By Gurudevi Nirmalananda 

Happy New Year! It’s a new start. It’s like the sunrise in the morning, radiant and glorious with colors of light blazing across the sky. May your new year bring you this light — inside.

Your own inner light is the light of Consciousness. I’ll compare you to a snowflake, different from all the other snowflakes, unique and individual. A mass of clouds are blown into place. The water forms into ice crystals and falls from the sky. From the one source and substance, you come into being as an individual.

Yet all the snowflakes ultimately melt back into water – merging into the whole again. In this way, you are a unique form of Consciousness, fascinating, intricate, beautiful, even mesmerizing. Yet your goal is to become water again, to live in the fluidity and flow that is inherent to your being.

For this, you look to your own essence – the essence of a snowflake is water, and the essence of a human being is Beingness. Why is this important?  

Because you’re not yet actualizing the Beingness that you are – you’re not living in the flow of Divine Consciousness and Bliss. You are made of Beingness, and when Beingness experiences Beingness, the experience is bliss – Divine unending constant inner bliss that feeds and nourishes you on all levels. Your goal is the bliss of Consciousness, oh Shiva. To find, to feel, to see and to know your own Self as the one Self being an individual while being the whole.

So here we are at the beginning of a new year, blossoming forth with all possibilities, all potentialities, arising from within, from the source of the universe – your own source, oh Shiva.

You get to choose. The creative power of Consciousness lies intact within you. You can sculpt time into whatever shape you’d like it to be. You can be up before the sunrise, doing yoga and meditation so the inner sun comes up with the outer sun.  

You can bring that light into every corner of your life, basing your decisions and actions in the inner illumination that flows forth as love and creativity. You will easily find compassionate and intelligent solutions, exciting and promising plans and ways to get more as well as ways to give more. 

And if you choose the same-old, same-old, you’ll get the same-old, same-old. Yes, I’m talking about New Year’s resolutions – again.  Some of you have heard…

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Christmas celebrates Divine Light in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. While most call him the “son of God,” he called himself the “son of man.” As a yogi, I can describe him as an incarnation of Consciousness, a light unto the world.

Driving down the streets, I am delighted by all the lights on the buildings and in the yards. In the Northern Hemisphere, these year-end holy days come in the shortest days of the year, shining light through the dark.

Hanukkah comprises eight nights of candle lighting, commemorating the miracle of the oil lamps in the rededicated Temple in Jerusalem. As a yogi, I light candles on my altar daily, to honor the Divine outside and inside.

Kwanzaa has the lighting of candles on seven nights, paying tribute to worthy principles that underlie African-American culture. These are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. As a yogi, I see these as principles of Consciousness that lie at the foundation of our practice and our lives.

Solstice celebrations date as far back as the Neolithic period, 10,000 BCE. They are found in the history of many places including Rome, Egypt, China, Persia, Peru, Native Americans and more. Stonehenge is built for the winter solstice. As a yogi, I love the light that shines through the dark, especially shining through your inner darkness so that you become an agent of Divine Light.

Each of these beautiful traditions invoke light in their own way. While the principles and stories behind each of these celebrations are inspiring, the participants’ focus is usually more mundane. Family gatherings, gift giving and feasting are important communal activities, but they rarely mention the holiness of the event. When they do light candle or attend a religious service, it is a small percentage of the time that they spend together. Their focus is on each other.

As a yogi, I found that looking outward left me unfulfilled. I tried. I focused on the people. I focused on the candle flame. I focused on the memory of Jesus. I focused on the highest principles of life and the idea of light shining through the dark. And I still felt empty.

All of these celebrations look outward. Yoga’s focus is on finding your own inner light. Thus I confess that I lost interest in these beautiful festivals long ago. My joy is daily. My bliss is continuing. My experience of the Divine is internal, the bedrock of Beingness that supports my existence as well as yours.

Yet I delight in gathering with others – not so that they will fill me up, but so I can see their inner light shining through their eyes. To me, you all glow with the light of Consciousness all the time. This is why I bow. Again and again I bow.

By Joan (Jayadevi) Bragar

My first time hearing the Guru Gita being chanted was overwhelming. 

How could anyone chant, no less memorize or understand, something that was one hundred and eighty-two verses long? This is what I thought the first time I heard the morning recital of the Guru Gita at Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram. 

I asked a longtime member, “How did you memorize the verses?” She replied, “I’ve been doing it for a long time.” She and others clearly loved this chant. I was curious, but not convinced.

