Hridaya Yoga Blog

Dead Poets, Living Questions

By Alistair Johnston You should not ask, for it is a sin to know, Leuconoe, what end the gods will...

Invoquer la Compétence et l’Excellence dans nos vies

« Lève-toi, éveille-toi, et n’arrête pas tant que l’objectif n’a pas été atteint. » –Swami Vivekananda Invoquer la Compétence et...

Invocando la aptitud y la excelencia en nuestras vidas

“Levántate, despierta y no te detengas hasta alcanzar la meta”. –Swami Vivekananda Invocando la aptitud y la excelencia en nuestras...

Invoking Competence and Excellence in Our Lives

“Arise, awake, and stop not until the goal is reached.” –Swami Vivekananda Invoking Competence and Excellence in Our Lives The...

Relaxing Resistances

By Jorge Rotter Noticing Resistances One of the delightful gifts of constant practice is to become intimate with your experience...

The End of Your Life as You Know It

By Naveen Radha Dasi “When Vrajendra-nandana Sri Krishna strikes a note on His flute upon entering Vrindavana, all the clouds stop...

What Is the Mind

What Is the Mind? By Naveen Radha Dasi The ancient yogis were scientists of the mind. For many thousands of...

Plant Good Seeds

Plant Good Seeds By Naveen Radha Dasi You are a conscious being, aware of your environment and capable of acting...

The Open Road

The Open Road By Naveen Radha Dasi We are amazing beings, Geryon is thinking. We are neighbors of fire. –Anne...

There Are No Bad Notes

There Are No Bad Notes By Naveen Radha Dasi After our kirtan a few nights ago, I stopped to say...

From Dharana to Dhyana

From Dharana to Dhyana By Naveen Radha Dasi Nothing is accomplished without concentration. Multitasking usually means doing several things badly...

A Firm and Comfortable Seat

By Naveen Radha Dasi Say the word “yoga” and for most people in the West, the immediate image that arises...

Silence, Music, Colors

“Music is not in the notes but in the silence between. –W.A. Mozart Silence, Music, Colors By Naveen Radha Dasi...

Honor Your Soul

Honor Your Soul By Naveen Radha Dasi You are a drop in the ocean. And you are the ocean in...

The Other Gunas

The Other Gunas By Naveen Radha Dasi In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna: “O mighty-armed Arjuna, the material energy...

Is the World Real?

Is the World Real? By Naveen Radha Dasi Over the last weeks, I have presented some of the larger topics...

What Goes Around, Comes Around: Clarifying Karmic Misconceptions

What Goes Around, Comes Around: Clarifying Karmic Misconceptions By Naveen Radha Dasi A few weeks ago, I shared an introduction...

Shyamasundara

By Naveen Radha Dasi I know You are the Friend to all and embrace all equally, yet still, I would...

The Dark Night of the Soul: When Fear Becomes a Blessing

By Beata Kucienska “Oh, night that guided me, Oh, night more lovely than the dawn, Oh, night that joined Beloved...

A Simple Prayer: Cultivating Gratitude and the Wonder of Life

A Simple Prayer: Cultivating Gratitude and the Wonder of Life By Naveen Radha Dasi If the only prayer you said...

Reincarnation and the Circle of Birth and Death

Reincarnation and the Circle of Birth and Death By Naveen Radha Dasi To the Western ear—conditioned from one side by...

Meeting the Buddha: A Dialogue of Doubt and Faith

Meeting the Buddha: A Dialogue of Doubt and Faith By Naveen Radha Dasi Doubt is not the opposite of faith....

Wholehearted Intentionality

By Sahajananda Let’s refer to a domain of human consciousness that is essential to our lives and meditations but is...

Saltless Dough Balls

Saltless Dough Balls By Naveen Radha Dasi Whosoever offers Me, with devotion, a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water — that I...

The Yoga of Gardening

The Yoga of Gardening By Naveen Radha Dasi At the time of writing, the countryside of Western Massachusetts is at...

Sattvic Life, Sattvic Mind: Understanding and Applying the Teachings of the Three Gunas

Sattvic Life, Sattvic Mind: Understanding and Applying the Teachings of the Three Gunas By Naveen Radha Dasi In the Bhagavad...

