Volume XII, No.2 May 2006 Surrender, Faith and Experience If you are easeful and peaceful, you will be useful. by Swami Suddhananda —Sri Swami Satchidananda I surrender if I know one of two things: 1) I am not in charge of what happens 2) God is doing a better job than I could do I am cooking dinner for friends. I am opening a can of tomato sauce. The grip on the can is lost. I catch it before it hits the fl oor (the benefi t of meditation) Let Go but not before tomato sauce is spilled all over me, Sri Swami Satchidananda my socks, and across the kitchen fl oor to the far wall. Integral Yoga® Teachers Association U.S. Postage This was not in my plans for making dinner! I begin to Route 1, Box 1720 PAID QUESTION: It seems so diffi cult to surrender and accept God’s Will with giggle, then laugh, then laugh so hard my belly hurts Permit No. 3 all that is happening to and around me. I want to surrender and be totally and tears are running down my face. What a sight! Buckingham, VA 23921 Nonprofi t 434.969.3121, ext. 137 Organization cheerful and happy every second by just letting go, but something in me God is playing with me. How do I get the tomato- Fax: 434.969.5545 Buckingham, VA keeps resisting, and it seems to be getting worse. Gurudev, what does it soaked clothes into the wash without making pink E-mail: [email protected] 23921 take to surrender, and is there a way it can be done quickly? This state is tracks across the wall-to-wall white carpet? I take Webpage: www.iyta.org ghastly! them off in the kitchen, wash them in the sink and Continued on Page 14 Continued on Page 16 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED inside Let Go Lives of Luminaries .............................Page 5 Asana: Paschimottanaasana Sri Swami Satchidananda .............................Page 1 Integral Yoga Updates .......................Page 6 Lakshmi Sutter & Bharati Dufour ............... Page 10 Surrender, Faith and Experience Continuing Education Corner ........Page 7 Pause and Allow Feelings To Flow Swami Suddhananda ...................................Page 1 Meditation Teacher Training... Ambha Ingrid Crane ................................. Page 12 Easy Steps To Surrender Sivani Marlene Alderman .............................Page 8 Surrender Through Yoga Swami Sharadananda ...................................Page 3 Creative Abandons: Poetry .................Page 9 Pat McCarthy ............................................ Page 13 Isvara Pranidhana Speakers’ Schedules ........................ Page 18 Swami Ramananda ......................................Page 4 Yogaville Calendar ............................ Page 19 IYTA Newsletter • May 2006 • Page 20 IYTA Newsletter • May 2006 • Page 1 ® The Goal of Integral Yoga INTEGRAL YOGA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION Yogaville Calendar The goal of Integral Yoga, and the birthright of every Founder: Sri Swami Satchidananda individual is to realize the spiritual unity behind all the MAY diversities in the entire creation and to live harmoniously The Integral Yoga Teachers Association is a 12-13 Spiritual Gardening: Honoring Mother Earth with Swami Gitananda membership association open to all Integral as members of one universal family. This goal is achieved 18-21 Ritos de Primavera: Retiro en Espanol (Rites of Spring: A Retreat in Spanish) Yoga teachers. Its mission is to provide mutual by maintaining our natural condition of a body of optimum 19–21 Spring Cleaning of Body, Mind and Spirit with Sachi, D.Ac. support and spiritual fellowship, to share information, health and strength, senses under total control, a mind 26–29 Memorial Day Weekend Chanting Workshop with Krishna Das to provide inspiration, and to conduct ongoing train- Summer 2006 well-disciplined, clear and calm, an intellect as sharp as a 31–Jun 4 Integrating Yoga into Western Rehabilitation with Bill Gallagher, M.S.P.T. and Richard Sabel, ing and guidance. razor, a will as strong and pliable as steel, a heart full of O.T.R., M.A., M.R.H. unconditional love and compassion, an ego as pure as a Director: Lakshmi Sutter JUNE crystal, and a life fi lled with Supreme Peace and Joy. Continuing Ed. & Membership Coordinator: 2-4 Mindfulness Yoga: The Awakened Union of Breath, Body and Mind with Rev. Frank Jude Boccio Sadasivam Greenstone 2-4 Yoga and Kabbalah with Prahaladan Mandelkorn Attain this through asanas, pranayama, chanting of Newsletter Editor: Bharati (Meredith) Dufour 6-11 Thai Yoga Massage Intensive I with Rishi Dion Holy Names, self discipline, selfl ess action, mantra japa, Copy Editors: LJ Dentz, Ariel Forrest, 9-11 Basic Meditation: Sharpening the Mind, Relaxing the Body with Swami Gurucharanananda (Mataji) meditation, study and refl ection. Philip Gitelman, Lakshmi Sutter 15–25 Cardiac Yoga® Teacher Training with M. Mala Cunningham, Ph.D. Om shanti, shanti, shanti, Please contact us at: 16-18 Enlightening Relationships: Fundamentals and Tools with Gopal and Radha Bello Ever yours in Yoga, Integral Yoga Teachers Association 21-25 Integral Yoga Health Retreat: Pathways to Radiant Health with Amrita McLanahan, M.D. Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville and Senior Staff RR 1 Box 1720 21-25 Teaching Yoga to Young Adults & Teens with Learning Disabilities with Kathi Casey Buckingham, VA 23921 USA 25–Jul 16 Intermediate Hatha Yoga Teacher Training with Swami Asokananda and Rev. Durga Glasson Tel: 434.969.3121, ext. 137 25–Jul 2 Camp Yogaville for Kids with Harini Lender Fax: 434.969.5545 29–Jul 9 Prenatal & Labor Yoga Teacher Training with Kali Morse and Rev. Leela Lipscomb E-mail (Newsletter): [email protected] 30-Jul 2 Compassionate Self-Discipline with Cheri Huber E-mail (Membership): [email protected] Letter From The Editor E-mail (IYTA): [email protected] JULY Website: www.iyta.org 1-21 Bharata Natyam Dance Camp I with Dhananjayans and Padma Contu 8 Guru Poornima 10-13 Post-Partum Yoga Teacher Training with Esther Jyothi Larson Namaste. 14-16 Yoga for Freer Hips with Karen Prior Last issue we focused our power of thought to create positive intentions and plans in our lives. 14-23 Stress Management: Adapting Yoga for Any Setting Teacher Training with Swami Ramananda, With this newsletter, we now have the opportunity to learn and practice easy steps of releasing and Swami Vidyananda, and Jo Jaya Applebaum surrendering those intentions and plans to the Divine within. 16-Aug 13 Basic Hatha Yoga Teacher Training As you read these articles, you might introspect about your personal thoughts and actions regarding 21-23 Moving Onward and Forward: Living the Life of Your Dreams with Chitra and Rhadeya Plasha the topic of letting go. You might also fi nd yourself chuckling and enjoying the fun as a witness to the 22–30 Gentle Yoga Teacher Training with Sambasiva Bruce Neal surrender process like Swami Suddhananda! 28-30 Strengthening the Immune System and Reducing Stress Through Yoga with Dhananjayan Kumar During the past three months I’ve had the opportunity to participate with this newsletter’s topic and have learned much more about my surrendering process as a result. As I continue to practice the art of surrender to Divine, I fi nd comfort and AUGUST inspiration in the following chant by Paramahansa Yogananda: 4-6 Clear Your Life--Inner & Outer Well-being! with Meenakshi Angel Honig Think ye in thy heart, lotus feet of thy Guru, 4-6 Sacred Sound: The Joyful Experience of Kirtan, Bhajan & Raaga with Karnamrita Dasi If you want to cross the ocean of delusion. 7–26 Raja Yoga Teacher Training with Swami Karunananda, Paraman Barsel and Swami Priyaananda Shaming the white lotus in purity, 11-20 10-Day Silent Retreat: Finding Inner Harmony in a Challenging World beyond all duality, 14-20 Minister’s Conference: Sannyas/Ministers Training Seminar 2006 Guru, image of Brahma, deliver us from delusion! 25-27 Yoga Asana, Dance and the Grace of Subtle Alignment with Vimala Devi OM, Peace, Amen. 25-27 Ayurveda for Rejuvenation and Anti-Aging with Michael Muktan Sullivan, D.C., D.Ay. Blessings of Peace, Joy, Love & Light, To make a reservation or receive a Yogaville Program Guide, Bharati (Meredith) Dufour contact the Ashram Reservation Center (ARC) at 800-858-YOGA(9642) or [email protected]. IYTA members receive a 5% discount on Teacher Trainings and a 10% discount on Weekend Programs. IYTA Newsletter • May 2006 • Page 2 IYTA Newsletter • May 2006 • Page 19 Integral Yoga Senior Speakers’ Schedules From Our Swamis Please contact local representatives for times, costs, pre-enrollment requirements, schedule changes, etc. Easy Steps To Surrender by Swami Sharadananda Swami Asokananda Jun 25–Jul 16 Intermediate Teacher Training Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville Buckingham, VA 800-858-YOGA Surrender can be a scary proposition for many people, nor explode when it doesn’t. But generally speaking, we feel we [email protected] especially Americans brought up with the ideals of personal need to know what’s happening—and have some infl uence over Aug 11-20 10-Day Silent Retreat Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville freedom and the right to prosperity. Within the framework of it—in order to feel: the Yoga Sutras, both of these ideals 4. Comfort. Some people like challenges, some don’t, but Sept 8-10 Philosophy & Practice of Holy Cow Yoga Center Kitta daayin can be seen as falling under the vritti of we all have to face them. Getting beyond our comfort zone is Hatha Yoga & Bhagavad Gita Charleston, SC misconception. Personal freedom being perhaps the greatest spiritual challenge of all. This applies whether Talks Contact: TD Rykard Vettena mara. one because we are interconnected with you prefer life without [email protected] If you cannot over 6 billion others—not counting plants challenges and they’re When we speak of surrender, http://www.holycowyoga.com get it, and animals! Just think of the typical coming barrelling we are talking about a immediately human reaction to a pesky mosquito, toward you, or whether willingness to tune our will forget it.