Healing The Inner Child And Finding Purpose

Yoga is the beautiful science and art of rebirthing and
reparenting oneself into wholeness.

- Yogacharini Maitreyi

I was very glad I was able to make it for the baby shower of one of my Arkaya Holistic Healing/ Guidance clients on September 10th 2023. Schuleen, the mom to be, was brought in for my sessions by her friend Zorina, who healed herself from many ailments including Lymes with my support and conceived a baby through the sessions. She wanted her friend to benefit too. It was so lovely to see the connection, joy and support they brought into each other's lives as they both drove down together from White rock and Langley, respectively, together for the sessions in Kitsilano. This sisterhood is so needed in today's isolating environment where it becomes easier to heal and achieve one's goals not only through mentorship but also through friendships and sisterhoods where one is committed to one's holistic well being.

The joy, love and pink velvety soft seats at the patisserie were more than palpable. The games organized by the fully pregnant mom to be’s sister broke the ice and got everyone into excited game playing. The high sugar treats helped too… ha ha! It was deeply satisfying to see the joy new life could bring into generations of women.

Schuleen, the mom to be had a mom and grandmother who showered her with presents. It reminded me of the older women in India who believed in excess and sometimes had to check myself lest I follow too much in their footsteps. Their way of showing love was giving food, gifts, presents and most importantly their wisdom gleaned through childbearing and raising. Their very presence was a blessing.

Schuleen opening presents as her grandma watches

Schuleen’s grandmother bringing her presence, wisdom and gifts

This wisdom that was passed down through generations was very useful for my own mother who will attest to how my grandmother gave her so many legiyams (ayurvedic paste of herbs) and care before and after I was born. She would often narrate the story of what an easy birth I was and how it was like she just shat me out! Not a good visual but the ease and quickness of going to the toilet was what she was gunning for (I don't mean to discriminate against those who are constipated here!).

However everyone gets the gist of how my mom never suffered with labor pains for days nor had to keep pushing for hours. It was a very simple and easy birth in seconds according to her or a mere few minutes. She often tells me that that was an indicator for how the future would pan out with me. She would often remind me that I preferred healthy foods as a child and did not like sweet Indian treats like jalebi, basundi, gulab jamun, etc. and hated fried foods. My tolerance and love for them has increased as I got older. I would always eat vegetables and loved bitter foods and slept well so she felt I was an easy raise in childhood. I did offer her fashion advice when she would drop me in kindergarten when I was three and she said she found that amusing. Phew, thank god I did not do that in my teens as that might not have been as well received then.

I would often wonder if that same effortless process of conception, carrying a baby to term and delivery could be replicated with my clients. Yogic healing was my answer.

Yogic Healing and Holistic Guidance

During the sessions I facilitate an assessment of the chakra, energy flows, energy in the organs and alignment or misalignment of the koshas (different dimensions we exist in). This gives me a blueprint of what is off and what needs to be shifted for the better. It is always beautiful to see how the physical, emotional and mental body is longing and waiting to be supported back into balance, happy to be guided back into love and grateful for being reparented into its original vibrancy.

This is done through not just verbal clarification but through physical yoga chikitsa (healing through touch and pressure) on the massage table, energy healing, manthra (sound and vibrational healing) and creating sankalpa (a visioned aligned with the highest truth).

Consistency Is Key

Though my focus in the sessions is not just fertility and encompasses every aspect of one's life, many are not committed enough to continue working on themselves when a baby, a new job, healing an old ailment or a goal manifests through the sessions. They feel now that they have reached the so-called goal they do not have to put in any more effort. They forget that it's not just courtship and getting the woman to say “yes” but working on the marriage that is important too.

This is a lifelong commitment, gently keeping that awareness of reparenting ourselves as well as doing the practice consistently. Even though I hold an online satsangh once a week, at a very nominal cost, to remind people of the principles, the simplicity of these sessions may lead people to undervalue the benefits. Even though these very same principles helped someone achieve a goal that seemed unattainable, to make it part of their life may seem like too much in some cases.

Reparenting Yourself First

Our responsibility is not just birthing when we start a family but rebirthing ourselves as we are born into this earth family to carry on our true legacy. This will give us the direction and purpose that we seek and fulfill us deeply.

- Yogacharini Maitreyi

The core of Yoga and Tantra is creating a safe space to reparent oneself. This safety has to be found within but also through creating an external environment which is reasonably safe. We owe this to our inner child.

We start shifting old habits and emotional and mental patterns that we falsely believe to be us. It is a habit or pattern. That is all it is. The conscious us has to sift through them and then shift the ones that are worth changing or improving on. This sifting process requires karuna sakshi bhava (compassionate witnessing). This process of self-observation and introspection is not a quality everyone has. And of course there are many principles and nuances to it which one learns through training with a teacher.

Like any other muscle it needs to be used till its use becomes effortless. Once we have a certain degree of self-love, we can support others in this process too. There have been cases where I have not seen the baseline of self-love in a teacher training participant and hence recommended they work on themselves first rather than hanker to be certified immediately. This is how it is traditionally done in the gurukulam system in India.

In the Arkaya Teacher training the practice and principle of karuna sakshi bhava is foundational, more than working any other muscle. This process of reparenting through compassionate observation is a core ethos of the teacher training. That is why it is spread across 500 hours, over two years, on Saturday mornings and some Sunday mornings. This structure is for easy assimilation and integration into one’s life.

Parenting is not a one time event. It is not instant magic over a weekend but a consistent showing up for oneself. This year's program starts in November and you can look at it in the link here if your heart yearns for joy, community and a better way of being.

www.arkaya.net/teacher-training

One will first reparent oneself and then learn to support others in that process, to whatever degree the other is willing to commit.

We will look at more principles in the next blog and you can find, below, Schuleen’s testimonial. Part of the teacher training is also learning to facilitate one on one yogic healing and Yoga therapy sessions. Or, some decide to incorporate it into their already existing profession like counseling, occupational therapy, teaching, organizational teamwork and stress management, etc. or do it just for their own healing and self-awareness.

Once we see the value in reparenting ourselves we cannot but want to nurture this inner child that is longing for the joy, creativity, vibrancy, spiritual alignment, flow and insights that are its birthright. May we all grow into wisdom, love and strength with each passing year!

Schuleen’s Testimonial

I met Maitreyi in December of 2022 when I was going through unexplained infertility. I was so frustrated with the traditional healthcare system, I decided to seek a more holistic, natural method to see if that would help. I had the pleasure of having in-person healing sessions with Maitreyi and she is honestly a miracle worker! I conceived after 5 sessions (in 1 month's time) after two years of trying and now in my second trimester.

Meeting Maitreyi was such a blessing. She is so holistic, she not only focused on the physiological aspects but also the spiritual and emotional aspects that I was missing with traditional medicine. Maitreyi helped me understand my chakras and how energy impacts our health and wellbeing. She cleared areas of stagnation and imbalances that were causing health issues. She addressed my adrenal fatigue that no other healthcare provider was able to do.

I’ve always considered myself to be a spiritual person and Maitreyi was able to help me tap into the potential to reach a higher level of consciousness and become attuned to my body’s energies and how to rebalance my nervous system.

I also attended the online vagus toning and nervous system strength course Maitreyi taught. As a healthcare professional who works primarily in a hospital setting, I feel more prepared and empowered to include vagus toning practices to better support the spirituality side of recovery and rehabilitation for my patients.

- Schuleen Tao, Occupational Therapist at Langley Memorial Hospital