Author Archives: Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram

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.

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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. 

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Celebrate Our Ashram’s Birthday!

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By Dhairyavati (Kristine) Freeman

Happy Birthday to Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram! I’m so grateful you were born.

Gurudevi says, “The birth of a person is into limitation, the exploration of individual identity.” Shree Guru Gita says it this way:

Birth is into not-knowingness,
spellbound by Maayaa’s worldly dance.
Giver of the upwelling light
of your own Self is called Guru.

But the birth of an Ashram begins the liberation process that benefits more than merely one individual. Thus, our Ashram exists to support all who yearn to know the highest. For this reason, our Ashram’s birthday is deeply meaningful.

I remember when our Ashram was born.  Swami Nirmalananda (now called Gurudevi) was newly initiated as a sannyasi and authorized to serve as Guru. When she founded Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram on September 28, 2009, I was excited to see the Ashram doors open.

I was longing to explore meditation and yoga philosophy deeply.  The Ashram offered a precious opportunity to study directly with Gurudevi. I quickly enrolled in Gurudevi’s first “Year-Long Programme.” I was already a Certified Svaroopa® Yoga Teacher. Later, I became certified as a Svaroopa® Vidya Meditation Teacher.

This September, our Ashram turns 16 ― a milestone birthday. I associate my own 16th birthday with the freedom of getting a driver’s license. No longer merely along for the ride, I was finally in the driver’s seat. I loved the freedom to explore the world on my own. My state was described by a verse in Snow Patrol’s song “Chasing Cars:” “I need your Grace, to remind me to find my own.”

Now I’m blessed to be the beneficiary of 16 years of Ashram Grace, personified by Gurudevi. As Gurudevi so generously shared her state, I’ve ridden the waves of Grace to explore inward. With Shaktipat, and so much more, Gurudevi has given me the experience of inner freedom.

Through her Ashram programs — Meditation Club, Swami Sunday, a Vowed Order — she supports us seekers in continuing to explore the deeper dimensions of being. What a gift! With any of your chosen practices and programs, you focus on, find and experience the Divine within you ― which is you, your own Self.

Reflecting on this auspicious birthday, Gurudevi says,

Today we celebrate the organization that serves thousands of yogis, making a difference by developing their inner experience and carrying it into the world.

This year, the Ashram’s September 28th Birthday falls on a Sunday. What a wonderful time to attend Swami Sunday! Profoundly auspicious, Swami Sunday on October 5th is Gurudevi’s formal celebration of Baba Muktananda’s Punyatithi as well as our Ashram’s birthday.

What an opportunity to celebrate by attending on either On-Site or Online. It is also the culmination of a Shaktipat Retreat, so you are sure to be infused!

Swami Sunday Online
Swami Sunday On-Site

Namaste Poster

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By Amanda (Purna) Schmidt

Our Namaste poster offers a sweet reminder of your inherent Divinity.

It features the hands of Svaroopa® yogis — including Gurudevi Nirmalananda at the center — in Anjali Mudra.

This simple gesture expresses respect and gratitude. The word “namaste” carries deep meaning. It serves to acknowledge the Divine in all.

Touching my heart, I honor the Divine in yours, from the infinity of my own Divinity ― the One in All.

What a beautiful way to honor yourself as well as others.

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Yogic Nutrition with Gurudevi

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Learn what to eat as a yogi — and when and why. Each class includes Gurudevi’s teachings as well as a tasting session with discussion and easy recipes.

Drawing on yoga, Ayurveda and scientific nutritional guidelines, she teaches you how to feed yourself healthfully, deliciously and consciously in your own home.

As the principles you learn begin working for you, you’ll notice a change in your physical and spiritual well-being.

Enrollment is limited, so everyone can participate in the discussions as well as get personalized support and recommendations from Gurudevi.

A previous student shares her enthusiasm for what she got from “Yogic Nutrition”:

A great course! It’s interactive and delicious in every way. Learning from a Guru and a Swami, how can you go wrong? They take you right into their kitchen. And they come into yours. – Therese R

Yogic Nutrition

Three Yoga Miracles 

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By Barbara (Girijananda) Hess, Yogaratna 

Interviewed by Agnes (Aikya) Hetherington 

I supported three students in profound healing through their Svaroopa® yoga practices as well as their receiving Embodyment® Yoga Therapy sessions.  

