Author Archives: Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram

YTT Level 4 Reflections by Matrika (Marlene) Gast

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Level 4 grads 2

May 2014 Level 4 Grads

Level 4 is unique — a culmination of 50 days (700 hours) of immersion training in the protocols of teaching this yoga. Just four years ago, my Level 4 propelled me to a whole series of “firsts” — taking Meditation Teacher Training, travelling to India with Swami Nirmalananda and then opening my own studio after returning. Yes, YTT 4 is both a finale and a commencement of even greater things to come! There is always more and MORE…

Ruth Brown CSYT, teaching in Columbus GA, likened YTT 4 to Yoga Mudra, saying that it is “the big seal at the end of this 50 days of training. Without forcing or straining, YTT 4 was sealing our practice into every cell of our body. Beginning with Foundations, we made our way through the gauntlet of classes and DTS. We have experienced every emotion possible as we followed the map to and through YTT 4. With joy, fear, doubt and pride and even with gracefulness to clumsiness we have navigated the course set out to us…. Now that we are properly sealed to prevent leakage, we go out into the world!”

Completing YTT 4 last May, Kathy Gardner in NC says, “YTT Level 4 brought everything I learned in earlier levels together, and made sense of all my previous trainings. Connections are clear through the continuum of trainings from Foundations on. It felt as though all other poses and trainings made us ready to experience the Classical Poses, Vinyasa sequences, and Twists & Seated poses of Level 4. It was clear to me that Swami Nirmalananda has the enlightenment to create the Svaroopa® yoga pose protocols and the teacher training to create the unfolding abilities in our bodies to experience the Level 4 poses. I recognized the necessity of significant lower spinal release, the ultimate wonderful preparation, as well as the abdominals work to move into those beautiful Level 4 poses.

“The day we had our graduation I felt surprise; I never thought I’d get that far. Yet the training to become a full-fledged Certified Svaroopa® Yoga Teacher just kept moving forward. Right now I’m in good place, with classes going well and students I love. It’s a soft place, and I’m even enjoying DTS! Sending in my plans for the Classical Theme, I felt a sense of confidence, as though I got it! Of course, they may need fix-ups. But unlike in DTS Level 2 creating these plans did not tighten my tailbone! My favorite pose now is Trikonasana, which is fun to include in my daily practice a couple of times per week. A stiff knee has always given me trouble. But in this pose the changes going on in my knee are soft and pleasant. I wonder, where is this change going to take me? In fact, even though I’m in a beautiful, soft place right now, what will be my unfolding possibilities for spreading Svaroopa® yoga into the world?”

Now all properly sealed, as Ruth says, our YTT Level 4 grads go forth to spread Svaroopa® yoga with our deep, heartfelt congratulations for all that they have achieved and contributed already — and for all that they will continue to experience and to offer. May the bliss that illuminated their faces on graduation day continue to open their students, loved ones and everyone they will touch to bliss and the experience of their own Divinity.

India’s Call by Priya Kenney

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Priya Kenney in India

India had a pull on me way before I ever went there. Once I went, the fascination just increased. India is so vibrant, with so much life pulsing everywhere and an intoxicating spirituality deeply integrated into the culture. I noticed something decidedly different in the eyes of her people that I don’t see in the eyes of Westerners. I didn’t know what it was, but I wanted to keep seeing it.

After two amazing trips there, a long period passed. I had a persistent longing to go back. It seemed crazy to say so, but I missed India with an ache. It felt like home to me in ways I couldn’t describe. This was all before discovering Svaroopa® yoga. When I learned that Svaroopa® yoga was deeply rooted in India, it came as no surprise.

