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Emotional Regulation Utilizing the Yoga Sutras
Although Yoga is formally a system of liberation, it can be employed to teach skills of emotional regulation. In this article, Dr. Richard Panico bridges the gap between Yoga-based psychology and western science that offers a four-part system of emotional regulation,...
Building Emotional Strength with Yoga
In this article, Srinivasan, a senior disciple of Sri Swami Vishnu-devananda (who was a brother monk of Sri Swami Satchidananda), gives us a beautiful overview of the subject matter of our special section from the yogic perspective. Through our study and sincere...
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...
“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...
Yoga and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
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. In this...
Teaching Yoga to Women with Eating Disorders
Laura Sevika Douglass, Ph.d. is a regular guest editor of Integral Yoga Magazine. In this article, she discusses the importance of creating a safe space in her Yoga classes and the role her personal spiritual practice plays in her service to others. Dr. Douglass...
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...
The 12-Step Yogi
Yoga, combined with 12-Step principles, enhances the recovery process, as both systems complement one another. The additional benefits of a Yoga practice include philosophical and physical components to help guide the practitioner to lifestyle changes that ultimately...
Questions and Answers with Swami Satchidananda: Yoga and Diet
In this article, Swami Satchidananda answers questions about Yoga and vegetarian diet. Q: Is it hypocritical to be a vegetarian for spiritual reasons and also to cook for others who insist on eating meat? A: Just because you have become a vegetarian, it doesn’t mean...
Vegetarianism & the Vedas
Once I was asked a question: “Do the Vedas teach vegetarianism?” The answer is, there is no Veda without the mention of ahimsa. “Ahimsa paramo dharmaha” means that the greatest dharma one can embrace is ahimsa. Saint Ramalinga Swamigal always said, “If you want the...
Vegetarianism and the Yoga Sutras
In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali lays out an eight-limbed plan for liberation called Raja Yoga. The first limb is called yama, which means restraint and includes five ethical restrictions: ahimsa (non-harming), satya (truthfulness), asteya (nonstealing), brahmacharya...
Spiritual Nutrition: Diet for Enlightenment
Gabriel Cousens is considered a physician of the soul. His books, Conscious Eating and Spiritual Nutrition have been referred to as the “bible of vegetarians.” His background as a holistic physician, medical researcher, live-food nutritionist, ecological leader,...
Ahimsa: The First Step in Yogic Diet
“Who will be the happiest? The one who brings happiness to others.” –Swami Satchidananda How we behave toward others and our environment reveals—more than anything else—our inner state of mind and the current condition of our personalities. When we are self-confident...
We Are Healthy By Nature
We are gathered here to find ways and means to be healthy, holistically healthy. We don’t need to do anything to be healthy. By nature we are healthy. We were born healthy. We don’t need to be doing anything to bring in positive vibrations. Instead, we should know how...
The Real Doctor Is Within
For a long time, Yoga was thought of as something mysterious, something fit for the so-called recluses, escapists and cave dwellers. It took a long time for the public to realize that Yoga is something that can be practiced by anybody who wants to live an easeful,...
Prescription for Health
Most of the diseases take their origin in over-eating, sexual excess and outbursts of anger and hatred. If the mind is kept cool and calm at all times, you will have wonderful health, strength and vitality. Energy is depleted by fits of anger. The cells and tissues...
Alzheimer’s: Living in the Moment
My sister and I had inklings of a slow atrophying of my mother’s mind, perhaps of her very self, before she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in April, 2008. And yet, strangely, I’d also noticed around that time she’d seemed to be more “herself.” So I felt oddly...
Illness vs. Wellness
“The spiritual teacher Swami Satchidananda was once asked, ‘What’s the difference between illness and wellness?’ He walked over to a blackboard [during Grand Rounds at the University of Virginia Medical Center] and wrote illness and circled the first letter, i. He...
Health and Immunity
It is not just one thing that creates disease. And it is not one thing that can heal us. It takes a holistic approach. Nature has tremendous regenerative and restorative energy. Many of you may know that if a lizard loses its tail, another tail will grow. If it...
Dis-ease: Don’t Disturb Your Natural Ease
We have an expression, “He or she is fighting the flu or fighting cancer.” I don’t recommend fighting with disease. That creates more disease. Instead, understand the disease. Because disease is nothing but dis-ease, disturbed ease. You were at ease and that ease got...
Ayurveda, Chiropractic and Yoga
In this interview, Dr. Michael (Muktan) Sullivan, a chiropractor and Ayurvedic doctor, discusses the relationship between chiropractic, Ayurveda and Yoga. He also reflects on all he learned from Swami Satchidananda over the years. Integral Yoga Magazine: You have been...
Ayurveda and Yoga: Ancient Sister Sciences
Yoga and Ayurveda Yoga is one of the most extraordinary spiritual sciences that mankind has ever discovered. It is like a gem of great proportions, containing many facets whose light can illumine the whole of our lives with great meaning. Going back over five thousand...
How To Heal With Yoga
How To Heal With Yoga A summary of how some common disorders are treated by practitioners and medical institutions using Yoga science. The poses are described in the section on asanas. Details of medical problems that can be treated by individual asanas are described...
Ask the Yoga MD: High Blood Pressure
Question: I often suffer from headaches, tiredness, and the feeling of being "over the hill." I have been told this may be due to high blood pressure. Are there any practices that can help?Sandra Amrita McLanahan, MD responds:High blood pressure (hypertension) is a...
Asanas And Exercises To Improve Various Health Conditions
Asanas And Exercises To Improve Various Health Conditions Ageing, To Delay Full practice, mental and physical, with special emphasis on Headstand; Half-shoulderstand; Shoulderstand. All swinging-downward exercises and Slow Movements; Raised Poses. All breathing...