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Your Inner Happiness
“Happiness does not come from outside you. No one ever gives you happiness, but only reflects your own inner happiness. You have the strength, courage, and capacity to experience the peace and joy within and to share it with everyone. If you want to be happy, work for the happiness of all people everywhere.”
God bless you. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.” —Sri Swami Satchidananda
(photo: Yogaville, Virginia, 1982, with Bharati Shapero Winston)
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How to Keep the Mind from Losing its Peace
By Sri Swami Satchidananda
The basis of the mind, which you call the ego, has a tendency to want everything. I want this, I have to gain or own it; I want to do this or that. Wanting to possess is the nature of the ego. That’s why the little “i” always has a “mine” in it. You become really happy if you can say, “Oh, this is mine, this is also mine.” That’s why you have lots of things around you and you even take pride in showing your collections. “See, I collected this and I bought that somewhere else.” That is the ego. It wants to have everything for itself and to be able to say “all this is mine.” And because of that nature, and the nearness of the possession or the attitude, the mind takes the color or the form of the possession. Originally, the ego itself is as clear or as pure as a crystal. But because of that feeling that it should have everything, attachment arises. Imagine a pure crystal. If you bring a red rose close to it, immediately you see the crystal assuming the red color. Place a violet flower close to the crystal and the crystal appears violet, because of its nearness. The ego, by itself, is crystal clear; there is nothing wrong in that ego. MORE
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During a recent program in Yogaville, Joan Borysenko, a Harvard-trained cell biologist, licensed psychologist, and spiritual educator talked about her work in the field of health and healing. A pioneer in mind-body medicine and psychoneuroimmunology, she is the founder of Mind-Body Health Sciences and a New York Times best-selling author of sixteen books.
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As a follow-up to her article on prepping for a 108k run in Yogavile, Tracy Cooley shares the experience of actually undertaking and completing the run.
There are trail runs that rock your world and there are trail runs that change your life, my self-supported Yogaville 108k was both. I got to Yogaville on a Wednesday afternoon and changed in the campers bathhouse and took off down the maze of magical trails. Not even a half mile later I bonked my noggin on a tree that had fallen across the trail and never even saw it coming. In fairly short order, I started balling my eyes out thinking I was in way over my head and now my head wasn’t quite right after being knocked silly—no tribe, no pacers, no crew, and very little common sense. I asked Swami Satchidananda to be with me for the next 67 miles and felt a sense of peace come over me. I was in his home and knew that I would be okay. Shortly thereafter, I ran past a tree that was shivering. The leaves were rustling and the entire tree seemed to be moving, I could hear the leaves from a few hundred feet away as though it were alive. Other nearby trees were completely still. I took this as a sign that I wasn’t alone. I broke most of my rules in the early miles—my Yoga and meditation stops became extremely brief... MORE
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Can't get to the Light Of Truth Universal Shrine (LOTUS)? Want to get there but trying to convince some friends to join? Been there but maybe didn't get to see everything? Or, maybe you just would like to share your experience of LOTUS with friends and family. The beautiful 360-degree virtual tours are now available on the new LOTUS website. There are two tours: a custom tour created by the Bruce Malone Studio (featuring music by Radhika Miller) and a Google tour. Enjoy exploring this unique interfaith shrine dedicated to the light of truth within all faiths!
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As the fiftieth anniversary of the famed Woodstock Festival approaches, the organizers of the annual “Flower Power Cruise” reached out to the Integral Yoga Institute of New York to help re-create, on their April 2019 cruise, the inspiring Yoga vibes that Swami Satchidananda shared on the Woodstock stage in 1969. A floating music festival, now in its fourth sold-out year, the 2019 Flower Power Cruise cruise was the first to offer complimentary Yoga to everyone on board.