Several years ago, I had a mysterious and debilitating illness. After doctoring with nearly every form of traditional and alternative health care, I consulted a Vedic astrologer. He confirmed that I was going through a very difficult passage and recommended that I donate a cow. Swamiji suggested instead that I ask Prasad, a priest at the Nityananda temple in Ganeshpuri, to do a fire ceremony on my behalf. It took several phone conversations over a period of weeks to make arrangements for what was recommended — a three-day fire ceremony to be held at a place called Fire Mountain Ashram. When the day arrived, I called Prasad at a pre-arranged time and listened to the chanting of the priests across the continents and oceans. It was electrifying. And I spoke to the man and woman that ran the Ashram and who were standing in for me and my husband during the ceremony. Little did I know then that I would be staying at Fire Mountain Ashram and enjoying meals with Jeanetta and Dahvee a few years later on the India 2013 trip. During the phone conversations with Prasad, he told me several times that I should come to Ganeshpuri. It felt like a personal invitation, and my longing to go increased in intensity.

When the India 2013 trip was announced, I knew that I had to go. There were layers of longing. It wasn’t only the persistent pull of India and that connection I established a few years earlier with Prasad. The real heart of it was the incredibly amazing opportunity to go with Swami Nirmalananda to the sacred place where she, her Guru and her Guru’s Guru lived, served and carried the lineage forward. There were all those stories Swamiji tells us about sitting with her Baba in his Ashram, serving him for years and hearing the teachings at his feet. On top of that, I had read Muktananda’s Play of Consciousness, and his many stories about Nityananda and Ganeshpuri and serving his Guru. To be able to go to those places with Swamiji, to chant the Guru Gita with her in Ganeshpuri and to sit at her feet and hear the teachings — it was indescribably compelling.

The trip exceeded all hopes and expectations. Of course there were things to sort out beforehand with my husband and two teenage boys, but I mostly remember the trip coming together with great ease. Though I was a lot stronger, one of my concerns was the long flight. The remedy was simple. I put every single one of Swamiji’s chanting CD’s on our iPad and listened to the Guru Gita and various chants the whole way over and back, sometimes falling asleep to a chant. Swamiji’s voice and the chanting was a river of Grace carrying me through.

Click here to register or learn more about India 2015: Ganeshpuri’s Grace.

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Email seva@svaroopayoga.org to offer seva.

India Retreat: Travel Tips by Matrika (Marlene) Gast

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Priya Kenney

Priya Kenney

When you decide to go to India, what preparations come first — and soon? Even now is not too early to obtain or renew your passport, if needed; apply for your visa; and decide which of the recommended immunizations are appropriate for you. For more advice, I called Priya Kenney, and she offered tips based on her 2013 India trip with Swamiji.

First, fly with the group. You will, of course, book your own India flight. However, Priya says, “Flying with the group is a very sweet way to establish retreat community starting at the boarding gate.”

Book your flight as soon as possible. For our group flight, book the United flight number on the Retreat web page for the February 7th departure date. That flight lands you in Mumbai in time for the Retreat start on February 9th. Recalling her 2013 flight, Priya says, “It was great to see ‘pods of yogis’ sitting together throughout our svaroopa plane! Then sitting together to await flight connections in Europe — even just charging our phones together — cultivated camaraderie, with the sweet shared sense of being fellow travelers on a pilgrimage.”

If you will fly from your home to Newark, Priya advises planning for generous time between any connecting flights. She says, “International travel can take more time than you’d expect. You need plenty of time after landing in Newark to get to the gate for our group flight on United Airlines. You also need plenty of time between any connecting flights to Newark, for weather delays etc. Also, on international flights, the airline can sometimes close the flight well before the published departure, so arrive at that gate with plenty of time to spare, and plan to enjoy a restful wait, and to do japa!”

One preparation that gave Priya stamina and solace throughout her travels was uploading every one of Swamiji’s chants to her iPod. Priya says, “I listened to them the whole way. Those chants are so full of Grace, and that carried me. Listening to them when I was half falling sleep was especially supportive and soothing.” Besides an iPod, or course, you can upload chants from Swamiji’s CDs to any smart phone, laptop or an iPad. Then all you need are earphones. Just remember your charger!

Regarding packing, Priya says, “I started packing weeks in advance. That way, I experienced so much ease in beginning my trip. That was important for making the transit smoother. I wasn’t exhausted from having to sort through a mountain of last-minute details.”