Holding onto the Saree: Faith and Surrender within the Beloved’s Chess Game

Holding onto the Saree: Faith and Surrender within the Beloved’s Chess Game By Naveen Radha Dasi In an episode within...

Why Not Be Totally Changed Into Fire?

Why Not Be Totally Changed Into Fire? By Naveen Radha Dasi “Abbot Lot came to Abbot Joseph and said: Father, according...

Beyond the Mind: Integrating Philosophy and Experience

Beyond the Mind: Integrating Philosophy and Experience By Claudiu Vaduva What role does philosophy play on the spiritual path? At times,...

Viriditas, The Greening Power of the Divine

Viriditas, The Greening Power of the Divine By Antoaneta Gotea In the northern hemisphere, spring has sent her messengers to announce...

Burning of the Heart: The Inner Secret of Meditation

Burning of the Heart: The Inner Secret of Meditation By Naveen Radha Dasi Sometimes the deepest transformations are the most subtle,...

Upward and Inward Spirals: Yama and Niyama in Everyday Life

Upward and Inward Spirals: Yama and Niyama in Everyday Life By Naveen Radha Dasi Patanjali’s system of Ashtanga Yoga culminates in the...

The Egg of a Duck: Inspirations on Renunciation and Divine Madness from Shams of Tabriz

The Egg of a Duck: Inspirations on Renunciation and Divine Madness from Shams of Tabriz By Naveen Radha Dasi The...

Remembering the Way Home

Remembering the Way Home By Naveen Radha Dasi Q. Which way should I go? A. Go back the way you...

The Still, Small Voice: Opening to Receive Divine Guidance and Intuition

The Still, Small Voice: Opening to Receive Divine Guidance and Intuition By Naveen Radha Dasi The spiritual journey is inherently...

The Metaphor of Shiva

The Metaphor of Shiva By Sebastian Teodor Shiva is the highest consciousness, anuttara—peerless, beyond the grasping power of the mind,...

A Dance with Darkness: Celebrating the Winter Solstice

A Dance with Darkness: Celebrating the Winter Solstice By Naveen Radha Dasi Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day...

In Love with Emptiness: Contemplations on the Five Bhavas in Bhakti Yoga (Part 2)

In Love with Emptiness: Contemplations on the Five Bhavas in Bhakti Yoga (Part 2) By Naveen Radha Dasi “There are...

Divine Relationship: Contemplations on the Five Bhavas of Bhakti Yoga (Part 1)

Divine Relationship: Contemplations on the Five Bhavas of Bhakti Yoga (Part 1) By Naveen Radha Dasi Devotion is nothing more...

Hridaya Bhajans — the Yoga of Devotion

Hridaya Bhajans — the Yoga of Devotion By Antoaneta Gotea In Hridaya, every Saturday evening is a special celebration for...

Connections between Hridaya Yoga and Kashmir Shaivism

Connections between Hridaya Yoga and Kashmir Shaivism By Sebastian Teodor Hridaya has many roots, from Shankara’s Vedanta and Ramana’s introspection...

St. Giuseppe Moscati Feast Day

St. Giuseppe Moscati Feast Day By Naveen Radha Dasi Today is the feast day of St. Giuseppe Moscati, the holy...

Celebrating the Life of Thich Nhat Hanh

Celebrating the Life of Thich Nhat Hanh By Naveen Radha Dasi Thích Nhất Hạnh was not only a monk and...

Introduction to Kashmir Shaivism

Introduction to Kashmir Shaivism By Sebastian Teodor “God and the individual are one; to realize this is the essence of...

St. Francis of Assisi Feast Day

St. Francis of Assisi Feast Day By Naveen Radha Dasi How far are you willing to go for the Truth?...

The Call of Self-Awareness

The Call of Self-Awareness In Hridaya, we long to come to know ourselves by asking the question “Who am I?”...

Santosha: Contemplations on Contentment and the Fullness of the Present Moment

Santosha: Contemplations on Contentment and the Fullness of the Present Moment By Naveen Radha Dasi We are all seeking happiness...

The Art of Falling

The Art of Falling By Jair Lucena Falling is the secret ingredient in every authentic spiritual experience. If we know...

