Dr. Gita Kalipershad Jethalal was born in Durban, South Africa in the midst of the apartheid regime. During Gita’s early childhood the inequality for educational opportunities motivated her family to send her to Dublin, Ireland to complete her college studies. She graduated from the Alexandra Girls’ College, a prestigious, all girls private college and completed part of her undergraduate studies at the University College of Dublin.

Upon her return to South Africa she completed her training in radiography at South Africa’s largest teaching hospital, King Edward the VIII. From 1974 to 1987 she worked in several hospitals in South Africa and gained invaluable experience in dealing with human suffering. She came from a deeply spiritual family steeped in doing humanitarian work. During the early 1960s and 1970s there was a large influx of spiritual leaders from India setting up ashrams in and around Durban. Since her family resided in close proximity to the Ramakrishna Centre and the Divine Life Society she was exposed to yoga from a very young age. From early childhood Gita’s thinking was greatly influenced by the profound teachings of Swami Vivekananda and Swami Paramahansa Yogananda, renowned author of Autobiography of a Yogi. Gita got married in 1980, and in 1987, together with her husband and son, she immigrated to Canada to get away from the unstable and unsafe conditions in South Africa. In Canada, she decided to pursue her lifelong goal of becoming a chiropractor and enrolled at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College as a full-time student.

After graduating in 1991 Dr Gita started her own private practice. Since 1991 she has been owner and clinic director of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation clinic in Toronto. In 1992, Dr Gita met Swami Jyotirmayananda who is the living embodiment of truth, peace, bliss and humility. She was so impressed with Swamiji’s wealth of timeless wisdom and his great command of spiritual knowledge of yoga and Vedanta that she immediately became a member of the Yoga Research Foundation. Dr Gita continues to practice integral yoga as taught by Swami Jyotirmayananda together with the knowledge acquired from other masters and incorporates their combined teachings into all aspects of her life. Integral yoga is a way of life and thought that synthesises the various aspects of ancient yoga traditions into a comprehensive plan of personality integration. Over the past twenty-four years she has treated thousands of patients with a variety of musculo-skeletal disorders. Dr Gita has always adopted a multidisciplinary approach to treating patients.

Being in the health care field for the last forty years Dr Gita has gained extensive experience in treating stress-related musculo-skeletal disorders. Having seen the positive impact on patients being treated with Kundalini yoga massage, in addition to traditional therapies, Dr Gita wanted to share this knowledge so that others can benefit. It was with this goal in mind that she decided to write this book. Kundalini Yoga Massage focuses on a series of techniques to activate the seven chakras by removing physiological blockages and thereby enhancing the flow of prana (vital energy).

In this book, Dr Gita has combined her decades of knowledge of Western science with her lifetime of self-acquired knowledge of yoga and the wisdom of Eastern philosophies to show the powerful link between Western modalities, yoga and Kundalini yoga massage in healing. Dr Gita is a strong proponent of self-knowledge and self-realisation. Philosopher Kahlil Gibran put it succinctly when he said that self-knowledge is “as the sea: boundless and measureless,” as knowledge acquired by the self transcends all limiting boundaries. Today, Dr Gita lives with her husband and son in Toronto. She is looking forward to using her knowledge and expertise to assist and uplift those with pain and suffering, especially in developing countries.

To show her gratitude to Swamiji for his teachings and guidance over the years and to give back to those who are in need, Dr Gita will be donating a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of this book to Swamiji at the Yoga Research Foundation in Miami and to the Lalita Jyoti Anathalaya Orphanage and School for Girls in Bihar, India.