Tag Archives: Svaroopa Vidya Ashram

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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.

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.

Visiting Gurudev Siddha Peeth by SheynaPurna Peace

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India_ Sheynapurna 2

February 2013, we first glimpsed this famed and fabled Ashram following our 15-hour flight from Newark to Mumbai, then a grueling nearly 3-hour bus ride through Mumbai rush hour, and finally onto the bumpy dusty road into Ganeshpuri, where we could see the Ashram’s high barbed-wire topped walls, stretching on seemingly forever. The grounds are very large and very private.

The mainstay of Ganeshpuri is Bhagavan Nityananda’s glorious MahaSamadhi Shrine, open and welcoming.  Gurudev Siddha Peeth sits at the other end of the village; the entrance doors are closed and guards patrol the front area. I found this daunting and at odds with my expectations.  The images I’ve seen of this Ashram are from Baba Muktananda’s early days – doors open wide and welcoming and dozens of people wandering in and out.  The high walls and locked gates were not included in my vision.

Swami Nirmalananda explained to us that, while the majority of visitors to Nityananada’s temple are Indians, Gurudev Siddha Peeth has long been a destination point for many visitors from multiple countries.  With the very real threat of terrorism towards Westerners, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda developed safety measures to protect the Ashram residents and visitors.

Helpful hints:  The glorious bookstore across the road is open throughout the week.  Visitors to the Ashram itself, allowed only on weekends, must sign in and check all bags with security across the way near the bookstore complex.  If you visit in the wee morning weekend hours, don’t carry much besides your asana, shawl and chant book, or be prepared to check all other items with the guards.  They will take excellent care of your personal belongings, but for the morning Guru Gita chant, you will find it easier to leave your belongs ‘at home.’

Once you’ve signed in, you’ll be directed to the hall for the chant.  There you will see that men are on one side and women on the other.  You choose whether to sit close to the leading chanters on the floor, or in a folding chair a bit further back.  Either way, the sounds of the chanting voices, the opening mantras and Guru Gita sung by hundreds of devotees will open your heart.

When the chanting ends, all visitors are escorted out of the Ashram – yet not rushed.  You’ll be able to return in the afternoon to visit Muktananda’s MahaSamadhi Shrine, where you may walk the perimeter of the room or sit on the marble floor where so many devotees steep in meditation.

Gurudev Siddha Peeth challenged me to look at my resistances and expectations.  As the Guru is the mirror showing not only where I am but who I am, the Ashram is as well.  It wasn’t until several months after returning home that I was able to see I had been caught up in my mind – not what is, but what I wanted. I realized that the guards were doing their job to protect everyone in the Ashram, myself included. The residents are doing their sadhana and their lives aren’t meant to be on display to hundreds of visitors. I recognize that Gurudev Siddha Peeth opened me up to see myself more clearly, helping me grow into recognition of my Self.  When I return, it will be with love, wonder and excitement – to spend time with my Guru’s Guru – what could be sweeter?

 

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Svaroopa® Yoga: Sutra Based Yoga

flowerSvaroopa® yoga is based in the principles of Consciousness expounded in the sutras. Athletic yoga styles, the sages explain, are preparation for an eventual inner awakening, but Svaroopa® yoga gives you the inner awakening, because it is saturated by the river of ever-flowing Grace.

Svaroopa® Yoga: The Best Comes First

flower4Yoga’s promise is that you will experience the Bliss of your own Beingness. Svaroopa® yoga delivers on that promise from your very first class, creating an inner opening that gives you your own Self: from the first, in the middle, to the last, and all at the same time.

Svaroopa® Yoga: Yoga for Seekers

flower3Svaroopa® yoga is for those who are seeking something that they cannot name. They don’t know exactly what it is they’re looking for. Here is where you begin the path to finding it, the path to your own Divine Self, the path of Grace.

Svaroopa® Yoga: Opening the Doorway Within

flower2Svaroopa® yoga jump-starts your inner evolution, leading to the discovery of who you really are. Grace begins the process, supports you along the way and completes your life’s purpose – the inner revelation of your own Svaroopa, your own Divine Beingness, your Self.

Svaroopa® Yoga: The Yoga of Grace

flower5Others talk about Kundalini; Svaroopa® yoga delivers. Our poses are based in Grace, reliably providing the inner awakening that puts you on course for the highest purpose of human life. No more guessing, no more hoping, no more despair. You can live in the knowing of your own Divinity.

Svaroopa® Yoga: Alignment with Grace

Tail to top, we create the inner opening, inviting Grace to reveal your Divine Self. Svaroopa® yoga gives you the inner alignment you’ve craved all your life, the synchronizing of your individuality with your inherent Divinity.

Svaroopa® Yoga: Melting the Layers

Svaroopa® yoga is going to make you shine. As soon as you decompress your spine, the Grace melts your carefully constructed shell and opens up profound inner experiences. Melt in the glow of consciousness, which is the flow of Grace,                      through Svaroopa® yoga.

My Taste Of Ganeshpuri

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GaneshpuriBy Matrika (Marlene) Gast

In late fall 2009, I took a day trip to Ganeshpuri, which gave me a taste of this sacred place. It was as though I’d touched my tongue tip to a tiny serving at a glorious feast, only to walk away. Now Swamiji’s 2015 group trip to Ganeshpuri, the home of our Svaroopa® Sciences lineage, beckons.

I have begun my planning, putting it out there that I am going. Certainly, the cost must be considered and budgeted; acceptance and emotional support from family must be cultivated; logistics must be managed — passport, visa, flight reservations, possibly vaccinations, etc. But, based on my experience of travelling with Swamiji to Kerala in southern India five years ago, I know that once you make the decision, Grace flows all the pieces into place.

