Author Archives: Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram

Our Not-So-Secret Ingredient

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By Swami Satrupananda

With great joy and clarity, I exclaimed, “Svaroopa® Yoga can heal the world!”

I was introducing myself at the beginning of the Embodyment® PLUS training. My enthusiasm and confidence surprised me a bit. But I know this to be true.  Svaroopa® Yoga has limitless healing power.

Grace is the “not-so-secret ingredient” that makes Svaroopa® Yoga so magical. Grace is God’s power of revelation. Grace opens us up to experience our own Divine Essence. And the experience of our own Divine Essence can heal anything and everything. That’s how the accessible poses of this yoga can be so powerful. 

Yes, the angles target your spine. Yes, the propping supports you allowing muscular tension to soften. And Grace superpowers the whole process. Limitless healing ensues. It’s always amazing but never surprising. It’s reliable.

In my introduction, I followed up my bold statement with a comment: “If they let us heal them.”

Yes, it is up to you. You are in charge. How much will you allow Svaroopa® Yoga to transform your body, mind and heart? How much can you melt into Grace?

If you want more healing, take a yoga class with our teachers. Beneath the umbrella of the Ashram, Gurudevi’s Grace flows more strongly. Through Ashram yoga classes, Online as well as On-Site, you’ll get more of the not-so-secret ingredient, Grace. 

If you want even more change, take a private yoga therapy session. One of our Swamis will personally assist you. More Grace. More Healing.

Svaroopa® Yoga can heal you. How much will you allow? Take the next simple step with a yoga class or yoga therapy session. 

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Gratitude for Spiritual Transformation

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By Ruth (Rama) Brooke, Yogaratna

Spiritual transformation is called unmilana in Sanskrit — your inner opening, your blossoming forth.
I have experienced the opening, expanding and unfolding through Gurudevi’s teachings and practices. This has likely been your experience as well.

Today, I ask you to join me in the practice of dakshina, financial giving in gratitude to the Ashram. Please give generously to our fundraiser, aptly titled “Unmilana — Blossoming Forth.”

Several years ago, in a personal meeting with Gurudevi, she said:

You are a bud blossoming forth from muddy earth into sunlight. Try to stop it! You can’t!

These words have resonated with me ever since. They speak to the power of the shakti (spiritual energy) flowing through her. As I look back, I see how that energy has blossomed within me. The emotional walls I spent most of my life constructing have tumbled (mostly).

I don’t need that protection to feel safe. I have a greater knowing of who I am. I am able to express my-Self with more clarity and less discomfort.

Another profound teaching stays with me as well:

Svecchaya svabhittau vishvam unmilayati.

By free will alone, Consciousness blossoms forth the universe on the screen of her own existence.
— Pratyabhijnah.rdayam, verse 2

Gurudevi explains that everyone and everything in the universe blossomed forth as a form of Consciousness-herself. She also personalizes the teaching, like she did for me that day in our meeting. You are one such form of Consciousness. You are blossoming forth. You are becoming more you.

Yoga guarantees this transformation. How will you choose to blossom forth and shine your light into the world?

Gurudevi and our swamis model this so beautifully for us. The light of Consciousness shines through their eyes, their teaching and all that they give. Please join me in giving back in gratitude. Donate generously to our Unmilana — Blossoming Forth fundraiser.

Donate online or call us at (610) 644-7555. Or send your check to Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram, PO Box 143, Downingtown PA 19335. You may also email us at donate@svaroopayoga.org.

Thank you again and again!

Donate Today

Growing & Blossoming

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By Lynn (Gurupremananda) Cattafi

My redbud tree is a joyous mass of bright pink blossoms. Its spring blooms are so bright that they are visible at night, lighting up the dark.

In the same way, you bloom extravagantly, nurtured by your Svaroopa® yoga practices! Join me today in offering your financial support to Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram’s “Unmilana — Blossoming Forth” fundraiser.

The Sanskrit word for blossoming forth, unmilana, signifies the act of opening, expanding or unfolding. In the Svaroopa® yoga tradition of Kashmiri Shaivism, unmilana is associated with spiritual transformation. Gurudevi describes unmilana this way:

Like a plant blossoms forth flowers, you are built to blossom forth a unique form of Consciousness into the world. The impulse to do this arises in you over and over again. It is the purpose of your life.

