Making the Dream a Reality, By Amala (Lynn) Cattafi, SVA Board President

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IMG_8210Your donations have put us on our way to making the dream of Lokananda, our own bliss place, into a reality. I have to admit, the prospect of renovating our “new” 130-year old building, replacing old wiring and plumbing and all the other interior changes, was daunting.  In the beginning, turning Lokananda into our full service retreat center seemed like a Board of Directors daydream.

Thanks to the generosity of 36 Svaroopis, who have already contributed and pledged $36,389. to our Capital Campaign, we are on our way to a sacred Svaroopa® yoga and meditation hub. Lokananda is about 40% complete, gloriously welcoming local yogis and meditators, as well as our Yogimmersion participants for a full-spectrum experience.

I have watched this building transform from a grand old lady, one in need of serious attention, into a place of bliss. Without your loving support, this would still be a daydream. Of course, we still have a long way to go to reach our funding goal and meet our construction needs.  With the holidays looming, we’re dialing down on our Capital Campaign, but will return to this outreach in early 2016; this is how Capital Campaigns work – a gradual process of recruiting donors who can build the fund and build the building.   Yet, this week we enjoyed a breakthrough!  We welcomed our first group of yogis into our full-service sacred space for a training.

amala-photoAs I write this thank you note, tears of gratitude are beginning to flow, for the great generosity of some very special yogis, for the dedication that you all have for the Svaroopa® practices and their goal, and always for Swamiji, who is the heart of our hearts.

Om Svaroopa Svasvabhava Namo Namah

What’s in Your Wallet? – by Peter Gallagher, Board Member

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By Peter Gallagher

PeterGAs a SVA Board Member I find things happen to me without my even wishing for them — things that continue to open me effortlessly to the knowing of my Self. Being a part of the Ashram seems to take the pressure off of my spine just as doing the Magic Four daily takes the pressure off my spine. That’s why I contribute time and money to our Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram; our donations take the pressure off the organization that effortlessly opens us to the knowing of our own Self.

Lokananda, our new “bliss place,” is slated to bring us together as a community in a new way. We can think of it as a wonderful prop. Just as our plaid blankets and blocks support us in releasing our spine from tail to top, having our own space for Svaroopa® yoga and meditation teacher training, for public yoga classes and satsangs, for deep retreats will change us in new ways. I don’t know specifically how Lokananda will change us, but I’ve got a good sense it will be in a good way. Making a financial contribution now to our Capital Campaign for the renovations will directly enrich the lives of others in your community that you know and like!

I have only seen our newly renovated 130-year-old Lokananda in photos. Even so I am amazed to see how what was a this less-than-optimal building is now our sweet, fresh comprehensive home for the teaching and practices of the Svaroopa® Sciences . I can equate it to how our own less-than-optimal bodies and minds are transformed to health and well-being when renovated by the shakti!

So what are you carrying in your wallet?  Are you carrying this building in your wallet?  Will you carry this building in your wallet? I know that Lokananda gives me as well as our whole community a place that will pull all of us closer to the Self. For me, a reverberating principle is to support this Place of Bliss for current yogis and for those who will come later.

Opening my wallet to help fund the renovations that have already brought this building to a new life is an opportunity. It gives me a chance to express my gratitude for what has already been accomplished. It is the letting go of fear and the trusting of Grace. In this one place, we will all gather as a community of yogis grounded in bliss. As our Lokananda absorbs more and more bliss program after program, when we enter Lokananda for training and teachings, the bliss-saturated structure will serve as a force to propel us inward to the knowing of our own eternal bliss within.

Please take a look into your wallet now. Is it holding a place for all of us to gather, to learn, to transform? Can you find a much-needed contribution to support Lokananda as a place of bliss for yourself — your Self — and our whole community? How great to join our voices in an affirmative “yes” chant in answer.

Tapping into Eternal Bliss by Kristine Freeman, SVA Board Member

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IMG_8137Not yet having become enlightened, I live in a bliss-deficit. I need places like the Ashram, and now Lokananda, to boost my bliss. I know that the yogic goal is that the bliss of our own spiritual essence will fill us at all times and in all locations, but I’m not there yet. And that is why it is so important to me to support the creation of these sacred spaces. We who live in a bliss-deficit need to be embraced by these sacred spaces so that we can tap into our bliss within.

