A Yoga Warrior

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By Julia (Chintamani) Wallis

Interviewed by Lori (Priya) Kenney

Late last year, Yulia came to me in a lot of pain.  Since childhood, every day has brought her hip, shoulder, wrist and knee pain.  Persistent headaches and head pressure were part of it too.  She didn’t remember ever not having headaches.  Even her vision kept getting worse.  

I gave Yulia three private sessions.  She experienced mental peace and calmness immediately.  Soon physical changes started, and her pain began to subside. 

Then Swami Satrupananda came to teach some yoga programs.  Yulia enrolled in the four-hour workshop, though this was before she had done any yoga classes.  Towards the end of the yoga poses part, Yulia came to me, looking very frightened.  She said she didn’t think she could do it.  Her physical discomfort was very high.  I told her, “If you can stay with it, it will change.”  Like a yoga warrior, she stayed with it, and it did change.

Then, after two months of weekly private sessions and only one class, I noticed that the shape of Yulia’s eyes was changing.  She posted this review on my Facebook page: 

I’m amazed at my progress in the short two months I’ve been practicing with Julia.  My mind is quieter; the thoughts are not swirling around non-stop.  I catch myself being grateful more often.  The severe hip pain I’ve had for 10 years is not as bad.  My headaches are completely gone, and even my eyesight has improved.

In February, I went to Lokananda for a Teacher Training: Treating Pain TuneUp.  Upon returning to Seattle, I began doing the poses with Yulia in her sessions.  After the first one, she sent me a text.  She said it was the first time in her life that she spent a day without pain.  She said, “It’s hard to find any pain.  In the past, I’d sneeze and feel like I’m falling into little pieces.  I’m forever grateful I found Svaroopa® yoga.”

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Healing on Every Level

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By Lynn (Gurupremananda) Cattafi

The January Healing Retreat was the perfect way to start my New Year. The format created is powerful. The brilliantly designed practices reached me on all levels of my being.  

Doing the full-immersion online retreat in my own home was a sacred experience. I could weave the healing into every part of my life, while simultaneously being in my life. 

I went into the retreat looking for relief from foot pain that was affecting my mobility. I knew I needed the personalized help that I would receive at the Healing Retreat. And I received so much more than just pain relief! 

I was deeply healed in body, mind and heart. I started each day with the online Meditation Club. 

Then came my personalized one-on-one online yoga therapy session with one of the Ashram’s amazing Yoga Therapists. I received poses that target and heal my specific pain. 

Daily vichara (guided self-inquiry) freed me from mental tensions and blocks. As I got freer, I realized that those blocks had been adversely affecting my body. 

Our Yoga Therapists’ daily discourses on pain and healing enhanced my healing process. Plus, in Gurudevi’s group Q&A, I received her enlightened insight into my healing.

This multi-level opening and clearing prepared me for a huge inner breakthrough. It came a few days after the retreat concluded. 

I am grateful to Gurudevi as well as to my therapists, Swami Shrutananda and Swami Prajnananda. Their loving and expert guidance is priceless. I highly recommend the Healing Retreat. I am looking forward to taking it again and again. It’s that powerful. 

Changing Your Future

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By Gurudevi Nirmalananda

For weeks, I meditated at a cremation ground in Kashi, the holiest city in India. Liberation is assured for one who departs from this sacred city, so people go there to die. I went daily to the main burning ghat, alongside the divine Ganga (Ganges) River, for sunrise meditations.

On one day, a cremation fire shone brightly, flames leaping higher than I’d ever seen before. My guide said, “This was a good person.” The quality of the fire is determined by the quality of the fuel, even when it is a human body. Yoga’s goal is to make you shine brightly while alive. Yet your luminosity affects your death as well as your life.

Usually we focus on how yoga and meditation improve your life. However, once you’re born, death is certain. In between, quality of life matters. It matters a lot. Yet the quality of your death matters as well. Yoga and meditation help with both.

I went to meditate there because my Guru had repeatedly urged us to contemplate death. In facing death so deeply and tangibly, I became free from fear. And I found the current of life, ever flowing, present within all and beyond all. If you have attended a death, you already know it’s not an ending, but a passageway to another dimension. That’s why we say, “They left.”

