By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

You outgrow identities.  Some are already gone, things you used to do but you don’t do anymore.  That’s simply not who you are any longer.  

There probably are some things that mean everything to you now, yet you will outgrow them too.  Things come into your life; things leave.  Sometimes you’re the one who moves on.  

There is one constant reality amidst all that change.  That is an underlying inner essence, what yoga calls your own Self.  You find your own Self only when you practice subtraction instead of addition. 

Most people try to fill their life by adding things: doing this, getting that, going there and everywhere, getting to know new people and learning things.  Most people add and add and continue to add in more and more.  

But yoga fulfills your spiritual hunger in a completely different way.  It is subversive.  It is radical.  It is revolutionary.  Yoga says,

Yeah, you can have all that stuff, but you won’t find happiness in it.  You can’t find satisfaction in it.  You can’t find Self in all that stuff.  You must turn your attention inward.  You must look deeper. 

Some styles of yoga are “addition yoga.”  They add strength to your body.  They add flexibility.  Their system gives you something you don’t currently have. Svaroopa^® yoga is a “subtraction yoga.”  With the poses, we move you into angles that unravel deep layers of physical tension.

There are areas of your body that have been locked down for years, areas that are knotted up, stuff that is gnarly and dense.  We begin subtracting the density.  This changes your body, and your mind and feelings are lightened up as well.  

We unravel the tensions to reveal what is hidden underneath — the deep peace that is your nature.  While you begin with your body, you discover an inner happiness that is ever-arising within.  This is a true and profound satisfaction that depends on nothing outside of you.  It is your own deeper sense of Self. 

Yoga is a process of clearing away the stuff you think you are, but that you really are not, so you can find the deeper dimension inside.  This essence that yoga uncovers is called svaroopa, Sanskrit for “your inherent Is-ness.”  Sva- means Self.  

In yoga we distinguish between “small-s self” and “capital-S Self.”  The self with the small “s” is your superficial identity or, unfortunately, multiple identities, which are supported and sustained by your activities in life.  Your capital-S Self is your deeper essence of pure Beingness. 

A yogi shared about her college-age daughter who had finished her summer job and returned to school.  During her summer vacation, she had a real job and apartment and took care of herself.  She lived like an adult for three months but returned to a college dorm.  She was having trouble adjusting.  Her sense of self had been radically altered! 

This shows how your small-s self is based on where you are and what you do: holding down a job and paying rent compared to attending classes and living in a dorm.  Your small-s self will continue to change throughout the whole rest of your life, depending on where you are, who you know and what you do.

Your capital-S Self is the unchanging reality within.  Your svaroopa is the eternal dimension of your own being, your own Divine Essence.  To know and to experience Self is the purpose of all yoga’s practices.  Yoga quiets your mind so that your underlying essence is revealed.

— Excerpt from Yoga: Embodied Spirituality, pages 14‒16

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

When I was a teenager, I often complained that this didn’t seem to be a free country. If I was free, I should be able to go where I wanted, when I wanted, and do and say what I wanted.

My mother, who carefully controlled all of those things, responded that was not the meaning of freedom. I knew that I didn’t understand her or what I had learned in school about freedom in America. 

Then I lived in Madrid during the time the Spaniards regained their freedom. I had gone to Madrid to help with the opening of a yoga center, and was living and working with Madrileños. I particularly loved my daily commute by bus, surrounded by chatter in a language I could partly understand, driving through beautiful plazas with huge, incredible fountains. 

They were preparing for their first election in 40 years, and every day there were huge political rallies that lasted until the madrugada, the wee hours of the morning. In addition to the political fervor that I recognized from elections in the USA, there was an added element of infectious joy. They were so incredibly happy to regain the right to vote. 

I began to question my idea of freedom. From the many years of schooling in American history to the many years of training in yoga philosophy was a big leap, yet they both spoke so movingly of freedom. I knew that I still didn’t understand freedom. Only with two more decades of yoga practice am I beginning to get it.

The goal in yoga is an ultimate state, described in many different terms, the most important of which is “freedom.” You get a taste of yoga’s freedom in every yoga class. It might happen to you after Seated Side Stretch, when your opening is more than merely physical. Maybe you love Jathara Parivrttanasana (Rotated Stomach Pose) because it seduces you into an irresistible inner depth.

It could happen in a backbend, when the pose stops being such a struggle and you feel like you could lift off and fly. Or maybe one of those seated forward bends makes you melt into something bigger than the universe. 

One of the most reliable places to find it is in Shavasana, especially the closing Shavasana at the end of class. The whole class is a warm-up for the final Shavasana, so you can experience the freedom at the deepest level of your own existence. Mukti — freedom.                                                                                                            

The practices of yoga provide immediate results, which is very important in our hurry-up-must-get-it-now lifestyle. Even your first class makes you feel better than you imagined possible. In the beginning, it appears that the purpose of the class is to fix your body. Familiar pains disappear or are profoundly diminished, and you enjoy a new feeling of profound relaxation and ease.

Most amazingly, you feel both relaxed and energized at the same time — a rare combination! The freedom of comfort and ease in your body is a great freedom, but yoga’s promise doesn’t end with this first blush of success.     

In addition to this feeling in your body, you experience an inner feeling of peace, from the very first class. You feel undeniably calmer on the inside. In the same way that the physical benefits develop further as you continue, this inner sense of peace develops progressively into stithi, an inner stability that supports you in all places and times. This yoga-feeling is inside you, supporting you wherever you go.

— Excerpt from Yoga Inside & Outside, pages 93‒94