By Swami Satrupananda Saraswati

Awe, elation and wonder … this is how I felt as I floated out of my first yoga class. I was completely relaxed and full of energy, both at the same time.

I was 18 years old.  Yet I was so rejuvenated that I felt five years old again. I was instantly hooked on yoga. Now, two-and-half decades later, I continue to be in awe and wonder. It just keeps getting better.

The benefits of yoga are truly amazing! The ancient sages have been saying this for centuries: 

Vismayo yogabhuumikaa.h.

— Shiva Sutras 1.12

The stages and experiences of yoga are truly amazing.

Both ancient and modern yoga sages give us this bold promise. If you do the yoga practices, you will have amazing experiences. Their certainty does not come from a research study with many people over a long time period. They didn’t crunch the numbers at the end to prove the benefits statistically. No. The sages confidently make this promise because they know how the system works. It is completely reliable.

Yoga is an inside-out process. All of the yoga practices are for the purpose of opening you up to the truth of your own existence. The you that you truly are is pure and full. Yet you don’t always experience or know this truth. You limit yourself by thinking that you are merely what you do, who you know or where you live. Yet you are so much more. Your true essence is Existence-Itself.

As your yoga practices unveil your true essence, then your own essence shines forth. Wonder, amazement and awe are guaranteed. As your own essence shines through your body, you feel bliss. Your essence also fills your senses — you rejoice in this human experience. And as your own true essence fills your mind, you experience peace, clarity, focus and more.

While this is your future, the sages also tell us that there are stages to arriving at this destination. Like all transformational processes, it’s an evolution. It’s like walking out of a dark movie theatre at noon; your eyes need time to adjust to the light. Similarly, you need time to adjust to the brightness of your own essence. Unfortunately, you have been living in the dark, so it takes time to adjust to the light. 

The Svaroopa^® yoga practices are so effective at unveiling your own essence that we intentionally make the openings gradual. You learn to live in your increasing brightness. You integrate your new light into your life. You learn to live in a way that allows the light to continue to shine forth. Then you open up to even more light. It’s a step-by-step process.

Sometimes you even take a few steps back. When you don’t know how to live in your brightness, you can slide back into the dark. You go back to your old familiar habits. This can be painful or, at the very least, difficult. While the darkness is familiar, now you’ve experienced the light. The darkness was always painful, and now you know better. That can be tough. 

This is when you may wonder about the promise quoted above. Remember, it is part of the process. Keep doing your practices, keep opening up to the light of your own essence. With time, you will learn to live in the light. The darkness of your limitations won’t be able to hold you back anymore.

While you apply your own self-effort, you have incredible support along the way. You can rely on the yogic teachings which come from an ancient lineage. They have been passed down from teacher to disciple throughout time. These teachings are tested and true. We have proof that they work from the Great Masters who came before us. 

Perhaps more importantly, there is a power of revelation that flows through this lineage. This power is called “Grace.” While you put one foot in front of the other, it’s like you have jet engines on your shoes. With every step, Grace propels you further than you ever could go on your own.

So when the going gets tough, keep going. It’s simply one of the stages. If you take a few steps back, that’s okay; just return to stepping forward. There are various stages along the way. And you have help from the teachers who preceded you. 

You can rely on the promise from the yogic sages. They tell us that the wonders of yoga are truly amazing. They will be your inner wonders by you simply doing the practices.

By Swami Prajñananda

A little boy sat despondently at the ocean’s edge. He had a cup in his hand and was looking wistfully out to sea. 

The great Christian theologian, Saint Augustine, happened to be walking by and asked the boy why he looked so sad. “I love the ocean so much,” cried the boy, “I want to take it home with me, but alas it will never fit in my tiny cup.” 

Saint Augustine was hit with a realization. “Ah! It’s true my boy, your cup can never contain the entire ocean. So, what you must do is throw your cup into the sea.”

This little boy with his cup represents you and me. We want to be great, as great as the ocean. Yet, at the same time, we don’t know how to let go of our limitations that keep us small. We hold on to our tiny cup while yearning to be full, overflowing with joy and love. 

