Yatro
Yatro – singing and dancing...
When Yatro arrived at the ashram in Poona in 1978 it was the music group that first evening that captured her, into which she melted. It would be another three months before she took sannyas. Osho was kept at a distance for just a little while!! And then Sufi Dancing, later called Heart Dance, became her passion. But finally she sat down in front of Osho and received sannyas and her name which she instantly loved – it means ‘pilgrimage of love’.
Six months previously, through a friend of hers, she had heard the name ‘Kalptaru’ when he was looking for a Primal Scream therapist. At the same time she felt she was so neurotic she just HAD to look at herself. From the time she decided this, things happened quickly! On seeing an ad in ‘Time Out’ for an introductory evening on meditation at the Kalptaru centre, the strangeness of seeing the name twice in so short a space of time caused to her go along to see what it was about. She is adamant she wasn’t looking for a Master, that she had no expectations, but as she walked into the meditation room she heard some words inside her saying: ‘This is it’.
Ceilidh Band in Medina and Yatro in the garden
She wasn’t overly impressed by the Kundalini meditation but she did notice that her mind grew noticeably calmer in the days that followed. So she went back to do a day of meditation only to find that it was required that she first do a two week course of Dynamic Meditation in the morning and Kundalini meditation in the evening. Although she was working all day and lived far from Chalk Farm, the meditations became so enormously important to her – a matter of life or death! – that she pushed herself to attend, even hitching there on a public holiday when there was no public transport. As for most of us, her life changed totally, was turned upside down; she left her job, left her boyfriend and after six months went to Poona!
Eighteen months later, on yet another trip to Poona, Osho left for the USA, so when she eventually returned to England she started working at Kalptaru as she wanted nothing else but to continue her pilgrimage, her journey, on this unknown yet known path. She moved to Medina when it opened and stayed there until it ended. It was here that she became involved in leading Ceilidhs, as Satyam and Anahatta, who joined Medina, had been in a professional Ceilidh band. It was agreed that they form ‘The Medina Ceilidh Band’, which later included Yatro, and they did many gigs in the area. When Medina closed she was sent on the somewhat bewildering visits to Italian and German centres ending up in Berlin where she worked in the famous sannyasin ‘Far Out’ disco there.
After Rajneeshpuram disintegrated Osho said sannyasins should return to their home countries. She returned to England and with Ma Simant, an English sannyasin, produced the British "Osho Times" and looked for a small centre where meditations could happen.
But when it became possible to again be with Osho in Poona 2 she felt she should be there so off again she went to Poona. In fact, she says, she really wasn’t attached to being in Osho’s physical presence and thinks that being in India for so long was perhaps not the right thing to do because after working in the Osho Times for nine months she was totally burnt out. She says wryly that maybe she mistook being a workaholic for being total!
What followed was rather disastrous because this was the beginning of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which affects her to this day. She felt as if everything had been taken away from her because her joy was to work for Osho and now she couldn’t. It became obvious that she couldn’t remain in India but she was able to do one of the first Mystic Rose groups. The last discourses she heard Osho give in person were the Mystic Rose discourses and when she left Poona she had the feeling she would never see him in the body again. She didn’t.
As can be imagined her life now took another turn as she was very ill and had almost no energy. However, her dream was to lead more Heart Dance, which she did! At the same time she had to focus on trying to heal her body and tried many things as conventional medicine had no answers for her. Eventually things got a little better and she felt she had been in London long enough. Having trained and worked as an English language teacher before she took sannyas, she decided to go to Japan! Quite a jump! On her way there she stopped over in Poona for a few weeks which was great as she met many sannyasins living in Japan.
In 1992 she ended up in Kyoto where she lived for five years teaching English, doing Osho meditations with other sannyasins and leading Heart Dance. In her holidays she went to Poona. Very similar to her life in England! After five years she felt it was time to go back to England and she returned to stay with her parents in the North East. Here she heard that Punya was nearby, living in the Scottish Borders. Punya thought that Reiki would help her condition and in fact it was to bring about another huge change in her life because Osho Neo-Reiki just carried her away. She trained as a Reiki Master and then, after a spell in Bristol and at Croydon Hall, moved to Totnes to give Reiki sessions and lead Osho Meditations. She then also trained in the Bowen Technique.
Two years ago she moved into a cute country cottage in Devon with Surabhi which naturally, to her joy, brought more music into her life. Heart Dance and Ceilidhs are still her passion and those of us attending the celebrations at Croydon Hall are truly fortunate to be able to share that joy and passion with her.
You can contact Yatro at 01364 654 732 – 0787 161 1692 or by email: premyatro@hotmail.com.
Text by Veena – August 2007
