Our body Is not betraying us…
How Yogananda changed the way I see pain…
First, with folded hands, my शत् शत् प्रणाम and heartfelt gratitude to you Dr. Venu. It is all coz of you I am always motivated to immerse myself again n again in this holy book….Autobiography of a Yogi.
No matter how many times I read this holy book, it feels new each time…like a river that never flows the same way twice. I read it, and then I realize I still haven’t understood enough.
For me it is not just a book, but a living presence. And one teaching that has carved itself in my heart is Yogananda’s reminder… that the body, mind, and soul are deeply intertwined. Every sensation, every discomfort is not random, it carries meaning.
“ our body is not betraying us. It is guiding us.”
Think of a headache… is it really only dehydration? Or is it the weight of too many thoughts, too much worry pressing in at once?
We must understand how the body speaks what the mind suppress…
some experiences of my life taught me that
- Anger swallowed doesn’t vanish, it hardens in the muscles.
- Grief when unexpressed doesn’t dissolve, it presses heavy on the chest.
- Fear denied doesn’t disappear, it coils in the stomach, twisting the gut.
The body becomes the canvas where the soul paints what the mind refuses to see.
In our modern lives, we are taught to fight discomfort. Pop a pill…Distract and Keep moving.
But what is not heard in a whisper will grow into a shout.
A small ache becomes recurring pain. A passing fatigue becomes months of exhaustion.
The longer we ignore the body’s language, the louder it cries.
So, instead of asking
“How do I fix this quickly?”
try asking
“What is this trying to tell me?”
- Shoulders tight?
Perhaps we are carrying weight that isn’t ours.
- Jaw clenched?
Maybe words unsaid are demanding expression.
- Stomach in knots?
Fear may be asking to be seen.
When we approach the pain with curiosity instead of frustration, it transforms into a teacher.Body does not malfunction without purpose. It speaks the language of the soul.
As a therapist, I see this truth every day.
One client came to me with a persistent heaviness in chest. All the medical reports were normal, yet the client lived in constant fear that…
“Why is my body failing me?”
Instead of answering, I gently asked him
" If his chest pain could speak to him, what would it say?"
He closed his eyes. At first, silence…n then tears rolled down his cheeks. And he whispered…
“It would say… I miss my mother. I never allowed myself to grieve. I locked it all inside.”
In that moment, the pain was no longer just a medical symptom. It was grief, waiting for acknowledgment. His body was not betraying him…it was begging him to listen. And when he allowed himself to cry… to breathe…something shifted. His chest eased… and his soul felt lighter.
We often forget, but our ancestors always knew and used the following phrases when felt burdened…
“Carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.”
जीवन का सारा बोझ जैसे कंधों पर टिका है
" A gut feeling"
मेरी gut feeling कह रही है कि…
“My heart is heavy.”
दिल पे बोझ है जैसे…
These are not just phrases. They are the soul’s metaphors, spoken through the body.
Infact we experience that…
- The neck stiffens when we refuse to bend.
- The stomach churns when we swallow fears.
- The back breaks when we carry burdens that aren’t ours.
- The legs weaken when we fear moving forward.
- Even the skin cries when shame hides our true self.
Every pain…yes every pain is a sentence and every symptom is a symbol.
I firmly want to believe now that pain is a friend and not an enemy.
Its tragic that we have been conditioned to see pain as punishment, as betrayal. But what if pain is the most loyal friend we have, the one who refuses to let us abandon our truth?..
- Back pain says…
“ You don’t have to carry everyone.”
- Chest pain whispers…
“ Let the tears fall.”
- Gut pain pleads…
“ Stop pretending you’re okay when you’re not.”
What if pain does not come to break us… but comes to wake us?..
What I learned from the Autobiography as a therapist is …
“The soul always longs to be free.
If ignored in thought, it will rise in dreams. If ignored in dreams, it will surface in feelings. If buried in feelings, it will appear in the body.”
Every time I guide a client into deep healing, whether through PLR or Guided Meditation…I always see this truth unfolding. The body becomes the stage where unspoken emotions play until they are finally given voice.
And when they are expressed, the healing is not just physical… it is emotional…it is spiritual.
If you are reading this and carrying pain in your body, I want to invite you gently…
The next time you feel it, pause. Instead of asking,
“Why is my body failing me?”
ask,
“ What is my body trying to show me?”
Sometimes, the pain is simply our soul knocking at the door, asking to be let in.
And every time I read Autobiography of a Yogi, I feel layers of new understanding open within me. Each reading is not repetition, it is revelation. For this, I bow my sat-sat pranam in gratitude to Swami Yogananda, and with folded hands to Dr. Venu for reminding us to return again and again to that holy book, Autobiography of a Yogi.
Each reading feels like a new initiation. Each word a step closer to the soul.
What I have understood is that healing is not about “knowing it all” at once, it is about listening again, feeling again, surrendering again.
If any of these reflections resonated with any one of you, ( I often share such healing journeys and soul-stories from my practice ) then you are welcome to share your experiences and walk with me & follow along if your heart feels called.
as he didn’t feel inclined reading it. So this book was given away to his brother and my classmate understood it as “about someone who had seen God!”
connected to a bullock cart!
