General Articles 
Is kundalini yoga all about tapping into our spiritual energy?
8 July, 2019 @ 6:00 pm
Again practice, begin with subtle body work through asanas, pranayama, and through pratyahara, leading to samyama you will slowly develop the awareness and skill of the subtle levels of consciousness known as "kundalini-rising."
How much time and how many lives do we go through “neti, neti”?
21 June, 2019 @ 6:07 pm
If you live a mindful life, depending on the density of your karmic accumulation, you can substantially cleanse the mindfield in one lifetime. If you observe your life from buddhi, which is causally beyond ahamkara, this breaks the self-identification with samskaras and keeps the ego in its minimal role.
Japa, Silence and Atma-tattva-avalokanam, part 3
21 June, 2019 @ 12:32 pm
I remember when I was for a few years on the board of The Meditation Center in Minneapolis. One of the things that is important to remember about Swami Veda’s organizations is that they always ran rough. Always. No such thing as a smoothly running organization with Swami Veda. There is always lots of back and forth and contention about stuff. Being a well-trained therapist for a long time and an organisational consultant, I ran around trying to fix it. Then one day I was sitting and watching some kind of conflict go on between two people and the thought suddenly came in my mind, “Stoma, it is not supposed to get fixed. It is supposed to be this way. This is how he facilitates emotional purification in people.” And if there wasn’t enough rough running going on, he would create it! He’d give a job to somebody and then two minutes later, after that person had left, he’d call in somebody else and give him the same job. And he usually picked two people who didn’t like each other. He’d set up a big conflict about it.
2019 Spiritual Festival
8 June, 2019 @ 5:09 pm
“We are all here for a purpose; it is an on-going spiritual process. We are all here for spiritual liberation and serving that mission. For that purpose we are purifying ourselves of our pride and ego. For these reasons we train ourselves in constant self-observation: to see oneself, to hear oneself to develop this internal dialogue. I have used one criterion for all my thoughts, my words, and my actions: ‘Is this conducive to spiritual liberation?'"– Swami Veda
2019 Breath and Pranayama Intensive Workshop
28 May, 2019 @ 3:39 pm
This is a chance to come and immerse yourself in an intensive practice of Pranayama. This retreat will include the foundations and deepening of the subtleties of breathing and pranayama practices, as they are taught in the Himalayan Tradition. You will learn and practice different techniques; diaphragmatic breathing, complete breath, kapalabati, bhastrika, brahmari, ujjayi and nadi shodhanam in a systematic manner, at beginning and more advanced levels. This seminar can be attended while remaining in silence to deepen your own personal inner journey.
Silence, Svadhyaya and Steadiness of Mind
22 May, 2019 @ 10:38 am
I used to crack a joke that by the completion of the HYT Teacher Training Program the students are expected to attain samadhi. Now I’m not so sure it is a joke. There is the pedagogical side of the course where you are taught how to teach and there is the more subtle aspect of adhikari which teaches self-criticism and to know what you know clearly so you can communicate it both rationally and intuitively. There are levels of adhikari all the way from developing confidence in oneself as a teacher to communicating from mahat. So the TTP does more than teaching how to teach, it teaches adhikari by the development of sadhana for personal transformation. This adhikari is given a boost on one’s own in silence practice.
Japa, Silence and Atma-tattva-avalokanam, part 2
21 May, 2019 @ 12:29 pm
So, we take our meditation back to that level and then things really begin to change; we begin to make contact with the deep silence. The natural state of the mind can also be described as a state of silence. Swami Veda often said, ‘The deepest meditation has no experiences. As long as you are having experiences, you are not there yet.’ And when you get to that great silence of asamprajñāta samadhi that is when you are really reaching the goal. And so we do these practices of silence which are one of the really characteristic things that distinguish our tradition from many other traditions. It certainly is our speciality here. It is such a wonderful experience. I think of it as my home. I think of it also as heaven even though sometimes in the process of getting to heaven you have to go through a little hell. Anybody who has been on a longer silence retreat will understand that period of cleansing that goes on in your mind, in your emotions. But eventually you reach a place that is just extraordinary.
How many people do Agnisara, Ashwini mudra and 2:1 breathing?
5 May, 2019 @ 6:15 pm
How many people practice these will be difficult to tell. And what people practice should not be our concern. Rather we should try to find a good Master/Teacher of Meditation & Yoga to guide us and concentrate on our own discipline in practice of Yoga asanas. I compliment students for being curious and wish all the best in their pursuits.
Three Year Mantra Practice, 2019 to 2022
30 April, 2019 @ 4:40 pm
The mantra is the Saumyā mantra combined with a Tārā mantra. The first 2 lines of the mantra are the Saumyā mantra, and the third line is the Tārā mantra.
Sharing Experiences with Swami Rama
22 April, 2019 @ 11:14 am
When the performance is going on, if the spectators are elevated to the equal level of the mood of the emotions that are invoked and evoked in the dance drama, and if they are able to, the spectators are able to elevate themselves to this level, then the ascetic enjoyment takes place. This is called rasanu bhava in Sanskrit and I am proud to say that this is the unique contribution of Indian culture and Indology to the world over.