While death is inevitable, it’s not predictable. When you truly understand this, you treasure every moment of life. Yet you tend to forget this. In an epic poem from ancient India, a wise king was asked, “What is truly amazing in this world?” He answered:

Every day, thousands of living beings die,
but while living, one foolishly thinks himself immortal
and does not prepare for death.
This is the most amazing thing in the world.

— Mahabharata, Vana-Parva 313.116

Sometimes you just can’t see past your nose. When you’re so focused on the here and now, it’s not cosmic. Unfortunately, you’re focused on your needs and fears, or on your perceived needs and fears. Most yogis live comfortable lives, yet they focus on their discomforts. I’ll call it “being short-sighted.”

When you become farsighted, you can see your own future. And you can see options to change your path. It’s like having a cosmic GPS, showing you the route you’re on as well as some alternative roads. You get to choose the road, which also determines the scenery along the way.

Your future does include death as well as what leads up to it. Death is not what’s scary for most people. What’s scary is the…

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Sutra Study with Gurudevi Nirmalananda

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Gurudevi’s online Living Sutras course is about your life and how yoga improves it.  India’s great masters have explained it clearly in their texts and oral teachings throughout the ages.  The sutras (verses) shine light on every area of your life.

These teachings are not about what you should be doing.  Instead, they explain how yoga works.  You learn how to navigate your way with clarity and compassion toward others as well as toward yourself.

Each class includes Gurudevi’s discourse followed by a group discussion.  Everyone in the group is contributing to everyone else’s growth and learning.  Then Gurudevi leads a meditation based on the principles she covered.

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Swami Meditation

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By Gurudevi (Swami Nirmalananda)

Roshis, Lamas and Swamis – how do they meditate?

These amazing people have dedicated their lives to the ultimate attainment.  Many of them share their wisdom with others, for they serve as teachers within their own traditions.  What does that mean for you?  You have the best meditation when you meditate with an experienced meditator.

So what is a swami’s meditation like?  In some ways, it’s a lot like yours.

First, they sit.  Before sitting, just as recommended, they prepare by doing some yogic breathing or stretches, maybe a chant or some mantras/prayers.  These practices help you with both body and mind.  And if you’re going to be sitting for a while, your body needs some help or preparation. 

But they may not always do a formal preparation.  The good news is that simply sitting for a bit calms the mind so meditation comes easier.  It’s said that a 20-minute meditation is “19 minutes of preparation and 1 minute of meditation.”  So a swami usually wants to meditate longer.

It is easier for a monk to meditate than the average person.  Why?  

One reason is that it hasn’t been very long since their last meditation, probably only hours, maybe a day.  When you go a long time between meditations, you’ve gotten lost and it’s harder to find your way back inside.  Meditating frequently is one of their secrets.

Another reason their meditation is easier is that they really care about their meditation.  It’s a priority for them.  For myself, I’d rather meditate than sleep; I’d rather meditate than eat. When I’m not meditating, my mind sometimes looks at the clock to figure out how long it will be before my next meditation period comes.

Why? Because of the bliss, the peace, the depth, the enlivenment, the awarenesses and insights that make life easier.  Meditation is profoundly nourishing. My tantric tradition describes it as a way to bathe mind and body in the energy of Consciousness (chiti-shakti).

Everyone gets these benefits, not just monks.  Still, it’s easier for the monks.  Why?  

Because when they are not meditating, their mind is focused on different things than most people.  Most people are focused on their reactions, desires and fears.  Monks are focused on serving others while being based in the inner depths.  That’s another secret.

It means their mind is not as likely to be churning over what happened or over what didn’t happen.  And even if it does, they know how to steer it toward Consciousness.

Want one more secret?  They all have a teacher, an authorized leader within their meditative tradition – one who has attained the heights of Consciousness.  Their teacher helps them along the way.  

Sometimes it’s a hint or a word that helps them refine their understanding.  Other times it is a transmission of the energy of the lineage.  It’s like getting a boost over the fence. 

You need a teacher who knows more than you, or they cannot teach you.  You need a teacher who is more deeply established in Consciousness, or they can’t boost you there.  I know because I got a boost.  

I got so much out of my first boost that I went back for another and another.  I got Shaktipat from my Guru over 200 times.  It worked!

