Category Archives: Ashram News

Getting to Know SVA’s New Website by Matrika (Marlene) Gast

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Marlene Gast

Marlene Gast

Visit www.svaroopa.org today, your new source of information about our generous offerings, all finally linked in one consolidated location. Enjoy our captivating new design that integrates the Ashram and Master Yoga websites. With our redesigned Teacher Directory and a web-wide search engine, our new site interweaves all of the rich threads of the Svaroopa® Sciences into one exquisitely complete tapestry. Once you’ve visited www.svaroopa.org, it will become crystal clear that our Board, sevites and designers have succeeded in providing you with a site that is well-organized, user-friendly, and easy to navigate.

The new website expresses the personalized nature of the Svaroopa® Sciences, giving you multiple entry points; you choose the “Pathway” that will lead you to your own Self. Just as you are drawn to practice the pathway most inviting to you, our new site is organized into three main interest areas: Svaroopa® Yoga, Teacher Training and Meditation. And it is designed to support newcomers, as well as long-time yogis, on the path to discovering what you seek, at all levels.

I collaborated with other sevite writers on the site’s content this summer, so I could possibly be prejudiced. Yet I recommend the site to you as a virtual portal to inspiration, as well as information, simply because it is so easy to use. Our homepage layout is clear, colorful and appealing. And most any topic that interests you is just a click or two away, with no need for labyrinthine searches. You will find the Ashram’s entire library and free services still hosted on its original site, a familiar access point to the wealth of teachings already familiar to you.

We sevites on the team hope that you enjoy the new site. As with any new piece of software, you may encounter a previously unseen glitch. If you do come across any malfunctions, please let us know by emailing info@svaroopayoga.org with a detailed description of the problem. Issues will be passed along to the web developers, and they’ll do their best to address the error in a timely fashion. Word from them is that changes and edits to the new site are quite straightforward.

I look forward to hearing from you, whether you’ve encountered a problem to be solved, or you’ve discovered something particularly delightful as you find Svaroopa® Sciences information and inspiration through this new portal.

Taking Yoga on Vacation by Antarajna (Deborah) Mandel

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antarajna

Antarajna (Debbie) Mandel

I have three levels of vacation yoga packing, depending on what type of trip I am going on. If I’m flying, I take wallet-size pictures of Swamiji, Muktananda, and Nityananda and my meditation journal; also, I wear my rudraksha beads. I set up a small puja in my room, to which I will add flowers or candy. I mostly meditate in bed and do some bed poses as well.

Level two is going on a short vacation in the car, to a relatives or the Ashram. On these vacations I bring a framed picture of Swamiji, Muktananda and Nityananda and a small Ganesha. I also pack my meditation asana and shawl, my meditation journal and The Nectar of Chanting. Again, once at my destination, I set up a puja and meditate in bed, unless there is a good chair available. At the Ashram, or any Svaroopa® yoga workshop, I use the blankets provided. Otherwise, I do what I can in bed.

The third level is when I go on vacation by car to stay somewhere for a longer period. Then I bring everything for a level 2 trip as well as my blankets. This approach has proven to be very beneficial. I am more likely to do my whole practice of pranayama, poses, and meditation as well as chanting the Sri Guru Gita.

I know that packing for yoga and meditation practice really pays off. Last summer, on a level three trip, I got up at 5:00 AM to do my practice, but I had to do some physical therapy exercises first. In the process of those exercises, I fell and broke both bones in my right wrist. I had nowhere to go at that early hour. So with ice on my broken arm, I gracefully and gratefully moved into my practice (less asana) and was able to meditate for 90 minutes, broken bones and all.

The power of yoga. I need to remind myself of this when I fall out of practice. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

Yoga on the Road by Bhanu (Beth) Cunningham

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airplane“I have slept in my own bed 20 times in the last year.” This was Swamiji’s patient and conclusive statement that finally melted the strong resistance pocketing the room. She was answering questions about her decision to stop travelling so much and build an Ashram and home for herself and all of us. Being excited about the Ashram, I was drifting in and out, not particularly invested in the details, when her statement jumped out at me. I had known for years that Swamiji travelled extensively. I just never gave it much thought. Now my mind boiled with the question, “How did she do it? How did she do it?…”  How did she realize the Self so fully, bouncing from airport to airport, hotel room to hotel room?

