Author Archives: Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram

The Bliss of Overwhelm – by Maitreyi Wilsman

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Ntyananda Murti in the Samadi Mandir Temple croppedEach morning our group rises by 4:00 AM to attend the abhishek ceremony at Nityananda’s Mahasamadhi Temple. Afterwards on the first morning, someone asked me, “How was your experience?”  And I answered, “Overwhelming. “

During abhishek, the huge, life size, golden murti (statue) of Nityananda is woken up, bathed, dressed, and adorned with garlands of greenery and of flowers, like Hawaiian leis, by two Brahmin priests and their assistants. On this first morning of our yatra (pilgrimage), they were joined by four women. For at least an hour, all my senses were alive and enlivened by the disrobing of the golden murti, the water splashing, scrubbing with a white cream, drying each body part and each deep fold, re-robing with beautiful fabrics, incense burning, the waving of flaming ghee candles (arati), bells ringing, and drums booming.  We were invited to come forward three times during the ceremony: beforehand — to put our hands and head on the engraving of Nityananda’s feet; during — to receive from the head priest some of the bath water; and afterwards — for prasad (sacred refreshments).  My body, mind and heart vibrated to the beat of the drum and the clapping of our hands during the Jaya Jaya Arati chant to Nityananda at the end of the ceremony.  Inside and outside, Nityananda was there with me, and I was with him.  We were alive together, One.

Interestingly, I have never been a Nityananda devotee.  Now, however, I am.  He is the source, my heritage, the Guru who gave Muktananda his Self; and Muktananda who in turn gave Swamiji her Self.  Now it’s my turn — I can still feel the Guru in my Self, as my Self.  We are all The One.

Years ago I was a person who enjoyed extreme experiences — pursuing a PhD in my professional field and a university faculty position, while being a mother, wife, daughter and more.  Along the way I took up biking, running and swimming daily, loving the extreme training.  For what?

My life has always been purposeful, filled with many uplifting, strong experiences.  So here I am in Ganeshpuri India, with Swamiji and many other wonderful yogis, plus a staff of people who facilitate our daily living and practices.  I get to live all day long in the overwhelming experience of the early morning abhishek.  What a gift from Swamiji.  Thank you Swami.  All I have is gratitude and love for Swamiji and for this opportunity to live in the overwhelming experience of Ganeshpuri for two weeks.

Landing in Ganeshpuri by Karuna Beaver

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Karuna (Carolyn) Beaver

We have arrived in Ganeshpuri — all 37 of us Svaroopis. It has taken us weeks of preparation to make it here, but Ganesha has cleared the obstacles, and we have all arrived safely.

We have landed in a place that removed obstacles for our spiritual leader, our teacher, our Guru — Swami Nirmalananda — who has been coming to Ganeshpuri for nearly 40 years. We have come to join her here to deepen our practices in a place that shimmers with shakti. We are all here to soak up the incredible energy field that is Ganeshpuri. We are here to take a dip into the flow of Grace that emanates from this little village north of Mumbai.

And we are here to pay homage to the lineage of the Svaroopa® Sciences, in the place where the ultimate originator — Bhagawan Nityananda — attracted a following of devotees and disciples, including Baba Muktananda, Swamiji’s Guru. We are in the place where Bhagawan Nityananda chose Muktananda to carry on his teachings. We are in the place where Swami Nirmalananda sat at Baba Muktananda’s feet, absorbed in his teachings, and was inspired to develop the asana practice and deep yet accessible yogic teachings she has brought to the West.

We are lucky to be here, and we will be in touch with you often to share our personal experiences over the next two weeks. We know you will feel the micro-waves of energy we’re emitting from here. In this way you join us in our journey from your own home. You are all here within us in our hearts.

Comings & Goings

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Marketing Consultant Susan Smith will be teaching marketing calls, free to you as a SATYA Member, throughout 2015. Over the past several years, your marketing course sessions were offered by a marketing panel, giving you a variety of perspectives on using a range of marketing approaches for your yoga business. We have now engaged Susan Smith to serve as your sole marketing teacher. This course is a continuing benefit, provided by your SATYA dues. Susan comes to us with a love of teaching as well as longstanding marketing expertise.

In her corporate marketing position, Susan taught weekly marketing classes for colleagues in other business roles. You can count on her knowing how to meet us, as her new students, “where we are” and to take us “where we need to go” to grow our yoga businesses. Susan knows how to lead enjoyable as well as highly informative group learning experiences, and she enthusiastically looks forward to teaching from her consistent, progressive marketing curriculum. Each phone session will be a complete, standalone unit yet also linked to previous and future sessions for continuity.  Susan will share her far-reaching understanding of the secrets of marketing.

