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...
Someone asked me the question: “I feel selfish and troubled all the time. Why is it so hard to feel peaceful all the time if it’s my true nature?” Well, that question cannot be answered with words but can be realized. How? By knowing the Knower, being the Be-er. Now,...
My dog Zoë raced out of the dark woods. Her body split the night like an arrow until she rammed into a maple tree. She fell silent. Then her cries began. I ran to her crumpled body, her eyes were open yet vacant. She wailed as if her soul had been flung away, leaving...
Q: In the Ramayana and Mahabharata, it’s clear that there was killing. The Gita itself takes place on a battlefield. How is this explained and justified in terms of ahimsa (non-violence)? Swami Satchidananda: In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna talks about non‑violence to...
As we enter a new year, we can make good use of this landmark in time to reflect on the way we make decisions and choices in our lives. Is there an overarching purpose behind the way we use our time and energy, or are we “going with the flow?” Are we acting on the...
If you immerse yourself in your Yoga practice, you’ll undoubtedly notice many of your fellow yogis consume a plant-based diet. You may see your relationship with food changing, too. Why do so many yogis give up eating animals? While the practice deeply connects to...
Appreciation, in a spiritual sense, is often talked about as a practice of cultivating happiness and joy in the good qualities of something, or of someone, or of taking joy in the happiness of others, of cherishing the wholesome. Appreciation is a lovely quality on...
I crunched through the leaves toward the trailhead. A chill wind chased the clouds from the turquoise face of the sky. I paused under the maple tree to chant Om before my morning walk. In the branches overhead, yellow leaves fluttered like prayer flags. One released...
In the early 1970s, I was in the dance department at the University of California, Berkeley, and right when I passed from my apartment to the campus, there was the Integral Yoga Institute. I went in there, long story short, to take a Yoga class. The postures were...
We all look for excitement, thinking that it is a plus. But what is a plus? A minus crossed. A pendulum won’t swing to the plus side and remain there. When it swings to one side, it automatically has to come back to the other. When you want excitement, and swing to...
My father would have been in a coffin when I was 16 years-old had he not noticed subtle changes in his breathing and the way that he felt while running on a treadmill at the gym. My father was an avid runner, and a wonderful example of one who takes care of their...
It has been easy for me to stay on the spiritual path for thirty-four years; but finding an attitude that sustains my joy and compassion is the challenge. A dogmatic seeker is dangerous. I could easily become rigid, controlling, or just an annoying know-it-all. It’s...
We should all remember that a main aim of Yoga practice is self-mastery. When we follow the Yoga precepts and practices this leads to more self-mastery—the body and mind become more relaxed and sattvic so we can more easily recognize and abide in our True Nature....
I looked over the damaged carrot patch. Bunnies had shorn the tops off; turning the frilly fronds into scant spikes. I sighed and wondered, Why do I bother? I was headed for trouble when I focused on “getting something” out of the garden. But this time the bunny...
In order to have a better world we must learn to think of the globe as a whole. Our world leaders need to be more selfless and sacrificing. Only by having a universal and spiritual vision can we bring positive change into the political field. A person who is really...
I don’t know about you, but the spirit of sacrifice and service has never come easy for me. In the early days of my spiritual journey, due to my self-absorption in “taking care of Number 1,” I used to cringe whenever Swami Satchidananda (Gurudev) talked about Karma...