Feeling a deep renewal inside, my mind, body and heart are opening in new ways. I am blossoming forth joyously. It’s not the springtime here that is making me blossom forth. It’s my Svaroopa® yoga practices. Most importantly, my spiritual transformation is due to having a Master Teacher like Gurudevi.

Gurudevi is a master gardener, expertly tending to her garden of blossoming yogis, including you! Her teachings nourish your roots. Her programs are designed to cultivate your continued growth. She helps you deadhead the stuff that’s old and finished. She supports you in sweeping the debris from your path.

She showers all of us with Grace. By the inner arising light of Consciousness, we blossom forth, shining our light into the world.

Wherever you are in your own spiritual growth process, Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram has pathways to support you. Gurudevi and our swamis meet you exactly where you are. They show you how to bloom. How fortunate we are to have such a Guru as Gurudevi Nirmalananda guiding our spiritual growth.

She can’t do it without your financial support of our Ashram, through which her teachings flow. Please give generously. You are supporting your own growth as well as the worldwide garden of seekers.

Donate online or call us at (610) 644-7555.  Or send your check to Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram, PO Box 143, Downingtown PA 19335.  Thank you again and again! 

Donate Today

My Yoga Miracle

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By Lori (Priya) Kenney

As a longtime Embodyment® Yoga Therapist, I took the Embodyment® PLUS course recently. 

During the course, I became acutely aware of what was happening in my body. I accepted the emotions. I let go of wanting a certain outcome and surrendered to the process. The results were magnificent, beyond my imaginings. This training gave me a yoga miracle!

I took the course for two reasons. First, I wanted more tools to help clients who are dealing with knotty issues. And I knew the training would bring me much-needed personal change.  

We learned powerful therapeutic Embodyment® techniques to use on clients while in poses. I was not disappointed by what I can now offer clients. 

I was also amazed by a training taking me so deep. My whole body and mind changed. I had no shortage of knots in both. 

Some of the unraveling was challenging and uncomfortable. On the third day, my whole body hurt to the bone. I felt weepy and overwhelmed. Knowing this was a good sign, I embraced it. The roto-rootering and openings took me beyond what I’ve ever known. 

Time got stretchy. It wasn’t even lunchtime, yet I felt like I’d experienced several days.  

Gurudevi giving us an experiential anatomy lesson was a highlight. She got down on the floor with us! She gave us the experience of knotting and un-knotting. 

Earlier, we had learned a brand-new pose. She created it to release a hard-to-reach knot, tight muscles at the top of your tailbone and the bottom of your sacrum. This pose works wonders!

Then my yoga miracle happened. In another awesome session, I felt my tailbone and sacrum flying free. It was more than release. It was liberation from bondage that I was only aware of after it was gone. 

I experienced total freedom, beyond bliss. The crazy thing was that it felt natural to be free. 

Crazier still is how “normal” the bondage had been. My clamped down sacrum and tailbone were so familiar, just part of me. Giving up that bondage gave me the experience of formlessness, while in my body.

At the same time, I felt more anchored within. What lies within me is so much greater than my physical form and identities. Svaroopa® Yoga is so effective at dissolving cramped, heavy places inside and outside. 

I’m so grateful to have new tools to share. I have increased confidence about helping others. I have the experiential knowing that gnarly knots can dissolve.

YogaBody Classroom Therapeutics
Therapeutic Yoga Training – A

The Self’s Unceasing Generosity

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By Beth (Bhanumati) Cunningham

Please join me in offering financial support to our Ashram during this season’s fundraiser, titled “Unmilana — Blossoming Forth.”

The Sanskrit word unmilana names the act of opening, expanding or unfolding. It’s commonly used to describe the blooming of a flower or the opening of eyes.

It reminds me of my aunt, who possesses a great generosity. I believe she gets it from her “blossoming sessions.” With cup a of tea, my aunt watches flowers bloom on her front deck.

Afterwards, her face is softer, her eyes wider and brighter, her voice rich and open. She blossoms forth with her flowers. Then she goes into the world and gives whatever she can, wherever she can. It is her joy.

