Tag Archives: SVA

Comings and Goings

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Transition is a natural current in an organization dedicated to transformation and upliftment. Thus, we announce a number of changes in our administrative staff, as their lives grow and change.

As Sarvataa Christie leaves to focus on personal and family matters, we thank her for excellent and enthusiastic service as Enrollment Advisor over the past year.  Hrdayaa had already expanded her availability in the last few weeks and is delighted to turn more of her attention to supporting your program choices.

Our Business Administration Manager, Sharada Macdonald, is shifting gears as well, in order to be available to her family in a challenging time.  Even with a change in focus and fewer hours at SVA, Sharada is generously making herself available to fill gaps during Swami Nirmalananda’s upcoming teaching tour in Australia. Happily, we are soon welcoming Kanchan (Connie) Mohn, one of our Board members, to serve as Staff Coordinator during this transition, supporting our staff as Sharada has done for so many years.

With gratitude for her expertise in her role as SVA’s part-time bookkeeper, we also say goodbye to Perpetua Seidenberg who is turning her attention to her sweet baby boy. We are delighted to welcome Lindsay Dittbrenner as our new bookkeeper, joining us on October 6th. Expanding to a full-time position means that she will be more responsive to all facets of our organization.

Jessica Kriel is our new Guest Services coordinator, and we have greatly enjoyed working with her during her first three weeks.  Jessica brings years of experience in hospitality and guest services. When you fly to Philadelphia for our programs, you can rely on Jessica to handle arrangements for your transportation from the Philadelphia airport, hotel shuttles from the Desmond to Ashram lunches as well as your accommodations and meals at the Desmond.

 

 

 

Chanting to the Divine by Priya Kenney

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Priya Kenney

Priya Kenney

We were never far from hearing the sounds of worship of the Divine on the 2013 Ganeshpuri trip.  I loved the auditory presence of the Divine in Ganeshpuri.  It was one of the reasons our senses were so filled with Consciousness.  That ever-present current of mantra and chanting filled our ears and hearts and the act of chanting sent vibrations of Consciousness through our bodies.  We were in the current of Grace.

Brahmin priests began chanting soon after 4:00 am at the Nityananda Temple for the devotional abhishek (ritual bathing of Nityananda’s murti).  After breakfast, we settled in for the Guru Gita and all the accompanying chants.  Every day, Swamiji gave us a few more Guru Gita verses translated into English and we chanted those too.  In the afternoon, we gathered with Swamiji for more chanting, satsang and meditation.

Some chants were familiar — the Guru Gita and Jaya Jaya Arati Nityananda — and the new and mysterious chants that flowed from the Brahmin priests during the all day yajña, fire ceremony.  Those chants propitiated the gods, the planets and all the forces of Consciousness by using a mysterious and mesmerizing rhythm that propelled us into a meditative state.

In the Nityananda Temple, we heard many beautiful chants as well.  One of the Brahmin priests, Prasad, has a particularly celestial voice.  One morning, I entered the sound of his chanting, and was lifted to a beautiful place of adoration and devotion.  I was especially taken by the nearly monotone Om Namo Bhagavate chant that came through the loudspeakers during a rest period of the abhishek.  That same chant flowed through the streets during other parts of the day and evening.

Some of us chanted the Guru Gita at Gurudev Siddha Peeth, where Swamiji lived, served and sat at Baba’s feet. Their rendition of the Guru Gita has a similar but slightly different melody, sung in call and response with men singing one-half of each verse, the women the other half.

Chanting and the mantra are the powerful pathways to meditation, ways to stay close to God.  Meditation gives us the Self. All the chanting took me right into meditation. When I looked around at the other yogis, often they would be deep in meditation. It was a beautiful sight. During the abhishek and the yajña, the chanting went on for long periods of time and it was impossible to sustain conscious awareness.  I noticed people around me in ecstatic meditation and others immersed deep inside. The sheer magnitude of the chanting overpowered any resistance we might have had.  Our minds became still in that river of Consciousness and there we were, right in ourSelves.

For information on the India 2015 trip, click here for FAQs.

Who is the Guru? by Jyoti (Rebecca) Yacobi

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Jyoti (Rebecca) Yacobi

Jyoti (Rebecca) Yacobi

“Meditate on the Sadguru,
embodied form of consciousness,
knowing, being, illumining,
giving me That which is my Self”

Thus says one of the introductory verses in the Shree Guru Gita, the ultimate song to the Guru.

