Monthly Archives: January 2026

Meditation Teacher Training

Leave a reply

Easier & More Accessible

Learn to teach deep meditation in our online training.

Meditation Teacher Training

Begins April 7, On-Site & Online

You begin with an On-Site immersion at Lokananda. This is primarily focused on deepening your own meditations. You cannot teach what you haven’t experienced.

Day by day, you will lengthen and deepen your meditations. The Shaktipat Day opens you inward to the powerful flow of meditative energy.

Experiencing your own Divine Essence is the key part of the process. In addition, by studying the sutras, you learn how to guide others in the same process.  

When you return home, your online classes begin. Plus you get daily group meditations and weekly meditation programs with Gurudevi Nirmalananda. This ensures that you continue to marinate in Consciousness.

Your live-streamed MTT classes train you in increasingly powerful meditation tools. You hone your communication skills as you learn to teach about bliss and awareness. You are also trained to answer students’ questions and help them with practicalities.

Another meditation retreat completes your training – this one is online. You do it from home. Plus you get mentoring afterward, supporting you as you teach your first “Intro to Meditation” series.

This program gives you everything you need to begin teaching.

Learn More

A Living Guru

Leave a reply

By Agnes (Aikya) Hetherington

In early 2025, I had the privilege of attending Gurudevi’s India retreat.

One highlight was a talk by Balkrishna, a Brahmin priest serving in Bhagavan Nityananda’s temple. Balkrishna told us repeatedly, with solemn emphasis: “You are so blessed to have a living Guru. Spend time with her, do what she tells you.”

I have heard Gurudevi put it a little differently, but I believe her meaning is similar: “Dead Gurus don’t kick ass!” Every week in her Satsangs, Gurudevi gives us little kicks in the butt.

While there is usually laughter as well, her message could not be more serious. We have the possibility of becoming enlightened in this lifetime, but we must do our part. It is always lovely to hear this, yet sometimes so difficult to do.

Living in the UK, I don’t have many chances to attend satsangs in person. Swami Sunday online has become my lifeline. Gurudevi’s teachings bypass my mind and go directly to my heart.

Yet Balkrishna’s words have continued to echo through my mind. One Swami Sunday, as I chanted with the group online, I was thinking “I should be there in person.” At that moment, Gurudevi’s photo fell off the wall onto my puja table!

It was too clear a message to ignore. A few months later, I travelled to visit my living Guru and get my butt kicked.

What I got was not so much a kick. It was more like a verbal, encouraging pat on the back. This was accompanied by a powerful injection of Vitamin G: G for Guru, G for Grace.

This vital infusion of Grace has propelled me into action that was long overdue. I have been teaching Svaroopa® Yoga online for three years. But I have not had the courage to start in-person classes here. Upon returning home from the Ashram, I went into action.

Scouring the area for a suitable venue, I tried ten places before finding a beautiful, welcoming studio. I quickly put out promotional material advertising a free “taster” class.

In early December, I taught my first in-person class in over twelve years. And there is considerable interest in weekly classes that will begin in January 2026.

I have learned that I am never doing this alone. I can tap into the flow of Grace whenever I need support. For me, listening to Gurudevi teaching live is the most effective way to stay in that flow.

Swami Sunday
Teacher Directory

The Way Inward

Leave a reply

Probably right now your experience of your own beingness is not fluid, is not constant.  You have moments when you know who you are.  And you have moments when you’re lost in the differences – dotted lines. But you know the way inward. And if you don’t, I’ll remind you again to honor…

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Dotted Lines“

Watch Full Discourse Here

Don’t Slacken Now

Leave a reply

By Swami Shrutananda

A yoga therapy client told me:

I no longer get headaches. My skull is still tight. Mostly I don’t notice this tightness.

I no longer get the mild dizziness while doing a pose. My neck and upper back are tight, but not as tight as when we first started.

My chest tightness is mild. Walking around Lokananda or out for a stroll with fellow yogis, I didn’t notice the tightness.

This is a trap!  You might be trapped into thinking that how you feel now is probably as good as it gets.

You feel underlying tensions, some aches, maybe areas of your body that trouble you. So you do some yoga, and you feel better after doing yoga.

