Yoga Chicago: Recent Episodes
Sylvia Ewing
Loren Fishman, MD, C-IAYT, (standing) led a morning practice on yoga for scoliosis (above) and an afternoon session on yoga for rotator cuff syndrome. He is on staff at Columbia University Medical School.
The 16th Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR) was held June 18–20 at the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa Hotel in Costa Mesa, California. The conference was sponsored by the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). More than 300 people from 20+ countries attended.
The conference included many components, including research presentations, keynote speakers, concurrent sessions and morning practices, roundtable discussions, exhibits, a photography presentation, and a banquet on Saturday night.
Keynote speakers
Holger Cramer, PhD, is a professor of research in complementary medicine at the University of Tübingen, Germany, and scientific director of the Robert Bosch Center for Integrative Medicine and Health at the Bosch Health Campus in Stuttgart. The title of his address was “Yoga for Chronic Pain: Evidence, Safety, and Implications for Global Integration.” Dr. Cramer’s research has generated high-quality evidence on the efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness of traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine. It has contributed substantially to the inclusion of yoga in clinical guidelines and to its integration into routine healthcare practice worldwide, particularly in the context of chronic pain and supportive cancer care.
Dr. Cramer noted that 20% of the world’s adult population experiences pain. By 2050, that number will increase to 25%. In the U.S., 24.3% of adults currently experience pain. He referred to clinical studies that have shown that yoga can alleviate chronic pain. The style is less important; rather, practicing regularly is key. Moreover, yoga is safe and cost-effective, and remote yoga interventions are feasible, acceptable, and safe.
Why yoga for chronic pain? “People are doing it anyway,” said Dr. Cramer. “Yoga is everywhere all over the world.” Yoga practice has increased 50% in the past ten years, and doubles every ten years. And people expect yoga to increase health, energy, mood, and activity and to decrease chronic pain, especially low back pain.
Judith Hanson Lasater, PhD, PT, C-IAYT, has taught yoga since 1971 in almost all of the 50 U.S. states and on six continents. In 2016, she was chosen by Natural Health magazine as one of the five most important influencers of natural health in the United States during the previous 40 years; she was the only yoga teacher on the list.
Dr. Lasater’s topic was “Beyond Presence: Ripening into Consciousness.” She said the most important thing about yoga is to cultivate a shift in consciousness toward “being present,” which is the beginning of spiritual consciousness. When we are in the present moment, we focus on the sensation of the moment.
How not to be present? Compare ourselves to others, complain about everything, refuse to see the difference between problems and inconveniences (except for someone getting hurt, which is a problem), not forgiving ourselves or others, living in the past, and insisting we are right and are always right. How to be present? Be present in public areas like airports without looking at your phone (like everybody else is doing); become empathy and presence (be it, don’t do it); in asana, find your limit and stop before you reach it; focus your attention on the present moment. “When we are present, we know what to say and what to do,” Dr. Lasater said. “People know what you say is the truth. An integrated person is aware of immortality; cultivates the ability to see other people’s points of view, regardless of agreement; chooses compassion as their chief response to the world; and is part of a community of like-minded people who support one another.”
Helen Lavretsky, MD, MS, is a professor-in-residence in the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA and a geriatric integrative psychiatrist; she conducts federally funded research on integrative mental health using mind-body techniques. She is currently investigating novel therapeutic options for older adults with mood and cognitive disorders as well as for people with long COVID.
In her keynote, “Mind-Body Practices for Brain and Mental Health,” Dr. Lavretsky spoke about the problem of chronic stress in the aging global population. Depression, anxiety, and dementia are increasingly prevalent, she said, and the world is running out of caregivers. Her research found that aging of the brain, which leads to chronic inflammation, can be modified when people are engaged with society and provide service to others. Previously, prevention aimed at minimizing the declines associated with aging began when people were in middle age. Now, she believes, prevention should start in utero, where risk factors are shaped. Early childhood exposure to environmental and other toxicities, she said, can be remedied by early childhood yoga including breathing techniques to help children learn to deal with stress.
Dr. Lavretsky recommended yoga, tai chi, and qigong as mindful physical exercises. She emphasized the importance of centered, controlled breathing to benefit the brain, lungs, and heart. Her studies have shown that the heart rate slows and blood pressure decreases with controlled breathing. Chanting, mudras (symbolic hand gestures), breathing, and other mindful practices are also helpful.
Marsha D. Banks-Harold, MSEd, C-IAYT, is a yoga therapist, sound healer, and trauma-sensitive educator. Her keynote was entitled “Trailblazing Leadership and Emotional Intelligence: A Social Ecology Framework for Inclusion, Belonging, and Success in Yoga Therapy.” She spoke about how fostering inclusion and a sense of belonging strengthens clients’ confidence and engagement—leading to success for both clients and yoga therapists.
Banks-Harold developed the PIES*S Compassionate Action Model (based on the multi-dimensions of wellness: Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, Spiritual and Socio-Emotional. The model includes the following steps: 1) implementing self-study, encouraging clients to consciously change their behaviors and habits; 2) building relationships with clients, allowing them to feel supported, encouraged, and embraced; 3) amplifying resilience so clients know wellness is possible; and 4) fostering compassionate action, which involves responding to another’s suffering with empathy.
Banks-Harold’s work is shaped by her lived experiences including navigating cancer, mental illness, and systemic inequity; she brings compassion and humanity into her global teaching and leadership. She is the owner of PIES Fitness Yoga Studio in Alexandria, Virginia.
Concurrent sessions
In addition to Dr. Cramer’s keynote on yoga for chronic pain, pain was a common theme throughout the conference. Peter Bayley, PhD, Director of Research at the War Related Illness and Injury Study Center at VA Palo Alto, reported results from a recent randomized clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of yoga versus standard cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as a treatment for chronic pain in veterans with Gulf War illness, which is characterized by autonomic nervous system dysfunction (higher heart rate, lower heart rate variability). In the study, heart rate increased in subjects receiving CBT but remained stable with yoga. And in one category of subjects, yoga was more effective than CBT.
In her morning practice, “Yoga Therapy’s Inherent Pain Science,” Gina Shelton, a pediatric yoga therapist who is part of the pain management team at Cook Children’s in Fort Worth, Texas, compared pain to fear of pain. She said the amygdala, the part of the brain that processes emotions, memories, and survival instincts, is always looking at our emotional thoughts and beliefs about pain. The body talks to the brain, asking, “Am I safe?” “Am I in danger?” The body will let you know if it feels it’s in danger. “What feels safe to you?” asked Gina. “You decide.” Relating it to the five koshas (layers of the body), she suggested that we observe sensations and notice how our breath, emotions, intuition, and spirit relate to the sensations we feel without trying to change the sensations.
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Amber Kyliuk, a kinesiologist who is certified in pain reprocessing therapy, led a session entitled “How Curiosity Plays a Key Role in Persistent Pain Recovery.” Recovery is different for everyone, she explained. The old view of persistent pain was that it had a single cause and was unchangeable: the nervous system determined something was dangerous. The new view is that persistent pain protects us from tissue damage, is an over-sensitized system, has many causes, and is changeable.
Kyliuk explained that acute injuries will heal with time (typically). However, if we gently activate the area—not overloading it but doing manageable movement—the damaged tissues will heal/adapt much better with the prescribed movement than if they were left to heal with rest alone. Persistent pain, she said, is as an over-protective system where the danger signals (pain sensations) do not only come from tissue damage but from perceived danger arising from many sources like relationships, work, over-scheduling, a worried mind, news, etc. “When we can shift this perspective to see that not all pain sensations are tissue damaging, it allows us to look at the bigger picture and see other contributing factors to the over-protection.
“Somatic tracking, a mindfulness exercise that allows the body and mind to notice sensations with curiosity, is very useful,” said Kyliuk. “In that moment we recognize that we are safe and take the moment to notice how our body feels. Rather than react out of fear or phobia, we then connect that calm awareness to our breath. It’s a tool that we will always have with us.”
Several other concurrent sessions were held throughout the day on a variety of subjects from anatomy to philosophy, relating to the body, mind, and spirit.
Yoga in photographs
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A highlight of the conference was a special slide presentation by photographer Robert Sturman, who is known for his photography of people practicing yoga. His photos featured people in yoga postures in a variety of settings: in nature and urban environments worldwide, in prisons, in the military. And he captured diverse groups of people practicing yoga including first responders, hospital workers, and breast cancer survivors. Particularly moving were photos of veteran amputees, including one doing a handstand on a beach with his leg prostheses standing in the sand a few feet away. Many are of the Africa Yoga Project, a Kenyan organization that inspires and empowers individuals through the restoring practice of yoga. The Project’s trained yoga instructors hold classes in prisons, schools, rural villages, HIV/AIDS support centers, and many other places. A prison warden he photographed said that prisoners who practice yoga and meditation make better choices. You can see his photos on his website, https://www.robertsturmanstudio.com.
In summary, it was clear that yoga therapy has become widely accepted as a healing modality over the years as more and more research has been conducted. Next year’s conference will be virtual. For more information about the International Association of Yoga Therapists, visit http://www.iayt.org.
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“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”—Napoleon Hill
As well as the mind of woman.
So here’s how this one starts her day: 20 minutes of Hatha Yoga (physical postures)
followed by 10 minutes of meditation.
It’s not always easy; in fact, it’s often quite challenging. Easier would be stayin’ in bed and dreaming about doing yoga, but heave-ho and up I go….
All these years I’ve taught kind and gentle approaches through the physical movements of yoga, yet lately I’ve been finding it far more difficult to offer that same grace to myself during my quiet morning practice. I catch myself growing frustrated when my body doesn’t move as effortlessly or as fluidly as it once did. Some mornings rolling out the yoga mat feels kinda like an act of determination rather than inspiration.
Even my meditation practice has become a lesson in patience; more than once I’ve caught myself glancing at my Insight Timer app (a cool free meditation app) only to discover that a mere two minutes have passed rather than ten.
Like so many of us, I struggle with motivation to improve my physical self. I feel discouraged when it’s not going as planned or when my body takes confusing and demanding detours.
Achieving “what my mind can conceive,” as Napoleon Hill so eloquently states, is not working well with my backbends these days; that’s for sure.
My lower back today prefers a softer morning conversation and isn’t fully awake yet, and honestly, fair enough. So I go from lying in a soft warm bed to lying on a cold hard floor with knees bent. Giving in with kindness to the stiff sensations muttering within and, admittedly, catching myself dreaming of that soft bed again.
Simple breaths and bliss till the final bell gongs and meditation fully beckons.
Afterward I sit down with my journal—journaling is another something I do every day after meditating—and stoically begin writing down the profundities that come to mind:
Hatha was difficult.
But I inadvertently leave out the “t,” so it reads instead:
Haha difficult.
Honestly that typo may be the wisest thing I write all morning.
Yet, ever determined, I journal on:
● Continue moving forward with courage and character.
● Go a little easier on yourself in your inner dialogue.
● Try not to forget the occasional well-timed “Haha” along the way.
………………….
Joan Budilovsky, PhD, can be reached at editorial@kcchronicle.com or Yoyoga.com. This story first appeared in the June 18, 2026, issue of the Elburn Herald. Reprinted by permission.
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In times of uncertainty and challenge, we want to be near those who bring calmness and peace. Sylvia leads us in a mindfulness technique to strengthen our own peace, goodness, and kindness and share with others who need it.
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The 12th International Day of Yoga was celebrated on Sunday, June 21, at the National India Hub in Schaumburg, Illinois. Originally scheduled to be held outdoors at Polk Bros. Park at Navy Pier in downtown Chicago, when rain was forecasted, the event was shifted to the National India Hub. Nearly 400 people attended, more than expected since many people with Indian ancestry live in the northwestern suburbs. The celebration occupied an entire floor of the India Hub, split into two rooms with an overflow screen in the second room.
