“All the teachings are simple, and the practices too. Nothing here is very difficult. The only difficult task is learning to transform old habits into better ones—ones that support your inner peace, wellbeing and spiritual growth.”
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 problematic when they develop into incessant cravings, which can lead to addictions. Each time a craving is fulfilled, it is renewed and the mind will want more and more. MORE
Some readers may remember this 2008 hit by Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter k.d. lang, who is a longtime Buddhist. The song highlights the teachings in Swami Satchidananda's article in this issue on "Constant Cravings" and working skillfully with this most "human condition" and challenge on the spiritual path to liberation. As she sings: "Maybe a great magnet pulls all souls to what's true or maybe it is life itself feeds wisdom to its youth..."
Last Halloween, one of the teachers here at OM Yoga Center began his evening class by inviting the students to request the Yoga poses they found scary. He was not surprised by fancy suggestions such as bending backward to touch the head to the floor, handstands, five-minute headstands and, of course, various pretzels of the leg-behind-the-neck category. But the entire class was a little surprised when one of the students requested meditation, saying, “That’s the most scary part of Yoga.” MORE
I wondered if I could look to Western neuroscience for clues on how, by working directly with the nervous system, we could pave a pathway to samadhi. I had an inkling through my studies of the autonomic nervous system—and in particular of homeostasis (the body’s innate ability to restore itself to balance)—that deliberate practices that restrained autonomic, physiological processes were a starting place for exploring how we could override habitual, unconscious responses to the world... MORE
In this video from 2020, Integral Yoga master teacher and center director, Nalanie Chellaram talks about how Yoga and meditation can help us to overcome the fears and anxieties we deal with in our daily lives and also the ones that have arisen during the pandemic.
In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, ahimsa stands as the foundational yama upon which all the other yamas and niyamas, and indeed, the other six limbs of Yoga rest. The great 5th century sage Vyasa, the first and primary commentator on the Yoga Sutras, defines ahimsa as not injuring any living creature anywhere at any time. A later interpreter enhanced it to include non-harming of trees. Highly observant Jains go so far as to wear gauze over the face, strain water, refrain from eating root vegetables... MORE
Diwali, also known as Deepavali, begins November 4th and is a major festival celebrated over five days in many parts of India by people of different faiths including many Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Muslims and some Buddhists. It is sometimes referred to as “the festival of lights.” The Hindu American Foundation has a free Diwali Toolkit available for download. The toolkit is constructed as a way to learn more about Diwali in an interactive and enjoyable way, and can be used by educators and parents alike!
Join Yoga teacher and author Saeeda Hafiz on November 6th online or in-person. She will discuss how writing her book, The Healing: One Woman’s Journey from Poverty to Inner Riches, was a type of svadhyaya (Self-study) the fourth niyama. She will invite participants to consider the practice of svadhyaya through an act of creating. This satsang is hosted by the Integral Yoga Institute of San Francisco and offers an opportunity to come together to share spiritual teachings. More info here.
