What a Difference!

Leave a reply

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

Living Mysticism 2024 Calendar Journal

2 Replies

NEW BOOK by Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Make your life spiritual, brimming with joy and peace. Such a life knows neither pain nor agitation.

I received this promise from my Guru and extend it on to you. May these modern-day sutras, short quotes from my writings and discourses, help you base yourself in the inner infinity of your own Divinity.

There are many ways to use these pages.  It’s small enough to fit in your purse, yet substantial enough to hold your whole year for you.

▼ As a calendar, these pages can help you organize your days.

▼ As a journal, you have space to write or draw about your meditations or your life – or both.

▼ You can fill the pages with mantras or prayers, invoking Divine blessings with each one.

▼ Or use the daily sutra as a jumping off point, to contemplate the teaching more deeply.

When you weave these teachings and practices through your life, your meaning and purpose are easily fulfilled. Your eyes shine with light and your heart overflows, giving you clarity, understanding and generosity. What a way to live!

Buy Now

Everything Sparkles with Divine Light 

1 Reply

By Beth (Bhānumati) Cunningham

Divine light touches all parts of my life. It’s because of Gurudevi. This is why I practice sharing it as much as I can. 

One of the most important parts of this practice is dakshina: supporting our Ashram financially. Another is inviting you to join me in this practice. I love honoring my revered teacher with a donation on her birthday (November 15). 

I love reaching out to let you know the benefits of your own contribution. Svaroopa® Yoga practices reveal your Divine light to you so you can shine it in the world. 

Lately, I’ve been asking for light to shine into my mind and heart’s deepest crevasses. This is new for me. I used to be afraid of what was in there. I used to hide from difficulties. Svaroopa® Yoga has taught me to trust my own inner light. Whatever it uncovers is a great treasure, even if it doesn’t appear so at first. 

Guided by Divine light, I cannot help but shine. I see it reflected back to me in my loved ones and community.  More and more, everything sparkles. I cannot repay Gurudevi for this gift, but I can support her teachings by donating to the Ashram in her honor. 

Supporting Gurudevi supports my inner Guru – the source of the light.  It is the single most important thing I can ever do with my money.  I invite you to share in supporting our Guru and Swamis with your own contribution.  And I thank you for sharing your own Divine light in the world.

You can donate in Gurudevi’s honor by clicking the button below.  You can also call us at (610) 644-7555.  Or you can send your check, in honor of Gurudevi’s Birthday, to Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram, 116 E. Lancaster Ave, Downingtown, PA 19335.  Thank You!

Gurudevi’s Birthday

My Year of Overlap Healing

Leave a reply

By Kristine (Dhairyavati) Freeman

Interviewed by Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast, Yogaratna

Two years ago, a bone scan showed osteopenia in one of my hips.  

Last spring, I wanted a home practice sequence with standing poses to address it. So I scheduled a private session with one of our Swamis.  I also knew that, at the same time, I’d be in a retreat with Gurudevi at the Ashram.

Instead of a pose practice, Gurudevi said I needed three thirty-session sets of Embodyment® Yoga Therapy.  This was a Shakti Blast to my brain!  I reacted with shock.  How could I find the time — or the budget?  Yet in my Embodyment® session with Swami Praj~nanda, I heard inner guidance: This is a gift from your Guru.  Can you find a way to accept it?

Home in MA, I found a longtime Embodyment® Yoga Therapist and realized I could make this happen. At first, I took lots of notes after my sessions. My lingering question was what if I do all these sessions and nothing happens?  Still, I felt an undercurrent of Grace supporting me.  I felt deeply settled, a steady stillness in the world.

By July, I’d completed my first set of 30 sessions. At the Ashram for another retreat, I could easily sit on the floor for meditation.  I could do all the poses without the modifications I had needed before.

During recesses, I didn’t need to rest in Shavasana and do Ujjayi.  My stamina had increased.  I was told my face looked lighter.  In August, a bone scan showed the osteopenia had stabilized at the level shown years before. The best-case scenario!

Now I’m in my third set of 30 Overlap Healing sessions.  Once again, I’m at the Ashram for a retreat with Gurudevi.  The seven-hour drive from MA was easy. I did not need long breaks, nor did I need caffeine. My body is free from the deep fatigue that I’d been living with before these therapy sessions.

