Yoga Makes Your Meditation Easy

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By Swami Samvidaananda

Your yoga poses make it so easy to meditate. Peace, deep stillness, quietude, joy, expanding bliss — this is how students have described their meditation at the end of their Yoga + Meditation class. 

Again and again, they share how deep their meditation was, and how easy it was to meditate.  They share how comfortable they were in their seats. They say they felt like they could sit and meditate forever.

This is the purpose of all yoga poses: to make it easy for you to sit for meditation.  Gurudevi gives this teaching again and again.  It was one of the first lessons I received in my first yoga teacher training, 27 years ago.

We learned a seated pose, we did a sequence of Svaroopa® yoga’s signature core-opening poses, and then we sat in the same seated pose again.

What happened? To start, I was more comfortable.  Aches had melted away. I settled into an easy uprightness.  I was so surprised and delighted by how easy it was to sit that I ran up to Gurudevi after class to share: “You said let it be easy and it was!”

As your body settles and stills, your mind can settle and still as well. As you settle into your seat, you settle into your Self, your Divine Essence, your Beingness.

The easy stillness of your body is a doorway inside to your Self. Peace, stillness and joy — this is just the beginning of what you find as you delve into your divine, multidimensional depths.  

Your yoga poses make this so easy, so accessible. That’s why we offer several Yoga + Meditation classes a week. This is the reason that many Svaroopa® yoga teachers offer Yoga + Meditation series. They combine an hour of asana (poses) followed by seated meditation preparation and a nice long meditation.

You’ll discover right away how the purpose of the poses is to make you able to sit for meditation. You’ll dive effortlessly deeper.  Check out our Global Calendar to find a Yoga + Meditation class at a time that works for you.

Global Calendar

Feed Yourself Consciously

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Welcome to the Ashram kitchen for four Online cooking classes!

Streaming from your own kitchen to hers, you will discover how to prepare delicious, nutritious vegetarian food.

This course draws on yoga, Ayurveda and scientific nutritional guidelines.  You learn easy ways to improve your nutritional profile as well as the quality of your life.

Eating the yogic way improves your health. Your pleasure in food is enhanced.  And (most importantly) you support your spiritual development.

I discovered that the six Ayurvedic food tastes make my meals more satisfying. Plus, the herbs and spices are healing. I feel more satiated and alive. This is the result of a primarily plant-based diet without the density of meat. — Annette Z.

The course is both personal and practical. I’d been accustomed to stressing about what to cook for myself and my family.  The course inspired me to slow down and be more conscious of my eating.  I was thrilled to learn so much in a short period of time. — Sheralee H.

Yogic Nutrition

The Holiest of Holy Places

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But you can get so caught up in looking for blessings to come from these many external sources that you miss the most important holy site – you, inside you.  My Baba described this, “You are the holiest of holy places, the…” 

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “O Holy Night“

Watch Full Discourse Here

Doing More Svaroopa® Yoga

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By Margie (Maitreyi) Wilsman

My student Anna came to her first yoga therapy session wearing a fentanyl patch.

This was to treat acute pain in her middle back, behind her heart and under her shoulder blades.

She continued wearing the patches on and off during twice-weekly Svaroopa® yoga classes and Embodyment® Yoga Therapy sessions, which included Overlap Healing.

Anna could rarely feel her lower body. After students do the first side of a pose in class, I also ask, “What differences do you notice between sides?” Anna’s usual response was “I can’t really tell any differences.”

Upper spine poses often led to a spasm in her upper back. She learned to come out of an upper spine pose early when she felt a spasm coming on. Yet Anna attended classes regularly and came to private yoga therapy sessions.

In time, a yoga miracle happened for her. She began staying in upper spine poses for the full time. She no longer winced. When I inquired about these changes, she said that she was no longer wearing pain medication patches. In upper spine poses, Anna no longer experienced spasms.

In classes now, Anna is aware of changes in her body during poses and afterwards. This new awareness of her body is also evident in Embodyment® Yoga Therapy. Plus she has the ability to express aloud her understanding of the benefits of self-adjustments that I teach.

