On Fourteen Years in Seclusion with Umā
Om swastiastu, greetings from Bali!
I first heard about Umā sitting in a women’s circle in Byron Bay, Australia, and the way my friends described her made me want to meet her immediately. You’ll understand why when you listen in!
Umā is the founding director of SATYA – the Synergistic Alignment of Tantra, Yoga & Ayurveda, and lives in Bali, Indonesia. Born in Kenya of Indian descent to a Hindu family of Freedom Fighters, at 20 Umā moved to Bali and entered into a 14 year apprenticeship in seclusion with her Shaivite guru in his hermitage.
In our conversation today Umā shares about her extraordinary life experiences, as well as generously answering my questions about whether she believes that we all need to go into seclusion with a guru like she did to live a deeply spiritual life and how she balances living in the world and running a business with her spirituality.
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Dr Lauren Tober (she/her) is a Clinical Psychologist, Yoga Teacher, founder of the Yoga Psychology Institute, host of the A Grateful Life podcast and author of Mental Health Aware Yoga: A Guide for Yoga Teachers.
Lauren developed the Mental Health Aware Yoga training to help yoga teachers make their classes safe, nourishing and transformative for all.
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