The Message of the Heart: Do Not Fear

The Message of the Heart: Do Not Fear By Naveen Radha Dasi Whenever angels appear to people in the Bible,...

How to Use Challenging Times as a Means for Awakening

How to Use Challenging Times as a Means for Awakening By Jair Lucena “Existence is suffering” is not really a...

The True Sense of Belonging

The True Sense of Belonging By Sahajananda Q: What is the meaning of belonging, especially when confronted with the relativity...

Celebrating Guru Purnima

Happy Guru Purnima! By Naveen Radha Dasi Nisargadatta Maharaj, the great 20th-century master of Advaita Vedanta, used to do a...

Celebrating Padmasambhava

Celebrating Padmasambhava By Naveen Radha Dasi The path is always before you, within you, all around you. But where it...

Celebrating the Dalai Lama

Happy Birthday to His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama! By Naveen Radha Dasi Happy Birthday to His Holiness the Fourteenth...

Into Great Silence: Approaching the Divine Mystery through Prayer

Into Great Silence: Approaching the Divine Mystery through Prayer By Naveen Radha Dasi Eventually, the questions disappear. Slowly, as the...

Celebrating St. Joan of Arc

Celebrating St. Joan of Arc By Naveen Radha Dasi What are you willing to give your life for? Although we...

Praying to Goddess Tara in the Confusion of Our Times

Praying to Goddess Tara, the Compassionate Guiding Star, in the Confusion of Our Times By Sahajananda Perhaps the defining detail...

The Monkey and the Tiger: The Synergy of Effort and Grace in Spiritual Practice

The Monkey and the Tiger: The Synergy of Effort and Grace in Spiritual Practice By Naveen Radha Dasi “Krishna may...

How to Create a Home Altar and Keep It Alive

By Antoaneta Gotea “If a man prays to Thee with a yearning heart, he can reach Thee, through Thy grace,...

The Dance of the Void: Kundalini Awakening as the Union of Shiva and Shakti

Kundalini Awakening as the Union of Shiva and Shakti Of all the energies we might encounter through the practice of...

Choosing Peace: The Path From Conflict to Love

Choosing Peace: The Path From Conflict to Love By Naveen Radha Dasi Let’s begin with a bold statement: all people...

Celebrating Swami Lakshmanjoo, the Great Teacher of Kashmir Shaivism

Happy Birthday to Swami Lakshmanjoo, the Great Teacher of Kashmir Shaivism By Naveen Radha Dasi Happy birthday to Swami Laksmanjoo—or...

Celebrating Shankaracharya, the Father of Advaita Vedanta

Happy Birthday to Shankaracharya, the Father of Advaita Vedanta By Naveen Radha Dasi “I am Consciousness and Bliss without form....

The Fire of Truth: Kundalini and Kundalini Yoga

The Fire of Truth: Kundalini and Kundalini Yoga If you’ve spent much time in a yogic environment, you have undoubtedly...

Tonglen: Awakening the Heart’s Compassion

Tonglen: Awakening the Heart’s Compassion Ananda, the Buddha’s personal attendant, once asked, “Would it be true to say that the...

Ode to Solitude

“I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me.” –Rudyard Kipling, The Cat That...

Spiritual Fasting: Being near the Divine

Spiritual Fasting: Being near the Divine “There’s hidden sweetness in the stomach’s emptiness. We are lutes, no more, no less....

Freedom and Balance in Meditation

Freedom and Balance in Meditation By Naveen Radha Dasi There is a feeling that comes in meditation like letting go...

Celebrating Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion

Happy Birthday to Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion By Naveen Radha Dasi Today is Guanyin’s birthday, or one of three...

Trust Is a Spiritual Attitude

Trust Is a Spiritual Attitude By Ava Irani As a woman, I find trust as a daily practice is the...

A Shared Solitude

A Shared Solitude: Reflections from a Silent Retreat By Mehdi Dumondel Our most recent silent meditation retreat will be concluding...

What Makes a “Good” Meditation?

What Makes a “Good” Meditation? By Naveen Radha Dasi How’s your meditation going? A simple question, but not always easy...

What Is Pranayama and How Does It Fit Into the Yogic Path?

