I love to see you shining. You love to glow. Your eyes shine, the corners of your mouth turn up, your breath opens, your collarbones widen, and you get taller. Best of all, your mind is clear. You can understand the intricacies of the teachings I bring you. You understand your life and…
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
by Heidi (Hamsaa) Flannery
Interviewed by Lori (Priya) Kenney
Having a Guru seemed like a fairytale before meeting Gurudevi Nirmalananda. I met her at Swami Sunday in May 2022. It felt familiar and I knew, “I’m where I’m supposed to be.” I’ve loved Gurudevi’s Swami Sunday programs from the beginning. Every discourse brings me what I need to know that week.
I am reading a lot of books, including Gurudevi’s A Yogic Lifestyle. Two years ago, I decided to pick a word for my New Year’s resolution: humility. The next Swami Sunday, Gurudevi asked what our resolutions were. I raised my hand when no one else did. When I told her my word, she asked if she could change it. I nodded. She looked at me fiercely and said, “Warrior!”
In reflection, it felt like she placed it into my heart. At home I put warrior pictures and phrases all over the house. I was in the middle of a divorce and my ex wasn’t being generous financially. Gurudevi told me I needed to hire a lawyer — for my children. It was both practical and spiritual advice. I did what she told me to do. That whole year, I did warrior poses to help me stand up for my girls. I owe it all to Gurudevi. I needed her to point me in the right direction.
Every other Sunday when my girls are with me, I do Swami Sunday online. Gurudevi told me to keep doing it for my daughters, even though my own attention is divided. My girls smile at Gurudevi, touch the screen and call out to her. They chant “Jyota se Jyota” with us or while playing. I’m so grateful they have access to Gurudevi.
I never dreamed I would meet my forever teacher. Nor that I would announce it to the world and myself. The moment Gurudevi walks in the room, I don’t want to take my eyes from her. I love the devotional part of being there, honoring her, bowing to her, loving her. Yoga used to be a hobby or a class. Now it’s my whole life.
Feel the vibe, the shakti of all the teachers chanting with Gurudevi in 2002.
Back then, she was Rama, leading the first Svaroopa® Yoga Teachers Conference. Some yogi musicians joined her, with sitar and drum, leading to an ecstatic evening!
- Shree Ma
- Jaya Shiva Shankara
- Mt. Kailasa OM Namah Shivaya
Get singles or buy the whole album. Chant along to experience the bliss of Consciousness or play it in your headphones. People will ask why your smile is so bright.
By Annette (Annapurna) Zucco
Interviewed by Agnes (Aikya) Hetherington
I met Amy in spring 2023, a month after her quadruple bypass surgery. The pain, fear and trauma poured out of her, a stream of hyperanxiety. At 59, her chest had been surgically opened up, exposing her physical and emotional heart.
We began with Ujjayi Pranayama and then moved on to the high-risk protocol for Embodyment® Yoga Therapy. After her first session, Amy reported “…feeling very relaxed in the chest area, feeling very soothed.”
Amy adopted a home practice of Ujjayi Pranayama while continuing with Embodyment® sessions. She was walking daily for cardiac rehab, but she would vomit after the walk. The exercise was medically necessary, while we were balancing it out with yoga practices.
The power of this practice continues to amaze me. Amy was learning techniques to calm herself and live her life. By summer, she could take her walk without pain or vomiting. She reported feeling movement in her sacrum, being open and relaxed in her chest. By winter, now doing the standard Embodyment® protocol, she described “dropping into that state of peacefulness.”
In Spring 2024, it was obvious from her breathing that Amy settled in very deeply. She remembered nothing but reported “I went very deep inside.” I let her settle into Self, into that healing place, a few more minutes.
Fourteen months after traumatic surgery, Amy took a two-week trip to Italy with her husband. She still has her challenges, but she realizes that she is more than her pain or anxiety. This incredible progress was achieved simply by following the Embodyment® protocols. It is so powerful, truly a therapeutic tool to be respected.
When you incorporate tantric methodologies into your life, it begins to shine with the Light of Consciousness. It was always there, but you couldn’t see it. It’s not your life that needs to change. It is….
— Gurudevi Nirmalananda
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
Yoga gives you recipes.
Just like scientists, for your inner experiment you do what has been proven to work by those who have preceded you. When you apply proven methodology, you will get reliable, predictable and replicable results.
What are those results? A deeper dimension of your own being opens up for you to know and experience within.
It’s not that you sit on the surface level of your being with your mind peering deeper inside. Instead, you settle inward to a deeper level. It is like you are leaning into your Self, or opening into your Self, or even like you are backing into your Self. As you apply your mind in this inward direction, the opening is very easy. It proves the methodology works.
As you deepen into Self, your sense of who you are is “Oh, I am me.” It is not a sense of discovering something new, fantastic and different inside. You become more yourself. You experience an inner freedom from all the stuff that you are not.
You get free from all the limitations and fears, negativities and resistances, all the paranoia, obsessions and compulsions. You discover an inherent Beingness that yoga calls Shiva, your own Divine Essence. This is your own capital-S Self.
Excerpt from Embodied Spirituality, pages 26‒27
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
The universe exploded out from a Big Bang, they say. This scientific theory was proposed in 1927. Scientists studied it for decades with a critical piece of evidence provided in 1964. It was enough that a press conference was held. The next-day newspapers announced, in big headlines, “Big Bang Proved.”
Since then, the scientists continue to refine their theory and come up with new terminology. They now say there was something there before the bang. I call it the “something that banged.”