Somnath Ghosh, Consul General of India in Chicago, gave an opening welcome. Yoga was demonstrated by yoga teachers (L-R): Saba Haider, Pam Brockman, Mara Zimmerman, Vidya Nahar, and Anu Malhotra
The theme for this year’s event was “Yoga for Healthy Aging,” highlighting the transformative role of yoga in promoting physical vitality, mental well-being, emotional balance, and healthy living at every stage of life. It began with a welcoming introduction by Somnath Ghosh, Consul General of India in Chicago. He emphasized that beyond physical exercise, yoga is a holistic system that nurtures practitioners on all levels. Yoga teaches us resilience, balance, positivity, and harmony—qualities that help us face challenges with calmness and confidence. The word yoga means union, and the International Day of Yoga celebrates yoga’s ability to unite people across countries, cultures, and faiths.
The introduction was followed by a yoga practice led by yoga teachers Saba Haider, Pam Brockman, Mara Zimmerman, Vidya Nahar, and Anu Malhotra. Together, the participants perfumed yoga poses, breathing techniques, and a meditation. Mats were provided that they could take home afterward, along with T-shirts commemorating the event.
Lastly, awards were given to coordinators and sponsors, followed by fellowship and snacks. The mood of the celebration was one of warmth, upliftment, and joy. People of all ages attended, including children who were happy to participate in the yoga practices.
The event had many sponsors including the State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Asian American Store Owner Association, and Indian Diaspora Connect. Numerous community organizations were present, including Art of Living—Chicago, National India Hub, Mindful Meditation, Sewa International USA, Isha Foundation, Brahma Kumaris, Heartfulness, Sahaja Yoga, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh—Chicago Downtown, Science & Spirituality, FIA, Indian Community Niles Township, United Senior Pariwar, Hanuman Mandir—Glenview, FIA Chicago, Yoga Chicago, Culture City, Indian American Cultural Association, TV Asia, I-USA Media, Adbhut Media, Indo-US Tribune, A3N News, PTC News, and others.
Beyond Chicago, the Consulate supported celebrations throughout Illinois as well as Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan.
For more information and photos, visit https://www.cgichicago.gov.in.
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“Enhance your self-care efforts related to surviving and thriving by incorporating peer support at every stage of your journey.”—Hannah Hedrick
Yoga teacher, t’ai chi chih teacher, and polarity therapist Hannah Hedrick led Self Care/Peer Support workshops in Chicago in mid-March and early May at Wildlight Yoga, 4041 N. Milwaukee Ave., and Sweet Peas Yoga Studio, 3717 N Ravenswood Ave. She’s returning July 5 and 6 for more workshops (see details below),
Readers of Yoga Chicago magazine may remember Hannah, who was featured in several articles when she taught at various yoga studios and health clubs from the late 70’s until 2000, when she moved to Hawaii. Hannah also taught yoga at the American Medical Association, from which she retired as Director of the Division of Medical Education Products.
Hannah is perhaps best known for her focus on service and for her efforts to empower people with life-threatening conditions through self-help groups, including the Family Cancer Support Network, Test Positive Aware Network, the National Emphysema/COPD Association, Warriors against Diabetes, and Polio Survivors and Their Families.
Hannah`s current approach is to bring together people committed to “propagating” programs in which participants provide mutual support in adopting healthier self-care behaviors to improve the quality of their lives.
In 2017, Kennedy Serr adapted Hannah’s 20-page document on “Moving from Knowing to Doing” for polio survivors and their families. Stacey Haumea and Warriors against Diabetes captured this program, most of which can be done standing, sitting, or lying down, in a video two decades ago.
All of Hannah’s current classes focus on ACTIVE GROUNDING, a refinement of her emphasis on the phrase, “From the pressing down comes the lifting up.” She finds this mindful approach helpful in her own aging process for sitting, standing, or doing her trademark posture, moving from headstand to forearm balance.
The connections with universal yoga principles, concepts, and practices are apparent in her logo in the “Survive” and “Thrive” components and in the “GATE” and “SELF.” The “Action Plan” template on moving from knowing to doing provided at workshops encourages a co-signer “Peer Supporter” to help ensure mutual progress.
Thanks to the Chicago Self Care/Peer Support coordinator, Argenis Vegas, the group has a home for its quarterly workshops at 4809 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago. In addition, please let us know if you would like to schedule a session at another Chicago venue.
Schedule for Sunday, July 5, and Monday, July 6, 4809 N. Ravenswood Chicago
TRACK 1: Sunday, July 5, 2:00–3:20, Monday, July 6. 10:00–11:20
ACTIVE GROUNDING applied to breathing and stretching, including requested yoga postures. Yoga practitioners and therapists may wish to attend only Track 1, Sunday at 2:00 and/or Monday at 10:00.
TRACK 2: Sunday, 3:30–4:50, Monday 11:30–12:50
Folks seeking to enhance their TCC (t’ai chi chih) practice may wish to attend only Track 2, Sunday at 3:30 and/or Monday at 11:30.
ACTIVE GROUNDING applied to TCC:
Rocking motion
Around the platter
Bass drum
Giving and receiving
Working the pulley
Pulling in the energy
TRACK 3: Sunday, 5:00–6:20; Monday, 1:00–2:20
GROUNDING reflected in Peer Bodywork active partner
3 exchanges seated on the ground or in a chair
3 exchanges with one partner lying on their back and one seated at the side
To contact Hannah, email her at hedrickhneca@aol.com.
Read one of our stories about Hannah in our May/June 2000 issue here: https://yogachicago.com/2014/03/serving-the-community-hannah-hedrick-phd/
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Living Namaste is a practical guide to embodying the principles of “namaste” in everyday life. Namaste is a Sanskrit greeting that means “I bow to the divine in you,” and symbolizes recognition and respect for the divinity in others. It has become a common phrase to say at the end of yoga classes, but its deeper significance is often overlooked. Jeremy Engels shows that “namaste” is more than a polite expression; it is a powerful principle for building connection and community.
Engels organizes the practice of living namaste around three reminders, as the word for mindfulness in Sanskrit, smrti, and in Pali, sati, means “to remember.” He suggests that the significance of mindfulness and yoga practice is not necessarily about learning new information, but about remembering to return to a state of awareness, presence, and connection. The three reminders offered here are “I am divine,” “you are divine,” and “live the word, together.” This process entails recognizing the divinity in oneself and others, cultivating gratitude, and treating one another with compassion.
The practical approach Engels offers in Living Namaste encourages self-awareness and empathy, which fosters deeper connections and supports mutual growth. Each of the three reminders is accompanied by exercises, mindfulness meditations, and svadhyaya (“self-study”) practices designed to help you apply these teachings to your daily life. By responding thoughtfully and with care to each other, rather than reactively, readers can form stronger, more supportive relationships, support each other’s growth and well-being, and contribute to healthier communities.
About the Author: Jeremy David Engels, PhD, is a Liberal Arts Endowed Professor of Communication and Ethics at Penn State University. He is also a cofounder and teacher at Yoga Lab, which offers science-based yoga and meditation classes that emphasize mindfulness and functional movement. Jeremy has written extensively on community-building, peace, and justice. He lives in State College, Pennsylvania. His website is www.jeremydavidengels.com.
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In Trust What Is, Argenis Vegas invites readers into a way of meeting life that does not rely on control, resistance, or constant striving. Rather than urging change at all costs, he explores what happens when we stop fighting reality and learn to respond from stillness, attention, and trust. The book does not advocate passivity, but a different kind of engagement—one rooted in presence rather than fear.
Vegas challenges the habit of wanting life to be other than it is, suggesting that much of our suffering comes from resistance to what is already happening. When difficulty arises, he encourages readers to pause, observe, and listen before acting—recognizing that sometimes the most honest response is simply to remain present. As he says in the book, “Live and act as if everything is always working on your behalf.” This trust, he suggests, is not blind optimism, but a steady confidence that emerges when we stop arguing with life.
Throughout the book, Vegas emphasizes being aware of thoughts, emotions, and feelings without becoming entangled in them. He encourages readers to allow inner experiences to arise without judgment, resistance, or identification. Over time, he writes, this attentive presence reveals the futility of mental struggle and allows the mind to settle naturally into stillness and clarity.
What gives Trust What Is its depth is that its insights are not presented as theory, but arise from lived experience. Born in Venezuela, Vegas grew up close to his mother within a challenging family environment. At an early age, he also recognized he was gay—an awareness that carried significant emotional and personal consequences, particularly within the context of having an alcoholic father and a culture where homosexuality was widely regarded as sinful and morally condemned.
Vegas emigrated alone to the United States at the age of twenty-one. In this country he earned a degree from Northeastern Illinois University and worked for several organizations, including the City Colleges of Chicago and various social service agencies.
A pivotal turning point in Vegas’s life came in 1987, when he was diagnosed with HIV—at a time when such a diagnosis often carried a grim prognosis. Facing profound uncertainty and loss, he was compelled to look deeply into contemplative and spiritual practices that are explored in this book, not as abstractions, but as a means of survival. These practices helped him navigate fear, grief, and impermanence, and ultimately supported him in not only surviving, but building a meaningful, productive, and engaged life. This lived context gives Trust What Is its quiet authority: the insights offered here were shaped in the presence of real risk, not comfort.
He has served on the Chicago Area HIV Service Planning Council and volunteered with numerous community-based organizations, including The Salvation Army, Chicago House, the AIDS Alternative Health Project, the Test Positive Aware Network, the National Catholic AIDS Network, and the AIDS Pastoral Care Network. He has represented and spoken on behalf of these organizations on many occasions, sharing both professional expertise and personal experience.
Spiritually oriented from a young age, Vegas trained at the Shambhala Meditation Center of Chicago and has participated in multiple meditation retreats. He draws inspiration from sources such as Rumi and Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, while embracing all paths that lead to greater understanding, compassion, and empathy. His approach is inclusive rather than doctrinal, reflective rather than prescriptive.
At its heart, Trust What Is is an invitation to meet life as it unfolds—uncertain, impermanent, and deeply human—while cultivating trust, presence, and inner freedom. The book does not promise an easy life, but it offers something more enduring: a way of being that may enable readers to face whatever arises with clarity, courage, and an open heart.
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Dr. Julie Merriman, PhD
For decades, high-achieving women have been taught to interpret the changes of midlife through a narrow biological lens. When desire fades, when energy collapses, when emotional resilience thins, the explanation offered is almost always hormonal. Estrogen drops. Testosterone shifts. Progesterone changes. The story becomes one of decline, and women are handed that story so consistently that most of them eventually stop questioning it.
Yet in clinical work with women over forty and fifty, a different pattern emerges. The symptoms women describe, including numbness, emotional detachment, loss of pleasure, difficulty feeling desire, chronic fatigue, a sense of being dulled from the inside out, often cannot be explained by hormones alone. What is far more consistent is nervous system exhaustion layered over decades of over-functioning, a kind of physiological debt that accumulates so gradually women rarely notice it until the account is empty.
Chakra psychology offers a powerful framework for understanding why this happens. Rather than viewing the body as a collection of isolated systems, chakra psychology examines how emotional experience, identity, safety, power, connection, and purpose are stored and expressed through the body’s energetic and neurological centers. When these centers are chronically overridden by stress, responsibility, and self-abandonment, the body eventually adapts by shutting down sensation. The loss of vitality many women feel in midlife is rarely a failure of biology. It is a failure of sustained embodiment.
