By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

I teach therapeutics because so many people need healing, perhaps even you.  I teach teachers how to offer therapeutics because together we can heal more people than I could alone.  I also benefit from practicing these techniques myself, which are both simple and amazing.  

In a sense, all yoga is therapeutic, meaning it heals what ails you.  It’s obvious that body and mind need help, certainly for anyone with a few decades on their odometer.  You can pump iron, even move your body through extreme sports and extreme life experiences, but it is going to hurt at some point along the way.  Now what do you do?  

Pain killers don’t kill the pain.  They numb your ability to feel it.  That means you have the pain but now you’re numb.  You’re numbed out, not only physically, but you also cannot feel joy or love.  Worse, you haven’t identified the cause of your pain, which means it will get worse.  Yoga says you must find and treat the cause of the pain, which is a multi-dimensional process.

This is consistent with the “bio-psycho-social” approach formally adopted by the World Health Organization in 2002.  In addition to your biology, psychology and social health, yoga adds another dimension:  your spirituality.  Pain specialists have proven that those with deep spiritual or religious perspectives actually experience less pain.  The sage Patanjali explained this several thousand years ago:

dra.s.t.r-d.r”syayo.h sa.myogo heya-hetu.h — Yoga Sutras 2.17

Pain is caused by your sense of self depending on things outside of you.

You know this from your own experience, perhaps, of a pet’s death.  Your loss affects your quality of life and even your sleep and digestion.  The difficulties cease when you get a new pet, or when you move on from your thoughts about your old pet.  Bigger losses can trigger anxiety and depression, leading to a diminished immune response as well as other physical problems.  Now the dominoes begin to fall.  

Yoga intervenes at the point of the teetering domino.  In a therapeutics class or private session, we meet you where you are at, focusing on reducing your pain or stress.  Svaroopa^® Yoga works!  Your immediate improvement makes it look like we’re relieving your symptoms, but we are always targeting the cause.

When you are healing from an injury, illness or life event, we’re still focused on your deeper healing, for there are always multiple dimensions at play.  The techniques we use activate your own healing power, which works on you from the inside out.

Our ways of working with your breath and body, more importantly, open up profound spiritual dimensions within you.  These experiences are life-affirming as well as life-changing, which is yoga’s true purpose — that you shine the light of your own essence into the world more fully. 

I love to teach therapeutics.  While you get healing, you are simultaneously deepened into your own Self.  It’s an outside-in and an inside-out process, both at the same time.  Our therapeutics programs in 2022 include:

For personal healing:  Therapeutic Yoga Series, private yoga therapy sessions

Teacher Training:  Teaching Online Therapeutics, Intro to Gentle Yoga

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Bliss is not the goal.  Consciousness is.  This can be confusing because most seekers are looking for bliss.  But Consciousness is what matters.  Still, bliss is incredibly important.  Why?  The need for bliss is built into you. 

Your body is hard-wired for bliss; it’s called your parasympathetic nervous system.  Your body has bliss software; it’s called your endocrine system.  Your mind and heart run on bliss.  Without bliss, your heart dries up and your mind leapfrogs from anxiety to anxiety.  It is not a pretty picture.

When you get even a drop of bliss, you spontaneously exhale with a sweet sigh, “Aaahh.”  All your biological systems stand down from red alert and you become human again.  Being human means you have the capacity to shine God’s light and love into the world.  You have this capacity because the source is within, what yoga calls “your own Self.”

The bad news is that, without bliss, people decide that life is not worth living.  The good news is that bliss is easily attained.  Though lasting bliss takes preparation and practice, instant bliss is instant.  That’s why my generation, coming of age in the 1960s, was focused on sex, drugs and rock and roll.  Now, I can see that we settled for too little. 

Bliss can be a continuing inner experience.  It should be!  That’s yoga in a nutshell.  Yet bliss is not the goal.  Consciousness is.  But what is Consciousness?  For that matter, what is bliss?

Consciousness is your knowing that you know.  You don’t merely know things.  A dog or cat knows things, but you know that you know.  This is called Consciousness, technically the “self-reflective power” that humans have, unique amongst all other creatures.  You are able to see that you see.  You even think that you think.  There are multiple dimensions within you, awaiting your exploration.  The deeper you go, the more blissful it becomes.

This brings us back to bliss.  What is bliss?  Bliss is the sensation you experience when you rub up against God.  In yoga, you find God within.  So bliss is the sensation you experience when your personhood is being filled by God’s light and love from the inside-out.