I feel that “investing” in my bones has also delivered increased longevity and quality of life. With stabilized bone density, I don’t need medication for osteoporosis.  I am so grateful for Gurudevi’s Shakti Blast!  It’s been a highly effective intervention and so much more.

Yoga Therapy – Online and On-Site

Make a Difference

Leave a reply

By Ruth (Rama) Brooke

When you shine with the light of Consciousness, you are a light unto the world.  And when you give of yourself, you receive. 

Our nature is truly giving.  We love to give and when we do, we feel good.  The energy of giving is reciprocal.  It comes back to us, exponentially. 

This is why yoga offers so many ways to give.  One is through the practice of dakshina, selfless giving of financial resources.  Please join me in contributing to our Ashram’s year-end fundraiser — Shine with Divine Light.  Together, we can make a difference. 

Through dakshina, yogis make a difference in the world.  It’s both an inner and an outer difference.  In giving, we help change the world.  And in giving, we have much to receive.  The light of Consciousness shines brighter inside and outside, all at the same time. 

So shine on!  Make a difference.  Support Gurudevi and the Ashram as you recognize your Divine light. Then shine like a beacon, into the world.  The world needs Divine light now more than ever. 

There are some auspicious dates which fall during our Ashram’s fundraiser.  It runs from now until Dec 14.  Perhaps you’d like to time your contribution with one of these important dates:

Gurudevi’s Birthday – Nov. 15

Thanksgiving – Nov. 23 (in the U.S.)

Year-End Giving – anytime

We are now able to accept stock transfers as well. We even have a dedicated email for you to contact: donate@svaroopayoga.org.

You can also call us at (610) 644-7555.  Or you can send your check to Svaroopa Vidya Ashram, 116 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown, PA 19335.  Thank You!

Why Do You Do What You Do?

Leave a reply

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

There’s always a reason behind your actions. You are a volitional being, meaning you have free will. Animals function by instinct but humans have more options. What is it that motivates you?

When you lack any of the basics, they are your priority… Yoga honors the reality of such needs and reactions. You must prioritize basic issues, perhaps making yoga part of your support system when setting up a better quality of life. I have been fortunate to help a few yoga students facing such difficulties. Yet I recognize that most people come to yoga only when their basics are managed.

Once you have room to look at yourself and your own process, I ask — why do you do what you do? Hopefully you’re not focused on the instinctual level anymore. You have some breathing space in your life, enough that you’re interested in yoga. That means you have freedom of choice.

As an adolescent, I made choices based on anger. I was deeply frustrated at the incongruity between the ideals I’d been taught compared to the reality of the world around me. The prevailing message seemed to be, “Do what I say, not what I do.” My knee-jerk response was to try both what was recommended as well as what was advised against. What I learned in the process fueled my aspirations for something greater. I first sought it in higher education, but intellectual achievements were not enough for me.

Only yoga’s timeless teachings satisfied me. Now, for five decades, I’ve deliberately deepened my yogic knowledge and the experiences it has opened up in me. This is truly a bottomless well! Yoga has empowered me to live up to the highest ideals, yet in a down-to-earth way.

I think of my life’s path as a good use of my free will. Svatantra means free will. Svatantrya is God’s free will. Only you and God have free will. It is the distinguishing characteristic of…

Read Article

Shine with Divine Light

Leave a reply

By Ellen (Lajja) Mitchell, President

Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram Board of Directors

Our Ashram’s year-end fundraiser theme is “Shine with Divine Light.”  

Please join me in donating with a one-time amount or starting a monthly donation, or increasing your current monthly amount.  Any gift will help your Ashram shine its Divine Light brighter into the world.

Watch Video

Kindly take a look at our Vision and Mission statements at the bottom of all our emails.  Our Vision is “To engage in and teach the worship of Paramashiva, the all-pervasive Divine Reality, focusing on finding and experiencing the Divine within the individual.”  

Our Mission Statement explains how we do that.  It says “We provide yoga and meditation programs, teacher training and a vowed order. As a conduit of Grace in an ancient yogic lineage, we serve seekers of Self-Realization.”

