by Anwar Baksh | Sep 22, 2016
This is the amazing story of two sisters who have helped each other in life, healing and with love through Emily’s Traumatic Brain Injury:
Twelve years ago, my world suddenly shrank. I was out in the woods happily trail riding. The horse and I didn’t know each other well. ‘Big Red’ didn’t know that I wouldn’t ask him to do anything dangerous. I didn’t know asking him to go around an obstacle in the trail would be scary.
So I was very surprised when he reared, throwing me off. My head hit a rock (thank goodness I was wearing a helmet!). Big Red lost his balance, toppled over, and fell on me. It could have been the origin of the phrase: “Caught between a rock and a hard place”. My brains were scrambled.
Every Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is different. For me, my head feels like a cement bowling ball that is tucked in a too-tight bowling bag, all the time. The pain in my head increases or decreases depending on many factors. But it is always there and has been, since the accident.
I had been a well-respected international consultant, teacher, and supervisor in my field. It took me a while to realize those days were behind me. Also behind me are going to restaurants, concerts, family gatherings, and essentially any activity that involves more than one conversation going on at a time or has background noise.
I have tried many traditional and alternative treatments. Nothing helps for long. Some avenues have been painful and expensive. Through all of this, my sister, Mary, a certified yoga teacher, has been an encouraging, supportive and compassionate presence! I am a joyful and grateful recipient of her skillful and healing ways.
~Emily
I am very blessed. Blessed to have my sister, Emily, to share yoga with her and to learn from practicing with her. We have tried many types of yoga over the years. I have learned to speak slowly, to use simple words, and have realized that “less” is always better. I can look at her face to tell what is working and what is not! I try to carry these lessons with me always.
When I was taking Deep Sleep® Yoga Nidra training this spring with Jennifer Reis, my sister and I went to Kripalu together. I practiced what I had learned in class with Emily most evenings. She was usually very tired and hurting from attending the R&R drop-in classes during the day.
Emily would always introduce herself to the teacher at the beginning of class, explaining that if she had to leave class early it was because her head hurt and not because the topic was uninteresting or teaching poor.
One evening, I was practicing just the first stages of Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra with Emily. She was covered up with a blanket on her bed, and using an eye pillow as well. I led her through the body scan two times, then slowly brought her back to the present moment and into the room.
Wanting to know if it helped in any way, I asked Emily if she felt any different. She paused to observe her body and feelings, and told me that on the pain scale from 1-10, in which 10 was the highest level of pain that, “I went from a 7 to a 4”.
I was so surprised that such a change could happen in 20 minutes that I asked, “You aren’t just saying that to make me feel good are you?” Emily said “It’s true!” She is always open and honest with me.
I had another way to know that leading her into yoga nidra worked. Emily snores only when she is in a very relaxed state while sleeping. She snored all night! Not so good for me! But I didn’t mind because I knew we found something that worked to soothe her pain.
I think the greatest thing about Deep Sleep® Yoga Nidra for many people with TBI is that it’s something that they can do for themselves. They don’t have to rely on someone else for treatment or medication. Just pop CD on and listen! Or go to a class. Or in our case, have your sister come over. No physical movement or thinking required. Listening softly, and feeling.
I include yoga nidra at the end of my Yin and Restorative yoga classes, and students
love it. They want more! I will be giving a Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra workshop soon and hope it will be in the regular class schedule in the near future.
~Mary
After so many unsuccessful attempts to deal with my TBI, I was amazed at the impact of
Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra. This practice significantly reduces my headache pain, which allows me to become calm, and also feel and assess my body without getting ‘stuck’ in the pain.
I have listened to Jennifer’s CD so often it has worn out and I am on my second one! Practicing yoga nidra has actually allowed me more freedom in life. Now I can do activities I would have avoided, for example, a friend’s birthday party or a restaurant outing. I practice yoga nidra before to prepare and afterwards to recover. The pain level decreases each time. It is inexpensive and easy to do. I really enjoy the practice!
I am concerned that I sound like a commercial, but I really wanted to share that it has been so effective for me. Yoga nidra has eased my life considerably.
