By Aanandi Ross
“Time and Timeless” illustrates my experience of timelessness. One sentence from our November teachings article says it all: “Though you can’t add more hours to the clock, yoga offers tools to free you from the tyranny of time.” Doing only 20 minutes of Ujjayi Pranayama daily will help you make friends with time; that with this practice, things begin to dovetail and flow… time then is no longer your enemy. Swami Nirmalananda and Vidyadevi promise that Ujjayi Pranayama makes you the master of time. Wow! How amazing and how transformative.
How ironic that “stopping” to practice Ujjayi Pranayama will give you more “time.” You might think if you stop to breathe for 20 minutes that you’ll lose the time to get 4 or 5 things done on your list. Or maybe you believe you’ll be in more of a frenzy to make up for lost time. However, when spending time with timelessness, you feel a shift in perception. You might even conclude that some of the things you thought were so important on your list are not. Priorities change. Life flows in surprising and delightful ways.
Have you had the experience of stopping, breathing and then feeling like a different person afterwards? If so, even more breathing (and especially meditation) will help you to remain in that state, more and more.
I took an “Introduction to Meditation” weekend with Vidyadevi. When she asked about our meditation experiences, I shared that time had slowed way down. I felt like I had all the time in the world. She said, “Yes, there is timelessness in meditation.” I had felt I was just being, in beingness; alive in beingness. Experiencing this infinite reality within myself, I became conscious of the “more” within me. Instead of feeling empty and lacking, I felt full and sufficient. The timelessness in meditation feels like going to the cosmic time tank.
Over twenty years ago was the first time I heard that if you’re always thinking about the future, you’re not in the present moment. Still, I often hear people say, “Wow, I can’t believe that September (or summer, or vacation or some other experience) is almost over!” Yoga gives you a shift of perspective, “Wow, this season (of late summer) is so rich and full. The breeze is warm (or cool); the colors of harvest are so magnificent (or transforming); this day is glorious, just as it is.”
Make friends with time. Our Svaroopa® yoga practices excel at giving you the experience of beingness. This experience offers you so much. It’s yours for the taking. Do more Ujjayi Pranayama.
By Matrika Gast, SVA Board Member
Gratitude & Grace are present in my daily life, thanks to Swami Nirmalananda, our Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram, our Teacher Trainers, our Svaroopa® Sciences practices — and you, my fellow Svaroopis. There is so much to be grateful for.
By Rama (Ruth) Brooke, SVA Board Member
Gratitude and Grace move you. They overwhelm in a wonderful way. They open your heart, not only to others, but to a deeper perspective. They make you able to see what you have, truly an ever-expanding inner abundance. And that creates generosity.
By Rajni (Chelsea) King
When I contemplate my journey on this path and my relationship to Swami Nirmalananda, “support” is the first word that comes up. Being in relationship with Swamiji has brought Grace-filled, Grace-fueled support to my life, on the inside and the outside. Svaroopa® yoga asana practice first gave me tangible physical support. Swamiji originated this yoga style from spontaneous Kundalini movements arising during her meditations. Her Guru, Baba Muktananda, blessed her with these openings, borne of the inner power of revelation.
The greatest blessing of my Guru is the gift of Shaktipat, the awakening of the Kundalini energy. It opens me to the tangible support of my inner Guru, my inner guide. When I stepped onto this path, I was riddled with self-doubt. I was convinced that “I wasn’t doing it right.” I felt that I didn’t really know how to meditate, that I wasn’t getting it! I felt numb mentally and physically.
Much later, I understood that I had received Guru initiation. It was a spontaneous Shaktipat. The Grace of the Gurus propelled me along the path and continues to propel me forward. Swamiji’s Grace supports me on the inside and the outside. Thus, I too can live in the ever-expanding pure joy and contentment of my own Self!