Ashrams exist for this purpose. Continuously since ancient times, ashrams have enabled seekers to turn inward to the bliss of beingness. Their sacred space creates a spiritual setting that gives us easy access to our own Self, so we can take our Self home with us when we leave. When I’m in our Ashram’s physical space, the environment inevitably supports my own opening inward.

I had such an experience during a recent visit to the Ashram. Walking into the meditation hall, straight from the airport, I unexpectedly felt pulled to the floor. Tears streaming down my face, I was suddenly and acutely aware of my bliss deficit, and of my absolute need to be in this physical space saturated with the Shakti of deep practice. It was as though I had been walking through a desert and suddenly found water. Walking into the sacred space of the meditation hall triggered a deep inner opening for me, first into the awareness of the startling depth of my bliss deficit and then into waves of gratitude for the existence of such a spiritually nourishing space and the privilege of being in it. Writing about it now brings me right back into that powerful spiritual space, into that experience of reconnecting with my Self. Priceless.

Yes, that experience is priceless. Yet physical structures do not exist in the world without costs!

So please join me in supporting our Capital Campaign: Lokananda – Place of Bliss in whatever way you are able. As each of us yogis donate in accordance with our individual budgets and in alignment with our hearts’ yearning to open to our own eternal bliss, we pave the way for ourselves and others to receive the same sacred transformation. Together we support the building that will house trainings, programs and retreats going forward. We support it, so it will support us now and others to come in the future.

Click here to support the Capital Campaign today.

Choosing to Grow? – by Swami Nirmalananda

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You sculpt time by your choices.  This is obvious when you miss your turnoff, especially when the next one is 20 miles ahead.  It will take 45 minutes longer to get there.  While you might not say you made that choice, you had been choosing to pay attention to something else or simply to be unfocused while cruising along.

Yoga is the science of consciousness.  You spend time doing practices which make you more and more conscious until you go beyond merely conscious and become Consciousness-Itself.  No amount of thinking can get you there, yet you must not abandon your mind along the way, so beautifully described by yogis in the personal stories they share in this issue.

Becoming conscious is not always easy.  You begin to notice things you didn’t notice before, including tensions or pains in your body, your mind, your heart or your life.  You’ve got work to do and it’s all inner work.  I’ll compare it to the remodeling we’ve undertaken in our “new” 130-year old building, Lokananda.

Fortunately the structure is sound.  Our town required structural testing, which the grand old dame passed with flying colors.  But her plumbing was leaky and her nadis (energy currents = electrical systems) needed some work, plus her roof will need some TLC soon.  But she’s coming along well.

Even more heartening, response to our Capital Campaign is building.  Yogis have already given and pledged almost $30,000.  On October 10, we will house our first immersion at the Ashram’s new campus!  Not only will you will enjoy reduced Housing & Meals costs, you will stay in a dedicated spiritual environment.

In the same way, the remodeling you’re currently undergoing absolutely leads to where you want to go.  There’s some debris to clear, new ways to see and be — yoga makes you all new.  Do more yoga.

Click to donate or for more info, or call us at 610.644.7555

OM svaroopa svasvabhavah namo namah

Lokananda – Your Bliss Place – by Karuna (Carolyn) Beaver, Board Member

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Karuna BeaverWhere is your place of bliss? Is it where your do your yoga or meditation? Or perhaps there is a special spot in nature that calls you back again and again. Maybe your bliss place is inside you, a place that you notice that your mind becomes still. Perhaps it is both outside and inside, just as our guided awareness in Shavasana directs you.

My “outside” bliss place is my stack of blankets next to my puja (altar) where I meditate every morning. I settle onto my blankets, settle into my mantra and settle into my Self, my “inside” bliss place.  The bliss of meditation keeps me coming back for more, the “more” I know I am. Luckily, my bliss isn’t restricted to my meditation spot. More and more often, I take it with me everywhere I go, because I recognize my bliss IS me. Yet I do notice that my “outside and inside” bliss can be deeper when I am in trainings or on retreat.

I remember opening my eyes after a deep Shavasana in my early days of Teacher Training, feeling that things were bigger and brighter. What I’ve come to know is that I am “bigger and brighter.” The practices, the teachers grounded in these practices and the energy that is grounded in our practice space has helped me see this.

