1. What is dream? dream of death? and chasing? and how to think about it?

2. What to do when your willpower is so drained?

3. How do you keep puja from becoming routine?

4. I have past trauma that is being activated by a present event. I deal with this situation by reminding myself that we are no longer living in that oppressive/abusive environment and that now i am an adult that can take actions to protect and take care of me.

The problem I have is that I am trying to push away the feeling using spiritual bypass... I am trying to slow down to be present with this uncomfortable emotional pain... it has been several days and still the pain is present... the pain is less than before but I still feel the rage of injustice being activated so I push away the feelings. Do you have any suggestion to make it go away?

5. How do you protect your prana around unsattvic people?

6. Can you help me to understand the cycle of birth and death?

7. How do we find inspiration to keep going on the spiritual path?

Diseases do not happen like right away, let’s say you are angry, you are resentful, it stays in the system for a long time; resentment is like rust, slowly, slowly it eats your body as it eats your mind; so then slowly slowly, after ten years of resentment, you develop some kind of problem, for example, problems on the liver, arthritis problem. Any physical health problem always has some kind of equivalence in the mind. If you are grieving, for example, you were crying, or you never really recovered for years, then you might one day have a problem with the lungs. Right now, our whole human community on earth appears to be sick.  We have the Corona virus which attacks our lungs and we have difficulty breathing.  Then you have to look at it, there is a meaning there, grieving, grieving, sadness; It is the lungs that are lacking joy, lacking energy; you cannot breathe, there's no air you feel suffocated.  This you need to read in yourself and also in the world, okay? People have lung problems from Corona virus and then they also have heart problems as one of the effects of the virus. The heart is the center, it pumps the blood everywhere, so if some problem occurs at the heart level, it is serious.

The first level of knowledge is when you become a sadhaka, a seeker, a seeker after Truth. Somehow, you already know that you don’t know—that’s already significant. You are seeking for the Truth, seeking to know. But what are you seeking? There is sometimes darkness and sometimes light, and often, confusion when we embark on the inner seeking journey. It’s not a seeking outside. And you don’t need to come to the Ashram and do a Training Course if you can follow this guideline.

We have said how discrimination is the most important qualification to have, i.e., to know the difference between the Self and not-Self. The problem is that we get confused between the Self and the not-Self. In fact, the association of the Atman (the true Self) with the mind makes us think that we are the mind. Whatever the mind thinks, you think you are. This is a big problem, the biggest problem. That is why discrimination is the most important qualification.

What is Karma Yoga according to the Bhagavad Gita with Swami Jnaneswariananda

Lives of Saints with Swamini Svatmavidyananda

Lessons on Selflessness with Fred Luskin

Love is Service with Swami Ramananda

Unity in Diversity with Swami Sita

What is Karma Yoga with Swami Sita

Holding Your Life for the Service of Others with Swami Sita

I was a mess because of it, a real mess. My closest friend in the world, at that time, betrayed me; I had no skills for how to handle that betrayal and how to suffer that kind of loss. I had no knowledge of how to move ahead in life, and I became bitter and mistrustful. I dimmed my sense of hopefulness and appreciation of my life. I spent a couple of years in inactive unhappiness because I was betrayed and abandoned and never saw it coming. I never saw it coming; I had no clue on God's earth, that this human being could ever, do this to me. But it was during this period, that I was so unsettled by things, that I learned a couple of things.

One, I was an emotional mess. That's good to know, if you are one. It saves you from inflicting harm upon yourself and other people unconsciously. At least, you gain a little more conscious awareness of how absolutely annoying and ridiculous you are. So, that was one advantage of the experience of realizing that I was a mess.

Two, I learned that there are experiences that many of us have, that we can't get over. They become part of our personality for a while. Like, I'm Fred, the guy who was betrayed; that’s how I started to define myself. That's how I started to orient myself. I developed a victim consciousness and I came to recognize that healing that victim consciousness is a choice; it can be an effective choice if you don't want responsibility for your life, and it gives you a place to avoid having to look too much at your own behavior. That doesn't mean that victim consciousness is terrible the whole time. One of the things that I've learned is: victim consciousness is really good for a period of time. It's a wonderful, useful, helpful tool of safe harbor. You don't have to look too carefully at you and your coping abilities; you can look at what happened and blame it on that. That's a really essential kind of safety net that is obviously wired into us as a species. So we don't have to take on, in full force, our own failures to cope, no matter what it is.