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Exuberance!

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By Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast, Yogaratna

At first, I valued this pose for its efficiency.  Your sacrum, waist and ribcage area of your spine all get a deep release at the same time.  Now I’ve learned to savor the true power of Virasana (Hero Pose) with Seated Side Stretch (SSS).

Virasana SSS opens me inward to exuberance!  On my upper arm side, the whole side of my torso lengthens and expands.  While extending my straight-elbow arm diagonally, I ease my navel inward.  Then my torso extends on both sides.  The sense of lengthening and expansion is delicious.

Moving in gradually gives me a sweet transition from computer work — from “busy mind” to minding my body.  Sitting in the middle of my blanket stack, I soften both legs.  One at a time, I lift them into the crossed-leg alignment.  Relaxing my legs, I can more easily line my knees up.  Pausing with my hands resting on my knees, I settle into easy breathing and inner awareness.  I drop down from a hectic day into the eternal peace of my own Self.

Then I silently coach myself with tips.  “Use elbow muscles” to keep your upraised arm straight.  “Align your upper arm parallel to your spine line.”  I feel both sides of my torso as well as my upraised arm lengthen more.

After moving out of the first side, I pause to sit, resting with my stacked hands again on my knees.  My mind settles down and inward.  I sink into noticing my body inside more deeply.  I feel the ongoing changes.  

The feeling of warm upliftment continues.  A sense of renewal spreads all the way up to the side of my face.  It’s a delicious interval.

For my other side, I repeat the step-by-step process of moving in, staying in and moving out.  The luxurious openings unfold on my second side.  Yumm…

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Words Matter

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By Gurudevi Nirmalananda 

What you say to others affects them, as you already know.  But your words affect you as well.  When you are harsh to someone, you have the experience of being harsh or mean. It does not contribute to your happiness. Worse, you end up treating yourself the same way you treated them.  What is the tone of voice you use on yourself inside your head? 

It also works the other way around.  What you say to yourself affects you, no surprise.  But it affects others as well.  Even if you never tell anyone what you’re saying to yourself, it affects your facial expression, your breathing, your skin tone and your response to them.  It shows.  Worse, your brain chemicals are affected, along with your digestion and immune system.

Words matter.  The sutras tell us that words underlie the structure of the universe.  In other words, the universe is made out of God’s thoughts.  God thought you into being, along with everyone and everything else.  That Divine impulse underlying everything that exists is described in this sutra:

J~naanaa-dhishthaana.m maat.rkaa. – Shiva Sutras 1.4

The experience of limited individuality comes from the cosmic vibrations that produce sounds and the words they become.

The cosmic vibration is OM, aka the primordial sound.  This is the vibration of the One Divine Reality, vibrating within himself. In yoga, we call the One by the name Shiva, meaning Beingness.  When Shiva is vibrating, we call the vibration by the name Shakti, meaning Divine Energy.

So we have Divine Beingness vibrating within his own Beingness.  You can perceive this vibration as a subtle sound which pervades all that exists, for everything that exists comes from it.  This vibration is the Divine Energy that condenses down into matter.

We approximate this sound when we chant OM.  We come close, however we have to stop and breathe periodically.  OM continues without interruption. Shiva delights in being the vibration that is being the OM.  And Shiva decides to play some variations on the theme, much like a jazz musician does.  

Thus the one sound becomes multiple sounds, each one with a different vibratory energy.  These different sounds are called “bij mantras,” the root sounds that are the syllables which combine to become words.  Then you use the words to tie yourself up into knots.

The words you use on yourself matter.  They matter the most, for you wouldn’t use words on other people unless you first ran them through your mind.  Ah, your mind! It needs some help.  Fortunately, all of yoga’s practices are for your mind.

Here are two practices to help with your words.  They are a great beginning point for working with your mind:

 1. Speak only truth.  This is satya, the second of yoga’s lifestyle practices (yamas).  In this practice, all your words must be truthful, while they are also non-harming (ahimsa, the first yama).   

I’ll rephrase it.  Maybe your mother told you this, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”  Even if your negative reaction is true, don’t say it if it is hurtful.  Or find a way to say it that can be helpful, even contributing to an improvement in the situation or the relationship. 

