Order your copy of The Hridaya Cookbook! Explore this collection of plant-based recipes from our centers, and bring presence and intention to every meal.
Order your copy of The Hridaya Cookbook! Explore this collection of plant-based recipes from our centers, and bring presence and intention to every meal.
“Descend with the vision while ascending with the conduct. It is most essential to practice these two as one.”
–Padmasambhava
Hridaya aspires to create better conditions for more people to reveal their innermost Self, the Spiritual Heart. This vision was the impetus for the creation of our community.
Many yoga and meditation schools primarily focus on the technical aspects of the practice. The ways in which the techniques echo in daily life are often ignored because it is difficult to inspire and teach people in real-life situations. This can be done much more easily in a spiritual community.
However, in spiritual communities in which formal teachings and practices are missing, limitations may arise.
While it’s true that people like “nice” communities in which they can “feel good,” share the same aspirations, principles, ideas, etc., such conditions may inadvertently keep them on a horizontal plane, failing to cultivate spiritual dynamism and efficiency.
This problem can easily be overcome if people are supported by regular practice, as taught in a yoga and meditation school.
Therefore, a yoga and meditation school (the spiritual teachings and practices) and a spiritual community should be like the two wings of a bird: they support and balance each other to bring real spiritual transformation.
The Hridaya Community prioritizes a spiritual approach centered on Self-Inquiry, Stillness, love, and joy, fostering deep inner values rather than focusing on superficial social interactions. Instead of incorporating spirituality into daily life, we reintegrate daily life into spirituality, emphasizing that the ocean contains the waves, not the other way around.
Our community relies on a core group of spiritually mature individuals who embody profound transformation and awareness of the present moment. These community pillars, including teachers and administrators, lead by example, with open hearts, humility, and a dedication to Karma Yoga, meditation, and yoga. Their presence inspires others to adopt similar values, creating a radiant and authentic spiritual environment.
We respect each other beyond roles, appreciating the gifts each person shares, supporting the beauty and inherent creative power that lies in every soul. In this way, real love can grow.
We encourage spontaneity. This is the basis of the freedom, freshness, and dynamic character of the school and our relationships.
We are inclusive. As long as they have a real aspiration for transformation, even people with moral and psychological problems are welcome. Our community has proven itself to be an environment in which people with traumas and psychological blockages can heal themselves. To support this, the community as a whole needs to be strong in its radiant compassion and balance.
We bring enthusiasm to life. Work and practice are approached not through quantity but quality, and therefore awareness, intelligence, love, and creativity are present. A community can risk rapid degeneration if it is focused only on quantity and a franchise-like style that ignores specificities.
We hold the radiance of the Heart as the only authority. Temporal authority, which our administrative roles provide us, flows from this knowledge, this love. And, love has its own ultimate authority.
We have faith that a meaningful education should come out of love. Thus, people “learn” humbleness, honesty, and the non-dual approach to meditation and Hatha Yoga because they love it.
This means that there is only one inseparable domain of the Heart. Understanding this principle helps us apply it to all of our activities.
Experiencing an openness that happens both internally and externally.
Pure intention, love, humbleness, courage, generosity (charity), goodness (kindness, forgiveness), sincerity (honesty, truthfulness), patience (tolerance, forbearance), perseverance (diligence, discipline), aspiration, gratitude, enthusiasm (joy), wisdom, and compassion.
We aren’t learning how to assume a new role or position, but to go beyond roles and our identification with them.
This background of our being is real Knowledge, jnana, as well as the radiance of Love, bhakti.
Whatever you call it, it’s that which calls you to look within.
Sign up for the Hridaya Newsletter to enliven your routine with exclusive, inspiring content that encourages you on the spiritual path.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