What Is Pranayama and How Does It Fit Into the Yogic Path? By Marco Luethi Pranayama is composed of two...

Happy Birthday, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu!

Happy Birthday to Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu! By Naveen Radha Dasi Chaitanya wrote no books and left few formal teachings, but...

Courage and the Path of Love

Courage and the Path of Love By Naveen Radha Dasi Stepping out on the spiritual path takes the heart of...

Will Spiritual Manifestation Bring True Happiness?

Will Spiritual Manifestation Bring True Happiness? By Naveen Radha Dasi You are the author of your own life. The divine...

Patience, Surrender, and the Spirit of Karma Yoga

Patience, Surrender, and the Spirit of Karma Yoga “Be patient, be persistent. You’re bound to be successful.” –S.N. Goenka Patience...

The Secret Beauty of Constant Practice

The Secret Beauty of Constant Practice The Crack of Grace The yogic tradition says that there is a hiatus in...

A Moment of Freedom Can Change Your Life

A Moment of Freedom Can Change Your Life By Naveen Radha Dasi Transformation doesn’t always come with a flash and...

Tu B’Shevat: Happy Birthday to the Trees!

Tu B’Shevat: Happy Birthday to the Trees! By Naveen Radha Dasi Today is Tu B’Shevat, the birthday or new year...

Love Everyone and Tell the Truth: Satya, Ahimsa, and Living in Authenticity

Love Everyone and Tell the Truth: Satya, Ahimsa, and Living in Authenticity By Naveen Radha Dasi Yoga isn’t only what...

Happy Birthday to Paramahansa Yogananda!

Happy Birthday to Paramahansa Yogananda! By Naveen Radha Dasi This beloved saint, who was influential in introducing yoga and Eastern...

Happy Birthday, Ramana Maharshi!

Happy Birthday, Ramana! By Naveen Radha Dasi What to say about Ramana Maharshi? If you have participated in a silent...

Shambhala: Opening to a Subtle History

Shambhala: Opening to a Subtle History From a materialistic viewpoint, it is difficult to understand that the subtle universes are...

Celebrating Christ Consciousness: Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! By Naveen Radha Dasi It’s easy to see God in a baby’s eyes. A shining, smiling newborn creature...

Shambhala: The Realm of the Bodhisattvas

Shambhala: The Realm of the Bodhisattvas Imagine a vast realm blessed with a gentle climate, majestic mountains, mysterious forests, fruitful...

Seeing the Miraculous: Celebrating the Virgin of Guadalupe

Seeing the Miraculous: Celebrating the Virgin of Guadalupe By Naveen Radha Dasi If we could see the world as it...

Bittersweet Desire: Intimacy and Otherness in the Pure Land of the Heart

Bittersweet Desire: Intimacy and Otherness in the Pure Land of the Heart By Naveen Radha Dasi There is a place...

Sharing Silence: The Beauty, Power, and Challenges of Sangha

Sharing Silence: The Beauty, Power, and Challenges of Sangha By Naveen Radha Dasi A sangha is primarily a place for...

Take a Walk: Meeting Nature from the Spiritual Heart

Take a Walk: Meeting Nature from the Spiritual Heart By Naveen Radha Dasi A long walk in the woods is...

Happy Karthika Deepam! — Honoring the Inner Light

By Naveen Radha Dasi Happy Karthika Deepam! This time of year, when in the northern hemisphere nights grow longer and...

Onions, Garlic, and Ayurveda

Onions, Garlic, and Ayurveda: What Restricted Vegetables Can Show Us about the Yogic Lifestyle By Naveen Radha Dasi There’s nothing...

Yoga and Ayurveda: How to Develop the Best Practice for Your Dosha

Yoga and Ayurveda: How to Develop the Best Practice for Your Dosha By Naveen Radha Dasi No two people are...

Happy Diwali! — Celebrating the Inner Light

By Naveen Radha Dasi Happy Diwali! Today India is blazing with color and light. It’s the first day of Diwali,...

Learning to Love Useless Moments: Natural Cycles and the Beauty of Doing Nothing

Learning to Love Useless Moments: Natural Cycles and the Beauty of Doing Nothing By Naveen Radha Dasi How many beautiful,...

