The Sword Swallowing Yogi
Bill Berry is a three-time world champion juggler and Guinness World Record-holding sword swallower, who’s worked as a professional entertainer for over 20 years. Now a reformed adrenaline junkie and a certified yoga instructor, Bill uses his 10,000 hours of experience exploring the mind-body connection to improve and evolve his yoga practice.
"My hope is To help others level up their practice, deepen the mind body connection, take the helm of their own ship, and learn to flip the switch on the internal voice. "
My yoga journey began when I was four years old after I was assigned to cardiologist, Dr. Raja Singham. He was born in Sri Lanka, a region with a strong yogic tradition. And as he grew, he pursued medicine. But shortly after he began to practice, civil war broke out in his country, so he immigrated to the US. Having been diagnosed with a serious case of proximal atrial tachycardia (rapid heartbeat), I’d been placed in his care. Dr. Raja used his skills as a medical practitioner, as well as his understanding of yoga, to save my life. In addition to the regiment of medications, he taught me meditation and breathing techniques. Eventually, with practice, I learned to control my heart rate. He never called it yoga, and being a child, I didn’t know that he’d blended his knowledge of Western medicine with his understanding of Eastern philosophy in order to create a treatment for me. What I do know is that what he’d taught me worked. And that whenever I was successful with the techniques, I could avoid a trip to the emergency room. Under his teaching and oversight, I eventually grew to be a healthy young man. Against all odds, I went on to become a world champion juggler and sword swallower. Then traveled the world as a performer, eventually visiting 80+ countries.
More than three decades later, while attending a class at Bella Prana Yoga in Tampa Florida, I was attempting… (read more in the blog)
CONTROLLING THE BODY AND MIND LECTURE
This workshop was specifically created as a guest speaker spot that could be presented to teachers in training for their 200 hour YTT program. But yoga practitioners of all skill levels would benefit from attending. The workshop runs 2 hours and includes visual media elements to help deepen the points discussed by the presenter. The workshop is concluded with a 20 minute meditation exercise specially crafted to help students in their journey towards quieting the mind. Many students have reported astounding breakthroughs in their own practice after attending this workshop.
I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated Bill Berry’s Controlling the Body and Mind Workshop. He explains the mind-body connection and how he has applied these principles in his life - from managing his cardiac condition to controlling his breath/gag reflex in sword swallowing. I recommend this workshop for anyone interested in how the mind and body are uniquely intertwined."