To practice yoga is to feel that we are progressing

It’s not nice to feel stuck in life. If you feel that things are not moving and you are stagnant, the best way is to practice. Go back to your yoga mat, to your meditation cushion, to your diary, to your journal and try to renew your practice. What does it mean to practice? What to practice? And how do you develop yourself and not feel stuck?

Conscious practice is the key

The key is to be conscious in whatever you do. Self development has to come consciously. We call it yoga, we call it sadhana. Sadhana is a conscious practice. This is not something you do without thinking. Because the goal of all practices is to transform and renew yourself. Transform what? Transform consciousness. Transform the way you feel about yourself and about the world. You are growing towards physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

So, it can happen any time the fear and the anxiety, fear, when you have something unfamiliar, when a situation is unfamiliar. Normally, you have a routine, you go to work, everything is orderly. Now everything changes your routine change. So then already that creates a certain kind of anxiety and then your imagination and when the mind is a very emotional have a lots of imagination. Yeah, how big the imagination in the mind. Very, very big. Yeah. So, the moment something you make or something unfamiliar, and the mind start to create different scenario and different imagination, yeah, and then you believe in it, because you believe in the mind.

The topic of today is about how to find your goal and your purpose in this life. Very often we find ourselves in transition, asking ourselves questions “What I'm going to do? What's my next step? I like this, I like that, but I like this too. I don't really know what to do”. Often times, we find ourselves in mild or severe depression, due to the sense of lack of direction and a feeling of meaninglessness. This is when we need to know about what our Dharma is. Dharma means your highest duty or your mission in life, the right thing to do. We can talk about Dharma only if we understand the word Karma. The reason why we do not understand our Dharma is because we are functioning out of Karma. The level that you can get out of your karma or be detached from your karma is the level that you understand your Dharma. People know what they like, but they cannot do it, they cannot fulfill it. They live life and always feel frustrated, or always feel that they want to do something, but never can really do it. The lucky ones are those who are able to do it, because of the circumstances of life and their inner motivations meet together and they feel fulfilled inside and outside. But you cannot blame the circumstances. If the circumstances are not favorable and you are not able to express yourself and fulfill your Dharma, you cannot blame the circumstances because it's also your Karma. You have to work it out. Every situation is just perfect for you to work it out. It might take a long time, but if you do the correct practice, then you'll be able to one day fulfill your Karma and Dharma both together. So, how to do this?

In this talk on Accepting the Shift in Your Inner Motivation, Swami Sitaramananda explains the traditional vedic society culture and we progress in our life from tams to rajas to sattva.  From brahmacharya to grihasta to vanaprasta to sannyasa.  From kama to artha to dharma to moksha.  From sudra to vaishya to kshatriya to brahmin.  And finally from believing ourself to be this limited body and mind to understanding we are in fact Atman, the infinite supreme reality.

Swami Sitaramananda talks about her experience and teaches about the meaning of guru in classical Sivananda yoga.

According to Yoga, Everybody is your own Self. There is Only but the Self We have our karmic way of reacting and need to learn how to manage relationships. In Yoga we tune into your own true self rather than be influenced of other people. You can lose yourself People will manifest in your life that you need to work out karma with so you can revisit your own way of behaving and thinking.

Swami Sitaramananda gives a talk on July 14, 2021 for HH. Swami Sivananda Mahasamadhi. Swamiji says that to understand our purpose we must always start from yourself and know that we are looking to understand the topic at hand of the relationship of a teacher to student. To understand the concept of guru we must know what we are seeking for - looking for. We want to improve our life by finding peace, truth, knowledge, liberate from suffering.

