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Integrating the Yoga Pathways of Meditation & Devotion
Our whole experience of life is based on the stories we tell ourselves about what occurs. These stories begin with our mind’s interpretation of what it perceives. Swami Vivekananda describes this like an oyster making a pearl. A parasite gets inside the shell, and...
Questions & Answers with Swami Satchidananda: Kirtan and Bhakti Yoga
Question: Can you please talk a little bit about chanting, the path of Bhakti Yoga, and developing oneness with God. Swami Satchidananda: Bhakti means heart. That’s what God wants. Being in the head alone is egoistic; the head is a hard nut to crack. Chanting...
Attuning to Grace
I once visited a home where there was a young baby. I was talking to the family and the mother was busy somewhere in the kitchen. The baby was playing with its toys. After a while, the baby cried a little and started putting things in its mouth, thinking that by...
Hatha Yoga and Asanas
Hatha Yoga relates to the restraint of breath (pranayama), asanas, bandhas and mudras. “Ha” and “tha” mean the union of the sun and the moon, union of prana and apana vayus. “Hatha” means any tenacious practice till the object or end is achieved. Hatha Yoga is...
The Purpose of Hatha Yoga
We are not our bodies. But unfortunately without the body we cannot do anything. Whatever good or bad you want to do, you need a body. You want to taste something, you need the tongue. You need to hear something, you need the ear. You want to touch something, you need...
Hatha Yoga: Caring for the Human Temple
The human body is a temple. Keep it strong and supple. Treat it gently. Never ignore the body, because it's the most important instrument. Whatever you do, you need a body. That's why the ancient Yoga teachings always emphasized taking good care of the body. Babies'...
Integral Yoga 50th Anniversary
Join us for a year of celebration throughout 2016 of 50 years of Integral Yoga since Sri Swami Satchidananda's arrival in the West in 1966. Jai! Please share on our IY50 Facebook Page your stories about the early days, photos, programs & other events you are...
Winter 2016 Integral Yoga Magazine – Yoga for Grief and Loss
Integral Yoga’s 50th Anniversary Facing Death and Loss—Sri Swami Satchidananda What is Real Life? What is Real Death?—Sri Swami Sivananda Dying is Absolutely Safe—Ram Dass Inhabiting Both Sides of a Paradox—Mark Nepo Yogic Preparation for Death—Swami Sarvaananda...
Inhabiting *Both* Sides of a Paradox
By Mark Nepo It is no accident that those who survive being broken and who make a home for the terrible knowledge are, in turn, at the threshold of enlightened living. Often, in our one-sided logic, we try to theorize that suffering is a prerequisite to deep living....
Transforming Ourselves, Transforming Our Workplaces
By Sevika Laura Douglass, Ph.D. Turn on the radio or television and it becomes clear that those of us who live in North America are encouraged to be fearful. Advertisements, websites, articles, and relatives warn us to fear fat, illness, refugees, terrorists, identity...
The Wholeness of Grief: Yoga for Grief and Loss
By Karla Dharmini Helbert When he was three months old, my firstborn child was diagnosed with a rare, highly aggressive brain tumor. Two weeks and three surgeries later, he endured his first chemotherapy treatment. Three days later, a CT scan revealed that his brain...
Yogic Preparation for Death
By Swami Sarvaananda Ph.D., B.C.C. Recently, we received a request from an Integral Yoga teacher to address yogic practices, traditions, and advice on preparing for death. Here are some tips, from our own expert in the field, that may be helpful in preparing for your...
Access Your feelings Without Getting Stuck in Them
By Amy Weintraub, M.F.A., E-RYT 500 Every March, for the past ten years, I’ve led practices on and off the mat at the Psychotherapy Networker Symposium, a mind-expanding four days of workshops, keynotes, dancing, and schmoozing with old friends in Washington, D.C....
Taravati’s Teaching Tips
By Tania Taravati Turcinovic Think about a great Yoga class that you attended. What made that class great? It could have been as simple as where your own body and mind were on that particular day. Or it might have been the space, or the other students. For most...
Song of the Heart: The Essence of Nada Yoga
By Rajesh David Music is an integral part of my life. My being born into a family of singers and growing up in a musical atmosphere led naturally to my being trained in Indian classical vocal music. My first encounter with the concept of Nada Brahma was my teacher’s...
What Matters Most: Self-realization or Spiritual Activism?
By Swami Ramananda In this pair of articles, Swami Ramananda and Claudia Huddleston explore the issue of spiritual activism as a form of Karma Yoga. For a long time, both these yogis have manifested their spiritual practice in the world. Recently they participated in...
Higher Education, Medical Yoga, and the Legacy of Integral Yoga
An Interview with Rev. M. Mala Cunningham, Ph.D., by Laura Sevika Douglass, Ph.D. In this interview, Dr. Cunningham discusses the growing field of Medical Yoga and the new, groundbreaking course she’s developed for the University of Virginia: “Foundations of Medical...
Practice, Practice, Practice
By Karuna Karen Kreps, RYT 500 The curtain had not yet opened in New York City’s Carnegie Hall for the sold-out lecture on Yoga by Swami Satchidananda, when I and three other young Yoga teachers stepped out from behind the velvet drapes onto the lip of the iconic...
Managing Your Mood with Yoga
By Amy Weintraub, M.F.A., E-RYT 500 My Journey I took my last antidepressant in 1989. Through the 1980s, I wore depression like a suit of armor, but you can’t exercise in a suit of armor, much less practice Yoga. I had meditated since receiving a mantra in 1970 and...
Let it Go, Let it Go . . .
By Sri Swami Satchidananda Very often we see people living in fear: “Will I get it or not? If I get it, how can I hold on to it? That is not a natural way of living. Why? Because you’re attached to the result, to the reward. That brings all the problems. If you get...
Sthira Sukham Asanam
By Kali Morse and Rashmi Galliano In The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book II: sutra 46, Patanjali describes asana as having two components: sthira—steady, sukham—comfortable. Swami Satchidananda’s commentary on this sutra tells us that “We need the strength of steel,...
Why Yoga Works for All Bodies
By Shakti Bell I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) over seventeen years ago. I was fortunate to discover Hatha Yoga soon after—when my body demanded attention and was no longer something I could take for granted. I started to learn the virtues of taking...
The Brilliant Function of Pain
By Swami Vidyananda Pain gets a bad rap in our culture. Actually, pain has many positive functions, one of which is to say, “Stop here. Don’t go beyond this point. This is the point where you are going to hurt yourself.” Pain also tells us that we have an...
Yoga in North America – Questions and Answers with Sri Gurudev Swami Satchidananda
Question: What was the North American view of Yoga when you first arrived here? Sri Gurudev: I still remember the American hippie youth smoking cigarettes as they sat in chairs with their feet up on the table, sticking their feet in my face. After inhaling on a...