The point of extra packing time is not about fitting in a great amount of clothing; rather it’s to make effective decisions about what to bring. Even though you’ll be away from home for two weeks, you don’t need to pack much clothing. First, choose your walking shoes; they are very important says Priya. After that, pack essentials but leave ample room for clothing that you’ll be able to buy in Ganeshpuri shops. While you are certainly free to wear Western clothes there, the cut and fabric weight of the traditional salwar kameez are appropriate for every occasion. The Punjabi-style pants (narrow ankles, full knees) and knee-length tunic are comfortable as well as elegant. Priya says that, in her experience, when you purchase a salwar kameez outfit in the US, the neckline can be cut too low and the fabric can be too heavy for the Indian climate, even in February. Yet, for early morning travel in open air vehicles to Nityananda’a Abhishek ceremony, you’ll want a light jacket or a shawl.

For your suitcase, other useful items might be granola bars, a bag of nuts and even protein powder for your blood sugar if that’s an issue for you. Your own mosquito repellent can prove useful, too, until you can buy the local stuff, which Swamiji recommends. However, before you travel, you don’t need to worry about exchanging US dollars for rupees because you can do that easily at the Fire Mountain Ashram upon arrival.

Priya found that the transportation arranged by Iqbal and his crew from the Fire Mountain Ashram from the Mumbai airport to Ganeshpuri was extremely smooth. She says, “After we turned in our forms at the immigration desks, we retrieved our luggage from baggage claim, and it was a short walk through a terminal lobby to the parking lot where Iqbal was waiting for us with his bus. It was quite easy.”

Click here for more information about our February 2015 India Retreat ‑ Ganeshpuri’s Grace.

Click here to support your ashram and your practice.

 

 

2015 Calendar Dates

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Your 2015 Calendar Dates are now available! Get ahead and start planning your training for next year.

 

Jan 14-18 ~ EYTS – Top-to-Tail Jan 22-25 ~ DIY: Heart Openers
Jan 28-Feb 4 ~ ATT 262: Yoga Therapy – Treating Pain

Feb 9-19 ~ India Retreat – Ganeshpuri’s Grace
Feb 21-25 ~ Foundations
Feb 22-27 ~ Embodyment in Australia
Feb 27-Mar 1 ~ Yatra to Downingtown Feb 27-Mar 1 ~ Experiential Anatomy in Australia

Mar 6-10 ~ Foundations in Australia
Mar 6-15 ~ YTT Level 2
Mar 10 ~ Year-Long Programme begins
Mar 14-15 ~ Weekend Workshop – Australia
Mar 18-22 ~ YTT Module #1A – Daily Practice
Mar 20-22 ~ Shaktipat Retreat
Mar 25 ~ Yogify Your Life (phone course begins)
Mar 25-Apr 1 ~ ATT 402: Deeper Practice

Apr 11 -16 ~ Embodyment
Apr 17-19 ~ Experiential Anatomy
Apr 23-26 ~ EYTS – Foundations Review
Apr 26-29 ~ EYTS – Deceptive Flexibility

May 1-3 ~ Shaktipat Retreat
May 7-10 ~ DIY: Knots in Your Neck
May 12-17 ~ Foundations
May 19-24 ~ YTT Module #1B – Lower Spinal Release May 29-June 7 ~ Level 4

June 16-19 ~ EYTS – Foundations Review
June 19-28 ~ Level 1

July 7-12 ~ ATT 201: Leading Half Day Workshops
July 14-19 ~ Foundations
July 22-26 ~ YTT Module #1C – Upper Spinal Release
July 28-Aug 2 ~ Meditation Teacher Retreat & Continuing Ed

Aug 5-9 ~ EYTS – Embodyment in Poses
Aug 21-23 ~ DIY: Strength & Flexibility
Aug 28-30 ~ Year Long Program Retreat

Sept 2 ~ Leading A Discussion Group (phone course begins)
Sept 2-6 ~ YTT Module #2A – Abdominals
Sept 11-20 ~ Level 3
Sept 25-27 ~ Shaktipat Retreat
Sept 28-Oct 5 ~ ATT 463: Yoga Therapy: Neck & Shoulders

