We were lucky to catch up with Sapna Bafna recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sapna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

Hello and thank you for giving me the opportunity share my story. I am an Engineer turned Holistic Health Practitioner.

During my 15 years in the corporate world, I found myself constantly worrying about what now seems trivial. From the outside, it appeared that I had a perfect life – a loving family, a great job where I was growing, and an active social life. However, deep down, I knew something was missing – I felt overwhelmed, often tired, and anxious about petty matters.

I hopped from doctor to doctor; traditional, integrative, holistic etc. but struggled to feel better. My medical records did not indicate any problem whatsoever. Diet, exercise and lifestyle changes helped, but the changes didn’t last.

Growing up, spirituality was practiced in daily life and was the cornerstone of my value system. During my early years, I resorted to a few different spiritual practices/camps/courses as and when life got difficult. But did not follow through after things got better. In 2012, when I found myself stuck in the physical and emotional issues , I gave the practices I was learning all I had. I went on to learn several healing modalities and have put hundreds of hours in learning, practicing and experiencing them.

With energy healing a whole new world opened up for me. I had no idea that the root of most of my emotional and physical problems were in my past memories and limiting beliefs uncovered through the years. The small and big traumas, the stress and the anxiety together had put me in a fight/flight mode which had adversely affected my health. I realized that the answers to all my problems were right here inside of me and I had the skills to access and heal them.

I experienced that our mind governs the chemistry, biology and physics of our body in a pretty significant manner. What plays in the equations of our mind are the stories, beliefs and hurts that we have held through the passing years. These stories have helped us grow and mold our lives into what we are today. A lot of them have served their purpose and have hit their expiration date .These stale stories interfere with our health and well-being. Detoxing the mind can go a long way in restoring our current and future health.

I now use my experience and training to help my clients through my venture, ‘ManahShakti’.

Sapna, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

In Sanskrit, ‘Manah’ means mind and ‘Shakti’ means stregth.

I believe and have experienced that our bodies are designed to heal and we have within us what it takes to bounce back from all the physical and emotional conditions. The answer to any problem lies in the skin of the person who truly owns it. At ManahShakti I help my clients access this power which is already inside of them and help them get in tune with their body and mind, which results in emotional and physical well-being.

At ManahShakti I believe in providing effective, all natural, simple and safe solutions which are also self-help techniques. Empowering clients is close to my heart and I equip them with several skills so they can take care of themselves through life.

Through various Energy healing modalities, Emotional Freedom Technique, Acupressure, Sound healing and Yoga, I help my clients bring harmony in their mind and body. Through our work together, I help them find their inner strength and inner peace, which helps them realize their potential. The awareness, clarity, and resolution that the clients get come from their own subconscious, and hence the healing is permanent.

Each session with a client is 90 minutes long and we work on actively releasing old stories. It starts with compassionate inquiry using a somatic-based approach that gently uncovers and releases layers of childhood trauma, constriction and suppressed emotion embedded in the body, that are at the root of physical and mental illness and chronic conditions.

We start with a specific intention – what is it that you would like to get out of our time together (for example: “I would like to explore my discomfort around… / my feeling of anger/fear/… about / my pain in my stomach.. / my recent altercation with my dad.. etc.”). We find the root of the current situation embedded in childhood memories. Sometimes the emotional charge surfaces in the form of a sensation and not a story. Regardless of the form, when the unfolding is addressed its impact on existing physical and emotional health drops. Clients feel calm and peaceful.

Every session is a process of active offloading of past baggage as well as a huge revelation of the brighter side of clients life. Based on the work done in the session, a customized growth work is provided which is designed to enhance the new learnings. The techniques provided in the growth work when practiced daily for a few weeks greatly enhances the healing process. With practice they become second nature and support my clients in handling several small and medium issues on their own at home.

