That’s because yoga meets you where you’re at. And if you’re having any trouble with it, if you’re experiencing pain, it’s because yoga is excavating, digging up your own patterns to clear them away and free you from them. In a pose, Svaroopa® Yoga may get into some gnarly stuff. But it’s merely finding what was there and would be causing…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Sensory Pleasures“
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
The first time you chant Shree Guru Gita can be a powerful experience, whether it’s due to the beauty and power of the chant or because your tongue can’t quite wrap itself around the Sanskrit syllables.
You have options about how to participate:
Close your eyes and listen, coasting on the Shakti (energy).
Open your eyes and follow along with the Sanskrit.
Read the English silently while the group is chanting the Sanskrit.
Mouth the Sanskrit words silently, or even breathe into them.
Chant quietly, even if your chanting isn’t perfect.
Open your mouth and sing along, even perhaps using a finger to track each word!
Beyond your experience of the chant itself, notice what the chant does for you. Your “Marker Pose” is your state before and after the chant: what is the condition of your body, breath, mind, and heart?
How do you feel within yourself — at what depth are you sitting within? By assessing these changes, you can determine the value of this practice for yourself.
Excerpt from Yoga’s Sacred Songs, page 149
This is how you use your senses. You get them running around outside — looking this way, looking that way, listening to the sounds, aware of smells as well as the temperature of the air around you. It’s like your senses are roaming out there looking for something that…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Your Ten Senses“
Put Gurudevi in your pocket and take her with you wherever you go.
It is so easy to listen to podcasts, watch videos, read Gurudevi’s Teachings Articles and more.
Your daily quote is at the top of the page. Tap on the quote to open up a search box for over 7,000 E-Quotes from the last 30+ years.
Check out our program calendar. Read the latest in both our blogs – SVA Blog and YogaMysticism.Today.
Easily access the words for Satsang chants, or attend the Satsang live with Gurudevi.
Enroll for your next program. Make a donation. Check out our latest social media posts.
We love to connect with you!
Your mind is capable of blocking Consciousness. Don’t trust your mind. Well, not yet. Not until you know how to use your mind to access Consciousness, and to use your mind as a conduit of Consciousness. You need your mind. You need it to be shining with the light of Consciousness. Only then can you…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
From Gurudevi’s full discourse ” The Best Chant Ever“
By Karen (Kumuda) Schaub
Interviewed by Agnes (Aikya) Hetherington
Last November, I had intense knee pain.
I finally was able to move from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania, to be in person with Gurudevi more often.
I had longed to move there years before, but my mother had passed away unexpectedly. It took several years to come to terms with the loss. Only then could I begin the process of clearing out her home to put it on the market.
This physically and emotionally strenuous work re-activated an old knee injury. I was limping through life, doing daily activities very gingerly. Once the house was ready, it sold quickly. I had 30 days to pack and move to PA. Within two weeks of arriving, I decided to begin Embodyment® Yoga Therapy to help relieve the pain. It did that and so much more!
I needed lots of tailbone opening to relieve the knee pain, which certainly happened. But the therapy also radically changed things on the inside. It was a profound experience of deepening into my Self. I began to develop trust around working with my body in a different way.
As my fear of the pain receded, I no longer lived in a state of desperation. Throughout my life, I had felt a constant internal shakiness. Yoga therapy and multiple daily practice sessions of Ujjayi Pranayama filled my reservoir of prana. This brought me to a state of being more settled in my life, having less fear.
Now I’m learning how to keep my mind on a short leash. I set a 90-minute timer when starting a physical task such as unpacking. When my mind wants me to do “just one more thing,” I tell it “no.” If we allow the mind to rule, it’s a very painful process.
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
Don’t beat people up with your spirituality!
If you were truly a sannyasi (spiritual adept), you would watch the football game with them, serving them by sharing the time with them.
The feeling that you don’t want to be there means you haven’t yet renounced your desire to separate yourself from others, nor your desire to choose your own pleasurable activities. Sannyasa is when you know, “If no one was home, I would meditate, but they are home, so I am going to sit with them.” Sannyasa is renunciation, not rejection and not abandonment.