Have you been curious about what marketing approaches really work? Susan not only knows the answers, she will teach us how to identify what really works in our own locales and demographics as well as for Svaroopa® yoga specifically. She is a 20-year veteran of business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing, with a specialty in developing membership and loyalty programs for major retail companies. So Susan knows how to shape marketing to resonate with the experience of a range of target customers.

Susan’s class plans include practical marketing advice and information — from strategy to application. Among other things, you will learn how to:

  • Identify the “right marketing” for your demographic, e.g., flyers, website, social media
  • Use the social media tools (e.g., Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, etc.) with the best fit to get the word out about your yoga business
  • Test your marketing tactics — measure results to know works best
  • Calculate your return on investment, to identify the benefits reaped
  • Decide when to cut your losses, if a tactic is not working
  • Revise a “marketing product” (such as a flyer or your website) to work more effectively
  • Communicate via email campaigns with class “drop-outs” to bring them back

In short, Susan says, “I hope participants in this marketing course come away with an understanding of the options available, and how to use them.”

Just as in the past, you attend this distance-learning course via conference calls, for which you enroll via www.svaroopa.org. You may participate in every session of Susan’s comprehensive marketing curriculum, which she will herself teach, or select one or more individual topics at your convenience.  Swami Nirmalananda says, “You’ll soon discover that marketing is another form of yoga – a way to communicate the teachings and experience of the Self.”

Packing for India by Sheynapurna Peace

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India_ Sheynapurna 2Swamiji says to put all you want to take, including money, on your bed.  Remove half the clothes and double your money.  I absolutely agree.

In 2013, my suitcases were full, heavy and packed with “essentials.”  I didn’t use half my essentials, and couldn’t even find several items until back home.  Here’s my abbreviated list. It contains only what I found to be truly needed:

-2 pairs of loose cotton trousers
-2-3 tops
-6-12 undies
-as many bras (ladies) as you like
-2 warm pairs socks (if heading to cooler climes)
-1 light jacket
-2 dhupattas (scarves) to match tops or bottoms
-small container with toiletries – (e.g., shampoo, soap, skin lotions, and sunscreen; some bug repellant, to use until you can get some Odomos in India; toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss; hairbrush or comb as well as a small hand mirror and tweezers)
-maybe a pack of tissues.
-Small first aid kit with some band aids, antibiotic ointment, some aspirin or ibuprofen, and any prescriptions.
-Your supplements, if you think you’ll take them, and not a whole lot of them
-Sandals – especially inexpensive slide-ons
-Long underwear, if you’re heading north
-PJs  – remember it’s fairly warm in Ganeshpuri, so not your heavy ones
-Soap for washing clothes
-Meditation shawl/asana
-some small foods that won’t attract monkeys or rats- something you might not be able to get in India (Their chocolate is awful but ours might melt – ah, tapas; I’ll do without.)
-Females: sanitary protection for that time of month
-Stout lock/key with rounded hasp for your door
-Small powerful flashlight
-Small inflatable neck rest or pillow (good for meditation as well as plane)
-Noise canceling headphones (if airplane noise bothers you)
-3-6 medium/large sized safety pins (for sari pinning)
-Lip balm
-PASSPORT WITH STAMPED VISA
-MUST BRING YOUR E-TICKET RECEIPT or you won’t be allowed into the airport in India!
-Cash.  Some money can be changed in the Mumbai airport, if you feel the need.  Iqbal’s friend Shamin provides this service in Ganeshpuri.
-India adaptor. NOTE:  India electricity does not work with “universal” plug adaptors.  You can get an adaptor on Amazon.com good for India plugs.  But it is 220 volt, not 110.

Really, you won’t need much else.  I am hoping to use a carry-on size suitcase, and bring along a backpack or large purse-like bag that closes.  I want room in my case for presents to bring home – might even consider buying clothes to wear and then giving them to friends.

I do suggest you obtain and wear compression stockings on the long plane journeys.  Several people experienced swollen feet/ankles/lower legs on the 2013 India Yatra.  DVTs can be an issue as well; compression stockings will make your feet and legs more comfortable not only on the long plane right, but throughout the entire trip.

Bottom line: Don’t overburden yourself!

