Category Archives: Svaroopa Yoga

Three Yoga Miracles 

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By Barbara (Girijananda) Hess, Yogaratna 

Interviewed by Agnes (Aikya) Hetherington 

I supported three students in profound healing through their Svaroopa® yoga practices as well as their receiving Embodyment® Yoga Therapy sessions.  

The first was a colleague in her twenties. Our job setting was new to her.

Overwhelmed by stress, she cried everyday.  When she learned that I teach yoga, she soon started attending my Svaroopa® yoga classes.   

Before long, she enrolled in my three-week series “Ease into Meditation.” Then she enrolled in the Mandali Travels “Deepen Your Meditation,” a program taught by an Ashram Swami. She has continued deepening inward with Sutra Studies as well as a daily home practice. She has learned how to access inner peace and bliss.  

All this has transformed her. “I no longer worry about stuff. I know I can keep my mind on a short leash,” she says. “I feel different around my friends. I don’t complain all the time.”  

I was honored to be invited to her wedding a few months ago. From her new husband, I heard that she said, “I need to meditate and repeat mantra,” when she was agitated before the ceremony. Throughout the whole wedding, she was glowing and calm.  

The second miracle is a client with two replacements of the same hip and neuropathy in her feet. She has returned to normal activity including walking without an assistive device!  

I gave her weekly Embodyment® sessions, taught her Ujjayi Pranayama, and recommended a pose sequence for home practice. Besides the dramatic improvement in her surgical hip, she also gained sensation in her feet.

She had had neuropathy for two years. At a recent appointment, the neurologist said, “If this is working, keep doing it.” 

Another of my co-workers is my third Miracle Story. She was having panic attacks in the course of supporting her mother, who was in hospice. In private sessions, I taught her Ujjayi breathing in Shavasana. With weekly private sessions, she anchored securely into her twice daily Ujjayi practices. The panic attacks ended.  

Our Svaroopa® Vidya Meditation guides us in opening to our Divine Essence within. Encountering these teachings, she could see herself being a strong divine daughter. She felt much more present with her mom during her transition.   

Now this colleague continues coming to my yoga classes. While staying loyal to her Christian beliefs, she embraces the experience of her own Divinity. 

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Dissolving Differences

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By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

At the beach, I revel in watching the waves rolling onto the shore. Each has its own personality. One wave is taller but another is wider.

One wave washes farther up the shore. Another gets swallowed up by one coming from behind. Yet they are all made of the same ocean water. They are all the same while they are all different.

Like this, Shiva is being everything in the universe. Every individual and every single thing is different from the others, yet all are made of Shiva. Shiva is having a glorious time being multifaceted, like a bride wearing three different wedding gowns at her wedding events. We love the play of the differences!

While Shiva is having a good time being you, you might not be enjoying it quite so much. Your focus on differences creates a “pushmi-pullyu” effect. Simply look at a serving platter full of cupcakes. You can get caught up in which of them will be most to your liking. But if someone beats you to it, you might have a few words to say or maybe a plan for payback. Unfortunately, things can escalate, even get out of control quickly.

Yoga says, “Look within. Find your own essence — see the One Divine Reality hidden in all.” Then you delight in the superficial differences. Your experience is like turning the wheel on a kaleidoscope, getting ever changing colors tumbling in the unchanging ray of light. And you get to eat your cupcake.

One way to work on your inner deepening is based on a sophisticated understanding of how energy becomes matter, including the physical matter of your own body.

You delve into your own experiences, exploring the cosmic process in reverse. You expand your awareness in a meticulously step-by-step process.

Sharire samhara kalanam. — Shiva Sutras 3.4

Dissolve the tattvas, each into the preceding, to realize the highest tattva, Shiva.

An easy example is vision. While you are seeing an object right now, perhaps words on a page, this is because you have the ability to see. This capacity of seeing is more subtle than any single object upon which you gaze. In this awareness, you have now expanded inward, dissolving from a single visual into your capacity for seeing. Each of these levels is a tattva (principle of Consciousness).