Oct 10-15 ~ Embodyment
Oct 16-18 ~ Experiential Anatomy
Oct 20-25 ~ Foundations
Oct 23-25 ~ Shaktipat Retreat in Australia
Oct 24-25 ~ Weekend Workshop in Australia
Oct 27-Nov 1 ~ ATT 262: Yoga Therapy: Treating Pain in Australia

Nov 1-5 ~ Retreat with Vichara
Nov 8-15 ~ ATT 403: Lower Spinal Release
Nov 18-22 ~ YTT Module #2B – Backbends

Dec 4-6 ~ Regional Conference – Full Spectrum Yoga

 

*Housing & Meals Rates Apply

When the Guru Received Shaktipat by Priya Kenney

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289When the Guru received shaktipat, my future changed dramatically. So did yours.

When the Guru received shaktipat, a spark was lit from a long line of sparks, and it’s sparking still.

When the Guru received shaktipat, her Baba gave her everything, just like she is giving us.

When the Guru received shaktipat, I was 20 years old. Maybe my heart jumped for joy. Maybe a shiver of recognition ran up my spine, Kundalini taking a brief practice run for what was to come many years later.

When the Guru received shaktipat, she wasn’t a Guru and she wasn’t even Rama yet. She was a lot like us. A lost soul getting found. It’s hard to imagine what she must have been like 38 years ago because she is so established in herSelf now. I think she just might have been a lot like us.  Look where she is now.

If you are lucky enough to be near Downingtown Yoga Meditation Center, you might have joined Swamiji to celebrate her Shaktipat Anniversary on Saturday, May 31. I spent my day in contemplation and gratitude for my Guru’s shaktipat and mine and yours. It’s because of her shaktipat that we are all in this together. We were always our big Self, but she is the one who is bringing us the light of that knowing, just like her Baba did for her. She went through it all, just as we are doing now. She can take us there because she walked the path, every step of the way. Jaya Guru OM.

My India Trip, February 2013 – Jyoti (Rebecca) Yacobi

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Jyoti with Swamiji

Jyoti with Swamiji

Soon after the announcement of “The Trip of a Lifetime to India” came out, I was visiting the Ashram and Swamiji asked me if I was going. I had felt a tug in my heart as soon as I knew about this holy pilgrimage. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go?! But my mind came up with very “sound” reasons why I could not go — my work schedule, my family obligations, the difficulty of the long distance travel etc. etc.

Yet Swamiji had planted a seed when she asked me that question. Grace softened my mind to the infinite possibilities unfolding. Within a month, I was booking the trip, planning how to take three weeks off work, and going to India.

Indeed, it was a life-changing experience. India is the epitome of contradictions. The sights, the sounds, the smells, and the colors of India are imbued with the extremes and paradoxes of life itself: Tantra in action, with spirituality woven in the sounds of cell phones ringing, dogs barking, incense burning, children laughing, and bells ringing at Nityananda’s temple. Ganeshpuri — the home of the Svaroopa® Yoga and Meditation lineage, Bhagavan Nityananda and Swami Muktananda — is the quintessential India.

I am so grateful to have gone on that trip to Ganeshpuri. The experience of a spiritual pilgrimage is more than any other voyage. It is not just sightseeing, although we visited many sights. It is not just spiritual practices, although we did lots of those. It is all that and so much more. Spending precious time with Swamiji, as she guided us through the spiritual practices, was a great gift. What could be more valuable than the time spent with the Guru, especially in a place where her Guru comes from?

Swamiji helped us integrate our experiences with daily Sri Guru Gita chants, satsangs, and asana classes, while we also attended Abhishek (ritual bathing ceremony) to Nityananda, Muktananda’s ashram and many little temples.

One morning after visiting the Nityananda temple, I entered a small Shiva temple right next to the central Nityananda temple. I walked down a few steps into a stone structure and felt the cool air emanating from the stones. A vortex of gravitational energy pulled me in; a whirl of energies began spiraling within me, Shiva performing a cosmic dance within the inner realms of my being, Infinity housed within this body, my body. How lucky and fortunate I was to be with Swamiji and other yogis on that day, to integrate this experience during a deep meditation.

