Hari Om
I would like to share my experience as a yoga sadhaka at BSY. I came to BSY on 2 October 2015 to join the four-month Yogic Studies course. Now I have completed three happy months and I can feel the changes which have happened to me knowingly and unknowingly.
I work for a bank and I always had problems with my sleep. It started when I was sixteen. I cannot say it was due to my lifestyle or any past experience with life. Honestly, I don’t know why I had a sleeping problem.
When I slept at night or during the day, it was not always good sleep. Sometimes I felt that I was being pulled out of my bed and dragged out of my room and I could do nothing but experience what was happening to me. On a few instances I felt that someone was vigorously holding my throat and I felt choked due to lack of air. Those moments were horrifying because at the same time my body was fully paralyzed. I was able to open my eyes sometimes but was not sure whether what I was seeing was real or some kind of dream. I was petrified whenever that happened and sleeping became impossible after that.
It was not happening every single day; it was intermittent, sometimes night after night and sometimes it was gone for weeks. I noticed that when it happened, most of the time it reoccurred twice or thrice during the same sleep. It was very scary in the beginning, especially at my young age. I used to run to my father and sleep next to him if it happened. Later on it became a part of my sleeping experience; however I did not get proper sleep at night.
After consulting a doctor I was told that I had sleep disorder or insomnia. According to the doctor I was deeply stressed which I never believed. I was demotivated by what the doctor said. Of course I had problems in life like everyone but I was not and am not a miserable person. I was advised to follow a schedule for my eating and sleeping habits and to make it a routine. Due to my work and other activities I was unable to eat and sleep at fixed times. The pills did not help either.
After coming to BSY I joined the APMB and yoga nidra classes. The ashram environment gave me so much happiness and the yogic living in the ashram put me in a perfect routine. Since the food was served at fixed times, I had my breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same time every day. Within two months of yoga practice I realized I had only had one bad sleep in the beginning shortly after my arrival. Gradually I started to forget about the problem as it was not happening to me anymore. After about two and a half months I became aware that my sleeping problem was totally gone. Now I feel relaxed before going to bed and sleep without any of those scary nightmares.
I am amazed by what yoga has done to me in such a short span of time. It has also changed my way of thinking and looking at life. I am glad I came to BSY. I want to sincerely thank my guru for giving me an opportunity to study here. In turn, I promise that I take yoga not just as a practice but as my lifestyle.
Student of four-month Yogic Studies 2015–2016