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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...

Rethinking Spiritual Practice: Do We Walk the Inner or Outer Path?

Is the spiritual path an inner one? Do we have to leave the world behind to find ourselves? If not, how can we integrate our relationship with the world? Is there an outer path to freedom? I think it is time for us to rethink our relationship with what we are taught...

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Spiritual Practice: Never Give Up!

Recently I was asked the question, “What can I do when I find I am lacking the discipline to practice my disciplines?” Follow the spirit: The spirit vs. the mind—that means your own inner consciousness and your outer mind. There is always a tug of war between those...

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How to Develop Your Willpower

How to Develop Your Willpower

The best thing to do to succeed in your spiritual practices is to develop your willpower. That is because everything begins in the mind. The practices that we do in the name of Yoga are to help us become masters of our own minds. Your mind should be your instrument;...

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How to Be Happy Always

How to Be Happy Always

Yoga theory sometimes leaves us nowhere; it’s mostly intellectual. What the mind can understand is very little. So in the name of Yoga practice, we do something that can expand the mind and then, little by little, we understand things in a better way. We don’t want to...

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The Benefits of Silence

The Benefits of Silence

Those who are interested in making gold should be silent. There is even a saying, “Silence is golden.” In Sanskrit there is a proverb. Silence in Sanskrit is “mouna.” And the proverb goes, “Mouna kalakanasti.” Kalakam means: problems or quarrels. Nasti means: don’t...

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Q & A with Swami Satchidananda on Spiritual Energy

Q & A with Swami Satchidananda on Spiritual Energy

Question: I sometimes experience the rising of the sacred Kundalini, accompanied by a soft humming sound and a certain degree of bliss or peace. Why does this energy remain only briefly? Swami Satchidananda: It’s a beautiful question. I’m glad to know that you have...

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How to Practice Yoga Despite a Busy Lifestyle

How to Practice Yoga Despite a Busy Lifestyle

It’s not difficult to practice Yoga, even with a very busy lifestyle. What do you think your Yoga practice is? Doing some postures, sitting in meditation and that’s all? No, there is a yogic way of doing everything; not that this is Yoga and that is not Yoga. Even the...

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How to Succeed in Yoga: Practice

How to Succeed in Yoga: Practice

Yoga means to control the mind, to master the mind. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras begins by saying: Control of thoughts is Yoga—Yoga chitta vritti nirodhah (Sutra 1.2). But how is it to be done? Even the ideal disciple, Arjuna, says to Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita: “My...

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The Aim of Spiritual Practice

The Aim of Spiritual Practice

The aim of all spiritual practice is to know your real Self, to know the Knower. Spiritual practices are done, essentially, to help clean your mind so that you can realize your spiritual truth—to realize the divine in you. Only when you have a clean mind can you...

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Sadhana Chart: Why Keep One?

Sadhana Chart: Why Keep One?

Over more than three decades, Bhaktan Eberle has kept a sadhana chart—a daily log of his Yoga practice—that he sent to Sri Gurudev Swami Satchidananda every month. Bhaktan Bhaktan says, “The sadhana chart is the one practice that yields the most dramatic results for...

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