Delving into your ability to see, you realize that it is merely one type of perception, utilizing only one specific sensory capacity. Perception itself is greater than any single sensory pathway. Exploring into perception itself, you encounter…

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Your Mind’s Job

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Your own Self is always manifest, always present, always accessible, always easy to find.  You just have to look in the right direction — inward.  But your mind is constructed to look the other way.  Your mind is a concentrated form of Consciousness with…

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Jiva Becomes Shiva“

Watch Full Discourse Here

Focus on Self

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To discover who you are is the purpose of meditation.  It is an inner exploration that takes you deeper and deeper within.  But at the end of your meditation, your peripheral vision is wider.  Your focus didn’t shut you down. It opened you up.  Your capacity for caring, compassion…

—  Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Peripheral Vision“

Watch Full Discourse Here

Living in Ease

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By Swami Satrupananda 

More reps. Heavier weights. Longer distances. This is what we’ve been taught will give us physical health. 

You get more by doing more. You push your body further and harder. You push through the pain. Grit your teeth and bear it.

And then once you’ve pushed your body as much as you can, you rest. You’re exhausted and maybe even in pain. You rest so that your body can heal from what you’ve done to it. 

Is there another way? 

Yes! Svaroopa® yoga starts with the resting. We begin every class with Shavasana, yoga’s relaxation pose. Lying on the floor, you prop your legs up, which supports your lower back. You put a blanket under your head. You rest and settle.

Your teacher then offers you a Guided Awareness: “Become aware of your toes, all ten toes, all at the same time . . .”

In this relaxation pose, your physical tensions melt away. As you are guided through being aware of your own body, your mind settles. Your mind slows down. You clear away the physical and mental fatigue of life. 

Your class continues with an ease-full breathing practice that builds your reservoir of energy. The yoga poses target muscular tension in your spine. For this release, you move your body into easy angles. You prop your body with blankets and blocks. And then you soften into the pose. 

Even in the standing poses, you soften into it. The goal is not pushing further and trying harder. Instead, the purpose is to open up to an ease of being in your own body, which is health-full, bliss-full and powerful.

Our classes end with Shavasana, and you experience the Guided Awareness again. This practice is so important that we do it twice. And you need the practice! You need the practice in resting, in settling into an easy state of being. 

At the end of Shavasana, students sit up.  As their teacher, I ask for comments. Their most common feedback is feeling peaceful, relaxed and full of energy all at the same time. 

Yes, that is the way to live — all the time! You can feel that way too, by practicing Svaroopa® Yoga.

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The Longing

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I wanted something that my parents didn’t want. I wanted something that my school teachers never talked about. I wanted something that wasn’t described in church. Joseph Campbell rescued me from my self-doubt. In a series of television interviews titled “The Power of Myth”, he explained that everyone longs for something greater, but only a few…

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “A New Normal“

Watch Full Discourse Here

Meditate with a Master Everyday

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You are invited to a FREE informal online discussion about our Meditation Club.

Gurudevi Nirmalananda, along with Swami Shrutananda, will explain how it works and give you a taste of it.

Our Meditation Club meets online daily — 365 days in the year (Leap Year, it’s 366!).  While this introductory program is free, Meditation Club is by subscription, with a three-month minimum. 

In this free program, ask your questions and see if our Meditation Club will give you what you’re looking for.  

FREE Join Our Meditation Club
ONLINE Tuesday September 16
4:00-5:00 pm (EDT)

When you meditate with a master, you dive deeper within — easily. The specialty of Gurudevi’s tradition is to open you up to the deeper dimensionality of your own being. She was taught by a master, who was taught by a master . . . back through the generations.

Sign up for this free introduction to gather valuable information. It can help you decide whether it  feels right for you.  

Intro to Meditation Club

Grieving While Based in Beingness

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By JoAnn (Chaya) Gibson

In early June, my adult son was diagnosed with aggressive metastatic cancer.  The prognosis for recovery is extremely poor. The shock of it felt overwhelming and unreal.  