The “Siva Sutras, and Swami Nirmalananda’s rendering, explain it this way:

Lokaananda.h samaadhi sukham — Shiva Sutras 1.18

The bliss of Self-Knowingess is experienced in its fullness in every place and every time.

In Sanskrit, loka means location, and aananda means bliss. Samaadhi is a deep inner absorption and sukham means full of sweetness and ease. A yogi can live in the easy and constant bliss of Self-Knowing; such a yogi also transmits it to everyone nearby. A place that houses the deep practices of yoga also absorbs and transmit this blissful energy.   With Swami Nirmalananda, we are fortunate to have such a yogi serving as our Master Teacher and Guru. She is based in the bliss of Self-Knowingness, and all the practices she teaches come from this deep well.

IMG_8210Now we’re also fortunate to have a dedicated building to absorb the bliss from Swami, from all the practices and from all the yogis who come. This place is Lokananda, our new teaching campus for Svaroopa® Yoga and Svaroopa® Vidya Meditation. Lokananda can be YOUR bliss place and you can be a part of it.  In October Lokananda opens its doors to our retreats and professional trainings, including providing our housing and meals.

It’s been a year-long process to remodel and update this lovely and historic building, which sits right in the middle of downtown Downingtown. It’s been an expensive process, too. Those of you who have remodeled a home know that there are always unexpected costs. We were able to fund the building purchase and the initial remodeling through donations and tuitions from our meditation-based programs. Our many sevites, including Swamiji’s seva, helped create the surpluses which we’ve invested in a new campus for your immersion experience.  Not surprisingly, there were cost overruns for the renovations, so more funding is needed to finish many needed tasks.

Ashram programs are residential “yogimmersions.” Many yogis have asked us to once again have our own yogic space, so we searched over a couple of years. We found it, bought it and have moved in, but we need your help to truly make this wonderful old building into a fully functional yoga home. Your financial support will fund the overruns, remodel and furnish the upper floors for residential use, and provide funding for repairs we know are coming, including a new roof.

At our annual retreat last July, the Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram Board of Directors voted to conduct a Capital Campaign. This is in addition to our annual fall and spring requests for donations, which are essential for our ongoing operating expenses. Capital Campaigns are time-limited and happen only when there are extraordinary needs: for buildings, equipment or other major expenditures.  Certainly we have extraordinary needs, and we’re calling on you, our extraordinary community of yogis. We’ve set a cautious and conscious goal of $150,000 in the campaign we’re calling Lokananda – Your Bliss Place.

What it would be like to have programs located in a space that grounds and holds the energy of bliss to support you? Imagine yourself there, in the place of bliss.  Now imagine that you can make it happen. I have just made the largest financial pledge in my life to a non-profit organization (yes, your donations are tax deductible). I am already imagining myself there. I can already feel the bliss. Join me in our Bliss Place. Dig deep and give what you can. You can make a one-time donation or make a pledge over two years. And when you do, know that you are supporting the bliss of your own Being. You couldn’t make a better investment!

Click here to learn more or to offer your donation in one of four levels.

Your Bliss Place – by Rudrani (Rosemary) Nogue, Board Member

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Rudrani_GaneshpuriAt the Ashram with Swamiji, I have deep experiences of inner bliss, because the sacred “location” where Guru’s Grace and shakti are grounded is a catalyst to my opening inward to Self. Location is such an important support for connecting with our inner bliss!

I first learned this lesson years ago practicing yoga in another style. My husband and I had three growing sons living at home and space was limited.  My morning asana practice took place on our bedroom floor, and my husband had to step over me as he got ready for work, which didn’t work well for either of us.

When our sons left home and I discovered Svaroopa® yoga and meditation, I knew I needed to claim a dedicated yoga space. Thus, a spare bedroom has become sacred space, a true “yoga room.” Through daily meditation, chanting, asana practice and arati to pictures of Swamiji and our lineage, it supports me in looking inward.

After years of being hosted in commercial locations, our Svaroopa® yoga and meditation community needs our very own sacred space for teacher training, programs and retreats.  It is time for us to claim our own “sacred space” in the world. Lokananda, the building that we purchased in Downingtown last year, is nearly ready to provide this environment.

Our completely renovated first floor is already housing public programs in Downingtown including chanting Sri Guru Gita and holding satsangs and local yoga and meditation classes. The shakti is accumulating and concentrating in the building. The renewal of Lokananda on the first floor has been funded through revenue from meditation programs and donors.