And she asks questions. Recently, for example, during my demonstration of a new pose, she asked about the purpose of abs activation: “In this pose you said to activate our abs.  Is this to prevent using back muscles so I can use my legs effectively instead?”

I invited Anna to repeat her question. I wanted other students to hear the reason she’s aware of the importance of using abs instead of spinal muscles. The other students did not know Anna’s history of severe back pain. Her story of how Svaroopa® yoga released the tensions in her spine, so she no longer needs pain medication, amazed them. They “got” the importance of abs activation and spinal decompression!

Gurudevi alerts us that it takes time for us to live in our body instead of in our pain and in our mind. It takes time to experience the experiences provided by poses and yoga therapy. Anna is testimony to the truth of this adage. 

Anna is committed to consistent classes. To arrive at our studio out in the country, Anna drives 20 miles through all Wisconsin weather conditions on heavily traveled highways. Clearly, Gurudevi’s perennial guidance to do more yoga created miracles for Anna. 

Yoga Classes & Yoga Therapy
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You Have a Body

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By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

You need a body to be here in this world. This means your body is important.

The condition of your body affects your experience of life. You know this from having had a cold or the flu. Not able to do anything, you can’t even think. Your body’s condition affects your mind.

It works the other way around as well. Your body experiences your thoughts as real events. Thoughts, feelings, and beliefs create chemical and electrical activity in your brain, which directly affect your body. You can think yourself into a panic. You can think yourself into exhaustion.

Does this mean you can think yourself into bliss? And that you can heal your body by thinking different thoughts? Yes. Absolutely yes. This has been extensively researched in the last few decades, though yogis have been saying it for millennia.

The corollary is that you can use your body to change your thoughts. Every yoga class proves this. The changes in your body mean you have to adjust your rear-view mirror before driving home. Better yet, your attitude adjustment has already been accomplished. Your perspective on life is changed.

Exercise is proven to improve your physical health as well as your mental and emotional health. This is because breathing and moving is beneficial. It turns out that slow movement with breathing is better, proven in a recent Harvard Medical School study. Their focus on…

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Nutritious & Delicious

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By Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast

Our Ashram’s Chai Granola is now ready to be shipped fresh to your home.  

Developed under Gurudevi’s guidance, this nutty blend is rich in protein. Cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and clove deliver classic chai flavor, comforting and deeply satisfying.

Savor it for breakfast, for snacking and as a dessert topping. Both vegan and gluten-free, this granola is suitable for everyone, including those with dietary restrictions.

You will be sustained and grounded. Because each batch is crafted in our Ashram kitchen, every bite is infused with shakti. This living energy supports and uplifts you.

Available in 12-ounce packages.

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Meditate on Self

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This is why I teach meditation on your own Self.  I don’t teach meditation on your breath, not on your chakras, not on God, or Gods or Goddesses, not on success or happiness. I remember one woman came to Baba and asked for a husband.  Baba told her to meditate on Self for happiness.  So, she went to a different Guru and got…

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “I Wanted to Know!“

Watch Full Discourse Here

Discover Your Divine Light

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By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Svaroopa® yoga is based in the Kashmiri Shaivite tradition that says the world is real — so are you and so is everyone else, but there is more to all of it than you currently see.

You must find that “something more” within yourself, then you will see it in everyone and everything. This seeing is a recognition of the one divine light in all. It is experienced as an overwhelming and unconditional love and joy — simultaneously.

How do you get there? Your breathing practice and poses get you started, but you reach a point where you must work on your mind directly.

Different systems give you different techniques for your mind. Kashmiri Shaivism says you must repeat mantra. There are two times of the day you must repeat mantra: when you are meditating and when you are not meditating.

You can begin with this mantra, “Shivo’ham.” It means “I am Shiva, the Ever-Existent One Reality.” An alternative translation makes it even more clear, “I am my own divine Self.”

This is a temporary mantra. This means it will work, but it does not commit you to any long-term practice, lineage or tradition. It gives you the opportunity to start clearing out your mind, so you can live in progressively more and more clarity and integrity, leading to transparency.

Excerpt from A Yogic Lifestyle, pages 35–36

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