Author Archives: Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram

The Light of Consciousness

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By Rebecca (Jyoti) Yacobi

Interviewed by Lori (Priya) Kenney

Chanting is a powerful, effective way for me to prepare for meditation.  It draws me very deep, very quickly.  

And when I chant with Gurudevi, the sound reverberates progressively deeper and deeper.  Then, in meditation, what bliss!  My meditation is light-filled.  Like a magnet, it draws me even deeper.  Chanting and meditation with Gurudevi give me an experience of a spacious, expansive mind.  It almost feels like the space between my neurons is opened.

Gurudevi offered two Grace-infused Chanting and Meditation Retreats online in 2021.  I felt like a kid in a candy shop.  In April, the whole weekend was devoted to mantra.  I delved into the power of our mantra.  

Gurudevi talked about the mystical vibration of the mantra and how OM contains the whole universe.   We chanted and repeated mantra in many different ways.  We chanted it frontward and backwards. The power of the mantra was manifest by Gurudevi unfolding its mystical meaning. 

Then she led us through the experience of chanting it.  Carried by the vibration of the sound, I tracked back deeper and deeper within. I had an embodied experience of what Gurudevi described — mantra is one with Self, with the Guru, with Shiva.

This April retreat was so blissful and transformative that I signed up for the next one. I wanted more.  It was dedicated to the warrior Goddess Durga, the Goddess who protects us. Chanting her name with Gurudevi was extraordinary.  It wasn’t just chanting a Great Being’s name.  I felt the amplification that comes from Grace flowing through her name. 

I just love chanting and meditation together.

Chanting & Meditation Weekend

Never Underestimate the Power of the Tailbone

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Lissa (Yogyananda) Fountain, Yogaratna

Arthur came to see me after Gurudevi Nirmalananda recommended an Embodyment® Overlap Healing series.

He had been diagnosed with a condition called Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR), an inflammatory rheumatoid disease.

He was in constant pain. Gurudevi said that because medicine can cite no cause, at least 80% was tailbone tightening. He would really benefit from the daily release a five-session series provides.

Arthur, an otherwise dynamo of an octogenarian, was definitively not feeling like himself. We began by building a bond of trust. I asked him to share some of his life story, as he described his physical pain. For him, this facilitated an understanding of the body-mind connection.

We took it very slowly in the beginning, as is the protocol for a high-risk client. In the first session, even the slightest tailbone opening would flare up his shoulder pain. So I improvised with extra pillows and higher blankets for his head. We inched our way, step by step, and the unraveling began.

By the second session, Arthur was breathing easier, and letting his body relax more into the process. When he got up to stand, he felt two inches taller. His skin and eyes were brighter. There was more of a spring to his step as he walked out my door.

After our first five sessions, his wife was amazed! Arthur started feeling more like his energetic self. It only got better as the series progressed.

He already had a daily Shavasana and Ujjayi Pranayama practice. Now he could get up and down from the floor more easily. He was climbing stairs with greater ease. His sinuses were draining and even his sleep improved.

With his lower spine decompressing, his spirits lifted. He felt happier. It wasn’t long before the shoulder pillows were gone, and his head needed only one blanket. The best was, he could drop into Consciousness, no longer interrupted with painful flare-ups. Arthur’s healing continues. Never underestimate the power of the tailbone!

Svaroopa Yoga Therapy
Teacher Directory

Gurudevi’s CD: Honored Guru Gita

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By Joan Brager

I love the chant “Jaya Jaya Arati Nityananda,” track 7 on this CD. The first time I heard it at the Ashram, it sounded like a march for a noble cause.

I wanted to sing along. I found the refrain lively and simple enough for me to quickly catch on: “Jaya Jaya aaratee Nityananda.”

I knew we were singing about Nityananda. I had read and heard enough about him to know that he was a great spiritual being. I knew that “jaya jaya” meant “Hail hail.” But the sound of jaya jaya is better than that translation. You know you are heralding someone great when you sing it out.

