If you get divinely and miraculously healed, is this part of your karma? Yes. Miraculously you are healed. Maybe you deserved it. God helped you to heal. You have done some good karma to receive that kind of healing energy. But if you haven't healed and if you want to...
200-hour BIPOC Yoga Teacher Training Starting April 12, 2025
The Integral Yoga Institute of San Francisco is pleased to announce the 3rd bi-annual scholarship based 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). We recognize structural and institutional racism that exists in wellness...
Embarking on a Spiritual Odyssey, Part 13: Palani’s Sacred Legacy
In our last installment, we journeyed back to 1942, when Ramaswamy (later known as Swami Satchidananda) traveled to Palani, a sacred pilgrimage site steeped in centuries of spiritual significance. This holy place in Tamil Nadu has long been a sanctuary for saints and...
Shivoham!
The great Indian sage and proponent of Advaita Vedanta, Adi Shankara, realized his true nature and wrote the “Nirvana Shatakam,” with six Sanskrit verses that describe his experience. Gaiea, a Western yogini, Sanskrit scholar and teacher both sings and composed music...
“Nirvana Shatakam” : A Gateway to the Infinite
The profound Nirvana Shatakam stotra (hymn of praise) was composed by Adi Shankaracharya, the great 8th-century philosopher and sage, who stands as one of the most profound spiritual figures in India’s history. His teachings revitalized the understanding of Advaita...
Resolutions That Last: The Art of Sustainable Spiritual Practice
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...
Life’s Pendulum: Balance Amid Change
When you watch the thoughts passing through your mind by being the witness rather than getting caught up in them, is this the same as what is meant by the expression, “Offering it up to God?” Yes, you can look at it in this way. One approach is what we can call the...
Embarking on a Spiritual Odyssey, Part 12: Sacred Discipline Continues
In our last installment, Ramaswamy (Swami Satchidananda’s birth name) realized that the next step in deepening his spiritual practices would be to travel sixty miles from his birthplace of Chettipalayam to the ashram of the family Guru, Sri Sadhu Swamigal, in Palani....
Walking with Faith
"When we walk with faith we're never alone. We trust there's a Higher Power always with us." In this satsang talk, presented by Integral Yoga TV, Swami Karunananda, senior monk and teacher trainer, speaks on the subject of faith. She also shares amazing stories from...
Living the Yoga of Sound
In 1971, Michael Grosso had an extraordinary experience in Greenwich Village, New York, that led him to realize he needed to balance his overly intellectual life with music. Michael had just spent the last several years obtaining a Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia...
Tasting the Spiritual Fruit
Every year on his birthday, as we gathered to honor Sri Swami Satchidananda, the tables would turn in the most profound way. Rather than our offerings of gratitude and celebration taking center stage, Gurudev would bless us with a birthday message brimming with wisdom...
Embarking on a Spiritual Odyssey, Part 11: A Hidden Devotion–Swami Satchidananda and the Divine Mother’s Grace
While in seclusion (in the early 1940s) undergoing intensive sadhana, Ramaswamy’s (Swami Satchidananda’s birth name) diet was austere, limited to one meal a day at noon consisting of kitcheree, a mixture of rice and dhal. His mother, Srimati Velammai, would prepare it...
Seven Favorite Yoga Teachings
José Rafael Madureira, an Integral Yoga Brazil sangha member, produced this inspiring YouTube playlist containing his seven most favorite quotes from Swami Satchidananda. José kindly offered these in honor of the 110th birth anniversary of Sri Swamiji (December 22,...
A Journey into the Yoga Sutras
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....
How God Came Into My Life
It would be easy to dismiss the question by saying: "Yes, after a prolonged period of intense austerities and meditation while I was living in Swarg Ashram, during which I had the darshan of a number of maharishis and their blessings, the Lord appeared before me in...
Five Small Gestures of Gratitude to Counteract Fear and Violence
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...