Filled with Grace

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By Lloyd (Dharma) Apirian

Interviewed by Lissa (Yogyananda) Fountain

By attending Swami Sundays with Gurudevi, I’d already made profound inner shifts.  Yet I was looking for something even deeper.  Feeling a little down and flat, I wanted renewal: a deeper knowing of my own Self.  

An immersion with my Guru guarantees this!  I also know Shaktipat is a powerful way to boost my personal growth and transformation.  So I signed up for my first online Shaktipat Retreat.  

Doing a Shaktipat Retreat weekend at home has its advantages.  I was in my yoga room and everything was so familiar.  Yet I went just as deep in meditation as when I am in Gurudevi’s presence.  After Gurudevi gave Shaktipat-diksha, the spiritual energy climbed my spine more than ever.  It was freeing, opening and releasing.  I was surrendering to the Self. 

During a longer meditation, I experienced an auditory kriya.  I heard OM Namah Shivaya singing in my left ear!  In a short time, the sinus congestion I’d been feeling cleared away.  This was all Grace, pure Grace.  The Shakti moving through the Guru transcends limitations of space, time and energy.

To keep the Grace flowing, it’s recommended you increase your meditation time and be consistent.  After the retreat, I did notice the effects were fading.  I hadn’t been doing enough meditation.  Before my next Shaktipat, I’m signing up for Meditation Club!  To support carrying these effects into my life, I need the structure.

The Shaktipat experiences that Gurudevi describes with her Guru, Baba Muktananda, inspire me.  They once seemed unattainable and remote.  Now I know they are possible for me.  Shaktipat is a life changing opportunity to experience the Truth of my own Beingness.  I am forever grateful.

Shaktipat Retreat with Gurudevi

Saved Her Life

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By Rebecca (Rasa) Rivers

Interviewed by Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast, Yogaratna

From her yoga classes and yoga therapy sessions with me, Clair credits yoga with “saving her life.” She describes it in these ways:

I mean that Svaroopa® yoga has enabled me to live the life that I want.  Both of my parents and my older sister suffered from genetic-based osteoarthritis.  At an early age, I was warned that I could look forward to serious physical issues.

In 1972, in my early 30s, I had my first surgery to address complications of osteoarthritis.  Given my family’s health history, I was not surprised.  In the early 2000s, I had knee replacement surgery.  In 2011, when my physician suggested a hip replacement, I said, “Let me think on that.”

I’d taken yoga classes from Rebecca (Rasa) Rivers in a nearby town.  By 2011, she was teaching Svaroopa®yoga in my town, so I got in touch with her.  After an assessment, she suggested that I join her classes.  I also availed myself of her private sessions.  I received yoga therapy and private instruction on specific poses for my condition. 

When I saw my surgeon a year later, he said, “I don’t know what you did, but you no longer need hip surgery.”

Indeed, I was able to climb mountains again, walk three miles a day, and return to swimming.  Given the therapeutic effects of Svaroopa® yoga, I am so grateful and so happy to be alive.  

Since 10-years-old, I’ve been doing things that are positive for my body, including diet and exercise.  When I’ve walked through forests, their scent and vibrations have uplifted me.  I’m conscious now of the same sense of fulfillment from Svaroopa® yoga poses.

I have also become interested in learning more about yoga philosophy.  My original interest was focused on yoga’s physical benefits only.  Having recently completed a Learn to Mediate course, I am expanding my interests to yoga’s spiritual teachings as well as Svaroopa® Vidya meditation.

Seeing clients experience such profound change is one of the joys of my serving as a Svaroopa® yoga therapist.

My Shaktipat Experience

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By Chelsea (Rajñi) King

With each Shaktipat experience, my ability to receive what Gurudevi gives is greater.  This time, I received a promise of the state that I can live in all the time.  For the whole weekend and beyond, this experience was tangible and accessible.

During chant and meditation on Friday evening, the concentration of yogic energy (shakti) was palpable.  I felt light, easy and upright.  My mind was mantra.  I wrote in my journal after meditation: “…aware of the One being me that is ME.”