The good news is yoga helps you with this in two ways: 

• From the outside in
• From the inside out

First let’s look from the outside in. When you do your yoga practices — poses, breathing, chanting, seva (selfless service), meditation and more — you actually grow your container. Your cup — your body and your mind — expands so you can hold more of the ocean. This is the ocean of Consciousness and Bliss, your own Divine Essence. 

Your capacity to experience this ocean expands as you do your practices. Your body is more supple and has more energy and strength. Your mind becomes more expanded and open. Your capacity to love grows. You function in the world with more skill. And you live your life with more peace and joy. 

If this was all yoga gave you, that would be incredible. Yet there is more. Yoga not only works on your container; it also shows there is more to find inside. Especially in a Shaktipat tradition, in which you get the help from a great Meditation Master. This is the Guru, whose job it is to give you direct inner access to your own Divine Essence. 

You discover that the ocean is within you. Yet, you cannot access it when you are only focused on your container. This is the part where you throw your cup into the sea. That’s not to say that you get rid of your body and mind, but rather you look deeper. 

Gurudevi says it this way: 

When you look outward for fulfillment, you lose out on the inner fullness. It’s like the ocean asking for a drink of water.

— Gurudevi Nirmalananda, “Why Do You Do What You Do?”

I remember many summers at the beach. I would spend hours in the ocean. Yet, before I jumped in, I would have a moment of hesitation as I anticipated the shock of the cold water. So I would create this inner feeling of separation, distancing myself inside from the ocean. This feeling would build and build until finally I would yell running full steam ahead! 

The moment I submerged myself into the cool waters, my resistance vanished. My apprehension disappeared, replaced with delight, satisfaction and a sense of wondrous freedom. Yet, while I would stay in the ocean for hours, eventually I would need to get out. I couldn’t take the ocean with me. It wasn’t until I began yoga that I discovered that the joy of the ocean is located inside. 

It is the inner mystical opening of Shaktipat, the gift of the Guru, that shows you where to find the ocean. Your own divinity lies within you. So, my dear ocean, you don’t need to ask for a drink of water. You are already full and complete and whole. It is your own inner depths that fill you fully — your own Divinity that washes away all your fears, agitation and fragmentation. 

When you are filled from the inside, you can still swim in the ocean on the outside. You can see all the same people, and maybe meet some new ones. You can go to all the same places, and perhaps even somewhere new. You can do all the things you did before, as your options to do anything are still open to you. The point is not who you see, where you go or what you do. The point is that you are you. And you bring your inner fullness everywhere you go. For that you must throw your cup into the sea! 

By Swami Shrutananda

Who can change you for the better? Who really gets you? Other yogis!

I think about all the yogis who have made — and continue to make — a difference in my life. These thoughts especially arise when I hear For Good, a song about the friendship between two witches, Glinda and Elphaba in the musical “Wicked.” Tears well up in my eyes when I hear its lines “I do believe I have been changed for the better. And because I knew you.”

One of the things I love about teaching yoga classes and immersions is how students inspire each other. When you put words to your deep inner experiences, others gain insight into their own inner experiences. Your comments and questions enrich everyone’s understanding. Perhaps it’s an understanding of how to handle a difficult situation or person in their life. Perhaps you understand yourself better. From knowing each other, you have been changed for the better. And you are inspired to do more yoga!

You become yoga buddies. You may not know if they have a partner, children or grandchildren or what they do for a living. Yet you share, understand and know one another at a much deeper level. This is the purpose of being in community with fellow yogis. As long as you continue to come to Ashram programs, I will be in relationship with you – over decades. For I, too, am changed for the better because I know you.

International Day of Yoga, observed across the world on June 21st annually, celebrates the spread of yoga throughout the world with gatherings of yogis. How can you celebrate International Yoga Day?

Get together with a few yoga buddies in person or on Zoom. Share tea or a meal, or enjoy an outing or a yogic get-together of some kind. Find new yogis to be friends with, even if they do a different style or are from another tradition. Yoga doesn’t say that one tradition is right. All paths of yoga are honored, states the sage Kshemaraja from over 1200 years ago:

Tad bhuumikah sarva-darshana-sthitayah
— Pratyabhij~nahrdayam 8

The various traditions are different roles of Consciousness.
— Rendered by Gurudevi Nirmalananda

In this text, the One Divine Essence is called by the name “Consciousness.” The One has become everything that exists. In addition to being you, Consciousness is also being all the different forms, traditions and paths of yoga. Kshemaraja explains that Consciousness becomes so many different traditions because different kinds of people need different ways and paths to the knowing of their own Divine Essence, their own Self.