Raja Yoga Quote: “In the beginning of your Sadhana, you will encounter various difficulties. You will not be conscious of any spiritual progress, but you will be conscious of your failures in your attempts in meditation, the resistance you meet, your defects and weaknesses.” – Swami Sivananda in “Sivananda Upanishad”

Raja Yoga is the path of systematic analysis and control of the mind. Compiled by Patanjali Maharishi, Raja Yoga is also known as Ashtanga Yoga, because its practices can be divided into eight limbs. Hatha Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, and Mantra Yoga are all parts of Raja Yoga. The goal is to control the chitta vrittis, or thought waves, and thus attain the super-conscious state of mind, the final goal. Ashtanga Yoga – The eight limbs #1 Yamas – the restrictions Ahimsa – non violence, non injury. Vegetarianism is part of the practice of ahimsa. The great Indian saint Gandhi is famous for the practice of ahimsa Satya: truthfulness, not telling lies. Brahmacharya: chastity, sublimation of sexual energy. Asteya: non-stealing, non covetousness, lack of jealousy. Aparigraha: non-accepting of gifts or bribes. #2 Niyamas – the observances Saucha: purity (external and internal). Santosha: contentment. Tapas: austerity. Swadhyaya: study of religious scripture. Ishwara Pranidhana: worship of the Lord, surrender of the ego. #3 Asana – steady pose For spiritual pursuit, as for any other pursuit in life, a healthy and strong system is essential. A steady mind presupposes a steady body. #4 Pranayama Control of the vital energy #5 Pratyahara withdrawal of the senses from objects #6 Dharana Concentrating the mind upon either an external object or an internal idea, to the exclusion of all other thoughts. #7 Dhyana Meditation is defined as an unbroken flow of thought towards God to the exclusion of other sensual perception. #8 Samadhi super-conscious state Note that the Yamas and Niyamas constitute the ethical foundation of the Yoga practice, straighten out the mind, and help reduce agitations and restlessness. Asana, Pranayama and Pratyahara are external practices, while Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi are considered advanced internal practices. Even though there is an idea of progression in the practices, one doesn’t have to wait for ethical perfection before attempting concentration and meditation. In fact all the stages are involved together. For example, one cannot meditate if one doesn’t have good posture and possess a certain calmness of breath, thus achieving an inner focus at the exclusion of everything else.

To understand what means detachment, you need to know about the nature of the Self first, your true nature.  Your true nature is satchitananda. Sat means all the time there, is not coming and going. It's not like when you are born, then you exist. And then you die, and you finish. So, your spiritual nature or your spirit is always there, your consciousness or your true self is always there. So, this is a spiritual approach to life.

To live your life with perspective, with a bigger idea of what life is, the purpose of life, and who are you. Then we can talk about detachment. If you do not know who you are, then we can’t talk about detachment because everything is action, everything is attachment, everything is involvement, everything is drama. So, we call the Battle of life, you are lost in the Battle of life. Sometimes you win something happened good and you are happy, and sometimes you have a difficult situation. For example, pandemic situation, you must close the business, stop everything, and things are disturbed. So, it's a big drama.

To understand what means detachment, you need to know about the nature of the Self first, your true nature.  Your true nature is satchitananda. Sat means all the time there, is not coming and going. It's not like when you are born, then you exist. And then you die, and you finish. So, your spiritual nature or your spirit is always there, your consciousness or your true self is always there. So, this is a spiritual approach to life.

To live your life with perspective, with a bigger idea of what life is, the purpose of life, and who are you. Then we can talk about detachment. If you do not know who you are, then we can’t talk about detachment because everything is action, everything is attachment, everything is involvement, everything is drama. So, we call the Battle of life, you are lost in the Battle of life. Sometimes you win something happened good and you are happy, and sometimes you have a difficult situation. For example, pandemic situation, you must close the business, stop everything, and things are disturbed. So, it's a big drama.

Jnana Yoga meditation or Vedantic meditation is the practice of positive affirmations of the nature of the True Self and the Supreme Consciousness. It is meditation by positive thinking and by self enquiry, removing the veils of illusions to find the Truth that will set you free from false identification.