The next day, during the first Shaktipat by touch, Gurudevi stayed with her finger on my forehead for what seemed like a long time.  I felt supported and like she was taking care of me.  After a bit, I felt a subtle arising from tail to top. Kundalini realigned my head on top of my spine.  The density of my mind dissipated.  

My mind felt lighter, with my body comfortable and relaxed.  Blissful and aware, I settled into a deep, easy state. Thoughts were floating in and out of my mind along with mantra.  My body felt fuzzy, undefined, blurry.  When I opened my eyes, I was aware of seeing from an unusual depth within.  Mantra continued inside without effort.

Later in the day, we received Shaktipat by will.  My experiences from earlier continued.  Kundalini was moving in me, supporting me from the inside as I sat upright and easy.  Again, I felt at ease physically, mentally and emotionally. Mantra spontaneously arose the whole time.  

These experiences remind me of where this path is taking me.  As well, they propel me further along.  Shaktipat is such a gift!

Shaktipat Retreats

Pleasure, Happiness & Bliss

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By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

At the end of a busy day, you look for something pleasurable to do. You may even have sought out pleasure during your day. Your choice of foods and drinks, maybe going for a walk or taking a nap, filling your ears with music or your eyes with beauty – pleasure seeking is a dominant theme in most people’s lives. Why?

To find out why, simply refrain from pleasure when you feel the need. Notice how you feel without a sensory indulgence, including any discomfort in your body as well as your emotional state. You may also find that your mind is crazy-busy. No wonder you want something to distract you!

Pleasure is a pathway to happiness. When you do something pleasurable, you get happy for a short while. When the happiness ends, you need another indulgence to trigger a few more moments of happiness. Like a frog, you hop from one thing to another, seeking brief moments of happiness. Bliss is better.  It lasts longer than happiness.

Mystical bliss is hidden in every pleasure… (read more)

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Standing in Presence

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By Rosemary (Rudrani) Nogue, Yogaratna

The standing pose Virabhadrasana 2 (Warrior 2) is one of my favorites.  Moving in, I become absorbed in its physical angles and alignments.  Any mind chatter drops away.  I feel my feet and legs grounding down into the support of the earth.  Engaging my abs and raising arms skyward, I feel solid and uplifted at the same time.

I become aware of the interconnectedness between my body and mind.  I settle into equal balance between my feet, and my mind feels balanced too.  It feels circular.  My physical balance creates mental balance, and mental balance creates physical balance. 

My spine is freed to soften and lengthen.  With the crown of my head over my tailbone — Voila! — I am even deeper inside.  There is only quiet. 

Staying in the pose uncovers my stamina.  The pose feels powerful while being challenging.  I feel clear, strong, resilient and elated.  I experience standing in total presence, right here, right now, being the Beingness I am. Moving out of the first side, I am more than ready for the second side.

Continuing in Virabhadrasana 2, a sense of inner presence arises.  It unwraps an experience of my inner warrior.  As my heart expands, I feel strong and powerful yet kind, loving and open at the same time.  This pose prepares me to move into my day.  It gives me Me!  No wonder Virabhadrasana 2 is one of my favourite poses.

Breakthrough in Perspective

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By Margie (Maitreyi) Wilsman

Beginning yoga in 2018, Kathy kept her right hand at her waist in Seated Side Stretch.  She needed to sit on the highest possible blanket stack.  In Alternate Leg Diagonal, her right leg couldn’t move to the diagonal angle.  In a yoga therapy session, she reported high pain levels in her right leg, knee and shoulder.

During Covid, Kathy’s lifestyle and mobility became restricted.  No more riding bikes or playing four-square with her granddaughters.  She could no longer even walk to the end of her driveway safely unless she used walking sticks.  

When I reopened my studio, Kathy immediately requested Overlap Healing, a series of yoga therapy sessions.  For the first time, I learned about her 2013 low back injury from doing a flip.  I asked to see her MRI report and used it to guide subsequent discussions and sessions.

