I consider myself a living, breathing testimonial to the life-changing benefits of meditation.
Two years ago, my world fell apart when I lost my husband and partner of 18 years to a sudden heart attack. At the age of 35, I was widowed, and rudderless. I lost my focus, my business was suffering, and I found myself unable to open up or trust myself enough to get into a healthy relationship.
Over a year ago, I was introduced to meditation and spirituality by my friend and healer, Leo Velloz of Holistic Studio, and have been practicing regular meditations to calm my mind and get in touch with my inner feelings.
About two months ago, having decided to take my life firmly in my hands and clear the blocks that were preventing me from gaining focus and achieving my goals, I decided to take Leo’s 10-day meditation course, which included two aura scans, to assess my progress before and after the course.
Leo was very clear that unless I was totally committed to making the effort I needed to change my patterns, he would not even consider working with me. As I’ve often written on my blog at Soulkadee.com, I’m well aware of the fact that all change must come from within.
No person can force another to change, and all therapists and healers only aid and facilitate change in oneself. That is why commitment is crucial for any inner work to be effective.
Before beginning the work, the image of the aura scan showed that my lower chakras we very imbalanced. The “before” image of my aura scan clearly shows a band of red encircling the heart chakra, signifying anger, rejection and lack of self-forgiveness and self-love, that had manifested in health issues, including an auto-immune condition. The lower chakras were also imbalanced, resulting in self-esteem and security issues.
Over the next ten days, Leo took me through a series of meditations that involved grounding, and clearing the blocks in my chakras. He helped me identify childhood issues that I had not dealt with, and guided me through the psychological and spiritual work required to clear them from my emotional body.
It took a great deal of commitment on my part, especially when dealing with painful issues concerning my family and loved ones, but I give myself credit for putting in the hard work and clearing most of my emotional baggage. As the “after” aura scan shows, my lower chakras are much more balanced, with more grounding, and opening up of the heart chakra.
I know that healing some issues of the heart will take more time, but after the course, I’ve become very calm, peaceful and contented. This change was clearly seen in the colour of my aura, which went from Indigo (deep inner feelings, inner knowing, intuitive, sensitive) to Blue (communicative, loving, loyal, sensitive, helpful), after the course. In fact, Leo was so pleased by my progress, that we decided I was ready to take on more initiations and advance my spiritual growth further.
What really amazed me about Leo’s meditation course was that it didn’t require years of painful, long drawn-out therapy for me to clear issues that existed even from my childhood. Just ten days of powerful, guided meditations have put me firmly on the track to recovery.
I continue to meditate regularly and grow emotionally and spiritually. Although I do experience moments of stress, I am much more self-aware and mindful of my reactions, and deal with stress in a much healthier way than I used to.
I’ve also become a better mom, and am more patient, calm and consistent with my daughter. We recently went on vacation, spent time together, bonding beautifully and enjoying each other’s company.
I feel more balanced and centred, and am no longer as reactive or emotionally volatile as I used to be. I know I have healthier self-esteem, and a great deal of self-love. I’ve always been an introvert, but today, thanks to Leo’s help, I am more appreciative of my strengths, and am learning to trust my intuition to help me make better choices.
I practice affirmations and positive self-talk, and no longer criticise myself the way I used to. I’ve also learned to respect and value myself, honour my feelings, assert myself more, and refuse to settle for less than I deserve, whether in my relationships, or in my business.
I am no longer in a great rush to achieve, but am learning to open up and surrender to Divine Will and a higher guidance. I’ve finally found my life purpose in empowering other women like me, with the skills to overcome life’s obstacles.
In fact, Leo’s course helped me become so focused and confident, that I managed to achieve my goal of starting a series of workshops with the goal to empower women, through my online magazine, Naaree.com.
With Leo’s continuing help, I now intend to learn how to set stronger boundaries, and make better choices in relationships and in life.
Priya Shah
Journalist