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 few times a year anxiety sends my mind into a death spiral. I wake in the middle of the night with my stomach clenched like an angry fist. Thoughts race from zero to catastrophe and I am convinced that social interactions will only result in total alienation. By the...
One fine spring morning I stood on the deck as the sun crested the trees. Tucked into the raised beds, cabbages, and leaf lettuce glittered with dew. As if on cue a Mourning Dove landed on the topmost barn gable. I half expected a butterfly to land on my shoulder and...
In any Sanskrit mantra, one of the letters will be a sound that is considered a “seed” sound or a bija. The various bijas each have a different effect on our bodies and minds, and even on plant life. Mantra Shastra, is the science of sound. In Yoga, we have the...
If we pay attention to the world news, I think we can agree that our world is in dire need of more mindfulness, justice, and compassion. On an individual level, a deeply- entrenched sense of separation—and the resulting insecurity—has given rise to so much mistrust...
As March 2022 begins, it feels like our world is in a state of upheaval. The seasons are changing and many places in the world are lifting COVID restrictions, trying to transition back to a more “normal” way of life. But the seasons and the pandemic are overshadowed...
Many of us come to meditation for the first time to still our mind. We recognize that the source of suffering has something to do with the way our minds work (or don’t work) and we believe that by sitting still and taming our mind we will become calm and peaceful. One...
In this Integral Yoga Podcast video, Avi Gordon (Integral Yoga Teachers Association director) talks with Jonathan Foust, MA, CSA. Foust is a guiding teacher with the Insight Meditation Community of Washington and a founder of the Meditation Teacher Training Institute...
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...
Sara Novak's article on Discover magazine's website was clearly written pre-pandemic. It turns out she (a writer for Discover, Discovery Health, Popular Science, among others) was writing about a visit to Satchidananda Ashram, what drew her there, and about the field...
The late Michael Stone understood that we all crave to forget about ourselves and to connect with something larger than the way we represent ourselves, yet, we constantly put obstacles in our own way. That’s why we need Yoga, and it’s also why we need to approach Yoga...
The Integral Yoga Virtual Studio is an online platform offering live Integral Yoga classes and events from around the world, every day. This short video offers a brief introduction to this wonderful platform developed by the Integral Yoga Teachers Association (IYTA)....
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...
In this short video from 2015, CBS This Morning interviewed pop artist icon Peter Max. This past week, Peter Max Studio sent out a promo for his beautiful artwork and they highlighted Max's relationship with Swami Satchidananda (Max's Guru) and the influence on his...
In this short video, Dr. Deepak Chopra (doctor, spiritual teacher and author) summarizes the teachings of the nondual traditions with this explanation of one's true essence-nature. He says, "The knowing secret is in the gap between every thought, every sensation,...
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!