Meditation technique :

1. Conditionning the mind, give instructions to be here and now. What is the mind? A lake, a drunken monkey, a wild horse, a shy lady, music record, a fast fan , a needle with petals, relationship mind and body, relationship mind and breath, relationship mind and senses. One thought at a time. Mind works with names and forms, works with association.
2. Preparation: space time.
3. Posture- erect and comfortable.
4. Breath  – deep and long
5. Breath rhythmical and calmer and calmer till breathe becomes imperceptible.
6. Point of focus- 2 places of focus to choose from
7.  object of focus- mantras. Learning about mantras
8. observer/witness attitude
9. detachment attitude. Not fighting with the mind.
10. Return to focus, to the breath, let go
11. Become silence and peace. Meditation is like an elixir or tonic renewing oneself.
12. Meditator, object of meditation and act of meditation become one.

A devotional satsang that asks you to contemplate how you can be the medicine the world needs through your climate positive lifestyle actions and choices. Gain five simple tips to bring more healing to yourself, your community, and the world at large. This satsang is explores the power of collective prayer, love, and intention.

Future suffering is predictable

The topic of today is how to prevent future suffering. It is a very important topic because nobody wants to suffer. This teaching comes from the teaching in the Raja Yoga Sutras of Patanjali from 2,000 years ago, where Patanjali Maharishi explains the nature of the mind and how the mind works. He said: “Future suffering needs to be avoided”.

The point is, how do you know about future suffering? The answer is, if you know how the mind works, you know about future sufferings. In fact, the mind is almost like a tape recorder. It registers all the experiences, all the impressions. These impressions registered in the mind are called the samskaras. The mind will reproduce what it has experienced. This means that what you reproduce in the mind is predictable, It is predictable, because it is is based on what you have experienced. Let’s say you have the experience of pain, due to somebody attacking you. 

During this satsang you will meet the co-founders of EcoYoga Life and how during Covid, their swadharmas were brought together to manifest a shared vision of yoga being a medicine for the personal and planetary imbalances of the modern world. They will share what it means to live an ecoyoga life, plant seeds on how to live aligned with Dharma, and how to establish a life connected to our mother earth. This inspired and practical talk is about initiating and actualizing the healing that need to happen for people and planet.

These 9 Practices for Success in Meditation comes from Patanjali Maharishi's Raja Yoga Sutras.  In this text, Patanjali outlines, 9 obstacles to our practice.  If we can overcome these 9 obstacles then we can have success in our meditation.  The following obstacles are: Disease, Mental torpor, Doubt, Indifference, Laziness, Craving for pleasure, Delusion, Inability to practice due to lack of concentration, Restlessness of mind due to distractions.

This recording is a satsang on the 5 Kleshas or 5 Types of Suffering with Swami Sitaramananda.  This teaching is taken from Patanjali Maharishi's Raja Yoga Sutras writted thousands of years ago.  It is commented on in the Meditation & Mantas by Swami Vishnudevananda.

The 5 types of suffering come from Ignorance, Egoism, attraction, aversion, and fear of death.  The only solution to this is Yoga which alleviates our suffering.  Sometimes we think "I am the only one suffering" - but in fact everyone is suffering.  The ancient sages knew this reason of why we suffer and give us specific yoga practices to help.

This topic on Skill in Action (Karma Yoga) with Swami Sitaramananda is coming from the Bhagavad Gita which has teachings on the 4 paths of Yoga.  Specifically, Karma yoga is the yoga of action and teaches us that everything we do with our thoughts, speech, and body is action.  Karma is everything.

We are thinking all the time, so we should take time to consider this as an action.  All action has consequence and there is a karmic reason for our birth and for our specific situation in life  We should learn our lessons from this life as we experience the result of our past action.

Unity in Diversity is a very important topic now a days with all the problems we see in the world. The tendency of people is to see themselves as different from others. In fact according to Vedanta philosophy with is something in common which is the Truth of our life.

