Doctors Said She Would Never Walk Again. They Were Wrong.

After a diagnosis of paralysis, Pooja Arora entered a space where authority sought to define what was possible. But before anything changed physically, something shifted—how she related to the story she had been given.

In this episode of Inner Library Alignment, Rachel Golden explores the turning point where authorship begins to return. During her hospital stay, Pooja encountered pessimistic projections and a treatment plan that left her passive. On the eighth day, she made a different decision—reclaiming agency over her experience.

What followed was not immediate recovery, but a reorientation. Through practices such as the Silva Method, Reiki, and therapeutic yoga, and with the support of those around her, she began to relate to her body—and her healing—differently.

This episode explores paralysis, personal agency, mindset, and the moment where what seemed final begins to loosen.

If this conversation shifted something in you, honor that shift.

Follow the podcast, share this episode with someone ready to align, know, and recognize that they have always been the author.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I think the doctor made two statements. He said, You'll never walk again. Your body is paralyzed. And he kind of flippantly said, Well, miracles can happen. And I think I chose to ignore the first statements that I can never walk again and choose to hang on to the second statement, which is miracles can happen. I was there only for eight days. I think by day five or six, they had told me the diagnosis. They said they're gonna keep me there for a few weeks. But most of them were very pessimistic about how I'm gonna be recovering or what they're gonna do. They did not want to put me into any physiotherapy, they just wanted to keep me flat. And it didn't work for me. So at the eighth day, I checked myself out of the hospital. I was very sure. Very sure. I was very sure I'll walk again, but I didn't know how. I was very sure I didn't want to be surrounded by people who are telling me time and time again that this is the end of my life, as I knew it. And in about three months' time, my right side was paralyzed, so my right store started moving. And I think that was quite an amazing step forward for me.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

So you started walk again how many months after the accident? About three months.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

And according to the MRI, you should still not be walking. So we have no idea why you were walking in the first place.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

He was wrong about how her story would end. In the last episode, we stayed with the moment authority attempted to define what was possible when a life was interrupted by words that sounded vinyl. Today we turned the page, not to the miracle, but at the moment the story began to lose its hold. Before a body heals, the story organizing that body must change. Welcome back to Inner Library Alignment. I'm Rachel Golden, guiding you into your inner library where healing unfolds through conscious authorship. In this series, we explore what happens when you realize that the story written over you is not the one you have to keep living. Reclaiming authorship is recognizing your agency within the experience. It is the shift from seeing yourself as shaped only by circumstance to understanding that circumstances are shaping you, developing you, deepening you, expanding you. And when that awareness clicks, something changes. You stop looking outward for permission or rescue. You recognize that the capacity to heal, to reorganize your beliefs, and to move forward has been with you all along. I'm joined again by Pooja Aurora. She is a holistic therapist and the co-founder of Free Defined Wellness, whose lived healing continues to shape how I understand belief, the body, and authorship. In the last chapter, we stayed with the diagnosis. Today, we step into what comes next, not the miracle, the turning point. And so thank you for joining us again, Pooja. In our last episode, you shared with us where the doctor told you you were paralyzed. And you shared with us the belief that you held, saying you will walk again. Before your physical body began healing, what belief carried you?

SPEAKER_01 3:49

I think the doctor made two statements. He said, You'll never walk again. Your body is paralyzed. And he kind of flippantly said, Well, miracles can happen. And I think I chose to ignore the first statement that I can never walk again and choose to hang on to the second statement, which is miracles can happen. And I told him, Well, in this case, miracle will happen. And it was this defiance, I guess. I was always been a stubborn child, but this was a defiance that carried me through. So I don't think I took away from that a dejection, but I took away from that a challenge or a defiance that I'm gonna prove him wrong, I'm gonna prove the word wrong. That I will never walk again. That cannot be my story.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Okay. And talk to us about the rest of your hospital stay.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

I was there only for eight days. Um I think by day five or six, they had told me the diagnosis. They said they're gonna keep me there for a few weeks, but most of them were very um pessimistic about how I'm gonna be recovering or what they're gonna do. They did not want to put me into any physiotherapy, they just wanted to keep me flat, and it didn't work for me. So at the eighth day, I checked myself out of the hospital.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

So you checked yourself out, and what was their reaction?

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Uh I had to, of course, sign all the forms. They were uh they were quite surprised. They were wondering why I'm doing that. But for me, it was just the general negativity which was bothering me because in my head, my role or my work was clear. I need to figure out how to walk again. That was not how people were approaching my hospital state, it was very dejected and negative and very almost pitiful. Oh my God, so sad that this has happened to you.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

So you remained optimistic?

SPEAKER_01 5:43

I was very sure. Very sure. I was very sure I'll walk again, but I didn't know how. I was very sure I didn't want to be surrounded by people who are telling me time and time again that this is the end of my life as I knew it. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

And so what steps did you take?

SPEAKER_01 6:03

I don't think I had a plan at that point in time, Rachel. So um I think I checked myself at the hospital and I uh went to my aunt's place that time in Delhi. I think what was amazing was the support I received. So my parents were rallying around me, my sisters both I had two sisters, so both the sisters were there, and uh they all kept saying the same thing. They all kept saying, hey, you know what, we'll figure this out. Don't worry, we'll figure this out, we'll figure out how to make this work. I don't know what their mind was make this work was, but I took it as they're gonna figure, they're gonna help me figure out how to walk again.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Okay, so they supported you and your belief that you would walk again?

