Yoga is something that you live. If you want to be a Yogi you should be a Yogi always, not just while you are standing on your head. If you are a Yogi only when you stand on your head, then what are you when you walk on your feet? If you are a Yoga teacher, you are...
The Key to Loving Relationships
Love is a feeling. You cannot even put it in words. You will know what love is if you really want to know. Wanting to love itself is the beginning. And then if you want to love you should know how to love. Now, what is the meaning of love? It's not just...
Spiritual Partnership
God never does something without some good reason behind it. Why is it that God has given us two eyes when we can look at only one thing at a time? Have you ever tried to look in two directions at the same time, with both eyes? Try it. If the left eye wants to see...
Relationships: Staying in Balance
Radha and Gary Gopal Bello are Yoga teachers, seminar leaders and therapists. Gopal is the former director of the Integral Yoga Institute of Montreal. He has a Master’s Degree in Psychology and studied with Ron Kurtz (Hakomi Therapy). Radha and Gopal also spent 16...
Creating Conscious Relationships
A student of Swami Satchidananda (Gurudev) since 1979, Marilyn Graman is a psychotherapist and cofounder of Life Works. She is committed to supporting people on their psychospiritual journey. In this article, Marilyn writes about how connecting with one’s true Self is...
Four Locks, Four Keys: A Simple Approach to Relationships
When I first studied Raja Yoga, or Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, in my Yoga Teacher Training Class of 2001 at the Integral Yoga Institute, New York City, I clearly remember Swami Ramananda saying something like, “First your mind talked you into eating the ice cream, then...
Yoga and Business: Lessons of a Lifetime
In this article, Steven Shankara Bookoff, former president of Satchidananda Ashram and current chief financial officer of Organic India shares lessons he learned directly from Swami Satchidananda (Sri Gurudev) about business and finance done the yogic way. I’ll never...
Yoga & Your Work
Work in your livelihood as Karma Yoga—selfless service. Do all work for the joy of doing it. Charge nothing for your labors; accept whatever you are paid. Choose work for someone or something that is worthwhile. Offer your work, your energy to God, the All, everyone....
Prison Yoga
With the popularity of the Netflix series, Orange is the New Black, viewers are given a rare look at what it might be like inside a women’s prison. Recently, I found myself getting a real life look inside a women’s prison. Though I wouldn’t be wearing orange, I knew...
How I Built Up My Pranayama Practice
In this article, Swami Asokananda reflects upon the journey that took him from novice pranayama student to one of Integral Yoga’s master teachers. He shares the challenges and triumphs of having a regular pranayama practice, as well as the insights and wisdom he...
Breath: The Subtle Connection
Often in life, we overlook the value of the simple and familiar: a kind word, a helping hand, a timely smile. Such everyday gestures impart meaning and a sense of connectedness as we wend our way through time and space. Similarly, the breath is our constant companion,...
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...
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...
The Fulfillment of Yoga
An Interview with Nischala Devi | For over 35 years, Nischala Devi has been highly respected internationally for her innovative way of expressing Yoga and its subtle uses for spiritual growth and complete healing. In this interview, she reflects upon her Yoga journey...
The Path of Modern Yoga
By Elliott Goldberg | In his book, The Path of Modern Yoga, Elliott Goldberg shows how Yoga was transformed from a sacred practice into a health and fitness regime for middle-class Indians in the early 20th century and then gradually transformed over the...
Bliss: It’s Not Getting What you Want, It’s Wanting What You Get
The Saturday my husband, died was a perfect fall day. The sky was a clear, deep blue and it was warm enough for just a sweater. After coffee and our morning NPR, Tattwan and I decided to put off the normal weekend house cleaning and chores and instead walked into...