The Integral Yoga Institute of San Francisco is offering a Meditation Teacher Training (Yoga Alliance Hours: 105 and Integral Yoga® 300-hour Program) starting November 14, 2024 taught by Swami Ramananda and Diana Meltsner and guest teacher Rich Panico M.D. The IYI is...
It takes a long time to learn how to pray just for the sake of praying and not for anything else, not for our own selfish desires. The reason that we obtain little satisfaction from our prayers is that they are not really sincere attempts to touch God. When we begin...
Integral Yoga teacher Zac Parker leads a short guided meditation utilizing the mantra Om. This mantra is considered to be the primordial sound of the universe, representing the essence of existence and the ultimate Reality. When meditating on Om, practitioners feel...
In the last ten years my work has been made much easier by the progress made in the fields of Neuroscience and Epigenetics. Following a great deal of scientific experimentation, significant evidence has materialized to show how the brain works and how meditation...
There are so many methods of meditation and Trataka meditation is among them. Even though you might have an image in your mind of what meditation is, there are actually so many ways to meditate. You can try out all the different types to see what works best for you....
It is a tradition in Integral Yoga that after daily meditation we repeat Shanti mantras, or peace prayers. These prayers are a beautiful way to end one’s formal meditation sitting and are a spiritual support in that they are affirmations of peace. The Yoga tradition...
Independence implies a freedom from being controlled or unduly influenced by an outside source. Spiritual independence suggests the freedom to live in harmony with the spiritual truth at the heart of our being. It implies freedom from depending on any outside source...
A meditation teacher of mine once quoted a Burmese teacher as saying “When everything that can go is gone, what’s left is the truth.” That sentence resonated with me. I heard it maybe 20 years ago and I still reference it and repeat it a lot. And I think that’s...
Integral Yoga teacher Zac Parker leads a short meditative and relaxing experience that you can do to begin or end your day. It's also the perfect length to take a moment out of a stressful day or utilize during a work break, to drop into essence-nature and the peace...
A common scenario I see is people who started a meditation practice, found it beneficial, and then for whatever reason they stop. When they try to return to a daily practice, they hit resistance. They ask: I know I feel great when I meditate, but why can’t I get...
These Sanskrit slokas are led by Swami Satchidananda and are from the Vedas and other sacred texts. Swami Satchidananda recommended chanting these prior to a meditation session to help connect to the Guru-tattva principle. This principle teaches that there's a...
Keep it simple,” said the Dalai Lama. “There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; our philosophy is kindness.” Meditation, or contemplation, is the seventh limb of Yoga in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras....
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...
In grief and loss, the mind is powerfully affected. The way we think is changed. The content of our thoughts is altered. Particularly in early and traumatic grief, we forget things, we lose things, we are distracted and inattentive. Alternatively, we can be utterly...
Meditation practice at Yogaville was life-changing. But here’s the story of what happened when I took the meditation back home and practiced on my own. Luckily for me, I had a great combination of Integral Yoga and a catbird to help me go deeper!
During the Apollo 13 space mission to the moon, I was asked what I thought about going to the moon and the significance of such a mission. My immediate response was: I would like to go if they would take me! These explorations signify the restlessness and curiosity of...