People usually associate bliss with half-lit rooms and half-conscious states.  Most of the world accepts being drunk, drugged or half-asleep as a substitute for God.  For a yogi, it’s not enough. Unconscious bliss is unconscious.  Personally, I always wanted more.  I want you to want more.

This is an excerpt from Gurudevi’s Teachings Article for March 2022. Click here to read the rest of it.

By Madelyn (Maanasaa) Jablon

I always leave Swami Sunday wearing “Satsang Armor”: transformed, protected and blessed.  This armor is described in a book I purchased from the Ashram shop: the Devi Mahatmyam: Glory of the Divine Mother.(1)  This ancient text tells a dramatic tale of the Divine Mother battling asuras (demons).  I knew I could interpret this text as an allegory.  But I was surprised by how it reverberated on more subtle levels.

Like a flashlight, it showed me where to turn my attention to see the Guru-Disciple relationship in action.  I discovered what was there all along but had escaped my notice.  It first happened when I read about the eighty-six goddesses who armor and protect the disciple:

Aindri may protect me on the east and fire-god in the southeast.  Varahi may protect me on the south, the Goddess holding sword may protect me on the southwest; Varuni (the power of god Varuna) may save me on the west and the Goddess seated on the lion may protect the northwest.  Kauberi may safeguard on the north and the Goddess with the pike in hand on the northeast.   — Devi Kavacham 19–20

The chant describes the armor as taking the form of many Goddesses.  However, the many are also the One, embodied in the Guru.  Gurudevi is a manifestation of the Divine Mother, and satsang is the transmission of Her Grace.  After satsang, I am armored on all sides, encased in divine protection.  On my drive home, I may encounter bad weather, inconsiderate drivers and closed roads.  But nothing penetrates the armor of my serenity.

Swami Sunday also armors me for the week ahead.  Paradoxically the armor is a divine disarmoring.  Gurudevi’s chant, discourse and meditation have disarmed my “self” of its ego-driven behaviors.  The peacock feathers she waves at darshan knight me with the armor of my own Self.  From within, this armor protects me from the enemies who would steal my equanimity.  As the week progresses, my armor weakens.  I use the practices to slow its deterioration.  But only satsang with Gurudevi can restore its full strength and luster.

My Satsang Armor shields me in all directions on the outside and transforms me inside.  The mystical process penetrates the many layers of my being.  The Devi Mahatmyam describes this as the Goddesses “protecting” and “safe-guarding” every part of the devotee: 

Dyotini (that force which illumines and uplifts) may protect the tip of my head while Uma may manage the upper head.  Maladhari may safe-guard the forehead and Yashavini may protect the brows, Citranetra both eyes; Yamaghanta both sides and the three-eyed Candika protects between the eyebrows.  — Devi Kavacham 23–24

The protection of the Goddesses is the protection of Gurudevi.  Part of that protection is the disciple’s transformation.  Dyotini doesn’t just protect the head from impact: she illumes and uplifts.  Similarly, the Guru’s protection extends outside and inside, also illumining and uplifting.  It can be invoked through a photograph on the puja, through meditation or prayer, or thinking of the Guru, a Divine Being.  Doing so transforms my state.  This is one of the extraordinary “quick fixes” described by Gurudevi in her 2019 Teachings series.  Giving my troubles to God, Guru and Self is also powerfully transformative.  The Guru instructs us in these practices to propel our inner transformation.

The short-term results of attending Satsang or wearing Satsang Armor are prosperity, health and well-being.  The long-term results are described this way:

At his [the devotee’s] demise, he will attain the highest state permanently by the grace of the supreme Goddess… Then the person goes to the Sivaloka.  He is not born again. He will acquire the supreme place and will rejoice with Lord Shiva.  — Devi Kavacham 60–61

Satsang armor is potent.  It fights against bad karma and marches toward infinity.  Attend Swami Sunday.  Get armored!

(1) All references and quotations taken from Svami Jagadisvarananda (tr.). Devi Mahatmyam, (Mylapore Chennai-4, Sri Ramakrishna Math Publishers, 2001)

By Lynn (Gurupremananda) Cattafi-Heinlein

As my Svaroopa^® Yoga and Meditation practices deepened, I felt pulled toward Meditation Teacher Training (MTT).  MTT expanded and honed my communication skills.  I learned how to speak the ancient language of Consciousness.  As an unrivaled master-of-communication, Gurudevi showed me how to put these profound and ancient teachings into my own words.  I was also surprised to find that my ability to communicate in all areas of my life improved as well. 