The first was a colleague in her twenties. Our job setting was new to her.

Overwhelmed by stress, she cried everyday.  When she learned that I teach yoga, she soon started attending my Svaroopa® yoga classes.   

Before long, she enrolled in my three-week series “Ease into Meditation.” Then she enrolled in the Mandali Travels “Deepen Your Meditation,” a program taught by an Ashram Swami. She has continued deepening inward with Sutra Studies as well as a daily home practice. She has learned how to access inner peace and bliss.  

All this has transformed her. “I no longer worry about stuff. I know I can keep my mind on a short leash,” she says. “I feel different around my friends. I don’t complain all the time.”  

I was honored to be invited to her wedding a few months ago. From her new husband, I heard that she said, “I need to meditate and repeat mantra,” when she was agitated before the ceremony. Throughout the whole wedding, she was glowing and calm.  

The second miracle is a client with two replacements of the same hip and neuropathy in her feet. She has returned to normal activity including walking without an assistive device!  

I gave her weekly Embodyment® sessions, taught her Ujjayi Pranayama, and recommended a pose sequence for home practice. Besides the dramatic improvement in her surgical hip, she also gained sensation in her feet.

She had had neuropathy for two years. At a recent appointment, the neurologist said, “If this is working, keep doing it.” 

Another of my co-workers is my third Miracle Story. She was having panic attacks in the course of supporting her mother, who was in hospice. In private sessions, I taught her Ujjayi breathing in Shavasana. With weekly private sessions, she anchored securely into her twice daily Ujjayi practices. The panic attacks ended.  

Our Svaroopa® Vidya Meditation guides us in opening to our Divine Essence within. Encountering these teachings, she could see herself being a strong divine daughter. She felt much more present with her mom during her transition.   

Now this colleague continues coming to my yoga classes. While staying loyal to her Christian beliefs, she embraces the experience of her own Divinity. 

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Your Mind’s Job

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Your own Self is always manifest, always present, always accessible, always easy to find.  You just have to look in the right direction — inward.  But your mind is constructed to look the other way.  Your mind is a concentrated form of Consciousness with…

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Jiva Becomes Shiva“

Watch Full Discourse Here

Living in Ease

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By Swami Satrupananda 

More reps. Heavier weights. Longer distances. This is what we’ve been taught will give us physical health. 

You get more by doing more. You push your body further and harder. You push through the pain. Grit your teeth and bear it.

And then once you’ve pushed your body as much as you can, you rest. You’re exhausted and maybe even in pain. You rest so that your body can heal from what you’ve done to it. 

Is there another way? 

Yes! Svaroopa® yoga starts with the resting. We begin every class with Shavasana, yoga’s relaxation pose. Lying on the floor, you prop your legs up, which supports your lower back. You put a blanket under your head. You rest and settle.

Your teacher then offers you a Guided Awareness: “Become aware of your toes, all ten toes, all at the same time . . .”

In this relaxation pose, your physical tensions melt away. As you are guided through being aware of your own body, your mind settles. Your mind slows down. You clear away the physical and mental fatigue of life. 

Your class continues with an ease-full breathing practice that builds your reservoir of energy. The yoga poses target muscular tension in your spine. For this release, you move your body into easy angles. You prop your body with blankets and blocks. And then you soften into the pose. 

Even in the standing poses, you soften into it. The goal is not pushing further and trying harder. Instead, the purpose is to open up to an ease of being in your own body, which is health-full, bliss-full and powerful.

Our classes end with Shavasana, and you experience the Guided Awareness again. This practice is so important that we do it twice. And you need the practice! You need the practice in resting, in settling into an easy state of being. 

At the end of Shavasana, students sit up.  As their teacher, I ask for comments. Their most common feedback is feeling peaceful, relaxed and full of energy all at the same time. 

Yes, that is the way to live — all the time! You can feel that way too, by practicing Svaroopa® Yoga.

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