In 1961, the great writer Aldous Huxley (Brave New World, The Perennial Philosophy, The Doors of Perception, Island) was interviewed in London. This beautiful video includes the audio from that interview during which Huxley describes the "Dancing Shiva" image...
The Last Satsang
On August 12, 2002, Sri Swami Satchidananda gave satsang at the Integral Yoga Institute of Coimbatore during which he answered questions. This excerpt is part of the last recorded satsang of Sri Swamiji and follows his participation as a keynote speaker at the World...
Seriousness is a Crime in the Court of God
In this Integral Yoga Podcast video, Avi Gordon (Integral Yoga Teachers Association director) talks with Jonathan Foust, MA, CSA. Foust is a guiding teacher with the Insight Meditation Community of Washington and a founder of the Meditation Teacher Training Institute...
How Mantras Work
In 1976, Swami Satchidananda was giving this talk (below) on Yoga in Denver, Colorado. Yoga was something that wasn't widely practiced, or understood, in its broader and deepest sense at that time—and in large part, still isn't today. And, the use of mantras in...
The Language of the Earth
In this short video, ecologist Stephan Harding shares a simple practice to transform our relationship with the natural world and to help us engage more fully with the real vs. the unreal.
Meditation: Ananda, the Peace That Passeth All Understanding
In this inspiring meditation, Rupert Spira (teacher of the "direct path," a method of spiritual self-inquiry) uses the analogy of a person watching a movie in a cinema to explore the imperturbable nature of awareness. The peaceful presence of awareness, as if watching...
The Pursuit of Happiness
Yoga is now known and practiced all over the world. This is because it’s not only for people who believe in religion, spirituality, or a particular philosophy. The yogic teachings comprise the very same foundation that is found in all faiths and religions. And, even...
Loss, Life, Love
Nalanie Chellaram, Integral Yoga teacher and Gibraltar and Sotogrande, Spain centers head, recently published a book, Loss, Love, Life. In this article, she shares the inspiration behind writing the book and her journey through loss into life and love again. The book...
The Inner Guru
In this short video "The Inner Guru" from 1998 during Guru Poornima, Swami Satchidananda speaks about the true meaning of "Guru" and also about attuning oneself to the inner Guru. Using examples from his own Guru (Sri Swami Sivananda), the Bhagavad Gita and South...
The Full Potential of Your Mind
We seem to do many things each day that create our problems. But, we can undo everything in a meditation practice. You just sit. You don’t need to do anything but = be aware of yourself. In meditation you are the witness that sits behind the body and mind. When you...
The Darshan Line
When I was in my 20s, I used to go to the New York Integral Yoga Institute on 13th Street and buy books and tapes and great things. And then I took a shiatsu class there with a great bunch of spiritual people for 20 weeks and we were all different, but we all got...
What We Can Learn from a Flower
We can find lessons in everything we do. One of the lessons that I learned as a mechanic, many years ago, is very useful in being able to control the mind. The newer vehicles probably don’t require this anymore, but way back then, a car had to be periodically...
Yoga Alliance Lineage Series: Integral Yoga
In this video, host Kim Weeks and Swami Asokananda (president and spiritual director of the New York Integral Yoga Institute) explore the origins, evolution, and modern-day story of Integral Yoga. Hosted by Yoga Alliance, "Yoga Lineages" is a series of conversations...
Miracles Can Happen
Sometimes miracles happen through someone, even without their knowledge. There have been many who, like Jesus, performed miracles. And they didn’t claim that they were doing everything, but that it was the God’s will. That shows that there was no ego involved....
Spiritual Alchemy
What does it mean when a scripture or spiritual teacher tells us to “mentally keep quiet?” It means to raise above your mind. When I did that, in that moment, I didn’t see all the differences, all the separateness. I saw only the unity in all of the diversity—the...
Opportunity for Awakening
You will inevitably encounter adversity in life, either on a personal level or, as we are experiencing it now, on a collective level. If you haven’t delved deep enough, if you haven’t found anything beyond the conceptual thinking mind, then adversity, whatever it is...