ATT DTS: Just Do It! by Ruth Brown, CSYT

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Ruth Brown, CSYT

Once upon a time, completing an ATT program required that you do homework, and then send that homework to a Teacher Trainer for review and feedback. But now there is DTS.  I just completed the ATT 262 Treating Pain immersion, and I’m finding that the DTS calls have helped me use the “therapist” title with confidence.

For this DTS there are homework assignments followed by phone calls, and my first assignment was to give five pain treatment sessions to a single client. After our second DTS call, Matrika Gast (who serves our Board in the Publications role) heard from one of my DTS partners that I had “pain clients coming out of the woodwork.” So Matrika asked me to share my success story.

To begin to attract pain clients I found that you must become a walking, talking billboard for “what you can do for them.”  You do so gently and with care… sharing how others have benefited from what you do. To make your current yoga students aware of your pain therapy training, you can say “This therapy may be something that you and/or someone you know could use. Feel free to share this with those you know who are in pain.”

I also created a small, purse size flyer that to pass around to those whom I would talk with. The front side includes vital details about pain therapy the Svaroopa® yoga way, and back side includes a couple of testimonials from existing students/clients.

The next thing to do is list people you know … no judgments… just write. Then take that list, beginning with those you think are the least likely to be interested in what you are doing, and contact them, sharing with them what you are doing. Proceed through your list with enthusiasm and sincere caring about what you can do for them or for those they know.

With my first pain client, even though there was that tinge of anxiety, I felt assured and confident in the training I had received a week or so before. Yep — I read and reread my ATT “blue sheets” before each session, and I completed all five sessions with that client as well as my first DTS report before the first DTS call.

I so appreciated that call. While it is good to receive feedback on your sessions, it is just as informative to hear what others are doing.  Invaluable, in fact. Kusuma, our ATT DTS Mentor, gently guides us through evaluations of our sessions, encouraging where appropriate and asking us to re-think our sessions where necessary.

My second assignment was exciting because I was working on a real person with tightness, pain and cramps. The assignment helped me gain confidence in my ability to write a plan and tweak as needed in the moment, especially when my client seized up with a cramp and pain. Our training met reality in this second assignment. I was working with “real folks” who were not loosey-goosey yogis! I laughed at myself several times along the way, noting how many times I was holding my breath!!!

After the second DTS call, there were massive revelations. As slowly as I thought I was proceeding in a session, on this call I realized that I needed to move forward even more slowly…right up there with watching paint dry! With this guidance, I’ve found after several more sessions that my clients feel the difference, the shift from pain to relief.

After a couple of weeks providing pain therapy to clients who are non-yogis, I realized that I could almost repeat the Treating Pain training with a whole new perspective. The partner pairing in training with fellow-yogis can give us a false sense of movement.  On the DTS calls, it helps so much to hear that other budding therapists are working through the same issues.

Through this process, I have personally experienced some significant openings, too. How much fun to realize that the leg you were holding in Alternate Leg was REALLY not softened and released!

Deceptively Easy, Amazingly Successful by Abby Chemers

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When I enrolled in ATT 262 Treating Pain last March, I was daunted by the prerequisite of giving 50 Embodyment® Yoga Therapy sessions in the 6 months before the course. I am a rule follower, and I could see that I needed to give two Embodyment® sessions per week. Figuring that out was my way of keeping on track without getting anxious or worried, but I still didn’t know exactly how I would get my existing students to make appointments for these private sessions.

My first approach was to give Embodyment® sessions to friends and family.  Travel to Hawaii and then to Australia in March gave me that opportunity.  On my way to Australia, I had a few days with my daughter and son-in-law in Hawaii. A busy and active couple, they were more than happy to accommodate my need to give them sessions! And the same was true of Australian friends when I arrived there.

When I returned home, there were real surprises. People just showed up at the right time.  For months I had wanted to be able to give an Embodyment® session to a student who came regularly to class and had been getting spinal opening, but still had some pain. I knew an Embodyment® session would help her move through her partial opening to full release, but I had been unable to persuade her to schedule a private session. Then one day she showed up to class and was the only student as her usual classmates were playing hooky.  So I was able to give her Embodyment®. At another time, a young woman who was getting married and had a lot going in her life showed up as the only student for a class, and she enjoyed a soothing and restorative Embodyment® session with me instead. It was a blessing for me as well as for her!