The contemplation of this question has transformed my practice, particularly when I travel. Where I used to dread the upset to my schedule and overwhelming distractions, I now look forward to the challenge of employing some of the deeper practices more earnestly.

I have learned that I can repeat mantra throughout an entire conversation and be simultaneously immersed in both. I have found that humming chants to myself during a big family dinner keeps me truly joyful in what might otherwise be an exercise in anger management. I have fallen in love with meditating in the passenger seat of a car, on an airplane or in a noisy terminal, where the typical annoyances become catalysts for inner expansion.

While the circumstances of travel may not be ideal for deep experiences of the Self, these practices help maintain a consistency to my state, which, in many ways, I have found more profoundly transformative than the exalted inner absorption I get glimpses of in my regular practice.

And there are still many moments, even whole days of travel, when my practice is fleeting at best and is constantly being interrupted. Samadhi seems impossible on days like this. It is then that Patanjali’s Sutra 1.21- “Samadhi (absorption in the Self) is nearest to those whose desire for it is intensely strong”* reminds me of yoga’s fail-safe practice — the cultivation of mumukshutva (the desire for the Self).

When I come to the end of a day of travel (or any given day) and I reflect back on my practice of the day to find it lacking, mumukshutva arises immediately in me. It initially feels like regret or self-condemnation, or even blame. And it hurts, deeply. Yet, as I continue to look at it in the light of a Great Master who spent 345 nights of the year away from home, the edges of that ache soften. A few Ujjayi breaths and I am filled with a blissful yearning for the same Grace that carried Swamiji across many miles to Her Fully-Realized State.  And that desire burns inside, with tremendous warmth and radiance, because I know that Swamiji offers me that very same Grace and the promise that comes with it. As I whisper the mantra to myself, I melt into gratitude for this great longing that draws me ever closer to my Self, and drift off to sleep, doubly inspired for my practice the next day.

When all else fails, it is your mumukshutva that keeps you close to the Self.

So when you travel, take your mumukshutva with you. For the immensity of the promise it holds, it weighs nothing and takes up no room in your luggage.

*Translation by Abbott George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

On the Road by Rama (Ruth) Brooke

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Rama Brooke

Rama Brooke

I use the 20/20/20 (20 minutes each) protocol for Ujjayi Pranayama, asana (poses) and meditation while traveling, although lately I’ve been placing more emphasis on the breathing practice. Travel depletes prana (energy). The extra Ujjayi helps to support the other two practices as well as my adjustment to the slightly “off kilter” routine of a busy travel schedule. I fit an additional 20 minutes of Ujjayi in the afternoon or before dinner, whenever possible. I also do it before falling asleep at night.  I don’t rely on this as part of my daily practice because I don’t know how long I’m actually doing it, but I find it helps me to drift “inward” and tune out any exterior noise or stimulus.

On a recent family travel vacation, we were packed into small hotel rooms with little opportunity or floor space for my usual asana and meditation practice. For my daily practice I relied on Ujjayi Pranayama and a series of “bed” poses beginning with Alternate Leg, Alternate Leg – Diagonal or Supta Janushirshasana, and then to JP with a variation, which I learned in ATT 411:  Deeper Yoga, which I love because it gets the lumbar spine too.

I woke up early and didn’t want to disturb anyone else in the room.  I did Ujjayi sometimes for an hour or more until others began to wake up and then I would finish with the poses before getting up to shower. In the afternoons, we would return to the hotel before dinner so I did another 20 minutes or more of breathing practice. I also did the bed poses again before falling asleep at night. I was amazed at how well this practice served me during the two weeks away from home. I had more energy than ever before on such a trip, and my body stayed open and healthy. I attribute this mostly to the consistent practices I do at home, especially meditation, which sustain me wherever I am. I also attribute it to the long Ujjayi sessions during the trip that allowed me to tap into and maintain my pranic (energy) reservoir.