¡Feliz Día de Muertos! — Celebrating the Day of the Dead

By Tasha Friedman ¡Feliz Día de Muertos! Día de Muertos (“Day of the Dead”) is iconic of Mexico, although it...

Hymn to Death: A Contemplation by Sahajananda

A Hymn to Death Those who die before death won’t die when dying. In Self-Inquiry, when asking “Who am I,”...

How to Dance in the Impermanence of Life

Q: How can I dance in the impermanence of life? A: First, simply let the dance of life unfold...

St. Teresa of Ávila — A Consummate Karma Yogi

By Tasha Friedman “How do we make love to God? How does the soul make love to God?” Today is...

What is Self-Awareness?

What is Self-Awareness? By Hadi Beyrouti Self-Awareness is the experiential knowledge of our being—a knowledge beyond the mind that comes...

Navratri – Celebrating the Divine Mother

Navratri – Celebrating the Divine Mother By Tasha Friedman Navratri begins today! It is one of the most important Hindu...

Beginner’s Mind, Open Heart: Living in Freshness and Simplicity

Beginner’s Mind, Open Heart: Living in Freshness and Simplicity By Tasha Friedman What do you believe that you know right...

Be a Whole Human: Integration on the Spiritual Path

Be a Whole Human: Integration on the Spiritual Path By Tasha Friedman “A spiritual life is first and foremost a...

The Equinox: Finding Truth in Liminal Spaces

By Tasha Friedman Celebrating the Equinox First, a story. Prahlada is a young prince, and his father is a...

Yom Kippur: Entering the Book of Life

By Tasha Friedman Yom Kippur: Entering the Book of Life G’mar chatimah tovah: May you be inscribed for good...

Happy Birthday, Swami Sivananda!

By Naveen Radha Dasi Happy Birthday, Swami Sivananda! “Love, serve, give, purify, meditate, realize.” –Swami Sivananda On this day in...

What Can We Learn from a Changing World?

Q: What can we learn from being in a changing world? A: Yes, the world is changing, but our power...

Celebrating Pachamama Day

By Naveen Radha Dasi Happy Pachamama Day! “Pachamama” is the Quechua name for Mother Earth or Mother Nature, translating literally...

Bhajans: Chanting from the Depths

By Hadi Beyrouti Bhajans are chanting to the Divine and its many faces. Chants not for an exterior force...

Meeting Pain with Love: The Grace and Paradox of Compassion

By Naveen Radha Dasi Before we can say what compassion is, we should understand what it is not. Compassion is...

Saying Nothing: Prayer and the Spiritual Heart

By Naveen Radha Dasi “I say nothing to Him, I love Him.” –St. Therese of Lisieux Prayer is the Heart...

You Are Always United with the Whole

By Simona Trandafir When you feel that it is not air that keeps you alive, and you suffocate from...

Karma Yoga: Finding Absolute Freedom in the Present Moment

Karma Yoga: Finding Absolute Freedom in the Present Moment By Hadi Beyrouti Walking, cleaning, working, playing, sitting, standing, running,...

The Felt Sense of Freedom: The Path of the Body

By Kyle Brooks “Here in this body are the sacred rivers: here are the sun and moon as well...

Hridaya Yoga France Reopening June 16th!

As the latest phase of the coronavirus pandemic has unfolded, our center in Longeval has been closed since the end...

Connecting with the Inner Guru

By Hadi Beyrouti “Your own self is your ultimate teacher (sadguru). The outer teacher (guru) is merely a milestone....

The Majesty of Love

By Hadi Beyrouti Love, a fire that consumes everything. The source, the path, the guide, and the truth. Love...

Parenting As a Spiritual Path

By Emma Carruthers Life as a parent of two small children is not always easy. It doesn’t often look like...

Sahajananda on Trust and Surrender

Sahajananda on Trust and Surrender It’s natural for the human soul to be called beyond the material frontier. A bird...

Devotion: Meeting God as One in the Heart

By Hadi Beyrouti One moment of Truth is enough, and devotion has found its way into your soul. It...

Cultivating a Healthy Ego: Finding Fluidity in the Moment

By Kyle Brooks In a simple sense, we can understand the ego as a function of the mind that...