This is unmilana — the blossoming forth. Consciousness blossoms forth with unceasing generosity in you, as you. Generosity is your very nature. The Self gives. It only gives. When you give, you are more you.

To give is your very nature. In giving to the Ashram this season, you are giving back to your own Self. You support the teachings and the Teacher who has given you your Self.

Gurudevi is the perfect model of unmilana and its generosity. As a Shaktipat Master, she pours herself tirelessly into supporting our progress toward enlightenment. She bathes us in the light of the Self, like the sun bathes the rose. She saturates us with Grace, like the rain soaks the garden. Her teachings nourish us like the rich earth.

Our blossoming sessions come in meditation, using the mantra she has given us. Instead of watching flowers, we watch our very own Self bloom inside. We blossom forth, inwardly to our Self and outwardly into the world. Our very nature comes to bloom, and we cannot help but give.

Supporting the Ashram financially is its own special kind of blossoming. It is incredibly powerful because it is so palpable. It supports the blossoming forth in others. So, I invite you to give to this season’s fundraiser and watch your gift bloom.

Donate online or call us at (610) 644-7555. Or send your check to Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram, PO Box 143, Downingtown PA 19335. Thank you again and again!

Donate Today

Cultivating & Sharing Spiritual Growth

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By TC (Tattvananda) Richards

Please join me in donating to our Svaroopa Vidya Ashram during this season’s fundraiser, themed “Unmilana.”

Our theme is a Sanskrit word which means blossoming forth, expressing the yogic quality of spiritual transformation.

You may have experienced transformation in a yoga pose, even in your first Svaroopa® yoga class.  The more you do, the more you blossom forth.

Svaroopa® Yoga has shifted me in so many ways. Most importantly, this yoga has given me the experiential knowing of my own Divine Essence. Every practice offers me this knowing. My own Divine Essence continues to blossom forth more fully as I continue my classes and practices.

As I expand and unfold, I experience the bliss of Beingness. Being in this place of Knowingness and peace also affects others. I feel that I can offer light into the world.

Recently, another hair stylist joined my salon.  She is also a yogi, practicing another style of yoga. As I work with my clients and talk about my yoga experiences, she peeks around the corner from her station to listen. She calls my words “teachings.”

Yet I am merely describing what I have experienced. Or I may be repeating what I have heard from Gurudevi Nirmalananda, my Guru. I can see through my coworker’s eyes and ears how I have grown spiritually. I know that I continue to blossom forth. I see how I offer this out to the world.

This is not unique to me. Your practice of Svaroopa® Yoga makes you blossom forth as well. You shine your light more brightly. This spreads outward to those closest to you and then beyond.

When you share your light with others, you make a difference. And when you share your heart and wallet with the Ashram, your light makes a difference in the whole world, far and wide.  The choices you make today shift the world in quiet and powerful ways.

Donate online or call us at (610) 644-7555.  Or send your check to Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram, PO Box 143, Downingtown PA 19335.  Thank you again and again!

Donate Today

Welcome to Our Fundraiser!

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By Ellen (Lajja) Mitchell

Ashram Board President

It is my pleasure to introduce our current 2026 fundraiser – “Unmilana” – blossoming forth.

Please join me in the yogic practice of dakshina, selfless financial giving. When you support our Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram, you give to the one that helps you to discover your own Self.

The Sanskrit word unmilana means blossoming forth, like a flower blooming or the opening of your eyes. The spiritual meaning is discovering your own light and bringing it forth into the world.

After meditation, Gurudevi tells us to “slowly open your eyes.” She says it is in the opening of our eyes that we can see our inner depth.

Sometimes my meditation is filled with what I call “mind stories” or my body is aching. My mind tells me that it was not a good meditation. Yet, when I open my eyes and check in, I feel peace and contentment within. Sometimes it’s pure joy or a feeling of being grounded.

My meditation has cleared something out of the way. I am now different. I am lighter. I am more me. When I get up from my meditation seat, I am taking the lighter and more peaceful me into the world.

Gurudevi tells us, “Your own blossoming forth is assured, just like daffodils that will bloom in the spring, but you don’t know when the spring will come. The teachings give you ways to push it along.”