As I reread what I have written, I fear I sound like a complaining, self-pitying
wuss. In fact, my life has been, and continues to be, a journey with many lessons to be
learned, and many gifts to help me learn them, and I am so grateful for these opportunities.
I am blessed with a loving spouse, loyal friends and family, a peaceful country home with horses, dogs and a cat. And as you know, I have the best sister ever and Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra to help me on my journey!
~Emily
by Anwar Baksh | Aug 3, 2016
Before discovering Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra, my life, on the surface seemed pretty ideal. I was married to the love of my life, had a successful career as a medical social worker, and was mom to an amazing toddler.
What no one could see, however, was a totally different story. I was suffering from crippling postpartum depression years after having given birth; I was under a great deal of job pressure and stress; and I was sick as a dog! I had been living with a rare autoimmune disease since 2000, I wasn’t sleeping, I struggled with my weight and body image, and on and on.
I felt like my life was totally out of control. The final straw was that I ended up in the emergency room while at work with dangerously high blood pressure — and the physician, knowing I was an employee there, telling me, “You’ve got to get out of this job if you want to live.”
And life as I knew it kind of came to a halt.
I knew how I was living was unsustainable. Eventually I was able to quit my job, but I felt totally lost as to what the next steps would be. Then I discovered Yoga Nidra. I’ll let one of my past blog posts tell my story:
All these changes happening over the past few months have left me feeling more than a little fried. I left a successful, yet deeply unsatisfying job, endured major surgery, and watched my whole sense of self turn upside down in a very short period of time.
Even though things are beginning to settle down externally, internally I am still kind of fragile, like a baby bird just beginning to leave the nest. I’ve been sleeping poorly and having mild anxiety spells. Every morning at 4:45 am (on the DOT for goodness sakes!) I wake up, for no good reason. Then the birds start waking up with their mating calls and keep me up ‘til the break of dawn. If I were child-free, I’d probably be able to fall back to sleep around 6:30, but alas, E is up and literally running at that time (not that I am complaining), and the day rushes on. So I have been looking for some way– any way– to catch up on some rest.
After I recovered from my surgery, a dear friend gifted me with a five-class series at Yogala Echo Park, and I’ve been going to a variety of classes to see which teachers I like and which classes work with my schedule (or that I can make work for what I want). One Sunday evening I decided to try something new: Yoga Nidra meditation class.
I had never heard of Yoga Nidra before, but as I read the class description a sentence jumped out at me: 20 minutes of yoga nidra is as rejuvenating as four hours of sleep! Needless to say, I got my ass over there.
It was a transformative experience.
I was so sleepy, yet aware of everything around me. All judgment and tension had evaporated from my being. The teacher then guided us to a visualization of a nurturing image. As I formulated an image in my mind’s eye, I felt hot tears streaming down my cheeks and a tremendous feeling of release.
Somehow, I was able to transform from someone who takes care of everything and everyone, to one who is gently and securely swaddled in the arms of the ones I love, the arms of my friends, the arms of my city, the world, the universe. I never thought a feeling like this was possible in my lifetime, much less in a period of 45 minutes.
From that profound experience, I experienced not only the deep relaxation I was desperate for, but also discovered a feeling of deep connection with my true and tender Self. I felt the support of many other beings that I had envisioned in the meditation, and who held me in that safe space. I was hooked!
Over time I had a wide variety of transformative experiences with yoga nidra, and to be completely honest, not all of them felt pleasant every moment. However, even in a meditation session that had me wanting to jump out of my skin, I found myself rested, renewed, and just a little lighter from the weight I carried on my shoulders.
Through yoga nidra, in complement with excellent medical and mental health care, my life began to not only become bearable, but also pleasurable. I began making concrete changes in my ability to care for myself, in my career, relationships, and everything!
Years later, through regular practice, I realized that I wanted to help people to discover a whole new way of looking at and living their lives. My teacher, knowing there were not many yoga nidra guides in our city, encouraged me to study with her teacher, Jennifer Reis.
