By the time Swami Satchidananda arrived in New York in 1966, he was no newcomer to the work of transformation. He had already spent more than a decade in Sri Lanka, where he transformed the lives of all who came within his orbit — opening Divine Life Society branches...
In the previous installment of the Spiritual Odyssey series, we paused after Ramaswamy’s time at Sri Ramanasramam to explore another voice from the Tamil spiritual world that had helped form him: the beloved poet-sage Avvaiyar. Before following Ramaswamy on his...
The Recipe Swami Satchidananda once explained Raja Yoga with a recipe. In New York in September 1966, in his first conversation with a young student named Sadasivam Greenstone, he asked whether Sadasivam could cook. You get a recipe from a trusted source, Sadasivam...
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...
This month, in place of our regular installment of “Embarking on a Spiritual Odyssey,” we turn to the spiritual lineage that shaped Sri Swami Satchidananda (Sri Gurudev) before he arrived in America in July 1966. As we celebrate Guru Poornima, we also mark 60 years...
Nalanie Chellaram, founder of Service in Satchidananda and one of Integral Yoga's master teachers, asks the question: What do you fear - Death? Sickness? Having no money? In this, the first in a video series, Nalanie discusses some of the different fears we may have,...
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...
Renounce everything that would disturb your peace. Then, serve others by helping them find that same peace. Whatever be your position in life, learn to be a renunciate. You don't need to leave things and go away from where you are. A truly renounced, dedicated person...
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...
Many sincere seekers encounter both Yoga and nonduality and wonder: Are these the same? Are they different? Does one contradict the other? At first glance, they can seem to point in opposite directions. Yoga speaks of discipline, purification, practice, and gradual...
Many people come to meditation believing that a settled mind is the sign of a “good” practice. When restlessness appears instead—wandering thoughts, resistance, agitation—it can feel like failure. Over time, I’ve come to see this differently. A restless mind is not a...
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...
Veganism and the Yamas: A Yogic Call to Compassion Yoga is a path of transformation—one that extends far beyond the mat. It is a way of living that aligns our thoughts, words, and actions with our highest ideals. The eight limbs of Raja Yoga, as outlined by Patanjali,...
While Sri Patanjali and other classical Yoga sources have known this for several thousand years, recent medical research highlights the profound connection between breath, body, and mind, emphasizing breathwork as a tool for emotional regulation and stress relief....