So I boldly sang out the refrain.

I learned later, when I looked up the translation, that the refrain says ”Hail Hail, I offer lights to Nityananda.” That is a fitting tribute to someone who brought so much light to so many.

Hearing this chant in Gurudevi’s beautiful singing voice is a pleasure that I repeat often.

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My Favorite Marker Pose

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By Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast, Yogaratna

Every time I do Downward Facing Dog pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana), I savor the experience.

To prepare, I lengthen my arms out on the floor, and feel a soft knot unravel between my shoulder blades. It’s like a looped scarf simply smoothing out. Nearly effortlessly, I back into the pose.

I feel supported and protected by my leg bones. Miraculously stable, they take my body’s weight. My torso feels fluid and light. I feel enlivened and timeless. A pure, blissful awareness of being expands from within and envelopes me.

In my 30’s, I found I could do yoga, though I’d nearly flunked high school physical education. Down Dog has been a loyal friend. In Down Dog, I proudly sunk my heels into the floor while others had to lift theirs. True, the teacher suggested I seek a chiropractor for my visibly tight upper spine. But my heels landed! I was good (or so I thought)! For decades, I continued with yoga classes in different styles. Down Dog was always my favorite pose. I stayed in delusion.

Finding Svaroopa® yoga, I first felt the bliss of spinal opening and then learned the truth. Overstretched ligaments are a big problem. I could press my Down Dog feet into the floor and go into all kinds of pretzel poses. But this deceptive flexibility kept my spine tight.

Fortunately, I enrolled in Foundations. That “iceberg” hiding in the depths came to light. After YTT 1, I vowed to practice Svaroopa® yoga poses exclusively. No more Down Dog — not until YTT 3 a few years later.

Being trained to teach Downward Facing Dog as a Svaroopa® yoga pose was a breakthrough. I felt my spine and whole body come alive. It’s a lifetime Marker Pose for me. Down Dog shows me, in no uncertain terms, the miraculous power of Svaroopa® yoga’s spinal decompression.

I now do Down Dog with reverence. It reveals the sanctity of my human body and sends me into bliss.

Meditation Tips & Tricks

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Free Program with Gurudevi

A day without meditation would be like a day without eating — you can do it, but why?

Enjoy all the benefits you’ve heard about:  inner clarity, creativity, peace, healing and happiness. 

Learn directly from Gurudevi Nirmalananda in this FREE online program.

Wednesday February 7

1:30 – 3:00 pm (Eastern Time)

ONLINE

Your take-away is personal, empowering you to make a choice about when and how you meditate as well as why.  When all these factors line up, you wouldn’t want to miss a day! 

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Gurudevi’s Chanting & Meditation Weekend

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By Andrea (Arya) Perry

Interviewed by Lori (Priya) Kenney  

Feelings of uneasiness and self-consciousness arise when I sing.  I am hesitant and resistant to sing.  

Consequently, chanting is tapas (doing the hard stuff).  Cultivating the opposite and tapas helps me dissolve these self-limiting patterns and deepen into Self.  Also chanting is a good way to open your heart.  By opening your heart, you open and transform your mind.  For these reasons, I registered for Gurudevi’s online Chanting and Meditation Weekend two years ago.

It stems back to when I was a child.  I loved singing camp songs.  In sixth grade, I decided to try out for chorus.  The teacher’s “put-down” responses to my singing translated into feelings of rejection, inadequacies, unacceptance and isolation.  They squashed ME.

Being self-conscious of singing is an old pattern.  Because I now know I am Self, Consciousness-Itself, no matter what, this pattern no longer defines who I am.  It needs to be dissolved.  And it is progressively dissolving over time through Gurudevi’s yogic teachings, practices and Grace.

The theme of our Chanting and Meditation Weekend retreat was Durga.  I wasn’t familiar with her.  I learned that Durga embodies the strength and power that destroy obstacles and block knowingness.  She’s the protector of knowingness.  

