Yogaville Blog
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Yogaville is a unique community, spiritual center, and Yoga academy. Yogaville opens doors to spiritual growth through Yoga Teacher Training workshops and residential programs
Yogaville Blog
1M ago
Dear Friends,
Located in beautiful rural Virginia, Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville has served as an oasis of peace for seekers from all over the globe. For over four decades, people from diverse faiths and backgrounds have come here to reflect, recharge, study, engage in Yoga practice, and deepen their spiritual pursuits.
The pandemic brought unforeseen challenges, as well as an opportunity to reexamine our programming and services. We saw more clearly the essential role of spiritual practice in optimizing physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing, as we navigate the changes in today’s world. W ..read more
Yogaville Blog
1y ago
Expanding the Present with Yoga Nidra
Yoga has graced my life for over 20 years. At first, I was drawn to it for the feeling of stretch and movement—so natural and sublime—and the peaceful mind-space afterwards. As I continued taking classes, different aspects of the lifestyle—meditation, pranayama, kirtan music, the idea of guru—crept in through a single, special place called the Shakti Yoga Center in Staten Island, New York. The studio was housed in a one-floor bungalow in between two low-rise residential buildings, steps away from the New York Harbor. As I grew into this sangha, one regular ..read more
Yogaville Blog
1y ago
Introduction
Most ancient theories of health and well-being include balance as a core concept. You can think of Yin/Yang in the Chinese system; even in the West, the Greek philosopher Aristotle writes: “Both excessive and deficient exercise ruin bodily strength, and, similarly, too much or too little eating or drinking ruins health, whereas the proportionate amount produces, increases, and preserves it.”
In the Yogic tradition we have the concepts of Ha/Ṭha, which literally translates as Sun/Moon, and corresponds directly with the Yin/Yang of the Chinese system. Ha or Yang is portrayed as ma ..read more
Yogaville Blog
1y ago
“The Original Magic Mat is the innovative, game-changing product your die cutting has been missing. Swap out one of your plastic cutting pads for this sturdy self-healing pad and you’ll be amazed by the cleanest cuts you’ve ever achieved. Try the affordable, long-lasting Magic Mat today.”
As someone who enjoys crafting, after experiencing yoga teacher training this advertisement for the Magic Mat suddenly took on an entirely new meaning. I’ve seen this advertisement before, but I’ve never thought about anything more than crafting. The words began to resonate on a cellular level as I read a ..read more
Yogaville Blog
2y ago
“When I came to Integral Yoga it felt like I was finally home.”
Several students echoed these words in the cohort meeting that launched the Integral Yoga Therapy Certification Program (IYTh).
IYTh is based on the teachings of His Holiness Sri Swami Satchidananda Maharaj who taught that health and happiness are our birthright; our work is to undo the attachments and stressors that cause suffering.
Swami Satchidananda simplified Integral Yoga (IY) in this way: “The goal of Integral Yoga is to have an easeful body, a peaceful mind, and a useful life.
It is not that you are goin ..read more
Yogaville Blog
3y ago
In grief and loss, the mind is powerfully affected. The way we think is changed. The content of our thoughts is altered. Particularly in early and traumatic grief, we forget things, we lose things, we are distracted and inattentive. Alternatively, we can be utterly focused on thoughts of our loved ones and what we have lost. We zone out, we draw blanks, we review, we scrutinize, we reject, and we ask unanswerable questions. We may question the very foundation of our most deeply held beliefs. The way we see the universe, other people, relationships, life itself, and the way things are can ..read more
Yogaville Blog
3y ago
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
Yoga helps us develop personal resilience. Yes, the world’s a mess, but I can’t save the whole world. I tried and succeeded mainly at making myself miserable. I was a radio news reporter at the end of the Vietnam war. I wanted badly to change the world through truthful reporting. But I was so stressed by the chaos I saw that I was becoming more and more like the people I thought were the problem—I was increasingly unable to sort out what was true or at least accurate.
Yoga became my way of coping and eventually, I realized I c ..read more
Yogaville Blog
4y ago
One of the most important things we can do to prepare for death is to think about it. Bring it into your life, and as Don Juan said, “Use death as an advisor.” What would you do if you had six months to live? What would you cut out of your life? What would you do if you had one month, one week, one day? The Indian master Atisha said:
If you do not contemplate death in the morning, the morning is wasted. If you do not contemplate death in the afternoon, the afternoon is wasted. If you do not contemplate death in the evening, the evening is wasted.
One of the best ways to prepare for death i ..read more
Yogaville Blog
4y ago
This above all: to thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. —William Shakespeare
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.
When this happens you have to analyze it. “Are these thoughts good for me? Is it helpful for me to have these thought ..read more
Yogaville Blog
4y ago
Grief and loss surround us.
Pain in the world right now is palpable. We feel the effects of loss and confusion as we struggle to navigate daily uncertainty in the harrowing thick of a global pandemic. We sense heated waves of anguish emanating from impassioned protests. We feel and recognize urgent demand for changes to unjust systems. We sense the deep generational sufferings at the heart of it all. In the midst of all the collective pain, you may be experiencing your own personal anguish. Your heartache may be due to the death of someone dear, the loss of that which is so precious ..read more