This travel vacation was a “once in a lifetime” type of experience — one to cherish.  My more common travel experience is often by plane, which makes packing blankets and blocks an inconvenience, but I do usually stay in a hotel or somewhere that has floor space and furniture to substitute for props. My favorite travel asana prop is the firm seat cushion from a couch or a large overstuffed chair. One or two of these make a great base for poses such as Kurmasana, Baddha Konasana, Seated Side Stretch or even Virasana Seated Side Stretch (turn the cushion, if it’s rectangular, to sit on the short end, and use throw cushions or bed pillows to prop knees).

Without blocks, I do Dhanurasana Leg for a Lunge substitute, lying on a platform of the same firm couch or chair seat cushion(s). When time allows, I add some standing poses or the Standing Vinyasa. Jathara Parivrttanasana with deeper variations is a great way to end the session and add in a little more ribcage or lower spinal opening.

For meditation, I like to sit on the floor, when possible, in Sukhasana. I will use the same cushion props to create my Sukhasana seat. If sitting on the floor isn’t an option, I will sit in a straight (desk) chair, using a pillow to support the upright position of my spine, and place my feet on the firm seat cushion (I have short legs) on the floor.  This is how I “do more yoga!”

Personal Puja by Jyoti (Rebecca) Yacobi

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Jyoti (Rebecca) Yacobi

Jyoti (Rebecca) Yacobi

The small building is situated in an alleyway. We climb a few steps and enter a world of deities and ritual.  What a contrast between the noises on the streets of Ganeshpuri and the cool interior of the small temple where we held the pujas (rituals), officiated by Prasad, the charismatic Brahmin priest who arrives on his motorcycle and greets us with a warm, friendly smile.  We feel immediately at ease. The small room of the temple comes alive with the bustling of a young man who is helping Prasad set up the three separate pujas — to Ganesha, to Shiva and to the Guru.

We watch as Prasad bathes each deity, and we offer fruit, grains of rice, ground up spice and, of course, the flame of a candle, waved in circles —the light of consciousness in us bowing to the eternal light that makes up this universe and beyond.

Each puja takes about 30 minutes — the power of one builds upon the next one, and by the time we get to the Guru puja, to a small murti (statue) of Bhagavan Nityananda, the energy in the room has built to a crescendo.

I am waving a candle flame to Nityananda and we are singing, “Jaya, jaya ariti, Nityananda.”  I can no longer restrain the upwelling emotions of love and devotion that are overflowing in my heart, tears flowing down my face.  There is nothing but Bhagavan Nityananda.  In this village, in this room, Nityananda’s Presence is so palpable, so powerful, so overwhelming that the room is abuzz with a transcendent current of energy. I feel so “full”, so vibrant, so expanded.

The Brahmin serves as the ears and the mouth of Nityananda — through Prasad’s words, the Guru speaks to me and encourages me to stay on the path, to be devoted to Him and the path I am on.

Deep knowing and deep love arise from within. I am blessed and in bliss to share this moment with my daughter. We are both in awe of what we just experienced and witnessed, as we open to the inner realms of our being, allowing the beautiful ceremonial offering to open us from the inside, blossoming and overflowing with universal love.

This is the wonder and the beauty of a puja.  The power of the ritual ceremony performed on the outside propels us into the innermost depths of our being, leaving no place untouched.  It is about clearing and purifying this vessel, the container that is my individual body, mind and soul so that I know that I am That and so that nothing can shake the innate knowing of my own Divinity.

A complete surrender to the Self, to the Guru — that is what I experience during the puja to Nityananda.  There is no separation between me and the Self; duality dissolves into the eternality that is Nityananda.  The ecstatic, blissful state of that experience is transformative at multiple levels of my being.

The memory of this state is a cherished dharana (contemplation) that instantly propels me into the infinite vastness of the Self.  The vastness merges into me and I merge into it.

All I do is abide in That.

I am That.

Taking My Yoga & Meditation Practice on Vacation By Matrika (Marlene) Gast

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Marlene Gast

Marlene Gast

In June, I took time off from running my Svaroopa® yoga studio and teaching to complete a manuscript that I’ve been working on for a decade. It got started the same summer that I landed on the Svaroopa® yoga and meditation path at Core Opening with Swamiji. Now, more interested in writing about experiences in Svaroopa® yoga and meditation, I feel the weight of that unfinished writing project; it’s like a bag full of yarn and the half-knitted sweater. If it were just a bag of yarn, I could donate it to a thrift store for a real knitter to complete. But the yarn is in my own body and mind, so I need to finish the writing to move forward more freely.