I enjoy talking to yogis that come from a different tradition. I learn something more about the breadth of yoga, about them and about me. There are lots of yogis out there to meet. With the worldwide increase of people doing yoga, you are part of a huge yoga family.

According to Shri Google, the worldwide population of yoga practitioners is more than 300 million. The global number of people who meditate is anywhere between 200 and 500 million. Considering there is likely some overlap, let’s say 500 million people meditate and/or practice yoga. This is 6% of the world population. This means 6 of every 100 people you meet do yoga. This doubles to 12% when you are in the US. I am going to assume this is also true in Australia, Canada and Europe.

So yogis are everywhere. In the past two days alone, I met two while traveling. One was my Lyft driver, who takes local YMCA yoga classes twice weekly. Coming back on the plane, I sat across the aisle from a yogi. She zooms into a Mumbai teacher’s yoga classes and meditation every week. Telling me about the benefits they are getting, both yogis had such love for their yoga. Yogis love to talk about yoga!

Your yoga community and conversations are an important part of your practice. Is it expanding? Make it your practice to step into relationship with more yogis. Together you inspire each other on the path and profoundly affect the world. Together, we yogis are a Divine Force enriching the lives of others.

Remember, don’t limit yourself to those who only do your kind of yoga or meditation. All yoga is good yoga. All meditation is good meditation. Get out there and make more yoga friends. Be changed for the better!

By Swami Satrupananda

You decide it’s time for a vacation. You need a change of scenery, so you pack up your suitcase and head out.

After some travel, you get to your new location. You unpack and settle down to have a bite to eat or something to drink. You are enjoying your new location with new views, smells, tastes and more. And then your mind brings up the same worries and fears you left miles behind.

The reality of this was a shock to me. During university, I took a semester off and traveled to Southeast Asia. I spent my days exploring the exotic land, food and culture. I even took a meditation retreat. I was shocked when my mind would not stop obsessing on problems that were over 7,500 miles away.

The yogic texts say that your challenges come from your limited knowledge.

Jñanam bandhah.

Limited knowledge is bondage.

Shiva Sutras 1.2

Knowledge is not the problem. It is limited knowledge that creates bondage. Your mind works hard at knowing. Unfortunately, it works only on limited knowledge. You focus on knowing the external world. When all you know is the external world, you get your sense of self from it. As a result, you are impacted by your surroundings.

And even when you change your location, the distance does not protect you from your mind. Your mind can bring up problems from thousands of miles away.

In yoga practices, you stop looking outside for a sense of self. You turn your attention inward to know who you truly are. With each yoga practice, you experience your true Divine Self. With each experience, you come to know who you really are.

This knowledge is not limiting, it is freeing! You don’t merely find the knowledge of who you are. Ultimately, you find the Knowingness itself.

This shift from being outwardly focused to inward is emphasized in our Guided Awareness. In yoga classes, we guide you in being aware of your body on the outside and inside. “Become aware of your toes… all ten toes… outside and inside.”

In meditation, we take it a step farther. You turn your attention inward beyond your body and even beyond your mind. You dive deep inside directly to your own Self.

At first it can be challenging to turn your attention inward. We all have spent so much of our life looking outward. So you practice turning your attention inward again and again. Then it becomes a delight to have the opportunity to close your eyes and turn within.

I remember a few years ago, I was going through a challenging time. I no longer wanted to run away to the other side of the planet like during university. Instead, I wanted to escape inside. One morning, I didn’t want to end my meditation period. I wanted to stay inside. The inner space was my safe haven. This was progress.

Instead of chasing for external realities, I knew that I would only be satisfied by resting in my own Self. While it was progress, it was still limited. I couldn’t settle deep enough inside that I stayed there while also being in the world, regardless of the challenges.

