Author Archives: Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram

The Gift of Grace

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By Ellen (Lajja) Mitchell

Ashram Board President

Welcome to our year-end fundraiser — themed “The Gift of Grace.” 

I hope you will join me in yoga’s practice of dakshina (selfless financial giving). When you give back in gratitude for what you have received, you invoke Grace at the same time. 

Gurudevi Nirmalananda Saraswati, our Ashram’s spiritual head, explains that:

Grace is the fifth of God’s divine actions: creation, maintenance, destruction, concealment and revelation (grace).

Consciousness has contracted to become us by concealing our inherent Divinity.  This is our human condition.  Yet we are also given the decoder ring, known as Grace.  Receiving this gift, we can know our own Self. We can uncover the Divinity that has always been within, being us. 

Gurudevi is fueled by the light of Consciousness and she wants us to be as well. She tells us that you can receive Grace through teachings, satsangs, asana, meditation and more!  Grace is always there for us. What a gift.

I remember a time in my life when I was going through the loss of a friendship.  I was hurt deeply.  I worked during the day and chanted or repeated japa all evening.  

The Grace was there with me from the first note or mantra repetition.  It carried me through my tough time. Invoking Grace did not make the problem go away.  It helped me to accept it. It helped me to surrender to what was. What a gift.

Daily, I use the practices to invoke Grace to help clear the path to my own Self.  Gurudevi says, 

You need the Grace-fueled upliftment that shows you the scintillating energy of which you are made.

I am so grateful to have found Gurudevi and to have these tools available to me. I am grateful for her patience in showing me how to tap into Grace. I am grateful for receiving the experience of my Self. Yes — what a gift. So many gifts!

Has Gurudevi shown you how to invoke Grace? Have you had an experience of peace inside? Do you walk differently through life because of it?  Have you felt the upliftment of your own divine essence? 

Because I can gratefully answer “yes,” I donate to Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram. Through our donations, our Ashram can continue to help us uncover our light and shine it into the world.  What a gift! 

Please join me today in making your year-end donation to our Ashram in gratitude for the gifts you have received.

Donate online or call us at (610) 644-7555.  Or send your check to Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram, 116 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown PA 19335.  Thank you again and again!

Donate Today

Support Equals Release

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By Swami Samvidaananda

In almost every yoga class, I say, “Support equals release.” It is a key principle of Svaroopa® yoga. 

The support you receive in class takes many forms. The plaid blankets are the most obvious, and colorful!

We fold and roll and stack and tuck blankets in wherever you need them most.  We give you blocks, a strap, or a chair. Your teacher excels at knowing how and when and why to provide you with a prop. 

The props meet your body where tension is holding it back. When you lean into that support, your deep internal tensions let go. Support = release.

You’ve been carrying those tensions for so long.  Sometimes you are so used to holding them, you don’t even know you have them. Then you do a supported spinal-opening pose, and the tensions let go. It feels so freeing!

In my very first Svaroopa® yoga class, I didn’t understand the purpose of the props. I had done other styles of yoga, where your only prop was a sticky mat. I didn’t think I needed any.  Begrudgingly, I let the teacher give me one blanket roll for Shavasana, yoga’s relaxation pose.

The more poses we did, the more I warmed up to using the props — blocks under my hands in Lunge, blankets under my belly in Half Frog.  I was open to using them because I felt better and better. 

By the end, I felt so amazing that I was on board with whatever props the teacher wanted to give me! I hadn’t actually ever felt that way at the end of a yoga class. It wasn’t just relaxation.  It was bliss.

With Svaroopa® yoga’s core-opening poses, you can experience not merely relaxation, well-being and renewal, but bliss. It’s the bliss of your own Beingness, which yoga calls your own Self.

Your spine is a doorway to the inner depths of your Beingness. When you release the deep tensions in your spine with these precise, supported and deceptively simple poses, you open that doorway inside.  And the experience of your own Self is inherently blissful.

I taught Seated Side Stretch the other day. After one side of the pose, I asked the students to describe the differences between their two sides. One student had a look of utter surprise and joy on her face. All she could say was, “Wow!” Though she didn’t have the words for it yet, she was experiencing her own Self. 

