Category Archives: DYMC

Magical Tree Pose

By Soraya (Sudevi) Pereira

My all-time favorite pose is Vrkshasana (Tree Pose). I love doing the pose as well as teaching it.

I especially love practicing it outdoors beside a tree. In the midst of trees, I feel like one of them. When the ground allows, I take my shoes off and feel the grounding effects of being barefoot on dirt or grass.

I feel deeply rooted as my straight leg leans into the ground. At the same time, I’m uplifted by the upward-moving energy (udana prana). It starts to rise as I lift my arms towards the sky. Engaging my abs a bit releases my spine and lets the udana prana flow freely. The balance between this downward rooting and the upward lift feels amazing!

With my bent knee wide and the straight leg and hip facing forward, I find a balance between right and left. Finding balance, I feel at ease, clear-headed, invigorated, positive and in touch with my Self.

I feel the light of my own Self transmuting any mental or emotional contraction and negativity into openness, ease and deep understanding. This is very much like the light of the sun allowing the tree to transmute carbon dioxide into life-giving oxygen.

Just like trees, Vrkshasana is pure magic! But don’t take my word for it, try it yourself.

Yoga On-Site & Online

Chant, Meditate & Learn!

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Every week, you can attend two satsangs with Gurudevi Nirmalananda — in person or online! Which works for you?

Sundays from 10:00 – 11:30 am (Eastern Time)

Wednesdays from 7:30 – 9:00 pm (Eastern Time)

When you meditate with a Master, you slip inward so easily. That’s what Gurudevi offers, along with the sutras and teachings from the ancient tradition. Join us for chanting, a discourse, meditation instruction and group meditation.

It’s free if you can join us live in Downingtown PA.

If you cannot join us onsite, enroll in our online program. Our subscription service gives you a way to participate no matter where you’re located. You may enroll for a single satsang or for a series.

Upcoming Satsangs

Healing Superhighway

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By Swami Satrupananda

Yoga cured my back pain. I want the same for you.

Whether it be back or neck pain, migraines or headaches, Svaroopa^® yoga can help. Our slow-paced process also does wonders for allergies, digestive conditions and your immune system.

This healing methodology is powerful because it is multidimensional. Yoga works with your body, mind, heart and more. Not only do you get healing on all these levels, they also all contribute to your healing. This makes the changes deep and lasting.

Taking a weekly yoga class gives you so much. Two classes a week more than doubles your benefit. But if you want to be on the healing superhighway, get private yoga therapy sessions.

In a private session, your yoga therapist customizes the practices to your needs. You receive extra support and adjustments. And we can use yoga’s more powerful healing techniques in this setting. Your healing process is guaranteed.

Yoga can help you with your pain. Contact one of our yoga therapist to discuss your healing needs and to schedule your private sessions.

Contact info: info@downingtownyoga.org or call 484-678-2078

A Divine Work in Progress

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By Darren Taylor

Interviewed by Lissa (Yogyananda) Fountain, Yogaratna

I used to drive by Downingtown Yoga and Meditation center weekly. I’d see the prayer flags and wonder what it was all about.

Then one day I took a yoga class with Swami Satrupananda. Afterwards she asked me what I wanted from yoga. I said, “Enlightenment, of course.”

“Well,” she replied, “You’ve come to the right place.”

I’ve been on a spiritual search for years. Mindfulness, Christian prayer, power yoga, and spiritual readings have been a part of the journey. But I’d never done mantra meditation before. I had lots of questions, and Satrupananda counseled me on the next steps. This led to my first Shaktipat in May of 2022.

I began to prepare myself for this profound spiritual experience about to happen. It felt akin to a baptism: a transformative spiritual marker on my path. I wanted to do service to it, with respect. I ate a simple and pure diet that week and read Muktananda’s Play of Consciousness. In a dream, I also experienced Gurudevi giving me a shoulder slip! I wondered if this was part of the transmission of energy to come.

At the beginning of the Shaktipat retreat, my mind and body had a little resistance. “Oh,” I thought, “we’re chanting again??!” But I went with it. After Gurudevi’s first touch, I felt pulled up from my base and realigned. I could see a roadmap that Kundalini had implanted inside me. During my meditations, the physical openings were much stronger. I experienced a cleansing, a burning off.

After I got home, I couldn’t do anything but sit in meditation. I was so blissful. I didn’t want to “land the plane.” I wanted to keep flying in Consciousness. Now I’m enrolled in the “Deepen Your Meditation” class and meditating daily. I’m a divine work in progress.

Shaktipat Retreat

Yoga Classes

Shavasana: Letting Go to Go Forward

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By Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast, Yogaratna

When life gets hectic, and it’s time to go-go-go, Shavasana is my go-to pose.

I take the time to set up my blanket stack with a carefully rolled blanket on top. With my knees supported thus, I feel my lower back lengthen, spread, and settle into the floor. The effect on my mind is so sweet.

Worry melts into random thoughts. They soon dissolve into simple clarity and gratitude for rest. I feel my upper back receive the support of the floor. With the back of my hands resting into the floor, my fingers soften. They release the urge to hold on to anything.

