Take a peek inside. See how Gurudevi’s new Calendar Journal helps you with yogifying your day, every day.
January 18
Svaroopa® yoga specializes in core opening, the decompression of your spine, both physically and energetically.
January 19
Each time you lift and open your spine, you stay a little more open and become more able to live in that openness.
January 20
Svaroopa® Yoga’s practices turn life’s momentum from contraction to expansion.
By Evy (Kalyani) Zavolas
Interviewed by Agnes (Aikya) Hetherington
I began teaching Svaroopa® yoga in 2000 and begged my family to try my classes. For years their response was always,“No thanks.”
Twelve years ago, my dad developed severe neck pain, probably from his work as a mechanic. It was so bad he had to close his business for a month. A doctor examined him and said, “Come back tomorrow for a shot of pain relief.”
I happened to drop by that evening and saw how much he was suffering. With no arguments, I put him into Slow Motion Dive, Stage 1. After a few minutes he came out saying, “Oh, the pain is gone, it must be a miracle!” An hour later he told my mom to “call the doctor and cancel that appointment!”
The neck pain never came back, but Dad continued to have lower grade pain. Three herniated discs left him unable to stand or walk for too long. He could “live with it” by sitting down every 10–15 minutes. A doctor told him he would eventually need surgery.
A few months ago, it worsened after a long trip overseas. Again, I begged him to try yoga, but he had forgotten the miracle 12 years before. For 6 years, he had done physical therapy, had 15–20 epidurals, and ended up taking steroids. The side effects were terrible, especially the inability to sleep. He was waiting to see a surgeon with the results of an MRI.
Finally, in desperation he agreed to try a yoga class. He felt better immediately. The next day he told me “the pain is 90% gone,” and asked for another class. He still went to see the surgeon, who told Dad, “You don’t need surgery, just keep doing what you’re doing.”
Now he comes to classes once or twice a month and has given up the steroids. Twelve years ago, he thought the miracle was a coincidence, but now he believes. This stuff works!
By Lynn (Gurupremananda) Cattaffi
The moment I opened Gurudevi’s new calendar journal, Living Mysticism, I was inspired.
Each quote for the day is a profound sutra, worthy of contemplation, and relevant to my practice. Each quote is placed to help me deepen my inner state day by day.
The journal aspect of the book is inspiring me to be more consistent with journaling. I want to fill every day with my meditation experiences. I don’t skip even a day of meditation. In the same way, I don’t want to miss even a day of memorializing my progress inward in this sweet journal.
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
We all love the primal elements: earth, water, fire, air, and empty space.
Yoga names these mahabhutas as the building blocks of all that exists in this world. It is especially powerful where they meet — like the ocean washing against a sandy beach or crashing against the rocks.
Maybe for you it is sunrise or sunset over the sea; when there are a few wispy clouds, you can get all five elements at once:
The shoreline — earth
The ocean — water
The sun — fire
The clouds — air (when the air is holding water, you can see it, otherwise air is invisible)
The space between the clouds — empty space
So many beautiful photographs and paintings feature these primal elements, and they touch something deep inside you. Some of your favorite places probably have the combination of several mahabhutas, perhaps even your own garden.
Yoga explains that we love them because they are different expressions of the One, the primordial essence, which is the source of everything. You are made of this same substance, which is why you experience such a profound feeling in these environments. You enjoy a resonance or a recognition of the shared essence.
Since we are so often out of touch with our own essence, we need these external reminders. Many people even dream of retiring to the hinterlands and living in the midst of nature; they are seeking an environment that will give them constant peace and joy.
Recently I have realized that even before I loved the ocean, I loved fire. My first experience of making friends with fire was when I was about 12 years old. One by one, I lit all the matches in a book of matches and let each burn down to my fingertips. I was enchanted and have been ever since.
Ocean and fire are two very important images in yoga. Many texts speak eloquently of the ocean of consciousness, directing you to your own inner essence so you can discover the vastness and fullness that is even greater than the ocean. At my request, Master Yoga has featured photos of the ocean on our catalogue covers for several years. Of course, our locations on both the Atlantic and Pacific are no accident!