Fast forward one year, I was back at the Ashram for Gurudevi’s Blue Pearl Retreat. This time I was prepared with new resources that Gurudevi has painstakingly provided. Her new book, Yoga’s Sacred Songs, includes all of the Guru Gita verses in Sanskrit, along with the translations, rendered by her into English. Not only could I follow along, I could also understand what we were singing. 

Now, in my morning home practice, thanks to Gurudevi’s 2024 album, Mystical Song of the Guru, I listen to her English version. On her Honored Guru Gita album, I listen to the Sanskrit version. I alternate these versions of the chant throughout the days of the week. 

The English version teaches me the importance and value of revering the Guru as your Self. The Sanskrit version’s sonorous tones sink deeply into my heart — ever expanding me into Consciousness.

I am grateful for Gurudevi’s beautiful singing voice that brings us these ancient teachings in a delightful way. The Guru Gita gives us access to a spiritual tradition that moves me ever deeper into my Self.

Listen and enjoy!

Gratitude and devotion are not the same thing.  Gratitude is always for something, it’s transactional.  You get x, so you feel grateful for it.  You say, “Thank you.”  You even know how to say thank you whether you’re grateful or not.  But hopefully you get to enjoy being grateful. Still, it’s a transaction.  Devotion is unfounded, even unbounded.  When you experience devotion, it’s…  

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “An Attitude of Gratitude“

By Joan (Jayadevi) Bragar

Back in January, when I first got Gurudevi’s 2024 Calendar Journal, I had no idea how I would use it. When I open it now, I read pages filled with insights and reflections on my yogic journey. 

This practice continuously deepens my connection to my Self as Shiva. For example, today’s quote from Gurudevi was:

“The trick in relationships is this: for a yogi, the friction is about changing you, not helping you get what you want from others.”

This teaching reminds me how to have something to give to my family over the holidays. I need to find it within myself first. Through meditation, especially daily meditation with Gurudevi in her Meditation Club, I am filled within. Thus, I am supported in having peaceful and loving relationships with my children and grandchildren.

Before we meditate, Gurudevi expands on the day’s Calendar quote. She reads the section of her teachings article from which the quote comes. I use the journal pages to take notes on it and to reflect on my experience after meditation. This journaling practice deepens my grasp of our mystical tradition.

Our new 2025 Living Mysticism Calendar Journal is now available in the Ashram store.  It has convenient references for every daily quote. These support you in going to the source articles to understand each quote more deeply. The 2025 pages are also slightly larger, so there is more room for writing what you are learning. I especially appreciate this for, in 2024, I often wrote sideways up the page to record all that I wanted to capture.

We have among us a living Master of the Shaktipat tradition — Gurudevi Nirmalananda. My appreciation for this blessing deepens as I use her Living Mysticism Calendar Journal. Through it, I deepen my connection with her.

There’s an easy way to get out of your own way.  When you find yourself blocking your Divine Essence from shining through, give your mind a mantra recess.  Just do five or ten minutes of mantra. And then…

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Getting Blasted“

By Lloyd (Dharma) Apirian

Interviewed by Lori (Priya) Kenney

My Swami Sunday experience is not just an hour and a half.  It’s a full day.  Almost every Sunday, I drive about two-and-a-half hours from home to Downingtown.  In my car, I have a puja with a Ganesha and photo of Gurudevi.  It’s right in front of the cupholders, so I see it while driving.  Sometimes I listen to Gurudevi’s chants, and sometimes it’s just quiet.

Arriving at 9:30-ish, I first set up my seat.  I like to bow to the Guru’s seat and my seat, and then sit and wait quietly. Soon Gurudevi is in her seat, and we’re chanting with her.  That always brings me inside and softens me.  Because her words are sacred, Gurudevi’s discourse engages my mind with sacred thoughts.  She’s expressing what I call great statements such as “I am Consciousness.”  Everything she says is blessed and is a blessing.  

Darshan with Gurudevi has changed for me.  I used to want to tell her things during darshan, but I don’t feel the need for that anymore.  I bow to honor her, and when I come up, I only want to voice our mantra.  I unwrap the prasad right away and let it melt in my mouth instead of my bag!  It honors the gift and Gurudevi.  

The time after the formal program is sweet.  We gather in the café area adjacent to the Meditation Hall.  We chat and enjoy more treats, which have been prepared by a sevite.  The whole experience reliably puts me in a lovely place within my own being.  And that lasts.  

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

What’s up with all the names?

