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A Journey for All
Patanjali (yoga sutra 2.16) talks about yoga as a means to overcome “Dukham” (suffering). He considered “vyadhi” (disease) (yoga sutra 1.30) as one of the obstacles which causes us to suffer. In the following sutra Patanjali highlights the inter-relatedness of bodily, respiratory and mental manifestations of Dukha. So, Yoga philosophy did touch upon the importance of having harmonious relationship between body, breath and mind. But this was not the main focus of the philosophy. All the practises of yoga were designed to work on body breath and mind with the aim of refining and perfecting them for higher spiritual pursuits.
--Dimensions of Yoga by Dr. Latha Satish
Yoga therapy is an amalgamation of asana practice and breath work which helps in integrating the mind and body thereby enhancing mental health. Unlike other scientific experiments the effects of yoga and yoga therapy cannot be analyzed on a machine, whatever the results, they are all empirical. Yes, there are machines that show the changes in the brain activity, but nothing is stronger and clearer than what can be seen and felt from within.
In this regard Yoga therapy has helped in easing out or by making things manageable for many special needs children of various degrees. Yoga therapy is also sought out in combination with psychopharmacology for people going through trauma, stress, anxiety, PTSD, addicts of substances, and neurological disorders such as autism spectrum, attention deficit hyperactivity, and schizophrenia. By helping to change the neuroplasticity of the brain which is the brain’s ability to change in response to an experience, yoga therapy guides people to manage their lives .
There are many organizations which have dedicated their cause to help people who do not have the resources to reach out to such techniques and Prafull Oorja Charitable Foundation is one such Bangalore based NGO founded by Ms. Sowmya Ayyar.
Sowmya started her venture with the assistance of Madeleine Sears, a young woman from the US. Sowmya says “When you are alone your capability for action is limited,” adding that “the mathematics of teams is that 1+1=3.” When people support each other they can more than double the results they would get individually. And that is how Prafull Oorja started to grow.
Recently Sowmya was interviewed by Adiguru Prakriti, Founder of Being Shiva Foundation, an organization based in Australia, in their Dharma Dialogues program.
A 41-minute conversation definitely does not do justice to the amount of work Prafull Oorja has done to the society, but we were lucky enough to get a snippet into Sowmya’s journey of how she started her NGO and the ways through which Prafull Oorja reaches out to the people far and near in need.
Prafull Oorja was formed with a mission and vision to train and empower Yoga therapists through training to bring sustainable yoga programmes to communities in vulnerable conditions. When Sowmya came to India in 2011, she had no intention of establishing an NGO.
Having a Master’s degree in Peace Studies and Environmental Security, her thesis was about how victims of domestic violence reached out to yoga to feel connected back to nature and in-turn find themselves again. Sowmya found that nature plays a pivotal role in regulating a person and when it is hard to find a safe trusted place to connect with nature, yogasana becomes a method for domestic abused victims to connect back to themselves via nature-based practices. The asanas in yoga replicate partially what nature stands for and guides the victims to rebuild character through concepts such as forgiveness, balance, strength, courage, bravery, confidence and compassion.
When a search for organizations to work with trauma survivors proved disappointing, Sowmya did come across special needs children who were the primary reason for the creation of Prafull Oorja Charitable Foundation. Sowmya’s first student was a boy who was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity. The boy’s parents most willingly sent him to Sowmya for yoga therapy work, the results of which were seen in just a few months. From being a hyperactive boy who would attempt to climb walls and talk non-stop, yoga helped the boy find a sense of calm through sitting quietly in vajrasana.
From here, Prafull Oorja took baby steps to grow first by registering themselves as a trust. Parallelly, Prafull Oorja continued working with schools that work with special needs children.
Sowmya truly believes that founding Prafull Oorja was in her karma: when people were moving from India across seas to first world countries in search of greener prospects, she found herself being lured from California to India in search of meaning and to discover a path of her own. From a group of 7 children to a group of 70 children, Prafull Oorja’s arms smoothly extended as people from across the world came to either work with them or sought training to be able to replicate the therapies in their home countries.
Identifying the potential and the significance this course had in it, Prafull Oorja is right now revising the course to become a Yoga Alliance certified 100-hour course on Yoga for Communities in Vulnerable Conditions. Though the NGO was initiated with the idea to reach out to special needs children, it quickly grew wings as people from other communities such as children from orphanages, prison centres, and trauma survivors also requested for their help.
The day she saw a special needs child conduct a class for his peers was the day Sowmya knew Prafull Oorja had truly met its cause. Others began to see this, and started supporting the cause, including Sowmya’s parents. This has helped Sowmya accept support from all directions. Sowmya also believes that if leaders start to connect with themselves and nature through breath awareness, such practices could permeate throughout organizations. This would ease stress on a daily basis and thereby increase compassion in all.
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