By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

“I lost my Shavasana,” a yogini complained to me. I was opening a weekend workshop, but she came to talk before I got started. “My teacher told me to explain that’s why I’ve come — so you can give me my Shavasana back.”

I responded, “You’re probably still going deep, but not unconscious. You’re being conscious in Consciousness.” I promised to check on her in our first yoga class, which I was starting in minutes. After an hour of spinal release poses, I led the Guided Awareness in Shavasana, also called Yoga Nidra. She was settled deeply within.

She came to me after class, “You’re right. I was deep, and I knew I was deep while I was deep.” This inner experience has a name in Sanskrit — samadhi. It is a deep immersion into the Consciousness that you are. In the beginning, you may go unconscious at this depth, but you expand into it as you return to it again and again.

Samadhi is the end-goal of the practices listed in the Yoga Sutras.

Yama-niyama-asana-pranayama-pratyahara-dhara.na-dhyana-samadhayo’shtavangani. — Yoga Sutras 2.29

Impulse-control, choice-full action, posture, breathing practices, turning inward, contemplation, meditative flow and meditative absorption are the eight aspects.

This sutra acknowledges that you master things in stages. This is true of worldly skills as well as your inward exploration of your own Beingness. Yama and niyama free you from mental churning. Posture is not only health-giving, it uplifts your attitude. Breathing practices enliven your body while clearing your mind, like a good breeze clears the skies.

Beyond these preparatory practices, the real yoga begins when you turn your attention inward. When you begin with meditation, turning your attention inward is challenging because you haven’t cleared your mind first. It tends to regurgitate your life for you. You’re trying to look inward but all you get is an internalized version of the external world.

Tantra makes it easy. In Svaroopa^® Vidya meditation, we repeat mantra aloud, then you get it going internally and… bloop! You’re immersed within. You skipped through Patanjali’s three stages: contemplation (dharana) and meditative flow (dhyana), to land in meditative absorption (samadhi).

You are settled into your own Divine Essence. Ease of being, expansiveness, peace and bliss are qualities you bring with you when your awareness extends outward again. You took the shortcut to Self. It’s called…

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

You may wonder why Baba gets two birthdays every year as well as two death anniversaries. I honor him according to both the lunar calendar, in accordance with the customs of India, as well as the solar calendar, which is more familiar to me.

The bottom line is that he was too great for one day to commemorate properly. In the many interviews he gave while on tour in America, he said he came to start a meditation revolution. And he did what he said he would do.

Yet he always passed the honors back to his own Guru. The first time I went to Nityananda’s temple in Ganeshpuri, there were two black scorch marks on the cement in front. They came from Muktananda Baba’s offering to Nityananda. Before Baba left on his third world tour, he went and burned a pile of camphor pellets in each spot at 3:00 am every morning for a month. In the privacy of the early morning hours, there was no one to intrude on his personal puja to his Guru.

The scorch marks took a decade to fade. I often sat next to them, in awe of what Baba had been preparing himself to do. While most Shaktipat Gurus give initiation to only a few people, maybe even 100, Baba gave this mystical gift to thousands and thousands. His ability to transmit Divine energy was beyond compare, not to mention how he burned up the worldly density from so many.

The blessings of the Guru are wondrous and extraordinary.

— Swami Muktananda, Secret of the Siddhas page 67

When Baba returned to Ganeshpuri after three years in America, he went to Nityananda’s temple. This time it was the middle of the morning, when the doors were open so he could bow. But a mere bow was not enough.

Baba laid out in a full pranam, belly down on the ground, with his arms outstretched toward Nityananda. Then Baba rolled sideways onto his back, then the other way. He said that he was covering himself with the dust of his Guru’s feet.

A few days later, I went with him along with 150 others. We chanted Shree Guru Gita for Nityananda. I sat where I could see them both, but I really only had eyes for Baba. His presence and his devotion to his Guru filled into cracks and crevices of my heart that I hadn’t known I had.

