Devika's Story

Devika was introduced to Yoga in 1995, when she started working as a receptionist at the Buddhist Meditation Centre in Pokhara, a branch of Kathmandu's Kopan Monastery. Only after a few months there, she began practicing yoga on a daily basis with an Australian couple during 3 months. "I was only taking yoga as an exercise, I didn't even ask what was Yoga?", she later recalls. She was quickly asked to teach some of the yoga classes, which made her feel as though she needed even more practice.

Not feeling entirely confident about being a teacher, she chose to take a teacher training course in Kathmandu, during which she was the only Nepali among Westerners. Later, Devika chose to go to India to get a more profound experience and understanding of Yoga. However, she became extremely sick when arriving in Lumbini and had to go through intense surgery. She describes this moment of her life "as the biggest wake up call". Doctors told her she had to stop practicing yoga for the next 6 months to come. With a financially unstable situation, and following her intuition, she decided to start yoga after only 3 months, and created the Nepali Yoga Centre in October 2000. "At the beginning it was really hard for me to pay the rent on time. Some time I even didn't have enough money for food."

In 2001, Devika went to India, Bangalor for two months during which she stayed at the Vivekananda Ashram. This training inspired many of her ideas to develop the programs at the Yoga Centre, and made her realize that her heart was set on the practice of Yoga more than the textbook knowledge and theatricalities she had seen over the course of her stay in India. She describes this desire for experience as "studying the book of my life".

In 2003, the whole left side of her body started feeling extreme pain. Devika was then living the yogic lifestyle in every possible way, and she was confused as to why her body was reacting this way. From Western medical care to Ayurvedic and Tibetan medicine, she was still suffering from excruciating pain and having to take injections every night. All the while, Devika continued her training in Kathmandu. After obtaining official diplomas from the capital and from India, she questioned the formalities of Yoga trainings, feeling that mind and knowledge had overrun pure experience of Yoga. Yet she was still doubting her practice as doing some of the asanas was not possible while her body was going through so much pain.

In 2007, Devika finally found her true guru: His Holiness the Dalai Lama. During a week of his teachings, she found much clarity and received many answers. "I was crying for a few hours. I failed that I've met guru in my life, after seeing him I start to feel that I was waiting for long time to see him as a guru in to my life."

In 2008, Devika started having mystical experiences, the awakening of the Kundalini and the opening of the Chakhras. It is through these powerful moments that her body began to heal itself. Not only was she discovering the true healing potential of her body, she was also getting answers as to why she had been suffering all this time, her life path, and the reasons of her coming into Yoga so unknowingly. This sparked her desire to help other people understand their bodies and the reason for some of their pains, as well as curing them through Reiki, acupressure and healing techniques.

Today, Devika understands that Yoga is a balance of one's inner world and outer world. Yoga is a way of life and can happen anytime, it is being present, knowing that answers come from within and that knowing oneself is knowing God and accepting guidance from the Universe.