This is the gift of Svaroopa® yoga. And it begins for you by accepting the support of those ubiquitous plaid blankets.

Yoga Therapy

Living Mysticism 2026 Calendar Journal

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In honor of her Golden Jubilee, the 2026 collection includes quotes spanning the decades of Gurudevi’s writings.

Each quote is crafted to present profound teachings in concise modern day sutra form, providing inspiration and spiritual blessings for every day of the year. 

When you weave these teachings and practices through your life, your meaning and purpose are easily fulfilled. Your eyes shine with light and your heart overflows, giving you clarity, understanding and generosity. What a way to live!

Pre-orders for the Living Mysticism 2026 Calendar Journal are now available through the Ashram! The journals will be released in the coming weeks.

Pre-Order Now

Spiritual Development

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Eventually, your most valued pleasures become stale. And you realize that you want something the world cannot offer. Your focus turns to spiritual development. This is called sannyasa. It means you’re cultivating freedom from desire, freedom from need, greed and fear. As my Baba described, instead of living in contraction, the other possibility…

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “What Is an Ashram“

Watch Full Discourse Here

Gurudevi’s Birthday

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November 15th is Gurudevi’s birthday. We will formally celebrate her in her Swami Sunday meditation program on November 16th.

This is the last birthday in her 8th decade; her upcoming year takes her into the 9th. Thus, she begins her 80th trip around the sun.

This day also inaugurates her Golden Jubilee, as it marks her 50 years of teaching!

What does this unfolding of time mean to her? She says,

Yoga’s promise is that it just keeps getting better . . . Even before dedicating myself to yoga, I figured out that each new decade was like getting a job promotion. More responsibility, more autonomy, more freedom, more impact, more expertise to draw on, more appreciation for the others in my life, more, more, more . . .

What does this mean to those of us who treasure the gift of her presence and her profound teachings?  When you attend this Swami Sunday, you will learn more about it in Gurudevi’s discourse.  You’ll learn how this milestone birthday pertains to your spiritual advancement, which is the focus of all her teachings.

Let us gratefully celebrate the anniversary of Gurudevi Swami Nirmalananda’s birth. Let’s celebrate our great good fortune in receiving her profound, ancient teachings and practices of yoga.  As she translates them to pertain to everyday life, she makes them accessible and easy to understand.  We are supported beyond measure in walking this spiritual path.

Living close enough to the Ashram to attend On-Site, your pre-registration allows preparations to accommodate everyone. If you don’t live within driving distance, you can register for Swami Sunday Online.  If you have a Shishya Membership, you are invited to register for the Shishya Gurudevi Connection.

Swami Sunday
Gurudevi Connection

From Healing to Teaching

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Rosemary (Rudrani) Nogue, Yogaratna

I celebrate two yoga students who healed debilitating mental / emotional obstacles through Svaroopa® practices.

Today, they are Svaroopa® yoga teachers. As their Svaroopa® yoga teacher, I served as a conduit to the flow of Grace. They did their part by doing the practices.

About 22 years ago, Laurie (Kevalaa) Hislop, a neighbor, joined her first yoga class. She was experiencing anxiety, fear, inner turmoil, sleeplessness, a sense of fragility and exhaustion. She describes, “I felt like I wasn’t enough.”

Kevalaa was busy with three children, yet she came to my classes consistently. The yoga teachings gave her a sense of peace, so she copied Gurudevi’s classroom quotes down. On sleepless nights, Kevalaa read the Teaching Articles that were the source of the quotes. 

In time, to support her healing process, she started an afternoon home yoga practice.  It included Shavasana and Ujjayi Pranayama. Her healing journey took time and patience. She learned to not push in yoga poses or in her life.         

Heather, another neighbor, started yoga classes 18 years ago. She was an overwhelmed, anxious, somewhat depressed, tight-bodied mother of two small children. Panic attacks were part of her life. 

Heather knew this was the style of yoga for her. In class, she drew stick figures of poses so she could practice at home. Realizing she hadn’t taken a full breath in years, she added Ujjayi to her routine. These practices lessened her anxiety and stress.

After classes, Heather consistently helped me pack up (and she still does). While cleaning up, we talked about yoga and how it applies to life. She told me, “I can’t get enough of these conversations.” 