Sometimes a person comes to me and says, “I met him.” Our eyes meet and we nod. There are no words that do justice to that meeting. Beyond words, beyond understanding, I continue to uncover more and more of what he gave me.

While he is gone, he is still here. A yogi merges into God while still alive, so they don’t leave when they are done with their body. He told us this again and again, to prepare us for his departure. Except he is still here. I revel in his presence with every breath. Jai Muktananda!

In the last 20 or 25 years researchers have been doing brain scans of meditators. They’re finding that we use our brains differently than the rest of the world does. Meditation utilizes some parts of your brain that other people are barely using. And meditation quiets down some areas that other people are afflicted by…

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Made for More“

Oh Shiva, how can I bow to you? If I see you as separate from me, what direction do I turn to bow? Shiva above me, around me, being the earth beneath my feet. Oh Shiva, where do I turn to bow? If I see you as within me – you reside in my crown, so how can I lower my head to bow? I can only bow by turning my heart toward you, but … 

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “You Came from God“

And if you’re not yet established in your own Self, if you’re not yet enlightened, fill your mind with mantra. It’s only your mind that gets in the way of your inner knowingness, with the many words that it uses to bind you. So, use different words. The enlivened mantra holds…

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Beyond the Beyond“

By Agnes (Aikya) Hetherington

I was startled when I made a discovery about Gurudevi’s teachings. At first, I thought she was telling us many different things.

Yet I have realized over time that she has one single message for us. This message is vaster than the ocean, even beyond the beyond. And she is completely dedicated to helping us hear her message and know its truth experientially.

For me, the focal point of this dedication is her Swami Sunday discourse. Joining together in community with other seekers is both joyful and vital.

The long chant at the beginning propels me into a more receptive state. It shifts me from outward-focused busyness to an interior gaze. The silent pause after the chanting allows me to notice the change.

Hearing a personal story from the emcee illuminates another seeker’s journey. Hearing about their breakthroughs, large or small, encourages me on my path.

Then comes the sense of anticipation as Gurudevi begins her discourse. Will it be fiery, gentle, serious, funny, or all of the above? Sometimes I get scolded for being half-hearted with my practices. Other times I feel bathed in glory as one of the few who have chosen this path.

I can never predict whether I will even hear Gurudevi’s discourse. I might be laser focused all the way through, drinking in every word. Or I might pass in after a few minutes and miss all of it. Sometimes her words bypass my ears and mind and go straight into my heart.

Meditation afterwards is equally unpredictable. If I pass in, Kundalini pushes me into a deep forward bend, trying to release my tailbone. Other times she sends random thoughts whirling through my mind.

This is not the kind of enlightenment breakthrough that I once imagined. Yet I continue showing up for Satsangs. Why? Because Gurudevi has taught me that it is the showing up consistently that gets you there.

By Swami Satrupananda

Svaroopa^® yoga is like André the Giant — powerful and gentle, both at the same time. This is a rare combination.

I grew up watching “The Princess Bride.” Fezzik, played by André the Giant, was one of my favorite characters. Several times in the movie, he uses his strength combined with his tenderness to do what others cannot. He was so much stronger than everyone else, yet so gentle. 

Svaroopa^® yoga is also gentle. We meet your body and mind where they are. We provide support to allow the tensions to soften. The key is in the softening, not in straining or forcing. So gentleness is not only critical but also cultivated.

As you soften, the tensions in your body melt. Your aches and pains dissolve. Your digestion and immune systems improve. Your nervous system comes off red alert. Your mind expands. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of the benefits.

Svaroopa^® yoga is so powerful because it comes from a lineage of gentle, powerful masters. They utilized these techniques to their fullest extent, ultimately knowing their own Self. Their blessings and guidance infuse all our practices. 

To tap into the gentle power of Svaroopa^® yoga, get a yoga therapy session. In this one-on-one session, your therapist uses the most powerful and the gentlest tools to give you the biggest changes. In just an hour, you’ll feel better. It is guaranteed from the gentle powerful masters. Schedule a session today with one of our Ashram swamis.