Self-Inquiry: Awakening to the Mystery

By Hadi Beyrouti “You wander from room to room Hunting for the diamond necklace That is already around your neck.”...

Maha Shivaratri: Awakening to the Inner Light

By Naveen Radha Dasi At night, all distinctions disappear. Falling asleep to the outside world, you awaken to the life...

The Process of Awakening

By Sasha Medvedovskaya You may imagine awakening to be an experience of more and more Peace, Joy, and Love. You...

Transfiguration: Opening to Mystery and Seeing Truth

By Hadi Beyrouti They seem so real, our ideas and opinions about life—a vast force pulling our entire sense of...

How to Begin a Yoga Practice

General Recommendations for Yoga Practice Introduction The practice of Hatha Yoga is a profound undertaking that guides you to the...

Temporary Closure of Hridaya Yoga France

We Hope to Reopen in June! With this new phase of the coronavirus pandemic unfolding and the tightening of restrictions...

A 12-Week Contemplation on the Yamas and Niyamas

The Eight Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga There is much more to yoga than asanas, or physical postures. Since it is...

Satsang 1: Solitude, Aloneness, Confusion, Time, Conscious Shocks, and Trust

“Don’t go outside your house to see the flowers. My friend, don’t bother with that excursion. Inside your body there...

Satsang 2: Being Values, Cultivating Fearlessness, and Increasing Awareness

“Plant So that your own heart Will grow. […] Sing Because this is a food Our starving world Needs....

Satsang 3: Self-Awareness and the Undivided Space of the Soul

“Any movement or sound is a profession of faith, as the millstone grinding is explaining how it believes in the...

Satsang 4: How Self-Observation Leads to Self-Awareness

“If you want great wealth, and that which lasts forever, wake up! If you want to shine with the love...

Satsang 5: General Guidelines for Practicing Self-Awareness

“The effect and the purpose of Self-awareness is to give us a completely different idea of the things we know...

Satsang 6: Psychological Flexibility and Spiritual Centeredness

“There is nothing critical, there is nothing urgent, except Self-awareness.” –Sahajananda

Satsang 7: Spiritual Insight Is More Than Philosophy

“Enjoy your problems.” –Shunryu Suzuki

Satsang 8: Self-Doubt, the Comfort Zone, and Petty Tyrants

“No one outside ourselves can rule us inwardly. When we know this, we become free.” –Buddha

Satsang 9: A Further Exploration of the Art of Self-Awareness

“How wonderful, how marvelous, how perfect, how complete. Everything in existence is just like this.” –Buddha

Satsang 10: The Heart as the Cosmos and What Is Your Idea?

“The tendency towards the Absolute is difficult to realize in a heterogeneous soul—a soul lacking a center… Such a soul...

Self-Awareness and the Joy of Re-collection: Entering the Flow of Life

By Tasha Friedman Can the mind be your partner in spirituality? Does the path to transcendence only run through denial,...

The Undivided Space of the Soul

By Tasha Friedman Do you perceive yourself as just one limited thing, a body and mind, floating around in a...

Fear and Fearlessness on the Path to Truth

By Tasha Friedman “All of the world is just a narrow bridge. What’s important is not to be afraid.” –Rabbi...

The Grace of Uncertainty: Trusting in the Heart during a Pandemic

By Tasha Friedman Stop now. Close your eyes. Feel your heart. You are here, you are aware, right now. At...

A Message from Sahajananda
about Global Events

Dear one, As you have already realized, the spread of the novel coronavirus is a very serious threat, endangering the...

Winter Solstice–Friday Dec 21, 2019

By Tasha Friedman “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” (St. Francis of...

The Heart Of Your Inner Child

By Beata Kucienska What is your Inner Child? It’s the one you have always been longing to meet, your deepest...

The Vision of Our Community
Development Department

Touching the Hearts of Our Local Community By Blanca Amezcua If you read our recent Community Development Department newsletter, you...

All of It Is for You: Serving in the 49-Day Retreat

By Natasha Friedman Give Them Everything It’s not about you. Sun. Sand. Waves. Vast, open sky. A simple place. Do...

Educando el corazón:
Sharing the Heart with Kindergarteners

By Sunny Rucker “The gift to each child in the world should be a sense of wonder so indestructible that...

