Biography
Gregorian Bivolaru (Grieg) – the founder of MISA – Romania was born on the 12th of March 1952 in Tartasesti, a small village just outside Bucharest, Romania. While he was a child he often had recurring dreams about himself being a Tibetan Yogi of high spiritual attainment. As a result of these dreams, he had many recollections of various yogic techniques that he started to practice with amazing results. Perplexing synchronistic events would link the events of his dreams with the events of his daily life. Gradually, Grieg learned to recognise the significance of these events and to put them together into a coherent system of fundamental spiritual truths of huge proportions. Because of this, he was able to attain in a very short time, by practising on his own, a whole series of psycho-mental accomplishment that are generally considered paranormal. All these experiments culminated at the age of 19, when he had a decisive breakthrough and attained the state of spiritual awakening.
In parallel with his yogic experiments, he eagerly studied the eastern teachings of wisdom (already analysed in depth by the Romanian yoga expert of international fame, Mircea Eliade) and found in these texts many confirmations of what he actually experienced in his practice. Grieg went deeper and deeper into the yogic practices and study of the sacred yogic scriptures as well as of the works of some modern sages like Ramakrishna, Sivananda and Yogananda, and successfully practised the techniques he encountered.
His building of a western yoga school was founded on his own practical experience of the ancient methods for self-realisation. He started to teach yoga in Bucharest in 1978, and from the very first time his approach to yoga was recognised as revolutionary and extremely efficient. Practically, he created a new avenue for the yoga practice in Romania (at that time, the Romanians knew very little about yoga). He collaborated extensively with the Romanian Ministry of Health and with the Association of Psychosomatic Medicine of Bucharest, and helped many people to heal themselves from terminal diseases with the help of yoga practices. In a relatively short time, Grieg became a centre of attraction for the Romanian intellectual elite, who immediately recognised the practical value of yoga and enthusiastically involved themselves in yogic practices under the direct guidance of Grieg.
After a few years though, the communist mentality against any form of organised (non-governmental) enterprise that teaches people to think on their own started to manifest very violently, and Grieg”s activity was targeted as being highly undesired. The dictator Nicolae Ceausescu put a ban on yoga teachings and in general on all teachings that had an oriental flavour (martial arts, Transcendental Meditation, acupuncture, etc.). This makes Romania the only country in the world who officially issued a law against all oriental practices of medicine and self-development! (not valid today).
Grieg continued to teach yoga “underground”, and in the following years the infamous ”Securitate” (the Romanian Secret Police) surveilled, bugged, ransacked, arrested and tortured Grieg and several of his students. Grieg spent almost 2 years in the Romanian prisons, just for being a yoga teacher. He also spectacularly escaped the worst of them (a maximum security prison in the very heart of Bucharest) in protest, giving birth to stories about his unusual yogic skills, which he confirmed afterwards.
As the Romanians revolted against Ceausescu and the communist era ended in December 1989, Yoga was again permitted, and Grieg founded MISA – The Movement of Spiritual Integration into the Absolute. Romanians, as much thirsty of outer and inner freedom, literally flocked to his courses, and in short time Grieg”s students were in the thousands.Currently MISA counts more than 15.000 members, with branches in many countries of the world.
Grieg lives now in Bucharest, heading twelve ”ashrams” plus centres of research, teaching and healing according to the yogic principles. He is teaching the oldest classes of yoga, which have now reached the 12th and 13th year of study, the rest being taught by more than 200 instructors spread all over Romania.