The first place this disruption typically appears is in the Root Chakra, the center associated with safety and stability. Women in caregiving professions, including nurses, counselors, educators, physicians, and social workers, spend years operating in high alert, their nervous systems constantly scanning for problems to solve, people to care for, and crises to manage. Over time, the body stops interpreting the world as safe. When the Root Chakra remains locked in survival mode, the nervous system prioritizes endurance over pleasure, and the body becomes efficient, reliable, and productive while the capacity to feel deeply begins to diminish.
Above it sits the Sacral Chakra, the center of sensuality, creativity, and pleasure. This is the chakra most commonly associated with sexuality, but its function extends far beyond physical intimacy. It governs curiosity, emotional fluidity, playfulness, and responsiveness to beauty. Years of responsibility often compress this center, and when life becomes defined by obligation rather than exploration, the sacral system gradually goes offline. Women often describe this as numbness, not sadness or depression, but a muted response to experiences that once felt fully alive. This is why so many midlife women say something startling in therapy: “I love my partner. I just don’t feel anything in my body anymore.” What they are describing is not a relational problem. It is a nervous system that has forgotten how to receive sensation.
The Solar Plexus Chakra plays a critical role in this pattern as well. Located just above the navel, this center governs identity, personal authority, and energetic boundaries. When women spend decades being the reliable one, the responsible one, the helper and stabilizer of families and workplaces, the solar plexus becomes organized around performance rather than expression. The body learns that value comes from output, and desire, pleasure, and rest begin to feel secondary, even indulgent. Eventually the system reaches its limit.
At that point, many women enter what trauma researchers call functional freeze, a nervous system state in which the body continues to function outwardly while internally conserving energy. They go to work, care for their families, maintain relationships, and meet every obligation, yet feel flat or detached in ways that are difficult to articulate. From the outside, nothing appears wrong. Inside, vitality has quietly dimmed.
This is precisely why conventional advice about midlife so often falls flat. Suggestions to improve communication, schedule date nights, or focus on mindset assume that motivation is the missing ingredient. In reality, the missing ingredient is sensation. Chakra psychology approaches this problem differently, not by asking women to perform their way back to vitality, but by focusing on restoring communication between the nervous system and the body.
The first step is stabilizing the Root Chakra through practices that restore safety: slowing down, regulating breath, reconnecting with physical grounding. Without safety, the body cannot reopen to sensation. The second step is gently reactivating the Sacral Chakra through sensory experiences that reintroduce pleasure without pressure, through movement, touch, warmth, creativity, and novelty. The goal is not performance but curiosity, teaching the nervous system that feeling is safe again. The Solar Plexus then begins to recalibrate as women reclaim agency over their time, energy, and identity. Boundaries strengthen. Self-trust returns. The body gradually remembers that it exists for more than endurance.
When these systems begin working together again, something remarkable happens. Women often report that vitality returns not as a dramatic breakthrough, but as a quiet homecoming. Colors appear brighter. Laughter comes more easily. Desire becomes responsive again, not forced but emerging naturally from a body that finally feels alive. Viewed through this lens, midlife is not a collapse of vitality. It is an invitation to rebuild it on a different foundation entirely, one grounded not in performance, but in presence.
Radiance begins the moment women stop performing their lives and start inhabiting them again, and for many, that rediscovery begins with the simple realization that nothing about their bodies was ever broken.
………………………..
Dr. Julie Merriman, PhD, is a professor and counselor who aids high-achieving women over 50 in reigniting their spark. As the founder of The Soul Joy™ brand, she serves as a premier authority on nervous system regulation to heal burnout and rekindle intimacy. As author of the forthcoming publication, Are We Gonna Have Sex or What? (April, 2026), Dr. Merriman is committed to helping women feel sexy and powerful in and after midlife. Learn more at https://www.juliemerrimanphd.com/
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As we move into spring, Sylvia leads us in a breathing meditation for releasing what no longer serves us, including old stories, mental images, hurts, and pains. In so doing, we leave a clean space for love, joy, and goodness to blossom within us.
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Tyler Ramsey + Carl Broemel: Celestun
Harmony Pavett Chandra Mantra
Chicago Kirtan Scene
On a cold Friday night, Tyler Ramsey and Carl Broemel played a concert at SPACE, a small concert hall in Evanston. They played mainly instrumentals on acoustic guitars using fingerpicking style and sang a handful of songs. It’s the beauty of the guitars, with their added voices that created the magic, plus the wise and witty banter between songs. The duo is touring in celebration of their new 2026 release, Celestun. The standing room-only crowd was 100% in for the show. With a reverence for the musicians, there was no talking and hardly a rustle, as no one wanted to miss a note!
Two of the highlights of the night for me were the cover of Neil Young’s “Sail Away” and Carl Broemel’s song “Carried Away” from his solo album, All Birds Say. That song holds a special place in my heart. “Last Tarot” and “Sylvie’s Guitar” left me feeling as if I was listening to bards play madrigals hundreds of years ago. Pure beauty. The effect of this attentive audience was creating a shared experience. We entered after the rush of a busy week and left transformed, uplifted and, speaking for myself, calmer and quieter. With a smile on my face.
Celestun is a balm to find your center in these darker days of the year. Mostly instrumental, there are nine songs that clock in just over 30 minutes. Tyler Ramsey, formerly of Band of Horses, and Carl Broemel, the guitarist for My Morning Jacket, make quite a talented pair. Their playing is sublime, two souls who have explored and found their way together, explaining their journeys with two acoustic guitars. You can tell they listen deeply to one another and respond to each other’s playing with grace and patience. The title track opener, “Celestun,” is gentle and rolling, with the two taking turns on their melodic leads. “Elizabeth Brown” has more of a bluegrass feel; it’s upbeat and feels old-timey. In concert at SPACE, Tyler shared that this was the first instrumental he had ever written as a kid. “Nevermind” has a repetitive refrain that is so darn pretty. The whole record is gorgeous. This would be a nice pick for Yoga class setlists, or self-practice.
Right now I’m listening to the latest release by Chicago’s own Harmony Pavett. “Chandra Mantra” is a downtempo, seven-minute plus track in which it is easy to lose yourself. With tribal drumming, synthy-touches, and a relentless hypnotic groove, it soothes your body and mind with its sacred mantra. It’s modern and ancient all at once. The Chandra Mantra is a sacred mantra dedicated to Chandra – the Moon God. It’s said to enhance mental peace and emotional balance and inspire deeper intuition. “Om Shraam Shreem Shraum Sah Chandraya Namah.” Try it out and see if this chant fosters inner peace – it has for me! Harmony’s production partner and collaborator, Hans Christian, is a Grammy-nominated producer and musician who creates exceptionally beautiful music. He is often considered a “musician’s musician – the best of the best.” What a great pairing!
Harmony resides in the Chicago area, and is a co-founder of the Harmonic Egg Center in Naperville. I haven’t had the pleasure to chant with her yet but she hosts events in Naperville, West Chicago, and beyond. I’m looking forward to sitting and chanting with Harmony. These kirtan and music-based sacred events – sound healings, etc. – are also shared experiences. We come as we are, and we leave transformed.
The Chicago Kirtan Scene is back! Check out the Chicago Kirtan group page on Facebook – it will keep you up to date! Thank you to Tulsiram Das for administrating and Sally Duros for founding this page nearly twenty years ago.
Amy Treciokas of Yoga Now Chicago / Amy and the Ananda Bliss Tribe is still hosting programs and chanting, bringing in local people as well as people from all over the globe to chant, teach and spread wisdom.
Tulsiram Das hosts monthly satsangs at his Highland Park abode with locals showing up, and everyone gets to sing! I’ve been in attendance and have heard and chanted with friends old and new including Raja Paul, Rafael Buitrón, TJ Davis, Subala, and the effervescent Shanti from Ananda Lila! Last time I attended, local artist Vivian Sakellariou started an impromptu chant inspired by Swami Sivananda’s teachings that everyone enjoyed.
Moksha Yoga has always held the “bhav,” or devotional inclinations. Now pairing with the Bhaktilife Network, Moksha holds regular programs. I will forever be grateful for the monthly run that Daren Friesen offered my group, Devi 2000, at Moksha back in the day!
The Bhaktilife Network includes Tulsiram, Subala and Yoganand. They just led an auspicious kirtan at the Hindu Temple of Lemont for Swami Vivikananda’s birthday (VIEW 2026), and an auspicious time was had by all. Thank you to Prasad Palacharie and Kali Om for bringing this festival to the greater Chicago area.
Wendy Warnimont, aka Shanti, and the Ananda Lila Kirtan continue to play regularly in the area, everywhere from Ahimsa in Evanston to the Blue Lotus Buddhist Temple and Meditation Center in Woodstock. She knows how to raise the vibration!
Chicago’s beloved troubadour Jordan Loder has been on the road since fall! This spring, Jordan will be bringing his chants to the Eastern U.S. and Canada. Spreading mantra, sharing peace. Go Jordan! www.jordanlodeer.com
Joliet has a monthly kirtan scene on the last Friday of every month at Temple of Harmony in Joliet. For more info, message brahmachari.branson@kriya.org.
Advance notice alert! Girish will bring a soul-stirring night of Music Mantras and Joy to Unity in Naperville on Sunday, May 17. Tickets are available at unityinnaperville.org.
Radhika Das, a kirtan artist who has won the hearts of people worldwide, will be in Chicago at Park West on May 12.
All you have to do is show up, and we get to co-create a unique experience. This brings us together, and the time could not be more ripe. Let’s Chant!
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Devorah Winston Buzil learned Sanskrit chanting from her mother. Devi is the founder of Devi 2000 Collective, Chicago’s premier kirtan group. Their five albums, Planet Love Vol. 1 & 2, Devotional, Prepare Your Soul to Dance, and Kum Kum—are rooted in Bhakti yoga, the path of love. Devi’s songs have been featured on TV shows, The L Word and Saturday Night Live. Devi has studied music in the motherlands of Brazil, India, and the US. At present, she is the music editor at Yoga Chicago. She is blessed to have taught yoga to adults, kids, homeless teens, and the ladies in her neighborhood’s women’s shelter. A longtime devotee of Amma, the “hugging saint,” she laughs with her two children every day. They have proven to be her greatest teachers. Devi is a firm believer in love. She may be reached at debi@devi2000.com and at www.facebook.com/devi2000/.
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The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago, in Lemont, Illinois, held its 14th annual Vivekananda International East West (VIEW) conference, celebrating Swami Vivekananda, on Saturday, February 7. Vivekananda, a renowned Indian philosopher and teacher, was instrumental in introducing Indian yoga philosophy and the practice of yoga to the Western world—and to the U.S. in particular—when he spoke at the World’s Parliament of Religions, held in conjunction with the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He introduced yoga as a spiritual discipline, not a physical practice.
Co-chairs of the conference were local yoga teachers Prasad Palacharla and Kali Om, who both gave brief opening remarks. Talks by several local swamis and educators followed.
Swami Ishatmananda
Swami Ishatmananda, President of the Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago, gave a talk titled “A Light to the World.” His message was about connection to others and happiness. “We have to be connected with everyone,” he said. “That’s nature’s law. We cannot survive alone.” Our ultimate goal, he said, is happiness. When we make others happy, we are happy. And then we can manifest the divinity within us.
