The great South Indian sage Thiruvalluvar said, “What is tapasya (penance)?” Tapasya doesn’t mean go and close your eyes and meditate. That’s easy, comfortable. Tapas means to burn. A spiritual seeker is supposed to practice tapasya. Thiruvalluvar says, “The more you...
In their new book Yoga Adventures for Little Explorers, author Megan McDougall and illustrator Hayley Lowe share their love of teaching Yoga to young ones! This little book will bring children on a journey with meditation, breath, work and flow. Yoga Adventures sets...
Enjoy watching/listening to Yoga teacher Rachel Scott's podcast in which she is in conversation with Integral Yoga Publications author Carroll Ann (Prashanti) Friedman. Prashanti discusses her new book, Practicing the Yoga Sutras: A Personal Study Guide and Journal....
In the sacred stillness of the Palani Hills, at the samadhi shrine of the great Siddhar Bhogar, a seed of profound transformation was sown in the heart of a young seeker named Ramasamy. Years later, known to the world as Sri Swami Satchidananda, he would carry that...
Everything takes its own time to mature, including one’s spiritual maturity. Just because you pray a raw fruit will ripen, it won’t ripen overnight. Imagine that you plant a seed and you just sit there and pray, “Please seed, I have planted you and I hope you will be...
In this short video, Swami Ramanacharana Tirtha answers this question. Sri Swamiji is an Acharya of Vedānta sampradāya. His discourses and writings are filled with the power of Atmajñāna and the fragrance of bhakti and one gets an intimation of one’s spiritual essence...
As the first signs of spring emerged, I invited a group of sincere seekers to embark on a journey of inner cultivation through a 3-part series called Keys to Sustainable Growth. Just as the earth awakens in spring, offering fertile ground for new life, I encouraged...
Karma Yoga transforms karma into Yoga. Karma Yoga never binds you to good or bad results, whereas karma ensures that you must experience the consequences of your actions, whether pleasant or painful. If your actions are good, then you face that in the form of...
Swami Ramananda, director of the Integral Yoga Institute of San Francisco, will be presenting a weekend program at Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville "Resilience in an Age of Uncertainty" from April 18 – 20, 2025. We live in an age characterized by an increasing sense of...
In the mid-1980s, Swami Satchidananda was interviewed by Meenakshi Angel Honig, one of his students, in Santa Barbara, California. Meenakshi asks him a series of questions about Integral Yoga and the practices of Integral Yoga, including Hatha, pranayama, and...
For many years, I’ve given a talk on New Year’s resolutions at our annual Integral Yoga New Year’s Retreat. I focus mainly on setting achievable goals for a regular spiritual practice of poses, breathing, relaxation and meditation. Here’s a few suggestions from that...
Ahimsa is a Sanskrit word that translates as “without injury” or “nonviolence” in English. It’s a principle in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jainist philosophy that involves causing the least amount of harm possible to all beings. It’s the first ethical principle given as a...
Imagine a country whose citizens—maybe even its leaders—are brave, calm, and open towards each other; a country whose people realize that all human beings belong together as one family and must act accordingly; a country guided by Common Sense. This may seem more than...
If you want to see well through a window, you have to clean both sides. Practice (abhyasa) and non-attachment (vairagya) work much the same way. They are the complimentary practices given in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras as a means to quiet the movement of thought in the...
Change is the act of becoming different, a natural occurrence that makes life possible. So why does it cause so much stress? Change comes into our awareness at the end of comfort. When life is good, there is no need to change. Only when things are uneasy do we begin...
Contentment is a deceptively simple concept that offers tremendous benefit if we fully embrace its practice. It is referred to as santosha in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and is not so easy to master because the habit of wanting and achieving is so deeply ingrained in...