The purpose of Yogaville is to live together to help ourselves and each other find the peace and ease. As individuals, we may find it hard to achieve that end; so, collectively, we are helping each other. That is the goal. Like-minded people living together, helping...
There are continuous, constant tests on a spiritual path. A person who wants to get a degree is given tests. Those who are not interested in learning, do not need to be tested. Teachers will not even want to give a test to a person who doesn’t want to learn. And, the...
In 2013, Integral Yoga Magazine’s editor, Reverend Prem Anjali, Ph.D., shared an in-depth conversation on enlightenment with renowned author and spiritual activist, Marianne Williamson. Williamson’s 1996 book, A Return to Love, is considered a must-read in the field...
In March, I will be running a self-supported 108k trail “moving meditation” at Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville to honor Sri Gurudev Swami Satchidananda—the Woodstock Guru—during the 50th anniversary year of Woodstock. Although I have decades of experience running long...
Are you getting ready for an epic moon event on Sunday? Overnight from Sunday, Jan. 20 into Monday, Jan. 21, millions of people in North and South America will have a prime view of a total lunar eclipse. During a special nocturnal hour, the full moon will become fully...
Our spiritual dilemmas often revolve around deciding how to act in a difficult situation, when none of the choices feel quite right. A variation of this occurs when we struggle to distinguish between a higher, or divine, will and the will of our ego-mind. This can be...
When you are healthy and happy, you are at ease. But, you don’t remain that way always; you disturb it and then you call that dis-eased. There is meaning in your words, in your beautiful language. Diseased means you have disturbed your ease. That means you were...
Question: How can we have our sitting meditation remain with us throughout the rest of our day? Swami Satchidananda: If your meditation doesn’t extend into your daily activities then there is something wrong with your meditation; you’re not meditating properly. What...
A few years ago, as I approached my 68th birthday, I begin typing words to describe what it feels like to age with Yoga as my support system. You see, I now have been practicing the art of Yoga for over five decades. It has always been the backdrop of virtually every...
In this exclusive excerpt from her book Yoga Mind — Journey Beyond the Physical, 30 Days to Enhance your Practice and Revolutionize Your Life From the Inside Out , Suzanne Saraswati Colón shares the inspiration that led her to become an Integral Yoga teacher, apply...
While the practice of Yoga has spread all over the world, it is generally understood to be movements done on a mat, which greatly limits how it is practiced. A more complete understanding of Yoga is to see it as a way of life rather than just a set of movements....
Heike Amma Farkas, Integral Yoga Germany director, reflects on what her years of teaching and training Yoga teachers has taught her to care about. I don’t care, how long you have been practicing Yoga I want to know, how calm is your mind When your child cries, your...
Swami Rama Tirtha (photo left), a mathematician and a contemporary of Swami Vivekananda, made an equation about contentment: Peace is always based on your desire and contentment; your wants, and don’t wants. If your want increases, the peace goes down. If your want...
Yoga is something that you live. If you want to be a yogi you should be a yogi always, not just while you are standing on your head. If you are a yogi only when you stand on your head, then what are you when you walk on your feet? If you are a Yoga teacher, you are...
Question: What is success and failure? Swami Satchidananda: There’s no need for failure in the worldly sense. If you really work hard, if you know the way, if you gather enough strength, nothing is impossible to achieve. But remember: that, even if you have the whole...
When I think of what it means to really live Yoga, I recall a special visit in late December, in the mid-1970s. I was serving as director of the San Francisco Integral Yoga Institute, and Swami Satchidananda (Sri Gurudev) was coming to California for the celebration...