Is it too late to change?
This case study effectively conveys the idea we will explore; how Yogic Counselling plays a role in bringing about transformative change.
This is a long note as it contains detailed record of a client and her Swadhyay sessions. We had done this long back when the program was still developing but I wanted to still record it for future reference.
Why Swadhyay?
Swadhyay is our flagship (self inquiry) program and it stands out as a highly process-oriented self-development program. Clients typically experience breakthroughs within seven sessions, highlighting the efficacy and efficiency of the program's approach.
"Swadhyaya" (स्वाध्याय) is a Sanskrit term meaning self-study or self-inquiry. In the context of this program, it involves introspective study to help you understand the root causes of the challenges that are hindering your growth potential, guiding you to gain a deeper understanding of your true self.
Why this program?
People are seeking a more authentic way of solving their problems especially if the conventional way falls short and is unable to give mental relief to their ongoing challenges.
Yogic counselling (swadhyay) focuses on self discovery and [self] transformation rather than forcefully fitting oneself into the environment by the way of ‘adjustment’ which is a commonly proposed outcome in many modern day practices/therapies.
It prepares you to not only deal with the current stress areas but also provides you with mental models to deal with uncomfortable or ambiguous situations in the future as well. Example: If you learn to lift weights the correct way or use a dietician to understand your body and meal plan, you will eventually be able to workout anytime anywhere without needing a trainer and likewise, cook or eat as per your strengths and weaknesses. YC does a similar conditioning for your brain.
I want to pause my theoretical explanation and suggest you to glance through the notes below to understand the details of this model. Much of it is work in progress as I research and develop my understanding further.
Client profile
Gender: Female
Age: 53
Nationality: Indian
Medical condition: Paraplegia (paralysis due to motor accident)
Supporting notes: Living with disability since the last 18 years, use of wheelchair for mobility. In my view, this client is morally grounded, intelligent, hardworking; all of which also makes her a successful entrepreneur.
Logistics:
Total hours: 5 sessions of 60 minutes each = 5 hours
Mode of conducting the sessions: Online [Video] via Zoom
Frequency: Once a week
Hygiene notes:
1. Consent has been taken from the client before publishing this record. Identity has been kept confidential | 2. Some of the session details have been retracted to avoid misinterpretation | 3. The document has been shortened to accommodate the length of the space online.
Objective of the sessions
Client is going through personal and emotional changes in her marital life along with constant frustration of feeling stuck i.e unable to reach her full potential.
She wants to move move forward with her life but the clarity on the next steps is missing.
We decided to focus on the following areas during these sessions:
Dealing with anxiety/stress during this period of intense transformational change.
Developing coping mechanisms via selected techniques that can help you self-manage your situation in the absence of required emotional support.
Ensuring good physical and mental health while navigating the above mentioned stressful situation.
My personal observations:
Client has weak para-spinal muscle tone due to her disability (she needs a wheelchair through the day).
Her arm strength is also limited which was noticed in her ability to hold certain exercises.
Poor muscle tone and posture is also leading to psychological issues like lack of confidence and strength that manifested eventually when she was bullied by her staff but didn’t stand up for herself as she felt that if they left the job, she won’t be able to manage on her own.
Client could hold progressive maintenance of
xxx [information retracted]for 5-7 seconds when we started the sessions.By the third session, she was able to progressively maintain xxx [info retracted] for 1 minute due to her regular practice at home. There was also an acceptance of how her disability has brought in dependency due to the constant fear and she now wants to actively work on this issue.
Session 1/5 • 24/09/2023 [60 minutes]
Agenda: Client is asked to list down all her problems; irrespective of the gravity or nature. She wrote down 16 of them to get started with.
Session flow [retracted]
Post Session Observations/Notes
Client’s behavior is passive aggressive and fluctuates between feeling calm and agitated.
Emotional fluctuations are within a spectrum; nothing extreme.
Insecurities due to aging and disability.
Suppression of her needs has made her submissive and this reflects in her self-confidence.
Client currently maintains physical and mental health using the following avenues:
Physiotherapy
Movement/exercises
Breath meditation
All of the above efforts may have an impact on her joint flexibility. However, she couldn’t hold her hand in [xxx retracted] or maintain the posture for too long showing signs of poor muscle tone.