Prasad Palacharla
Co-chair Prasad Palacharla, a long-time yoga teacher at The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago, spoke about “Illuminating the Mind: A Raja Yoga Practice.” In Raja yoga, said Prasad, “we learn to focus our minds. When the mind is focused, we see the world as it is.” Pranayama, the vital living force, or cosmic energy, is the bridge between the physical and mental, he explained. When we practice alternate nostril breathing, he continued, we calm our minds, the mind turns inward, and we achieve unbroken concentration. Then we become one with body, mind, and spirit. And that’s the goal: knowledge of our divinity. Following his talk, Prasad led the group in Hatha yoga and an alternate nostril breathing practice.
Yoga with Prasad
Swami Sahajananda
Swami Sahajananda, from Kriya Vedanta Gurukulam, a monastery in Joliet, Illinois, spoke about “The Point, Path, Practice, and Pitfalls.” Although goals are different for everyone at different times of their lives, the ultimate goal, said Swami Sahajananda, is completeness. All living things are continually seeking completeness, whether it’s money, family, food, or God. Ultimately, the path, whatever we pursue, is God. Everything is God: food, the breath, everything—and our spiritual practices lead us to that realization. He finished his talk with a quote attributed to Yogi Bhajan: “Experience God in all, or you cannot experience God at all.”
After a chai break, a lively kirtan was led by Subala Dasa, the group leader of the Bhakti Life Network. He began with a short talk about the tradition of kirtan. Five thousand years ago, near Lucknow, India, 80,000 people came together. They had seen impact of the Kali Yuga (known as the age of darkness and moral decline—the depraved fourth and final age of a Hindu world cycle) on humans. They found that chanting the name of God (kirtan) was a way to stay in contact with divinity. The tradition continues today. “By saying the name, we are in contact with the supreme power,” said Subala. “We unplug and connect to the transcendental sound vibration.”
Kirtan band from Bhakti Life Network
Kali Om
Co-chair Kali Om, popular yoga teacher, teacher trainer, and former professor of yoga at DePaul University, gave a talk on “Swimming Upstream: Staying the Course in Chaotic Times.” She asked, “How do we stick to our moral compass, our ethics, our practice?” She referred to the five yamas (things to abstain from) in the Yoga Sutras: harming others, falsehood, theft, incontinence, and greed and spoke of ways to overcome them. By reading the Bhagavad-Gita, a Hindu scripture that is a synthesis of various strands of Indian religious thought, we can learn how to act in the world, Kali noted. We learn to follow our inherent tendencies, offer our actions to something greater than our own ego, and act without attachment to results.
Gopal Gupta
Gopal Gupta, PhD, the Joe Dunman Distinguished Associate Professor of Ethics at Aurora University, talked about “Churning the Ocean of Yoga,” referring to theSamudra Manthan, a Hindu myth in which gods and demons temporarily unite to churn the cosmic Ocean of Milk to obtain the nectar of immortality. Although it took a thousand years to reach the nectar, the gods and demons received many divine treasures, or gifts, along the way. Gopal related the story to yoga, noting that we attain many gifts as we practice, such as physical and sensory strength, psychological strength, and mystical powers. Eventually, we reach the nectar, which is connection of the self with the supreme Self. “Then we connect with all living beings,” said Gopal, “like drops in the ocean.”
Prasad Palacharla and Kali Om gave closing remarks. A vegetarian luncheon was available afterward where students, teachers, swamis, and yoga practitioners from the Chicago area were able to connect, feel complete, and experience the divinity within all.
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For more information about The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago, visit http://htgc.org.
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Valentine’s Day was chock full of love at Om on the Range! Beth and Terry Kiely marked their 24th anniversary with a special Chakra Flow Workshop with all proceeds benefitting the Kilbourn Park Advisory Council. $1,500 was raised toward purchasing a sugar maple tree and native garden plantings in memory of beloved Om yogini, Carrie “Scubi” Willman.
Keep it up, Om Community!
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For more information about Om on the Range, visit www.omontherange.net.
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“Love makes the world go ‘round Somebody soon will love you
If no one loves you now”
Those are lyrics from a song written by Bob Merrill for a long-held, popular Broadway musical titled “Carnival.” It came out in 1961, more than 60 years ago. The sentiments of someone loving you may ring beautifully true for some of us right now, but for many more it holds a distant hollow ring.
Some of us are carrying a broken heart from a lost love or from the betrayal of someone close. Others pine for a love never received, never fully experienced. Still others are broken hearted because of the death of someone dear. For these reasons and more, the hope for future prospects in love may appear dim. And in this month, saturated with red hearts and cheerful Valentine’s Day messages from every corner of marketing, a loving absence could feel sharper than ever. If you’re not in the February lovey-dovey groove, you could be feeling like an utter outcast.
It’s not easy to find love. But there’s hope. There really is. I’ll share a secret that can turn your life around. It’s actually a secret whispered from thousands of years ago:
The ancient Greeks called it philia, deep friendship.
Plato called it the journey of Eros, or beauty.
Aristotle named it self-respect.
Buddhists spoke of universal compassion.
Indian Sages taught self-awareness.
All these ancients saw the importance of self-love as the foundation for any other type of love. Without this core ingredient, loving others is superfluous. It’s a silly game with no depth. It’s forgotten tomorrow like a bad Netflix movie, if you can even sit through it to begin with.
So, start where you are. Deepen your self-love. Not in phony egotistical ways, but in ways that are less judgmental. Judge yourself less–the good and the bad. Sprinkle some kindness onto your wounds. And perhaps in the process, as you start to feel a gentle twinkle in your eyes, consider giving a soft smile to someone who may be needing a smile even more than you.
Get that ball of love rolling and make it go round and round. It all starts with you.
You. Yes, you. Beautiful, self-loving you.
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Joan Budilovsky, PhD can be reached at editorial@kcchronicle.com or Yoyoga.com
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What do we do when the world seems like it is on fire and unthinkable events continue almost every day? Sylvia encourages us to ground ourselves, become light bringers, share kindness, feed the good, and let goodness prevail.
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Holding on to backs of chairs, we pressed our feet firmly into the floor and elongated our spines.
Yoga teachers, caregivers, and former students of Hannah Hedrick met at Wildlight Yoga Studio in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood on January 13 to cultivate healthy practices, focus on self-care, and support each other in the process—in other words to connect, communicate, collaborate, and propagate new ideas. Hannah’s goal for the workshop was to provide tools for caregivers and others to reduce stress in their lives. Based on the premise that many caregivers sacrifice their own health and well-being in the service of others, she emphasized that “health care begins with self-care.” While serving others enhances the immune system, caregivers must also balance those efforts with self-care practices: proper breathing, keeping well hydrated, eating well, resting, exercising, having intimacy with another person or a universal life force, and spirituality (belief in a higher consciousness).
Hannah adjusted us in half-moon pose.
Before retiring to Hawaii, Hannah, who has a PhD in comparative literature, worked full-time for 22 years in positions related to allied health professions and medical education at the American Medical Association. She retired in 2000 as director of the Division of Medical Education Products and Publications. (From 1967 to 1978, she held teaching, editing, and administrative positions at Indiana State University and Central Michigan University.) While working at the AMA, Hannah also taught yoga and tai chi chih classes at the AMA, the East Bank Club, Zen Fitness, Test Positive Aware Network, and other Chicago locations.
Hannah has worked with many communities over many decades, including people with illnesses such as COPD, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS, as well as polio survivors, teaching them yoga, tai chi chih, polarity therapy, and the traditional massage of Thailand. In the 1980s and ’90s she developed spiritual connections with people dying of AIDS, offering support to them and their friends and families. In Hawaii, Hannah worked with community programs to pass legislation benefitting people living in substandard subdivisions. More recently, she began teaching classes focusing on propagating healthy living and self-care.
We gave ourselves big hugs to move our spine and twisted side to side, swinging our arms, “slapping ourselves silly.”
At the January workshop, Hannah led participants in movements that emphasized correct posture—grounding our feet firmly on the floor and distributing our weight as symmetrically as possible. While sitting on chairs, we pressed our feet against the floor with our shoulders back and our sitting bones pressing into the seat. We aligned our hips, upper chest, and tops of our heads with chins lifted. From there, we elongated our bodies further to create space between our bottom ribs and our hips and lengthened the back of our necks. Throughout the practices, we were encouraged to pay attention to our breath, thoughts, and feelings. Toward the end, we paired off to do spine and neck massage.
Between exercises, we introduced ourselves to the group and shared stories about recent changes in our lives. Topics of the poignant personal stories included one participant’s move back to a neighborhood on the South Side after living for many decades on the North Side; another’s loss of several longtime friends; a recent retirement; job loss shortly after celebrating a 25-year work anniversary; the toll of work diminishment resulting from the COVID pandemic; being a targeted parent (a circumstance in which one parent manipulates a child to develop an irrational dislike or fear of the other parent); and the process of sobriety.
Hannah demonstrates a neck massage, pressing her soft forearms into the neck of a participant.
We discussed how the changes attendees recounted had opened up new opportunities for them. The targeted parent had written an article on that subject that is now being expanded into a book. Another participant, Argenis Vegas, has published a book titled Trust What Is (see side bar), which is about how suffering can be one of the greatest catalysts for transformation. We should recognize that unfortunate circumstances can work on our behalf, he said. “When you run into difficulty, it is that difficulty that will lead you to the next step. Every circumstance is working toward your next step.”
Hannah, who has been in service to others since her college days when she participated in civil rights sit-ins, encouraged us to create safe communities, maintain healthy lifestyles, form our own self-help groups, and promote resources and events to help others choose healthier behaviors. “Get people with life-threatening conditions involved in your self-care/peer support programs,” she said. “They are part of the solution.”
She emphasized learning “to help people in ways they need help, not in the way you think they need help.” In addition, she said: “In the giving is the receiving; in the receiving is the giving. The more you give, the more you receive.”
The workshop was inspiring on many levels, from moving our bodies in ways that expanded our spines and opened our hearts to sharing our very personal stories. All of the participants felt uplifted by the experience and left with positive feelings and a deep sense of compassion for others.
Hannah will return to Chicago to lead another workshop on Friday evening, May 1, and Saturday, May 2. Details are not yet finalized. For more information, call 773.989.6767.
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Trust What IsBy Argenis Vegas
In Trust What Is, Argenis Vegas invites readers into a way of meeting life that does not rely on control, resistance, or constant striving. Rather than urging change at all costs, he explores what happens when we stop fighting reality and learn to respond from stillness, attention, and trust. The book does not advocate passivity, but a different kind of engagement—one rooted in presence rather than fear.
Vegas challenges the habit of wanting life to be other than it is, suggesting that much of our suffering comes from resistance to what is already happening. When difficulty arises, he encourages readers to pause, observe, and listen before acting—recognizing that sometimes the most honest response is simply to remain present. As he says in the book, “Live and act as if everything is always working on your behalf.” This trust, he suggests, is not blind optimism, but a steady confidence that emerges when we stop arguing with life.
Throughout the book, Vegas emphasizes being aware of thoughts, emotions, and feelings without becoming entangled in them. He encourages readers to allow inner experiences to arise without judgment, resistance, or identification. Over time, he writes, this attentive presence reveals the futility of mental struggle and allows the mind to settle naturally into stillness and clarity.
What gives Trust What Is its depth is that its insights are not presented as theory, but arise from lived experience. Born in Venezuela, Vegas grew up close to his mother within a challenging family environment. At an early age, he also recognized he was gay—an awareness that carried significant emotional and personal consequences, particularly within the context of having an alcoholic father and a culture where homosexuality was widely regarded as sinful and morally condemned.
Vegas emigrated alone to the United States at the age of twenty-one. In this country he earned a degree from Northeastern Illinois University and worked for several organizations, including the City Colleges of Chicago and various social service agencies.
