By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Spirituality changes your body as well as your mind and heart. The changes blossom forth as your spiritual essence fills you from the inside.

The fast path to a mystical upgrade is Shaktipat initiation. What follows is, as I described last month, “…bliss, clarity, compassion and enthusiasm fill your mind and heart.” This is not merely a mood change. Your body changes.

A body that runs on anxiety is different than a body running on bliss. Your nervous system and hormones operate differently when you stand down from red alert. Your metabolism changes.

Research has proven that, when you are happy, your digestion and elimination work better. What do you suppose happens when you’re in bliss? Your lungs and heart, your immune system and even the composition of your blood are changed. Your biological age markers run in reverse.

My student Saul started yoga at age 80. He took Gentle Yoga twice weekly, our class level that is geared to elders and those recovering from illness or injury. While he enjoyed his classes, he did no yoga at home. After three months, he went in for a scheduled follow-up on his annual medical physical.

When he blew into the spirometer, they discovered that he had regained seven years of gradual loss of breathing capacity. Since he was a medical doctor, he would never have believed it possible. At his next yoga class, he told me, “I know it’s the yoga.”

Yet he did only five minutes of yogic breathing in each class. What if he had done the 20 minutes we recommend? More changes would ensue. Organically. What if he had gotten Shaktipat and started meditating? Wow, what possibilities!

Science has mapped your brain. You use certain parts of your brain more than the rest. For example, if you are in pain for some time, your brain grows more pain synapses. This means your brain specializes…