Sometimes I silently repeat our Guided Awareness, which I know by heart. In sequence, I find every part of my body, from my toes through my head, front and back. This deepens my access to inner peace.

In my current process of relocating, I’m finding Gurudevi’s “Experience Shavasana” recording to be essential. While uprooting myself, what I hear in her voice and words is transporting in a different way. This takes me inward to the discovery of new dimensions within myself.

Being in Shavasana, I am thoroughly grounded in the expanding awareness of Ultimate Reality and Eternality. Bit-by-bit, my body rests ever more deeply into my blankets and the floor. Guided in being aware of my body, I feel each area in turn filling with aliveness.

Afterwards, I rest in silence and stillness, my back evenly spread, securely supported by the floor. The Shavasana blanket stack and roll cradle my knees. Any previous pressure in my low back is gone. With calm and energy at the same time, I feel whole — ready to effectively address whatever arises.

Yoga Online & On-Site

Experience Shavasana Audio

An Opportunity Not To Be Missed!

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Enjoy Gurudevi’s new availability! She is more reachable than ever before.

NOW ONLINE

Wednesdays from 7:30-9 pm

FREE for Swami Sunday Subscribers

Wednesday evening satsangs are always free for in-person participants. For a limited time, current Swami Sunday subscribers may attend online for FREE. This is a time-limited offer, so give it a try right away.

These mid-week satsangs are more informal. Gurudevi speaks off-the-cuff, explaining the intricacies of yoga’s teachings in a very personal way.

Like a jazz musician, I love to riff on Consciousness. I pick a quote from my Baba, something relevant to the monthly theme in my Teachings Article. Then I explain the technical terminology as well as the practical application of his inspired and inspirational teachings. — Gurudevi

The clarity and brilliance of her spontaneous teachings inspires you! A longer chant leads up to meditation. Gurudevi always customizes the meditation instructions to synch up with the teachings she has given.

As a Swami Sunday subscriber, you automatically receive your connection code by email every week.

To attend a single satsang online, enroll by the night before. Registrations close on Tuesdays at 6:00 pm (Eastern Time).

For you who are near Downingtown, this program is always free. Open to the public, so come!

Wednesday 4/3

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My Online Miracle

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By Joan Bragar

My online connections with the Ashram have been a godsend. I participate twice a week in online yoga classes taught by the Swamis.

The benefits of Svaroopa^® yoga have been huge through my online yoga therapy sessions with the Swamis. I fully recovered from two major surgeries within a year. I now can engage in life with full mobility and strength. This is increasingly important as I turn seventy.

I’ve also taken additional online classes, including the Magic of Ujjayi program, Gurudevi’s illuminating Telecourses, and her “live from the Ashram kitchen” Yogic Nutrition course. I even participated in my first Shaktipat retreat online!

So I feel very close and connected to the Ashram. My knowledge, commitment and dedication to this spiritual path have deepened over the past few years. I now offer seva (volunteer service) to support the work of Svaroopa^® yoga in the world.

Last year, I got to Downingtown PA for my first in-person Shaktipat Retreat. I was happy to be there in person at last, and Gurudevi greeted me warmly.

During a dinner, I had a funny and fun-loving conversation with some of the swamis. It was about how tall they had thought I was from seeing me on Zoom. Some thought I was taller, and some thought I was shorter. That seemed to be the only information that wasn’t easily discernable online. Everything else — including emotional connection and physical and spiritual development — had occurred through several years of virtual programs.

I am always surprised that more people don’t take advantage of these weekly classes with true Svaroopa^® yoga masters. The organization’s website makes it easy to find and sign up for classes and programs. I invite you to join me.

Online Services

Sitting Auspiciously

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By Valerie (Atmananda) Light Trautlein, Yogaratna

Right now, my favorite pose is Swastikasana.

I love this pose because it supports my spine to be so upright in meditation. The “envelopes” of my thighs and calves are wonderful supports for my feet. Props for my knees give my hips and spine support.

They rest in alignment with each other. The support of blankets and my own body allows Kundalini to rise up my spine. Any blockages are cleared.

This support allows me not to work so hard at meditation. As I sit in the pose, I feel my body as one unit. This sensation of wholeness supports the truth of experiencing the One Reality as I sit.

I can remember a time when I could not sit in this position for long periods. I would experience hip and knee pain towards the end of meditation. So I decided to focus on deeper spinal release poses in my home practice.

The deep, consistent spinal release opened up the tight parts of my body. This of course addressed mental tension too. This focus created lasting change. It gave me the ability to enjoy sitting in this pose without pain. The whole thing got much easier.

The name of the pose, I find, really describes the gift of the pose. Swastikasana means auspicious sitting. Also, one translation of the Sanskrit name Shiva is “auspicious.” When I sit in Swastikasana, my body is aligned in a way to sit as my Self auspiciously with ease.

I receive support from the blankets as well as from my own body. Outside and inside work together with one goal. Sitting as Self.

On-Site & Online Classes

Teacher Directory

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!

Svaroopa Yoga Therapy

Teacher Directory

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