General Articles 
Yoga and Martial Arts
8 December, 2014 @ 9:52 pm
This is an interview that was done with Ingo Beardi in 1997. Between 1997 and today, he has continued his sadhana. He was initiated into Sanyasa in 2005 by Swami Veda Bharati and is now Swami Tat Sat Bharati. He is also an initiator and a member of the AHYMSIN Adhyatma Samiti, or Spiritual Committee. Swami Tat Sat lives in the Berlin, Germany, area. He is the founder and director of Institut für Yoga & Aikido where yoga is taught in the tradition of Swami Rama.
Are You Prepared?
8 December, 2014 @ 9:46 pm
One time, many years ago, I was visiting the Himalayan Institute, in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, and encountered Swami Rama, surrounded by several people. He was so big, so confident; such a mystery. Screwing up my courage, I walked up to him, and asked, “Will you teach me to meditate?” He looked at me gently, and said, “Yes.” My body relaxed a little. Then, still looking at me, he said, “Are you prepared?” Prepared? “I don’t know if I’m prepared, Swamiji.” “Get prepared and I will teach you!” he said forcefully. Our dialogue ended.
Learning to Forgive
8 December, 2014 @ 9:40 pm
The practice of non-harming begins with forgiving yourself. Before you can feel compassion toward others, it is necessary to forgive yourself. Resentment and grudges we hold against ourselves are every bit as destructive as those we harbor toward others. When we treat ourselves with love and compassion, we become nicer to everyone else. In the words of Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist author and monk, “To truly practice forgiveness, we must first forgive ourselves for not being perfect.”
Is it ok to be initiated in two different traditions?
26 November, 2014 @ 6:11 pm
The Path of Yoga has many branches - according to one's inclination, personality, karma etc one maybe attracted to one specific path. However, this does not entirely exclude "other" paths as Yoga when fully understood is ONE.
Morning and Evening Prayers in the Himalayan Tradition
22 November, 2014 @ 12:12 pm
Verses 1 and 2 are from the Guru Gītā in the Skanda-Purāṇa and verse 3 was composed by Swami Veda Bharati for the frontispiece to his Yoga¬sῡtras. (Volume I: Samādhi-pāda)
Forests & Trees
8 October, 2014 @ 10:11 pm
Forests & Trees by Gary Gran CYT, DAy. Often times, when we are studying ayurveda we get caught up in the details and lose sight of the big picture. For example, as an ayurvedic educator, I receive lots of comments like “I’m not sure what constitutional type I am,” or “the diet list tells me not to eat carrots.” So let’s review some of the guiding principles of ayurveda to give us a proper perspective. The first guiding principle is life itself. The word ayurveda can be translated as “the science of life” or “the science of the life force.” The life force is also known as prana. Anything we do that enhances or wakes up our life force is considered helpful. Anything we do that detracts from or depletes our life force is considered harmful.
Yoga from My Experience – Kindness
8 October, 2014 @ 10:07 pm
Ahimsa is the primary conviction in yoga. It’s similar to the Golden Rule, communicated in virtually all religions: treat others the way you wish to be treated. This is so simple, yet so incredibly difficult. For instance, some think it’s all right to act rudely and disrespectfully on the Internet. Others are brusque and condescending toward store clerks, believing they will never see them again -- as if there are no repercussions! Ahimsa is the very reason many people in the world eat a vegetarian diet: to not harm another life in order to sustain one’s own.
Can an injury in my backbone affect the sushumna stream as it rises through the chakras?
25 September, 2014 @ 6:17 pm
The sushumna stream is not a physical structure and so a physical problem with the spine should not be an impediment. There is one person in my acquaintance who lived her whole life with scoliosis, an S-shaped deformity of the spine.
Willem Meijer, 1952 – 2014
9 September, 2014 @ 3:12 pm
So these two souls somewhere in their journey though time, through many incarnations have silently said to each other our paths must cross for such a deep relationship and we shall keep this rendezvous in time. We shall meet at a place that is appropriate for the fulfillment of our karma. At a time which is appropriate for us to pick up from where we have left off and invite another soul or two to join us.
We Live in Two Worlds
8 September, 2014 @ 10:22 pm
Swami Rama used to say “We live in two worlds.” He was referring to the outer world and the inner world. And he would say that the inner world is vaster than the outer world. So what are we to make of these statements? The first point is that many of us tend to pour most of our life force, and sometimes our entire identities, into the outer world at the expense of our inner life. Perhaps I love the Internet, and you spend most of your time socializing. Or perhaps you prefer spending time with family, and I am a work-a-holic. We say “I am a scientist”, or “I am a mother,“ or “I am a Democrat.” We tend to identify with our outer roles and preoccupations. Swami Rama is reminding us that the inner world remains largely unexplored because our life force has been flowing to the external world.