On another day, we were blessed to have a Vedic fire ceremony. It felt as if I were immersed in another dimension, beyond this time and space. It was absolutely amazing!

Swamiji told us stories, led us through chants and meditations, shared meals with us, guided us with so much love and compassion.

Today, the internal shifts from that trip are continuing to resonate in me beyond the physical and tangible. The subtle, continuing effects of the trip can be best summarized with the following words:

Shiva’s cosmic dance
Manifesting within me
Every cell is alive
It is exhilarating and overwhelming
The mind blazing with light
Absorbed in the vast ocean of stillness
Merging into infinity
Or is it infinity opening in me?

The Guru opening doors
I float in the inner realms of my Being
Knowing what I have always known
Remembering, not forgetting
“You are Shiva, my child,
You are That”
Silence abounds within me
As I open my eyes in this realm

To register to to learn more about India 2015: Ganeshpuri’s Grace, click here.

Taglines (Installment #4)

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Svaroopa® Yoga: Yoga Made Easy

flowerSvaroopa® yoga uses a scientific approach to vibrant health and vitality, opening you to profound experiences of your own Divine nautre. Discover how easy it is to feel better.

Svaroopa® Yoga: Getting Your Body Back

flower4Svaroopa® yoga works by decompressing your spine – opening your core. You do more yoga, you feel better. You do even more yoga, you feel even better. Old familiar pains and negativities disappear. You get a new body and a new you, all at the same time.

Svaroopa® Yoga: Hit the Reset Button

flower3Your natural state is one of ease, health and enthusiasm. If that doesn’t describe how you feel today, it’s time to hit your reset button. Svaroopa® yoga takes you beyond “restorative yoga” through powerful practices that easily reinstate your inherent vitality and joy.

Svaroopa® Yoga: Multiple Levels

flower2The 21st Century is an age of anxiety, affecting your ability to love, cry and laugh.  Svaroopa® yoga poses decompress your spine, simultaneously freeing your body and multiple levels within. You discover a profound experience of Consciousness that heals you on all levels.

Svaroopa® Yoga: Deprogramming & Reprogramming

flower5Your body and mind need an upgrade! Svaroopa® yoga does this. First you learn to relax deeply. Next you learn to breathe. Then you unravel core tensions and discover your own essence that awaits you — inside. It’s all part of learning a new way to live!

Why India with Swamiji? by Sheynapurna (Sandy) Peace

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India_ Sheynapurna 2

Sheynapurna (Sandy) Peace in Ganeshpuri

I had the good fortune to be staying at the Ashram when the 2013 India trip was announced. Part of me wanted to go, but my good friend Fear reared up her head and helped Mind think up many reasons why I shouldn’t go. Sitting at the dining room table with Swamiji, I expressed some of my fears. Swamiji looked at me, gave me what I can only call “that” look and then shared several reasons why it might be important for me to take that trip.

I no longer remember the reasons I was given. What I remember most of all was looking at Her, sitting there at the table with Her, and realizing the gifts I would receive being with Her in India. Is that Grace? All I know is that my fears began to look pitiful. Was I actually worrying about a lack of toilet paper? Really? Cobras? I live in southern California, have hiked all over the back country hills and have encountered dozens of rattlesnakes….I never saw even one snake in India, much less a cobra, and toilet paper was readily available.   Would I rather sit home with my fears or see India with my Guru?

In exchange for letting my fears lie low, I got to meet the people of Ganeshpuri, so many devotees of Nityananda or Muktananda all populating one town. I sat in Nityananda’s temple, meditated in His bedroom. I got to visit Muktananda’s (now Gurumayi’s) ashram and sit in the garden by the mango tree where Muktananda gave satsang. We met the temple Brahmin priests so many times that they recognized us on the streets of Ganeshpuri. On our last morning at Nityananda’s Temple, one of the priests told me that all of the people who come to Ganeshpuri were personally invited by Nityananda. He said this, looked at me closely and said, “You must come back again. You are most welcome here”.

