Category Archives: DYMC

Never Underestimate the Power of the Tailbone

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Lissa (Yogyananda) Fountain, Yogaratna

Arthur came to see me after Gurudevi Nirmalananda recommended an Embodyment® Overlap Healing series.

He had been diagnosed with a condition called Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR), an inflammatory rheumatoid disease.

He was in constant pain. Gurudevi said that because medicine can cite no cause, at least 80% was tailbone tightening. He would really benefit from the daily release a five-session series provides.

Arthur, an otherwise dynamo of an octogenarian, was definitively not feeling like himself. We began by building a bond of trust. I asked him to share some of his life story, as he described his physical pain. For him, this facilitated an understanding of the body-mind connection.

We took it very slowly in the beginning, as is the protocol for a high-risk client. In the first session, even the slightest tailbone opening would flare up his shoulder pain. So I improvised with extra pillows and higher blankets for his head. We inched our way, step by step, and the unraveling began.

By the second session, Arthur was breathing easier, and letting his body relax more into the process. When he got up to stand, he felt two inches taller. His skin and eyes were brighter. There was more of a spring to his step as he walked out my door.

After our first five sessions, his wife was amazed! Arthur started feeling more like his energetic self. It only got better as the series progressed.

He already had a daily Shavasana and Ujjayi Pranayama practice. Now he could get up and down from the floor more easily. He was climbing stairs with greater ease. His sinuses were draining and even his sleep improved.

With his lower spine decompressing, his spirits lifted. He felt happier. It wasn’t long before the shoulder pillows were gone, and his head needed only one blanket. The best was, he could drop into Consciousness, no longer interrupted with painful flare-ups. Arthur’s healing continues. Never underestimate the power of the tailbone!

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Gurudevi’s Chanting & Meditation Weekend

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By Andrea (Arya) Perry

Interviewed by Lori (Priya) Kenney  

Feelings of uneasiness and self-consciousness arise when I sing.  I am hesitant and resistant to sing.  

Consequently, chanting is tapas (doing the hard stuff).  Cultivating the opposite and tapas helps me dissolve these self-limiting patterns and deepen into Self.  Also chanting is a good way to open your heart.  By opening your heart, you open and transform your mind.  For these reasons, I registered for Gurudevi’s online Chanting and Meditation Weekend two years ago.

It stems back to when I was a child.  I loved singing camp songs.  In sixth grade, I decided to try out for chorus.  The teacher’s “put-down” responses to my singing translated into feelings of rejection, inadequacies, unacceptance and isolation.  They squashed ME.

Being self-conscious of singing is an old pattern.  Because I now know I am Self, Consciousness-Itself, no matter what, this pattern no longer defines who I am.  It needs to be dissolved.  And it is progressively dissolving over time through Gurudevi’s yogic teachings, practices and Grace.

The theme of our Chanting and Meditation Weekend retreat was Durga.  I wasn’t familiar with her.  I learned that Durga embodies the strength and power that destroy obstacles and block knowingness.  She’s the protector of knowingness.  

We chanted “Kali Durge” over and over again.  We listened to stories about Durga, and we meditated.  The interweaving of chanting, storytelling and meditation gave rise to the qualities of Durga within me. 

By the end of the retreat, I was Durga.  I was the warrior Durga that overcomes and is victorious over all obstacles to unknowingness.

Chanting and Meditation Weekend

Sukhasana: A Sweet Pose for Body, Mind and More

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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 bones are leveled.  Then this relaxing, gentle pose helps ease any low back and knee pain. 

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. 

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Gurudevi’s New Year’s Retreat

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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.

2024 Online Retreat
2024 On-Site Retreat

Healing on All Levels

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By Jodi Dial

When I registered for my Healing Retreat, I was seeking more than healing from physical pain. I wanted to find God and wake up! It turned out that I got both.

From daily Svaroopa® yoga classes and individual yoga therapy, I got openings in my upper spine behind my heart. My hand tremors as well thyroid issues were soothed.

