Creating Dialogue Between the Mind and Body

written by Julianne Serpa

My Mind and My Body have had a troubled relationship. They’re from different places, with different languages and different needs. Mind wants to dominate - and does so very well - until Body says ENOUGH! I’ll show you who’s in charge here. Maybe you can relate?

It wasn’t always this way. I suppose it started as a teenager — ironically, at the same time I discovered yoga. I wanted to be a cheerleader like my older sister but I was not flexible like her, so I had to work really hard for it! 

A few years later I entered the fire academy cadet program my senior year of high school, and my body became a battleground once again. Entering a male-dominated space as a petite female made me hyperaware of my physical shortcomings. My mom’s discarded Cindy Crawford exercise tapes weren’t going to cut it. I needed to lift real weights. I needed to get really strong to keep up.

My yoga practice and study to become a teacher with Pranakriya hasn’t been just about what I’ve learned along the way, but almost more significantly about what I’ve un-learned. It has taught me how to take better care of myself, stop using exercise and food as tools for punishment, and let go of trying to fit into roles not meant for me. 

Instead, I’ve learned to listen – really listen – to my Body, Mind, and Spirit. In the end, I became the cheerleader and the firefighter I trained so hard to be — just not in the ways I expected. The call-and-response I lead now is kirtan (devotional chanting), and my service as a teacher is less about putting out fires and more about guiding a controlled burn — the steady, intentional heat of sadhana that clears what no longer serves, making way for healing and transformation.