I will return to Ganespuri with Swamiji this coming February, to spend this special time with my Guru, Swami Nirmalananda, and share the delight of the local people in Her visit to their city. I hope to share this precious time with you!

To register or learn more information about India 2015: Ganeshpuri’s Grace, click here.

There is Only Baba – by Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati

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Swami handsWho can know the greatness of a Great One?

Who can see the brilliance of the sun?

To try to see, to try to say, to try to think — it’s all beyond my poor mind.

Baba.  There is only Baba.

 

This world is a reflection of His splendor.

He shines through your eyes.

His heart beats in mine.

Every breath is Him, giving me life.

Every thought arises from His command.  Every action is a gift I lay at His feet.

Baba.  There is only Baba.

 

Where can I go to see Him again?

He departed from this world at the end of His body’s life.

Where can I go that He is not present?

He pervades this world fully.

Yet it is inside that He is most Real, for He is my own Self.

Baba.  There is only Baba.

 

Who can know the greatness of a Great One?

Who can see the brilliance of the sun?

To try to see, to try to say, to try to think — it’s all beyond my poor mind.

Baba.  There is only Baba.

 

I am always sitting at His feet.

 

My Taste Of Ganeshpuri

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GaneshpuriBy Matrika (Marlene) Gast

In late fall 2009, I took a day trip to Ganeshpuri, which gave me a taste of this sacred place. It was as though I’d touched my tongue tip to a tiny serving at a glorious feast, only to walk away. Now Swamiji’s 2015 group trip to Ganeshpuri, the home of our Svaroopa® Sciences lineage, beckons.

I have begun my planning, putting it out there that I am going. Certainly, the cost must be considered and budgeted; acceptance and emotional support from family must be cultivated; logistics must be managed — passport, visa, flight reservations, possibly vaccinations, etc. But, based on my experience of travelling with Swamiji to Kerala in southern India five years ago, I know that once you make the decision, Grace flows all the pieces into place.

It was a fluke — or Grace — that gave me my eight-hour taste of Ganeshpuri. After Kerala in 2009, others in our group of 20 yogis had wisely planned to travel to Ganeshpuri for a week’s stay. I didn’t plan so well. Ganeshpuri was an accidental boon! Months before, when I made my flight reservations, I was confused about whether US time was ahead of or behind India, so my roommate and I had 36 hours in Mumbai before our flight back to the US. We hired a taxi to drive us the 50 kilometers northeast to Ganeshpuri. Recommended by our hotel, our driver cared for us like honored aunts, respectfully escorting us everywhere.

Ganeshpuri MealWe saw uniformed school children, with shining faces and smiles, walking to classes along a dusty road thickly bordered with lush trees and trailing vines. In Ganeshpuri, we browsed in shops with cloud-soft pashmina meditation shawls, moonstone jewelry and beautifully carved murtis of deities. We had lunch, along with our driver and the other yogis from the Kerala trip, at Rosey’s B&B where they were staying. It was simply delicious — and her chai is still redolent in memory.

NityanandaYet it is the too-brief experiences of sitting to meditate in the Gurudev Siddha Peeth, the ashram founded by Swami Muktananda, and visiting the Nityananda Samadhi Shrine, that call me back for more than a taste. The quality of pervasive peace, inside and outside, is what returns to me. The Presence of the Gurus of Ganeshpuri so filled me, that in the village shops afterward I found it impossible purchase any of the beautiful wares. I was simply too filled from within on that day, in that place. There was no need. Now I want to know what it is to BE there for two weeks, with Swamiji and all of us who will immerse in practices that flow from our lineage, which arose in that place.

Swamiji KarunaOf course, accounts from the yogis who went straight to Ganeshpuri in February 2013 will tell you so much more about this experience. Over the next several months, you will hear from them as we pave the way to our trip together as a kula — spiritual family — to our ancestral spiritual home. Looking forward to being with YOU there!!