I once took a workshop from a senior Iyengar yoga instructor who shared what her teacher, B.K.S. Iyengar, had told her about yoga. He said that "when you know something this powerful, it is your duty to share it". I am meant to speak out, as compelled to share my story as I am compelled to share yoga. Yoga is the alchemy which transforms pain to pleasure, harm to healing, bad to good. What is the highest aspiration of the yogi after all but to be good and do good.
Breaking the cycle of sexual abuse through the liberating power of speech is ahimsa, non violence, in action. Speaking out breaks the taboo of secrecy and paves the way for others to do the same. To tell is to heal. We tell our stories so that we no longer hold, inside, terrible secrets for those who take advantage of the innocent and helpless. Telling, shifts a burden of shame from shoulders where it does not belong. Telling creates awareness, enabling everyone to better protect all children.
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, "child sexual abuse is largely a hidden crime so is difficult to estimate the numbers". I don't think I am unique in the way that my body/psyche buried the trauma of sexual abuse. There may be millions or billions of walking wounded, sufferers of depression, anxiety, anger, phobia... with absolutely no inkling of the root cause. It is an epidemic, a pandemic, a secret plague, a crime against the hope of humankind, children. Ending the sexual abuse of children is an imperative step forward on the peace path. Victims are speaking out now in record numbers, a good sign and a necessary step. Perpetrators, it's time to own your actions, another step in healing this scourge.
My dharma, my path, duty and joy, is to share my knowledge and in so doing help others to heal from the deleterious effects of sexual trauma. Now finally, I feel like I'm living the life that was intended for me rather than the one that was forced upon me. Each moment becoming more aware of my voice, my power, my potential, and the joy that simply being alive contains.
I feel as though I am in possession of something huge, powerful and beautiful in its perfection. The knowledge that yoga heals.