Karma Yoga: Serving with Awareness and Love

By Tasha Friedman Few concepts in spirituality are so profoundly simple and dazzlingly complicated at the same time as Karma...

Buddhas Everywhere

By Tasha Friedman There’s a special kind of paranoia that the Tibetan Buddhist tradition says you should cultivate: a sneaking...

The Language of Beauty

The Language of Beauty By Sahajananda The Greek Cynic philosopher Diogenes used to carry a lantern in broad daylight, looking...

Transfiguration: Seeing Beyond the Form of any Form

Transfiguration: Seeing Beyond the Form of any Form By Sahajananda Transfiguration is a very important part of Tantric rituals because...

The Prayer of the Heart and Christ Consciousness

By Claud Vaduva For Christmas, I would love to inspire you with a beautiful talk about Christ Consciousness. An even...

Transfiguration Ritual at Hridaya

By Tasha Friedman During Hridaya Yoga Modules, we offer our students an opportunity to participate in a sacred transfiguration ritual,...

Recipe For a Yogi Snow Day

By Tasha Friedman Snow days aren’t only fun for kids! When the land outside becomes a frosty winter wonderland, we...

The Dance of Nirvana and Samsara

By Beata Kucienska There is a moment in life when you see the futility of all your efforts, ambitions, goals…...

From the Terrible to the Sublime: Beauty and the Spiritual Heart

By Natasha Friedman What is beauty? What makes something beautiful? Is it nice colors, elegant shapes or symmetry? Or is...

Why Practice Shavasana: The Benefits and Meaning of Yoga’s Simplest Asana

By Natasha Friedman It’s the most simple asana in yoga. It doesn’t look like much, you don’t have to do...

The Tears of Ramana: Living with the Full Embracement of Our Humanity

By Beata Kucienska After the ashram of the great Hindu sage Ramana Maharshi was moved from a wild place on...

Sharing the Love: An Update on Hridaya’s Projects in the Local Community

By Sunny Rucker Hridaya Yoga has been based in Mazunte, Mexico since 2012. It’s so beautiful here—the stunning land, the...

Karma Yoga: The Yoga of Action Done with Awareness, Detachment, and Love

“Life is a gift granted to us and we deserve it when we share ourselves.” –Rabindranath Tagore Introduction Karma Yoga...

Sri Ramakrishna on Karma Yoga: Devotion as a Safeguard

Beloved yogi Ramakrishna gives this advice regarding how to approach the practice of Karma Yoga: “First cultivate devotion. All the other things—schools, dispensaries,...

Examples of Great Karma Yogis

When we refer to spiritual models, true greatness lies in humbleness and surrender. Chogyam Trungpa has a very inspiring description...

The Union of Science and Spirituality, Part 2

By Sean O’Donnell Last week, we looked at how energy is perceived in both science and spirituality. This week, we...

The Union of Science and Spirituality

By Sean O’Donnell Something that people have consistently asked me since I changed careers (more accurately, dropped my traditional concept...

Why Hridaya Yoga Courses Are So Cheap

Why Are Your Courses So Cheap? When comparing our prices to those of other retreat centers, people often ask us...

Using Nature as a Guru

By Sean O’Donnell You meet many people along the spiritual path. Often, you cycle through looking up to different figures...

Lifeguards: Improving Mazunte Safety

By Sean O’Donnell The Hridaya Yoga Center in Mazunte is set in a really beautiful environment, where tranquility and intensity...

Expanding on the Ohsawa Diet

By Sean O’Donnell I’ll admit that when I first heard of Ohsawa diets, I thought that “Ohsawa” was a Sanskrit...

Mauna: The State of Silence

There is a reverential silence that can be felt by everyone in moments of sacredness, moments when the ego is...

The Power of Deep Listening

By Beata Kucienska An elderly man came to the library; he seemed to be bothered by something. I stopped my...

What is Neti Neti?

By Sean O’Donnell “Love says ‘I am everything.’ Wisdom says ‘I am nothing.’ Between the two, my life flows.” –Nisargadatta...

All Life Is Sacred: A Reflection on the 49-Day Silent Meditation Retreat

By Beata Kucienska “Where is the door to sacredness?,” I asked the Heart. The answer came when I was watching...

