Dervish Yoga Testimonials
(translated from the French)
Pauline, 5 years of yoga experience, practicing Samadeva Gestural Euphony since her participation in a four-day intensive course, attending regular courses in Samadeva Gestural Euphony for one year. Problems of anxiety and stress in her professional environment. “I'm more composed when I’m faced with a difficult situation, and I can manage stress better. Physically I accept myself more as I am, and I feel more comfortable in my body. I feel centered vertically, I no longer feel “crushed” by the weight of the world. I face what happens with more calm and inner peace, and I can act better, more easily. In stressful situations, simple movements like the “Cascading Fountain” come to me naturally, and I’m immediately more calm. I breathe differently, and this is an incredible help for overcoming my nervousness and anxiety.”
Ghislaine, practicing for one-and-a-half years. “I feel calmer, I can manage my fears better, especially at work where I’m calmer and more relaxed. One of my colleagues noticed my face had changed and asked me if I had gotten a facelift!”
Katrin, practicing Samadeva Gestual Euphony for four months, suffering from stress and anxiety that are the cause of her neuralgia (nerve inflammation), often very painful. “Since I started practicing Samadeva Gestural Euphony, I manage my stress much better, and thanks to this I have fewer attacks of neuralgia. I take things more calmly and positively. I take time to think about things, to understand the events of my life, to step back a little. What has changed in four months is my ability to control my emotions.”
Diane, previous experience of yoga and Alexander Technique. Practicing Samadeva Gestural Euphony for 3 years. Problems of anxiety, stress, nervousness, and agitation. “I have become more and more calm, a deep calm. I’m less panicked, less irritated, less annoyed by the slightest unpleasant event. I accept things more, I can adapt better. I also no longer get angry like I used to. I’m more present to myself. My mind is clearer, and even my emotions don’t overwhelm me anymore. I have fewer tensions in my body, especially in my neck and the soles of my feet. The group I practice with also gives me a lot - mutual respect and silence, which allows me to listen to the other person’s presence, without judging, without comparing, without talking.
Thank you!”
Petra, December 2005: “After practicing Samadeva Gestural Euphony for one year and nine months, I wanted to share my experience. I have suffered from insomnia and non-localised, unpredictable, sometimes violent pains for 20 years. Only 5 years ago, in the year 2000, I learned that I had fibromyalgia and that medically, there wasn’t much that could be done, little was known about it.
A year and nine months ago I met Nathalie and Samadeva Gestural Euphony. I signed up for the courses and practiced the exercises as well as I could. It wasn’t always easy, and my health wasn’t always in top form, but I wouldn’t let myself stop, I had to keep going. And it turned out to be an incredible gift, the chance of my life.
My health improved from day to day. It wasn’t easy, but it was concrete. Together with medical help, I was able to completely assume my work responsibilities.
I practice Samadeva Gestural Euphony every day, there’s not a single day when I don’t think about it, and I’m full of energy, I don't suffer anymore, or only occasionally. My body is flexible again, and I know this is part of the healing process; I listen to my body, since it knows how to talk.
I have now found a new job in Sarthe, and I’m planning not only to practice, but to make Samadeva Gestural Euphony more well-known, since it is the key to my healing and spiritual progress.
Thank you.”
Alain: “At the beginning, I was very doubtful about this method. Since then, it has changed my life. Suffering from back problems, I was obliged to wear a medical corset, and after three months of practice, I can now go without it. My knee and shoulder pains have diminished. Even more than this, Samadeva Gestural Euphony gives me a sense of inner wholeness. When I’m away on vacation, I continue practicing by myself. My entire being has changed.”
Ellen: “I got to know Samadeva Gestural Euphony through an old friend of mine. I didn’t feel very comfortable at first. I observed and tried to do the movements, not always correctly, but each person does them according to his own abilities, as the instructor explained to us, it’s not about competition. I loved all the dances, the sun salutation, all the graceful movements, I was carried away. I can say that after two years of practice, my joint and back problems are gone. I have a greater joy of living, I’m much calmer and happier to be alive. I no longer bite my nails. I wouldn’t miss my course of Samadeva Gestural Euphony for anything, that evening is reserved, it’s my evening. I didn’t think it was possible to “age well,” but it’s the truth.”
Michele: “I am an art director/graphic designer at Widener University, near Philadelphia. Two years ago, I participated in a 4-day course taught by Ennea Tess Griffith at the Free University of Samadeva in Alsace. The meditative movements of Samadeva felt wonderful and relieved stress in my neck and back. On the third day, I experienced some moments where I was overwhelmed to the point of tears by the beauty of the movements and music. I returned to the Clos-Ermitage for a weekend festival, which included sampler classes, and then for another 4-day course, this time with Emma Thyloch. I have continued the movements at home, including in my routine the Meditative Movements, which I find truly beautiful. I am a practical person, not given to fads. Gestural Euphony is calming, centering, healthy, and beautiful. The teachers are unusually attentive and charismatic.”
Sonia Meyer
Director of Rohan Elementary School, Benfeld, France
I discovered Dervish Yoga three years ago, and I have since become a teacher of this wonderful method. I especially appreciate its beneficial effects in my professional work as an elementary school teacher. Thanks to the physical and psychological relaxation it brings me, I can better handle my on-the-job stress. A session of Dervish Yoga at the end of a full day at school is like a shower, eliminating all the accumulated negative vibrations. I feel regenerated and at peace.
Henriette Philizot
Yoga Teacher, Saverne, France
A yoga teacher, I began a training course in Samadeva Gestural Euphony less than a year ago. I have observed the following:
- A more rapid and profound consciousness of my body than by practicing yoga postures alone.