In February 2013, after witnessing life in Ganeshpuri, whose heart is Bhagavan Nityananda, I found that I had many questions: What is my relationship to the Guru and how is it deepening? How did the yatra to India affect this relationship to my Guru, Swami Nirmalananda? What effect did this pilgrimage to the fountain of spiritual energy have in me?

Devotion and love of the Guru is the core of life there, and the Nityananda temple in the town square is a true testament to this.  Ceremonies are performed several times every day to the enlivened murti (statue) of Nityananda. In our yatra to Ganeshpuri, we were fortunate to accompany Swami Nirmalananda to witness these devotional ceremonies.

Every morning, at 4:00 AM, the temple came alive with chanting, beating of the drums and ritual bathing of Nityananda’s life size murti.  The two-hour ceremony was absolutely spellbinding.  We were riveted by the affectionate way the Brahmin priests engaged in their tasks. When they concluded with the waving of lights to Nityananda, we all joined in the chant of “Jaya, jaya Arati, Nityananda.” The temple was transformed into a powerhouse of spiritual magic and mystery.

At Her daily satsangs, Swamiji interwove tantric teachings into our experiences of the day.  Thus, Her satsangs facilitated self-reflection, contemplation and integration of what was unfolding in our bodies, minds and hearts. Each evening concluded with a Svaroopa® yoga class bringing the busy day into a tranquil repose.

The yatra with Swamiji is no ordinary trip to India.  It is a voyage of self-discovery that is guided and assisted by Swami Nirmalananda, who is a living embodiment of the Gurus of the lineage that preceded Her –Baba Muktananda, Bhagavan Nityananda as well as the sages prior to them.

The devotion and love of Bhagavan Nityananda’s devotees was very tangible, and it made it clear to me how my relationship to Swami Nirmalananda was evolving. The effects of the yatra are unfolding to this day in many subtle ways.

The yatra opened my eyes to what is possible – “the human capacity” was made more palpable, more real.  I know I am changing at the core of my being – I am not who I was; I am in a constant process of “becoming and being.” And in every moment I am guided by the immense Grace bestowing power of the Guru.

All I need to do is think of Her, say Her name and allow the Grace to carry me through the darkest, most difficult steps of the journey to the core of my Heart, to the stillpoint of existence.

As I delve more deeply into myself, naturally and organically my relationship with the Guru expands.  The Guru is outside of me as Swamiji and inside of me as my Self.  As I reach for the Self, as I sit at my Guru’s feet – the boundaries dissolve, expanding into deeper states of awareness.

Guru is a person who lives in a constant state of knowing of Divinity – their Presence, word and action are infused with Grace that opens the doors to the core my being.

Where can you go in this world that the Guru is not?  What can you see, hear and know that is not infused, pervaded and sustained by the Guru?

Where can you go that you do not experience the Presence of the Guru?

What can I say about the Guru that has not already been said? Yet the words flow through my being and from my heart and their expression is a testament to the evolution and revelation that I experience through my Guru’s Grace.

 

Who is the Guru?
In the black, velvety darkness
The path is hard to see
Yet I have a guiding light
That sits in the centre of my skull
At first – invisible, hidden
The steps are muddled, frantic
As I sit in the silence of my heart
The light begins to shine
Very distant, dim, elusive
It begins to grow and pulse through my blood
Shimmering crystal light
Effulgent sapphire blue
As it fills the chidakasha
Deeper and deeper I go

 

Who is the Guru?
What do I see?
She is the light and the Sun
The sky and the stars
The flame that kindles my soul
As she lifts the sadness from my heart
To reveal the stillness beyond

 

She is the Grace that guides my path
She opens the door and I float
Beyond knowledge and knowing
Beyond sound and word
My eyes are opened
To the infinite vastness
That is yet unborn

Taglines (Installment #7)

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Svaroopa® Yoga: Consciousness Yoga

Experience yoga’s promise – the knowing of your own Self as Consciousness-Itself. Beyond the poses or stress relief, the true goal is the bliss of your own being, named svaroopa in the ancient texts. Svaroopa® yoga reveals your own Divinity.

Svaroopa® Yoga: Purposeful Practice

Our poses and practices are doorways to the Self. They lift you out of your suffering and reveal the blissful ocean of consciousness within. This is the purpose for which you were born.

