In this talk hosted by the Integral Yoga Institute of New Jersey, Integral Yoga master teacher and senior monastic Swami Karunananda explains the benefits of the practice of pranayama (yogic breathing techniques). She also shares the instructions she received from her...
What It Really Means to “Practice” The Yoga Sutras
In this episode of the Integral Yoga Podcast, Avi Gordon (director of the Integral Yoga Teachers Association) is in conversation with Carroll Ann (Prashanti) Friedmann. She shares her personal journey with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the sankalpa (vow or...
Thanks, Little Buddy: How My Dog Taught Me Yoga
My dog Ranger’s rear leg kicked then he exhaled his final breath. I smoothed his tan and black muzzle for the last time. Bone cancer had arrived with terrifying swiftness. A sudden lameness had revealed the insidious way the cancer had secretly been eating his bones....
Living a Yoga Life
What is Yoga? In simple words: to remain with ease and peace. You might wonder what that ease is. I am talking about that ease, which you disturbed and then called yourself dis‑eased. Even to become a diseased person you should have had ease before, is it not so? If...
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...
How Pranayama Works
The word pranayama is not a single word but rather a combination of two Sanskrit words: prana and ayama. Prana could be translated as vital energy or the cosmic energy that causes any kind of movement. Even the movement of the electrons around the nucleus within an...
The Connection Between Yoga and the Transitional Changes Between Seasons
Yoga blesses you with a more intimate understanding of your body and how it works in conjunction with your mind to create this experience called life. However, life is much more than your individual experience. Through practice, you can remind yourself of your...
The Healing Power of Pranayama
Over ten years ago, a yogi friend went hiking up a steep mountain. She was wearing good shoes and enjoying the challenge, as well as the stunning view upon reaching the peak. Soon after she began her descent, she slipped and badly twisted her ankle. Immediately, she...
Learning How or Whether to Share About My Yoga Practice
My discovery of Yoga and meditation when I was 18 and a college freshman began to change me from an angry and troubled teenager who hated Phys Ed. to a balanced adult comfortable in my body. It took years, of course, for the practices to take hold. But I stayed with...
Inside the Practice of Yoga Nidra
Many years ago, I took other types of Yoga but also just regular Integral Yoga Hatha classes. And I noticed whenever I left an Integral Yoga class, I just felt so incredible. Everything was moving in slow motion, I was floating and everything was totally clear. I was...
The Magic Mat
As someone who enjoys crafting, the advertisement for the “Original Magic Mat” (a die-cutting crafting aid), suddenly took on an entirely new meaning after experiencing Yoga teacher training. I’ve seen this ad before, but I’ve never thought about anything more than...
Carrying Inner Peace Out into the World
It is a tradition in Integral Yoga that after daily meditation we repeat Shanti mantras, or peace prayers. These prayers are a beautiful way to end one’s formal meditation sitting and are a spiritual support in that they are affirmations of peace. The Yoga tradition...
A Short Guided Meditation/Relaxation Experience
Integral Yoga teacher Zac Parker leads a short meditative and relaxing experience that you can do to begin or end your day. It's also the perfect length to take a moment out of a stressful day or utilize during a work break, to drop into essence-nature and the peace...
Spiritual Alchemy
What does it mean when a scripture or spiritual teacher tells us to “mentally keep quiet?” It means to raise above your mind. When I did that, in that moment, I didn’t see all the differences, all the separateness. I saw only the unity in all of the diversity—the...
How Meditation Can Help in Times of Loss and Heartbreak
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...
A Spiritual Love Story
Like thousands before me, I fell for her on first encounter. Dressed in the orange clothing of an Integral Yoga sannyasin (monk), she was also wrapped in a palpable aura of no-nonsense compassion and something else I would soon identify: humor. She walked to where I...