The cruise was on the Celebrity Infinity ship (named Valletta under the flag of Malta). The ship carried 2,100 guests and a crew of 1000. Between Hope Mell, Garuda Buss, and us (Karuna Kreps and Shankari Cichon), we brought two centuries worth of Integral Yoga practice and history to the cruise. We had taught all over the world, but never on a ship at sea. We set sail from Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday afternoon, passing Cuba and reaching St Maarten on Tuesday. Wednesday we headed to San Juan. Every day we taught Yoga classes in the morning and afternoon. We had the lovely aft top deck for our classes. While the ship felt steady underfoot, balancing poses were a major challenge. Sometimes the wind picked up or our angle to the sun made shade hard to find, but it was a great space... so open and freeing. By the end of the trip, even Nick, our sound tech guru, was doing poses during classes. MORE
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To commemorate the Woodstock Festival anniversary, the Integral Yoga teachers/staff (Garuda Buss, Joan Shankari Cichon, Karen Karuna Kreps, and Hope Mell) on board the 2019 Flower Power Cruise were invited to give a presentation about the history of Woodstock and how it was opened by Swami Satchidananda. The presentation featured stories from Woodstock, the early days of Integral Yoga, and two short films: "The World of Integral Yoga" and "The Woodstock Guru," both which can be seen on this video and also viewed separately via the links above.
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Rev. Jaganath, Integral Yoga Minister and Raja Yoga master teacher, has spent a lifetime delving into the deepest layers of meaning in Patanjali’s words within the Yoga Sutras. We continue with sutras: 2.6 to 2.8. Here, Patanjali elucidates further on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of the 5 klesas—causes of suffering.
Pleasure, in spiritual contexts, is understood as enjoyable experiences that are temporary. Pleasure, as nice as it is, should not be mistaken for true happiness which is an uncreated experience. We often substitute the words joy or bliss to differentiate this experience from happiness. Pleasure is called a created form of happiness because it requires the convergence of a desire with its object. Take away either of the factors needed to experience it and it falls apart, often becoming some form of dissatisfaction or suffering (duhkha). True happiness arises independent of external and mental circumstances. It is the light of the Self, shining unhindered on the mind – unobstructed by attachment and ignorance. It cannot be created; any external force also cannot destroy it. It is uncreated joy. It exists and persists in us as our True Nature. In Buddhism, anusayi means tendencies or passions that lay dormant, a fitting notion when considering that often the pain-bearing nature of attachments is not realized immediately, but only when the object of attachment is lost to us. MORE
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In mid-April, Rev. Vimala Pozzi, (Integral Yoga Center of Richmond), was invited to speak at the Institute of Contemporary Art (Richmond, Virginia). ICA was hosting an exhibit by artist Cauleen Smith, who had taken inspiration from Swamini Turiyasangitananda’s (Alice Coltrane) Sai Anantam Ashram, which served as a sanctuary for seekers of all faiths in the Santa Monica mountains from 1983-2017. Rev. Vimala was asked to speak about Swami Satchidananda and Swamini. She shared how, in 1970 Alice Coltrane recorded “Journey in Satchidananda,” which she said was inspired by her “association with someone who is near and dear to me. I am speaking of my own beloved spiritual preceptor, Swami Satchidananda. Swamiji is the first example I have seen in recent years of Universal Love… Anyone listening to this selection should try to envision himself floating on an ocean of Satchidanandaji’s love, which is literally carrying countless devotees across the vicissitudes and stormy blasts of life to the other shore…” Smith's exhibit, offered an ecstatic exploration across time and space, paying homage to revolutionary acts of resilience that are defined by self-determination, self-actualization, and self-empowerment. (photo: Swami Satchidananda & Alice Coltrane, 1970).
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Having ridden roughly 400 miles already, Sarah Murphy and her horses enjoyed a respite at Yogaville before continuing on their journey east, following the 600 mile path of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). Sarah is riding to raise awareness about the significant environmental threat posed by the pipeline to communities in West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. More on Sarah Murphy's journey here. More on Yogaville's stand against the ACP available here.
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Inspiring Meme of the Week
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