Our January 2006 catalogue has a roaring fire on the cover, to honor the fire of yoga. The power and beauty of fire is captivating. Fire is very important in many ways. The light and heat of the sun makes our planet hospitable to us. Civilization began when man tamed fire. Your own life depends on the cellular fire of digestion and metabolism. Most importantly, yoga specializes in the inner fire, which blazes forth in a radiant glow that transforms your experience of yourself, your life, and the world.
This transformation is needed because you live in amnesia, not knowing your true essence. You are Consciousness-Itself, an individualized form with a type of Divine Amnesia. This is both because you have forgotten your own Divine Nature, and also because the amnesia was placed in you as part of the Divine Play that brings this world into existence.
Your job is to recover from the amnesia and recognize your true being. Yoga is the amnesia-recovery system.
You already know that yoga helps you with your aches and pains, and can even cure many conditions that stymie medicine. I am delighted to hear of every “miracle cure” and receive several reports every week. This is the starting point for most yogis, the motivation to make some changes in your life.
Excerpt from Gurudevi’s book — “Yoga: Inside & Outside,” pages 145-146
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
Primordial Consciousness takes on a body – yours.
Primordial Consciousness takes on all bodies –even rocks, mountains, trees and rivers, and the many objects. Consciousness is being the whole universe and all it comprises – including you.
Why? Out of the bliss of pure Beingness, Consciousness is overflowing in exuberant creativity. Each thing that Consciousness becomes is a blossoming forth, with the whole contained in it.
The purpose of yoga is to empower your discovery that the whole of Consciousness is hidden within you. Thus you will live in the continuing knowing of Consciousness being you. Consciousness, which we call Shiva, is being your quirks and peculiarities as well as your talents, skills and loving heart.
From Shiva’s perspective, it’s like light shining through a crystal hanging in the window. The ray of light becomes many colored lights dancing around the room. Shiva is the one light. You are one of the different colored lights. You think you are merely small, a dot of light among many, with each being less than the whole. Yet, when you look into the dancing dot of light, you see that it is made of light. Fully, wholly and completely made of light…
But when you haven’t yet attained your own Beingness, it all looks starkly different. As an individual, a contracted form of Consciousness, you don’t experience the fullness of your inherent bliss and Divinity all the time, at least not yet. You don’t know you are made of light. Your dance includes sorrow as well as joy. Your internal GPS has lost…
By Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast, Yogaratna
This “calendar journal” comprises 366 curated sutras from Gurudevi’s teachings. That’s one for each day of the leap year.
They have been gleaned from her 30 years of teaching articles. Each day, you get a sacred reminder of who you are as a yogi.
From Day One of 2024, you get encouragement to create a yogic life based in your Divine Essence. Day by day, get guidance on how to let yoga propel you to Self-Realization.
A sutra crowns the top of each four-by-seven blank page. Each invites you to plan your day and/or journal about it. Within this book of succinct teachings, you are writing your own 2024 memoir.
Unfold your personal story of being the Divine Essence that has created you. Your book within this book will reflect your experience of the mystical truth of your life. Simultaneously Divine and practical, you will see how you are a unique form of the eternal, infinite formless.
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
It’s predictable. You start doing yoga or meditating and pretty soon you’re eating healthier.
How does that come about? Your life is becoming “yogified.” I confess that I made up the word, specifically to describe the organic process of upliftment yoga provides.
This experience is the fulfillment of a promise made thousands of years ago, repeated through the ages by India’s ancient and modern sages.
In addition to physical improvements, your life begins to change. You are less anxious, so you deal with situations and people differently. You sleep better. Dare I accuse you of becoming more peaceful? Your relationships improve as a result; you even see those around you from a different perspective.
These results are predictable because you’re aligning yourself with Consciousness-Itself. The light of your inherent Divinity, svaroopa, is beginning to shine through. These organic lifestyle changes are the best part of yoga! They are your first steps toward enlightenment — you’re cleaning up your act.