Of all the life-changing courses offered by Gurudevi, this one has the greatest effect!  In addition thoroughly training us to teach Intro to Meditation, she injected her rocket fuel to propel us past our minds and deeply into Self. — Ruth B.

MTT prepares you to teach meditation to a wide audience.  I feel well prepared to do so. — Margie W.

Each day in the course, Gurudevi gave a beautiful, in-depth discourse on the sutras.  Each evening, we had a writing assignment to prepare a short talk on one of the sutras.  We each pushed through our inner obstacles to complete our talks.  The next day we presented our words to our small group.  

The process was loving and supportive.  The coaching we gave and received helped the teachings to land inside each of us.  The camaraderie with my fellow MTT students was amazing.  Through my certification as a Svaroopa^® Vidya Meditation Teacher, Gurudevi authorized me as a modern-day representative of this ancient tradition.

Click here for information on our next Meditation Teacher Training.

by Gurudevi Nirmalananda

People wanted variety but I wanted to give them depth.  Even teachers who trained with me wanted to do fancy stuff, including pretty poses and impressive moves.  But that’s not what Svaroopa^® yoga is about.  So, I created a short course that would make the depth and incredible physical makeover obvious.  If you want a new body in five days, this is the course for you.

We don’t do anything fancy.  None of the poses are pretty, but they do make you more beautiful (for men – more handsome).  Your inner beauty shines through for two reasons:  1) you’re accessing it, and 2) there’s less blocking the way.

Foundations of Svaroopa^® Yoga puts all the most important poses in one course, the foundational poses.  These are the basics, just like learning your a-b-c’s makes you able to read.  These poses give you a type of physical intelligence, an enlivenment and ability to live in your body in a whole new way.  More importantly, they target your spinal tensions, providing profound spinal decompression.  It is healing and rejuvenating, but more — it opens up your mystical essence of being, called svaroopa.

Best of all, it’s likely to make you want to teach.  How great!  Once you find out how easy it is to make a profound change in someone’s life, you’ll want to share it.  And sharing it is even better than doing it.  It’s like sharing a carrot cupcake or a dark chocolate bar.  It just tastes better when you share.

by Gurudevi Nirmalananda

You have always existed. You did not come into existence when your body was born into this world. Your own essence is the ever-existent Reality. That which you are existed before the universe existed. Deep inside, you already know this. My Guru said it this way, “The universe exists because you exist.”

When I heard it the first time, I wondered, “Really? If I didn’t exist, the universe wouldn’t exist?” It is true, for you are that existence that has become all that exists. There was never a time that you did not exist.

There is actually no non-existence, for existence cannot come out of non-existence – not unless existence was hidden in the seeming non-existence. This is called the void, the illusion of emptiness that hides the One Existence that you are. Thus there are two, or there seems to be two: existence and emptiness. Which is you?

The void is very familiar for you spend hours there every night, deep asleep. Since you get there unconsciously, you get lost in it. Unfortunately, this is not the only thing you get lost in. You get lost in your mind, in your emotions, in life events and in what you want or fear, as well as what you think that other people think of you. It’s getting complicated, yes? Yes! The One has become many for the sheer pleasure of complicating things.

It’s like a scavenger hunt, a group game that I often played when I was a kid. We would be split up into teams, be given identical lists of things to search for and sent off to see who could find them fastest. The clues were intentionally confusing: it has strings that cannot be tied; it has a face but no mouth or nose, it’s a bed without sheets and it’s always dirty. We had to bring the object back with us… [read more]

See over 300 Teachings Articles by Gurudevi on our website Freebies

By Ben Waters, interviewed by Lori (Priya) Kenney

I’ve found something in sitting face to face with Gurudevi.  I’ve found my Self.  Through sitting and meditating in person with Gurudevi, I have formed a Guru-Disciple relationship.  I know my relationship with her is the most important relationship in my life.

Through a series of synchronistic events, I showed up at Lokananda about eight years ago.  I was in a tough place and needed guidance.  When I called out to the universe for help, I was led to Lokananda.  The energy there is extremely tangible.  I’ve been going since that first day.  I knew I found exactly what I was looking for.  That’s funny because I didn’t know what I was looking for.  It’s the wildest thing.  If you want to have an adventure, this is the life.

Over the years, I’ve often gone to Lokananda carrying problems and heaviness.  When I’m with Gurudevi, it all falls away.  I leave it at the door.  It’s freedom.  I settle into a space that I couldn’t get to on my own.   