The good news is that you don’t have to be a sannyasi in order to become Self-Realized! Neither do you have to be initiated as a sannyasi, nor do you have to wait until you age into it. Gurudevi says, “My Baba often taught about the householder-saints in yoga. You can become Self-Realized today in the life you are already living. You have my permission and my blessing.”
How do you weave your spirituality into the stage of life you currently inhabit? You begin with accepting the stage you are in. The bottom line is, “Be Here Now.”
You can focus on “Be,” which is the ultimate mystical Knowingness of who you are. Or you can focus on “Now,” a popular way of pointing you inward toward your own spiritual essence. But you also have to focus on “here.” You are in the stage of life that you are in. Enjoy it.
Live a spiritual life and progressively deepen your spiritual practices. This is a beautiful life.
Excerpt from A Yogic Lifestyle, pages 243‒244
Develop your understanding of the Guru through the teachings in Shree Guru Gita – now sung in English!
Gurudevi Nirmalananda has completed her versification of the text, rendering the Sanskrit words in modern English. And she recorded so it is easy to sing along for a profound inner opening.
This inner opening is the purpose of the chant as well as the purpose of having a Guru.
She sings it, ending with her English version of Jyota se Jyota, the poem of praise and gratitude that honors her Baba. The words are in her companion book, “Sacred Songs: Chants of Svaroopa® Yoga.”
By Ellan (Shanti) Catacchio
I have received Shaktipat from Gurudevi Nirmalananda many times over the years.
Each one is different yet the same. After the immediate and unique experience of receiving Shaktipat, changes manifest over time.
My most recent immediate experience was sublime. When Gurudevi touched my forehead, I was infused with mantra. I felt this go from between my eyebrows (aj~na chakra) to my third chakra (manipura). It landed with a slight jolt just below my navel.
I have experienced subtle changes ever since. Mantra is more present in my life, often running through the background of my day. I am doing more out spoken japa before meditation and at the end of the day. This, of course, brings me closer to Consciousness, closer to God, within.
I approach my practices with a deeper sense of reverence and calm, which I can carry through the day now. I am more open and accepting than I was. While I am aware of these changes in retrospect, they happened to me gradually over time. Though I am grateful for them, I did not deliberately plan or work on attaining them.
With another opportunity to receive Shaktipat this year, I’m planning to attend. It is important to me to keep the gift of Guru’s Grace flowing. This helps me to get closer to being ME.
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
Your senses pull you outward in a constant search for bliss. But the bliss is inside. Crazy-making?
Fortunately, these two things work together. They are perfectly paired to keep you in bondage and delusion. By contrast, yoga sets you free.
I experienced the power of the senses with the scent of honeysuckle. I was walking briskly but a cloud of fragrance stopped me in my tracks. I stood there and breathed it in. Motionless for a long while, I felt deeply centered and peaceful. It is a mild state of bliss.
When I opened my eyes, I turned outward again, looking around to find the source. After that, every time I walked through there, I paused and sniffed the air to see if the honeysuckle was blooming. I looked outward for honeysuckle, thinking it was the source of my bliss. But what really happened is that delicate fragrance stilled my mind so I experienced the bliss that is always inside.
Your senses are always scanning outward: your eyes, your ears, your nose, your tongue and whole-body sensation. Think of it like a radar screen, with your senses looking for the little blip — looking for something you will enjoy.
The word enjoy could be spelled in-joy. That’s really what you want — to be in joy. I wish for you that your whole life be joy-filled. But that will happen only when you find the source of joy. It doesn’t come from outside.
When you in-joy something, it’s because inner joy is arising to fill you. To live a joy-filled life, tap into the inner source of joy so it fills you all the time. What is this source? It is your own Self, your inherent Divinity. The yogic sage Patanjali explained this over 2,000 years ago…
practice & grace: giving you your Self
revealing the mystery
SVA Blog 