It’s helpful to understand what’s happening to you. When you get the map of the inner terrain you are traversing, you can cooperate with the process and anticipate your next steps. The writings of the sages describe clearly how you…
— Excerpt from A Yogic Lifestyle, pages ix-xii
By Nirooshitha Sethuram, Yogaratna
The sweetness of sitting is found in Sukhasana, one of my favorite poses. The name says it all. Sukha in Sanskrit means happiness, pleasant, ease, joy or bliss.
Sukhasana gives me all these experiences, and more, especially when well aligned with an upright spine. Then I settle into myself. I find the balance point in my torso and use the natural support of my spinal column.
I also use props to make myself comfortable. Rolled blankets under my knees keep my thighs level, front to back. When I am well aligned with props, my head stays where it belongs, and my sit
My whole spine lengthens from my tailbone all the way into my ribcage and neck. I feel my hips opening. This spinal release unravels tension in my knees and ankles as well.
Then I can sit in Sukhasana for a longer time. I simply abide in my own Self, settling into stillness, outside and inside. I often sit in Sukhasana when I am listening to my Guru’s discourses and other teachings. I meditate in Sukhasana all the time. The simplicity of this pose makes it easy for me to teach, meditate and pray.
Most of all, this pose soothes and calms my mind and grounds me inside. It provides the physical support that allows me to experience a sense of inner peace and calmness while remaining completely present. It fills me fully and brings contentment.
Sitting in Sukhasana invites my mind to come inside, sit and stay. It also gives me the pillar of support while practicing Ujjayi Pranayama. I can accustom myself to the inner energies that are balancing and flowing up my spine. My mind is quieted and my awareness turns easily inward.
This is all possible by the blessings of our Guru, Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati, whom we lovingly call GurudeviJi. I am forever grateful to my Guru and the practices she has blessed us with, so gracefully.
Excerpt from Telecourse by Gurudevi Nirmalananda
Your mental and emotional state affects your relationships, your work and even your health.
Emotional pain and psychological needs can be what motivated you to start yoga, but everything changes when you discover what you really get — your capital-S Self.
The bliss of the Self is far greater than any blissful sensory experience. The depth at which you live, within yourself, is more meaningful than anything outside of you can provide. While the Svaroopa® practices improve your psychology, they’re not about psychology. They’re about enlightenment.
Yet, on the way to enlightenment, you become a better person, a happier person, more understanding, more generous, more genuinely present in everything you do. But if your goal is to be better, happier, understanding, etc., you’ll settle for too little. Wearing the clothes, wearing the jewelry and wearing the mask of spirituality just freezes you into another superficial sense of self
Yoga’s spirituality is for a purpose. Just like a car’s purpose is to provide you with reliable transportation, not to give you an identity. For example, I’m now driving my 6th Honda over the years, but I don’t have the identity of being a Honda owner.
The Guru keeps you on track, if you let yourself be seen. Many Svaroopis keep a careful distance from me, because they know that, if they come, I’ll see how they are and where they’re at. Of course! I care about you! If you’re stuck in your stuff, do I want to leave you there?
Excerpt from Leaps & Bounds, Module 2
Give yourself a New Year’s gift — a fresh start ― online as well as on-site! Gurudevi Nirmalananda explains,
I love the new year. It holds such promise, like the seed of that will grow, flower and fruit. It’s a time to celebrate life and the turning of a cycle. It’s time to plan how to make the most of the coming year. Let’s do it together!
This retreat includes yoga poses, chanting, meditation, teaching talks and more. Gurudevi leads you through deep inner experiences that transform your sense of self. Discover your eternal expansiveness. Be propelled into your highest potential for the year ahead and beyond.
I’m astonished at the impact of Gurudev’s 2023 New Year’s Retreat on my life. … Guru’s Grace propelled me into action. My energy and zest for life returned. … It was the Grace flowing from Gurudevi during the New Year’s Retreat that made it possible. — Agnes H.
practice & grace: giving you your Self
revealing the mystery
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