- Due to the attention that is constantly solicited, a real distance is developed with respect to the body, which is then observed from the inside. This leads to a highly refined consciousness of my gestures and the space around me, my balance, and my breathing, and this in turn brings a feeling of beauty and joy.
- The importance of practicing with my gaze immobile, looking far in front of me – this has allowed me to discover new sensations, to be simultaneously conscious of what is happening inside me and around me, of my bodily sensations and the movements of the other participants. This is a non-intellectual observation, a direct contact with inside and outside, in inner silence and immobility. Through this I have been able to experience the beauty and force emanating from our group.
In addition to great personal enrichment and a better knowledge of myself, my experience of Samadeva Gestural Euphony has already refined my sense of observation and my approach to other people – the participants in my yoga courses and also the hospice patients I accompany in the context of my volunteer work.
Gabrielle Amnar
Former Nurse, Horbourg, France
Nurse, Department of Hemodialysis, AURAL (Association for the Use of Artificial Kidneys in Alsace)
Thanks to Dervish Yoga, I feel much more at ease in my life – in my family, my work, and with my friends. The inner calm I have found through Samadeva has helped me better deal with stress and has also improved my ability to concentrate.
I have been a nurse in hemodialysis for nearly a two years, and just a few months ago, I was still apprehensive working with the machines, I was worried about endangering the patients’ lives. Today I work with the machines – and face other difficult situations – with much more calm and detachment, since my practice of Dervish Yoga has made me more balanced and relaxed.
I believe Dervish Yoga can be of great help to people working in the health care professions and suffering from stress like myself.
Dr. Youssef Chraïbi, M. D.
Medical Oncologist, Epinal Hospital, France
Member of the French Oncological Society
Former Medical Examiner in Oncology for general practitioners
As an oncologist and practitioner of Samadeva Gestural Euphony, I have observed an improvement in my quality of life, that of my family, friends, and colleagues, and notably of the patients I work with.
Firstly, Samadeva Gestural Euphony is a sort of mirror, since the euphonic movement expresses my emotional and mental life through my physical capacities. The attention that accompanies the movements permits me to become aware of my limits. As a result, I “know where I’m at.”
The technique also reveals possible courses of action upon these limits, such as the coordination of my movements, the necessity of reexamining my diet or my rhythm of activity and rest, of enlarging my field of vision, improving the quality of my listening, and taking care of certain forgotten matters in my everyday life which are the source of hidden tensions. Finally, Samadeva Gestural Euphony represents a great aid with respect to experiences of the past (physical tensions, worries, and inner turmoil) and the present, preparing me physically (sleep, digestion, calm, action, ability to listen), emotionally (a beginning of freedom in the face of life’s events), and mentally (clarity of mind, and a vision of what is most essential).
For the people around me, they notice that I am more open, joyful, intelligent, and creative.
For the patients I work with, I am an immediate help since I am calmer, more available, more attentive to their needs, and more careful with respect to the medication I prescribe.
Preparing an introduction of Samadeva Gestural Euphony into the range of therapies offered to cancer patients, and studying more closely the latest scientific research into the brain and the nature of health and illness, I have come to the conclusion that this technique is of essential importance. In effect, it addresses the true cause of illness, mobilising the patient’s individual resources and permitting him or her to become autonomous and responsible.
For the doctor, it enables him to exercise this noble profession in a different way, and for the patient, it can be an occasion for addressing his real problem.
Patrick Baranger
Engineer, Graduate of the Ecole Spéciale de Travaux Publics (ESTP)
Former Construction Engineer, manager and director of the first worldwide group for project engineering (Eiffage, Bouygues, Vinci, Sari)
Manager of TAKTIK, consulting firm specialising in human relations and recruitment, construction, and public works in the city of Lyon.
My thoughts on Samadeva Gestural Euphony are by no means scientific, but are based on my own observations:
- The people around me tell me I’ve changed – I’ve lost weight, I look younger. They ask me my secret.
- Since I started practicing, I have become more sensitive to sounds and smells.
- During business meetings, my colleagues listen to me better, since the movements develop calm and attention. The practice of abdominal respiration also plays an important role.
- On the subject of attention: the divided attention practiced during Samadeva Gestural Euphony is very useful, since it allows me to maintain contact with the person I am talking to while remaining attentive to what is going on around us (particularly useful during meetings in public places).
One of the major points: the presence in the “here and now,” what they are always talking about in the professional training courses. With Samadeva Gestural Euphony, I know what this means. I have passed from theory to practice.
Françoise Antier
Nuclear Engineer, Graduate of the Ecole Centrale de Paris
Director of Studies in Nuclear Security
Employed at Centre d’Ingénerie du Parc Nucléare (CIPN), Marseille, France
I work as an engineer in a large firm and teach Samadeva Gestural Euphony.
After observing the many benefits of this discipline on the personal level, I realised that these benefits could be easily transferred to the needs of my professional environment, essentially consisting of high-level engineers and technicians – namely mental clarity, capacity for synthesis, creativity, adaptability, resistance to stress, team spirit, and ability to listen – since these are the qualities developed by practicing the movements and postures taught in Samadeva Gestural Euphony.
This is why I decided to organise Samadeva Gestural Euphony classes at my firm, which take place directly on the premises, integrated into the daily work schedule. This also makes it possible to create conditions for a more harmonious everyday life. In reality, our leisure civilisation seems to generate more stress than it eliminates. Few people are aware of the necessity of a certain “hygiene of life” in order to preserve or regain their physical and mental health, and even fewer are able to mobilise the means of doing so, since their daily worries and life habits submerge everything else. Besides its incredible effectivess, the variety of exercises, beauty of its music, and artistic aspect make the practice of Samadeva Gestural Euphony truly enjoyable, setting it clearly apart from the tediousness one often associates with other health techniques.