There is an image of spiritual realization that can exert a powerful attraction: one rises beyond the noise and demands of ordinary life into a peace so complete that the world, with all its complications, seems finally left behind. The great Yoga and Vedanta...
One of the root causes of suffering for us all is the illusion that we are each a separate body/mind. On one level, we are separate and we must function that way in our daily lives. But to understand ourselves only this way prevents us from experiencing the ground of...
Question: Wouldn't I also be attached to a person when I truly love them? Swami Satchidananda: One should be loving but not attached. Attachment is far different from love. Attachment is always personal and selfish: "So and-so makes me happy when we are together; if I...
Question: I’m basically happy and peaceful but feel that something is missing. How can I find the missing part? Swami Satchidananda: If you are basically happy and in peace, what can be missing? It’s a sort of contradiction. If you are basically happy and in peace,...
There is another image of Rosa Parks, far removed from the photographs most Americans know. She is not seated on a Montgomery bus. She is not being fingerprinted after her arrest. She is not standing beside Martin Luther King Jr. or addressing a civil rights...
I dropped the corn seeds in the furrow and wondered if they would grow. In the dark earth they glowed like citrine quartz; it seemed improbable that in two months the tiny dry seeds would grow into plants that would stand above my head. Many gardeners told me growing...
I know so many people, that when I ask how they are doing, respond with something about how busy they are. It has become the status quo for our lives to be filled to the maximum and beyond so that we’re not really aware of how driven we are, how stressed our lives...
In this episode of the Integral Yoga Podcast, senior Integral Yoga monk Swami Gurucharanananda (Mataji) shares insights into her life journey and spiritual path, first as a Catholic nun and later meeting her Guru, Swami Satchidananda. Born in Washington DC on April...
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...
During a workshop at the Integral Yoga Institute of Gibraltar, Swami Ramananda (president of the Integral Yoga Institute of San Francisco) spoke about Yoga not just a practice but integral to our daily lives. He reminds us that if we limit our practice of Yoga to one...
In this episode of the Integral Yoga Podcast, Līlā Śakti Mayī and host Avi Gordon (director, Integral Yoga Teachers Association) dive into the profound connection between humility, self-care, and the power of Sanskrit. The discussion focuses on how language can embody...
Living gratefully is the stance we take when confronting adversity. It is the deep knowledge that what is before us may not be desired, but we can control our response despite whatever chaos is around us. It’s easy to give thanks when you are pleased with what is...
In the first of this series on "Adapting to Change," Integral Yoga teacher and SIS founder Nalanie Chellaram answers questions centered on what we need to change in order to find peace. How do we find fulfillment when we're not clear about what we want to do with our...
There are moments when the weight of the world’s suffering presses in with unusual force. We watch conflicts deepen, communities fracture along lines of belief and identity, and sense the distance between what we know is possible for human beings and what we see...
Bharata Dance & Allied Arts presented A Thousand Years’ Journey – Story of Stolen Gods at Cowell Theater in San Francisco in March 2026. The production brought alive the contemporary issue of murtis (sacred statues) that have been stolen from India and brought to...
After a traumatic brain injury changed her own pace of life, Kirana Stover found herself bedside with her dying mother—an experience that transformed from a season of grief into a surreal, poetic masterclass in presence. In this episode, Kirana Stover, a long-time...