The Price of Enlightenment: A Reflection on Money and Spirituality

By Emma Carruthers When I was twenty-one, I spent four months hitchhiking across South America. Amazingly, I never spent a...

The Heart of Earthquake Relief in Mexico

By Sean O’Donnell In the month of September, Mexico suffered two devastating earthquakes. The first, on September 7th, was a...

Finding Advaita in Daily Life

By Sean O’Donnell “The higher goal of spiritual living is not to amass a wealth of information, but to face...

Beginning the Path of Pure Intention

By Sean O’Donnell “If you maintain the constant wish to benefit others, the power to actually do so will come...

Sitting and Health: Sitting Is the New… Sitting?

By Sean O’Donnell In many respects, trying to heal from sitting for long periods of time is what led me...

The Divinity of Laughter: The Natural State Is a Playful State

By Sean O’Donnell “To me, there is nothing more sacred than love and laughter, and there is nothing more prayerful...

Who Am I… Playing With?

By Karin Nyberg “Nothing kills the ego like playfulness, like laughter. When you start taking life as fun the ego...

The Limitations of Shadow Work: A Yogic Perspective

By Sahajananda The practices we share at Hridaya Yoga are aimed at helping us discover our Real Essence, the Truth...

Finding Nirvana in Samsara

5 Unexpected Moments in Daily Life That Can Bring You Into Awareness By Natasha Friedman Are you aware right...

A First Experience with Yoni Puja

By Sean O’Donnell There are many tantric rituals that are practiced with the intention of deepening devotion and raising awareness...

Coming Home to the Spiritual Heart

How to Come Out of Retreat By Natasha Friedman Everything is a kaleidoscope of color and sound as we drive...

4 Signs Your Spiritual Practice Is Going Deep Even When You Feel Stuck

By Natasha Friedman Are you and your spiritual practice going through a rough time? Do you feel like you’ve stopped...

The Unending Pilgrimage

How to Maintain Your Spiritual Practice While Traveling, and Turn Traveling into a Spiritual Practice By Natasha Friedman Travel and...

You are ...

A poem by Chris van der Weide The screaming of a mother Who lost her newborn cub, The passion of...

Seven Weeks in a Silent Meditation Retreat: A Song of the Heart

A Reflection on the 49-Day Pratyabhijna Retreat By Beata Kucienska The trees are wavering between life and death. They are...

A Journey of Self-Healing: Releasing an Ovarian Cyst

A Journey of Self-Healing: Releasing an Ovarian Cyst By Niamh Kavanagh “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing, there is...

Men's Circles: A Gathering of Men

By Craig White A Short Poetic Journey through Men’s Circles The circle is prepared A sense of sacredness prevails Stillness,...

Tantric Rituals: Yoni Puja

Tantric Rituals: Yoni Puja By Antoaneta Gotea According to Tantra, all of creation is a play between Shiva (consciousness)...

Karma Yoga, What Else?

By Uma Esmeralda Ritstier Loving for the Sake of Love “You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your...

Motherhood and Self-Inquiry

By Emma Carruthers As I run a meditation center and mostly encounter spiritual practitioners in my daily life, I am...

The Howl of Presence

The Howl of Presence by Uma Esmeralda Ritstier Fully trusting the wave that is flowing through me and the ever-present...

The Value of Patience in Understanding People and Developing Spiritual Relationships

By Adina Riposan-Taylor (Saraswati Devi) In view of living with Pure Intention and an Open Heart, it is useful to...

Tantric Rituals

By Prem Nirav Tantra is often understood as the web of life in which the Divine connects all beings and...

The Spine of the Night

By Chris van der Weide We walk without sight On the spine of the night Despite the fright that every...

Benefits of Meditation Practice

By Dominique Didinal “OH, MY GOODNESS—How are you staying so calm??!?!! I would be so panicked if I were...

Psychology and Spirituality: Mutually Exclusive or Two Sides of the Same Coin?

By Naomi White Blending Psychology and Spirituality I’ve been met with both gratitude and curiosity as the Hridaya Yoga School...

Surrender to Grace: Learning to Trust

By Dee Lee I was trying to nap in the back seat when the car hit the barrier and started...

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