Yes, this is a big deal.  It means you’re thinking before you speak, and you’re assessing the value of the words you’re about to use.  You’re starting to live more consciously.  It’s a process and you’ve decided to work on it. 

Not only will it improve your life and relationships, it will improve your internal environment.  That’s the most important result. 

2. A more powerful option is to pour your mental energy into mantra. First you have to get a mantra from an authorized teacher. Getting a mantra from a book or website is like eating a picture of lasagna. You won’t get filled up that way.

But when you get an enlivened mantra, something happens on a whole different level. I know because it happened to me and because I see it happening for people every time I teach. The enlivened mantra dials up your level of Consciousness inside.

It’s like you’ve got your hand on a rheostat, a light switch that lets you dim and brighten the lights. Except it is happening inside.

When you repeat your mantra, the light of your own Beingness gets brighter inside. Now your mind functions in a whole new way. Compassion and generosity arise from within, as well as the desire to help others. You’re on your way to living an illuminated life.

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My Shaktipat Retreat

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By Madelyn (Maanasaa) Jablon 

There were two reasons why I hesitated to sign up for the New Year’s Shaktipat Retreat.  First, I was feeling “out of practice.”  I had attended the autumn Shaktipat for many years.  When the pandemic upset this routine, I felt unanchored.  

Second, I wondered if it was necessary to receive Shaktipat more than once.  I knew that Shaktipat initiated the awakening of Kundalini.  If she was awakened at my first Shaktipat retreat, did she need to be awakened again?  Had life’s experiences hit the snooze button?  The New Year’s Retreat provided answers. 

Although I have a daily practice, I am curious when other yogis describe their Shaktipat experiences.  They speak of inner lights, spine-tingling energy and love unrivaled.  I hoped to have these experiences and prepared for the retreat with a week of intensive practices — meditation, asana and Ujjayi.  

When Gurudevi, giving Shaktipat by touch, hovers near me, my feverish repetition of mantra crescendos.  I pray, “please let me feel SOMETHING!”  The moment arrives.  Gurudevi places her hand on my forehead.  Nothing. 

In our sharing session, Swami Samvidaananda’s voice echoed off the walls of my bottomless hole of despair.  “We have time for one more yogi to describe their Shaktipat experience.  Maanasaa, please come up.”

I said, “I experienced the undulating rhythmic vibrations of the universe”.  

This time, I lost my old skepticism about Shaktipat.  I gained the ability to hear the percussion band of the universe: da-dum-da-dum; da-dum-da-dum.  

Gurudevi says it is always resounding.

1000-Fold Return on Investment 

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By Karen (Kumuda) Schaub 

Interviewed by Agnes (Aikyaa) Hetherington 

Winter of 2022 was a challenging time for me.  My stress level was through the roof.  I was a first-year public school teacher, commuting more than two hours daily.  In icy conditions, I nearly fell three times, which strained my already “crunchy” left hip. 

In March I had a more serious fall.  I went headfirst down the steps outside my condo.  I had very intense and painful bruising on my shins and knees.  It also aggravated my hip pain. 

In acute pain, I went to school as usual the next day.  After a week of homeopathy, herbs and acupuncture, I realized more help was needed.  My old hip problem had already impaired my ability to bend forward.  Now my knees were stiff and swollen. 

I worried about regaining my mobility.  I was scared about the amount of pain and concerned about blood clots with the intense bruising.  So I began weekly Embodyment® therapy sessions with my Svaroopa® yoga teacher, Kris Curran. 

The weekly sessions helped start my healing process.  Most of the swelling and bruising subsided over the next three months.  Attending a retreat at Lokananda in July however, I had to use the stairlift to get to the second floor.  I was not yet back to normal movement. 

I remembered Kris had mentioned Overlap Healing.  This Embodyment® modality “overlaps” sessions to allow for staying open and deep healing.  It was a large commitment of time and money, but I decided to make that commitment. 

For three weeks in August, I immersed in nine Overlap Embodyment® sessions.  The healing was profound and so was the opening in my body.  It was a miracle.  My pain and mobility issues diminished by 95 percent! 

I marvel at being able to walk my dog outside and not be in pain now.  Equally important was the effect on my mind.  Embodyment® allowed me to turn off my mind and settle in.  It stopped all that fear process — nipped it in the bud! 

