Svälja (pronounced “svehl-yah”) is a Swedish term that translates to the English verb swallow, “to cause or allow something to pass down the throat.” Life presents everyone with challenges that are difficult to swallow. One profound benefit of yoga is a greater ability to absorb, metabolize, and bear what arises in our lives. Svälja Yoga’s mission is to better equip practitioners for navigating life’s joys and sorrows with skill, presence of mind, and grace. Yoga is a pathway to well-being and to the realization of our wholeness. Through movement, which includes mindful stillness, our guides connect you with your innate resources that promote healing, transformation, and growth.

Svälja is also half of the Swedish term for barn swallow, lada svälja. In motion, in flight, the swallow expresses adaptability, responsiveness, maneuverability, and endurance. Swallows teach us about resilience and strength, two elements of post-traumatic growth: through life’s adversities, we persevere. Adapting and enduring, we shed what no longer serves our highest good. Responding with the capacity to heal, we leave behind past suffering and pain, take flight on our own wings—as, symbolically, the swallow represents safe travel and a transformative journey home. As we recover from trauma, we rediscover home, deep within: our true selves. In ancient cultures, the swallow was a symbol of union and passion, of protection and peace, of happiness and connection. In other words, the gift that is the swallow points us to the most awake and joyful expression of our lives.