Almost six years back when I started teaching yoga at Sevalaya, there was a wide-eyed girl watching the practices from one corner of the room. When I called her to join us, teachers and caretakers warned me saying that she was a troublesome girl who misbehaved with people.
As our Guru’s grace is always with us, I was not perturbed but curious to know about her. I met the founder of the NGO who confided in me that she and a few others were brought from another improper home which was closed by the Government for misappropriation. That girl, Ranjani, was 11 years of age and had been abused physically and mentally in the earlier home and had undergone a trauma. The founder had put her in class 6 with full freedom and given her shelter in the home.
Meanwhile she started being more interested in our sessions and came to do our practices. I called her, spoke to her softly and appreciated her. She was thrilled and asked me whether she could be a part of all sessions. I took special permission and made her participate. She was a natural yoga practitioner. She was very particular about our short wave Om chanting. Slowly she became my demonstrator and was doing well. At the same time, the complaints against her had not stopped completely. Though her violent behaviour with episodes of her biting and hitting fellow mates and wardens mellowed, she did not show any inclination to study.
She wanted to be a beautician. I told her, I would help her become a beautician only if she cleared her 10th standard first. Special yoga nidra sessions were given to her with the seedling of sankalpa and visualization of passing class 10. The teachers were not sure whether it would happen.
Covid stopped our classes for almost two years. When I visited the home again, sitting in the common lunch hall, Ranjani, grown up beautifully, was serving me sweets with a beaming smile. She had passed her class 10 and was thrilled about it. This shows the power of our tradition and yoga.
In the same place, a Muslim girl, Ihana, who was in a community school, attended our sessions in burkha and hijab. She would do the practices like that. Initially, she was reluctant with our chantings and Om. I told her if she was not comfortable chanting what we chanted, she was free to chant her mantras. She was relieved and happy. Slowly I could see her participating more regularly and involving wholeheartedly in our chants. She asked me the reason and meaning of our Shanti Path, daily mantras and other chants and was thrilled to learn.
She was also a little troublesome. She was from a rich Muslim family, but lost her parents. Her relatives had taken the money and put her in a home in their town. She was 16 years and the home was a nightmare for her. With the support of the police, she was rescued and admitted in Sevalaya.
She wanted to go back to her town, but was advised by the caretakers and teachers in Sevalaya, and myself to stay in Sevalaya until she completed 18. She did our practices regularly and volunteered to teach others in the home. She was very positive and relaxed with ajapa japa and yoga nidra.
Again due to Covid there was a disconnection. I learnt that she had turned 18 and left the home. One day I got a call from Ihana. She said, she was doing good in a neighbouring town and had started her studies in a college with the support of a relative. She asked for the guided yoga nidra practice and ajapa japa in Tamil which was sent. She is confident of doing good.