Then for the next six weeks, clients just arrived on my doorstep. To use an old idiom, it was as though they just came out of the woodwork! I was surprised, because usually it seems my regular class students simply can’t afford more yoga.  Yet they began to schedule Embodyment® sessions to celebrate their birthdays or because, unfortunately, they hurt themselves and came in to help an injury heal.  A couple of these clients came four times.  Other clients were brand new and had found me through my website. Many found me simply by word of mouth, and one week I had 4 brand new clients.

It was curious. It seemed to me that the universe knew I needed students and sent them to me.  Instead of being a daunting task, this ATT prerequisite turned out to be a blessing on many levels. It brought in money, and helped to offset the cost of training.

But giving these Embodyment® sessions regularly, on a range of clients with different needs, was great to do as well. They benefited me as a therapist as well as my clients. I had already been giving Embodyment® sessions for at least 3 years, and I was very comfortable with my body mechanics. But through giving 50 sessions within 6 months, Embodyment® became easier and easier for me.  I became able to stay in stillness. I became more effortlessly able to sink and settle into my own bones and spine. Quite often I would get release in my own body.

Settling in is so important, I found, in Treating Pain as well. With experience and regularity come ease and comfort, and my confidence as a yoga therapist grew into greater and greater ease. Now I am grateful for the required preparation as well as the training itself, in which I, myself, experienced such profound healing as well as learning that will serve my clients with more — and More.

Comings & Goings

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img_0033_01Kendra Lemmon is stepping up to a new position as our Acting Programs Manager.  Congratulations, Kendra, and thank you!  Kendra has been serving as an Administrative Assistant, handling many diverse task   s, including getting our expanded staff and office spaces functional with phones, computers and reliable electrical service.  She will now oversee and support our Enrollment Advisors, as well as sevites and staff in Guest Services and our Enrollment System, plus she will soon move into coordinating with hosts for the programs we bring to your home town.

img_0043_01Jessica Kreil, in Guest Services, is also stepping up to a new level.  She is working with Sharada Macdonald to design our expanded shop area, planned for our move to Lokananda (when it is ready), as part of her overseeing product sales both in-house and online.  She continues to work with The Desmond Hotel to provide for your housing and meals, as well as provide airport shuttle service when you need it.  In addition, she is now managing the programs at Downingtown Yoga & Meditation Center, which will keep her in close connection with all the yogis who make the Ashram part of their life, whether they live locally or are in town for a yogic experience.  We are grateful for your loving touch, Jessica.

mangalaWelcome to Mangala (Cayla) Allen, who is now serving as Rukmini Abbruzzi’s administrative assistant.  She’s working in our academic records, which includes processing new teacher and therapist certificates as well as sending course-related emails. She will also be managing our phone courses, helping with administration for DTS and working with our ever-expanding program calendar.  Thank you Mangala!

img_0016_01Sharada Macdonald continues to support us behind the scenes, most recently helping in the recruitment of many of our newer staff members.  She is now assisting Swami Nirmalananda with several year-end projects that will expand our ability to serve you.  Thank you to Sharada as well as to all our sevites and staff, who make the Ashram able to bring you the high quality of programs we are known for.

Gratitude Comes in Many Forms

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The fluffy flakes drift down outside my window, as I delight in our second snowfall of the season.  After a big staff event yesterday, full of joy and gratitude for who they are and all they do, I marvel at the contrasts in life.

Today – snow.  Two days ago it was 72-degrees outside!

Yesterday, gratitude; tomorrow, gratitude. Yet grief plays, like a mournful cello, a theme weaving through these family holidays.  In my heart I am sitting with a yogi in her mourning for a beloved family member who died suddenly.

The philosopher in me knows the all-pervasiveness of death.  The mystic in me lives on the threshold of life and death.  In the inner realms, I know and feel the constant throb of birth and death happening in every moment in the entire universe.  But my heart steps into the chasm of grief with anyone who is propelled there by such a surprise – not a happy surprise for anyone involved.

Many in our community have asked, “What can I do to help?”  Of course, if you lived nearby, you could go over and sit with the family.  You could bring food.  You could clean, cry with them, share stories from the past, and more – but what can you do when you live miles away, even hundreds or thousands of miles away?

Send a card?  yes.  Send flowers? or a donation to an organization that would be meaningful to the family?  yes.  Email?  go on FaceBook and see the photos, and add your own love and support?  yes.

But that’s all over in about 10 minutes.  Can’t you do more?  Yes.

sillhouetteYou can do japa (mantra repetition) on behalf of the one who has died as well as those who are left behind.  You simply say, out loud, “I give all the benefits of this japa to (insert name).”  You can even say, “…to (name) and their family.”  You will be able to see or feel those benefits going to them.  It’s quite tangible.  It works with Shree Guru Gita too.