Now we are working to improve the upper apartments (two are already vacated) so you can be immersed in an ashram environment during teacher training, yoga and meditation programs and retreats.  In turn, having a building dedicated to yoga and meditation supports our Guru and our Teacher Trainers. This historic building needs care, both inside and outside including a new roof, and preparing the upper floors to house you.  Now your financial support in our capital campaign is needed to complete this renovating/remodelling project.

Our capital campaign goal of a $150,000 is a big one — requiring support from each and everyone. The funds that you give will have a direct impact on what can be renewed and how long it will take.  Please join me in donating. Together we can claim our own sacred space and ground the Guru’s Grace in it to support our journey, individually and as a community, into the Bliss of Beingness. Choose the method that works best for your budget, either a lump sum or a pledge over a period of time. Now is the time to step up and lay claim to your own Bliss Place.

Click to donate or for more info, or call us at 610.644.7555

OM svaroopa svasvabhava.h namo nama.h

Keep the Current of Grace Flowing – by Kevin Maloney, Ashram Business Manager

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Kevin wwwBy Kevin Maloney, Ashram Business Manager

We had our Grand Opening at Lokananda, our renovated 130-year-old building, on September 12th. The event went very well, with a steady flow of traffic through the day. Some people who had a lot of yoga experience came in, and some came in with no yoga experience. People who were what I would call “seekers” came in, and people who said they had no idea why they stopped in just decided to open the door and enter. It was certainly an event of community and diversity.

DYMC front 1509During the event, one woman said she suffered from PTSD.  Swamiji sat with her and told her what a great accomplishment it is that she simply survived the first 35 years of her life. And then Swamiji indicated that perhaps there is a better way moving forward.  As I observed all this, tears came to my eyes. These were not tears of sadness. While I could see the pain this woman was feeling, what touched me was the beauty of what was happening. Pain walked in the door and it found some relief and sanctuary at Downingtown Yoga. She became the first person to enroll in our new monthly membership.

As I drove home after the event, I thought about all you yoga and meditation teachers we train spread out over a large geographic area. I could see people in pain, or people who just know something is missing in their lives, walking in to find true relief from suffering. The experience I witnessed is a microcosm of a much larger effect that Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram has worldwide. There are many organizations that offer much needed relief including food, shelter, clothing, medicine, etc. That help is so important, yet it is temporary. What SVA provides is an opening for true transformation. By deeply looking within one can alter everything about their existence.

Being on the administrative staff at SVA is a challenge. Each staff member gets stretched to their limits. I have been in operational management for a couple decades, yet being the SVA Business Manager is certainly the most challenging position I have held. However, through the day-to-day flurry of activity, deadlines, staff issues, technical issues and the like, a gentle light keeps peeking through the chaos exposing the underlying current of Grace that flows through all we do. Many times it is hard to see that gentle light amidst the activity. Nevertheless, it is always there.

I personally feel very fortunate to spend my working hours at SVA. I came on board almost a half year ago. At that time I could have easily followed the money trail but I chose instead to jump on board here. Or it may be more appropriate to say that I was guided here and I simply allowed it to happen. If you are still and really look, usually you can see that what has brought you to the current moment has had meaning, no matter how it looked when it was actually happening!

IMG_8210The last thing I would like to mention is potential. The staff and DYMC now operate out of the beautiful first floor of the Lokanada building. I am amazed at how the efforts and generosity of so many have made this a reality, from nothing to reality in such a short time. As I look at the rest of this structure, the other levels of this building, all I see is potential. We do so much at SVA with the local community and with the Svaroopa® community at large. This building has the potential to serve the needs of students and teachers in so many ways. The rallying cry has gone out to realize the full potential of this building. I look forward to guiding the logistics and mechanics of the process. I look forward to helping realize the potential here.

So I join my voice to that of the SVA Board.  Please give generously to our Capital Campaign to support the costs of refurbishing the building and to complete the renovations of the upper floors. You will be an instrument of Grace in creating comprehensive sacred space for so many others as well as for yourself as you participate in trainings, programs and retreats going forward. Donate as guided by your heartfelt desire to spread the transformative teachings and practices of Svaroopa® Sciences and the Grace they carry worldwide.

Click for more information or to offer your donation now.

