Online Beginning September 14

Gurudevi Nirmalananda walks you through the inner exploration of your own heart to its core.  This experience, plus the wisdom of the sages, empowers your ability to bring it into your life and relationships in the way you always wanted.

This online course gives you both the experience of your heart and the understanding of your experience.  Together, they mature into profound wisdom, in which you can base your life.

Gurudevi’s teachings are like seeds that go deep.  The roots grow, the buds come on, and then the flowers bloom.. — Loretta F.

Learn and grow in this multi-media course, with substantive articles and teaching videos, all for you to do at your own pace.  Gurudevi has created a sweet, yet powerful inner process that opens you to your Self.

This course helped me learn to embrace life’s inevitable challenges, learn practical skills for handling them and welcome the resulting spiritual growth. – Marlene G.

Her teaching audios in the original “Leaps & Bounds” were profound.  Now with her videos, the Leaps & Bounds teachings will have even more profound impact. – Ellan C.

Be filled up by classical teaching stories as well as verses from Sanskrit texts. As always, Gurudevi brings it alive with her personal sharings, making the process so understandable and accessible.

By Darren Taylor

Interviewed by Lori (Priya) Kenney

I lived in the spiritual mecca of Boulder CO for 10 years.  I thought it would be easy to have a spiritual awakening in a purportedly enlightened place.  But I had to move back to the suburbs of Philadelphia for a true awakening.  

Relocating in Downingtown PA, I regularly drove by Lokananda, the Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram’s retreat and training facility.  The prayer flags and life-sized poster of Gurudevi in the window caught my attention.  I wondered, “What is going on there?”  It looked supportive. Online research revealed it is steeped in traditional yoga.  I started taking yoga classes and saw results immediately — less discomfort and pain along with more flexibility.  

Early on, my teacher, Swami Satrupananda, asked what I wanted to get from the yoga.  I said, “Enlightenment, of course!”  She seemed startled and said I was in the right place! I’d wondered what Shaktipat and Kundalini awakening were all about.  I heard that Shaktipat was available in Downingtown.  I knew I would be a fool not to go to Gurudevi’s Shaktipat Retreat.

I enrolled late and got on the waitlist. It opened and things began happening.  The day before the Shaktipat retreat, Gurudevi appeared in a dream and gave me a shoulder adjustment.  When I arrived at Lokananda, my roommate and I felt like we’d known each other our whole life.  

During the first Shaktipat, Gurudevi put her hands on me.  Something inside was drawn upward toward my brow.  It felt like I was lifted out through my forehead.  My body was moved into various positions.  It felt like a chakra recalibration.  At satsangs now, when I look at Gurudevi, she’s a blinding light.  I have to squint or close my eyes.  

I have explored many traditions, but this one feels like the solution to my spiritual longing. It gives me tools, support and the lineage. When I repeat mantra and meditate, I know I will have depth.

By Loretta Forsythe

Interviewed by Margie (Maitreyi) Wilsman

I am mesmerized by how Gurudevi’s “Yoga of the Heart” program has helped me work with my mind.  I first took this deep program during the Covid pandemic. Last year, I was thrilled when Gurudevi offered it again. The second time, I grasped much more of what she is teaching.  

In this program, Gurudevi leads us inwardly to our heart and then to our own Self. She choreographs and orchestrates her teachings on the depth of the heart so beautifully. She leads us through very gently.

Each session, Gurudevi gave us a discourse on the heart, the mind and the relationship between them. Gurudevi says that to become enlightened you must work on your mind. She explained our homework: exercises for experiential learning. Then she led us in meditation followed by group disscussion. After each of the four weekly sessions, I was amazed at the difference within myself.

During the week I practiced the exercises. Now I continue with them. They take only a few minutes. I do some during the day, others prior to meditation. They help me during the night when anxiety, my busy mind or pain keeps me awake.  

With sinus pain one night, I reflected on Gurudevi’s teaching about how the mind blocks access to your Self. This reflection took me into meditation. I saw that I am neither my body nor my physical symptoms. I became one with my own Self. The pain subsided, and I went into a deep good night’s sleep. 

Gurudevi teaches “The heart is all you think it is and so much more.” I now realize the difficulty of using the mind to feel the depth of the heart. She also teaches that my mind wants to go back to the heart. The heart is the entryway to the Self.

Gurudevi’s teachings are like seeds that go deep. The roots start growing, the buds come on, then the flowers bloom. Nourished by Guru’s Grace, my practices and understandings continue to unfold. From Gurudevi’s “Yoga of the Heart,” I know Grace is always there. It’s the experience of the heart.