Svaroopa® Yoga: Divinity Yoga

The point of human life is to know both realities: the whole of your infinite Beingness (the formless) and the Divinity of your form (your body and your mind). Svaroopa® yoga reveals the Divinity hidden within and make you able to see it in everyone and everything.

Svaroopa® Yoga: The Ultimate Practice

Our sophisticated methodology works with distinctly human abilities to cultivate the ultimate human experience – the knowing of your inherent Divinity. This is called freedom. beginning with wholeness, Svaroopa® yoga is the ultimate practice that yields the ultimate benefit.

Svaroopa® Yoga: A Sublime Path

Yoga recognizes the Divine in every form, from the expanse of the sea to the infinity in a grain of sand, from the light of the noonday sun to the light in another’s eyes. Follow the path of Svaroopa® yoga to find that in your own Self.

Svaroopa® Yoga: Seeking & Finding

You have an ability to get lost in things – events, situations and other people. It is your own Divine Self that you are losing. Svaroopa® yoga opens you up to your own Self again and gives you the tools to find and live in the inner knowing.

Retreat Report by Amala (Lynn) Cattafi Heinlein

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amala-photo

Amala (Lynn) Cattafi Heinlein

Talk about full immersion! I went from our annual Board Retreat at the Ashram, to the Shaktipat Retreat and now I am in the middle of a lovely Svaroopa-fest called “Multiple Levels.”  WHEW!

I call it a Svaroopa-fest because it is Svaroopa® on all levels:  asana, vichara, meditation, chanting and deep, very deep, teachings from Swamiji.  After all of my immersion experiences preceding it, this “Multiple Levels” retreat is a perfect way to integrate it all, and go deeper still.

I must say that I was hitting my “stuff” in a big way — but why else do we do Svaroopa® yoga! It’s amazing to have such support, including Devi, who is so adept at gently nudging me through the tough moments, while I use all the pathways inside. This retreat reinforces how much Svaroopa® yoga and Svaroopa® Vidya truly offer, and how many ways there are to access the Self.

Also this was my first time staying at the Desmond. It is very supportive and comfortable (and the jacuzzi before bed is pretty great too!). I realized today how beneficial this location is. While we have the retreat environment, the conference center also serves other groups at the same time, so I am finding it easier to integrate “normal” life into my yoga.  We are not isolated for the retreat and then having to make our way back into the world; we have the benefits of full immersion and our “cocoon,” while still having to be in relationship with non-yogis.

When we had just two more days to go, I was sure that Swamiji had some surprises and plans for us.  From doing prior immersions with her, I knew she’d get me ready to go home, while taking the “whole new me” with me.  It turned out to be true.  Do more yoga!

On the Road by Rama (Ruth) Brooke

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Rama Brooke

Rama Brooke

I use the 20/20/20 (20 minutes each) protocol for Ujjayi Pranayama, asana (poses) and meditation while traveling, although lately I’ve been placing more emphasis on the breathing practice. Travel depletes prana (energy). The extra Ujjayi helps to support the other two practices as well as my adjustment to the slightly “off kilter” routine of a busy travel schedule. I fit an additional 20 minutes of Ujjayi in the afternoon or before dinner, whenever possible. I also do it before falling asleep at night.  I don’t rely on this as part of my daily practice because I don’t know how long I’m actually doing it, but I find it helps me to drift “inward” and tune out any exterior noise or stimulus.

On a recent family travel vacation, we were packed into small hotel rooms with little opportunity or floor space for my usual asana and meditation practice. For my daily practice I relied on Ujjayi Pranayama and a series of “bed” poses beginning with Alternate Leg, Alternate Leg – Diagonal or Supta Janushirshasana, and then to JP with a variation, which I learned in ATT 411:  Deeper Yoga, which I love because it gets the lumbar spine too.

I woke up early and didn’t want to disturb anyone else in the room.  I did Ujjayi sometimes for an hour or more until others began to wake up and then I would finish with the poses before getting up to shower. In the afternoons, we would return to the hotel before dinner so I did another 20 minutes or more of breathing practice. I also did the bed poses again before falling asleep at night. I was amazed at how well this practice served me during the two weeks away from home. I had more energy than ever before on such a trip, and my body stayed open and healthy. I attribute this mostly to the consistent practices I do at home, especially meditation, which sustain me wherever I am. I also attribute it to the long Ujjayi sessions during the trip that allowed me to tap into and maintain my pranic (energy) reservoir.