She gives us the tools to help us bloom by making the teachings and practices easily available. A few examples are her books, monthly Teaching Articles, programs (including free meditation intros and Q&As), weekly satsangs and Shaktipat Retreats.

The world outside may be chaotic, but Gurudevi says, “Like a star at night, you can bring the light of your own being into the world, which makes a difference for everyone.”

If you have benefited from any of the tools or practices available to us through the Ashram, please join me in donating. Help SVA to continue helping you and others to blossom forth and shine in this world.

Donate online or call us at (610) 644-7555. Or send your check to Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram, PO Box 143, Downingtown PA 19335. Thank you again and again!

Donate Today

Who Will Motivate You?

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By Swami Shrutananda Saraswati

If you are in pain (physical, mental or emotional), you may need tangible and personal support. Like a person with a broken leg, you need crutches.

I have been trained to provide this support. And I love to do so! I check in with you, “Are you doing your 20 minutes of Ujjayi twice a day — every day?”

Often, when I pose this question to students, the answer is “no.” I am surprised by how many students, and even teachers, have amnesia over this protocol. With any kind of pain, you must add this second time period to your day.

Ujjayi spreads prana — life force — through your whole body. Where you hurt is where your healing energy, prana, is low. When your body and mind are full of prana, your pain will be gone. So, I help you figure out where to fit a second 20 minutes of Ujjayi into your day.

I also encourage you to take not merely one yoga class a week, but two. I know you can do more yoga at home. However, will you? More importantly, who will fine tune your propping, check your alignments, and give you an adjustment for deeper openings? Who will see what it is that you need? Only a yoga teacher.

You can’t see what you don’t see. A teacher can see where you are stuck. The benefits of taking two yoga classes a week, or more, is not merely cumulative. The benefits are exponential.

Two 20-minute Ujjayi Pranayama practices daily plus at least a second weekly yoga class really work for you. I have seen it so many times, simply doing Ujjayi twice a day and increasing their weekly classes, they heal quicker.

Recently, a student came in with pain in her neck, level 8 out of 10 possible. She increased her Ujjayi practice to 20 minutes twice a day. And she came to class twice a week for three weeks. The predictable miracle happened. The pain level in her neck is now gone. Doing more yoga really works!

Even better, your teacher will motivate you to do poses you don’t want to do. But, for your body and mind to be healthy and vibrant, these are the poses you need.

A teacher will motivate you to do abdominal poses as well as poses that strengthen your legs and your arms. These poses will keep your spine open between classes.

At home, typically, students only do the poses they like and can do easily. They don’t realize that they never get into their stuck areas. At some point, those areas will make you eligible for a formal diagnosis by your doctor, if it hasn’t happened already.

Who will motivate you? A teacher who has been through the same process. Teachers teach from their own experience. They are kind, motivational and in your face when needed. A teacher cares about you. This is why we teach.

I challenge you to double up during this season. Start with doing 20 minutes of Ujjayi twice a day and take an extra yoga class each week, for one month. Tell your teacher your plan. She will motivate you to follow through.

You will be amazed at how you will feel by month’s end. Gurudevi says, “Vibrant health, vitality and enthusiasm follow, like when you were a child.” [March 2026 Teachings Article You Have a Body]

Take care of your body. You only get one body in this lifetime.

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Spiritual Breakthrough

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Online or On-Site

Discover a whole new dimension to your own being and learn tools that help you bring that into your life. 

The profound inward path of Svaroopa® Vidya Meditation begins with Shaktipat.

Receiving this initiation from Gurudevi opens inner access to the powerful flow of meditative energy within you. 

Her teachings support you in understanding the goal — knowing your own Self. And you learn how to manage the enlightenment process along the way.

Learn the differences between Online and On-Site here.

I felt an enormous rush of heat moving up from the base of my spine.  Then a vision of pure white light also rushed up my spine. I melted into a supreme state of bliss. — Elena P.

My experience was sublime.  When Gurudevi touched my forehead, I was infused with mantra.  I felt this go from between my eyebrows and land with a slight jolt just below my navel. I have experienced subtle changes ever since. I approach my practices with a deeper sense of reverence and calm, which I can carry through the day now. I am more open and accepting. — Ellan C.

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