So for my five-day vacation on a Wyoming ranch with my writing group, I packed my meditation asana and shawl, two foam yoga blocks and one Triple Alert Timer. They turned out to be essential items in so many ways. My bunkhouse room was tiny with two cot-size beds and a sink. I chose one bed for sleeping and the other as a “meditation platform,” where I stacked bed pillows for a Sukhasana seat against one wall. In the space between the twin beds, the bedside table held the meditation card with photos of Swamiji and Swami Muktananda, and the floor in front provided just enough room for my blocks and the practice of Lunge.

Every morning this set-up gave me a sweetly soothing foundation for bed yoga followed by meditation.  That start to each day served as a grounding, opening, integrating retreat within my vacation. Besides the task of trying to finish a writing project, joining my writing group for these five days was like being in a family reunion — lots of shared history, affection and, well, “other stuff.”  At meals, japa was a special blessing as I listened to streams of conversation about ways to eat, ways to sleep, reasons to write, multitudes of approaches for dissolving writer’s block etc. etc. At times I was reminded of the biblical Tower of Babel, as though everyone at the table held forth in a different language. Om Namah Shivaya repeated silently, with sweet pauses in between the repetitions of mantra, kept me in sight of the One Reality within, a beautiful place to rest in silence, even while a chorus of competing recommendations for solving a multitude of personal problems filled my ears. When I allowed myself to settle into Self, it was even possible to respond cheerfully to “stuff” that did get close to pushing my various buttons. Yes, I was grateful to have packed my props, and continued my practices throughout vacation. The only buttons that got pushed were the buttons on my trusty timer.

During quiet hours in my little room with my notebooks, I made headway on my project, and took breaks on my “practice bed” for Ujjayi Pranayama, pillows under my knees.  I didn’t finish the manuscript, but I made respectable headway. Soon it will be done, I believe.  In the meantime, vacationing with this writing in the cradle of my Svaroopa® yoga and meditation practices has given me a new perspective on this project. I’m looking at the work to complete it as tapas — clearing up a “moldy oldie” — so there’s less baggage on the road ahead.

Guru Purnima – the Guru’s full moon by Swami Nirmalananda

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full moon en-wikipedia-orgVedic sages dedicated the full moon each month to a different Divinity, reserving the fullest of every year’s full moons for the Guru.  Every July the moon is closest to the earth, so the full moon is the brightest, the biggest and the most beautiful of all!  Not only does this speak to the Guru’s state as the culmination of human potential, but the moon’s sweet light shows the way that Grace shines through the dark.

There’s something special about moonlight.  Its silvery light is so soft, making everything it touches glow as though it’s shining with its own light.  Yogic texts talk about the “nectarean light of the moon.”  The moon’s light is reflected light, meaning it works the same way your mind works.  You only think that your mind functions under its own power; yoga describes that your mind shines with the light of consciousness, which is reflected from its source within yourself.  The Self loans its light and power to your mind.  This is why you love the full moon — it’s the way your mind will work when it’s been yogified.

Yet July’s full moon is even more special, for this is the night that the Grace flows most fully.  Grace is the Divine power of Revelation, revealing your own svaroopa to yourself.  When you are bathed in the flow of Grace, you know your own Self even without having done all the deep practices that yoga prescribes.  This is the value of the Guru, who serves humanity by shining the light of consciousness within.  This means the Guru doesn’t shine the light into your eyes from an outer source, but brings up your own inner light for you to experience within.

This weekend Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram is celebrating Guru Purnima on the night of the full moon, Saturday July 12 at 7:30 pm at the Desmond Hotel, Malvern PA.  Our free satsang is in the middle of a weekend retreat, part of our year-long “I Am Shiva” course, so you’ll come in to a room and a group who have already warmed it up for you!