A pivotal turning point in Vegas’s life came in 1987, when he was diagnosed with HIV—at a time when such a diagnosis often carried a grim prognosis. Facing profound uncertainty and loss, he was compelled to look deeply into contemplative and spiritual practices that are explored in this book, not as abstractions, but as a means of survival. These practices helped him navigate fear, grief, and impermanence, and ultimately supported him in not only surviving, but building a meaningful, productive, and engaged life. This lived context gives Trust What Is its quiet authority: the insights offered here were shaped in the presence of real risk, not comfort.
He has served on the Chicago Area HIV Service Planning Council and volunteered with numerous community-based organizations, including The Salvation Army, Chicago House, the AIDS Alternative Health Project, the Test Positive Aware Network, the National Catholic AIDS Network, and the AIDS Pastoral Care Network. He has represented and spoken on behalf of these organizations on many occasions, sharing both professional expertise and personal experience.
Spiritually oriented from a young age, Vegas trained at the Shambhala Meditation Center of Chicago and has participated in multiple meditation retreats. He draws inspiration from sources such as Rumi and Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, while embracing all paths that lead to greater understanding, compassion, and empathy. His approach is inclusive rather than doctrinal, reflective rather than prescriptive.
At its heart, Trust What Is is an invitation to meet life as it unfolds—uncertain, impermanent, and deeply human—while cultivating trust, presence, and inner freedom. The book does not promise an easy life, but it offers something more enduring: a way of being that may enable readers to face whatever arises with clarity, courage, and an open heart.
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Vaidya Swati Jadhav
Modern life offers connection, innovation, and opportunity, yet it often comes with relentless speed and overstimulation. In urban environments such as Chicago, long work hours, digital overload, seasonal extremes, and constant sensory input can gradually erode physical vitality and mental clarity. Ayurveda and meditation ancient systems rooted in holistic wisdom offer practical tools for restoring balance and cultivating resilience in the midst of modern demands.
Rather than asking us to retreat from daily responsibilities, these practices teach us how to live well within them. When integrated thoughtfully, Ayurveda and meditation support a sustainable relationship between body, mind, and environment.
Ayurveda: Understanding Individual Balance
Ayurveda, often called the “science of life,” views health as a state of harmony between an individual’s constitution and the natural world. Central to this system is the concept of the three doshas: vata, pitta, and kapha which govern all physiological and psychological processes.
Vata embodies movement and communication, pitta governs metabolism and transformation, and kapha provides structure and stability. Each person carries a unique proportion of these energies, shaping physical traits, emotional tendencies, and responses to stress.
When the doshas are balanced, we experience steady energy, clear digestion, emotional ease, and mental focus. When imbalance develops often due to irregular routines, chronic stress, improper diet, or environmental strain, symptoms such as anxiety, inflammation, fatigue, or digestive discomfort may arise.
Ayurveda emphasizes personalization rather than uniform solutions. Meditation, when aligned with an individual’s doshic tendencies, becomes a powerful method for restoring balance at both mental and physical levels
Meditation as a Therapeutic Practice
Meditation is commonly associated with relaxation, but its benefits extend far beyond mental calm. From an Ayurvedic perspective, the mind and body are deeply interconnected; disturbances in one inevitably affect the other.
Stress is one of the primary contributors to doshic imbalance in modern life. Meditation helps regulate the nervous system, shifting the body out of chronic “fight or flight” and into a state of rest and repair. Over time, it supports digestion, hormonal balance, immunity, and emotional regulation.
Different constitutions respond best to different styles of meditation:
- Vata-dominant individuals, often creative and sensitive, may experience restlessness or anxiety. Grounding practices that emphasize stillness, slow breathing, and consistency help calm excess movement in the nervous system.
- Pitta-dominant individuals, known for focus and intensity, may struggle with irritability or burnout. Cooling and heart-centered practices soften internal pressure and encourage emotional balance.
- Kapha-dominant individuals, steady and nurturing by nature, may experience sluggishness or resistance to change. Energizing or movement-based meditation helps stimulate circulation and alertness.
Understanding these differences allows meditation to function as a form of individualized self-care rather than a generalized technique.
Meditation within the Daily Routine
Ayurveda places strong emphasis on dinacharya, the daily routine that aligns the body with natural rhythms. Meditation is a cornerstone of this routine, particularly when practiced in the early morning hours before external demands take over.
Morning meditation helps regulate prana, the vital life force responsible for respiration, circulation, and mental activity. Even ten minutes of quiet sitting can improve digestion, sharpen focus, and create emotional steadiness for the day ahead.
Rather than adding another obligation, meditation creates space allowing the nervous system to reset and the mind to settle. Simple breath awareness or silent observation can be profoundly effective when practiced consistently.
Selecting the Right Practice
Ayurveda teaches that sustainability is key. The most beneficial meditation practice is one that feels supportive and accessible over time.
For vata imbalance, seated meditation with slow, rhythmic breathing and extended exhalations promotes grounding and stability. Gentle mantra repetition or body awareness helps anchor attention.
For pitta imbalance, practices that cultivate compassion such as loving-kindness meditation help release emotional intensity and encourage patience. Cooling visualizations can further support balance.
For kapha imbalance, walking meditation, mindful movement, or alertness-enhancing breath practices help counter stagnation and heaviness without strain.
Across all constitutions, simple mantra-based practices synchronized with the breath can quiet mental noise and foster inner clarity.
Benefits beyond the Cushion
With regular practice, Ayurveda and meditation influence daily life in tangible ways. Many individuals report improved digestion, deeper sleep, greater emotional resilience, and increased mental clarity.
In a city like Chicago, where people navigate demanding schedules, crowded environments, and changing seasons, these practices provide an inner anchor. Rather than reacting to stress, practitioners develop the capacity to respond with awareness and adaptability.
Over time, meditation enhances sensitivity to the body’s needs, often guiding healthier choices around food, movement, rest, and boundaries—key principles of Ayurvedic living.
Integrating Ayurveda into Urban Life
Living Ayurveda does not require withdrawal from modern society. Its principles are designed for real-life application. Simple daily rituals such as self-massage with warm oil, gentle yoga postures, meditation, and nourishing meals support balance and vitality. Warm, cooked foods and calming herbal drinks further ground the nervous system.
A Sustainable Path Forward
Ayurveda and meditation remind us that health is not something to achieve, but something to maintain through awareness and intention. In a culture that prioritizes speed and productivity, these practices invite a return to balance, presence, and inner resilience.
For Yoga Chicago readers seeking sustainable well-being in a complex world, Ayurveda and meditation offer a timeless partnership, one that supports clarity, vitality, and harmony in everyday life.
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Vaidya Swati Jadhav is a classically trained Ayurveda doctor and the founder of Hemaveda, a holistic wellness practice dedicated to authentic Ayurvedic healing and education in Crystal Lake, Illinois. With years of clinical experience, she specializes in personalized Ayurvedic consultations, stress management, digestive health, women’s wellness, and mind-body balance through Ayurveda, meditation, and lifestyle guidance. Through Hemaveda, Swati helps individuals integrate ancient wisdom into modern living, cultivating sustainable health, clarity, and inner harmony. Contact her at 779-800-6816 or https://hemaveda.com.
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Sylvia Ewing leads us through a chakra meditation, ritual for forgiveness, and gratitude for the harvest.
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I often tell my patients—and remind myself—that our spine is not just a column of bones. It’s the central support system of our lives, holding both structure and flow. When our spine is healthy, we feel grounded, open, and resilient. When it’s not, everything feels harder.
For me, this lesson became very personal. I was diagnosed with scoliosis as a teenager, and for many years I lived with unevenness, discomfort, and the constant sense that my body was out of balance. Physical therapy helped me manage, but it wasn’t until I discovered yoga that something shifted. Yoga didn’t just stretch my muscles or strengthen my core—it gave me a way of listening to my body, of finding where I was too rigid and where I was too loose, and of bringing myself back toward center.
That realization transformed not only my own health, but also the way I practice physical therapy with my patients today.
The Yoga Sutra That Changed How I Treat Back PainThere is a simple, profound line in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (2.46): “Sthira Sukham Asanam.” It means that the posture for meditation should be steady (sthira), stable, and comfortable (sukham).
Though originally intended for meditation, I apply this principle to every spine I work with. Back pain, in my experience, often arises when this balance is lost.
- For some, there is too much rigidity—the spine loses its natural lumbar curve, the body becomes stiff, and movement feels restricted.
- For others, there is too much flexibility—joints are lax, the core is weak, and the spine lacks stability.
Both patterns create pain, but they require very different treatments.
It’s just as in life: when we are too rigid, we need more softness, openness, and flexibility. When we are too yielding, we need to reclaim our inner core, our sense of strength, and hold our ground. The body and the mind mirror each other more closely than most of us realize.
A Personal Lesson from My Own SpineWith scoliosis, my spine taught me early about imbalance. Parts of my back were locked tight, pulling against each other, while other areas were overstretched and unstable.
At first, I tried to “fix” it by stretching everything. But this only made me feel more fragile. Then, I tried strengthening everything, but that made me even more rigid.
What I discovered through yoga was subtler: I had to differentiate. Some parts of my spine needed release and length, others needed stability and tone. When I worked with both sides of the equation—flexibility and stability—I began to find freedom from pain.
This principle became a guiding light in my practice as a physical therapist and yoga therapist.
A Tale of Two PatientsLet me give you two examples that illustrate these patterns.
Too Rigid – Loss of the Lumbar CurveA patient came to me with persistent lower back pain, especially after sitting long hours at work. His hamstrings were like steel cables—tight and unyielding. Because of this, his pelvis was being pulled into a posterior tilt, flattening his natural lumbar curve.
When the lumbar spine loses its gentle inward curve, the lower vertebrae—especially at L4–L5 and L5–S1—absorb more compression. Over time, this leads to pain, disc issues, and inflammation.
For him, one of the most important postures was Supta Padangusthasana (reclined hand-to-big-toe pose) with a strap. By gently stretching the hamstrings, he was able to restore mobility in the pelvis and recover some of his natural curve. Pairing this with gentle core awareness helped him regain balance between strength and suppleness.
Too Flexible – Hypermobile and UnstableThis patient was at the opposite end of the spectrum. She was a yoga practitioner herself—naturally flexible and able to bend deeply into backbends. Yet she came to me with aching pain across her lower back.
Her pelvis was often tipped forward in an anterior tilt, over-arching her lumbar spine. She didn’t need looser hamstrings. Instead, she needed to release her iliopsoas (the deep hip flexor that pulls the spine into arching) and strengthen her deep core, what my teacher calls “the pit of the abdomen.”
For her, practices that built steadiness—like low boat pose, gentle planks, and supine core activation—were more healing than stretching. She learned that stability, not more flexibility, was the key to relieving her pain.
Finding Your Place on the SpectrumThese two examples are extremes, but most of us fall somewhere between them. The question is:
- Where are you too rigid?
- Where are you too loose or unstable?
Healing back pain is not about doing every stretch or every core exercise you can find on the internet. It’s about learning to assess where your imbalance lies and then applying the right tools to bring yourself back toward center.
This is why a one-size-fits-all approach rarely works. Your spine has its own story, its own history, and its own needs.
The Body-Mind ConnectionHere’s the part I find most profound: these patterns in the spine often mirror our psychology.
- The person who is rigid in their body is often rigid in their life—holding too tightly to control, afraid to let go.
- The person who is too flexible in their body may also be too flexible in their boundaries, giving away power, losing their sense of center.
When we find balance physically, we often find more balance emotionally. And when we work on our emotional patterns, our body responds too. That’s the gift of integrating yoga into physical therapy: it gives us not just exercises, but a philosophy of balance that applies both on and off the mat.
