Category Archives: Ashram News

Shining with Divine Light

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By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

We love the moon’s silvery-white light, a cooling light. Its soft glow illumines the darkness, soothing and calming your mind.

Yet the moon is not the source of its light. It merely reflects the light of the sun.

Similarly, the light of Consciousness shines through your mind. The source is within, your own Divine Essence.

If your mind were clear and spacious, your mind’s light would be cool, soothing and comforting. This is why spending time with your Guru is so valuable — the Divine light shining through their mind cools, soothes and comforts you.

Lokanandah samadhi-sukham. — Shiva Sutras 1.16

Such a yogi experiences the bliss of Consciousness in every situation, and it is transmitted to those in contact with him.

The Guru’s influence is unerring. Like sitting under a shade tree, you cool down. As you cool down, you settle into yourself. By Grace, your settling inward goes deeper — into your own Self.

You blossom like night-blooming jasmine in moonlight. I use this metaphor because my Baba had a row of these shrubs in his India Ashram. I walked by them on my way to the hillside meditation hall every morning at 3 am. Their fragrance was intoxicating! Now I know that it was not only the shrubs that were blooming. It was me, too.

However, if your mind is full of limiting notions, Consciousness first has to burn them away. I know how it works because my Baba gave me this — the fire of yoga burning away everything that held me back. Shaktipat initiates this inner process which leads to moksha, liberation.

The process is called purification. You are burning away the inner impurities. It can get hot, especially if you try to keep yourself limited and small. The alternative is clinging to your feeling of being incomplete. You already know this is painful.

Your yogic future is described in the Shiva Sutras…

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The Guru

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While the Guru is one who dispenses God’s Grace, don’t confuse the Guru with a particular personality or physical form. Yes, I loved spending time with my Guru.  I love his photos, to see these images of his physical form.  Yet, I know it’s the Divine Reality in him that made him lovable…

 —  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “You Need a Guru“

Watch Full Discourse Here

Slow Yoga

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By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Yoga slows down your inner pace, something truly needed in modern life. When you are able to stand down from red alert, your mind benefits along with your body.

Though some yoga systems have you speed up in order to slow down, the classical practice is done slowly. In other words, you slow down by slowing down.

It’s something everyone longs for, whether they plan an island vacation or to build a backyard living room. Or maybe simply an afternoon nap on the couch. You slow down by slowing down.

Even the ancients did their poses slowly. No internet, no superhighways, no airplanes or rocket ships, so they didn’t need to counterbalance the frenetic pace of life. Yet the yogis did slow poses back then.

The point is to use your body to cultivate an inward expansion into the deeper dimensionality of your own Beingness.

Each pose is used to dissolve the physical tensions your mind has created through its focus on need, greed and fear. As you melt away the old patterns, you enliven your body, thus awakening your nervous system, glandular system, circulatory and respiratory systems as well as your brain.

Vibrant health and vitality are only the beginning. The bliss of Consciousness is the goal.

Your spine is the conduit of Consciousness, documented in the ancient saying, “Every pose is for your spine.” Slow yoga gives you the time to unravel the deep tensions that have twisted and compressed your vertebrae.

In Svaroopa® yoga, every pose targets a specific area of your spine, decompressing your vertebrae and unlocking your energy. Your nervous system runs on energy, which comes from your spine, extending through your whole body. Best of all is the bliss that flows through as your energy awakens and spreads.

Speedy yoga was an innovation starting only 100 years ago, a mix of British calisthenics and classical yoga. Since India had been conquered and ruled by the Brits for 100 years or more, the adaptation was a survival need.

My 1970’s training was in the classical practice. I watched speedy yoga be adopted by the health clubs and YMCA classes. Then an international competition was begun, now called “yoga sports.” Slow yoga was eclipsed by the speedy, showy and sexy yoga in the foreground. Yet yoga is more powerful when it is done slowly.

I was in residence in my Guru’s India Ashram when a yogic adept came to visit. Asked to give a yoga demonstration, he performed one Sun Salutation. Moving slowly, it took him almost five minutes to do one. It was beautiful. It was poetic. It was almost like the gandharvas were playing their celestial instruments to accompany him. And it was a profound athletic feat, much harder than speedy yoga could ever be.

Svaroopa® yoga is a slow yoga. Profoundly healing, it is deeply nourishing on a spiritual level as well as physical. It opens up a mystical process of exploration, beginning with your breath and body, then deepening inward.

What do you find in there? Svaroopa, your own Divine Essence. You find who is living in this body, who is making choices and acting upon them, who is moving into the world.

As you explore your own Beingness, you discover who is having the experiences you are having. It’s not about the experiences — it’s about the experiencer. You discover your own Self. For this, you have to slow down.

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Do More Yoga! 

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By Amanda (Purna) Schmidt

How do you keep the spinal release you get in your Svaroopa® yoga class?  

Each day of home practice keeps your body open while it prepares you to get even more out of your next class.

Our Pose Instruction Cards provide everything you need to boost your home practice.

“Svaroopa® Yoga Basics” goes into depth on the Foundational Poses. “Daily Practice” builds on this information with advanced variations as well as new poses.