Stepping into Teaching Meditation – by Louise Davis CSYT

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louiseWhen I first encountered Svaroopa® yoga and attended yogimmersions as well as yoga teacher training, Swami Nirmalananda (then known as Rama) would say, “Get a guru, get a mantra.”  So I found a meditation group with a guru in the same lineage as our Svaroopa® Sciences. Since then I have meditated. Now, as a Certified Svaroopa® Yoga Teacher as well as a Svaroopa® Vidya Meditation Teacher in the Florida Panhandle, I love teaching meditation to my asana students.

Over the years, my asana students have had deep internal experiences in Shavasana as well as seated poses. They know through experience that when you get the junk out of the way, meditation is natural. By the time they take meditation with me, they’ve already heard the quotes — much of the “knowing” is already there for them. My students know that meditation is NOT lying on the floor. They know that sitting in meditation is the next step forward on their path.  It totally deepens their experience. So I give them a special deal on asana classes during their series of meditation classes: they can come to asana classes as often as they like, and that gives me a chance to talk with them about meditation when I see them in between the Learn to Meditation classes.

I teach that series quarterly, with one already planned for the fall. So the next step on my path is the Meditation Group Leader (MGL) course in February, since I have been wanting to lead a group for years. Having a weekly group meditation — satsang — is the next step for my students as well as. But they can’t go forward until I go forward.

If you are interested in Meditation Teacher Training, you need the preparation of a weekend Shaktipat Retreat with Swamiji within 18 months prior to January 25, 2016. The next one is next week, September 18-20, at The Desmond in Malvern PA, and there is one more – in Boston MA October 23-25.

My experiences of receiving Shaktipat from Swamiji in her retreats have been life changing. The magnitude of receiving the Grace of the Guru is beyond the capacity of words to express. Going so deep inward to Self is profoundly healing and illuminating. Receiving Swamiji’s clearly conveyed teachings lets you know the dimensions of inner transformation that you are experiencing.

If any of your “stuff” arises, you find that being in a group meditation gets you through it more quickly and easier. And then you experience meditation at an even deeper level. You are supported in going through the cycle, peeling the onion. And that makes you ready to help your students and share with them in a supportive way. You know, and you can tell them, that “this too shall pass.” Everyone has their own individual path, but the stations on the path are very much the same for everyone. Your personal experiences can be a source of support for your students and keep them moving forward.

Your immersion in the a Shaktipat Retreat as well as one or more MTT programs will give you a deep dive within yourself, to access your Self. These programs make it so easy to get into your own body and mind, and then go beyond them into the deeper dimensions of Self. Swamiji is such a great teacher at so many levels — deeply inspiring and at the same time completely practical. She’s is genius. She’s totally human, too. Our teacher training, including MTT, is far superior to any mind-body techniques training today, in my experience. We receive immense support including comprehensive handouts, experiential learning and wonderful supervised practicum pieces, all integrated.

I fondly remember my “empowered mantra”  MTT training in 2010, the first Swamiji taught upon returning from India where she took sannyasa (swami) vows. All of us MTT students experienced profound changes from the beginning. it was challenging but I really enjoyed it. In our classes, I wore out three pens as I filled two notebooks with Swamiji’s “download” of teachings about the Self. At night in our rooms, we digested and condensed these teachings while they were still percolating. It felt like a college dorm experience. Practicing the talks with colleagues in class the following day was wonderful. I was so ready to teach at home.

If you are a Certified Svaroopa® Yoga Teacher, or if you are a Meditation Teacher trained to teach the syllabus course before 2010, taking the whole MTT package is a unique opportunity not to be missed. You will dive deep. Svaroopa® Vidya Meditation Teacher Training will build on all you have already learned and experienced in the Svaroopa®  Sciences. And it serves as the foundation for Leading Short Meditations as well as Meditation Group Leader Training. You will be prepared to enable your students to expand exponentially in their experience of Self. And you will empower yourself at the deepest levels in the knowing of your own Self.

Taking the Step to Teach Meditation by Medhira (Trine) Larsen

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medhiraFor 13 years I practiced Svaroopa® yoga poses daily. Yet I still felt something was missing. I knew there was something more to discover. Even having so much love in my life, including my wonderful kids and my husband, still I was in pain, physically and emotionally. Then my yearning for Self-discovery drew me forward to Meditation Teacher Training (MTT).

