Yoga in a Time of War by Farah [Sarita] Nazarali

Yoga in a Time of War

by Farah [Sarita] Nazarali

This is the story of Kateryna, a single mother of three children who left Ukraine shortly after the invasion of Russian forces.*

Sometimes it is through crises and challenges that the direction of our lives shift, a new path opens, and our perspectives change. For Kateryna, war began in 2014 in the Donetsk region of Ukraine where she was living with her parents. University-educated, ambitious, and ready to prove herself in the world, she moved to Kiev to realize her professional dreams in the fields of economics and business. Yet, the stresses of her work created health problems and due to discomfort in her spine and back muscles, she came to the path of yoga. She learned about Yoga in Daily Life (YIDL), a comprehensive Master-developed system of holistic, authentic yoga.

Practicing YIDL awakened many of Kateryna’s soul aspirations and longings from childhood. Wonderful opportunities opened up as she shifted from the field of business to psychology, got married, had three children and taught yoga. All of this ended in February 24, 2022, when Russian forces declared war on Ukraine and began bombing the capital city of Kiev. “I was very scared. The bombing was so loud, and every day it became more and more intense. I couldn’t sleep. Yet with seemingly everyone around me panicking, I was able to stay calm until the sixth night of the bombing. My younger sister called, warning me that Russian soldiers were near Kiev; she feared I could be raped and my children harmed. That night, I took my children to a bomb shelter that was filled with young children, pregnant women, the elderly, and cats and dogs. Together, in an underground fitness studio that had turned into a bomb shelter, we stayed for weeks. My sister was urging me to leave Kiev, to travel to Lviv and then to go to Poland,” Kateryna recalls. The shock, intensity, and fear of the war was felt everywhere. Kateryna remembers a vivid moment when the practice of yoga pierced through the fog of panic and worry. “I had dropped my children off at the shelter and had started heading back to our apartment to gather some clothes and food. I began panicking and suddenly, I remembered to breathe. I took a deep breath, poured myself a glass of water, and breathed deeply for a few minutes. A sense of calm washed over me as I drank the water and began to make a list. I wrote a list of all the things I needed to do. There was calmness and clarity in knowing what needed to be done.”

Kateryna and her three children survived the bombing and made it out of Ukraine and into Poland--the first of many miracles that she experienced. “While in Ukraine, I consulted with my guru to get guidance on what I should do. He gave clear instructions to go to Canada. I had never thought about Canada, and, I didn’t even know where Vancouver was. It felt like a world away and the possibility of making it out of Europe and to Canada seemed so difficult,” she said. While in Poland, Kateryna was swamped with calls from her guru sisters and brothers (practitioners of Yoga in Daily Life and disciples of the same guru). People whom she had never met and never knew before, now reached out to her asking how they could help. She recalled, “I didn’t know what to do or how to answer their offers of help as I was just trying to survive– to feed my children, to get them into school, to reestablish a sense of normalcy, and to figure out how to live in a country where I didn’t speak the language very well.”

Kateryna felt deeply moved by the generosity of her spiritual community. Her guru brothers and sisters in England collected money for her and her children. She was also surprised by the support from the Polish government and ordinary Polish citizens who offered her gift cards. Given the historic animosity between the two countries, the openness of the Polish government and the kindness of Polish people left a deep impression on her. While in Poland, she received many offers to go to Luxemberg, to Italy, and to stay in Poland; however, remembering the words of her guru, she also considered the possibility of immigrating to Canada even though the prospect continued to feel like an impossibility.

As she looked into the steps to immigrate to Canada, a series of miracles began to unfold. People showed up to help her with the application process, and when she and her son were approved for visas but not her twin daughters, more help arrived to support her through the cumbersome refugee application process.

One day while at the train station, Kateryna encountered volunteers handing out train tickets to Germany. She asked them: “Do you have any plane tickets to Canada?” At the time it seemed like an absurd question, and the volunteers were surprised by her question. With most Ukrainians staying within continental Europe, wanting to fly overseas to a foreign country seemed rather strange. However, one of the volunteers asked her “which city in Canada?” What began as Kateryna’s innocent question, it ended up opening the possibility for her and her children to receive tickets to fly to Toronto, Canada.

The next question was, how would she survive in Canada? Without family or relatives, and not knowing anyone, how could she find a place to live, find a job, and integrate into Canadian society? “The biggest miracle for me was that throughout this process, I felt the protection and support of my Gurudev,” Kateryna shared. She had kept her mind open to the possibility of moving to Canada and establishing a new life there. In May, she received calls from a Serbian family; part of the same YIDL spiritual community. Many decades earlier, they too had experienced war, immigrated to Canada with a family, and established themselves in a new country. The parents, Miroslav and Slavica, knew the dangers of war and the challenges of immigrating to Canada. They felt inspired to reach out and help Kateryna find a home, enroll her kids in school and get settled. They helped bring her from Toronto to Vancouver and, significantly, welcomed her and her children as family.

Kateryna was one of the fortunate ones. She and her three children safely made it to Canada. Miroslav and Slavica continue to help her ever since she made the decision to immigrate. Her story illustrates the power of yoga in remaining calm during times of crisis, and, more importantly, the power of a spiritual community with members who were willing to help one another and to take action to assist each other under the guidance and the protection of a guru.

While war still rages in Ukraine (as of this writing), there are also many stories like Kateryna’s that offer glimpses of hope into the power of community and the miracles of a benevolent higher power. Her story reminds me of a quote from A Course in Miracles, “Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense, everything that comes from love is a miracle.”

*Please note the names of the people in this article have been changed to protect their identities.

Farah [Sarita] Nazarali is a student of His Holiness Mahamandeleshwar Vishwaguru Paramhans Swami Maheshwarnanda, founder of Yoga in Daily Life. She is the Canadian Ambassador of the Sri Swami Madhavananda World Peace Council.