This travel vacation was a “once in a lifetime” type of experience — one to cherish.  My more common travel experience is often by plane, which makes packing blankets and blocks an inconvenience, but I do usually stay in a hotel or somewhere that has floor space and furniture to substitute for props. My favorite travel asana prop is the firm seat cushion from a couch or a large overstuffed chair. One or two of these make a great base for poses such as Kurmasana, Baddha Konasana, Seated Side Stretch or even Virasana Seated Side Stretch (turn the cushion, if it’s rectangular, to sit on the short end, and use throw cushions or bed pillows to prop knees).

Without blocks, I do Dhanurasana Leg for a Lunge substitute, lying on a platform of the same firm couch or chair seat cushion(s). When time allows, I add some standing poses or the Standing Vinyasa. Jathara Parivrttanasana with deeper variations is a great way to end the session and add in a little more ribcage or lower spinal opening.

For meditation, I like to sit on the floor, when possible, in Sukhasana. I will use the same cushion props to create my Sukhasana seat. If sitting on the floor isn’t an option, I will sit in a straight (desk) chair, using a pillow to support the upright position of my spine, and place my feet on the firm seat cushion (I have short legs) on the floor.  This is how I “do more yoga!”

Taglines (Installment #6)

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Svaroopa® Yoga: The Goal is Bliss

Yoga’s goal is the bliss of consciousness, which arises from within. Yoga Sutras #1.3 promises, “You will experience svaroopa when yoga stills your mind.” Svaroopa® yoga delivers on this promise through the power and subtlety of spinal release.

Svaroopa® Yoga: Beyond Mere Pleasure

Bliss, peace, vast beingness – yoga promises something far beyond what you get from pleasures. It comes from a different source, so it fills you in a different way. Yogic bliss arises from within guaranteed through Svaroopa® yoga’s spinal decompression practices.

Svaroopa® Yoga: Bliss Arises from Within

Your essence is Consciousness-Itself. Svaroopa® yoga dissolves the inner blocks that hide your own Self. Even a hint or a glimpse of Self opens the inner flow of bliss, which expands to fill your heart and mind and overflows into your life and the world.

Svaroopa® Yoga: You are Made of Bliss

The ancient sages explain that you desire bliss because you are made of bliss. An inner split keeps you chasing who you think you are, rather than discovering the bliss of who you really are. Svaroopa® yoga dissolves the inner split and gives you your own Self.

Svaroopa® Yoga: Better than Happy!

Happiness is only temporary bliss because it is triggered by externals. They change. Thus you try to control things, which sometimes even works. Svaroopa® yoga opens your inner source of bliss, so you live in lasting bliss and share it with the world.

Svaroopa® Yoga: More Laughter, More Joy

Tension tells you that areas in your body and mind are less active. Where you are less alive, you have less joy, because life itself is joy-full. Svaroopa® yoga opens you up to more aliveness, more laughter, even more joy.  Svaroopa® yoga gives you the bliss of your own being, which is why it is called svaroopa.

Svaroopa® Yoga: Stress-less Yoga

You already have enough going on in your life, so yoga shouldn’t pressure you to perform. Svaroopa® yoga customizes the poses to your body, to easily dissolve your core tensions. The bliss you find is an inoculation against future stress. Discover a new way to live!

Svaroopa® Yoga: The Chemistry of Bliss

Svaroopa® yoga guarantees a change of midn and even a change of heart. As your spine decompresses, your mind decompresses. Your body’s stress chemicals are replaced by bliss chemicals. You put less pressure on the people around you, evne less pressure on yourself, yet you accomplish more than ever before.

YTT Level 4 – Moving into New Directions on All Levels by Matrika (Marlene) Gast as told by Kris Curran

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Kris Curran

Kris Curran

Kris Curran uses one word to describe Level 4: “Amazing!” She graduated from YTT Level 4 last spring, and says, “It was perfectly timed for me. It plugged me right into positive energy and into Grace.” As a cardiac nurse in a metropolitan Boston hospital, Kris has a potentially stressful job, but says, “I have more awareness of my reactions to stress and it’s becoming easier to change those reactions. I’m also ready to explore new opportunities that I might not even have been ready for.” One new opportunity is the invitation from her department to develop a Svaroopa® yoga class for cardiac patients in rehab after treatment, so Kris is planning a Magic Four class for them.”

