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Ecumenism
by Sri Swami Satchidananda

Ecumenism is Integral Yoga. Though we follow one teacher, we learn to respect all other teachers. The teachings may vary, but the central teaching is always the same - to know our True Self. That is the first and foremost goal. Once we know the Self,  then it is easy to know all other things.

The Best Comfort is Inside You
by Sri Swami Satchidananda

If you have a poor opinion about yourself certainly it will affect your heart, your mind, your personality. What you think you will ultimately become. If you think that you are a negative person, you don’t need any other negativity coming from anywhere else to make that true; you are making yourself negative, negating yourself.

Forgiveness
By Swami Karunananda

Forgiveness is a “win-win” approach to life. Jack Kornfield, a Buddhist meditation teacher, tells a story about a fourteen-year old boy who killed another teenager. The mother of the victim attended the trial. After the verdict was announced, she walked over to the boy and said, “I’m going to kill you.” Then the boy was taken away to spend three years in a juvenile facility.

Going Fast, Getting Nowhere
By Swami Karunananda

There is a Zen story about an avid seeker, who sat for meditation throughout the day, foregoing food or sleep. As time passed, his body weakened. The master advised him to slow down and take better care of himself, but the student persisted.

Healing is Divine
By Swami Karunananda

Sri Gurudev used to say that God laughs on two occasions. The first is when two neighbors erect a fence and declare, “This is mine, and that is yours.” The second time is when a patient recovers, and the doctor proudly proclaims, “I cured him.”

Dne Thought At a Time
By Swami Karunananda

On this tiny, fragile ball called Earth, we share a common journey. Every day, together, we spin through the vastness of space. Suspended amidst the stars, we are born, we grow, we strive. In everyone’s life, the pendulum swings between pleasure and pain, loss and gain, success and failure. Events don’t always unfold in the way we would like; life doesn’t always match our picture of how things should be. John Lennon of Beatles’ fame once wrote, “Life is what happens while we’re busy making other plans.”

Raja Yoga: Exit Strategy For Suffering
By Swami Karunananda

Everyone wants to be happy, but that happiness we seek is elusive. Our lives are spent seeking happiness through possessions, positions, relationships, attainments, even our addictions. And what do we find? Generally, we get a little happiness mixed with a lot of problems and pain.

Space, Time, and Unity
By Swami Karunananda

In bright red letters over the Grand Archway leading to LOTUS we boldly proclaim: Truth is One, paths are many. This is a variation of the famous saying from the Upanishads,“Ekam sat, vipraha bahudha vadanti,” which means: “Truth is one; seers express it in many ways.” Sri Gurudev used to say, “Hunger is one, foods are many.”

Creating the Compassionate Safe Container
by Amy Weintraub, MFA, ERYT-500, author of Yoga for Depression

While  leading  a  five-day  LifeForce  Yoga® retreat at a large conference center, I met a woman whom I shall call  Janet. A licensed  social  worker,  she  had  a  private counseling  practice  in  a  large  city.  Janet  was  tall  with  a broad-shouldered, athletic-looking body.  She had taken a Yoga teacher training program the year before, but was not currently  teaching.  Shame, she  said,  was  the  reason  she was  not  only  not  teaching,  but  also  no  longer practicing Yoga.  She said she’d felt humiliated by the teacher-trainer when she’d asked him to wear a special microphone device designed to amplify the sound for the hearing impaired and he’d  refused.    Her  mat  was  placed near  the  back  of  the room, so a great deal of the program content was lost to her.

The Paradox of Healing
by Jivana Heyman

In the spring of 1995, as I was training to become a yoga instructor, my close friend, Kurt, was in and out of the  hospital with various AIDS-related illnesses. During our visits, I would share my excitement about Yoga - particularly about Raja Yoga. Kurt had studied many spiritual traditions and was familiar with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. We would talk about each verse at length, with particular attention to how it could help Kurt deal with his illness.

Your Body Speaks Your Mind
by Deb Shapiro and Ed Shapiro  (Dharmavati and Mitra)

In Woody Allen’s movie, Annie Hall, his girlfriend Diane Keaton is leaving him and wants to know why he isn’t angry. “I don’t get angry,” Allen replies, “I grow a tumor instead.”