This Stuff Works!

Susan's Story

I have been doing the Magic Four and Four on the Floor sequences and three times per week since taking the Learn to Flow workshop, presented by Casey Gerdes Leading CSYT, in May.

Now it’s mid-July, and on Thursday night about 2:00 a.m. I was experiencing a bad twitch in my left leg (which I have had maybe three times since May). Usually I do an extreme stretch to "loosen" the left hip joint. BUT this time I decided to do a set of Magic Four and Four on the Floor. I held each pose for about a minute, so the whole set took about 20 minutes. Not only did the leg twitch disappear — but I felt serene and sleepy as opposed to the anxiety and depression I had been experiencing when my leg started to twitch as I had been attempting to go to sleep between midnight and 2 a.m. I know that the effects of releasing the lower spine helped my hip joint.

Reed's Story

Reed Alexander, who developed his home practice of Svaroopa® yoga in the course of attending several Master Yoga immersion courses delivered by senior Svaroopa® yoga teachers in Boise, became ill on a trip to visit friends in the winter of 2010. Eventually, his painful condition was diagnosed as kidney stones that triggered a prostate infection. He was also very concerned that he might be experiencing a return of diverticulitis that had required surgery eight years earlier.

He called me on the phone several times for advice on practicing Ujjayi Pranayama to relieve symptoms. Below is a copy of an email he sent after a few days of Ujjayi Pranayama Practice in twenty-minute sessions twice per day, which is the Svaroopa® yoga protocol for dealing with an illness.

"I had the most amazing experience about an hour ago. I propped up my legs and lay on my back and started the breathing exercise. I was very sore and panicky. But I was able to breathe for a full twenty minutes without looking at the countdown on my cell phone until the timer went off. The entire time my breathing hurt and my mind raced uncontrollably, but I managed to always bring my focus back to the sound of my breath. After I got up and was standing, I felt a tremendous weight come cascading down from my head through my entire body and out my feet. I could literally feel something draining all down through my body and out my feet. Since then I’ve felt less pain and for the first time emotionally I feel I can get better."

Marti's Story

Marti Monk had visions of serious injury as the five-foot ladder on which she stood to inspect her patio roof flew out from beneath her feet and she fell backwards onto stone and concrete. Sixty-four years old and a former emergency room nurse, Marti says that on her way down she could foresee "broken bones, burst kidneys, or, at the very least, serious sprains." In fact, Marti sustained only minor bruises outlining her ilium and sacrum, thin ribbons of purple suggesting hearts. She did ask for an extra blanket for padding in Shavasana for her regular weekly Svaroopa® yoga class a few days later. Her low back was sore, but that was all.

Marti has been practicing Svaroopa® yoga in Boise, Idaho since July 2005, when her teacher, Marlene Gast, took Foundations. As a teacher in another style for some 10 years before, Marlene happened upon a Svaroopa® yoga class at a teachers’ conference in 1999, joined in two Core Opening immersions with Swami Nirmalanda (Rama Berch), one in April 2000 and the other in September 2004. Slowly but surely, Marlene was deeply inspired by the amazing reliability of Svaroopa® yoga in healing her own SI joint issues — but even more, in making a daily practice so accessible and opening the door to previously unimaginable peace. Marti was one of several students in Marlene’s existing classes who immediately embraced the change to Svaroopa® yoga. Marti began her own daily practice almost immediately — first the Magic Four. Soon after, she acquired "The Primary Practice" DVD and added Four on the Floor. As her teacher has progressed through the four YTT levels, Marti has continued with twice-weekly classes, adding new asanas to her own daily practice as well as enjoying Embodyment® sessions from time to time.

Relating the story of her fall to her teacher, Marti was still somewhat shocked by the accident but even more by her escape from injury: "It’s my practice," she said, "I know it’s my practice. There’s no way someone nearly six feet tall can fall backward from that height and just bounce."

Debra's Story

Last year, Debra S. was referred to my Svaroopa® yoga classes by another student who, as a close friend, knew of Debra’s low back pain. After a month of lower spinal release classes, Debra eliminated her chronic back pain and decided on the convenience of returning to her workplace yoga. An administrator for a regional hospital in Boise, Idaho, Debra S. is eligible for free, employer-sponsored yoga classes in another style.