He had gone to the emergency room with stomach pain. Something simple, I thought, maybe an ulcer.  He is 62 years old, engaged to be married and looking forward to retirement.  

I expected to spend my remaining years with him as part of my family and life.  As the reality of his diagnosis sank in, I experienced the first waves of grief.  

These waves came with a kind of fury. They reminded me of being a child at the seashore.  A wave would pick me up, spin me around and pull me under. Then it spit me out on the shore.  

Now, however, I am not pulled under. I have a buoyancy that comes from the practice of exploring Beingness.

In my yoga class, during the Guided Awareness in Shavasana, I feel my toes.  Feeling all ten toes, I know that I have toes. Feeling openings from poses lets me know I am more than my body and personality.  

When I meditate, I connect to an energy that supports me through the day. I am supported while I go through this grief.

When I’m in a program with my Guru, Swami Nirmalananda, I feel a presence, peace and a power.  Her gift of Shaktipat gave me the experiential knowing of my Self.  

When we chant, the problems of the world sink into the background. Then I am in the now. By staying based in Beingness, my heart can stay open. I can go on this journey with my son without fear.  

As a therapist, I worked with people coping with present trauma or recovering from past trauma. We would explore together whether there was a “gift” in the event.  Did the pain provide an experience that changed how they lived their life? Was there a lesson that needed to be learned?  Was the pain a doorway into a new way of being in life ? 

Now I say yes when answering this question for myself. As the waves of grief continue, I am aware that I am more based in my heart’s energy.  

Music affects me more deeply. I feel more connected to people, plants and animals.  I am aware of feeling more empathy and compassion for my fellow travelers on Earth’s plane.  

My heart feels broken, yet also more open.  I am grateful for my Guru and the Svaroopa® Vidya spiritual path. 

Meditate with Gurudevi

You Choose

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Your mind is so powerful. It creates whatever you choose. If you choose to repeat the litany of your pains, you can do this. If you choose to repeat the litany of your pleasures, you can do this. Yet, yoga recommends neither. You see, both of these litanies are still about…

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda

From Gurudevi’s full discourse “Your Mind’s Greatness“

Watch Full Discourse Here

Always Amazes Me

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By Phil (Krishna) Milgrom

Over the years, many of my students and clients have testified to the healing power of Svaroopa® Yoga and Embodyment® Yoga Therapy. It’s magical. It always amazes me.

A new yoga student wrote:

After two weeks, I can now get out of bed without my back killing me. I had been intent on buying a new mattress. You saved me plenty!

Another new student also reported that after a few classes her back pain had vanished. It had been nagging her almost constantly. She was finally able to sleep “wonderfully well.”

Hearing testimonies like these after classes, I have sometimes responded with a joke. I say our yoga studio’s closet is full of crutches — left behind by other students. But it’s really no joke: these wonderful practices really work.

Recently, a student asked us for help. She hadn’t attended classes for a year or so. She read about Embodyment® Yoga Therapy on our website. There we explain how Overlap Healing through Embodyment® Yoga Therapy sessions works. 

This series is recommended when you’re feeling “stuck” physically, emotionally or even spiritually. She said her dad died several months back and this was exactly how she’d been feeling since.

She was definitely stuck. She had been suffering from severe joint pain. Her right hip was especially bothersome. She was losing hope. She said she needed help getting back to her Self. 

For her first Embodyment® session, she could barely walk into our studio. Yet, immediately after, she felt tremendous improvement. She was smiling again. She was able to walk back to her car comfortably. By the third session, she had absolutely no pain. She said, “This was nothing short of a miracle!”

Since her Overlap Healing series, she has been practicing the Magic 4 regularly and remains pain free. She has found her “old Self” again. 

This miracle is simply the Svaroopa® Sciences at work. They constitute a systematic methodology validated and based on evidence. As one of my t-shirts says, “Science: Because you can’t just make it up!”  

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