Even after practicing Svaroopa® yoga for seven years, Kris says that Level 4 made her able to feel Level 4 made her able to feel sensation and get movement in her body that she’d never had before. “I was having a hard time with the backbends, and then I just got the alignment, especially in my lower spine. But the first awareness was that I could identify that these poses were getting me into a lot of my fear — not just of the poses but fear connected to deeper issues. Perhaps that’s why I had never wanted to do the YTT Level 2 backbends.”

In fact, Kris says she taught Vidalasana 2 only one time, and only to satisfy the DTS requirement for teaching the lesson plan that featured it. But now Kris joyfully announces, “I LOVE Prana Pump” (a vinyasa/sequence of movements coordinated with breath). She explains, “I’d never done it before Level 4, and when I saw it demonstrated I thought, ‘There’s no way I can do that. I hate Vidalasana 2. and I’m not going to like this either!’ But it turns out to be exactly the practice I need to physically clear out stuff going on in my personal life. Level 4 is worth it just for the Prana Pump!” Kris adds, “Now I actually like doing Vidalasana 2, I feel strong doing it, and I feel that I can teach it because I understand it in my body.”

Kris’s experience of Ardha Padma Paschimottanasana (Half-Lotus Stretch of the West Side of the Body) continues to amaze her. Her training partner was giving Kris the spinal walk-up adjustment, and Kris noticed that it felt as though a 10-pound bowling ball was weighing her head and neck down. Overhearing the partner pair’s conversation, Teacher Trainer Devi McKenty told Kris, “You’re feeling the tension there that you’ve been walking around with. You couldn’t feel it until now, because you’d become numb in the areas that are very tight.” “Suddenly,” Kris recalls, “I could feel it all in the back of my neck. Then all the vertebrae between my shoulders and up my neck released and moved independently.”

Connection with other teachers also opened her eyes to the flow of Grace, says Kris. For previous trainings, Kris had stayed in private homes, so at first she was not eager to be sharing a room at The Desmond. But she found herself paired with a roommate so compatible that they have become close friends. Kris says that every morning before training, she and her roommate would practice Prana Pump together, which led to her arms getting stronger, doing it better and better, and her confidence increasing.

And Kris’s transformation through backbends has continued. “After Level 4, I went into Pigeon Backbend and could feel the lengthening in my spine, and that led me to making connections in my life as well as my body. During the training, I looked in the mirror one morning saw that my swayback is gone! I really got it that in backbends for the lower spine it’s the lengthening of the front of the thigh, the sacrum and the waist — those are the physical changes that open you to the subtle changes in yourself, in your life. I have more confidence in my own teaching now, both in how to teach overall and how to go about teaching these new, challenging poses to my students.”

“The graduation ceremony,” says Kris, “was very special. I felt a great sense of accomplishment. I didn’t even feel like that when I graduated from college. Completing Svaroopa® Yoga Teacher Training has been a different kind of accomplishment. Physically, emotionally and spiritually, I was brought to new and exciting places by Level 4, reminding me of more layers to peel back, in mind, body, emotions. Level 4 was wondrous: So deep and so much more enjoyable, with a more relaxed atmosphere than any previous training. Most of all, Level 4 taught me just to surrender to God, just trust God. It’s the Grace that is so amazing, and how much Grace is in this yoga. I’m so grateful for the experience!”

Click here to learn more about YTT Levels 3 & 4 or contact our Enrollment Advisors at 610-806-2119 or programs@svaroopayoga.org.

 

Taking Your Yoga Practice with You on Vacation by Yogeshwari (Lissa) Fountain

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Yogeshwari (Lissa) Fountain

Yogeshwari (Lissa) Fountain

One of the very first things I discovered after completing Teacher Training and committing myself to Svaroopa® yoga full time, was that every day felt like a vacation because my practices gave me an “internal getaway.”  My practices became an oasis in the middle of life’s daily challenges. I didn’t need to get away anywhere to feel better, or more peaceful, because yoga was doing that for me, and it was all happening on the inside. Still, vacations are a treat: a change of scene, a break from our routines, and a chance to have extra downtime with our loved ones.  For me this doesn’t mean I take a break from my yogic practices, because they help to support my inner state, and provide a continuity of Self within the changing landscape of a vacation.