I see my clients get off their pain/acid reflux medications and find respite from chronic issues. Some find a resolution with their longstanding remorse with a close family member. Some of them are able to completely forgo their bad habits like a compulsive sweet tooth or phobias like fear of flying. One of my clients would go through turmoil every time she passed her childhood home. After working with me she was able to look at her childhood home and feel neutral. She was also able to keep her calm and stay positive throughout her cancer recovery. Healing mother wounds and seeing my clients feeling love towards thier mother, sometimes after few decades, has been hugly gratifying. Breaking inter generational truma and truma incurred in the utero is my forte.

This healing journey not only helps us in the present, but also saves us from potential issues in future. I urge people to heal before the emotional charge manifests in the form of a bigger disease. Every person could benefit from healing as much as they benefit from a daily bath. As we heal ourselves, we are indirectly healing the whole family. Our childhood circumstances were not up to us, but healing from them is available to us.

Though the skills I possess have come through finding my answers the hard way, I have learned that it doesn’t have to be a long and difficult road. There are many who desperately need help and are not aware how quickly and easily emotional healing can support their recovery. I genuinely want to bring this awareness of emotional healing and its immense benefits to as many people as I can.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The biggest lesson that I had to unlearn is that my problems – physical, social, financial, emotional, interpersonal or general – are my blockers. In reality they were gifts wrapped in ugly wrappers. The clues from the problems were messages asking me to change my thought patterns so I could evolve. And these clues in turn took me closer to the center of the maze! When I was able to look at my problems as puzzles and attempted to solve them with curiosity and neutral observation, they opened up a whole new world. When I looked at them as a learning experience, I learned some valuable and fundamental lessons of life.

I am still working on understanding this design in totality, but when I manage to enjoy the problem and solve it with enthusiasm, the silver lining surely brightens up my space.

Since childhood, the conditioning I had was to look at seemingly difficult situations as a stumbling block and that I needed to work around it or eliminate it completely. Simple things like breakups in friendships, less than expected performance at school, the social/ financial conditions during childhood, career choices etc. had an immense contribution towards making me who I am today. This outlook of gratitude towards my past is deeply healing and comforting.

I use the same approach towards my clients. We start with the problem at hand and end up with a calm feeling and an uplifted consciousness. The bliss experienced then is invaluable.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Growing up in a small town in India in a conservative setup, resilience was required for survival.

Several times I had to travel 2 hours one way taking 3 to 4 different modes of transportation just to take an hour long class. I studied in a Catholic school, but my parents did not speak English. When helping me with school work, my mother would read from a Marathi language book (local language), explain the school work in Marwadi language (which was my mother tongue) and I would then translate and write my exams in English. Even with this arrangement I managed to top in my board exams.

My drive and hunger to learn despite unfavorable circumstances never dwindled. The resilience to outsmart any seemingly difficult situation was hardwired in me.

I continue to learn and grow every single day.

Corporate world and Energy Healing/Yoga are quite the opposite. As I transitioned from one to another, I had to reinvent and rediscover several aspects of my personality. Some skills came naturally while others required practice. I used to analyze and streamline Data Warehouse and here I was analyzing and streamlining minds.

The concept of looking into our emotional history to find the root cause of physical issues is unconventional. Also, attributing our beliefs and conditionings from early years to our current behavior patterns and diseases is atypical. Convincing people to work on this novel idea was not easy. Though people internally felt that this all made sense, they couldn’t take that first step towards seeking help.

The other issue is that stress is not easily detected via a simple test. It is rather cryptic. It manifests in the form of a variety of symptoms and diseases. These symptoms and reports might not point us in the direction of emotional healing because our healthcare system treats body and mind separately.

So here I was trying to do something that is not easily understood or accepted.

I truly believe in what I have to offer and I am willing to do all it takes to help anyone in need. My inner resilience keeps me moving forward.

Today I am getting referrals from several integrative doctors and other holistic practitioners. My clients are hugely benefiting from a fresh outlook towards their life. I wake up feeling grateful and excited every day.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.manahshakti.com
• Instagram: manah_shakti
• Facebook: @manahshakti
• Youtube: Sapna Bafna – ManahShakti