By Rukmini Abbruzzi, interviewed by Lori (Priya) Kenney

Teaching Svaroopa® yoga and meditation is an incredible gift.  I am delighted, honored and humbled to be able to offer it to people.

It was the gift of a Svaroopa® yoga class that took me to my first class.  During the final Shavasana, I experienced incredible bliss.  It felt like a promise.  I was amazed.  I had never felt that before.  I felt like I had come home.

At the time, I was a young mom with kids.  I knew I was supposed to be doing something other than being a mom.  One day, I said to God, “Ok God, I know I have been asking this question, but I have not been listening.  I’m ready to listen.  In addition to being a mom, what am I supposed to be doing?”  The answer was immediate and clear: “Teach yoga.” 

Soon after that, my Svaroopa® yoga teacher brought Swami Nirmalananda (then Rama Berch) to my area.  Attending her workshops, I immediately knew she was my teacher.  It felt like a calling.  I began training to teach Svaroopa® yoga with Foundations in 1999.  Now, besides being a yoga teacher, I serve Swami in many ways, as her full-time Teachings Manager.  I serve in any way that she asks me to!  It’s all Guruseva, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.  

I have just finished teaching my first 12-week series of a new yoga and meditation class.  It’s so beautiful!  A lot of the students are very new.  In a combined asana (pose) and meditation class, the purpose of the poses is particularly clear.  Their purpose is to make you able to sit for meditation and go deeper.

One of the most wonderful things about Svaroopa® yoga and meditation is the depth and support of the lineage.  We just do a small part by using our bodies, our minds and our words.  We say, “Pull your knee toward your chest,” and amazing things happen!  People experience their Own Self.  That’s Swami.  That’s Baba.  That’s Nityananda.  So much is offered, and it all comes from the Grace of this incredible lineage. 

That promise I felt during my very first Shavasana continues to fulfill me beyond my mind’s understanding.  There is no end to the bliss and the promise.  It just keeps expanding.  The more I do and the more I learn, the more I can offer.  And then I realize how much more there is to learn.  There is so much wonder and joy in the process of teaching.