This means our fundraising theme, Shine with Divine Light, is what we do.  Gurudevi Nirmalananda, our Master Teacher, says

It’s about shining in a way that you help others find their own light.

Think of the world and everyone as a string of lights.  Not all the lights are shining or functioning at their full wattage. The Svaroopa® Sciences help you look inside so you find the source that powers your light to its fullest.  Once you are sourced this way, you in turn affect others in your circle.  

How many lights can turn on or shine brighter?  Your donation will help us to provide the opportunity for you and others to “Shine with Divine Light.” How? By doing more yoga.  Your generous donation is a shining example!

Donate today on our website.  Or you can call us at (610) 644-7555.  Or simply send your check to Svaroopa Vidya Ashram, 116 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown, PA 19335.  Thank You!

Donate Today

The Yoga of Relationship

Leave a reply

By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

The intimate connection that you seek with another person is more than a meeting of minds and more than a meeting of bodies.

The point at which com­munication becomes communion is the experience of union. This is the goal of yoga, and the meaning of the Sanskrit word “yoga” itself — union. 

Once your innate yearning connects with your own inner source that fills it, you experi­ence this connection and communion with everyone. It is the natural outward expression of the inner experience. 

My own experience of relationships has been transformed by yoga. I have dif­ficulty naming it “love.” It is somehow both more and less than what I always thought love was. Whatever you want to call it, it is yoga. This is what makes our relationships work.

For me, it includes a deep respect for every person, along with a genuine interest and caring for how they think, how they feel, and for what is going on in their lives. 

Because of this, I never tire of talking with students about their lives, about their body, about their feelings, and especially about their experiences of yoga. I feel deeply honored by their sharing with me. I am grateful for this opportu­nity to share my understanding and my experience of yoga with you..

– excerpt from Yoga in Every Moment, page 2 

Kindle Format
Paperback Format

Yogic Nutrition with Gurudevi 

Leave a reply

Online beginning November 7

What does a yogi eat?  

To achieve health as well as pleasure and (most importantly) spiritual development, yogis feed themselves consciously.  

Drawing on yoga, Ayurveda and scientific nutritional guidelines, Gurudevi gives you easy ways to improve your nutritional profile.

Taste is also important, especially as it contributes to your nutrition as well as your quality of life. Each class includes a tasting session with discussion. Enrollment is limited, so everyone can participate in the discussions as well as get personalized support and recommendations from Gurudevi.

My taste buds came alive.  I was in shock! Gurudevi guided us through making toast with all six tastes on it.  A huge light bulb went off.  Food can be good and good for me!  In this course, I learned I’ve been protein-deficient for 20 years.  Now I understand where my cravings come from.  The course inspired me to slow down and be more conscious of my eating.  I was thrilled to learn so much in a short period of time. And watching Gurudevi in the Ashram kitchen was a joyful experience.  — Sheralee H.

Yogic Nutrition

Inner Strength & Clarity

Leave a reply

By Jules (Brahmani) Watson, Yogaratna

I am grateful for the flexibility that Svaroopa® yoga has given me! I can now sit comfortably without props in the classical Vajrasana (Lightning Bolt pose). This was not the case when I first started yoga.

I sit in Vajrasana to teach classes. Settling into my sit bones, I begin by leading students into Shavasana with the Guided Awareness. Then I guide them in Ujjayi Pranayama. During class I sometimes sit in this pose beside a student to assist them. I also sit in Vajrasana to give private yoga therapy sessions. With an upright spine, I feel balanced and present. 

When I want to sit longer in my own practice, I bring in blanket props. This takes the pressure off my ankles and allows the blood to flow freely to my feet. It also takes the pressure off my knees and supports my spine. Then I can stay sitting longer.

It’s delicious! My spine lengthens upward, my belly softens. I feel vibrational energy in my solar plexus, my breathing is easier, and I feel expansive. My spine softens even more, and my awareness turns inward easily. I am at peace.

I am held by my inner stambha (the arising column of spinal energy). And I slip into the bliss of the Self. After sitting in Vajrasana for this longer time, I feel balanced and composed with a new sense of inner strength and clarity.

Learn More
Teacher Directory