Matthew Welsh, JD, PhD, (founder of Spiritual Media Blog and his podcast of the same name) recently invited Carroll Ann (Prashanti) Friedmann to be a podcast guest and talk about her new book (Practicing the Yoga Sutras, from Integral Yoga Publications). The book...
In this short, self-directed, free online course, "Introduction to The Essential Teachings of Swami Satchidananda," you will be able to watch Swami Satchidananda sharing some of his core teachings in his fun, loving, and inspirational manner. He also reflects on how...
When asked to reflect upon his life, Swami Satchidananda once said, "It’s hard to summarize a long life in a few words. But I can just say I am fortunate, in a way, to be born in a family of pious parents. They were my first Gurus. They instilled faith in God in my...
The Cosmic Guru is the only Guru. All the rest is just comic. The real Guru is everywhere. Within, without. The Guru is above all the qualities, at the same time you see every kind of quality there. Sometimes the Guru is all sattvic, sometimes very rajasic, sometimes...
The small commuter airplane swayed as it began its descent toward rural Virginia. I gripped the armrest. The seatbelt chime dinged and the engines droned. I closed my eyes and felt the twenty-thousand feet below me open like a chasm. I put my earbuds in and raised the...
"God knows your breaking point. You simply don't know your own strength." –Swami Satchidananda How many times have you been a safe container for those you care about? What did it look like? What did it feel like? Challenging oneself to be disciplined or to attain a...
The secret of spiritual practice is not what you do but how you do—that is more important. Sometimes a newcomer who gets into spiritual practice will make a big list of resolutions, “I will practice half an hour every day in the morning, pranayama, three malas every...
Integral Yoga Media is please to offer the newly mastered audio recording “Swami Satchidananda Teaches the Meditation Ślokas.” These ślokas are part of the daily meditation sessions at Satchidananda Ashram Yogaville and Integral Yoga centers around the world. Integral...
Healing from addiction or any other unhealthy habit is a spiritual practice. It’s impossible simply to say, “Oh, I don't want to indulge in this or I have to get rid of that.” We cannot. The more we try to push it away and get rid of it, the more we wind up...
Huddled inside my heaviest winter coat at the edge of a pond, I watched as my coffee steam merged with misty clouds of my breath. At dawn the cranberry bog in coastal Massachusetts was an expanse of frozen sand and wiry tangles of russet vines; old snow scudded across...
This shloka is a Shanti mantra from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and Ishavasya Upanishad. This is an innocuous looking verse: one noun, two pronouns, three verbs and a participle for emphasis. Yet, someone once said: “Let all the Upanishads disappear from the face of the...
In the last ten years my work has been made much easier by the progress made in the fields of Neuroscience and Epigenetics. Following a great deal of scientific experimentation, significant evidence has materialized to show how the brain works and how meditation...
God or Infinite Consciousness is That through which our own egos move. Unfortunately, the ego tends to overlook the fact that its capacity to function is from that Source, and instead it comes up with the notion that I am doing everything by myself. But it would be a...
The beginning of a new year is a natural time to reflect on and re-envision our lives. The tradition of New Year’s resolutions can be life-changing or it can be a temporary way of fooling ourselves with lofty ideas that fade when reality hits. Clarifying our...
The goal of Yoga is to realize the Divinity within. This can be explained in different ways. A devotee will say, “I want to know God. I want to commune with God.” The jnani will say, “Tat Tvam Asi. I am That. I want to know this Truth—this Self or Cosmic...
We all need teachers in life; not everything can be learned from a book. According to Hindu tradition, there are four main teachers: Mata, Pita, Guru, Deva: Mother, Father, Guru and God. The mother is the baby’s first guru; she is everything to the baby: unconditional...