It was a fluke — or Grace — that gave me my eight-hour taste of Ganeshpuri. After Kerala in 2009, others in our group of 20 yogis had wisely planned to travel to Ganeshpuri for a week’s stay. I didn’t plan so well. Ganeshpuri was an accidental boon! Months before, when I made my flight reservations, I was confused about whether US time was ahead of or behind India, so my roommate and I had 36 hours in Mumbai before our flight back to the US. We hired a taxi to drive us the 50 kilometers northeast to Ganeshpuri. Recommended by our hotel, our driver cared for us like honored aunts, respectfully escorting us everywhere.

Ganeshpuri MealWe saw uniformed school children, with shining faces and smiles, walking to classes along a dusty road thickly bordered with lush trees and trailing vines. In Ganeshpuri, we browsed in shops with cloud-soft pashmina meditation shawls, moonstone jewelry and beautifully carved murtis of deities. We had lunch, along with our driver and the other yogis from the Kerala trip, at Rosey’s B&B where they were staying. It was simply delicious — and her chai is still redolent in memory.

NityanandaYet it is the too-brief experiences of sitting to meditate in the Gurudev Siddha Peeth, the ashram founded by Swami Muktananda, and visiting the Nityananda Samadhi Shrine, that call me back for more than a taste. The quality of pervasive peace, inside and outside, is what returns to me. The Presence of the Gurus of Ganeshpuri so filled me, that in the village shops afterward I found it impossible purchase any of the beautiful wares. I was simply too filled from within on that day, in that place. There was no need. Now I want to know what it is to BE there for two weeks, with Swamiji and all of us who will immerse in practices that flow from our lineage, which arose in that place.

Swamiji KarunaOf course, accounts from the yogis who went straight to Ganeshpuri in February 2013 will tell you so much more about this experience. Over the next several months, you will hear from them as we pave the way to our trip together as a kula — spiritual family — to our ancestral spiritual home. Looking forward to being with YOU there!!

Trusting the Process of Seva by Gayatri (Barbara) Hess

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Gayatri

Gayatri (Barbara) Hess

I continued this path of volunteering as I grew into adulthood.  I also became part of several groups in which my spiritual growth was nurtured.  As part of my growth, I gained a deeper understanding of the concept of tithing of my time, talent and treasure.  Initially, my mind was quite contracted and controversial about giving my time, talent and treasure.  At some point I decided I needed to trust the process and “just do it.”  My life grew from volunteering to serving, and from serving as an obligation to serving from a space of gratitude in which I live to serve.

When I became part of the Ashram, the opportunity of seva was mentioned.  Initially I thought, “I do a lot of service in my other communities.   That should be enough.  I don’t have time for more seva.”  When I would sit in meditation or pause and reflect after listening to an audio recording from Swamiji, my heart would swell with gratitude.  In gratitude I was urged to serve.  Initially, my mind did what it always does.  Thoughts of doubt surfaced, “What do you have to offer?  You are not part of the inner crowd.  What if Swamiji thinks you are not good enough?”  I moved forward and offered to serve.  I trusted the process.  I did not put limits on how or where to serve.  I wanted to offer my love and gratitude to the source that was giving me so much, a path to discover my SELF.

I wanted to perform seva as a way of supporting the Ashram where it needed help.  In offering my service without attachment I have been asked to serve in various ways.  I assist Jennifer with typesetting.  I assist on the gardening team, and I have recently been asked to assist with some of the administrative tasks on the gardening team.  I am also on the special events team and helped create the Japathon last year.

In October 2013, I attended the conference as part of the seva team.   Initially, when asked to serve in three capacities, I did resist.  I did not want to commit too much!  Once again my inner voice reminded me, “Just do it.”  I can trust the process and know that I have all the time, energy and resources I need to serve.  I want to give freely to the source that has given so freely to me.  I give in gratitude, not out of obligation.  I deepen my understanding and capacity to love and grow when I serve from this space of selfless service and gratitude.  Thank you, Swamiji, for this opportunity.

If you, too, would like to undertake the ancient yogic practice of seva, send an email to our Seva Coordinator, Devapriyaa Hills, at seva@svaroopavidya.org. She will get you started on your skills survey.  You can sign up for ongoing seva or for a special project. You will be contributing two-to-four hours of your time and talent per week.  Not only will you be strengthening the Ashram organization through your selfless service, you will be adding a powerful yoga practice to your life.  What new and wonderful fruits will you harvest?

Seedling Seva by Antarajna (Deborah) Mandel

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flower7A few years ago, when Suchi and Dean Cilley lived at the Ashram, they built raised beds to grow vegetables and herbs for the phenomenal chefs at the Ashram to use in preparing their meals. The garden has continued to evolve over the last few years. This year we have a wonderful new opportunity to deepen our roots in this endeavor. Instead of buying plants, Swamiji has personally chosen seeds for us to start vegetable plants. In late spring these will be transplanted to the vegetable beds. We will also be starting marigolds to be used as offerings on the puja.

We will be raising these seedlings both in our homes and at the Ashram.  Those growing seedlings at home have amazing seva opportunity — to be in service to the Ashram and the lineage, with the Shakti  surrounding us in our daily lives. It brings the food cycle full circle; we grow food from seed, nurture it, transplant it to Ashram soil, harvest it, and feed the Ashram residents with healthy morsels for months to come!

Especially after this long, snowy, cold winter, I heartedly endorse Kate Morton who said in The Forgotten Garden, “It [is] such a pleasure to sink one’s hands into the warm earth, to feel at one’s fingertips the possibilities of the new season.” Starting the seedlings now is a step in that direction.

If anyone is interested in starting seedlings in their home, or helping with the seedlings at the Ashram please email me at debbielmandel@gmail.com.

With love and blessings, Antarajna