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The World Is Crying Out for Pratyahara – It Just Doesn’t Know It
I’ll be honest with you. Pratyahara isn’t a word I use often in class. Funny way to open when it’s literally in the title but stick with me. I was introduced to it during my Yoga teacher training, the fifth limb of Patanjali’s Eight Limbs, the withdrawal of the senses...
Yoga Beyond the Pose
Somewhere along the way, Yoga became something we do – 60 minutes on a mat, a few breaths, a few shapes. But Yoga was never meant to fit neatly into an hour of your day. It was meant to shape your day and your way of being. The asanas (poses) are only one small...
Embarking on a Spiritual Odyssey, Part 28: Upanishad Vihar and the Call of the Self
After his years of disciplined training at Sri Ramakrishna Tapovanam and his time of hands-on service with Sri Bhikshu Swamigal in the nature cure camps, Sambasivam Chaitanya’s journey began to move in another direction. The earlier stages had shaped him through...
Svadhyaya: The Study of Spiritual Teachings
Svadhyaya is the sacred practice of self-study through spiritual teachings. More than simply reading spiritual texts, svadhyaya invites us to seek wisdom that reveals our deepest nature, and then to bring that wisdom fully into the way we live, think, and serve. As...
Turn Life’s Challenges into Spiritual Strength
There is a Hindu scripture that compares our human mind with a monkey. It says that the mind is like a monkey—a drunken monkey. And not just like a drunken monkey, but like a drunken monkey bitten by a scorpion. Just imagine the condition of that monkey! So, how are...
The Sound of Silence: A Summer Silent Retreat in Yogaville
The Sound of Silence: A Summer Silent Retreat in Yogaville with Swami Divyananda Ma, E-RYT 500, Swami Karunananda, E-RYT 500 and Swan Michelle will be held from July 8 - 12, 2026 Step away from the noise of daily life and enter a spacious, nourishing silence at...
Your Next Chapter: Women’s Weekend Retreat June 2026
Your Next Chapter: Energized, Inspired, Strong: A Women’s Weekend Retreat with Integral Yoga teacher Vimukti Aslan will be held from June 5 - 7, 2026 at Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville in central Virginia. A transformational weekend for women ready to reclaim their...
The Fire This Time
On a recent Sunday morning I awoke to the sound of my wife’s voice shouting my name, followed by “Call nine-one-one! Call nine-one-one!” The garage on the property just beyond our backyard fence was ablaze. The 9-1-1 operator told me that fire engines were already on...
Yoga Teaching Essentials – August 2026
The Integral Yoga Institute of San Francisco will offer: Yoga Teaching Essentials with Raama Das, and Swami Ramananda and senior staff Kalyani Carlee Cohen Barr and Raisa Punkki from August 22 - November 16, 2026 (no class 9/5, 9/7). Mondays ONLINE: 5:30–8:30 pm...
More Together Than Alone
Many have argued whether the inner life or the outer life is our home; the reflective saying that the outer world is but an illusion while the pragmatic say that all the meditation you can muster won’t feed you. Each has its lineage. Socrates said, “The unexamined...