My First Treatment with Light Miller and Bryan Miller
December, 2004

The ancient Ayurvedic art of Kayakalpa is a extremely sacred Ayurvedic practice made popular in the West through the book Maharaj, the biography of an Indian swami who lived for 185 years.

In its original format, a Kayakalpa treatment can last 30 days or more, and be conducted in total isolation and total darkness. Within the “womb-space,” recreated by the Kayakalpa “Kuti” hut, the body’s subtle energy can be reborn.

Shriman Tapasviji Maharaj

As many lovers of Indian wisdom and culture know, it is often difficult or even impossible to translate and transplant certain key aspects due to the barriers of language and culture. But somehow we manage to imbibe – sometimes from books, Indian teachers, and from each other on the path – the spirit of India, and manifest it with our Western hands and tools.

This challenge frustrates us, but it also makes us really appreciate the gems we are able to manifest. It is a thousand times harder for a Westerner to learn Ayurveda, yoga, or Sanskrit, for example, than for an Indian. So we have to fight very hard to learn these esoteric forms of wisdom… not just to obtain the knowledge, but to implement it within a culture that is not ready to receive it.

So when I heard that my friend and Ayurvedic educator, Daniel Bastacky had brought to Atlanta two of the foremost practitioners of Kayakalpa, Dr. Light Miller and Dr. Brian Miller, I knew I had to make an appointment to receive the treatment.

There was no way to experience Kayakalpa the way it has been practiced in the Himalayas for thousands of years. Instead of a 30 day ritual, I would receive two days. Instead of a Kayakalpa Kuti Hut, I would be on a massage table in Daniel’s basement. To replace immersion in the freezing Ganges, I would bathe in freezing ice water poured into his bathtub. These are a few of the concessions and adaptations it took to bring the Essence of Rejuvenation into my life.

But let me digress on one more point – Kayakalpa should be done after Panchakarma. I had not experienced Panchakarma yet, but had been doing colonics and herbal purification for several years, and studying yoga asanas and many other aspects of Indian spiritual discipline. Before the Kayakalpa session, for example, I chanted the Sri Suktam from the Rig Veda from memory. So that is the energy that we began with.

Dr. Light Miller and Dr. Bryan Miller received me at Daniel’s home. They had been traveling across the US and internationally performing Kayakalpa and Panchakarma treatments for many years, and were full of the rich vibrations of that great mahasadhana. Light, who’s given name is Jyoti, which is a Sanskrit word for light and radiance, and Bryan, her husband, brought the essence of lifetimes of Ayurveda practice before me with their loving words, mannerisms, intentions, and touch.

I lay down on the massage table, completely open and relaxing my guard – letting the power of Ayurveda flow into my body through them. The experience is one that I can not forget, nor can words adequately describe.

I had never experienced Ayurvedic massage until this point, and the feeling of the warm, medicated oil contacting my skin was ecstatic. The voice within me said, “this is the way massage is supposed to be… warm oil, full of herbs, bringing their magic.” The flow of this oil at once rendered my body transparent within my inner eye, and my muscles began to come alive and dance beneath their fingers.

This was prana flowing into the dhatus – and the dhatus flowing and transforming into regeneration and rebirth.

After the warm oil, Light and Bryan began to massage me with a powder consisting of many sacred herbs. After a minute, the exfoliating feeling was replaced by coldness. I could not believe it, but the herbs alone produced a cold in my muscles that grew with each massage stroke applied, until I felt like I was naked in the freezing heights of the Himalayas, whipped by the wind and snow.

As my teeth chattered and the Millers worked, I could not believe the good fortune I was experiencing – a most sacred and ancient power unleashed for my wellbeing. I marveled at the quality of the herbs that made me so cold. Imagine freezing your ass off on a massage table while 6’1” tall Dr. Bryan Miller does cross-fiber on your body, like you have never felt in your life!

What was amazing about this cold massage was that the cold was down to my bones. And this is its magic. The cells in the bone, which renew the blood cells, and store minerals for the body, were being “called out” and held accountable for their existence. That was how deep Ayurveda goes when it’s “full-body regeneration time.”

After 20-30 minutes of cold, came more warm oil. Just when I thought I could take no more chill. I had been doing a special pranayama all along – and breathing through everything. Now I let out the contented sighs of a man who has returned from the North Pole to find his warm cozy spot by the fire.