Whenever I go away, I know my practices may be shorter than usual, so I try plan for that, as I know that my time with family and friends IS the yoga practice I am blessed to be enjoying. And still, I want to take care of myself, so I come prepared with my supplies: my travel pouch with timer, iPod, ear-buds, battery operated candle, puja photos of the Gurus, and a travel size Guru Gita. Then there is my shawl, and two blocks. If I am driving, I bring some blankets, of course. I know every hotel has an easy chair and pillows for meditation, and with blocks and a wall and chair, I can make any asana practice happen! Setting up my “yoga space” goes right along with unpacking.

My vacation yoga might be as simple as the “20/20/20” formula: morning Ujjyai Pranayama, meditation, and asana (sometime during the day). But usually I can fit in a full meditation period (20 minutes Ujjayi and 40 minutes meditation).  I’ve learned that if I ignore my body at the expense of keeping up with everyone else’s plans, I’ll feel it.  So I’ll often do three deeper poses (with variations),  such as Kurmasana, Pigeon with Dhanurasana leg, and JP.  Even if it’s a quick Magic Four, even if it’s just a Lunge, don’t neglect your body

And we must take care of our minds. Quiet mind is a portable yogic state that comes along with you on vacation. I repeat mantra silently, practicing japa. The Self never leaves you, because it is You, and everyone else. The good news is that if you have an established daily yoga practice, you have plenty of Shakti (energy) reserves to carry you through on the days when you can’t fit in much practice. In this way, vacations become a time to bring the whole of you into your life, in new and exciting ways.

Taking My Yoga & Meditation Practice on Vacation By Matrika (Marlene) Gast

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Marlene Gast

Marlene Gast

In June, I took time off from running my Svaroopa® yoga studio and teaching to complete a manuscript that I’ve been working on for a decade. It got started the same summer that I landed on the Svaroopa® yoga and meditation path at Core Opening with Swamiji. Now, more interested in writing about experiences in Svaroopa® yoga and meditation, I feel the weight of that unfinished writing project; it’s like a bag full of yarn and the half-knitted sweater. If it were just a bag of yarn, I could donate it to a thrift store for a real knitter to complete. But the yarn is in my own body and mind, so I need to finish the writing to move forward more freely.

So for my five-day vacation on a Wyoming ranch with my writing group, I packed my meditation asana and shawl, two foam yoga blocks and one Triple Alert Timer. They turned out to be essential items in so many ways. My bunkhouse room was tiny with two cot-size beds and a sink. I chose one bed for sleeping and the other as a “meditation platform,” where I stacked bed pillows for a Sukhasana seat against one wall. In the space between the twin beds, the bedside table held the meditation card with photos of Swamiji and Swami Muktananda, and the floor in front provided just enough room for my blocks and the practice of Lunge.

Every morning this set-up gave me a sweetly soothing foundation for bed yoga followed by meditation.  That start to each day served as a grounding, opening, integrating retreat within my vacation. Besides the task of trying to finish a writing project, joining my writing group for these five days was like being in a family reunion — lots of shared history, affection and, well, “other stuff.”  At meals, japa was a special blessing as I listened to streams of conversation about ways to eat, ways to sleep, reasons to write, multitudes of approaches for dissolving writer’s block etc. etc. At times I was reminded of the biblical Tower of Babel, as though everyone at the table held forth in a different language. Om Namah Shivaya repeated silently, with sweet pauses in between the repetitions of mantra, kept me in sight of the One Reality within, a beautiful place to rest in silence, even while a chorus of competing recommendations for solving a multitude of personal problems filled my ears. When I allowed myself to settle into Self, it was even possible to respond cheerfully to “stuff” that did get close to pushing my various buttons. Yes, I was grateful to have packed my props, and continued my practices throughout vacation. The only buttons that got pushed were the buttons on my trusty timer.

During quiet hours in my little room with my notebooks, I made headway on my project, and took breaks on my “practice bed” for Ujjayi Pranayama, pillows under my knees.  I didn’t finish the manuscript, but I made respectable headway. Soon it will be done, I believe.  In the meantime, vacationing with this writing in the cradle of my Svaroopa® yoga and meditation practices has given me a new perspective on this project. I’m looking at the work to complete it as tapas — clearing up a “moldy oldie” — so there’s less baggage on the road ahead.