Coming Back to CenterWhen I look back at my own journey with scoliosis, I see that the greatest gift yoga gave me was not just a healthier spine, but a new way of understanding life.
We all live on that continuum between rigidity and fluidity, between strength and softness. Our job—whether in our bodies or our relationships or our work—is to notice where we’ve gone off balance and gently invite ourselves back toward the middle.
Healing your back, in the end, is about more than the spine. It’s about learning to live with both steadiness and ease.
………………………………..
Rachel Krentzman PT, C-IAYT, MBA is a practicing yoga and physical therapist and certified Hakomi psychotherapist. Born in Montreal to an Orthodox Jewish family, she experienced the trauma of her rabbi father’s arrest, shed her strict upbringing, and found herself. She specializes in personal healing through somatic, body-centered psychotherapy and yoga therapy. Afflicted with scoliosis and damaged discs, she created a powerful therapy that helps hundreds of students and patients around the world. She now lives with her husband, son and two dogs in Israel. Her numerous books on yoga include Scoliosis, Yoga Therapy and the Art of Letting Go (2016). Her new book is As Is: A Memoir on Healing the Past Through Yoga. Learn more at happybackyoga.com.
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On Saturday, September 13, Jamila (Barbara) Onyeali held a recognition ceremony for initiates who, after completing certain requirements, had received mala beads and a personal mantra, and had mentally repeated their mantra (a practice called japa) thousands of times over a 40-day period. The japa practice began on August 2, with the instruction that the initiates repeat the mantra once for each of the 108 beads, completing five cycles each day, totaling a recitation of the mantra 540 times per day.
The ceremony was a celebration of the culmination of the 40-day period. It was held at Good Shephard Manor at 6720 S. Cornell in Chicago, where Jamila and several others who teach for Jamila lead yoga classes. Jamila calls them her “Dream Team,” comprised of Michele Madison who teaches vinyasa flow yoga, Leona Ringo who teaches chair yoga, and Denean Jackson who teaches Sivananda-style yoga.
L–R: Jamila (Barbara) Onyeali, Ashley Thomas, Evon McWright, Diana Blaino
The requirements for receiving a mantra included mastery of the Sun Salutation sequence, the Gayatri mantra, three breathing techniques, and proper use of the mala beads; studying the Bhagavad-Gita; reading Inner Quest by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait and writing a summary of four of the chapters; and demonstrating a meditation posture appropriate for their bodies.
Jamila began the ceremony with the pouring of libations to give honor to the ancestors to ask for their blessings. She poured libations to ancestors in Africa and India and to the gurus and teachers in the U.S. Locally, she included the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center, the Himalayan Institute, and the Temple of Kriya Yoga.
After an invocation by the initiates, each of them spoke about their experiences in the training, what stood out for them, and how the practices changed their lives. Comments included learning patience, feeling validated, and acquiring other tools that helped them navigate life. All of them expressed extreme gratitude for Jamila and others who were previously initiated and had assisted in their training.
During a candle-lighting ceremony, the Dream Team gave presentations to acknowledge the light within. The topics included 1) yoga’s eight-fold path to enlightenment; 2) the chakras (energy centers along the spine); 3) sun salutations to recognize the light of the sun gives life-giving energy; and 4) the eight-pointed star, an African symbol of guardianship that is always watching over them. Staying with the theme of light, Jamila reminded them that their illumination is a reflection of the Supreme Being. The ceremony was followed by refreshments and fellowship.
Jamila began yoga training in the mid-1980s in the styles of the Himalayan Institute and the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center, which teach similar classical styles of yoga, and has taken workshops with teachers from other traditions. In 1988, she traveled to Rishikesh, India where she received her mantra from Swami Veda Bharati at the Himalayan International Institute, which was founder Swami Rama’s ashram on the Ganges River. Years later, when she shared her experience with her students, they also wanted to receive a mantra.
Group photo of attendees at the Japa Initiates’ Ceremony
Jamila developed a Mantra Initiation Process for her students which begins when a request is received. After the requirements are met, the mantra is given the same way she received her mantra 37 years ago in India. The process ended on the last day of japa, September 10. The first ceremony was given in 2018 with seven initiates. This year there were six initiates, although only three were able to attend the ceremony.
Now 90, although still strong and vibrant, Jamila has turned some of her yoga classes over to her trainees, although she teaches occasional classes and leads a monthly workshop. Being a former professional dancer, she likes to add some vinyasa flow to her yoga classes.
As the body changes with age, Jamila adapts poses to suit her abilities, providing a perfect example to her students of how they can continue to practice the yoga asanas (postures) as they age. She continues to be an inspiration to her teachers, students, and all who meet her. The initiates’ ceremony was a beautiful community of yogis coming together to share experiences, stories, and friendship, reminding us of what yoga is all about: union.
For more about Jamila, see her Teacher Profile in the July–August, 2019, issue of Yoga Chicago: https://yogachicago.com/2019/07/jamila-barbara-onyeali-a-lifetime-devoted-to-teaching/
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Prentis G. Jones (far left) at the Tenth Anniversary of the Chicago chapter of the International Association of Black Yoga Teachers (IABYT), September 11, 2011
Prentis G. Jones, a popular, long-time yoga teacher on Chicago’s South Side, transitioned at the age of 80 on July 2 in Peoria, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, where he had relocated a few years ago with his wife, Alayne. Michele Madison, local yoga teacher, neurotherapist and friend of both Prentis and Alayne, sent us Prentis’s yoga resume so we could pay tribute to him.
Prentis taught yoga, meditation, and breathing techniques at the Indiana State Prison, the student union at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Hyde Park Neighborhood Club, Chicago State University, and at his residences.
Prentis was initiated into Transcendental Meditation (TM) in 1974. In that same year he was also initiated into the Himalayan tradition by Swami Rama, who founded the Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy with its headquarters in Glenview, Illinois. Prentis wrote, “Swami Rama came to the West to be tested by scientists to reestablish the scientific basis for yoga. Consequently, he was tested by the Menninger Foundation [where] he demonstrated the voluntary controls of internal states.”
After his initiation, Prentis was instructed by Swami Rama to teach Hatha yoga at East-West Books, a bookstore owned by the Himalayan Institute on Diversey Avenue in Chicago, where classes and workshops were held on the second floor. Prentis taught there until the Himalayan institute moved its headquarters to Honesdale, Pennsylvania in 1979 and closed the bookstore.
Between 1974 and 1978, the Himalayan Institute, led by Swami Rama, organized large annual yoga conferences in Chicago, featuring famous swamis and teachers worldwide. Prentis taught Hatha Yoga at these conferences and volunteered in other ways. He also assisted at other Himalayan Institute conferences in New York and at Honesdale.
Prentis traveled to India in 1984, 1998, and 2000. In 2000, he participated in the Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest religious festival, a vibrant pilgrimage where millions of Hindus gather every 12 years. In 2000, it was held in Allahabad at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and mythological Saraswati Rivers.
In 2004, Prentis attended the International Association of Black Yoga Teachers (IABYT) in Chicago and became a member of the Chicago chapter in 2006. In 2007 he traveled to Accra, Ghana where he spoke at a conference. He returned to West Africa in 2011 to attend an International Yoga & Music Festival in Ghana, Togo, and Benin.
Prentis positively affected thousands of students with his teachings. As Michele says, “Namaste, Prentis. We were all blessed to have known you.” May his legacy live on for the betterment of humankind.
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Sylvia shares ways to reach a state of calm through our breath, being in nature, gentleness, and gratitude.
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Yoga teachers who led the class at Navy Pier. L–R: Anu Malhotra, Parna Mazumdar, Saba Haider, Vimi Shukla, Pam Brockman
Yogis all over the world celebrated the 11th International Day of Yoga (IDY) on Saturday, June 21. The theme was “Yoga for One Earth, One Health.” Several celebrations were held in the Chicago area.
The Consulate General of India in Chicago sponsored a major public event at Polk Bros Park at the entrance to Chicago’s Navy Pier on Saturday morning starting at 10 a.m.* In spite of extreme heat, more than 400 yoga enthusiasts attended. Consul General Somnath Ghosh opened the event with welcoming remarks, describing yoga as not only a wellness activity, but also a holistic way of life that promotes both individual well-being and environmental harmony. A demonstration of yoga was followed by a group class on the lawn led by distinguished instructors Anu Malhotra, Vimi Shukla, Parna Mazumdar, Pam Brockman, and Saba Haider. The sponsors provided mats, free t-shirts, and refreshments for all.
Everyone at Navy Pier participated in yoga in spite of the extreme heat.
An IDY celebration at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago was also a huge success, with more than 135 people attending. The event focused on healing arts, many of which have roots in yoga. The presentations addressed asana (yoga poses), pranayama (yoga breathing), ayurveda (traditional Indian system of medicine), and marma therapy (ayurvedic massage). Other presenters looked at yoga in association with dance, music, and laughter. Presenters included Dr. Prasad Palacharla, Poonam Ma, Maryann Beckman, Frank Grill, Rekha Iyer, Inga Wilke, Neringa Valkiunas, Pushpa Saundarajan, and Dr. Dharam Punwani. The event concluded with a vegetarian luncheon prepared in the temple kitchen. (The Hindu Temple in Lemont has a vibrant, multi-cultural congregation, and it offers three yoga classes per week. For more information, visit https://www.htgc.org/yoga.)
The IDY celebration at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago, photo by Brian Hartwell
Beyond Chicago, the Consulate General of India supported IDY celebrations across its jurisdiction, which includes several Midwestern states. In Illinois events took place in Niles Township hosted by the Indian Community of Niles Township; on the Main Quad at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; and at the National India Hub in Schaumburg. In Missouri, the St. Louis Indian Cultural Association held a celebration downtown. In Indiana an IDY event was held by Chinmaya Mission in Merrillville. The Indo American Association of Iowa observed IDY in Johnston. Other events were in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, and the Michigan communities of Troy, Canton, Novi, and Farmington Hills.
Kali Om’s class at sunrise at the lakefront.
Additional independent celebrations: Chicago yoga instructor Kali Om led a class at sunrise on Chicago’s lakefront at Lawrence Ave., with participants doing 27 Surya Namaskars (sun salutations), chanting, and meditation, a tradition she continues annually. The group Each Life is Precious led celebrants in breathing and asana exercises, chair yoga, and meditation at the Spiritual Sanctuary in Valparaiso, Indiana. And to avoid competition with the Navy Pier event, IDY festivities took place on Saturday, July 14 at the Matrix Club, a multi-purpose venue in Naperville, Illinois, with yoga, guided meditation, and soul-stirring live music.
Every year IDY is observed outdoors at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. It was there, on December 11, 2014, that the UN proclaimed June 21 as the International Day of Yoga. Now, more than ever, the theme of “Yoga for One Earth, One Health” rings true as yogis everywhere are discovering the sense of oneness with their bodies/minds/spirits, with nature, and with the planet.
- The event was supported by the State Bank of India, Chicago, and brought together numerous community organizations including Art of Living—Chicago, Mindful Meditation, Sewa International USA, Isha Foundation, Brahma Kumaris, Yoga Habitat, Heartfulness, Sahaja Yoga, Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur, Yogapathic, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh—Chicago, Science & Spirituality, Indian Community
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The 15th annual Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR) was held June 19–21 at the Wyndham Atlanta Buckhead Hotel & Conference Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Since 2014, more than 70 yoga therapy training programs have been accredited by the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). IAYT has been working to advance yoga therapy as a recognized health profession for more than 35 years.