To understand this we practice Vedantic Meditation according to the Advaita Vedanta philosophy of Adi Sankaracharya. According to this there is only one Reality which is Sat Chit Ananda. The Universe is an Appearance and in fact the individual and universe are One.

04:00​ Vedantic Teaching of Sankaracharya

07:20​ Nature is Sacred and Diverse

09:38​ Vedantic Meditation

13:00​ Universe is made of Names & Forms

18:49​ Consciousness is our Essential Nature

23:48​ Raja Yoga: Calming the thoughts

27:03​ Turn the Mind Inwards

32:09​ Realize your Atman

35:00​ Seeing Unity is the Key

38:50​ How to go beyond the Emotions

42:28​ How relaxation allows you to go inside

https://sivanandayogafarm.org/

Manas Kshirsagar is a Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner. He comes from a Rig Vedic Bramhin tradition with an extensive Ayurvedic background. He graduated from Aloha Ayurveda Academy and completed his BS in Health and Physiology from Maharishi University of Management. He is an acclaimed Wellness Consultant, and expected to complete his Masters program (Ayurveda & Integrative Medicine). He has worked as an Ayurvedic Consultant at MAPI and the prestigious Raj Panchakarma center in Fairfield, IA. He is a Health Educator, who is passionate about health and fitness. He has worked with clients of all age groups and specializes in Lifestyle Medicine. Providing a holistic approach to medicine, his philosophy of healing revolves around Diet, Yoga, Meditation, Detoxification, Nutrition & effective Stress Management.

Sivananda Yoga Asanas and Pranayama Class with Focus on forward bending variations taught by Swami Adiparashaktiananda.

Swami Vashistananda comes from the Namboodri lineage in Southern India, Kerala and has been a long-time teacher of bhakti and vedanta in the Sivananda organization ever since. He has been at the Yoga farm since October 2014 and does ceremonies at all the ashram temples and shrines.  Swamiji teaches with much inspiration and humor.

Shani Robins, Ph.D. pioneered the field of Wisdom Therapy TM in 1998.  He is a licensed Psychologist (PSY18795) by the California Board of Psychology and is the founder and director of the Wisdom Therapy Institute since 2000. He is an instructor at Stanford University Medical School’s Health Improvement and BeWell Programs and the Director of Clinical Training at Sofia University (Institute of Trans-personal Psychology). Dr. Robins received his B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from UCLA in 1989, his M.A. and Ph.D. in Cognitive Experimental Psychology from U.C. Santa Barbara in 1996, completed a 2-year National Institute of Mental Health Postdoc at U.C. Irvine in 1999 and a Ph.D. re-specialization in Clinical Psychology in 2002.  He has published and has given numerous clinical workshops, invited talks, scientific conference presentations, and corporate consultations nationally and internationally on Wisdom Therapy TM and its relationships to cognition’s, emotions, stress reduction, relationships, work place effectiveness, coping, emotional intelligence, performance, and organizational consulting.

“Tibetan Buddhist Way of Meditation” – Anam Thubten

Our general ability to resist disease involves a conjunction of internal and external factors. Ayurveda emphasizes both prevention against and rapid recovery from diseases. Pathogenic factors flourish around particular imbalanced factors of our body-mind system. Ayurveda lifestyle recommendations help us acquire stronger immunity over time, while also protecting our innate strength through all periods of our life. This contributes to our overall physical and mental integrity allowing us to cope with various stressors that arise in our everyday life.

Vedanta is the knowledge of oneness. It reveals that everything in this universe is non-separate from a single conscious, all-knowing and all pervasive being, Īśvara. What ramifications might this teaching have for our daily lives, especially in contemporary times, marked by global pandemic and domestic unrest? How can we harness the powerful vision of the Upanishads to grow spiritually and abide in the glory of the self? These and other questions will be addressed in the two talks on this subject.

During this webinar we will:

1. Understand what thought is, and how it works
2. Breathe and relax and Visualize Self
3. The 3 levels of mind – how to move from lower mind to higher mind
4. Practice of conversion of thoughts
5. Practice of cultivating virtues and eradicating vices