SPEAKER_01 6:47

I'm not sure if they believed my belief. I think they thought they would humor me, but they'd never said no to that belief.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Okay, okay. And so tell us about the steps you took to be able to walk again.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

I don't think there were any conscious steps at that point in time when I was laying down. I still remember it took me three months to actually have a movement. Okay. And um, in the three months, I was just focused on I need to walk again. So I was probably just focusing on my body. I was trying to stay positive, stay cheerful. I would just joke around, watch movies, and in the night just kind of talk to my body that it needs to walk again. Okay. That's pretty much about it. And in about three months' time, my right toe, my right side was paralyzed. So my right toe started moving.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Um, and I think that was quite an amazing step forward for me and for everybody else. And slowly different parts of my body begin to respond to what I wanted them to do. And um, then the doctors were called. And again, the doctors was very interesting. He said, Yeah, I knew miracles can happen. And I was like, Yeah, I knew miracles can happen. So, what they did was they put me in a metal cage. So I was in a metal cage, and they said, Okay, if in a metal cage, if you can walk a teeny weeny bit, you can probably walk from your bed to the um to the bathroom with support. So then I started doing that. And again, I just kept talking to the body and I just saying one thing, you're gonna walk again, you're gonna walk again. So I think it was that dogged belief that miracles can happen and I'm gonna walk again. Um, there was no formal steps in place.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Okay, so you started walk again how many months after the accident? About three months. About three months after. And did you return to school life, college life?

SPEAKER_01 8:38

So I think it was about six months or so in that I started. So I was in that metal case. I started going to college to attend my lectures. But most of the time, again, my friends were amazing. I had such amazing support. I would receive notes, lecture notes at home. I had trainers, my professors coming to teach me at home. I had my friends, they bought like exam cheat sheets at home. Um, they would sit and they would teach me. I had a bunch of these really amazing friends. I did go to school a few times, but a lot many times things just came to me at home. So I actually managed to not drop a single ear. So, in spite of the accident, I managed to clear that ear simply because of the amazing support I received.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Okay. And then did you have any setbacks?

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Well, the big setback I was experiencing was significant pain. It was so high that I was being injected painkillers and sleeping pills almost daily because I was in pain most of the day. Um, so the movement was there, very excruciating slow movement with that big uh metal thing I had around me. And I was very conscious of not wanting that. So I think the setbacks would happen with pain. So there would be days I would be in so much pain that I couldn't walk again. And then I would either take the painkillers or talk myself out of pain. And then I would start again.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

And did you experience any relapses? A may any major relapses?

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Not during that time. I my first major relapse was 2003, so six years later.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Okay. And what practices did you take during that time when you had the relapse?

SPEAKER_01 10:21

So about a year after my accident, uh, a friend of mine introduced me to something called the silver method. And he basically told me this would be something that'll help me not only with my pain, but also helped me walk better faster.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

I didn't believe him. Um I mean, I was studying engineering at that time, and I didn't think that meditation or any of these hokey-pooky things, as I called them that point in time, would help. Um, but because he paid for my class, I attended it just because I had to. I went to the class with my little metal transformer suit, and those few days changed my life. It made me understand the power of mind. It made me understand in a very structured manner how to do mind-body healing, it made me understand manifestation, it made me understand how I can really work with my mind. And a lot of my recovery post that uh I would credit to the Silver Method course, which I now teach here, um, simply because it taught me how to really take it from just the thought that I'm going to work again to a really structured healing program. Okay. So I then get got off the metal container with the Silver Method program. I went to a neck brace for two, three years. And then from the neck brace, I was able to take that off and heal more. Now I moved to Singapore in that time from India, and when my first relapse happened, the they took me here in Singapore, one of the, I think, Mount Elizabeth Hospital. They did my MRIs. And what I had a very interesting conversation with the doctor there. The doctor told me, well, according to the MRIs, your neck bone is still broken. And according to the MRI, you should still not be walking. So we have no idea why you were walking in the first place. And they had no idea why the relapse happened. So they put me on a plane, sent me back home to figure it out because there was no reason for the relapse, because there were no reason for the recovery.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

When I was in India now, this time, um, a friend of my mother offered Reiki. So she offered to teach me Reiki, and she offered to teach my sister Reiki, was helping me through the recovery process. And I think that was the second thing I really learned that helped me through the healing process. So Silver Method was like one leg of my stool. Reiki became the second leg of my stool, and then I chanced on yoga therapy. So yoga for therapeutic purposes, and that became the third leg of my stool. So I think between the three is probably what took me to recovery.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

After your second paralysis.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

So Silver Method was after the first paralysis.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Yoga therapy, probably a little bit in between the two, and Reiki was after the second paralysis.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Okay, I understand. Okay, thanks for sharing. Just stay with that thought. Souls, this wasn't the end of the story. It was the moment authority shifted. Yes, the doctor was wrong. However, ultimately, authority returned to the one who chose to restore her wholeness, integrating mind, body, and spirit. In the next chapter, we move beyond healing into what it means to live in coherence, where authorship becomes a way of being. If this conversation shifted something in you, honor that shift. Subscribe, share this episode with someone ready to align, and keep revising your inner library one book, one chapter, one page, one line, and one golden truth at a time.