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Yogic Hearts Together by Swami Nirmalananda

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Your yogic heart continues to amaze me. While I’ve seen many of you at your best, I’ve also seen you at your worst, facing your fears, slaying your own inner demons. I hear the stories of what you have faced and are facing in your life, and still you do yoga. In fact, it might be that those things are what drive you to yoga! Your heart had the strength of a survivalist long before you began yoga. But what you’ve gotten from yoga is the growth in your resiliency (your bounce-back) and generosity. They physical opening automatically makes you more resilient and generous. It’s reliable! And our Thanksgiving fundraising campaign has shown that to be true – again. Thank you.

I’m happy to report that your generous gifts, and the monthly donations that many of you are offering, are supporting a newly reorganized structure, with a few finishing touches to complete before the new year begins. The cleanup after the storm of Reawakening has been arduous, supported by many sevites in addition to our admin team. We’re almost ready for the 2014 Initiatives to fulfill their promise: an enlivened and exciting place to study the Svaroopa® yoga sciences.  Whether working with your body or mind, all the practices are guaranteed to give you svaroopa – your own Self. All of them are guaranteed to improve your life. All of them make you feel better, look better, and be better, within yourself and in your life.

A few weeks of gathering heart-and-hand photos as well as receiving regular updates on the donation stream have propelled my own heart deeper into gratitude. Long ago I made the shift into continual gratitude to my own Guru, who gave me all I’ve got. Now I find myself in perpetual gratitude to you, to each of you and to all of you, for making this yoga organization a place that I can do my work. A Yogic Heart just keeps expanding!

OM svaroopa svasvabhava.h namo nama.h

The More I Give, the More I Receive by Louise Davis, MYF Board Treasurer

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louise

Louise Davis

I recently received a thank you note from one of my students. She thanked me for bringing yoga to our city and shared that it has changed her life. I was so touched, and so grateful to read her words. More importantly, I was so grateful to be able to share this amazing yoga with such amazing people. This student, let’s call her Lucy, is a true karma yogi: not only at our yoga studio, but in all parts of her life. She is always looking for ways to help and give back. This got me thinking about giving: do we feel more gratitude because we give, or do we give because we feel gratitude? My short answer is yes!

Svaroopa® Yoga and Meditation has changed my life as well, in ways too numerous to mention. And I feel such deep gratitude for its presence in my life. I serve on the Board of Master Yoga, in part, as a way to give back for all that I have received. And the more I’ve given, the more I seem to receive.

I grew up in a Christian church, so I was very familiar with the concept of tithing, or donating to the organization (church) which sustains you spiritually. In the last few years, I’ve noticed that much – even most – of my spiritual nurturement was coming from yoga. Why couldn’t I divide my tithe to support this organization as well? Such a simple solution!

I invite you to consider doing this as well. In this season and spirit of Thanksgiving, would you open your yogic heart and make a one-time or monthly financial donation – or increase your current gift? Even a small monthly donation of $5-10 will make a big difference. And your giving will continue to give back.

Click here to give from your Yogic Heart.  A one-time gift or monthly pledge in any size that works for you makes a difference in our ability to serve you; thank you.  Monthly donors receive our new Namaste poster as a thank you gift, for a new or increased monthly pledge.

What is a Yogic Heart? by Amala (Lynn) Cataffi, SVA Board President

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Amala

Amala in Anjali Mudra
Send us a photo of your hands in Anjali Mudra (prayer position). Please include your name and zip code. We’ll add your heart-full hands to our online gallery – click the picture above to see it as it grows!

For me, a yogic heart is an ongoing love affair with Grace. That flow of Grace is the essence of Svaroopa® yoga. I have chosen to partake of all of the limbs of yoga that the Svaroopa® sciences offer: asana, meditation, seva, and gladly, boldly, into the deepest teachings of all.  Whether you choose any or all of these limbs, the Grace is always showering you and aiding your personal process. My love affair is expressed outwardly through my giving (dakshina) and my giving back (seva).

During the last India trip this was so vivid for me. We had just finished the Maha Abishek at the Nityananda temple. This ancient ritual honors Nityananda as a form of the Divine – the formless in form. As a Board member, I helped perform the ceremony, but I had a strong sense that the experience was not about me.  It was not even for me, but was about giving and service.

When we left, we were given fruit and flowers that had been on the huge murti (enlivened statue) of Nityananda during the ceremony. There were 2 Indian women outside who had obviously not eaten well in some time, and I gave them the fruit, even though I secretly wanted it. Immediately, I was propelled into a state of peace and love that I had never before known or experienced. It was so overwhelmingly beautiful that I could almost not move or speak! I could have stood there in bliss all day!

Every time I donate money or time, I open myself further to that flow.  It does not always manifest in such a “POW!!” experience, but giving is something that opens you up like nothing else… Talk about core opening!

Come and share the experience of a deeper core opening than you have ever known. Give to support that which has given YOU so much to be thankful for!

In service and gratitude…Amala

Click Here to Give a Gift From Your Heart!

A Yogic Heart: Steady Through The Storm by Bob Nogue, Board Member

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Bob Nogue

Bob in Anjali Mudra
Send us a photo of your hands in Anjali Mudra (prayer position). Please include your name and zip code. We’ll add your heart-full hands to our online gallery – click the picture above to see it as it grows!

I’m not a sailor, but an image comes to mind for me: a number of boats on a stormy sea, the winds are swirling around them and the waves are buffeting them about in all directions.  As the storm intensifies, they are reassured by seeing the beacon of a lighthouse at their home port in the distance.  They make adjustments to sail or rudder, knowing that they will reach safe harbour at the end of their journey.  As such, they don’t need to worry about where they are going; they just allow the beacon to guide them and enjoy the ride.  A Yogic Heart is like the beacon of that lighthouse.  It leads us to the Self and can guide the choices that we make every day as we navigate our way in the world.