Next steps:
Have asked her to bucket the list of problems into the following categories: work, relationships, money, social and self behavior.
Label them into varying emotions like fear, guilt, anxiety.
Session 2/5 • 1/10/2023 [60 minutes]
Session info [retracted]
Post Session Observations/Notes
Referenced client’s problem list of 16 items. She went through each of her problems point by point post which we labeled into anxiety, fear, resentment and guilt.
Labelling these emotions helps accept and understand how one feels more objectively which is what we tried to do here considering the client has been suppressing them for years now.
Client also took time to describe her situation while growing up, post marriage etc.
Client has an innate belief that “if I do something with all my efforts, I should succeed at it” and if for some reason she does not succeed in it, she thinks of it as personal failure.
Personal identification to all outcomes [due to strong attachment] is leading to rigid worldview which we plan to tackle in the upcoming sessions.
Next we will talk about her ability to take new risks. We let her identify all the areas of her life where she took a risk in the past and its outcomes/payoffs.
Risk and self confidence go hand in hand and she has to spend time reflecting on why she has been risk averse lately?
Session 3/5 • 12/10/2023 [60 minutes]
Post Session Observations/Notes
Came to the conclusion that it is her disability and its non-acceptance is paralysing her life and this is leading to her aversion to new risks.
Along with this, she has also allowed people to take her for granted by not standing up for herself. [lack of confidence]
Categorized all her problems into further buckets: logical, illogical, risk aversion, lack of confidence.
Her progressive maintenance of
xxx [info retracted]has improved to holding for one full minute.Next, I asked her to work on
xxx [info retracted]to improve on her anxiety.
Session 4/5 • 21/10/2023 [60 minutes]
Taking a second to give readers a deep dive into my approach as context is required before proceeding to the next section:
Behind all the problems are a list of emotions and behind these emotions are triggers. These triggers are developed from lifelong conditioning i.e norms and belief systems that one develops as a coping mechanism to deal with life challenges. These coping mechanisms are subtle defenses one builds to protect oneself. As we grow in life and with age, we must address the useful ones and reinforce them. During the same process, we must observe the ones that are no longer useful and hinder our development/growth. Once we identify these negative patterns, we must find a way to deal with them i.e recondition the brain to let that particular defensive behavior die down or be reprogrammed in favour of our progress.
So in this session we discussed some of those norms and world views i.e conditioning of the mind. Following are the key norms that client and I chose to discuss at length. Client agreed to do the remaining list at her own pace and time.
Follow up:
Complete remaining norms
Discuss how to design anti-norms and practice them
Practicing non-identification practice of meditation
Session 5/5 • 09/11/2023 [60 minutes]
Update: Client is doing well and she now feels confident of handling the situation on her own. Some changes observed in her recent interactions:
She is assertive and willing to stand up for self.
Willing to keep the kids out of the ongoing marital conflicts as she now understands that this is an unwanted stress to the kids.
Next steps:
Have asked the client to deal with two more norms [illness and failure] on her own, create anti norm etc.
Illness: Experienced emotional grief and sickness as her father suffered from COPD, Observing the struggle got her into a state of fear/paranoia of falling sick. She feels anxiety due to her father’s medical history i.e hereditary.
Failure: Failure makes her resentful.
We have decided to wrap our sessions here as the client feels confident in threading her own path from here on. I leave her with a meditation technique that helps her deal with some strong norms and beliefs that need reconditioning. This meditation helps in avoiding the problems arising from over-attachment/identification to certain areas, people or things of her life.
Here is what she has to say about her Swadhyay sessions:
I would highly recommend Kalyani as the process really helped me clear my mind, develop self confidence and figure my priorities and put myself and my happiness in focus. The pace, the methodology and analysis were spot on.
Ending notes:
Have told the client to maintain a meditation journal and report to me post a certain benchmark.
Dos and don'ts as well as Q&A of the meditation technique have been addressed.
This case study was for reference only and does not serve as medical advice for any health condition. Please consult your medical practitioners for specific advice on your health.
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