Yet you cannot address those deep underlying tensions on your own. You settle into the trap of assuming “this is good enough.”

You only get one body in this lifetime. That tightness and underlying tension, whether noticed or not, will surface in your future. If unaddressed, it will become a condition that doctors will later give a name to. Some conditions are life threating.

Don’t slacken now!

Svaroopa® Yoga Therapists specialize in releasing deeply held tensions along your whole spine from tail-to-top. Regular sessions, once a week minimum, are essential. A series of sessions will propel your healing process.

Most effective are ten sessions in a row, ten every other day and ten every third day. Repeat this 10-10-10 series as needed. Your body is the home you live in 24/7. Take care of it.

Svaroopa® Yoga Therapy addresses the deeper underlying tensions you have. Regular, consistent sessions enable you to live a comfortable life, a healthy life, a happy life. Don’t settle for less.

Let 2026 be the year you do more yoga therapy sessions. I dare you to feel better than you can even imagine!

Yoga Therapy

New Storefront

Leave a reply

Look at our big new windows and doors! Bright, shiny and new for the new year – let the light shine in.

This is the first stage of our storefront upgrade, with new colors and front steps coming soon. With a big thank you to the generosity of a donor and a number of sevites who have been working on the project for months.

This will make it easier to see us – and to come in for more yoga…

Website

The Guru

Leave a reply

Baba commented on this verse, saying, “The Guru destroys the darkness in the hearts of his disciples, and fills them with the light of knowledge. The Guru is the one who dispenses Divine Power.” The Guru points you inward, takes you by the hand and walks you inward and …

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Light Incarnate“

Watch Full Discourse Here

Golden Jubilee in Ganeshpuri

Leave a reply

November 2026

Join Gurudevi in celebrating her 50th anniversary of teaching as well as her 80th birthday in Ganeshpuri, India. She is generously inviting you to join her in her Golden Jubilee, explaining,

I had been planning a personal retreat for my 80th birthday, marking off tentative dates in my calendar. Then I realized it is also the 50th anniversary of my teaching. That means you are part of the reason I’m going. You are the reason why I do what I do. So you are invited!

This retreat focuses on diving deep. Daily practices begin at 4:20 am in Nityananda’s temple, followed by breakfast, chanting and a yoga class.  A leisurely lunch and recess follows.

The afternoon includes a sutra discourse, more chanting and meditation. After dinner, Nityananda’s temple has a special closing ceremony every night. Day by day, hour by hour, you will join Gurudevi in marinating in Consciousness.

Yogis who have previously traveled with her to Ganeshpuri describe their powerful experiences:

The practices are intensified by being performed on these sacred lands. Each
time I come to India, my starting point is where I left off last time. — Bob (Rudra) Nogue

Ganeshpuri puts me physically in the riverbed of Grace that flows through this lineage. Doing practices with Gurudevi in the dusty village that was built around Nityananda is a magical combination. Being submerged in a village culture that is full of love for Guru and God opens my heart. I blossom as I spend immersive time with Gurudevi and like-minded yogis. — Rosemary (Rudrani) Nogue

I have traveled to Ganeshpuri three times to be with Gurudevi in the place where she was with her teacher. Early morning, meditations in Nityananda’s mahasamadhi room propelled me deeper and deeper inside. When I visited Muktananda’s mahasamadhi shrine and laid my head on his silver-casted sandals, a wave of Shakti shot through me and unlocked access to my Self. I saw my future. — Carolyn (Karuna) Beaver

Learn More

A Continuing Miracle

Leave a reply

By Lori (Priya) Kenney

One of my students has been taking yoga classes for 20 years, most recently online. She has been an Embodyment® client of mine for almost two years. Her online asana teacher suggested she would benefit from in-person classes to reduce pain and become calmer. She is the reason I started teaching!   

During her weekly Embodyment® sessions, I see and feel the benefits from her years of asana classes.  Muscle tension releases much more quickly, and she has greater range of motion.  Likewise, I see her flexibility and range of motion increasing dramatically in classes due to her Embodyment® sessions.  

