By Todd Correa
Interviewed by Lissa (Yogyananda) Fountain, Yogaratna
I signed up for the New Year’s Shaktipat Retreat to explore my humanness and understand myself better. I wanted to feel more connected to the cosmic Consciousness of the universe. I did not know what Shaktipat was, but I trusted the recommendation of my local Svaroopa® Vidya Meditation and sutras teacher.
I had enjoyed my local teacher’s three-part Learn to Meditate course. I recognized I could go deeper — something was happening inside. I even joined the Ashram’s Meditation Club. Without realizing it, I was preparing myself for my first Shaktipat experience.
Being brand new to an Ashram retreat, I was surprised by so much chanting and meditation. I was amazed I could sit for such long periods of time. I loved it!
When Gurudevi walked into the room, I felt there was something special about her. She looked at me and “saw me.” I felt accepted, as if I belonged there. She knew who I was and am: Shiva.
Sometimes it felt a bit overwhelming, with my senses bursting open. I felt like a deer caught in headlights! Yet I wanted this new experience to feel like mine, fully authentic. I accepted it, as it unfolded.
It was weird, but I embraced it. I wrote in my journal: “My whole being is opening up, in a burst of life. My head is opening up like a flower. I feel intense emotions, while being bathed in bliss.”
My first initiation by Gurudevi’s touch, my whole body went into hers, opening up to receive her Grace. I did not want this feeling of Oneness to stop. Afterward, I felt exhausted, my body depleted. I did not know how to put my experience in perspective. However, the retreat talks helped me understand what was going on. So I did some restorative Ujjayi breathing during our breaks.
When Gurudevi gave us Shaktipat by will, I was still right there, having an amazing experience. I wondered: “How does she do that from way over there?” Yet I knew in my core that it was real. Something beautiful and amazing had happened, and I am so grateful.
Before, I understood the theory of “One-ness.” But now I have experienced it because I was with a Self-Realized Being. I feel more empathy and the ability to be present to my therapy clients and students. I can go deeper within myself and assist others to go deeper as well. My work is my calling, so I am going to do Shaktipat again!
“These have been my deepest Svaroopa® yoga experiences yet,” says Dharma (Lloyd) Apirian. He took all three DIYs last summer and has just completed June’s DIY: Healing which focused on deeper variations on our Magic 4 sequence.
The day after the program, Dharma says he “eased into my Self” just before entering his workplace. He shares, “The receptionist is a ‘difficult’ person for me, and has been for more than a decade. As I approached her desk, I saw her with a deep love — love that I have never experienced before. Love without attachment or desire. My love for my wife has deepened. And it’s the same with everyone I see, when I am in that place of Self, my home. This is a transformative path. I have been searching since my teens for a path that would truly change me and Svaroopa® yoga is it. I am deeply grateful for my Guru, Swami Nirmalananda, and for my Teacher Trainers. I am also profoundly grateful for my fellow students. They supported and encouraged me. I hope I supported them too.”
Also a longtime practitioner of Svaroopa® yoga, Saguna Goss is the Ashram Business Manager as well. She says, “Since the opening of the Ashram, I’ve been prioritizing the meditation retreats and sutra courses. In the DIY weekend, I had the opportunity to focus on the asanas. It was a real treat! Having the opportunity to dive into a sequence of poses and do them again and again provided a beautiful support for my body. That experience has helped my meditation practice. It was a gift to be reminded about the importance of supporting your body during this process of inner opening that comes from meditation. The beautifully deep Q&A session with Swami, followed by a Swami Sunday, completed a weekend full of Bliss!”
SVA Board President Amala Cattafi says, “The DIY retreat reconnected me to the importance of making my yoga practice ‘full-spectrum.’ I have always favored meditation and seva over working on my body. Yet they are all connected. The DIY retreat not only reminded me of that, but gave me an easy home program that does not take any more time than my usual morning practice!”
My dad used to grow cucumbers, the little pickling cucumbers, and then make his own concoction for the pickle juice. It took a couple of months for them to come to perfection. Every summer day, as a kid on that interminable summer vacation, I’d ask, “Are they pickles yet?”
SVA Blog 