Yoga, Meditation & Illness

My name is Madhavendra. This name was given to me by my spiritual master, Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda, 19 years ago. I have ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is a progressive, neurodegenerative disease where the motor neurons gradually deteriorate and die. This means that your brain gradually can’t control or send any messages to your muscles. So you eventually lose the ability to move, eat, speak, and even breathe. Despite being diagnosed with this terrible disease, I actually feel more at peace, more inwardly joyful and more alive than at any other time of my life. I owe this inner peace and happiness

to my regular spiritual practices and the wisdom shared to me by my spiritual master. Actually anyone and everyone can also experience real inner peace and happiness in even the most difficult times and that is why I’m writing this. I want to share a little with you about how I came to taste this inner peace and how you can also have greater joy and wisdom in your own life.

I have gone from someone who was physically very fit, active, and healthy to being in a situation when even the most simple of tasks requires a lot of effort. Prior to my illness I taught hatha yoga and ashtanga vinyasa yoga for many years and loved my practice but it wasn’t until I learnt the process of mantra meditation that my yoga felt complete.

I am no longer able to do much in the way of yoga asanas except for simple restorative poses. Many of us will experience the inability to exercise as we near the end of our lives so it’s wonderful to be able to go within to that place free from cares and anxieties no matter what the condition of our body is. This is what my meditation practice does for me.

I practice an ancient form of yoga meditation known as mantra meditation. This is a process of meditation where you focus your mind on ancient transcendental sounds known as mantras. The mantras are all pure and all purifying. Simply by hearing and repeating these mantras my mind becomes calmer, I become happier, more satisfied, and gradually I become more peaceful.

So that when I was hit with the tsunami called ALS I had somewhere to turn. I turned inward to my meditation practice. When we’re diagnosed with a serious life threatening disease death becomes a reality. But thanks to Jagad Guru’s teachings and the ancient teachings of the Yoga scriptures I know that I am an eternal spiritual being and that the material body I am wearing is a temporary

garment. When it dies I will not die. So my meditation practice has given me the most wonderful gift. It has helped me to realize that I am not this body, which is falling apart, I am spirit soul temporarily residing in this body and I know this disease will not kill me. It will just kill my body and I am eternal.

Part of my meditation practice is Kirtan, the singing of transcendental mantras usually done in a group setting. I’ve been singing these mantras for 30 years and as soon as I chant I’m instantly transported to an amazing place of happiness, strength and inner peace. This is a beautiful place full of love where this awful disease can’t enter.

Whatever time I have left I’m going to stay immersed in hearing these beautiful transcendental sounds and not be concerned about ALS.

If you would like to know more about the meditation practice I follow please go to www.meditationtoronto.com or you can email me at info@meditationtoronto.com

All of the meditation classes are free. There is also some wonderful information on www.wisdom.yoga

#meditation #illness #vinyasa #hatha