In one session, I moved her slowly into the diagonal angle in Alternate Leg on her right side.  She felt tingling and pulsations in her hip crease and buzzing on the outside of her right knee.  She told me about losing bowel control.  I urged Kathy to see her primary physician and request a new MRI.  It revealed the need for a right hip replacement.  I supported her in pre-surgery toning per her physician’s handouts as well as Ujjayi Pranayama along with a few “safe” poses.

After hip replacement and PT, Kathy arrived at yoga without walking sticks.  She said, in addition to her new hip, she had gained new perspectives on her body and mind.  She’d thought exercise could correct any pains.  She could not believe how she’d denied and rejected her pain.  She had wanted to look strong to her family and friends.  She credits Svaroopa® yoga for teaching her effective body awareness.

In a conversation after class recently, she said she no longer pushes herself through injuries and pain.  She first does Ujjayi Pranayama, or comes to class or a therapy session.  Then she decides what to do next.

Trained as a Svaroopa® yoga therapist, I move clients through their own healing process as well as empower them to keep it moving.  To do this, I engage deeply in the Svaroopa® Sciences practices to stay based inside in the One Self Being All.  I know that all breakthroughs come from this inner source.  Hearing Kathy speak of her miraculous changes I said, “Thank you, Self.”

Telecourse: Leaps & Bounds 

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Learn and grow in this multi-media course. This course draws out the meaning of Shaktipat:  what it is and how it works, as well as how you maximize the blessings it brings.  Be filled up by classical teaching stories as well as verses from Sanskrit texts. 

Go at your own pace in this multimedia course, comprised of substantive articles and teaching videos,.  Your password is current for three months after you enroll.  

Enroll in any of the three modules or sign up for all of them:

Module 1:  Growth Spurts — Leaping forward, bounding into Consciousness, making fast progress easily 

Module 2:  Living Spirituality — Riding on the shoulders of spiritual giants, how do you incorporate their great gifts into your everyday life?

Module 3:  Ordinary Monks & Mystics — Outgrowing your past & shaping your future. The loom of tantra: interweaving spirituality through life.

Bonus Video:  Resting on Your Laurels (free when you enroll in all 3 modules).

Gurudevi taught this course in 2019 as her Year-Long Programme.  New videos and updated Teachings Articles make it fresh and totally relevant to your needs today — that is, if you’re not enlightened yet

FREE Intro Video 

Leaps & Bounds

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By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Breakthroughs are not dependent on receiving Shaktipat.  Grace is not so limited.  Grace is part of life, always available. 

You’ve been lifted out of your small-s self so many times by Divine Grace.  Shaktipat is the form of Grace that awakens your inner meditative energy, so the upliftment keeps coming, again and again, every time you meditate.  It arises within.

While Svaroopa® yoga specializes in Shaktipat, you were uplifted and sheltered by Grace before yoga.  Your life has had many moments of Grace.  Like a child sitting on daddy’s shoulders, Grace shows you what you could not see.  Yet you still have to come down to earth and go through the process of growing into your own future. 

It’s easier to navigate to your future when you’ve seen where you’re going, and even easier when you have a GPS.  Yoga’s teachings provide both:  the description of your goal as well as how you get there.  They describe levels and stages that can help you understand where you’re at, and give you practices that help you make the next leap forward. 

That’s what I’m presenting in this Telecourse – the levels and stages of your upliftment.  It tends to happen in leaps and bounds.

Free Intro Video

Sutra on Pain Avoidance

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By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Pain is part of life.  This is why most of your energy goes into pain avoidance or pleasure seeking.  Fortunately, yoga excels at both!   

The physical practices of yoga are incredibly pleasurable, though you may go through a learning curve before you discover this. 

Especially when you are in-person classes, your teacher can adapt the pose to your body’s readiness as well as give you a prop or adjustment that melts through your accumulated tensions.  Svaroopa® yoga excels at this.  Regular practice of yogic breathing and the poses protects you from future pain in a magical way. 