In its earliest years, the conference focused on the definition of yoga therapy and how yoga could become part of traditional Western medicine to help people heal holistically. Yoga therapy was first considered an alternative form of treatment, then a complementary one, and now is accepted as an integrative part of Western medicine. With its integration, the subtler, spiritual dimensions of yoga in yoga therapy have become more mainstream, as yoga therapists collaborate with doctors, psychologists, public health experts, and other health care providers. These dimensions include asana (yoga postures), pranayama (breathing practices), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), mantra (repeated repetition of a sound or phrase), and mudras (hand positions).
What follows is a brief summary of a handful of the presentations at this year’s symposium.
Antonio Sausys, MA
Anthony Sausys, MA, CMT, C-IAYT, a somatic psychologist and yoga therapist, integrates Eastern medical approaches along with somatic yoga therapy (a form of body-centered therapy that looks at the connection between mind and body and uses both psychotherapy and physical therapies for holistic healing), grief therapy, Reiki, and Swedish massage into his practice. He explained the difference between Western and Eastern practitioner-client interactions. In Western medicine, it is assumed that there is something wrong with the patient and that the clinician knows what it is and tells the patient what to do. In Eastern medicine, everyone is divine and whole. It is assumed there is something right with the individual, which the individual has forgotten. The clinician uses practices that help the client remember and thereby regain a state of good health and mental and physical well-being.
Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani, MD
Yogacharya Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani, MD (AltMed), MBBS, C-IAYT, is director of the Institute of Salutogenesis and Complementary Medicine and Professor of Yoga Therapy at Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, a healthcare university in Puducherry, India. (Salutogenesis comes from the Latin word salus, which means health, and the Greek word genesis, which means source.) His virtual talk from India was entitled “Moving from Illness to Wellness: The Journey of Yoga Chikitsa.” Chikitsa is a Sanskrit term describing the therapeutic application of yoga and its tools, but is also understood as the application of caring. Dr. Ananda sees disease as a temporary, unwanted visitor. He said that a diagnosis can elicit a stress response in a patient, which actually retards the healing response. Conversely, yoga therapy techniques help bring about a relaxation response, which promotes healing. His advice: “Don’t push, let go. Relax. Keep the yoga in yoga therapy. Yoga is both transformational and transcendental. Move from dis-ease to ease.”
Kathryn C. Shafer, PhD
Kathryn C. Shafer, PhD, LCSW, CAP, E-RYT 500, C-IAYT, a psychotherapist, yoga therapist, brain researcher, and certified addiction professional, whose address was titled “The Power of Qualitative Research in Yoga Therapy Practice: Skills for Making the Invisible Visible,” said that 75%–80% of visits to a health care provider are stress related. Kathryn uses her skills with trauma-informed practices to address mental health problems, including addiction. She noted that qualitative research has demonstrated that adaptable, self-administered mindful practices can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as provide coping skills that help individuals refrain from self-harming behaviors such as substance abuse. In addition, she said, such research can guide yoga therapists in clinical practice by revealing how and why specific practices—for example, yoga nidra—affect clients.
Reggie Hubbard, MBA, in his keynote, shared his profound journey of transformation and healing through deep spiritual practice following a life-altering stroke, which he now views as the greatest blessing of his life. While in the hospital, he was (surprisingly) allowed to play his gongs and drums, which he believes helped bring him back into balance. (He said that nurses were continuously entering his room on the pretense of taking his blood pressure so they could hear him play.) Reggie was scheduled to be hospitalized for 11 days; he was released after four. When he asked, “What’s my homework?” his health care team responded, “You’re the mindfulness teacher. You’ll figure it out.”
Reggie Hubbard, MBA
Said Reggie: “Your therapeutic outcome is in direct proportion to the practice you do: meditation, medication, physical therapy, rest, silence, sound, prayers, true grit, and grace. Each had a place in my recovery. The infinite nature of sound kept me in touch with what was possible…. Never lose sight of the possibility of miracles. Disciplined practice of yoga yields miracles. Do meditation anyway, even if you don’t want to. Consistency of practice—even if you don’t want to do it. It matters. Honor the body. Sit down if you need to rest. Don’t ask stroke victims if they are fully recovered. They are restored. And there are side effects, but not necessary for you to know. If you survive, that’s a miracle. Do you gain anything from the experience? Nothing happens by accident. Could have gone another way.”
Reggie is the founder of Active Peace, LLC, which fuses yoga/mindfulness teaching and training, sound meditation, and political strategies. Long before his stroke, his yoga and meditation practices were a sanctuary of peace and perspective while he navigated the stresses of being a Black man in society and working in pressure-filled jobs. Reggie has spent most of the last two decades at the forefront of social change. He’s been a global marketer, criminal justice reformer, healthcare advocate, community organizer, and presidential campaigner, among other occupations. One of his mantras is “Do no harm. Take no shit.”
In addition to keynote and general sessions, concurrent hour-and-a-half sessions and roundtable discussions were held with various yoga therapy themes. Roundtable discussion themes included mental illness and grief; pain science and supporting people in pain; identifying yoga therapy niches that align with a therapist’s passions; body image and women’s health; and how to include philosophy, spirituality, and lifestyle in yoga research trials. Among the many choices for concurrent sessions were yoga and aquatic therapy intervention for chronic widespread pain; yoga therapy in end-of-life care; improving quality of life through yoga breathing in people with ALS; integrating EMDR, brainspotting, and yoga nidra into yoga therapy; yoga-based treatment for knee instability; and yoga therapy and qigong for queer and marginalized people.
Loren Fishman, MD with a participant demonstrating a side bend
Loren Fishman, MD, C-IAYT, led a concurrent session on “Yoga Therapy’s Value in Low-Back Pain.” He began his talk by noting that medical schools provide half an afternoon’s instruction on back pain versus one month on liver disease. “Most doctors don’t know about back pain,” he said. “If you want to learn about back pain, you have to become an orthopedic surgeon.” Yet back pain affects eight out of ten people during their lives, and Americans spend $50 billion annually on back pain. And back pain is the main reason people turn to yoga.
Loren emphasized that pain is a symptom, not a disease, and that there are two main types of back pain: (1) neurological (herniated disc, central spinal stenosis) and (2) musculoskeletal (muscle spasm, facet syndrome, sacroiliac joint derangement, scoliosis,). A third type is a mix of both neurological and musculoskeletal (piriformis syndrome, spondylolisthesis, arthritis). He discussed the physiology, signs and symptoms, and yoga therapy strategies for each type. Backward bends, he said, are generally recommended for neurological back pain and forward bends for musculoskeletal back problems. Building core strength and having good posture, Loren noted, are recommended for both. And he led us in some of his favorite back pain-alleviating poses.
After earning an advanced degree from Oxford University, Loren spent a year with yoga master B. K. S. Iyengar in Pune, India. He has taught yoga and practiced yoga daily ever since. He is presently on the staff at Columbia University Medical School and Medical Director of Manhattan Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in New York. He uses his medical and yoga training to help patients cope with pain associated with many conditions, including low-back pain, osteoporosis, scoliosis, rotator-cuff injury, and piriformis syndromes. He has written 13 books and more than 100 papers, most of which include the role of yoga therapy.
Loren also led a general session, “Ending the War Age.” He believes the worldwide yoga community—hundreds of millions strong—can lead an effort to stop war. He reminded us of a quote attributed to Margaret Mead: “Do not think that a small group of committed citizens cannot change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Relating war to health, he said, “War is by far our greatest public health issue. Over two-thirds of the death and destruction occurs after a war is over. If 3.5% of the world agrees, we can peaceably end it for all time: The whole world must Just say No in unison. Refuse to Fight.”
August 14 is Global Yoga Therapy Day. He encouraged us to join others worldwide to unite against war by wearing a gauze or adhesive bandage on our foreheads to make a point and spark questions.
Next year’s SYTAR will be held June 11–13 at the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa in California. It will be combined with the Symposium on Yoga Research, which previously has been a separate conference held in the fall.
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Sylvia leads us in a meditation to examine negative emotions of anger and fear and replace them with love, forgiveness, and kindness.
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Sylvia leads us into silence, stillness, and peace as we relax, focus on our breath, acknowledge our purpose, and let life unfold.
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The Yogi’s Way; Transform Your Mind, Health and Reality, by Reema Data; Yoga of Sound; The Life and Teachings of the Celestial Songman, Swami Nada Brahmananda, by Michael Grosso; Restorative Practices of Wellbeing, by Gabriel Kram
The Yogi’s Way; Transform Your Mind, Health and Reality
By Reema Data
Research shows there is an epidemic of loneliness and isolation, and that social disconnection dramatically increases the risk of anxiety and depression. Reema Data, in her 12-week self-guided course, The Yogi’s Way, addresses negative mental states, called kleshas in Sanskrit, that impact our health and reality. In addition to the traditional kleshas of anger, attachment, delusion, pride, and fear, she also addresses the kleshas of anxiety, depression, shame, jealousy, and loneliness that are prevalent in our world today.
Each chapter offers a set of practices, including mantra, meditation, visualization, breathing, or movement that help us move through these kleshas, create space to connect with consciousness, and deepen our relationship with our higher selves. The lessons and practices are rooted in yogic wisdom, cutting-edge science, and the realities of modern life.
Reema writes, “As we give our thoughts and emotions the affection and care they need, their grip on us weakens. In the process, dormant creative energies stir and awaken, guiding us to discover, refine, and nurture the unique gifts we were born to contribute to the world.” Her website is www.ReemaYoga.com.
Yoga of Sound; The Life and Teachings of the Celestial Songman, Swami Nada Brahmananda
By Michael Grosso
Through a series of serendipitous events, author Michael Grosso met Swami Nada Brahmananda, a former court musician for the king of Mysore, famous throughout India for being a master of Taan music and sound yoga, as well as for his supernatural control of his body. Michael began studying with Swami Nada and found his life profoundly changed.
In Yoga of Sound, he explores Swami Nada’s yoga of sacred sound, which focuses on the sound or vibration that created the universe, its personal cultivation, and its power to heal, enlighten, and offer insight about how to live in the Kali Yuga, the Age of Conflict. Michael also examines the siddhis, or extraordinary powers, that can arise from this work.
The lessons center on three life-enhancing themes: controlling the mind, which provides the essence of a happy life; diet and practices conducive to healing and health; and how music in all its forms can be used to transform consciousness and enrich our spiritual life. Swami Nada’s greatest lesson is that we can all learn to make music from the discordant notes of our lives and sing our way out of the Kali Yuga.
Restorative Practices of Wellbeing
By Gabriel Kram
According to Gabriel Kram, the next hidden epidemic is already here. It’s called disconnection. For 99.9 percent of human history, the way we lived revolved around one ideal: connection. From the genes that guide our behavior, to the involuntary responses of our autonomic nervous system, human beings were—and still are—designed to connect.
But in our modern world, we face an epidemic of disconnection, one we can’t blame on the last few years of social distancing and lockdowns. Researchers from Harvard, Northeastern, Northwestern, and Rutgers universities have found that people’s sense of disconnection and isolation increased even as the pandemic threat in the U.S. declined.
The key message of Gabriel’s book is as follows: “The deep-seated traumas of our modern world—racism, sexism, structural oppression, childhood adversity, constructs of war, and more—have left us exposed and vulnerable, keeping us from connecting with ourselves, others, and the natural life that surrounds us.”
Blending proven ancient awareness techniques with cutting edge neurophysiology, gathered from 40 advisors in 20 disciplines of wellbeing across 18 cultures, Gabriel offers 300+ restorative practices for restoring wholeness, well-being, and connection with the present moment, with ourselves, our bodies, our senses, our emotions, with one another, and with nature. It’s a guide to reclaiming the roots of our shared humanity.
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Joan Budilovsky demonstrates a mudra that synchronizes her right- and left-brain hemispheres.