Now I can get there on my own, but it’s still not on my own.  It’s because that Guru-Disciple relationship has been cultivated at a depth from sitting with Gurudevi so much.  She’s installed her Self inside me, and now I can access her Grace on my own.  It truly is the wildest thing.  I remember trying to understand the relationship.  Sometimes my mind would ask, “What is this relationship? Why are you so drawn to Gurudevi?”  One time I went into meditation on my own and felt her presence so strongly.  I realized, she’s inside of me and outside of me.

During Covid, when we couldn’t go to Lokananda, I attended the online Japa Club, Meditation Club and satsangs.  It was all tremendous.  Those programs put me in the Grace and allowed me to deepen the relationship with Gurudevi. Still, seeing her face, looking into her eyes and hearing her voice in person is very different.  Most of the time, I just sit and gaze at her.

She always says “You just think you’re coming here to see me.  But really, you’re coming here to find your Self.” The best way for me to be my Self is to be with her.  Grace is so palpable when being in her physical presence.  If I have a question, I can ask her.  Over the years, I’ve realized there really are no problems.  It’s just wave disturbances in the mind-field.  I don’t have as many questions now or things I want to talk about.  It’s really about being with her.  She pulls me so deeply into my Self.  I’ve never left Lokananda having not been changed from being there.  I never depart in the same state as when I enter.  

Now Gurudevi is with me 24/7.  I can feel it and tap into it.  I don’t think there will ever be a time when being with Gurudevi won’t be the most important thing in my life.  Even with Self-Realization, I will still want to be sitting at her feet.

By Annie (Aanandi) Ross

I remember living with my focus on the external world.  I thought about my clothes, my hair, jewelry, a little make-up and what I wanted next.  What could be the next thing to bring me happiness?  I wanted the next thrill or a buzz of some kind.

Living in the deep jungles of Honduras for three months was a wonderful experience.  I had taken a break from college in my senior year.  I was escaping overusing my mind to grasp concepts related to world religions and philosophies.  I wanted to get grounded in nature and give my mind a rest.  Just like everything prior to meditation, my sojourn in Honduras did not turn out to be just right.

Fortunately, I found Svaroopa® Yoga and Meditation some years later.  It is what has given my mind a true rest — and so much more.  This meditation has led me to the inner experience of finding and knowing my own Self.  More and more, I learn how to rest in or return to this inner experience.

When I first took Gurudevi Nirmalananda’s Meditation Teacher Training (MTT), a lot of it seemed way over my head.  Well, I did the homework anyway.  I practiced teaching, going through the steps I had been taught.  And I’ve taken students  through this process many times through the years.  Muktananda’s words “Meditation teaches you meditation” became a guide for me to follow.

A few years ago, I took Meditation Teacher Tune Up for my Continuing Education.  I felt there was something I couldn’t remember… Was there an obstacle blocking the Self?  I remember Gurudevi’s words, “You may need to do some remodeling of your mind.” Simply dissolving, deep-seated pains and fears have lost their hold on me.  I feel lighter and less burdened.  Now I know what students are actually looking for because I have found it in myself.  I can show them the ease.  Because of my experience, I want to share it with the world.

Recently, through continued, consistent meditation, I have become more and more established in the Self.  Being thus landed inward more deeply, I find my mind being remodeled.  I have finally been able to uncover obstacles that used to be in my way.  Simply dissolving, deep-seated pains and fears have lost their hold on me.  I feel lighter and less burdened.  I am focused inward, rather than outward.  Through the lifechanging process of Svaroopa® Vidya Meditation, I can be based in Self and act in the world.  Naturally, I am looking forward to teaching my next Introduction to Svaroopa® Vidya Meditation series I am offering it online through a local lifelong learning program.

Most people are interested in meditation because they want to feel calm and peaceful inside.  They appreciate learning how to sit comfortably.  They value the clam ambiance and pace of the series, as previous feedback shows:

“I felt this introduction was great, better than I expected.  In the fact, I wasn’t sure I could calm my busy mind down enough to experience meditation.”

“I really liked hearing about the goals of meditation as well as the meaning of the ancient texts and mantra. I loved how calm I felt in the space, and most of all, I loved the way Annie made each of us feel comfortable to talk about our experiences.”

“Annie was an exceptional facilitator and yogi.  She was methodical, loving, kind, instructive.”

“The study leader created a safe space in which to talk about our experiences in meditation. Three sessions was just the right length for an introduction.”

We MTT grads are taught to meet students where they are, offer them the teachings and tools, and guide them inward.  Supported by Guru’s Grace and my own practice, it turns out to be simple.  I know what students are actually looking for because I have found it in myself.  I can show them the ease.  Because of my experience, I want to share it with the world.