Yoga understands the brilliant function of pain. One difference between Yoga and Western medicine is the perspective on pain and suffering. In the hospital, pain is the adversary, and the treatments are there to “kill” it. They often prescribe “pain killers”...
Reflections on Aging and Yoga
It was 1968 and I was in my 20s in New York City. I started practicing Yoga at the Integral Yoga Institute. I am now in my 70s, it is 2020, and I live in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I am still practicing Yoga. I’m sure you can do the math. Since my 20s, I have been...
Anxiety Buster & Hatha Teaching of the Month
Here we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and anxiety is through the roof. We’re surrounded by it in the media and in family and friends. It’s hard not to pick it up. And if we are anxious, our kids will pick it up too. Luckily, Yoga can help us understand...
Yoga Brings Us Back to Our Nature
We all want to become healthy, both mentally and physically, but somehow there are a lot of toxins in our bodies and minds. The more we clean the mind, the more we bring out the true light within. I can compare what happens in the oil industry to what happens within...
Keeping Our Balance
Relax, recharge, and stay centered with this multilevel Hatha Yoga class offered by Swami Ramananda (filmed at the Integral Yoga Institute of San Francisco). Integral Yoga is a complete system developed by Swami Satchidananda to address all levels of the individual,...
Yogic Deep Breathing
Many health care providers have addressed the importance of keeping the lungs healthy, especially during the pandemic. The classical practice of deergha swasam (deep, 3 part-breathing) is an ideal practice for its health—body/mind—and spiritual benefits. This...
Mother: The First Guru
The mother is everyone’s first Guru, or teacher. The universe itself is the feminine aspect and all mothers are expressions of the Goddess energy. Mothers have the great responsibility and joyful prospect of nurturing and raising beautiful souls. This is one of the...
A Love Letter to Yoga Studios
Dear Yoga Studio, How are you? Are you cold? Are you lonely? Is your fear of abandonment kicking in? I’m writing to see how you, the place that so many of us call our second home, are doing in these strange times. So often, we frequent you as a refuge from our usual...
Guided Deep Relaxation to Help You Sleep
These are stressful times. You may be one of the many who feel stressed and tired but find it hard to sleep. This short Integral Yoga Guided Relaxation, with Integral Yoga senior teacher Nalanie Chellaram, is designed to help you relax, fall asleep, and rest well....
Hatha in a Hurry!
Integral Yoga teacher Bhuvaneswari Pipitone was inspired to share how asanas can be made more accessible (even in the kitchen & wearing jeans!). "I needed a gentle practice and it needed to be short," she noted. You can also use a chair or anything available in...
Integral Yoga Hatha Explained by Its Founde
In the mid-1980s, Swami Satchidananda was interviewed by Meenakshi Angel Honig, one of his students, in Santa Barbara, California. Meenakshi asks him a series of questions about Integral Yoga and the practices of Integral Yoga, including Hatha, pranayama, and...
Meditation in Action
Continuous meditation is meditation in daily life. It reminds me of the well-known tea ceremony in Japan. It’s a way of welcoming a guest into your home. And when the guest comes, you just give them a cup of tea, which we normally do, but in Japan, giving a cup of tea...
The Real Meaning of Spiritual Living
Leading a spiritual life and experiencing God, at all times, is nothing supernatural. It’s just an ordinary simple thing. You don’t have to fly in the air, swallow nitric acid, or sleep on a bed of nails. I mean, you don’t have to do anything extraordinary. Physical...
Why Do We Forget Who We Really Are?
Recently, someone asked a question: “If peace and unconditional love are our natural state, why is it that we have forgotten? We have forgotten because we’ve been given the free will to forget. You are free to choose either way. Peace is our nature no doubt, but we...
What Spiritual Science Reveals about Spiritual Practice
The ancient spiritual scientists used the instrument of their minds to perceive what the modern scientists try to prove through outer, more gross instruments. The modern scientists only go to a certain limit because they don’t—or at least haven’t—yet started to...
How to Develop Your Willpower
The best thing to do to succeed in your spiritual practices is to develop your willpower. That is because everything begins in the mind. The practices that we do in the name of Yoga are to help us become masters of our own minds. Your mind should be your instrument;...