Connecting with Something Deeper: Teaching Yoga to Ady Barkan

In January 2020, a friend introduced me via email to the late Ady Barkan, a well-known progressive activist who put his body on the line numerous times protesting for universal healthcare and increased rights for people with disabilities.

Ady was in his early 30s and had advanced ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), so his body was mostly paralyzed. He actually lived in the same town I did. When I offered to come to his house to share a yoga session with him, I was thrilled that he accepted.

It was so exciting to meet Ady in person. I wasn’t sure which of the practices would be most helpful, but I had planned to do some gentle asana, breathing practices, relaxation, and meditation. But as we met and I noticed his movement was very limited and he was using a ventilator to support his breathing, I realized that I needed to come up with a new plan.

I asked Ady to bring awareness to his breath, but I realized the ventilator was controlling its speed. So the traditional instruction of slowing the breath wasn’t useful. Instead, I asked him to listen to the sound of the ventilator and become more conscious of the breath. We tried to hear the Sanskrit mantra So Hum (which means “I am that”) in the ventilator—listening for the “so” on the inhalation and the “hum” on the exhalation. Then we moved on to a body scan, bringing awareness to different parts of the body in a nonjudgmental way.

We ended with a meditation on the mantra Om Shanti, which means peace beyond understanding. I repeated it out loud for us both to follow and then moved into silence, asking him to keep repeating the sound internally. I could feel his tremendous focus during the meditation and was amazed by his presence and the power of his mind.

Finally, I ended the session with a short closing chant. He perked up at this point and asked me to chant some more. So I repeated a famous prayer (the Pavamana Mantra from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad) which he seemed to enjoy more than any of the things we did together. I also translated it for him into English:

oṃ asato mā sadgamaya,
tamaso mā jyotirgamaya,
mṛtyor mā'mṛtaṃ gamaya,
oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ
lokah samasta sukhino bhavantu
oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

Lead us from unreal to real
Lead us from darkness to light
Lead us from fear of death to knowledge of immortality
Om peace, peace, peace
May all beings everywhere be at peace
Om peace, peace, peace

Ady’s presence and power represent the underlying truth of yoga—that we are not just the body and mind. Practicing with him reminded me of yoga’s ability to connect us with something deeper, and I am incredibly grateful.