Shortly it was time for Shirodhara, the warm oil treatment in which the oil in a pot suspended above me flowed constantly for 20 minutes, in a gentle stream onto my forehead. We put on one of Amma Sri Karunamayi’s mantra chants, and I began to zone out beyond the farthest reaches of relaxation – letting go of my conscious awareness of my body, and letting it do it’s work integrating the hot and cold treatments. All I concentrated – nay, meditated on – was the pranayama and the sound of my breath.

Returning from that amazing journey, Bryan led me upstairs to Daniel’s bathtub. You have to picture this – he is holding my hand as I float up the steps. We get to the bathroom, and go in. I look down at the tub. It’s a quarter-filled with 108 degree water. The water is a concentrate of herbs, and is full of shades of green and brown, mixing with the chemistry of nature.

Stepping in, and sitting down quickly, we begin Tarpana – the process of release. The pranayama for Tarpana is powerful and loud. And with the immersion into hot water, the energy of the water, the herbs, the pranayama and the therapeutic intentions for release and forgiveness mixed together into an internal body massage similar to Nauli Kriya and the breath of fire.

Each round of pranayama was 108 breaths – and after two rounds I had let out a lot of energy. As Bryan drained the tub, he casually mentioned he was going to start the cold water. As I sat in the drained out tub covered in herbs, Bryan reached over and turned the faucet. I was back to freezing again when he dumped a bucket of ice into the water as it rose again above my knees.

Obviously, more pranayama was in store. This time, the heat it generated was very welcome, indeed!

Dr. Light Miller peered into the room and announced that she was ready for the Chakra Anointing. I readily consented to this next step in Kayakalpa. So Bryan wrapped me in warm towels and led me to the freshly draped massage table. I was swathed in sheets.

Light produced a set of essential oil blends, the chakra oils, for each of the seven chakras. In the distant spiritual past, Ayurvedic healers and shamans shared among several domains of knowledge, the chakra system with the yogis, to whom the chakras were utilized as spiritual gateways. The Ayurvedic healers utilized the chakras within the context of Ayurveda – and I was about to receive as part of Kayakalpa, a chakra anointment.

I closed my eyes and went within, as Light massage three drops of the sacred oil at the lowest point of my abdomen. “I anoint you into your Muladhara Chakra, and into your safety, your inner stability strength. May the great Lord Ganesha bless your incarnation.”

Then she moved to a place just below my navel. “I anoint you into the Swadhisthana Chakra, into your creativity, may you be inspired by the grace of Saraswati.”

And still higher, beneath the arch of my ribs, she massaged the next chakra oil. “I anoint you into the Manipura Chakra, into your Will that merges with the Will of the Divine.”

Then she moved to the center of my chest. “I anoint you into the Anahata Chakra and into love. You are love, you are forgiveness, and you are selfless unconditionality.”

I felt three drops of oil massaged into the surface of my throat. “I anoint you into the Vishuddhi Chakra, into your truth, into total honesty and perfect clarity.”

And then at the third eye place. “I anoint you into the Ajna Chakra, and into your clairvoyance, your clairaudience, clairsentience and your inner spiritual eye.”

Light moved behind my head, and cradled my crown. “I anoint you into the Sahasrara Charka! Om Tat Sat – you are free, you are bliss!”

Then the Ayurvedic shamaness, the curandera extraordinaire, the yogini of Panchakarma – Dr. Light Miller – swept my body with a set of sacred feathers, and cleansed my aura from head to toe.

Daniel began to play his 7 crystal singing bowls, which are tuned in pure crystal to each of the chakras. He brought the vibrations up to a crescendo, and suddenly stopped, letting the pure crystal carry the vibrations through the room, and through my body, before they gently faded away into complete silence and stillness.

I came out of my trance, and smiled.

Kayakalpa treatment number one was over, but I was ready for more. When I got home, Daniel called me to check on me, and I immediately booked my second session for the following day.

While the Kayakalpa sequence was the same, during the second session I was able to go deeper into the experience, even tapping directly into my core energy – the Ojas Shakti. Each of my limbs revealed the karmic reasons for their forms, as past life energy swelled up within my body. Wisdom of the pranic currents also came to me, and I was able to see my body create and recreate itself in every second.

Now I knew why Kayakalpa was the choice treatment for those on the path of yoga and meditation. And why it is reputed to be able to regenerate the body down to the bone.

After the second session, I came away feeling like I had a completely new body. These two Kayakalpa sessions heartily reinforced my love for Ayurveda. I knew I had to experience a Panchakarma treatment next!

Aum Dhanvantaraya Namah!