I will do it again, on summer break from teaching, no questions asked.  It’s a big commitment, but the return on investment is one thousand-fold! 

Yoga Healing Retreats Work Miracles!

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By Swami Praj~nananda

Doing more yoga works. I see it every time we offer a Yoga Healing Retreat. As a therapist, I love to support students in these retreats. Everyone’s process is different, but the profound changes in your body, mind and heart are guaranteed.

Each day you receive a yoga therapy session, a vichara session and a group yoga class. You hear a discourse on Consciousness. You chant and mediate, then meditate some more. You are filled up from the inside! And it works every time. 

Yet I noticed the retreat this past January raised the healing bar even higher. This is because Gurudevi updated the format by adding an extra day. You may think, “Oh, what can one extra day do? A lot!”

Now you get another day of immersive practices, each day building on the last. And what’s more, you get a newly established Q&A session with Gurudevi. The Q&A is expertly positioned the second-to-last day. With days of healing behind you, your pump is primed for a breakthrough. You’ve gone as far as you could on your own, and you need an extra push. You need a Guru boost!

In the Q&A session, Gurudevi meets you where you’re at. She provides the teachings, presence and support to move you to the next level. I saw this happen with each and every student. Truly incredible. Yet, not surprising. This stuff really works!

Carolyn (Karuna) Beaver shares:

Swami Prajnananda is right. That extra day was more than a day. It had the effect of integrating and consolidating all the deep practices I’d done. I was more prepared to take these new openings home with me. Gurudevi’s generous responses during our Q&A opened new possibilities and helped me choose my next steps.

Since returning home I’ve maintained the physical openings by doing the customized yoga set given to me. I’ve added vichara sessions to my other regular practices. It keeps my mind moving in the right direction. I’m looking at my life with a new yogic lens. 

Celina (Chinmayi) Sochaczewska reports from Europe:

When I saw it in the SVA Calendar, I knew I needed this retreat. Living in France, knowing I’d finish every morning at 3 am local time was a bit scary. So I created a plan for preparing myself. A few days beforehand, I went to bed later each night. I did plenty of yoga. I even organized my provisions to avoid the need to shop during the retreat. My life over the six days was a total immersion. I was surprised that I did not need my daily fresh air outings.

In the online retreat, I experienced delicious inner joy and could not stop smiling. It was like a dream come true. Of course, the individual yoga and vichara sessions brought things to the surface (and they are still coming). Yet Gurudevi’s presence, chanting and meditation made the healing faster.

As a result, I have joined the online Meditation Club, and I’m loving it. My daily personal practice of prescribed poses enables me to sit through in my meditation nest without bodily discomforts. My meditation experience is much smoother and deeper. My heart is filled with gratitude to Gurudevi, Swami Shrutananda and Swami P. for their incredible support and guidance.

Lynn (Gurupremananda) Cattafi feels the changes continuing:

I was a little skeptical at first, but I signed up anyway. My feet have been in a lot of pain, and I knew I needed the personalized help. I received so much more than just pain relief. The Healing Retreat format is so powerful. I was deeply healed in body, mind and heart. The practices are brilliantly designed to reach you on all levels of your being.

I took the online, full immersion option. Doing the retreat from my own home felt very sacred; I was able to weave the healing into every part of my life, while being in my life. I can report that this retreat made me ready to receive a huge inner breakthrough that came a few days later. I am grateful for Gurudevi, and Swami Shrutananda and Swami Praj~nananda for their loving and expert guidance. My feet are doing much better too! The personalized pose set is reaching in exactly where it needs to, so the healing continues! 

Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast adds her update:

I returned home from the January Healing Retreat relieved of acid reflux and hip crease discomfort. The head of my left thigh bone slipped into its hip socket for the first time ever. My customized home pose set gives me continuing breakthroughs. More improvement than I could ever have imagined motivates my daily practice of challenging poses.

I feel my arms, legs and abs strengthening significantly day by day. In Meditation Club, which starts at 4:30 am my time, I sit in steady ease with an upright spine. Kriyas feel more deeply effective in clearing mental and emotional blockages. As I enter my 77th journey around the sun, I feel younger!