This fall, still on my e-mail distribution, Debra responded to my announcement of fall classes: "Hi, is this the 'gentle yoga' as the last few classes I've taken have been too aggressive for me and hurt my back." When I responded that, as always, my classes would be "designed to release tension from the spine and soothe aches and pains," Debra signed up for my 12-week session. She explained that she had thought my class announcement had come from the hospital, but when she realized it was Svaroopa® yoga being offered, she was eager to come back!

After just two classes in the Daily Practice Theme, Debra called me to say, "I've been doing the Magic 4 every day. I feel great. I need less pain medication. And I’ve gotten my husband to do it with me. We use the handout you gave me to check on alignments. He’s a former military man and still very busy — and very regimented — but he just loves the Magic 4 to help with his neck issues."

I asked Debra how she had begun her home practice. "It’s my treat," she said, "I set up a special place in our home and I have special music. I say to my husband, 'Let’s do yoga!' and he’s eager to join me."

At the end of our third class a few days ago, which featured Four on the Floor with Vajrasana (Firm pose) as the marker, Debra noticed beautiful changes. She said that she could feel the central column of energy — Stambha — more easily and clearly, and that it also felt "wider — more expanded." She said she could still notice a small area of pain in her back but now she could feel so much more of herself that was pain free. The delighted glow of her face lit up the room.

Leslie's Story

A student of Svaroopa® yoga for several years, Leslie T. registered for my spring classes — right before breaking her right leg in a skiing accident. When I received Leslie’s e-mail explaining that she was having surgery to repair the fracture, I responded with a "get well" card and suggestions to practice Ujjayi Pranayama during recovery and to get in touch for Embodyment® yoga therapy to speed healing.

In early September, Leslie did schedule an Embodyment® session, because the fractured bone, secured with about a dozen screws, was not healing properly. The rift through the length of the tibia had failed to knit, and one of Leslie’s physicians was recommending another surgery, which she wanted to avoid. I suggested overlap Embodyment® yoga therapy sessions and strongly encouraged Ujjayi Pranayama practiced for 20 minutes twice each day.

We scheduled six sessions, to coordinate with Leslie’s medical evaluations and demanding work schedule. Leslie also faithfully practiced Ujjayi Pranayama twice daily, enabling her to eliminate her daily medication for asthma, which interferes with new bone growth. By the beginning of October, the bone had begun to knit. She did have outpatient surgery — to remove several of the screws — and by the end of October Leslie was pain free, and walking without a limp.

Liza's Story

A recommendation and chance meeting at my acupuncture and sacral/cranial massage therapist's office led me to a Svaroopa® yoga class in Boise that has changed my life. In my early 50s I had begun to suffer from all kinds of neck, shoulder, lower back, and hip aches and pains that I thought were aging/menopause related. Riding in the car on a three hour drive was horrible. Sitting at the dinner table for longer than necessary was awful. I reached a point where I dreaded bedtime where I could not sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time as I could not find a comfortable position for my achy hip joints and cranky neck. My doctor said it was probably arthritis. He gave me a muscle relaxer...made me sleep, but my neck still hurt! Great. I bought a new mattress. Added more pillows...took away all pillows... I tried a liver cleanse, a gluten free diet, a raw diet, omitted caffeine and sugar...my gut felt great, but not my neck and shoulders!

14 months ago I began taking Svaroopa® yoga classes. I went twice a week for 4 weeks. My teacher provided me with the "Magic Four" which I began immediately to do every day at home. After a couple of months I bought some blankets and blocks and began an easy home practice. Now, I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER and am pain free most of the time unless I over do it in the garden, on the golf course, on my nordic or alpine skis, on my bike, sitting at the computer, or running the vacuum cleaner! Even if I do tweak something here or there, a daily short session at home combined with a lovely hour and a half class at the studio once a week keeps my tailbone and sacrum aligned, my spine lengthened and opened....

Life after 55 is not looking so bad!!

Marlene Gast in a yoga pose called Tree Pose

Marlene Gast, CSYT
Vrkshasana, Tree Pose

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