One summer day, two women came down the hall to my office, looking for me. I was between patients, so I had time to talk. They introduced themselves, Avya and Ratani, and said they were teachers of The Ishayas' Ascension. They had just arrived in town and were going around meeting people. They found my brochure at the local health food store, and came to introduce themselves. Later they told me that they saw an open heart when they saw my picture in the brochure, so they had to meet me.
We talked about meditation and Reiki and massage and Naturopathic medicine and Bowen bodywork, and found we had mutual interests. At that point, I did not see any advantage to learning their kind of meditation, since I had learned and practiced many forms of meditation and didn't find one compelling enough to do regularly. In fact, I remember one day considering my spiritual practices, and deciding that I had to choose one form of meditation and just do it. The only thing was, I could not decide which one to choose, because I didn't want to waste my time and wanted to choose only the most effective. I learned TM in college, and it helped me through a stressful senior year, and learned a white light meditation I did with a group while I was around the group, and learned all sorts of visualizations and guided mediations in the New Age theme. They all helped at some stage of my life, but none stood out in my mind as definitely worth continued time spent on them. Why should this Ascension be any different?
Avya and I started a friendship, and she traded her massage and Reiki for my Bowen bodywork. After a while the trades stopped and I didn't see her for a few months. Then I saw her at a pre-Christmas craft show, and told her about the books I had just read: David Hawkins' Power vs. Force and Ekhart Tolle's The Power of Now. I was excited and inspired about living life in the present, and felt it when I was doing Tai Chi and Chi Gong. She decided it was time for me to learn the Ishayas' Ascension, and since I was still skeptical, she agreed to teach me in trade for Bowen bodywork sessions.
So, she taught me in several evenings in the middle of December 2002, just me with my dog sitting next to me. She told me to give it 6 weeks to see what happens.
I didn't experience anything earthshaking during the class, but did experience deep rest while doing the techniques. So, I started practicing and got in 20 minutes at least twice a day, and found that it was fairly easy to commit to that practice.
Then I started experiencing the benefits. Some days, I woke up tired, and after doing the Ascension a little longer, about a half hour, I gradually felt my body relaxing bit by bit and resting, until when I finished, I felt refreshed. When I Ascended in the afternoon before taking my dog for a walk, my legs felt surprisingly light, like the usual effort I used to walk brought my legs farther along. My Naturopathic Medical practice picked up, and I had lots of fun during the day.
I started tithing my income, sending it to some cause that was in alignment with my principles, and my first tithe went right back to Avya. She knew that I would benefit from this Teaching even though I was skeptical, and took the initiative to teach me, and I wanted to appreciate that.
I got MSI's books Ascension! And First Thunder from the library and read them. I didn't experience the effects the characters in First Thunder did with the techniques, but I fantasized that some day I would. And at the end of Ascension! was a listing of what other techniques were about, and I was fascinated. If these four gave me these experiences, what fun would other techniques be? What experiences would they open me to? I was curious and wanted to learn after only a few weeks. I waited the required 6 weeks, then started to learn the advanced techniques. They were lovely! I was hooked now. As I learned more techniques, my morning Ascension lengthened to one hour, and I started the day wonderfully.
During the day with my eyes open, I remembered more and more to use the techniques. At first it was only when I found myself wishing I were somewhere else or things were different. My favorite time to be impatient was waiting in a checkout line. One notable day, there was a really long line, and the people ahead of me looked like they would take forever. I was beginning to get uncomfortably impatient. Then I remembered my Ascension Attitude. All of a sudden, my perspective changed. Where else should I be? I felt there was plenty of time, and I was suddenly relaxed about it. And, wouldn't you know it, soon there I was at the beginning of the line being taken care of. What a difference in quality of experience! Sure, the minutes on a clock would probably have been the same as if I had fretted, but that was no longer my experience.
Alas, after six months, and four Spheres, the teachers left Cottonwood. I continued my daily practice, and found a friend who had learned to Ascend and we met, often weekly, to Ascend together. But I wanted to deepen my practice more. It was the best thing I had found, and it wasn't even an effort to sit down and do it! It became something I would not miss no matter what was happening during the day, I could always carve out time for this, my priority.
Avya told me about intensive programs where people Ascend for days on end. I thought I probably could handle one of those, and sure would like the rest from my practice. I looked at the listing at Ishaya.org and only found 27-day retreats at Ishana in British Columbia, Canada. So, I started planning. I put aside money and looked for a month where I had no obligations. Finally, in July 2004 the opportunity arrived.
I was not prepared for what I found at Ishana. It was not the Ascending and lifestyle for which I was unprepared, I was comfortable directing my attention inward had plenty of experience with the flexibility of shared living. What surprised me were the people who had left their lives to come for 6 months for the teacher training program. I saw them commit at least a year to the Ishaya path, and be given a Sanskrit name and dive into Ascending and stabilizing their experience of the Silence.
I was doing the latter with them, and even had thoughts of coming back for more time, but never thought I needed to become a teacher of The Ishayas' Ascension. Day by day, my objections lessened one by one, until one morning I woke up and knew that I, too, wanted to commit to this Ishaya path. You see, I did recognize it from the beginning, meeting the people there, and seeing the integrity and commitment to healing the world by healing the individual. But my ego objected in so many ways. What am I going to do with my practice? Isn't it weird? It will cost so much, how can I add another debt? And so on. As I Ascended, the objections of the ego dissolved, leaving me with my deepest desires intact.
I, too, committed to the Ishaya path, and in the ceremony, received my name, Sanatakumari.
The name signifies everlasting life, eternal youth, and eternal chastity (purity.) In the Upanishads, ancient Vedic literature, there is a story of Sanatakumari, a 5-year-old Sage. In this story Narada, a very learned man, had done extensive studies, book learning, like me. He studied all the sciences and arts, philosophy and literature, even the ancient Vedic texts containing wisdom. But in all his studies, he did not know the One. This learned man, Narada, humbled himself in front of the 5-year-old Sanatakumari and asked her to teach him of the One. Her teaching is recorded in the Upanishads.
I embody both sides of this story. Along with the obvious book learning of medical school and since, I have kept a focus on intuition with innocence and curiosity. Even in my clinical training at Naturopathic Medical School, I did a rotation once a week doing Spiritual Healing, purely using intuition.
As a matter of fact, years ago I found an old black-and-white photo of when I was in kindergarten (when I was 5 years old) and put it on display. It reminds me of my mischievous nature, the inner child that is playful and will do exactly as she pleases. It has inspired me for years.
You see that photo now right next to the name that fits me through and through. Sanatakumari Ishaya.
If you desire to have a way to reduce your stress, or desire to remember who you really are, please learn more about The Ishayas' Ascension. Let my story be an example of how you may not recognize it at first on the surface, but that desire can lead to fulfillment on this path.
Due to government and FDA regulations the following must be stated: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
The information provided is not a substitute for professional medical opinion. It is provided for informational and educational purposes only.
