Laughter and Yoga: Being Happy on Purpose
One of the key indicators of happiness is laughter. Normally, we think we need to wait for something to happen before happiness can occur or before we hit the happiness button, but, that’s not true! We have the power to go ahead and hit that button! I call this “spontaneous self-liberation”. WithLaugha Yoga we can take a direct route to happiness with laughter. Laughter is like the expressway to changing a bad moment into a good one. It’s hard to maintain unhappiness while we are laughing. Granted we can’t laugh 24 hours a day or we would never get anything done. Yet we can find a few moments throughout the day where we can have a little laugh for no reason whatsoever. Based on the idea that “drops make oceans”—one of Sri Swami Satchidananda‘s favorite sayings—we can have those drops of belly laughter anytime we want. No one stops us but ourselves. “Laughter is the best medicine no matter the illness.” -Sri Swami Satchidananda The Benefits of Laughter While laughter is enjoyed more...
Are You Living Yoga? Or Just Stretching?
Yoga is much more than leggings, expensive mats, and contorting your body into complicated shapes. Despite its increasing popularity, western Yoga culture still tends to exclude many aspects of this ancient science. Luckily, Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville is committed...
Vegan Potato Leek Soup Recipe
This classic Yogaville recipe is easy to make yet tastes like you really know your way around the kitchen. The entire family will enjoy this cozy and comforting soup. Ingredients 1 - 1.5 lbs of potatoes Olive oil 4 cloves minced garlic 3 cups chopped leeks...
More Recent Articles
Introduction to Hatha Yoga by Swami Satchidananda
As the Yoga asanas and yogic breathing are practiced, increasing the vitality of the body, there will follow a considerable decrease in harmful acts such as smoking and drinking.
Face Challenges Head On
We must all learn our life lessons through painful experiences that come to us.
Prayer by Swami Satchidananda
Then I learned to pray for the sake of prayer and not for anything else.
Spiritual Understanding for a Better World by Swami Satchidananda
My sincere wish and prayer is that one day we will all realize our essential oneness, enjoy our differences and live together as one universal family.
Reflections on Santosha and Gratitude
Santosha, translated simply as contentment, is not so easy to master because the habit of wanting and achieving is so deeply ingrained in us.
The Power of Intention & Thought by Swami Satchidananda & Swami Sivananda
Everything is created through the mind. It is absolutely free in creating a world for itself.
Physically Adjusting Asanas
Physically adjusting our students can either disturb or enhance their experience, depending on how it is done and how it is received.
What is Satchidananda? by Sri Swami Satchidananda
God is unlimited, infinite. Spirit has no name or form. But we are limited; our thinking is finite.
Royal Intentions
In the universe of Yoga, practitioners’ intentions can be grouped under one, all-encompassing umbrella: to experience the unbounded, unchanging peace and joy that is our own True Self.
Purifying Spiritual Gold by Sri Swami Satchidananda
Tapas also refers to self-discipline. Normally the mind is like a wild horse tied to a chariot.
Creating the Compassionate Safe Container
Spiritual practice, be it Yoga or prayer or chanting or meditation, should remind us of our wholeness, of who we really are—vessels of energy and love connected to the healing energy and love of the cosmos.
How to be Happy by Sri Swami Satchidananda
When we finally tire of searching for happiness outside, we sit quietly and analyze and realize that true and lasting happiness can never come from outside.