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...
There is a beautiful saying in one of the Hindu scriptures that says: “The body comes first. Before you begin to do anything, whatever your action is going to be, you need the body to do it.” The body is really and truly your buddy. People who want to be well and do...
In Part 5 of this series, we went over the first verse of the first chapter. I’d like to skip ahead now to the twentieth verse of the first chapter where Arjuna says to Sri Krishna: “Place my chariot in the middle of the two armies, O Krishna, so that I may behold...
There is nothing more powerful than the human mind. The mind has a tremendous capacity, so it can be trained to do anything. We can see this in the mental accomplishments or siddhis. If your thought force is strong enough, just by simply looking at an ordinary piece...
Join the Integral Yoga Institute of San Francisco for a weekend of guided practice to rest the body and mind and to find inner sanctuary by breaking away from the daily patterns that no longer serve us. In the spacious silence, we can strengthen our connection to...
The most selfless person is the most selfish one because they don’t want to disturb their peace. In the beginning of your Yoga practice, you try to stay away from all the situations that would interfere with your goal. There is some selfishness in that. But by being...
Be Here Now remains a spiritual classic for the millions who have read it and will continue to read it. Published in 1971, Be Here Now was written by Ram Dass and the 50th anniversary of the book is being celebrated in 2021. In this article, writer/editor Doug Toft...
Cravings for pleasure are never ending. Every time you try to fulfill a craving, it’s like adding more gasoline to a fire that is already burning. We can’t eliminate desires completely and we don’t need to. Desires naturally arise in the mind. They only become...
In this conversation, Avi Gordon (director of the Integral Yoga Teachers Association) talks with Francesca Cervero—a full-time Yoga teacher since 2005—about her approach to practicing and teaching Yoga. Francesca's teaching is inspired by her foundational training...