If you’re celebrating at home, you’ve got choices.  The fullest point of the full moon happens at 6:45 am (Eastern Time), so you could chant “Srii Guru Gita at that time (just as we will be doing in the retreat).  Or you could wait until evening and go take a moonbath — sit in the moon’s glow while doing japa.  Or put some flowers and a candle on a table with your Guru’s photo and give some time to contemplation, reading His or Her teachings, listening to an audio or chant and meditating.  You decide!  Anything you do on Guru Purnima will give you the fruits 1,000 times over!

Blessings on Guru Purnima,
Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati

YTT 1 by Brindi Blessing

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brindi

Brindi

As a Foundations Grad, I decided to go on to YTT Level 1 because I’ve become enamored of Svaroopa® yoga. Through this yoga, I have found healing for physical concerns plus effortless freedom in emotional issues. So taking Foundations made sense, because I’m incapable of holding back from sharing things that I love. Teaching after Foundations was a rewarding beginning. The yoga works.

Yet I kept feeling that I needed more to offer my students, so desiring more Svaroopa® yoga teacher training made perfect sense. That desire coincided with the profound feeling of wanting more of the More. Curiosity kept driving me to check the teaching schedules until one day something clicked inside me. I was committed to making the training happen. That step put me on an emotional and mental rollercoaster — registering, arranging my work and family life to leave, packing obsessively, booking flights, boarding the airport shuttle and finally walking into the Desmond conference center to check in. Suddenly, there was a switch to a kind of yoga-theme-park ride.

In YTT 1, the depth of asana training pulled, like gravity, at my mind and body. Philosophy and meditation moved me in what seemed to be several directions at once inside myself, pushing me to find a new equilibrium of being in Self. I think, as it was for Dr. Seuss’s Grinch, my heart grew three sizes one day. With internal healing, my Svaroopa® yoga experience continued as I sank into myself, progressing to a wider, fuller Me. Emotional freedoms blossomed, and I discovered they don’t have to grow out of old roots. Wisdom was shared freely.

Choosing to move further into the flow of Grace by stepping on the training path expanded Me more than I could have ever predicted. I know I have come away from this immersion training with the ability to teach more, along with a better understanding of how to press into my own practice effectively.

And, guess what? While still digesting and assimilating YTT 1, I am anticipating YTT 2 with excitement as well as trepidation. Gaining knowledge is amazing, but experiencing depths of Self is SO MUCH MORE!

India’s Call by Priya Kenney

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Priya Kenney in India

India had a pull on me way before I ever went there. Once I went, the fascination just increased. India is so vibrant, with so much life pulsing everywhere and an intoxicating spirituality deeply integrated into the culture. I noticed something decidedly different in the eyes of her people that I don’t see in the eyes of Westerners. I didn’t know what it was, but I wanted to keep seeing it.

After two amazing trips there, a long period passed. I had a persistent longing to go back. It seemed crazy to say so, but I missed India with an ache. It felt like home to me in ways I couldn’t describe. This was all before discovering Svaroopa® yoga. When I learned that Svaroopa® yoga was deeply rooted in India, it came as no surprise.

Several years ago, I had a mysterious and debilitating illness. After doctoring with nearly every form of traditional and alternative health care, I consulted a Vedic astrologer. He confirmed that I was going through a very difficult passage and recommended that I donate a cow. Swamiji suggested instead that I ask Prasad, a priest at the Nityananda temple in Ganeshpuri, to do a fire ceremony on my behalf. It took several phone conversations over a period of weeks to make arrangements for what was recommended — a three-day fire ceremony to be held at a place called Fire Mountain Ashram. When the day arrived, I called Prasad at a pre-arranged time and listened to the chanting of the priests across the continents and oceans. It was electrifying. And I spoke to the man and woman that ran the Ashram and who were standing in for me and my husband during the ceremony. Little did I know then that I would be staying at Fire Mountain Ashram and enjoying meals with Jeanetta and Dahvee a few years later on the India 2013 trip. During the phone conversations with Prasad, he told me several times that I should come to Ganeshpuri. It felt like a personal invitation, and my longing to go increased in intensity.