I have a personal experience that shows me the power of the Yogic heart.  About 12 years ago, I was in need of some change in my life.  My corporate role involved extensive travel, long hours, numerous business challenges and a boss who motivated others through abuse and humiliation.  Despite all this, the role was rewarding from a career point of view, as I was learning a great deal and the financial rewards supported our family well.  I didn’t know how I was going to change, but I knew that this was killing me and my relationship with my family.

Grace supported me to get very clear about what I wanted in the rest of my life – I got my first lighthouse!  From there, an amazing set of circumstances unfolded over the next six months. I gained the clarity to recognize an opportunity for change that I would have considered a naïve pipe dream a few months before.  However, once I got out of the way and trusted Grace, this opportunity enabled my transformation to a whole new career that is fulfilling and provides very amply for our family needs.

Swami has supported many new and brighter lamps being installed in my personal lighthouse, each one providing clarity and direction that is better defined.  Regardless of the intensity of the storm, the beacon is visible.

Svaroopa® Yoga strengthens the output of your personal lighthouse, which is really your Yogic Heart.  Your donation creates the opportunity for Swami Nirmalananda’s teaching to reach you – which will increase the output from your personal lighthouse; thus your gift supports you and many others to feel steady through any storm.  The rewards are priceless.

Click Here to Give a Gift From Your Heart!

A Yogic Heart: Giving and Giving Back by Saguna Goss, Board Member

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Saguna

Saguna in Anjali Mudra
Send us a photo of your hands in Anjali Mudra (prayer position). Please include your name and zip code. We’ll add your heart-full hands to our online gallery – click the picture above to see it as it grows!

Svaroopa® Yoga has given me so much.  It has cured my lower back pain, given me walking lessons, taught me how to breathe, slowed down my busy mind, given me inner peace and calm and so So SO much more.  Out of deep gratitude, I try to “pay my debt” and give back for what I have received. I offer seva and donations to the organizations that make this yoga available to me.  But I have come to realize that it is a loosing battle – I will never pay off my debt.

First, how can I ever repay for the endless priceless gifts of Svaroopa® Yoga?   Second, giving back in the form of seva and donations just gives me more of the fruits of Svaroopa® Yoga.  The tag line should be “Giving and giving back, and giving and giving back, and giving and…”

I had a sweet and profound experience of this relationship between the giving and the giving back at the Ashram’s Diwali program last weekend.  Swamiji was explaining how traditionally people offer a financial gift to Lakshmi on this celebration.  So I thought it would be nice to give a small $5 donation.  And then the fear came up!  Could I really afford this gift?  I am in between jobs right now and don’t know when I’ll find my next reliable source of income.  While it was only $5 my mind was afraid of letting go of this precious and limited resource.

Then something in me shifted and I decided that giving this donation was more important than anything else I could spend $5 on.  I knew where my priority was.  I wanted to give back to the source that has given me so much.  And as I decided to give the donation, a layer of crusty fear around my heart melted and my heart opened up both physically and energetically.  My mind became quiet and my heart overflowed with gratitude.  All of this from a $5 donation.  Amazing!  And here again I found myself giving back, while the act of giving back was giving me even more!

The relationship of giving and giving back is beautiful and sweet.  My experience is that we can only gain from it!  So please join me in making a donation as a token of appreciation for all that Svaroopa® Yoga has given us and for all that it will give us.

Click Here to Give a Gift From Your Heart

A Yogic Heart: Living in Continual Gratitude, by Swami Nirmalananda

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1311 Diwali Lakshmi pujaWe celebrated Diwali yesterday at Downingtown Yoga Meditation Center.  The hundred or more candle flames gave off so much heat that we had to turn on the air conditioning!  Surrounded by such scintillating light, each yogi began to glow with their own inner light, more and more as I explained about the Divine Gift of Abundance.  Termed Lakshmi in Sanskrit, and honored as a beautiful Goddess, Lakshmi is the energy of abundant blessings, the givingness that makes you want to share.

At the satsang, I spoke about the earth, who we call “Mother Earth.“  Ideally you plant things at the right time, and even place the seed or bulb in the earth at the right depth and with the right end pointing up, but She is so giving (and forgiving) that everything grows, even when you get it wrong.  Then, when a tree or bush bursts into bloom, the giving forth of flowers is Lakshmi.  The fruits, grains, beans and veggies are all Lakshmi’s gift to us – not only to humans, but to feed all the creatures of the Earth.  This is why the harvest festival in India is dedicated to Her.  A time to say thank you.

This is also why we ask for your financial support at this time of year – to say thank you.  We say thank you to you for your interest in yoga.  You can say thank you to us for the yoga offerings we bring to you.  Gratitude is part of the relationship.  If you weren’t interested in Svaroopa® yoga or meditation, I would have no one to share these amazing teachings with!  If I wasn’t supported by such fantastic Teacher Trainers and administrative staff, I couldn’t offer such an array of programs.  And if we didn’t come together to make those programs available, you wouldn’t have a place to dive in so deep.  There is gratitude in every direction.  A Yogic Heart lives in continual gratitude.

Please contribute to the stream of donations, large and small, coming from many yogis – a stream that supports our non-profit swamijiorganization.  You have options to support MYF programs, SVA programs, Ganeshpuri Music School or our General Fund – you get to choose where your money will go.  Click here to offer your gift of gratitude.

Send us a photo of your hands in Anjali Mudra (prayer position).  We’ll add your heart-full hands to our online gallery – click here to see it as it grows!

 

OM svaroopa svasvabhava.h namo nama.h