When COVID-19 hit us all, it consumed the lives of many; the loss went beyond the number of lives – to lifestyle, to social connection and for many, the peace in their minds, hearts & homes. I was preparing to go for my Masters to the U.K. with full enthusiasm, quite unconscious of the core issues underneath the everyday patterns & chaos of the household. It was an invisible pandemic of depression, aggression & transgression in socio-economic, cultural & interpersonal settings. My family and I shared a chaotic past due to ancestral trauma, external circumstances that ranged from physical and mental health issues to violence.
We’d always known there was some deep rooted underlying cause but couldn’t quite put our finger on despite going to many doctors and therapists for me and my brother. All methods would only give temporary relief, only for us to fall back into the same patterns of behaviour and conflict again.
Coming from a background of science and a faith based in spirituality, I was convinced there was more to this than what meets the eye.
The best thing happened in 2020, in the thick of it all – the mental stress of preparing to leave the country, the physical stress of acutely disturbing circumstances in the home and environment and consequent health issues – Bodhmarga contacted my mother.
My mother had attended a sound therapy workshop back in 2016, in Mumbai and found it to be very effective but as all things go – it went out of sight and out of mind.
To cope with the amount of stress I’d dealt with, I’d unknowingly accumulated emotional wounds of residual emotions, traumas, physical ailments and developed a lot of unhealthy coping mechanisms. These became all the more obvious during the period of 2018-2020, the most harmful ones being auto immune disorders like fibromalgia and cysts and mental health issues like bipolar, aggression and self harm.
We hear of many mental health issues and it’s resultant lifestyle issues and chronic diseases like diabetes, migraine, psoriasis, cancer, thyroid, menstrual issues, and believe that they are common – but just because something is common doesn’t mean it is normal. It is normal for the human body and mind to develop these when being faced with a trauma or something that their physiological state cannot process, but it’s not normal for the body & mind to not heal from this chronic dis-ease.
If any of us or someone who is close to us is diagnosed with a chronic ailment, it only means this – their vagus nerve is in freeze mode.
I was trying innumerable self help techniques, counselling and independently researching this as I was a therapist myself, but couldn’t quite find the link between what I was experiencing internally and externally and how to change that experience.
Connecting to Bodhmarga was an absolute life change of perspectives, thinking, ways of acting.
Initially, I was resistant toward the whole idea of stopping obsessing about healing, dropping doership & surrendering; I thought what almost all of us think – “I’m going to do everything myself and if i don’t, who will?”
The Bodhmarga online conducted LIVE workshops gave me access to a lot of researched, that directly revealed through science-backed information how the ancestral patterns and stories connect to the circumstances in our present moment. The healing tracks and live prayers during the sessions helped me regulate my nervous system with ease as Bodhmarga also began the Bodh Kirtan project – allowing us to experience the sacred sounds, music & abhang in the healing voice of gentle consciousness, Vibhushri’s.
The presence, the sharing, the support at Bodhmarga in so many ways, with consistency across platforms and groups was enough for my system to begin feeling safe emotionally, spiritually within and enabled a physiological shift in my being that my entire family noticed the effects.
The shift after attending the first MahaShivratri was immense to the point that my life was not the same. I started to be Aware of my values, behaviours and know with intuitive clarity and absolute alignment, what the right and easeful thing to do would be, for my health, for my family & for the health of my relationships.
Bhav Culture was an absolute boon to those affected by the pandemic and ebhav was the ultimate medicine to my entire family – it saved our nervous systems from further disorder, our family system and, quite literally, saved our lives in a hundred ways – the diseases I had easily reversed with the regulation of bhav which happens in Kirtan and in the Vitthal Kriya during ebhav sessions.
I am currently part of the seva and bhav culture team at Bodhmarga, learning to expand while transmuting my ego through Bhav for healthier relationships and personal growth journey, for a more fulfilling and purposeful way of life.
I had been looking for decades for a solution like this one, simple, that happens with ease, with the resonance and restoration at Bodhmarga. (not clear)
Being a part of the Bodhmarga Foundation has helped me let go of many subtle yet stressful coping mechanisms and underlying trauma with ease, connection and love. It has helped me to overcome the autoimmune disease to the ease of a regulated nervous system, helping me grow in all areas of my life and de-burden my heart in the present.