This tantric system is not about leaving the world to find your Self on the inside. However, in the beginning, you do need to take recesses from the external world. You turn your attention inward to discover who you are. Then you learn how to live from your own Self while you step into the world. You go from the outside to the inside, then inside to the outside. You know and be your own Self while you are in the midst of the world. Then you can be in any location.

And there’s more. As you dive deeper into knowing and being your own Self, you come to know that Self is the source of everything. Then when you look inside, you see only your own Self. When you look outside, you see only your own Self. Then there is no inside and outside. There is only the One, who is you.

Yet there is still an inside and outside, and you are still impacted by the world outside you, but you go from outside to inside to outside. Do more yoga.

By Swami Prajñananda

I used to wish that I didn’t need to sleep. It seemed like such a waste of time.

And I did a pretty good job over the years of burning the candle at both ends. The most extreme of which was when I was part of a dance team that started practice at midnight. After practice I would walk home, get about three hours of sleep, wake up, go to work and then do it all again. Yeah, I only lasted a couple months on that schedule.

In retrospect, I can see that part of me was onto something with my lifestyle. I wanted to be awake. I couldn’t put words to it at the time, but it was a desire to know that my life was meaningful — that I was meaningful.

So I kept busy and poured myself into everything that I did. Unfortunately, the main thing I got from all this was exhaustion, called “shrama” in Sanskrit. Technically shrama means the fatigue that comes from worldliness.

What is worldliness? It is the focus and pouring of your energies into the world. When you do this without being based in your own inner depth, you drain yourself easily. You are not present in your body, but rather “out there” somewhere.

You may want to blame it on a busy day, but there is more going on. Truly, you drain yourself more with your mind than anything you can do with your body. For how many thoughts do you think in a day? Some research says the average is about 60,000 with 80% of those thoughts being negative.

Unfortunately, everyone’s mind loves to dwell on painful memories and future worries, yours too. Each time you do, your own presence leaves your body and goes out with your thoughts. Not only is this painful, it is also draining. This is why we fall into bed at the end of the day exhausted. We’ve lost our own presence and have drained our own energy.

This is a big reason why people come, or should come, to an ashram. For “ashram” means without (“a-”) fatigue (“shrama”). When you come to an ashram, you begin to dissolve your lifetime’s worth of exhaustion (or perhaps from many lifetimes). You also learn how to live in a way as to not create more.

Yet this is not about escaping the world. No, that’s not it at all. In fact you don’t even have to physically go to an ashram. Rather, you can do the practices that the ashram recommends: poses, breathing, chanting, mantra, meditation and more. When you apply yourself to these practices, you learn how to live in your body in a whole new way. And this completely changes your experience of the world.

Instead of looking outward for what you think you need, or running away from what you think you don’t, you stay grounded inside. You are centered in your own presence, your own Self. This is truly what it means to be awake. This is described in the Shiva Sutras 1.8:

J~naana.m jaagrat

Knowledge is wakefulness

We usually think of knowledge as what you learn with your mind. But, this sutra describes a deeper knowing. It is the experience of your own presence, beyond your mind. This is your essence, the light of your own being.

When you ground into the inner infinity of your own light, it is called wakefulness. You are awake! When you are lost looking outward to the world to complete you, this is called darkness. You don’t know who you are. You are asleep even with your eyes open.

So how do you move from darkness to light? It is not something you do easily on your own. Otherwise, you would have done it by now. You need someone who can show you the way. Just like you needed someone to teach you how to tie your shoes, learn the ABC’s and ride a bike, you also need a teacher to show you how to move towards the light.

This is the literal translation of the Sanskrit word “Guru.” Guru is a compound word: “gu” means darkness and “ru” means light. The Guru is one who takes you from darkness to light. They give you an inner awakening, so you begin to shine from the inside out. You learn how to stay based in your own light and even to see the same light in the world.

Now, when you act, even when you think, you aren’t creating shrama. You aren’t draining your energy. For, the fact is, you are based in the source of energy itself. You can be a light onto the world. Living in joy and spreading that joy everywhere you go. If you like how this sounds, well, it’s time to wake up.

(1) coloradoparent.com