The majority of the suffering that you experience is caused not by something outside of yourself but by your internal reaction to things. And those reactions that bring pain are usually based on attachments and expectations that are unfulfilled. You make an...
snihyanti jantavo nityaṃ vairiṇo ‘pi parasparam | api svārthakṛte sāmyabhājaḥ sādhoḥ prabhāvataḥ || स्निह्यन्ति जन्तवो नित्यं वैरिणोऽपि परस्परम् । अपि स्वार्थकृते साम्यभाजः साधोः प्रभावतः ॥ Living beings, even eternal enemies (like the snake and mongoose), feel...
I’ll be honest with you. Pratyahara isn’t a word I use often in class. Funny way to open when it’s literally in the title but stick with me. I was introduced to it during my Yoga teacher training, the fifth limb of Patanjali’s Eight Limbs, the withdrawal of the senses...
Somewhere along the way, Yoga became something we do – 60 minutes on a mat, a few breaths, a few shapes. But Yoga was never meant to fit neatly into an hour of your day. It was meant to shape your day and your way of being. The asanas (poses) are only one small...
Svadhyaya is the sacred practice of self-study through spiritual teachings. More than simply reading spiritual texts, svadhyaya invites us to seek wisdom that reveals our deepest nature, and then to bring that wisdom fully into the way we live, think, and serve. As...
Spring marks a sacred transition—when the dark, dormant days of winter give way to light, warmth, and new growth. With the intention of making space for fresh perspective and new ways of blooming, we can consciously embrace the tradition of spring cleaning during this...
Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville will host an Immersive Yoga Sutras Workshop with Prashanti Carroll Ann Friedmann, E-RYT 500 from March 27 - 29, 2026. Discover the transformative power of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras in this intensive weekend immersion led by the author of...
At a satsang at the Integral Yoga Institute in Buenos Aires years ago, I spoke and led a discussion about three essential elements of spiritual life: discrimination, equanimity, and service. The reflections shared that day brought out the complementary nature of...
If you deny thoughts and emotions or try to get rid of them by suppressing them they will just reemerge. When negative thoughts come there are three things you can do. You can ignore them the same way that the blue sky ignores the gray clouds that appear in it. The...
“Possession are okay, as long as you possess them, and you don’t allow them to possess you.” ~Sri Swami Satchidananda It’s ironic how as youngsters all we want to do is play with our toys. As children, we must learn to share at home with our siblings and at school...
Join Carroll Ann (Prashanti) Friedmann, E-RYT 500, for this "Immersive Yoga Sutras Workshop" from March 7 – 9, 2025 at Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville in Buckingham, Virginia. Discover the transformative power of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras in this intensive weekend...
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....
YogaUOnline.com just posted an inspiring review of Integral Yoga Publications' latest release, Practicing the Yoga Sutras by Carroll Ann (Prashanti) Friedmann. Yoga U founder Sarah Bell shared that what was particularly helpful in her reading of the text, was how...
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...
In this episode of the Integral Yoga Podcast, Avi Gordon (director of the Integral Yoga Teachers Association) is in conversation with Carroll Ann (Prashanti) Friedmann. She shares her personal journey with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the sankalpa (vow or...
Who am I really? Who am I being? These are two queries and discoveries to be made while practicing svadhyaya (self-study)—Yoga’s fourth niyama, as well as the second practice in the Kriya Yoga of Sri Patanjali. Svadhyaya includes the study of sacred texts and the...