When the India 2013 trip was announced, I knew that I had to go. There were layers of longing. It wasn’t only the persistent pull of India and that connection I established a few years earlier with Prasad. The real heart of it was the incredibly amazing opportunity to go with Swami Nirmalananda to the sacred place where she, her Guru and her Guru’s Guru lived, served and carried the lineage forward. There were all those stories Swamiji tells us about sitting with her Baba in his Ashram, serving him for years and hearing the teachings at his feet. On top of that, I had read Muktananda’s Play of Consciousness, and his many stories about Nityananda and Ganeshpuri and serving his Guru. To be able to go to those places with Swamiji, to chant the Guru Gita with her in Ganeshpuri and to sit at her feet and hear the teachings — it was indescribably compelling.

The trip exceeded all hopes and expectations. Of course there were things to sort out beforehand with my husband and two teenage boys, but I mostly remember the trip coming together with great ease. Though I was a lot stronger, one of my concerns was the long flight. The remedy was simple. I put every single one of Swamiji’s chanting CD’s on our iPad and listened to the Guru Gita and various chants the whole way over and back, sometimes falling asleep to a chant. Swamiji’s voice and the chanting was a river of Grace carrying me through.

Click here to register or learn more about India 2015: Ganeshpuri’s Grace.

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Email seva@svaroopayoga.org to offer seva.

My India Trip, February 2013 – Jyoti (Rebecca) Yacobi

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Jyoti with Swamiji

Jyoti with Swamiji

Soon after the announcement of “The Trip of a Lifetime to India” came out, I was visiting the Ashram and Swamiji asked me if I was going. I had felt a tug in my heart as soon as I knew about this holy pilgrimage. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go?! But my mind came up with very “sound” reasons why I could not go — my work schedule, my family obligations, the difficulty of the long distance travel etc. etc.

Yet Swamiji had planted a seed when she asked me that question. Grace softened my mind to the infinite possibilities unfolding. Within a month, I was booking the trip, planning how to take three weeks off work, and going to India.

Indeed, it was a life-changing experience. India is the epitome of contradictions. The sights, the sounds, the smells, and the colors of India are imbued with the extremes and paradoxes of life itself: Tantra in action, with spirituality woven in the sounds of cell phones ringing, dogs barking, incense burning, children laughing, and bells ringing at Nityananda’s temple. Ganeshpuri — the home of the Svaroopa® Yoga and Meditation lineage, Bhagavan Nityananda and Swami Muktananda — is the quintessential India.

I am so grateful to have gone on that trip to Ganeshpuri. The experience of a spiritual pilgrimage is more than any other voyage. It is not just sightseeing, although we visited many sights. It is not just spiritual practices, although we did lots of those. It is all that and so much more. Spending precious time with Swamiji, as she guided us through the spiritual practices, was a great gift. What could be more valuable than the time spent with the Guru, especially in a place where her Guru comes from?

Swamiji helped us integrate our experiences with daily Sri Guru Gita chants, satsangs, and asana classes, while we also attended Abhishek (ritual bathing ceremony) to Nityananda, Muktananda’s ashram and many little temples.

One morning after visiting the Nityananda temple, I entered a small Shiva temple right next to the central Nityananda temple. I walked down a few steps into a stone structure and felt the cool air emanating from the stones. A vortex of gravitational energy pulled me in; a whirl of energies began spiraling within me, Shiva performing a cosmic dance within the inner realms of my being, Infinity housed within this body, my body. How lucky and fortunate I was to be with Swamiji and other yogis on that day, to integrate this experience during a deep meditation.

On another day, we were blessed to have a Vedic fire ceremony. It felt as if I were immersed in another dimension, beyond this time and space. It was absolutely amazing!

Swamiji told us stories, led us through chants and meditations, shared meals with us, guided us with so much love and compassion.

Today, the internal shifts from that trip are continuing to resonate in me beyond the physical and tangible. The subtle, continuing effects of the trip can be best summarized with the following words:

Shiva’s cosmic dance
Manifesting within me
Every cell is alive
It is exhilarating and overwhelming
The mind blazing with light
Absorbed in the vast ocean of stillness
Merging into infinity
Or is it infinity opening in me?

The Guru opening doors
I float in the inner realms of my Being
Knowing what I have always known
Remembering, not forgetting
“You are Shiva, my child,
You are That”
Silence abounds within me
As I open my eyes in this realm

To register to to learn more about India 2015: Ganeshpuri’s Grace, click here.