By Dhananjaya King, SVA Board Member
Because I am grateful to Guruji, I feel compelled to show my gratitude. Yet how do you show gratitude to her, when she attributes everything that she gives as coming from her own Guru? When you thank her for all she has given, Guruji says she does what Baba has empowered her to do. She offers to us what Baba offered to her. She gives to us what we are able to receive.
Or perhaps looking at this another way works better for you. A better question may be how much can you receive? Perhaps you don’t yet notice what she has planted in you. If so, pondering this question will help you notice the new you that is beginning to form, thanks to Swami Nirmalananda’s teachings and presence.
By Vibhuti King
At the end of class today, I invited each student to choose their CD. I was delighted that many already had some of Nirmalananda’s CDs. Some requested a duplicate of their “favorite.” The CD was getting worn out!
I am grateful for this time of sharing, of community, of coming together around the ancient practice of lifting our voices to that which uplifts us. We all have so much to be grateful for. Often it’s more than we know. This sharing allowed me to see my students in a deeper way. It showed me how they turn to their practice to express themselves and how personal these chants are to them.
The woman who began this chant a cappella later shared how that chant saw her through a very dark time. We have so much to be grateful for. Thank you to my students and thank you to my teacher, my Guru, Swami Nirmalananda.
By Bindu Shortt
Ayurvedically we are moving into vata season. Vata means “wind.” It is the element of nature that brings the qualities of cold, light, dry, rough and irregular. Vata comprises the energies of air and of the ether (space). Thus, vata can bring a sense of void.
First, notice the changes in nature where you live. When it is cold, dry and windy, give yourself warmth, oiliness and stability. It is natural to eat more winter squashes, and root veggies such as beets and carrots and parsnips. All of these build warmth in your body. Include them in your daily diet, rather than the melons and salads of summer, which cooled you.
Consider adding oils on the outside of your body, by doing a daily oil massage before you shower or bathe. This practice, called abhyanga, will go a long way toward keeping you warm, soothing your nervous system, and moistening your skin. An oil massage also moves your lymph, for a detox. In vata season, sesame is the oil of choice for most people, as it has the most warming qualities. Searching online using “Ayurvedic self-massage video” yields more than a hundred hits! 
Reported by Matrika Gast
“A new student came to class with so much pain in her hip that she could hardly manage stairs,” reports Kamala (Michelle) Gross, Certified Svaroopa® Yoga Teacher (CSYT) and Yoga Therapist. “She was even was in pain while she slept. Lying in Jathara Parivrttanasana (Rotated Stomach Pose) with her knees touching, one foot hung in the air due to the severe twist in her hips. I supported it on a large blanket roll. After a few classes, she began yoga therapy private sessions weekly. Just two months later, her feet rested together in Rotated Stomach Pose due to the realignment in her spine and hips. After a year of committed yoga practice and weekly sessions, she was climbing stairs nearly pain free, aware only of an occasional, minor hip ache. Her whole body was more upright and comfortable.”
A student of Jyoti (Rebecca) Yacobi, CSYT took Svaroopa® yoga classes for two years, had several Embodyment® sessions and committed to a daily Magic 4 and Ujjayi home practice. Jyoti reports that these approaches “significantly improved mobility in her lower spine. The tightness and pain in her sacrum is gone.”
For example, I bought a new phone last week. It was a desire (raga) fulfilled. However, it turned out to be quite painful as it did not work in the way I expected. It meant I had to deal with the service provider and the store I purchased the phone from. Fear (abhinivesha) and aversion (dvesha) raised their heads, as I had to somehow get to grips with the technology. This threatened my identity (asmitaa) as an intelligent, educated person. Would I be smart enough to understand what was going on? Would I be able to resolve the problem? In other words, was I going to be “good enough?”
I also find it comforting to understand that it is not my fault, because avidyaa (the not-knowing) is the human condition; it is built in existential angst. I cannot think my way out of it and I need help. For this I have so many Svaroopa® yoga and meditation practices to choose from. They support me in growing closer to vidya (the knowing of my own Self). They address my spiritual amnesia.
