Learning to meditate can be overwhelming for some. The mind can feel less like a place of quiet refuge and more like Times Square. In this video, you can follow along with Yoga master Sri Swami Satchidananda's instructions (read by Saraswati Ishaya from the booklet,...
Question: I was raised as an atheist. Life would be so much easier if I had faith. In all my years of Yoga, I know I have heart, compassion and spirit, but I can’t connect with faith. Please offer me your guidance. Swami Satchidananda: Whether you know it or not, you...
Many of us think of joy as an experience we have when something special happens. We may plan specific activities, such as a vacation, some entertainment or dining out, that we think will bring us joy. This thinking is so prevalent in our culture that we don’t realize...
Question: If the Self is already realized and if it is already Divine, why do we need the experience of enlightenment to know this? Swami Satchidananda: Who said the Self is already realized and already Divine? Do you know positively? If you know this positively, you...
In this monthly series on the Yamas and Niyamas, Swami Karunananda offers wisdom and reflections on applying these foundational principles of Yoga in daily life. This month’s focus is on Tapas, austerity. Sutra 2.43: “By austerity, impurities of body and senses are...
Each year, since Integral Yoga International's 50th anniversary in 2016, we celebrate annual Integral Yoga Day on October 7th. This is the date the first Integral Yoga Institute was founded (New York, 1966). While we celebrate Integral Yoga Day worldwide, 2019 also...
Someone asked me the following: "Sometimes I see visions of departed souls. I don’t understand this. Can you explain it?” Yes, the mind can do anything. It creates images and can foresee things. The mental capacity for that is there. Recently, I read some articles...
Haris Harini Lender (Integral Yoga teacher, Camp Yogaville former director, Kidding Around Yoga founder) recently embarked on a trek to Mount Everest Base Camp. She’s sharing a travelogue of sorts and here’s an excerpt from it. Tomorrow begins my 9-day trek to Mount...
In the summer of 1969, I lay in a field in Franconia, New Hampshire as I looked up at the soft clouds in the sky, with a deep awareness that I felt a separation between myself and the clouds. The feeling was very real and must have reflected my deep yearning for...
"...and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden." —Joni Mitchell Talking About My Generation… 50 years. You get up every morning. What happens? A week goes by. A month goes by. A year goes by. You get up every morning for 18,274 days and 50 years have gone by....
Proper motivation—having the proper aim behind our ambitions—is very important. All our actions have a motive behind them, and that motive should be a selfless one. Without a motive, there is no action. When you want to do something, ask yourself why you want to do...
Woodstock 50 may be over, but Elliott Landy—the only official Festival photographer permitted on the stage—has a treasure trove of memories from 1969 that he recently shared with the TODAY show. In this delightful stroll down memory lane, Landy shares some stories...
A new feature has just been added to thegoldenpresent.org. On the first day of each month, you can now hear Sri Swami Satchidananda read that day's words of inspiration. Thegoldenpresent.org features the daily readings from Sri Swamiji's classic book of the same name:...
In this monthly series on the Yamas and Niyamas, senior Integral Yoga teachers offer wisdom and reflections on applying these foundational principles of Yoga in daily life from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. This month’s focus is on Santosha, contentment. FROM THE YOGA...
Meditation is something we should learn to practice, not just in formal meditation, but all the time. But, for our formal, sitting meditation practice, preparation is most important. Is there not a saying, “Well begun is half done?” We often don’t begin well. We don’t...
In the summer of 1969, I had just turned 24. My ex-husband, Chris (Yoga name, Mahesh) and I had been married for just over a year and we were living at Ananda Ashram in Monroe, NY. The guru in residence, at the time, was our yoga instructor, Swami Satchidananda. We...