She is leaning into all the poses more deeply. Her Lunges are more extended. She’s taller and more lengthened through her rib cage in Seated Side Stretch. She has more ease in doing poses that were challenging before. And she’s a stellar example of coming to class, getting settled in Shavasana and immediately turning inside. The combination of Embodyment® Yoga Therapy and asana classes is very effective.

I feel connected to this student in a very human way.  We have an easy and trusting relationship. I noticed this again upon returning from YTT1 when I began teaching new poses. She has taken Foundations at least twice and used to occasionally substitute teach for another teacher.  

From the beginning, she has been supportive and encouraging about my teaching. Her awareness of the teaching and class process goes beyond that of being a student. She’s like a silent cheerleader for me and the other students.  

She’s patient with those new to Svaroopa® yoga.  I see her quietly giving suggestions to nearby students working to get into a pose when I’m assisting others. She brought her partner to class, who is now a dedicated student too.   

Her original teacher subbed for me when I went to Lokananda for YTT1.  That teacher also noticed a difference in this student — her greater mobility, her spot-on Lunge alignments and more ease in her poses overall. 

While this student has a reserved nature, she’s a steady presence in our yoga class community.  She is engaged and spontaneous with other students. Sometimes she chimes in about how she feels different the second time we do a marker pose.  Or she will joke with another student.   

I especially appreciate this student’s tenacity and determination while going through several very difficult life passages. She has leaned into yoga through all of it and talks about how it has steadied her.   

She has experience turning within and settling.  She knows the power of an open body and quiet mind.  She is a miracle in progress.  I see her deepening and blossoming, all at the same time.  

Such transformation is due to the power of this yoga. Gurudevi Nirmalananda, our Master Teacher, created this yoga in order to bring asana practice back to its original purpose. The goal is to open us to our deep, expansive and timeless inner essence. 

Ashram Yoga Classes
Global Calendar

Spiritual Living

2 Replies

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

I remember when Walt Disney invented the moving sidewalk, which he called the “PeopleMover.” He installed it at Disneyland, near my childhood home.

I loved that each stride carried me farther than walking alone. Getting Shaktipat is like this, boosting the results you get from your spiritual practices.

In Sanskrit, your practices are called “sadhana,” the means you use to attain your spiritual goal. One who does sadhana is called a “sadhaka.”  The root word is “sat,” meaning Truth, indicating that the practices are taking you to the Truth of your own Beingness.

Research has proven that any approach to spiritual development grants you many benefits. Spiritual practitioners have a better quality of life. They experience less depression and live longer. They have better health outcomes.  This means both that they are healthier and, when they do need medical care, they get better results.

Yet spirituality is not merely about improved quality of life. It’s about “spirit.” While different systems define spirit differently, yoga has a clear definition:  your own spirit is your inherent Divinity. Finding your own essence is finding the One Divine Reality within, oh Shiva. Shaktipat makes it findable.

Personally I experienced the difference that Shaktipat makes. My first attempt at meditation was following the instructions in a yoga book. I sat with my spine upright and closed my eyes. I didn’t last even a minute. My racing mind repeated my to-do list many times, each time more urgently, until I bolted and began sprinting through my day.

Still, I really wanted to meditate. I didn’t understand what made it so important to me, but it was a recurrent inner impulse. I found a local group who offered a free meditation program every week. My first experience there gave me a profound and deep meditative immersion. Yes, it was one of my Baba’s meditation centers. His Grace propelled me deep within — deep and easy.

This is why the sages of India say you must have a Shaktipat Guru. While anyone can sit for meditation and repeat mantras, they reap many worldly benefits. But it is only with Divine Grace that your efforts bring true spiritual advancement.

Udyamo bhairava. — Shiva Sutras 1.5

The inner arising of transcendental Consciousness shatters your not-knowingness to set you free.

The inner arising is the meditative energy that climbs your spine, Kundalini. In this sutra, this energy is called Bhairava, naming Shiva in the act of destruction. Here, he is destroying your not-knowingness, the energetic binding that makes you feel small, inadequate, lost, alone and afraid. I had found that inner binding the first time I tried to meditate…

Read Full Article