We chanted “Kali Durge” over and over again.  We listened to stories about Durga, and we meditated.  The interweaving of chanting, storytelling and meditation gave rise to the qualities of Durga within me. 

By the end of the retreat, I was Durga.  I was the warrior Durga that overcomes and is victorious over all obstacles to unknowingness.

Chanting and Meditation Weekend

Living Mysticism Day-by-Day

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Take a peek inside. See how Gurudevi’s new Calendar Journal helps you with yogifying your day, every day.

January 18  

Svaroopa® yoga specializes in core opening, the decompression of your spine, both physically and energetically.

January 19

Each time you lift and open your spine, you stay a little more open and become more able to live in that openness.

January 20  

Svaroopa® Yoga’s practices turn life’s momentum from contraction to expansion.

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Miracles for My Dad

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By Evy (Kalyani) Zavolas

Interviewed by Agnes (Aikya) Hetherington

I began teaching Svaroopa® yoga in 2000 and begged my family to try my classes. For years their response was always,“No thanks.” 

Twelve years ago, my dad developed severe neck pain, probably from his work as a mechanic. It was so bad he had to close his business for a month. A doctor examined him and said, “Come back tomorrow for a shot of pain relief.”

I happened to drop by that evening and saw how much he was suffering. With no arguments, I put him into Slow Motion Dive, Stage 1. After a few minutes he came out saying, “Oh, the pain is gone, it must be a miracle!” An hour later he told my mom to “call the doctor and cancel that appointment!”

The neck pain never came back, but Dad continued to have lower grade pain. Three herniated discs left him unable to stand or walk for too long. He could “live with it” by sitting down every 10–15 minutes. A doctor told him he would eventually need surgery. 

A few months ago, it worsened after a long trip overseas. Again, I begged him to try yoga, but he had forgotten the miracle 12 years before. For 6 years, he had done physical therapy, had 15–20 epidurals, and ended up taking steroids. The side effects were terrible, especially the inability to sleep. He was waiting to see a surgeon with the results of an MRI.

Finally, in desperation he agreed to try a yoga class. He felt better immediately. The next day he told me “the pain is 90% gone,” and asked for another class. He still went to see the surgeon, who told Dad, “You don’t need surgery, just keep doing what you’re doing.” 

Now he comes to classes once or twice a month and has given up the steroids. Twelve years ago, he thought the miracle was a coincidence, but now he believes. This stuff works!

Svaroopa® Yoga Therapy
Teacher Directory

Inspired by Living Mysticism

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By Lynn (Gurupremananda) Cattaffi

The moment I opened Gurudevi’s new calendar journal, Living Mysticism, I was inspired.

Each quote for the day is a profound sutra, worthy of contemplation, and relevant to my practice. Each quote is placed to help me deepen my inner state day by day.

The journal aspect of the book is inspiring me to be more consistent with journaling. I want to fill every day with my meditation experiences. I don’t skip even a day of meditation. In the same way, I don’t want to miss even a day of memorializing my progress inward in this sweet journal.

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Unfold Your Personal Story

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By Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast, Yogaratna

This “calendar journal” comprises 366 curated sutras from Gurudevi’s teachings. That’s one for each day of the leap year.  

They have been gleaned from her 30 years of teaching articles.  Each day, you get a sacred reminder of who you are as a yogi. 

From Day One of 2024, you get encouragement to create a yogic life based in your Divine Essence.  Day by day, get guidance on how to let yoga propel you to Self-Realization.  

A sutra crowns the top of each four-by-seven blank page. Each invites you to plan your day and/or journal about it.  Within this book of succinct teachings, you are writing your own 2024 memoir.  

Unfold your personal story of being the Divine Essence that has created you.  Your book within this book will reflect your experience of the mystical truth of your life.  Simultaneously Divine and practical, you will see how you are a unique form of the eternal, infinite formless.

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