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“Be Free”
“If you analyze them, ego-centered desires will go away. Keep on analyzing by asking yourself how long you can satisfy the ego. It always demands more and more. Where is the end? And meanwhile, you must constantly be alert, watching for tension and anxiety, because the ego always brings more and more problems. So, if you just ignore it and lead a simple, childlike life, you won’t have to worry about the ego. You’ll be free.
“God bless you. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.” —Sri Swami Satchidananda
(Photo: Swami Satchidananda with Chaand Hemandas, Hong Kong, late 1980s)
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Question: Because I had a difficult childhood, my therapist tells me I have to nurture myself to become whole and balanced. You teach that renunciation is the key to peace. Is there a conflict between self-nurturing and renunciation? Is there a way to reconcile these two?
Swami Satchidananda: First, nurture yourself. Nurturing yourself to become whole and balanced has to do with the condition of your mind. Your mind should be well-developed and it should learn to balance itself. That’s what Yoga is all about. What are you balancing? You have to balance the pleasure and the pain, profit and loss, praise and blame. The entire nature is filled with these dualities. You have to learn to balance them. If somebody always praises you, then you may be happy. Suppose somebody says something nasty about you, then you must accept that also. If not, you are not balanced. The mind has to be trained in this way. That’s what nurturing the mind means, and that is Yoga. Once the mind is balanced, you don’t even have to renounce anything. Everything is already renounced. MORE
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The Very Rev. James Parks Morton, who in 25 years as dean of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in NYC transformed it from a religious backwater into a vibrant center for the arts, the homeless, circus performers, household pets, endangered animals and interfaith engagement, died at the age of 89, at his home. Dean Morton was also the founder of the Interfaith Center of New York (ICNY). In 1985, Swami Satchidananda and Dean Morton first met and then became close friends and interfaith partners, participating in numerous programs together, including interfaith services led by Sri Swamiji at the Cathedral. Dean Morton opened a homeless shelter on the cathedral grounds and on the cultural side, he founded music and dance programs, turning the cathedral into a cultural destination. Paul Winter Consort began offering its annual winter Solstice Celebration during the Morton era; it just celebrated its 40th annual concert in December. In celebration of Swami Satchidananda's 100 birth centennial, Integral Yoga hosted the world's first "Interfaith Kirtan for World Peace," at the cathedral and ICNY honored him posthumously with the James P. Morton Award as an interfaith visionary. Read a loving tribute by Dean Morton to Swami Satchidananda here.
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Born and raised in Germany, author, activist, writer, animal lover and earth advocate Claudia Stauber now lives in a log cabin in Vermont. She hosts "Cabin Talk"—a program on a wide range of subjects—from her cabin. In this video, Claudia and Integral Yoga teacher and center head, Nalanie Chellaram have a conversation on a variety of topics, especially focusing on new beginnings for a new year in 2020.
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In this monthly series on the Yamas and Niyamas, Swami Karunananda offers wisdom and reflections on applying these foundational principles of Yoga in daily life. This month’s focus is on Tapas, austerity. Sutra 2.43: “By austerity, impurities of body and senses are destroyed and occult powers gained.” When working with Tapas, reflect on the following:
1. Pain is unavoidable; suffering is optional.
2. Swami Satchidananda used to say: “Adversities are blessings in disguise.” Have you found that to be true in your own life?
3. Are there any austerities you could practice (of body, speech or mind) to help purify and strengthen yourself?
4. Sri Patanjali highlights the last three precepts of niyama: tapas, svadhyaya and Ishvara pranidhana (austerity, study, and devotion/surrender to the Divine) and places them together as Kriya Yoga (the Yoga of Practice) in the very first sutra in the second chapter, which is devoted to sadhana. Why do you think those three precepts are regarded as so important and given this prominence? MORE
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When I first began to explore pranayama and breathing for health, I delved more deeply into the research for what was to become my new book: Restoring Prana: A Therapeutic Guide to Pranayama and Healing Through the Breath, for Yoga Therapists, Yoga Teachers and Healthcare Practitioners. I realized that while breathing is the means—restoring prana is the ultimate intention. In other words, the less we breathe, the more vital and alive we feel! Prana is the animating force that supports and sustains us—akin to the concept of qi in Chinese Medicine. Cultivating a rich reservoir of prana is the essential goal of Yoga practice and pranayama the primary tool to actualize it. It is the containment of prana that enables our vitality to thrive. This requires us to train ourselves to need less breath—not more. Restoring Prana articulates a step-by-step yogic process for achieving physical health and mental stability through breath re-education. Validated by the science of respiratory physiology, the text uniquely merges the wisdom of the ancient yogis, with modern day therapies, like the Buteyko Method and Intermittent Hypoxic Therapy. MORE
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How much do you think about the TP you use on a daily basis? If you are like most, probably not much! But, maybe you should? Today, there are companies offering an alternative to traditional TP: TP made from recycled paper or bamboo. The number of trees and chemicals going into TP is astonishing and this article gives a good overview of the environmental impact. In this video, a reviewer demos how one company is changing the game. Then there's Grove Collaborative, a company that offers Seedling, which is their brand of bamboo TP. Bamboo is ready for harvesting in as little as 3 months while trees take 20+ years, bamboo absorbs 5x as much CO2 as trees, every roll sold goes toward reforestation efforts in the U.S. As we face the increasing impact of the climate crisis, maybe give TP alternatives a go!
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Graceful Exit: A Special Event with Andrew Holecek at Yogaville
Andrew Holecek, considered one of the foremost American teachers when it comes to making the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the bardos, meditation, lucid dreaming and Dream Yoga practices accessible, will present a 4-day workshop in Yogaville for the first time. This is a great opportunity to learn from an expert, during this special program, which takes place Labor Day weekend (Sept. 4–7), and is expected to fill quickly—so we are letting our readers know as early as possible. In this program, participants will be guided through rich teachings on death and dying from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. For anyone interested in learning how to prepare for death, both spiritually and practically, for themselves or to help someone else who is dying. Experience talks, guided meditations, videos, and discussion groups to learn how by acknowledging and preparing for death now, we will find ourselves living more fully and fearlessly. The journey through the bardos is a journey into our mind, so by exploring the bardos we are exploring ourselves. They also apply to any moment that ends—which means these teachings apply directly to daily life. More program info here.
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Good news! The Federal District Court denied a permit for the huge compressor station proposed to be built 5 miles from Yogaville, and in the heart of an historic African-American community originally founded by freed slaves. The court cited the research done by Rev. Dr. Lakshmi Fjord (Yogaville founding member), which painstakingly provided details of economic and ecological discrimination in the choice of this site. The pipeline corporation may appeal this ruling, but it's still very encouraging after a 5-year struggle in which Yogaville Environmental Solutions took a very active role, as well as our incredible advocates, Swami Dayananda, Mindy Zoltnick, Jeevakan Abbate, Chad Oba, Dhivya Berthoud (in collaboration with Friends of Buckingham), Kenda Hanuman, among others. We applaud their tenacity and dedication. Please continue to keep this advocacy in your prayers so we may achieve a final victory over the compressor station/Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. Thank you. (Report: Swami Vidyananda; photo by Jeff Ananda Kamen of Al Gore speaking at Union Hill Baptist Church in Buckingham, while Swami Dayananda and other clergy applaud.)
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Inspiring Meme of the Week
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