Yoga’s meditative practices focus on getting you past your mental and emotional pains.  Using the enlivened mantra of this tradition cuts through your inner turbulence and carries you deeply within.  You find your deeper essence, what yoga calls “your own Self.”  Once you’ve experienced the inner infinity of your own Self, you have a different perspective on life and its events.  It’s easy to agree with the book title, that it’s all small stuff. 

That’s the gist of this sutra, a concise teaching with a great promise: 

Future pain can and should be avoided. 

Heyam duhkham anaagatam. 

— Yoga Sutras 2.16 

My elders expected to be in pain as they aged.  When I tried to give them a few yogic tricks that would diminish or relieve their pain, they said, “No thanks, honey.  I’m old.  I’m supposed to hurt.”  The sage Patanjali disagrees.  He not only promises that you can avoid pain, but that you should.  Good news! 

How do you avoid pain?  While yoga poses and breathing practices help you with your body, meditation is the key.  This is Patanjali’s focus, getting you past your mind so you experience the greater reality within.  All the yogic sages throughout time have focused on meditation as well as how to bring your own Self with you into life. 

Instead, our sense of self gets locked into worldly definitions. When I was in my twenties, my parents said it was time for me to get my boxes out of their garage.  I had completely forgotten about those old possessions, childhood treasures. One box was full of stuffed animals.  As I unpacked them, I was shocked to see how meaningless they were.  Yet they had meant everything to me when I was 12.  What happened?  I outgrew them. 

So many things have come and gone in your life.  You’ve already learned how to move on.  Patanjali says you can use this ability now, right in the midst of whatever you are currently going through.  Recognize that the ticking clock is moving on.  It’s time to outgrow your old needs and dependencies.  It’s time to grow into a new you. 

It’s meditation that makes this easy because you experience the greatness of your own essence.  When you tune into your own Self, the profound depth of pure Beingness supports you from the inside.  Now, whatever is happening on the outside, you take it in stride. 

You are more than these events seem to make of you.  You are more than others understand you to be.  You are so much more. 

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Gurudevi Nirmalananda

Shaktipat Is an Invitation

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By Judy (Jagruti) Goodkin

Interviewed by Lori (Priya) Kenney

I felt like I was getting an invitation when I received Shaktipat from Gurudevi.  When she placed her thumb on my forehead, it was as if she said, “Follow me.”  In her Q&A session later, someone asked about discipline with yoga practices. Gurudevi’s encouraging response has stayed with me.  It feels like the time for me to be more disciplined.  This willingness to be more disciplined is powerful, both in daily life and my practices.

At a recent Swami Sunday, Gurudevi talked about the gift of Shaktipat.  She gives the gift, but we have to open it and look inside.  It feels like I’m truly opening Gurudevi’s gift of Shaktipat and looking inside.  I’m taking Gurudevi’s “Living Sutras” course.  The course is very deep, and I am experiencing much awakening within.  Ordinarily, I would have more resistance to course assignments.  Yet now I feel very open to them.  I am even adding more than is being asked for.  My awareness of what I need to do for my body and mind is greater.

I appreciate how the Ashram Swamis also help us process our Shaktipat experiences.  Each time, their answers help me greatly.  I asked Samvidaananda about Kundalini in my meditation.  I had been waiting for Kundalini to stop moving me so I could meditate.  Samvidaanada said, “The Kundalini is your meditation.  Just repeat mantra while that is going on.”  

When I returned home and meditated, I let Kundalini have her way.  I experienced powerful movements.  During these kriyas, I was grateful for Samvidaananda’s guidance, and I repeated mantra.  Within a week, my body settled down.  I still get kriyas in meditation, but they are gentler now. 

I’m so grateful for Gurudevi’s invitation.  Opening the gift of Shaktipat has me settling into a deeper place.  Everything I do feels more purposeful.

Shaktipat Retreat begins 9/29
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