentially better.  I recommended that she do her daily PT exercise for 1 minute only and follow it with this therapeutic sequence.  I suggested increasing the PT time by 1 minute each day to return to 5 minutes.

On September 30^th, Eva returned to my beginners’ yoga class, which features the Primary Spinal Openers.  She substituted Dhanu Leg for Lunge.  Afterward, she felt “glowy, floaty and really good.”  With Svaroopa^® blankets under her knee, Eva did Lunge in the next class.   

She says, “For the first time since surgery, I had enough flexion in my knee to move forward into the pose.  Lunge does something for my whole spine like nothing else.  Lunge makes everything flow.”

By Karen (Kumuda) Schaub

Interviewed by Agnes (Aikya) Hetherington

Last November, I had intense knee pain.  

I finally was able to move from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania, to be in person with Gurudevi more often.  

I had longed to move there years before, but my mother had passed away unexpectedly.  It took several years to come to terms with the loss.  Only then could I begin the process of clearing out her home to put it on the market.  

This physically and emotionally strenuous work re-activated an old knee injury.  I was limping through life, doing daily activities very gingerly.  Once the house was ready, it sold quickly. I had 30 days to pack and move to PA. Within two weeks of arriving, I decided to begin Embodyment^® Yoga Therapy to help relieve the pain. It did that and so much more!  

I needed lots of tailbone opening to relieve the knee pain, which certainly happened. But the therapy also radically changed things on the inside. It was a profound experience of deepening into my Self. I began to develop trust around working with my body in a different way. 

As my fear of the pain receded, I no longer lived in a state of desperation. Throughout my life, I had felt a constant internal shakiness. Yoga therapy and multiple daily practice sessions of Ujjayi Pranayama filled my reservoir of prana. This brought me to a state of being more settled in my life, having less fear. 

Now I’m learning how to keep my mind on a short leash. I set a 90-minute timer when starting a physical task such as unpacking. When my mind wants me to do “just one more thing,” I tell it “no.”  If we allow the mind to rule, it’s a very painful process.