I also arrived with pain in my hip. Sitting for meditation was nearly impossible. By the retreat’s end, I could sit to meditate for a whole hour in the morning.

Meditations with Gurudevi Nirmalananda, along with her talks, were life changing. I know it’s the mind that has the greatest effect on the body. And meditation along with vichara sessions (guided self-inquiry) powerfully gave me exactly what I yearned for.

At first, however, vichara was scary. As a hairdresser, I have personal conversations with clients. They describe complicated situations, and I ask, “How so?” I’m great at turning such questions back to my clients. But when my Vichara Therapist posed these questions to me, I didn’t know what to say!

Yet, ultimately, my answers surfaced, and I got clarity. I was on a spiritual quest, looking for God. With vichara, I realized there are many paths to your own Truth. Finally, a vichara session brought me home inside to the knowing that I am God.

When I said these words, the electrical power in the building went out. My Vichara Therapist said, “I guess you got your answer.” I returned home in peace — with lots of energy, calm, trust and pure love.

When I graduated from Svaroopa® Yoga Teacher Training two decades ago, I was into working out and looking good. I didn’t know what yoga really meant. In this Healing Retreat, I “got” svaroopa (the bliss of my own being).

Now I see the world, other people, and myself differently. I’m filled with gratitude for my yoga family, including Gurudevi; her Guru, Swami Muktananda; and his Guru, Bhagawan Nityananda. I bow again and again, continuously.

Healing Retreat
Svaroopa® Yoga Therapy
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What a Difference!

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By Agnes (Aikyaa) Hetherington

I’m astonished at the impact of Gurudevi’s 2023 New Year’s Retreat on my life.  

I was almost too ill to participate. A severe coughing spasm with pneumonia had caused a hard fall onto my back. Extreme pain and difficulty breathing left me lying on the couch watching the retreat online. 

I felt more like an observer than a participant. Yet reading my journal notes, I clearly see the seeds of change were sown. 

The illness was no coincidence. In the “old year,” I had suddenly lost two very dear loved ones and faced other challenges. The future looked vague and blurry at best. I dreaded the thought of making a New Year’s resolution.

Spending those pivotal retreat days with Gurudevi ignited a profound inner shift. After the closing meditation on New Year’s Day, I wrote two words: “Resolution! Tapas!”  Tapas means doing the hard stuff.

I chose “Gumption” as my word ― a beacon of light ― for the year ahead.

While my illness dragged on, I sought help from wonderful Ashram programs. A six-class Therapeutic Yoga series eased the tightness and pain in my back. Then I took a series of ten Vichara sessions, which helped with my mind. 

As I journaled, I often reminded myself about Gumption, especially when feeling overwhelmed. Guru’s Grace propelled me into action.

Within a few months I was teaching Svaroopa® yoga again after a seven-year hiatus. I also increased my community seva, lovingly performing mundane tasks at our local Hospice. My energy and zest for life returned. 

I know I didn’t accomplish these changes by myself. It was the Grace flowing from Gurudevi during the New Year’s Retreat that made it possible. I am so grateful.

2024 New Year’s Retreat

Diagonal Leg Deliciousness!

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Carolyn (Karuna) Beaver, Yogaratna

One of my go-to poses is Diagonal Alternate Leg.  It has a wonderful way of resetting my unstable hip joints.  Lately, however, I have been slowing it W-A-Y down.  Then I get all the juice I can from it.  It feels like my own self-administered Cure All Knee Press.

It’s a two-for-one pose.  You start in the regular angle of Alternate Leg.  I linger just a little, first with my knee in towards my chest.  Then, I move my leg into an advanced and deeper angle, thus I can feel my tailbone release in both angles. Ahh…

I take my time moving my leg across my body into the diagonal angle.  I go slow, and then pause.  When I coax my knee in towards my chest, I might even feel into a tight spot.  Some softening breaths, and I can feel those muscles let go.  It’s the “Cure All” effect!