That seemed impossible, given that I live in California and Jennifer is based in the NE. In time, I decided that training with Jennifer would be an investment in my new path. And, not only did I thrive under Jennifer’s compassionate guidance, I truly discovered my gift and passion! To say that I am so very excited to share Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra with my community would be the understatement of the year. My soul overflows with gratitude.
by Anwar Baksh | Jul 26, 2016
Elyse transformed feeling small into knowing her radiant true infinite self through the practices of yoga and yoga nidra. I think she’s always had that beautiful big smile though! Please enjoy her story.
When I was a child I received verbal and implied messages from my father that “children should be seen and not heard” and “you don’t need a college education because you’re just going to get married and have children.” He was born in 1913, and his beliefs came from that era. Message received loud and clear! Whispers followed me: ‘Be quiet, stay small, think small, do as your husband says’.
As a child, I was an introvert and sometimes stuttered. I married, had children and I loved creating a home for my family – but I had stayed small. I brought the limiting beliefs from my childhood into my adult life and relationships, and especially into my marriage.
With the tools I have learned from my yoga nidra practice, I have been able to see more clearly my limiting beliefs and then the practice helped me move beyond them. Now I have better esteem and interpersonal relationships, including my marriage. It’s possible that without the practice of yoga nidra, I might not have been able to stay in the relationship and become happily married, for 26 years.
I discovered during my yoga nidra practice that truth is in the heart – and my truth is in MY heart. Only after peeling away the layers, and moving deeper into my inner stillness, did my heart speak truth to me, and I found that I am so much bigger and wiser than those limiting beliefs had me believe.
I had changed, and perhaps he had changed too, but as my father’s caregiver in his final years, he had become the most adoring and loving father anyone could wish for and it was a challenging time to let him go.
I attended Jennifer’s Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra training in Virginia this spring. Dream Yoga Studio provided a beautiful space to learn, practice and bask in the sweetness that is Jennifer. Her teaching style is nurturing, and the training brilliantly planned to allow each student to truly discover and understand all the components of Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra.
Each day we experienced Divine Sleep and yoga according to the daily theme led by Jennifer. In addition to learning and leading each stage of the practice with each other, I found out more about hand mudras, unique breathing practices, meditations, and mantras – the complete whole picture!
Jennifer’s Five Element Yoga guided me deeply within. I got a ‘feeling sense’ in my body that created space within me. I felt like the practice polished the window of my heart, so light could shine in and radiate outward! It also prepared my body and mind to relax so I could be fully present during the yoga nidra that followed.
During one particular yoga nidra practice, I started out with my heart’s longing ‘sankalpa’, which actually somehow was formed by my mind, not my heart, making it not really my ‘heart’s’ longing. By the end of the yoga nidra, Jennifer guided us back to heart’s longing and a different statement arose — my true heart’s longing, my personal truth, bubbled up and it said “I AM ENOUGH!”
These three words have changed my life! How liberating and incredibly joyful! Now my body and mind sigh with relief every day. I experience ease most of the time. My daily-ish practice listening to Jennifer’s CDs makes me feel connected, loved, relaxed, and so full of joy.
As a teacher who guides students through this practice now, I see my student’s faces, and I hear their stories, and I know that Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra is powerfully healing! The first time I led it, one student opened her softened eyes, looked at me and shook her head saying, “Wow.”
I am so grateful and excited to share this healing practice with others as well as to know I can pop on one of Jennifer’s CDs and let her take me on a journey. Namaste.
by Anwar Baksh | Jun 28, 2016
I love my work, but never more than when I see the effects of theses potent practices seeing a student inspired! Heidi’s inner glow beamed wider and more brightly each session during our vibrant Five Element Yoga weekend at Kripalu…
Before being introduced to Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra, while I knew meditation was very beneficial and something that I ‘should’ be doing for my health & wellness, I just couldn’t sit or focus for any length of time to find the peace, tranquility and relaxation I knew my body and mind needed.
