Once someone who used to tease ‘woo-woo’ girls, SZA just spent 30 days at an ashram in India

SZA is opening up about the time she spent her birthday healing herinated discs at a meditation and yoga retreat in India.

SZA’s best birthday to date involved a vow of silence and healing a painful injury through some unlikely methods.

The 36-year-old R&B star opened up as the latest cover star of I-D magazine about how, after developing two herniated discs in her lower neck and being left bedridden heading into her birthday last year, she found herself at the Isha Foundation, an Indian ashram where she studied “woo-woo” practices like yoga and meditation.

“I used to really make fun of girls that were into the woo-woo and the crystals—and here I am,” the “Snooze” singer told the outlet. “God is very funny.”

Before her 30-day retreat, the artist had already visited the spiritual community and was beginning to make it a bit of a habit.

In an effort to get “whole” after a guru in Bali warned her she was headed to jail, SZA (real name: Solána Imani Rowe) discovered the Isha Foundation and, through it, learned Shambhavi Mahamudra, a breathwork-forward form of yoga that leaves her magically feeling peaceful despite starting off “pissed as f—.”

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“It made me realise I’ve really got to get in control of myself, and be the fully-realised version of myself. I can’t hide forever off stupid insecurities,” she told I-D. “It’s crazy, because I find myself thinking that I’m free in different junctures, but it’ll be some new s–t that shows you you’re actually [still] very affected. I can tell it’s my task to get free.”

On Instagram around the time she posted some footage from her experience in multiple posts.

“Life is so profound and chaotic and beautiful . I have no words for my Samyama experience. No phone, no mirrors, no eye contact for 8+ days,” she wrote in the caption of one of the posts. “For a fundamental yapper I lost my mind 😭 ..then found it 🧘🏾‍♀️. Came back to so much overwhelming information between the state of the world and my personal/professional life . But somehow it’s all settling quietly and loudly at the same time.”

She told the outlet that between the premiere of her breakout comedy co-starring Keke Palmer, “One of Them Days,” and the start of rehearsals for the 2025 Super Bowl, where she performed with Kendrick Lamar, she stayed at the ashram for 10 days. She returned for a full month after her injury, which she says left her unable to turn her head.

“It was somehow the best birthday,” she said, “because it was like, ‘Let’s get real and do something that can stop the running and the constant disappointment.’”