Each card contains detailed pose instructions. Also included are pose benefits and guidance on props and when to do the pose. You will find further guidance on creating a custom practice that works for you. 

And you will learn more about how the poses support your meditation. Go deeper in your home practice and get even more from your yoga. 

Basics Pose Cards
Daily Practice Pose Cards

Today is Yoga Day

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Join us in observing the 11th annual International Day of Yoga today, June 21.  Celebrate by taking a class or doing more yoga at home. 

Svaroopa® yoga teachers around the country are teaching classes, including Kelly (Kushala) Sharp in Rehoboth Beach DE. She is offering a free class in honor of the day.

Here at the Ashram, Swami Satrupananda is teaching a FREE Yoga For Pain Relief Class.  And Swami Shrutananda and Swami Prajñananda are teaching in Madison WI and Fairhope AL respectively.

Around the world, 300 million people do yoga.  What if your co-workers, your family members, everyone on the road did yoga? The world would be a much better place!

This year’s theme is “Yoga for One Earth, One Health.”  You already know that yoga improves your health in so many ways. 

It increases your flexibility, strength, cardiovascular health, posture, balance, and bone health.  It improves your breathing, reduces your stress and anxiety, and increases your ability to focus.  It is wonderful that these benefits are so very well known. 

Yet the purpose of yoga has always been to give you even more:

“Yoga’s practices show the way to your inherent wholeness and holiness.” 

– Gurudevi Nirmalananda, in Beyond Confusion

Yoga gives you your own Self. Self is your inherent Divinity. It is the source of your joy, your happiness, your ability to love and your impulse to give. 

Svaroopa® yoga specializes in giving you experiences of your own Self, until you always know that’s who you are. And you recognize everyone else as another form of that same Divinity.  Whether or not they do yoga. But wouldn’t it be great if they did? 

Ashram Yoga Classes
Global Yoga Classes
Private Yoga Therapy

Breakthrough

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Of course, you can have a breakthrough on a vision quest in nature, or in a dream.  Maybe not a piece of chocolate.  But anything, potentially anything can stop your mind and let your inherent Divinity peek through.  How great it is.  Or rather, how great it was…  

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Guru’s Grace“

Watch Full Discourse Here

Ways to Deepen Inward

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Attending Gurudevi’s satsangs, you get her profound teachings, delicious opportunities to chant and guidance to easily slip into meditation.  

Her meditation programs are Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. You deepen inward, enjoy a rich experience and learn how to understand it.

Wednesday July 9th is a unique opportunity to dive especially deep. We will be celebrating Guru Purnima. This holy day occurs on the biggest full moon of the year, and is dedicated to honoring your spiritual teacher. 

As a Meditation Master, Gurudevi Nirmalananda makes herself available as Grace Personified.  She gives us a way to tap into our own svaroopa most easily.  On Sunday, July 13, her teachings and chants will focus on honoring and celebrating her own Guru.

The Ashram’s Vowed Order will be on retreat during with this celebration. You’ll be joining these deeply committed yogis, whether you come in person or online. They’ve travelled from near and far to sit and bow at the feet of their Guru. You will feel the amped up power of Guru Purnima!  

Inspired to learn more about our Vowed Order? Sign up for Gurudevi’s free Vows Info Call to ask all your questions!

Guru Purnima 7/13
Vows Info Call 7/15

Use Mantra

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You know, in the beginning most people use mantra to calm themselves when they’re upset.  How great that it works for you.  You can calm yourself.  You can get centered again when you’ve been thrown off center.  Yes, use mantra for this.  But consider, what if you did mantra when you didn’t “need” it?  If it will give you your Self when…

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “I Got It!“

Watch Full Discourse Here

Support for Healing

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By Joan (Jayadevi) Bragar

Within the Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram community, I am a Sadhaka. This means I am committed to doing Svaroopa® yoga practices daily. Recently, I found myself challenged to do so. I was in pain as I began recovering from a recent surgery.

A Svaroopa® yoga friend suggested I listen to the “Long Guided Awareness” track on the Experience Shavasana with Gurudevi Nirmalananda album. This had been helpful for my friend’s husband in coping with a chronic illness. 

When I listen to this Guided Awareness, the muscles around my surgical incision relax. This release allows me to participate more fully in other Svaroopa® yoga practices, including Ujjayi breathing, mantra and meditation.

Another yogi friend suggested that I practice Easy Breathing. For guidance, I turned to Gurudevi’s album Mystical Yogic Breathing. When I listen to track three, “Easy Open Breathing,” I’m able to release constrictions around my abdomen and chest exacerbated by surgery. When I release these tensions, I benefit more fully from Ujjayi breathing. I practice it on my own for 30 minutes at a time and find it especially healing.

All Mystical Yogic Breathing tracks give me new teachings about the healing power of yogic breathing.  I can use them in my daily practice. When I listen to these CDs and apply their lessons, I experience the bliss of Consciousness moving through me. This reduces my pain and enlivens my body and my mood. What a gift in the midst of a long recovery!

Experience Shavasana
Mystical Yogic Breathing