Sonja discovered Bharatanatyam in Boulder, where she grew up. The Indian dance form changed her life, bringing her to India, yoga, and Veda recitation.
By Sophia Ann French
Sonja Radvila was born and raised in Denver, USA, and to quell her “interest in wanting to know the world,” she studied film production in college and got a degree in anthropology, wanting to make documentaries. After college, she started learning Indian classical dance, which changed her life’s course, leading her to Indic spiritual practices. “I grew up in Colorado for most of my life, and spirituality has always been a part of my life. After college, I studied Bharatanatyam with Laurissa Eifler in Boulder and became dedicated. I travelled to Chennai to study with our teacher, Srimati Shyamala Mohanraj, a disciple of the great dance master T. Balasaraswati. I practised yoga there for the first time at the Sivananda Ashram down the road from our dance school. I would say that the trip changed my life and deepened what was becoming more important to me: these practices. I resonated with the devotion, dedication, and discipline required to learn these difficult dance steps, and I felt the same about yoga and chanting. All these practices have a strong foundation that you must follow, and when you do that, you experience the practices. I experienced a depth that I didn’t think I had. These practices made a deeper understanding of myself accessible to me,” says Sonja.
Sonja is an LMHC (licensed mental health counsellor), Yoga Teacher, and Author, and she has been a long-time student of Aṣṭāṅga Yoga. She experienced the practice for the first time with Brenna Hatami and made her first trip to Mysore to study with the late Paramguru Sharath Jois in 2005. During her visits to Mysore, she also studied chanting, and “Around 2020 or 2021, Shantala got on my radar, and I started practising with her online. She has become my main teacher because of her rigour and devotion. I also love online classes, so I don’t have to travel to Belgium or India to study. That helps,” says Sonja.
Some students in the Veda studies community started reciting Veda after years of practising and teaching Indic systems like Yoga, Ayurveda, and Jyotiṣa. I asked Sonja how her existing practices were influenced by regular Veda practice. “Chanting regularly gave me a new groundedness in my being. It made me more steady in my body, mind and being in a way I hadn’t known before. I work as a mental health therapist, and the practice makes me grounded and allows me to be available to people. I feel steady, allowing me to share and witness people’s trauma and enable healing. Chanting makes me calm and gives my mind a single-pointed focus.”
The Challenges and Triumphs of Veda Recitation
“Everything is a challenge. The svaras, the phonetics, the doubling sounds, the pauses…all the rules. These rules demand your attention and awareness when you practise, and that’s how they fine-tune your presence of being. I struggle every time I learn something new. I fumble and feel uncomfortable, but I love those things because those are places where you allow that discomfort and awkwardness, and if you remain steady, you will refine your practise,” advises Sonja.
She reiterates the importance of steady practice, saying that even well-practised mantras might sound off on some days, but she feels it is all an essential part of the learning cycle. “The Indica Veda Studies Teacher Training programme deepened my awareness of the need for regular practise. It was a completely immersive experience, and I love being a part of the community and a group of people who love the practice. Studying with them and the programme also showed me where I still need work. Some things are still opaque to me, but the oral tradition is what I love most about the practice. I feel that works for my learning. The back-and-forth of listening and repeating is making my ear sharper to the sounds. This TTC has helped because you are constantly listening, repeating and being corrected. I also love the theory we study because there is no reference point to the practice without theory. This living tradition has been passed down for generations, and when you understand that history and heritage, you know the importance of holding a sacred space for the practice. I respect how Shantala instils that in all of us, and she does it in a non-dogmatic way. I have deep gratitude for Shantala and all the energy, care, kindness and joy with which the practice is transmitted.”
The Spiritual Lure of India
Sonja has been coming to India since 1999, and she feels that India and its culture have tremendously influenced her life. I asked her what India meant to her. “My heart! It means my heart; it is a place that’s so special and has given me so much. I haven’t been there since 2020; this is my longest time away. I miss it. India is like a dear friend, a family member. It’s just a place that is so alive in my heart and warm in my being and all I’ve been given from that place.” I asked her what all the Indic spiritual practices meant to her. “Spirituality is whatever deepens a connection with yourself and whatever can give you a greater sense of self-understanding, peace, and compassion for yourself and others.”
Pearls of Wisdom
Here’s Sonja’s sound advice for starting to study and eventually teaching yoga: “Just be open and willing to fumble, be open to the blessings of mistakes, and be open to the blessings of the community that supports your practise with compassion and support. We need each other for practice and to help each other correct our mistakes. Be open and available to let all that happen.”
You can find Sonja and her work on www.youngyogiworld.com