By Lloyd (Dharma) Apirian

Interviewed by Lissa (Yogyananda) Fountain

By attending Swami Sundays with Gurudevi, I’d already made profound inner shifts.  Yet I was looking for something even deeper.  Feeling a little down and flat, I wanted renewal: a deeper knowing of my own Self.  

An immersion with my Guru guarantees this!  I also know Shaktipat is a powerful way to boost my personal growth and transformation.  So I signed up for my first online Shaktipat Retreat.  

Doing a Shaktipat Retreat weekend at home has its advantages.  I was in my yoga room and everything was so familiar.  Yet I went just as deep in meditation as when I am in Gurudevi’s presence.  After Gurudevi gave Shaktipat-diksha, the spiritual energy climbed my spine more than ever.  It was freeing, opening and releasing.  I was surrendering to the Self. 

During a longer meditation, I experienced an auditory kriya.  I heard OM Namah Shivaya singing in my left ear!  In a short time, the sinus congestion I’d been feeling cleared away.  This was all Grace, pure Grace.  The Shakti moving through the Guru transcends limitations of space, time and energy.

To keep the Grace flowing, it’s recommended you increase your meditation time and be consistent.  After the retreat, I did notice the effects were fading.  I hadn’t been doing enough meditation.  Before my next Shaktipat, I’m signing up for Meditation Club!  To support carrying these effects into my life, I need the structure.

The Shaktipat experiences that Gurudevi describes with her Guru, Baba Muktananda, inspire me.  They once seemed unattainable and remote.  Now I know they are possible for me.  Shaktipat is a life changing opportunity to experience the Truth of my own Beingness.  I am forever grateful.

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Breakthroughs are not dependent on receiving Shaktipat.  Grace is not so limited.  Grace is part of life, always available. 

You’ve been lifted out of your small-s self so many times by Divine Grace.  Shaktipat is the form of Grace that awakens your inner meditative energy, so the upliftment keeps coming, again and again, every time you meditate.  It arises within.

While Svaroopa^® yoga specializes in Shaktipat, you were uplifted and sheltered by Grace before yoga.  Your life has had many moments of Grace.  Like a child sitting on daddy’s shoulders, Grace shows you what you could not see.  Yet you still have to come down to earth and go through the process of growing into your own future. 

It’s easier to navigate to your future when you’ve seen where you’re going, and even easier when you have a GPS.  Yoga’s teachings provide both:  the description of your goal as well as how you get there.  They describe levels and stages that can help you understand where you’re at, and give you practices that help you make the next leap forward. 

That’s what I’m presenting in this Telecourse – the levels and stages of your upliftment.  It tends to happen in leaps and bounds.

By Judy (Jagruti) Goodkin

Interviewed by Lori (Priya) Kenney

I felt like I was getting an invitation when I received Shaktipat from Gurudevi.  When she placed her thumb on my forehead, it was as if she said, “Follow me.”  In her Q&A session later, someone asked about discipline with yoga practices. Gurudevi’s encouraging response has stayed with me.  It feels like the time for me to be more disciplined.  This willingness to be more disciplined is powerful, both in daily life and my practices.

At a recent Swami Sunday, Gurudevi talked about the gift of Shaktipat.  She gives the gift, but we have to open it and look inside.  It feels like I’m truly opening Gurudevi’s gift of Shaktipat and looking inside.  I’m taking Gurudevi’s “Living Sutras” course.  The course is very deep, and I am experiencing much awakening within.  Ordinarily, I would have more resistance to course assignments.  Yet now I feel very open to them.  I am even adding more than is being asked for.  My awareness of what I need to do for my body and mind is greater.

I appreciate how the Ashram Swamis also help us process our Shaktipat experiences.  Each time, their answers help me greatly.  I asked Samvidaananda about Kundalini in my meditation.  I had been waiting for Kundalini to stop moving me so I could meditate.  Samvidaanada said, “The Kundalini is your meditation.  Just repeat mantra while that is going on.”  

When I returned home and meditated, I let Kundalini have her way.  I experienced powerful movements.  During these kriyas, I was grateful for Samvidaananda’s guidance, and I repeated mantra.  Within a week, my body settled down.  I still get kriyas in meditation, but they are gentler now. 

I’m so grateful for Gurudevi’s invitation.  Opening the gift of Shaktipat has me settling into a deeper place.  Everything I do feels more purposeful.

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Juice squirts out of the ripe peach I cut into, dripping down my chin as I bite into a chunk.  Yum!  It’s called rasa — the juice, the nectar or blissful essence.  Similarly, every chef will tell you that it’s the sauce that makes the dish.  In the same way, you want your life to be juicy, vibrant and meaningful.  Yogis get their rasa from the inside.

Meditation is the direct path to the rasa of Self-Knowingness. By delving into your own inner dimensionality, you tap into the source of life, the power of love, the delight of creativity and the peace of timelessness.  These fill you from within.

Yoga poses and breathing practices make this inner exploration easier. Svaroopa^® Yoga poses target your spinal tensions, dissolving them to open up interior space in your body.  You breathe easier.  You get taller as you get happier.  You move freely as your joints glide due to the synovial fluid lubricating them more effectively.  It’s called rasa.

Your laugh is deeper and more frequent.  Your eyes shine with light, especially after meditating.  Your heart overflows and you act on your compassionate impulses.  Your synapses fire, making connections that give you…