I recommend you do it daily for a while.  This kind of surprise is not handled in a few days, or even a few months.  Your love and support makes a difference – both in the tangible, personal and external connection as well as in the mystical spheres we all come from and in which we all abide.

And remember – grief is merely unexpressed gratitude.  IF this death brings up grief for you, then you have hidden levels of grief in you, which means you have hidden levels of gratitude in you.  This is the time to express your gratitude.  Write a letter to the one you must thank.  Don’t mail it.  Burn it.

The next day, write another letter.  Express only gratitude.  It will include many of the things that you said on the previous day, and there will be more.  Burn it.

Do one more, on the third day.  And when you burn it, you’ll be able to tell that you’ve finished something, something that you came here to do.  For you came her to love, you came here to grieve and you came here to express gratitude.

Swami handsHappy Thanksgiving.  May your heart feel…

With love & blessings,  Swami Nirmalananda

A Heartfelt Thank You by Karuna (Carolyn) Beaver, Board Member

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I’d like to express a heartfelt thank you for your donation to our Blossoming Forth fall fundraising campaign. “Unmilana” is Sanskrit for the blossoming forth that occurs on multiple levels. It describes an unfolding and coming forth. It describes the opening of the eyes or the process of making things visible. It describes making explicit what has been implicit or hidden within.  It also describes the blossoming forth of gratitude from the Board of Directors of Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram.

More than a year ago, SVA opened up to expand and include Svaroopa® Yoga under its carolyn_beaverorganizational umbrella, blossoming forth a consolidated organization serving a multiplicity of needs. We all had our eyes opened in the process, watching both the bumps in the road and the clearing of a path. It made explicit what was implicit – the Grace that underlies the practices of asana and meditation is the same Grace that supports us all.

Once again, through your donations, you have shown that the Grace that supports you is the same Grace that supports our organization. Because this organization is yours, you support the organization. As Swami Nirmalananda taught in a recent phone course, this mutual support is an important part of every relationship in your life. When you receive support, you offer support.

Your financial support makes a big difference. It enables SVA to hire and retain teaching and administrative staff whose job it is to serve you. It enables the creation and maintenance of a beautiful new website, both to inspire as well as to inform you. It enables both stabilization and expansion of our course offerings, many at newly-lowered rates for 2015. It enables you to keep doing the yoga and meditation that you love.

That’s why I make donations in both our fall and spring campaigns, as well as send a regular monthly donation. I love my yoga. I love my meditation. I love my yoga buddies. I love my students. I love my honored teacher, my Guru. This organization has given me so much. It has given me my Self. When I receive support, I offer support.

As Swamiji wrote in her first letter about this campaign, organizations are nothing but groups of people committed to a shared goal. She explained that yogic processes happen both to individuals as well as to the organization itself. Your support – financial, volunteer and in other ways too numerous to mention – keeps SVA afloat, as both you and the organization travel down the river of Grace. Thank you for all that you do.

Budding, Blooming & Thriving by Swami Nirmalananda

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Click the logo above to make your donation today.

You’ve done it again!  The Svaroopa® yoga community has already donated a big-hearted sum of $34,825.00, almost at the magic number of $35,000 – so amazing, so wonderful and incredibly supportive.

A few weeks ago I wrote that we need your support at dynamic time.  It is true that growth is expansive, but it is also expensive. You have just donated enough money for us to bring in a new staff member to expand our ability to be responsive to you.

You may have been part of getting us through the Reawakening and Consolidation, and are hopefully excited about us being on the cusp of major growth, even while you recognize it as a new type of challenge.  Your donations and your seva provide practical and tangible support for our organizational needs, just like a yogi putting another blanket under her seat.

We still have a few more days in our campaign, so you can help put us over the top.  If you sign up as a Monthly Donor (or increase your monthly gift), you’ll receive my thank you — an audio recording of me repeating mantra 108 times.

289I got a phone call today from a swami who was traveling and teaching in America.  We weren’t able to meet but we had a nice chat on the phone.  He found me through our new website, which is now getting more hits from India than from America!  How sweet it is for me to be able to serve my Guru’s homeland as well as my own.

Thank you for your support, which makes all this possible.  If I were doing it myself, we might have a webpage or two, but we wouldn’t have all the free programs, retreats and professional trainings.  It takes a whole community to make this possible.

OM svaroopa svasvabhava namo nama.h