I always knew I wanted to help others and the combination of my love for fitness and movement was the first step that inspired me to travel down the path that I am now on. As many young adults do after graduating college, I went in search of a career, determined to make my way in this ‘big wide’ world. With a degree in Economics and Business, I landed in insurance, specifically in the claims end of insurance. For any of you who have ever had an accident of any kind and had to file a claim, you know the stress involved in the process which can be truly overwhelming.
Even though my job was at times stressful, it was a very ‘good’ job, and became my career for 26 years. I would like to think that I was able to help others by listening, caring and making the process as simple and easy as I could in their times of distress and need.
In order to release my own stress, I became a certified group fitness instructor, and it really lit me up! I taught a couple of classes during the week after work, and found it was the time of my day that I looked forward to most. One of my students pointed out that I could not stop smiling throughout the whole class. Not only did this help me, but in the process, I could see I was helping others in a new way. Although I knew in my heart teaching fitness was not exactly what I was supposed to be doing with my life.
In addition to teaching fitness classes, I attended yoga classes at my mentor Gayle Steffanelli’s little yoga studio. Then somehow the universe lined up for me to buy-out her studio which was only two short miles from my home, and I couldn’t say no!
I completed my 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training and jumped at the opportunity to take a “lay-off” from my insurance career, and try my hand at owning my own studio! My new life and career began as I turned 49 in 2013 when I said goodbye to the insurance claims world for good, and I have never looked back. As one chapter closed, another opened.
I was first introduced to Jennifer Reis’ Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra by my fellow yoga teacher trainee who was trained by her, led us in a special Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra event at my studio. I was hooked! I loved how relaxed, refreshed and re-energized it made me feel. I began to read up more about all the incredible health benefits that this practice holds for not only the receiver, but also the giver. When the next opportunity presented itself to attend Jennifer’s Reis’ Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra teacher training program at Kripalu in April 2015, once again I did not hesitate. I signed up knowing in my heart that this was what I was supposed to do next!
Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra training marked my first visit to the amazing Kripalu Center. Our graduation lined up with my 50th birthday. What an incredible gift to myself, and I was so thrilled to be able to bring this gift to so many others. I am so thankful to Jennifer Reis for her teachings and trainings. It is a blessing to be able to guide others and share the gift of relaxation and release of stress and tension that so many of us allow our bodies to hold tightly onto, creating disease and illness, is a blessing.
Recently, after I led Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra, as I started to guide my class back from our journey, a new student said to me later that she thought to herself, “Oh no!!! Put me back! I’m not ready to come back out yet!” A good reflection of the power and potency she felt. Another of my students explained the practice to someone who had not yet tried yoga nidra that, “It was so nice to have someone tell you a story – like when you were a young child – when life was so much simpler.”
I turn to Jennifer’s CD’s anytime I feel my life gets too busy, crazy and stressful and after practicing Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra, I am calmer, able to breathe a little easier, and can refocus on the task at hand with peace! I feel both my mind and body need this time and yoga nidra to truly rest and heal. Then my mind feels quiet, and I can actually feel my body rejuvenating.
Now I enjoy the benefits of this form of meditation being guided and giving my mind permission to simply rest and listen as my body relaxes and recharges. I am also grateful for the fact that I can derive the benefits of this wonderful practice when I am guiding my students in class too.
I am so grateful to you Jennifer for creating Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra! I have shared this with so many of my family, friends and students so that they too may take the time they need to allow the body & mind time to rest, recharge and heal. I look forward to many more trainings with her.
A few weeks ago I returned to Kripalu for Jennifer’s Five Element Yoga weekend. I am beyond fired-up about sharing the Five Element Yoga within my weekly Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra classes as the whole complete package! I will be back next year for Five Element Yoga Teacher Training at Kripalu – because I know that is what is in my heart!
https://tbypfitness.com
by Anwar Baksh | May 6, 2016
Frannie has an angelic voice. I play her music in my classes all the time! I’ve been blessed to watch her heal and grow over the years and hope you enjoy her story.
