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How to Change an Unhelpful Habit
We have a lot of desires, a lot of selfishness. Yet, we also understand, that if we become selfless, we become happy. You might ask, “What can I do if I can’t get rid of my unyogic desires?” You have to analyze your motives. Over what actions are you selfish? And by...
For Anyone Contemplating Suicide—Choosing Life: Suicide Prevention & Hope / Advice from Swami Satchidananda
A message from Lifeline: The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: We can all help prevent suicide. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for...
Yoga-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Based on his personal experience with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic attacks and anxiety, Boris Bhagavan Pisman, MS, NCC, developed a Yoga-based approach to recovery. In this interview, he talks about his journey and how he integrates the best of Yoga...
What Yoga Teaches Us About Emotional Pain
One of Patanjali’s sutras buried in the Second Pada is: "Pain that has not yet come is avoidable" (2.16). This is very similar to, I would even say, exactly, what the Buddha taught: that suffering can end—as stated in the Third Noble Truth—though we hardly seem to get...
Overcoming Fear, Anger, and Depression
Fear, anger, and depression are all related. It all starts with fear. You want something and you become afraid of not getting it, or you get it, and you become afraid of losing it. There is a beautiful sequence in the Bhagavad Gita that illustrates this point. First...
Questions & Answers with Swami Satchidananda: Overcoming Disappointments
Question: How can I rid myself of expectations of others and the resulting disappointments? Am I really just disappointed with myself for allowing the attachment or is it lack of self-respect which merely manifests itself in the form of impatience. I’m slow to learn...
“As You Think, So You Become”
There is a Sanskrit saying that Swami Satchidananda often quoted: “Mana eva manushyanam karanam bandha mokshayoho.” It means: “As the mind, so the individual. Bondage or liberation are in the mind.” In other words, “As you think, so you become.” If you think well, you...
Emotional Self-Mastery
Emotions are part of the mind and are one part of its functioning. According to Raja Yoga, there are several different ways the mind functions: the analytic mind, the feeling mind, the thinking mind and the desiring mind. Some people think if you are a big yogi, you...
Yoga and the Trauma Sensitive Person
Dr. Bessel van der Kolk is considered one of the world’s leading authorities on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He has pioneered the use of Yoga as a therapy that is helping these individuals to work through their PTSD and regain a sense of mastery that has...
Vedanta and Psychotherapy
Vedanta and Psychotherapy would seem at opposite ends of the spectrum. Vedanta asserts that all is Brahman and psychotherapy has the psyche as its focus. But as Swami Tadatmananda, a senior disciple of Sri Swami Dayananda (one of the most respected Vedantis)...