How I Got Here
My path to the yogic arts came on the heels of getting sober. As part of this recovery journey, I began attending twelve-step meetings. While I attended these meetings with great fervor, I intuited very early on that these meetings alone would not keep me sober. I was begging God not just for the willingness to stay sober but also for something that would indeed keep me sober. Within a couple of months I found myself in a circle of people engaging in a deep breathing process at the time commonly referred to as Rebirthing Breathwork. I was welcomed to breathe in a circle with one of the founding pioneers. Sondra Ray as facilitator. This singular breathwork session became the touchstone to my healing journey, the path to greater self-awareness, and the awakening of my soul's calling.
In that one breath session I experienced powerful phenomena. I actually experienced my own birth, saw past lives, communed with celestial beings and literally pushed through and integrated old traumas. Most importantly, I felt truly alive for the first time in my entire life. My senses were firing on all cylinders. I felt God flowing through my veins. I had been asking God (spirit, universe, higher power, whatever you want to call it, I call it God) for something in addition to the twelve-step meetings, and I had found it. I had found something incredibly potent, and it resided within my own body, my breath!
I quickly jumped into getting one-on-one rebirthing sessions and naturally progressed becoming a Rebirthing Breathwork Practitioner. During this period of exploration I immersed myself in Kriya Yoga studies. I was fortunate to find myself in study with Kriya Yoga master Sri Shibendu Lahiri, from the Lahiri Mahasay family lineage. Studying Kriya Yoga in this fashion, from a direct lineage holder, which is inherited from this family lineage we know has existed thousands of years was an enormous blessing for me.
Practicing yoga and meditation in essence is a self-psychology. It is a continuous path of self-awareness that can be incredibly uncomfortable at times however on the other side of the discomfort is total liberation, liberation from the bondage of self. For me, healing the darkness and pain (I was carrying a lot) involved a lot of intense emotional detox, the acceptance of help from others, continued willingness and huge cup of prayer. It is important to note, when the work of self-liberation is combined with a healing support system—a community of mentors, teachers and for me even good old-fashioned therapy—that understand your personal journey, doing the inner work becomes even more transformative and meaningful.
I tend to gravitate towards Kriya Yoga because of the emphases on Pranayama (breathing exercises) and the psychophysiological results I achieve. I experienced early on that to stay sober I personally had to work on the physiology that was keeping me locked into the craving and the trauma that was driving the craving; the breathwork practically deleted these toxic blueprints from my system and continues to work in both magical and mysterious ways.
Within the myriad of the yogic lineages I immersed myself in came a strong focus on mantra—which I like to describe as the asnas for the brain or the sound current of yoga. I was originally initiated into TM (Transcendental Meditation) when I was much younger. TM is a mantra-based meditation, so I had some familiarity. However, within the yoga I was practicing mantra became a much more expansive and fundamental part of the experience. Mantra is its own science. And, as a longtime devout connoisseur of music, with a background working in the music industry including state-of-the-art recording studios, I was already acquainted with the transcendental experience behind the science of sound. So , when I added the breath it became the great ecstatic elixir!
Throughout my healing journey so far, I have been blessed to study multiple yogic, meditation and healing disciplines with multiple great teachers from multiple schools of thought (Internationally certified Kundallini Yoga and Meditation Teacher, Kriya Yoga Teacher, Ipsalu Tantra practioner, , Transcendental meditation teacher, Reiki Master, Ordained Minister and more). The wisdom I have gained from these collective teachings continues to inspire and empower me. I am here to share my understanding of the power of intentional self-liberation with others. I hope to provide my students with an awareness of the power of their own breath and to have a bigger experience of their own energy; providing them with some of the most direct and efficient tools that will help them maneuver through life knowing the grace of who they are.
I am sincerely glad you are here. Until we breathe together, Brandy
