Explore Latest Posts

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...

The Essential Quality for Spiritual Growth

A few years ago, I read an article titled “Humility, The Virtue No One Wants.” It was a good title, I thought, because humility is maybe just a little too close to the word humiliation for comfort, a bit like shame, the sort of thing we think we’d like to get away...

Integral Yoga San Francisco Announces Ongoing Personal Retreat Offerings

Experience a profound rejuvenation of body, mind and spirit by immersing yourself in a personal retreat at Integral Yoga Institute. Relax and unwind at our urban Ashram, where you will find space for self-reflection and intentional self-care, in the heart of San...

The Secret of Spiritual Practice

The secret of spiritual practice is not what you do but how you do—that is more important. Sometimes a newcomer who gets into spiritual practice will make a big list of resolutions, “I will practice half an hour every day in the morning, pranayama, three malas every...

A Yogic Approach to Spring Cleaning

In North America, the Spring season will soon be behind us giving way to the Summer Solstice in June. Spring has long been a time of transition, when the dark and barren days of winter give way to light, warmth and new growth. Before summer is upon us, this month’s...

Working with Self-Judgment

In this episode, host Avi Gordon (director of the Integral Yoga Teachers Association) and his guest, Swami Asokananda, talk about how each works with self-judgment, resistances to daily sadhana (spiritual practice), pratipaksha bhavana, and other topics regarding...

Explore Sadhana Videos

More Articles

The Art of Sleeping like a Yogi

The Art of Sleeping like a Yogi

For a yogi, sleep is a sacred moment. Yogic deep sleep has no dreams. Time condenses, requiring shorter times of needed sleep. Upon awakening from a yogic sleep, we should feel a brand new moment filled with optimism, a supercharged mind, a healed body, and each...

read more
Living a Healthy Life

Living a Healthy Life

Once, I was driving from one town to another in the region of Shillong, which is in the northeastern part of India. At that time, Shillong had recently won its independence. The politicians told the people that everyone was now free. Some of the country people felt...

read more
Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times

Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times

The truth is, when the world gets chaotic and confounding, we need spiritual practice more than ever. That’s when our souls need sustenance. That’s when we need to recharge and ground ourselves to take on the challenge. Phil Goldberg’s new book, Spiritual Practice for...

read more
Enchanted Malas: Making Sacred Connections

Enchanted Malas: Making Sacred Connections

In this article, Yoga teacher and sacred jewelry creator India Terry shares the connection between the Earth’s natural cycles and mala beads. Terry says that malas are actually  wonderful tools to focus the mind and to connect us with the energies of these cycles. We...

read more
Spiritual Introspection

Spiritual Introspection

Mother Nature, in the role of a stern mother, has sent us to our rooms! The government may call it “shelter in place,” but from another angle you can see that we are being asked to quit running around and do some serious thinking: How are we treating Mother Earth? How...

read more
The Most Important Goal in Life

The Most Important Goal in Life

Your real partner is your soul. You are married to your soul, your spirit, or the God within. When you really have that spiritual awakening, your recognize that your first responsibility is to yourself—to know your Self. Everything and everybody is there to help you...

read more
Finding the Joy in Self-Discipline

Finding the Joy in Self-Discipline

Question: Why do Yoga practices appear as disciplines when they are the source of joy? Yoga practices don’t appear as discipline—they are discipline. And who said that a disciplined life is an unhappy life? This seems to imply that discipline doesn’t make us joyful....

read more
Bringing Our Intentions to Life

Bringing Our Intentions to Life

We’ve all probably experienced times when we felt bounced around by too many stressors and we struggled just to keep our balance. In stressful times, we may be happy just to make it through the day, have something nice to eat, and a little entertainment to relax with....

read more