from José Pedro Valente
To Ācārya:
My journey started, or so I thought, on August 23rd, 2016, which was the first time I practised Yoga (asana). I am now aware that it started much earlier. Anyway, coming back to my previous understanding, at that time, I was also practising martial arts and participating in swimming competitions. Before the swimming competitions, somehow, I felt the need to do some introspection in order to concentrate. Maybe it was a sign of some evolution towards the right path.
Later, and in my basic awareness, I thought to myself that martial arts and yoga might go well together. So, I sought advice from a Pilates teacher who not only recommended practising both things but told me about an open weekend at Sadvidya. We went to the opening weekend at Sadvidya in Sintra in September 2016 and again in November 2016. Since those two weekends, and until I joined the Jivana Yoga Program (JYP), it took me almost three years to assess both the personalities involved, the content of the program, and the evolution from my side.
In the meantime, I went to the practice in Sadvidya almost every Wednesday and began to familiarise myself with the people involved and some of the Ācārya’s teachings.
In March 2019, I joined the JYP. So, I thought. Somehow, it was considered that it was not the right moment to join, and I waited patiently for half a year. I had taken almost three years to make the decision when invited to join the JYP, so I could wait however much longer it was necessary to join. Six months in several lifetimes is like a drop of water in an ocean.
To make a long story short, I finally joined the JYP in November 2019 and went to India together with my partner Susana for the first time in July 2022 for the public talks given by Ācārya about Noble Qualities and Noble Actions. I got Covid right at the very beginning of our stay in India. Kindly, logistics were arranged, and we managed to listen to the lectures of Ācārya. Finally, six days after arriving in India, we were able to go to the lectures. It was my first contact with Ācārya in person. After the public talks, I had the opportunity to have a one-to-one meeting with Ācārya at his home, where I also met his wife, Vijayā. For me, meeting Ācārya was a contact with a noble person with a profound sense of humility. The greatness of his personality, together with the humility, was what struck me deeply at that time, and still does.
Impact of Acarya and teachings on my life
After the end of my first marriage, my relationship with my father became distant. But slowly, and in the past recent years, the teachings started to have an impact on me, and I began to realise that the progress in this path was associated, as a cause and as a consequence at the same time, with the improvement of the relation with my father, and with the acknowledgement of gratitude and honouring the lineage that my father represented. As a sign of the impact of these teachings on my behaviour and on my personality, he used to comment, either to me or to some friends and family members, that since I joined the Yoga path, I had changed the way I interacted with other people, especially with him. The distance between us, somehow, had vanished. It was the effect of these teachings.
BYD
On the final days of our stay in India, July 2022, we were invited to visit BYD. The whole atmosphere was very meaningful. There was a deep sense of humility in such a noble person, waving to each one of us in the final moments of the visit.
Ending this letter, I express my deepest Gratitude for being connected to such noble people and for all the support given, namely through Yoga Sūtra and Saṃskṛtam classes.