In 2006 I took an antibiotic drug called Levaquin that I was given at a walk-in clinic. I am a professional singer, and had a number of concerts coming up and felt like a sinus infection might be coming on. I rarely took any medications for anything. I’m a longtime meditator, did lots of yoga, ate organic food, and exercised.
Unbeknownst to me, this was an antibiotic with two ‘black box’ warnings on it, one for tendon damage and the other for neuropathy, with a slew of other very serious long term side effects. This class of drugs is supposed to be prescribed only if a patient didn’t respond to other antibiotics for pneumonia or very serious illnesses.
But many doctors have been given this medication from pharmaceutical salespeople, and then give it out for any small infection, having no idea of the potential for serious side effects. It was given to me for something much milder than what it was intended for – a possible sinus infection.
After taking this drug my life changed drastically. It limited me in many ways and left me with chronic illness. Unable to walk, I was in a wheel chair for over six months, and slept with splints on my legs, in severe pain, especially in the Achilles tendons, and with uncontrollable twitches all over my body.
Even now, I am still unable to put my body in any kind of stress without causing injury or a tendon tear. I developed atrial fibrillations that I continue to deal with most days. I had a spontaneous retinal tear which is also not uncommon among people who have taken Levaquin, as well as very painful facial neuralgia, among other things.
My mind and emotions were also affected and I had very bad anxiety from this drug. Some of these health issues I’ve faced have improved but have not gone away completely. It is very upsetting to me that many doctors continue to prescribe this class of drug called ‘fluoroquinolones’ even though they may be hearing about the potential ramifications from its use, and there are many less toxic antibiotics that can be prescribed.
Thank God I had been meditating since I was sixteen years old, exploring spiritual practices, and had my music and singing as an anchor and sanctuary for my entire life! I had some good tools, but the major life change in my body and health was way bigger than me. That’s when I started on a deep healing journey toward acceptance and finding joy in what I loved most.
It was during this difficult time in 2008 that, walking with a cane, I visited Kripalu to take my dear friend Douglas Brady’s course “The Body Never Lies” that I came across Jennifer’s yoga nidra CD in the bookstore.
My favorite is the ‘Infinite Healing’ journey and once I found it, I practiced it every single day for over five years! It helped me so much with anxiety, and deepened my connection to God and my true self, coming to know on a much deeper level than before, that all is truly okay. I am okay just as I am.
Regularly practicing Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra with Jennifer’s CDs, and my other spiritual practices, gave me the quiet time I needed to get in touch with myself. I developed more awareness each day and in so doing experienced spacious openness. I learned that I was much more than my body or my thoughts.
During my healing journey I wrote and released two music CDs as well as started teaching meditation. I believed so much in the power of the practice of yoga nidra, and wanted to become certified so that I could share it with others. I was very excited to be able to train with Jennifer.
In Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra Teacher Training I was impressed by Jennifer’s wide knowledge base. I particularly enjoyed learning about the mudras and the positive affirmations. During the workshop, I felt a need to speak with Jennifer, and she was open and accessible. I am so grateful that I got to train with her! I have since studied other practitioner’s yoga nidra books and CDs, and Jennifer’s remains a favorite. I always give her name out whenever anyone asks about a training or CD.
My journey has come full circle where I am grateful to be co-presenting at Kripalu, Omega, and Esalen, singing and sharing various practices including yoga nidra that I continue to use in my own healing and with others in Nancy Slonim Aronie’s transformational writing workshops.
My life experiences over the past ten years have been filled with an abundance of joy as well as a lot of challenges, including the drug reaction, leaving my full time job, as well as dealing with my son and husbands serious illnesses.
All of these experiences have made me acutely aware of the many blessings in my life. I feel deep gratitude for my beautiful family, friends, community, lovely home, and for all of my practices and teachers who I have learned so much from about navigating this beautiful life that I love. We don’t come with a manual!
I recommend yoga nidra, Jennifer’s Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra teacher training, and her wonderful CDs. Thank you Jennifer for having played a really important part in my healing, and for the training that gave me the knowledge, confidence and tools to share this beautiful practice with others.