Bottom line, all yoga is good yoga — even when they are all different. It’s like lunch. No matter what you eat midday, it’s still called lunch.

Hot Yoga is done in a hot room (98°), making it easier for your muscles to lengthen. It is also called Bikram Yoga, honoring the yogi who brought it to America from India.

Yin Yoga is about cooling down and slowing down. You lean into cushions and blocks to make your muscles able to lengthen more easily.

Why this emphasis on muscle lengthening? When your muscles lengthen, your nervous system tells your brain to stand down from red alert. This helps your mind become more peaceful. When your mind is peaceful, you can see deeper within. Yoga is all about looking inward to discover your own essence and beingness.

Ashtanga Vinyasa gets you moving fast and breathing fast, like aerobics. The dance-like sequences are repeated again and again. Power Yoga and Jivanmukti Yoga are variations on this theme. Viniyoga slows it down, still keeping you moving with a methodology focused on the healing sequencing of the poses.

Kundalini Yoga gives you lots of fast breathing, coordinated with repetitive physical movements. You might experience inner heat from the energy moving through your spine, which is its purpose.

Moving and breathing are good for your body. They are good for your mind as well as for your emotions.

Yet beyond mere exercise, yoga is about your discovery of the deeper dimensionality within you. In these fast-moving yoga systems, what matters most is the inner stillness that you experience when you stop pumping your breath and body.

The classical yoga systems focus more on the inner stillness. While you do poses and yogic breathing, there is usually a pause between the poses, specifically for the refinement of your awareness.

Hatha Yoga is the classical system, meaning a yoga that you “hatha,” you apply yourself to — using will power, time and effort. The Sanskrit texts clearly describe that you are working on getting enlightened by beginning with your body and breath. The focus is on awakening Kundalini, the energy of the cosmos which lies hidden in your spine.

Variations on the classical system include Sivananda Yoga, Integral Yoga and Indra Devi Yoga, which was the first Yoga Teacher Training that I took. Their emphasis on yogic relaxation has expanded to a modern system of its own, Yoga Nidra. Kripalu Yoga is also related, emphasizing that you simply do what you can and don’t worry about perfecting the pose.

Iyengar Yoga comes from hatha yoga, an eponymous approach featuring many innovations by its founder. You move into a position and stay there while finessing your technique, a sophisticated form of isometrics. Then you do another pose, followed by another. Anusara Yoga and Restorative Yoga are variations on this approach.

These systems have their roots in a classical methodology that spans millennia. While the modern focus is on limber, lithe and lean, yoga’s poses come from the tantric yogis in the Himalayas. Tantra means loom, where the interweaving of warp and woof threads happens. Among the tantrics’ many secrets were poses, yogic breathing, mantra and the inner awakening by a great master.

I was graced by this inner awakening almost 50 years ago, which fired up my transformational process. The fuel propelling my rocket ship through the inner stratosphere was Cosmic Consciousness climbing my spine — Kundalini. She taught me how the poses are supposed to work, from the inside out. This is why I teach:

Svaroopa^® yoga is a spine-centric yoga. It is a slower-paced yoga. Every pose targets your spine, to decompress it and restore it to full health and resiliency. “You are as young as your spine,” the saying goes. It is true.

Yet there is more going on in your spine, a mystical center for the blossoming forth of Consciousness from within. We use alignments, yoga props and careful pose adjustments by your teacher to dissolve your deepest spinal tensions. Not only does it keep you young, it opens up the flow of life energy within.

With time and practice, this opening leads to the inner awakening, as described in the classical hatha yoga texts. Easier still, the inner awakening is available in a weekend workshop, the Shaktipat Retreat.

While Svaroopa^® yoga is based in Consciousness, it utilizes many of the tools you find in other yogic systems. Our yogic breathing is a slower type than you find in a Kundalini Yoga class, but deeply effective for energizing and enlivening your whole body-mind-soul system.

When we have you reach your arm up in the air, it’s not about how far you can go. Instead, we use the angle of your arm as a way to access your spine, like a laser beam shining from your hand, through your arm, through your shoulder and into your spine.

We repeat certain pose sequences, similar to Viniyoga, for their ease and effectiveness. We enjoy a slower paced class, similar to Yin Yoga, and we use yoga props like in Iyengar Yoga.

You get hot in Svaroopa^® yoga, but it is inner heat, the most delicious and powerful kind. It dissolves muscular tensions while it untangles your limiting thoughts and beliefs. It’s all for the purpose of setting you free. Yoga is about liberation!