What was there? What banged? It was a single point, a dot. They call it a singularity. In Sanskrit it is “bindu.” It still exists. It was not destroyed in the bang. You find the bindu inside. It is blue.
My Baba called it the “Blue Pearl.” When you see it in meditation, you are assured of liberation in this lifetime. It is the mystical form of your own Self, which is the source of the universe yet containing the whole.
The sages drew this as the mystical syllable OM. A multilayered sound, you may hear it or see the character when in a deep meditative state. It shows what preceded the Big Bang.
The two stacked semi-circles (like a numeral 3) are the vibration of the One, echoing itself within itself. You can replicate this sound by…
By Gurudevi Nirmalananda
The quality of your life is determined by how you use your mind, not by external events and situations.
One person can feel crushed about losing her or his job, while another person feels grateful for the chance to reinvent herself or himself. When you lose someone dear to you, a person or even a pet, you can focus on the loss or you can focus on your gratitude for the way they enriched your life for so long.
Because of the complexity of the mind, yoga offers many tools to help you with your mind. Yoga has more tools for your mind than for your body.
One of the most important yogic techniques for your mind is substitution. Whenever you notice that you are caught up in thoughts that tighten your body or upset you, you can choose to substitute something better. For example, you may be a worrier. Instead of worrying, you can say a little prayer or send a yogic blessing.
This is a very simple, yet sophisticated technique. It is based on the understanding that you only worry about people or things that you care about. The worrying is a way of reminding yourself that you love them. Unfortunately, every worry makes your body live through the experience as though it is really happening, even though it probably never will…
Excerpt from Yoga: Inside & Outside, pages 166‒167
By Swami Satrupananda
You had help creating your aches and pains. People in your life have contributed to your stresses. Thus you need help reversing the process.
This is why you take a yoga class with a yoga teacher or you attend a meditation program with a meditation master. But if you want to accelerate your progress, work one-on-one with a yoga therapist.
A private yoga therapy session is all about you. The yoga therapist meets you where you are at – understanding your current needs and goals. Then the yoga practices are customized for you.
In this one-on-one setting, the yoga therapist can utilize yoga’s most powerful tools. You will feel the difference in your first session. As you continue with more sessions, dramatic changes are possible – more than you ever imagined.
This is possible because yoga’s therapeutic tools open you up to your inherent wholeness. Your health comes from your wholeness. This is even built into the word “health” as it comes from an Old English word “hale” which means “wholeness.”
Yes! The ancient yogic teachings agree. Your body, mind and emotions are all integrated and aligned with your wholeness and you feel great.
When you are fragmented, divided or scattered, you do not feel well. Your body, mind and emotions are taking you in different directions blocking your own inherent wholeness. Your body aches. Your bodily functions don’t work well. Your mind and emotions are at odds with each other creating internal turmoil.
The key to feeling better is to experience your wholeness again. This is the purpose of all of yoga’s practices. In a yoga therapy session, your therapist gives you the tools that reweave your inner fragmentation.
As you experience your wholeness, your body, mind and emotions are rejuvenated. As you continue to experience your wholeness again and again, you align to this wholeness. Then you live your whole life this way. Aches and pains fade away. Your breath, heart and other organs function better. And best of all, your mind and emotions are soothed and focused.
As the Beatles said, “with a little help from my friends.” Your healing is not a DIY project. Get a little help and a lot more with support and expertise from a yoga therapist. Your own yoga therapy sessions can be the boost you need to reclaim your wholeness.
Talk to a yoga therapist at 484.678.2078 to find out more.
By Sue (Shuchi) Cilley
I anchor my week in Swami Sunday. I anchor my days in Meditation Club — every day of the week.
It’s amazing how often Sunday comes around again. Every Sunday, Gurudevi makes time in her schedule. She invites me (and everyone else) to Lokananda for Satsang. I come on Zoom. Others, who live closer, come in person.
I make it a priority in my week. A monthly subscription makes it easy. Occasionally I can’t attend, but it’s rare. I care.
Baba says if you want enlightenment, go to one who’s got it. I am so grateful to be able to spend this time with Gurudevi.
What’s so great about Swami Sunday? Technically it’s called Satsang. It’s an opportunity to experience Truth (sat), your own inherent Divinity, in the company of others (sangha). What’s a better use of time?
Swami Sunday has a formal structure to it. Using ancient practices invokes the inner arising of your own inherent Divinity. It’s totally reliable. So many practices. We chant at several different times, we listen to stories and Gurudevi’s illumined teachings. Can you keep your eyes open while she’s speaking?
We use a candle flame ceremony to invoke the power of revelation. She gives meditation instructions; we repeat the lineage mantra and meditate. She’s endlessly creative, always giving the gift of Self-Knowingness. If you want to know, go to one who knows and can give it to you.
And now the Sunday subscription includes the Wednesday evening programs as well! What a bonus that is!
It’s a less formal evening, but no less powerful. Each evening Gurudevi unpacks the nuances of the language from a multi-line quote from Baba’s writings. Somehow each of them is magnifying the clarity of each other, invoking Grace. She’s enlivening the teachings.
Her words are profound and easy to understand. I dive in deeper and deeper. Then we do a longer chant and a longer meditation. It couldn’t be any more perfect. I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to be there. Her invitation is open to everyone.
Now Wednesdays are becoming a commitment, too. All my inner and outer obstacles to attending have melted away. I’m more securely aligned with the Grace which flows into every aspect of my life.
If you want to know, go to one who knows and can give it to you. I want to know and I keep showing up, sitting at the feet of my Guru – via Zoom. Jai Gurudevi!
practice & grace: giving you your Self
revealing the mystery
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