My favorite part of all?  Allowing my leg to lean in towards my chest slowly and naturally, as I ease it back to its starting point.  I can feel my thigh bone pivoting and settling into my hip socket in a different and deeper way.  And even better than all this?  I get to do it all on the other side!

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International Day of Yoga 2023

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The World is Doing More Yoga

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda 

Join us in celebrating this UN-proclaimed observance, created in 2014.  The summer solstice was chosen, honored in India for the most daylight (in the northern hemisphere).  The resolution received support from 177 nations, the highest number of co-sponsors for any UN resolution.

Fun Facts:

  • 300 million people worldwide regularly practice yoga
  • 36 million Americans practice yoga regularly
  • 1.7 million American children under 17 practice yoga
  • 1 in 3 Americans have at least tried yoga
  • 150% more men are practicing yoga from 2012-2016, from 4 million to 10 million
  • 86% report a reduction in stress
  • 69% report a positive increase in temperament and mood
  • 59% report an improvement in sleep quality and quantity
  • 86% report an overall improved sense of mental wellness and clarity
  • 79% report a feeling of closeness with their community and wanting to give back
  • 55% of regular yoga practitioners attend 2-3 classes per week
  • 50% increase in USA yoga practitioners since 2017
  • 50% of yoga practitioners focus on meditation
  • 50% of yoga practitioners are more likely to volunteer and have donated to charities in the last year
  • 41% of yogis are vegetarian
  • 5% have given Sanskrit names to either their children or their pets

For this special day, the Indian government has given us some online activities to do – click here for a yoga quiz, an online discussion forum, to share a video, design a mascot, create a poster or a poem, create a doodle, offer a jingle or an essay and more…

Please join us at one of our events:

Free Chant & Meditation
Yoga Wednesday
Telecourse: Leaps & Bounds

Fun Facts:  https://yogaearth.com/yoga-research

Your Mind’s True Capacity

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By Gurudevi Nirmalananda 

Brilliance.  Creativity.  Insight and intelligence. Generosity and boundless love.  Compassion, strength, fortitude – these go together, for you cannot act on your compassion unless you also bring strength and fortitude with you.  Your mind is capable of all this and more.  

You currently use such a small portion of your true capacity that I call it “puny little mind.” This is a trap you can end up living in for lifetimes, as it is baited with sensory delights.

Every athlete knows to restrain their appetites before a competition.  They refrain from intoxicants and sexuality plus they carefully regulate their sleep and food.  This is true of chess players as well.  If you want to get optimum results from the use of your body and mind, you need to take care of them, like you would with any other type of equipment.

For those who wear eyeglasses, you have to clean them regularly.  If you wait too long, you don’t realize that you’re living in a grey and blurry world until you do clean them.  Then you put them back on and wow!  The world is so bright!  And so beautiful!

The yogic sages say that it is not merely your glasses that need cleaning…

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What Kind of Karma?

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By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

No one talks about their karma when life is flowing smoothly, when finances fall together and they’re getting what they want. That’s called “good karma.” But you may complain when things are falling apart and life is hard. That’s called “bad karma.” However, complaining about it does not help. You already know this. It’s like complaining about the weather. No matter what you say, it is what it is.

Where I live, the weather blows in from the Arctic or the Caribbean, sometimes from the Great Plains. Whatever blows through, all I can do is manage myself in the midst of it. Rain gear, snow gear, summery clothes and sunscreen – all are in my repertoire and in my closet.

Similarly, your karma is coming from somewhere – maybe things you did yesterday or last week, perhaps from decades or lifetimes ago. In meditation, I‘ve had clear memories of being a Greek soldier in a prior life. Karma can be nasty stuff! But it’s only if you did nasty stuff in the past. And we all have.

You have also done good things. Big stuff and even little stuff matters. Sometimes when I’m driving, I…

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