My time on the mat began with a few sporadic classes to balance out a new fitness regime. I was in my early thirties and began noticing my high metabolism was not all I could rely on to stay healthy. Group classes motivated me to go to the gym, and I mixed up my...
The howl of a nor’easter blew against my house and rattled the windows. A rifle-like crack, roaring whoosh, and an earth-shaking thud shocked me fully awake. I assumed another tree had fallen. Finally, night gave way to grey dawn and I huddled around my coffee mug in...
If we pay attention to the world news, I think we can agree that our world is in dire need of more mindfulness, justice, and compassion. On an individual level, a deeply- entrenched sense of separation—and the resulting insecurity—has given rise to so much mistrust...
To understand a jivanmukta you have to become a jivanmukta. Jivanmukta means one who is alive and liberated. There is still karma but probably not their own karma. They perform actions for the sake of others. That’s also a karma. They are liberated souls, but not...
Integral Yoga International just announced the launch of this new project and website. The website offers resources and the project also consists of a series of monthly workshops led by senior Integral Yoga teachers with expertise in various areas relating to...
Swami Karunananda, one of Integral Yoga's master teachers, answered questions during a recent Q&A session on the theme of how to keep one's inner compass on the balance point amid so many challenges in our world. Her sage wisdom and practical advice has provided a...
The path was obscured with pine trees that bowed under heavy snow and ice. We could push forward and risk damaging them, or we could turn back. For the past two days a blizzard had clenched Three Dog Farm in an icy fist. My dog, Ranger, and I had headed out to take...
Retaining what we’ve learned about the yamas, we now train our attention on the niyamas which occur in sutra 2.32. When prefixed to a noun “ni” can be a negation. It also means “down, back, in, into, within.” Thus, niyama is traditionally rendered “observances”...
Many of us live in a culture that resists a quiet inward orientation. Our senses are constantly lured outward with flashy images, sound bites and all manner of entertainment, expressly designed to capture and keep our attention. It’s intoxicating and another example...
God created this world with the good intention of making all living beings lead a happy and peaceful life. All living beings seem to have the same intention. We don’t see any living being who doesn’t want to be happy. People work hard to have a long life of good...
In this podcast, Integral Yoga Master teacher, Nalanie Chellaram and her son Shaman (senior director of advisory services for a leading hotel & commercial real estate firm) are interviewed by the Business Innovation Leadership Forum on balancing life, spirituality...
Have you ever seen your own face? No. What you see in a mirror is not your face. It’s a reflection. If, to your great surprise, your face looks horrible and distorted in the mirror, do you jump up and run to the hospital? No, you get another mirror. You know that the...
As March 2022 begins, it feels like our world is in a state of upheaval. The seasons are changing and many places in the world are lifting COVID restrictions, trying to transition back to a more “normal” way of life. But the seasons and the pandemic are overshadowed...
What do you want to create? If your goal is to be useful to humanity, then it’s a creative goal. In fact, simply by thinking, we’re always creating something. But, our creation, our goal, should be useful to people. With that type of goal, you can do anything you...
Here is my radical proposition: All attempts at growth motivated by disguised self-hatred ultimately fail, and often cause harm. Being “good enough” is only a thought, a mental construct. Nobody can be “good enough,” because that’s just a thought. If we imagine some...
In this column, Dale Ann Gray offers reflections on the yamas and niyamas of the Yoga Sutras, incorporating insights from classical Nondual Yoga. With the yama of asteya, we arrive at Patanjali’s second use of a negative prefix in the yamas. The definition indicates...