She read all the Teaching Articles and listened to Gurudevi’s recordings of them. The more Heather tapped into her own Self, the happier she and her husband became.

Once Kevalaa and Heather were well, both “yoga sisters” dove into Foundations and the many YTT courses beyond. They also tapped into mantra, meditation and Shaktipat. Now they are inspiring Svaroopa® yoga teachers committed to this Grace filled path.

As Svaroopa® yoga healed them, it changed the trajectory of their lives. Guru’s Grace is the wind beneath their wings. They both love teaching and express immense gratitude for their yoga miracles.

Ashram Yoga Classes
Global Calendar

Gurudevi’s “Na Shivam” Album

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By Joan (Jayadevi) Brager

For months, I’ve been listening to Gurudevi Nirmalananda’s recording of “Na Shivam.”

She sings this 26-minute-long, beautiful, spirited chant with a group. I find it to be simple and easy to follow:

Nashivam vidyate kvachit

There is nothing that is not Shiva!

Its lively beat inspires me to be consistent with my physical therapy exercises. Recovering from recent surgery, I have not been able to do yoga poses. I wanted my exercise to be a spiritual experience the same way that yoga poses can be.

I searched Gurudevi’s albums for music to help me to both move well and connect to Grace. When I discovered Gurudevi’s “Na Shivam” album, I knew its wonderful beat would keep me moving and dancing as well.

I especially like the chorus: Shiva Shiva Shiva Shiva Shiva! Sung enthusiastically by Gurudevi and repeated by the group, it is the heart of the chant. It inspires me every time I hear it.

Worth repeating is this chant’s essential message:

There is nowhere there is not Shiva.

Everything that I see is he!

Everything that I see is me!

Singing these words reminds me of the reality that Shiva is within me, being me. When I go into the world with this knowledge, I touch bliss within, repeatedly.

Available on Apple Music
Available on Amazon Music

Yogic Pathway to Healing

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By Swami Shrutananda

After her first class, a new Svaroopa® yoga student shared, 

I feel a wholeness now. Why am I going to a chiropractor and a therapeutic massage therapist? This yoga is a pathway to healing.

She signed up for another yoga session. She had come to see if yoga would help with pain in her knees and a frozen shoulder. It worked immediately. Her knees felt better. And she had more shoulder movement.  

Practitioners of other therapies can be excellent at their profession. Yet you may find you feel better for only a short time. Then your pain returns. Soon, you are seeing your therapist again. Being stuck in this repetitive cycle is painful physically, mentally and emotionally.

Finding a Svaroopa® yoga teacher is the key to ending this cycle. You learn poses that heal.  You are inspired to come to classes. You are empowered to practice what you have learned at home. This will save you from a life of constant pain. 

How does this work?  Instead of treating symptoms, Svaroopa® treats the underlying cause. You can’t heal your shoulder by working on your shoulder.  You can’t heal your knee by working on your knee. Painful areas are in poor condition because of spinal tension. It’s like these areas of your body are dying on the vine.

Svaroopa® teachers are experts at releasing spinal tension. In a Svaroopa® class or individual session, we sequence poses in a way that releases your spinal tension from tail-to-top. Your whole spine decompresses.  

Spinal decompression improves your whole body.  As soon as you release your spine, increased circulation, enervation and life energy flow into your body’s painful areas. You feel better immediately.

You need a yoga teacher to teach you how to release your spine.  Trying to learn poses from a video, or even on Zoom, is only marginally effective. You get the most by having a yoga teacher physically in the room with you. 

Svaroopa® teachers are highly trained to meet your body where it is at. The teacher tailors the poses to your needs through customized props, alignments and adjustments.  This personal attention propels your healing. 

How can you cooperate with your own healing process? Come to a class once a week to release the tensions you layered in from a week of life.  Coming twice a week enables you to get ahead of life’s stress on your body.  You don’t merely add to your benefits — your healing is exponentially deepened. Then with home practice you are on your way to feeling better and better.

You can’t attain such a change on your own. The best teachers inspire and motivate you to come to class. They teach, inspire and empower you to stay consistent with home practice. They give you something you will have your whole life. Do yoga. Do more yoga. Come to class. Come to more classes. Sign up today. 

Ashram Yoga Classes
Global Yoga Calendar