Since then my journey has been intense. To dissolve the veil and free my Self from being hidden within has sometimes been tough. I have experienced lots of tapas (inner fire).  But as Swamiji has told me, “Tiny openings equal tiny progress. Whereas deep openings give you fast progress.” So I decided to go for fast progress. Now that I have completed MTT and teach meditation, I am unfolding my Self more and more rapidly. To be able to be who I am, to live from that deeper knowing and to show the people I love who I really am (and always have been) — that is one of the greatest benefits to me of being a Meditation Teacher.

I began preparation for MTT in 2014. It included Embodyment® Yoga Therapy Training, and then a seven-day Ashram stay ending with a Shaktipat retreat with Swamiji. That gave me a lot of openings. Being in the presence of Swami Nirmalananda for 10 days, and receiving Swamiji’s teachings was profound and amazing. My meditations became deeper, and I was able to sit without kriyas moving me too much. I did at times have a headache, but when I came out of meditation, it was gone.

Every evening during MTT, we students were writing our talks on sutras for the next day. Even though I did not have as much sleep as usual, the most amazing thing was, I stayed open through the whole training. Working with the other students, getting the support and feedback in our groups when we did our talks and having the support from the other teachers—Vidyadevi, Rukmini and Devi—made it a very deep and beautiful training.

When I returned home to Denmark, I had a lot of writing and translation to do, in order to get ready for my first meditation course. At first I felt it was very challenging to understand the sutras and put them into my own words in a way that would make sense to my students. Teaching the meditation classes, however, was joyful. I continue to find an ease as I teach meditation. Grace makes it flow smoothly.

After MTT I find that my yoga classes are deeper; my students go deeper and have more openings because I am more open. I feel calmer, more present in the midst of life. When I bike through my city, walk my dog, clean my house, cook, I am in the now. Before, I had to do my spinal opening at least once a day to feel okay. I still do poses, of course, but I might just take a long Shavasana, do some japa, listen to a chant, chant a few verses of Shree Guru Gita, meditate, practice Ujjayi pranayama or listen to one of Swamiji´s talks. I have so many options, and they all support me in accessing my Self with ease. Even as I write this blog, it is also a practice that makes me aware of what a long way I have come.

When I began my journey inward to Self, I was so far away. MTT and teaching meditation to my students has brought me so much closer to my Self. And what joy to see how my new students as well as my experienced students receive the benefits of meditation, and to hear them all as they enjoy saying the mantra!

The Wonderful, Personal Benefits of Teaching Meditation

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By Bindu (Maureen) Shortt

binduIn Meditation Teacher Training, I remember Swamiji saying, “You have to KNOW more than you TEACH.” Our lineage is one of knowing through experience. As I speak the words that describe my knowing, the knowing that reaches back through the ages, I draw myself deeper into that knowing. In our amazing lineage, teaching meditation opens me to another experience of “the more.”

As the students move from meditation neophytes to experienced meditators, sitting more solidly and consciously in their own Self, I take that ride with them. Yet because I started deeper already, I end up deeper. Their journey carries me deeper. I ride the powerful current of them awakening to their own knowing, then I know more. As they become more clear, I become more clear.  With their classes week by week, I dive deeper into my inner absorption through appreciation of their process and admiration for their courage. They reflect back to me my own process of becoming a competent, confident meditator, and I mark how far I’ve come, which then becomes my jumping off point to dive even deeper.

I have moments in life of knowing that I am fully enlightened already. The catch is how to weave that inner knowing into the outside, into more and ultimately all of my life. Being a meditation teacher offers this to me as a wonderful personal benefit. As a result I now do more frequent trainings, but with a maximum of 6 students. This way the students have more time to say whatever they need to about their experiences, as well as their home efforts and challenges. More people can take the trainings because I vary the days and times. These smaller, more frequent courses are precious to me as part of my sadhana, and I look forward to riding the waves of Grace deeper within as I invite more people into the ocean of Consciousness.

As a meditation teacher, I go deeper into my own Self by leading students in the grace-infused mantra and by teaching them about the five steps to making meditation a daily routine.  By serving as the conduit of these practices and teachings for my students, that flow of Grace affects me also. In the tantra of being a meditation teacher, when I speak the words of the state of the Self, I become able to BE more of my own Self. As I am speaking the sacred words, I am imprinting them further on my own mind. As I am facilitating the students going beyond their mind, I am also facilitated in going beyond mine and into my Divinity.  What a way to serve!