Thousands of years ago, before Body Language Experts deciphered the meanings behind our movements, Mudra Masters were focused on optimizing hand positions to enhance internal energy flow within the body. The word mudra stems from an Indian Sanskrit word meaning sign, or seal. Through the centuries, hundreds, if not thousands, of mudras were developed and refined.
Let me introduce a familiar mudra to you.
Imagine contemplating a brilliant idea. Extend your fingers and touch the fingertips of your right and left hands together. Perhaps you even tap them together in excitement. From a Mudra Master’s perspective, this gesture synchronizes the right and left hemispheres of the brain, fostering creativity.
Now let’s observe this inner energy in action.
Look at your right hand. Let it rest gently open. Over time, you’ll feel the warmth emanating from this hand. It won’t be like Superman’s X-ray vision boring heat into your hand, but rather the internal workings of the hand radiating heat from the inside out. Be sensitive to these internal happenings. Be patient; you may not feel the heat immediately.
But here’s a way you will:
Rub your hands together until you feel heat generating between them. Then, place your cupped hands over your closed eyelids. Feel the comforting warmth of your hands against your closed eyes. Embrace this soothing warmth and calming energy.
Ancient religious statues recognized the significance of the hands in spiritual practices. Have you seen a Buddha statue sitting with crossed legs and palms facing up? There’s a reason behind these upward palms. It symbolizes openness to the energy of one’s surroundings. Placing the palms down on the knees is a way of grounding one’s energy.
These hand gestures aim to harness internal energy into peaceful states of being. And that’s just the beginning. There are so many more handy ways of holding those hands!
We all possess energy. Many believe the imbalance of energy is the root cause of all diseases. Finding ways to direct and balance this energy can become a healthy, organic ingredient to a happier life. Discovering new methods to harness and channel our incredible energy into creative ways of inspiring peace in our chaotic world seems like a commendable gesture to me.
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Joan Budilovsky will be teaching, with LaMarr Magnus, a four-week course, “Adventures in Meditation” (EPSY494), through the Department of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, May 19–June 13. Joan can be reached through her website, www.Yoyoga.com.
This article was published March 6, 2025 in Shaw Media Newspapers. Reprinted by permission.
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With the background sound of a rainy night in Bali, Indonesia, Sylvia leads us in a meditation to find peace in nature.
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Beth Kiely leads a Mindfulness 101 class to benefit Common Pantry. More than $1,000 was raised.
Om on the Range yoga studio celebrated its 23rd anniversary on Valentine’s Day. To celebrate, they hosted a Mindfulness 101 fundraiser to benefit Common Pantry. More than one thousand dollars was raised to help serve the hungry and food insecure.
Terry and Beth Kiely
Beth and Terry Kiely founded Om in 2002, and this annual tradition has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities in Chicago and beyond. They love “philanthropy on the mat” and invite those involved in local charities to reach out to explore a potential partnership.
Om on the Range is located in the Ravenswood area of Chicago where they host weekly classes, livestream classes on Zoom, anytime audio classes and special programs such as yoga summer camp, private sessions, an annual winter retreat, yoga fundraisers, and community outreach.
To discuss potential partnership ideas, email Beth at beth@omontherange.net. For more information about Om on the Range, visit www.omontherange.net.
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Sylvia leads us in a meditation to find strength, loving kindness, and balanced self-conscious awareness. Find a quiet place to sit or lie down as Sylvia brings you to a state of bliss.
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Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda’s 162nd birthday was celebrated on January 11 at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago in Lemont, Illinois. Vivekananda, a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna in India, was the first to bring the teachings of Vedanta, a Hindu philosophy based on the Vedas, the sacred scriptures of India, to the U.S. when he attended the Parliament of Religions in 1893 in Chicago. He ended up staying for two years, traveling and speaking throughout the nation. He opened the first Vedanta center in New York in 1894. The primary message of Vedanta is that of oneness, and that our human purpose is to realize our divine nature.
Kali Om and Prasad Palacharla, PhD
The birthday celebration was co-hosted by Prasad Palacharla, PhD, and popular Chicago yoga teacher Kali Om. Prasad began the conference with a talk about how Vivekananda found his guru, Ramakrishna, whose name, we learned, means joy, happiness, and embodiment of beauty. The theme of joy and happiness permeated the celebration.
Veena Marwaha, president of the Hindu Temple, gave an inspiring talk about the power of the mind. She ended by paraphrasing words of Swami Vivekananda: “If you think you are strong, you will be strong; if you think you are weak, you will be weak.”
Swami Ishatmananda
Swami Ishatmananda of the Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago spoke about the goal of yoga, which he said is happiness. He said we practice hatha yoga for a healthy body and jnana yoga for a healthy mind. “The mind is very subtle. If we can develop it, we will find happiness. If your mind is not ready, you are not happy,” he said. “Anyone can see God, and what is God? God is happiness. God is the source of happiness.”
Swami Ishatmananda advised us to banish negative thoughts from our minds; he also said that we can avoid suffering by not taking people seriously. “You know who you are,” he said. “Don’t depend on others…. Don’t expect others to appreciate you. Happiness is your goal. Happiness is God. Rama means happiness, joy.” He then led the group in meditation, ending with “Happiness is all.”
Prasad Palarcharla, who has taught hatha yoga at the Hindu Temple for the past 18 years, led the group in a vigorous practice. He began by reviewing three main points in the practice of hatha yoga: alignment, breath, and dristi (focus). He reminded us that focus (concentration) is the sixth limb of yoga, followed by meditation, and then samadhi (enlightenment). Using the example of an archer aiming his bow at a target, he said, “Become one with the target.”
Hatha yoga led by Prasad Palacharla, PhD
Gopal Gupta, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Ethics at Aurora University, spoke about yoga and maya (delusion), with an emphasis on mantras, which he defined as a vibration that directs the mind from problems and stress and lifts it to a spiritual, divine level. “The most powerful energy in the world is … sound,” he said. “A few words can make or break someone’s day. It can inspire millions of people.”
Dr. Gupta led us in the Haré Krishna mantra, which contains the words Haré (embodiment of love), Krishna (embodiment of beauty), and Rama (joy and happiness). He said we can attain these qualities of love, beauty, joy, and happiness by chanting.
Gopal Gupta, Phd
Kali Om, author, yoga teacher, and former professor of yoga at DePaul University, spoke about navigating the kleshas, or colorings of the mind. Kleshas are causes of mental anguish, considered to be obstacles on the spiritual path that prevent peace of mind and joy. The kleshas are ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, and fear of death. Kali said the ways to overcome the kleshas include the practices of self-discipline, self-study, study of yogic scriptures, selfless service, and detachment. Ultimately these practices lead toward a state of sat chit ananda (existence, consciousness, and bliss, which are the respective meanings of the three Sanskrit words). She finished her talk by leading us in a meditation where we combined a mantra with our breath.
Devi 2000
The celebration continued with call-and-response chanting with Devi 2000, Chicago’s premier kirtan band, founded and led by Debi Buzil. The joyful and inspiring chanting was the perfect end to the conference’s overall theme of happiness and joy. A vegetarian lunch concluded the event.
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For more information about events and yoga classes at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago, visit www.htgc.org.
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Why is it important to meditate?
There can be multiple answers to this question. Here’s one: to calm the busy mind so things can be seen more clearly and accurately.
When this happens, decisions become easier to make. That’s really important since so many decisions are made every single day. Some are important and life changing, like Should I enlist in the army? Others are not so important but decisions nonetheless, such as What color shirt should I wear today?
Since most of us have minds in overdrive most (if not all) of the time, it’s vital for the mind to get a chance to rest. After all, that busy ol’ mind is busy even during sleep, creating dreams.
And speaking of dreams, that’s something meditation can help with too. Some of you may think you don’t dream, but we all indeed do dream whether we remember the dreams or not. You’ll find with a regular meditation practice your dreams become clearer and you begin to see more closely how they can help you answer important concerns in your life.
Now you don’t have to take my word for any of this. There’s plenty of scientific documentation and a vast array of research studies supporting the incredible positive side effects of a regular meditation practice. Here are just some of the proven benefits found:
- lowering cholesterol levels
- reversing arteriosclerosis (hardened arteries)
- lowering blood pressure levels
- reducing angina (chest pain)
- lowering levels of stress hormones in the blood
- lessening fatigue
- altering brain wave patterns reflective of a calmer state
- lessening anxiety and depression
- reducing insomnia
- improving muscle and joint pain
- strengthening the immune system
- lessening craving type behaviors like smoking
- increasing overall confidence, awareness and general health
Meditating need not be complicated. It can actually be rather simple to get into a meditative state of mind. Just a few moments a day, every day.
Let’s start with today!
Below is a simple meditation I call The Zen Ten:
Sit in a comfortable seated position.
Bring your attention to your breath.
Each time you inhale, count down one number starting with 10.
For example, inhale 10; next, inhale 9; then 8, etc.
When you get to 1, the next number will start over again with 10.
If you lose focus on your breath or get distracted, gently bring your attention back to 10 and
start again.
Continue this meditative practice as long as is comfortable.
In the morning, in the evening, anytime you have a few moments in the day, try giving your mind a meditative moment. Your body and mind will thank you for it.
And as your calmness within develops and radiates outward, the people in your life will surely be thanking you too.
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This “Yo Joan” column appeared in the Kane Country Chronicle on July 4, 2024. Joan Budilovsky can be reached ateditorial@kcchronicle.com or through her website Yoyoga.com. She is the Expert Author of the best-selling book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Meditation, now available on Audible.com.
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“Looking into her eyes, I felt a love I’d never experienced in my entire life.”—RB
In August, Chicago will welcome Sri Mata Amritanandamayi, known to millions simply as “Amma” (Mother). But who is Amma, and why do people from all walks of life seek her embrace?
Born on September 27, 1953, in Kerala, India, Amma has become a global humanitarian and spiritual leader. Amma’s life—a life inspired by love and service to humanity—is her message, and her example has inspired millions across the world to follow in her path of selfless service.
From her earliest years, Amma displayed an extraordinary capacity for compassion. In a culture steeped in devotion, she stood out for her dedication to alleviating the suffering of others. By the time she turned sixteen, people were traveling from around the world to her small fishing village to meet her.
Today, Amma’s reach extends globally through Embracing the World (www.embracingtheworld.org), a network of volunteer-run national and regional nonprofit organizations led and inspired by Amma. Embracing the World encompasses educational initiatives, disaster relief, housing programs, schools, orphanages, hospitals, and more.
In the U.S., Amma’s centers (MA Centers) across the country provide a spiritual home for a vibrant community of seekers. These hubs of service, worship, and education are staffed by volunteers from diverse backgrounds, united in their commitment to Amma’s vision of universal motherhood, or “vishwa matrutvam.” MA Center Chicago, located in Elburn, one of Chicago’s far west suburbs, serves as the hub of Amma’s charitable, educational, and spiritual activities in the Midwest, conducting programs regularly, including prayer sessions, guided meditation, spiritual discourses, green initiatives, and youth programs.
“Volunteering with Amma’s ‘Embracing the World’ humanitarian efforts allowed me to travel the globe to help rebuild, teach, serve, and support,” shares one devotee. “My life has been so enriched by discovering Amma. The Amma family is the community I always hoped I would find.”
Amma’s approach is unique. She offers her love and wisdom through a simple yet profound act: an embrace. This “darshan,” or individual connection, has touched millions. Many who experience Amma’s embrace report transformative experiences:
“When I finally met Amma, I knew I was home. I felt seen, understood, and accepted for who I am,” says DM.
NS recounts, “After my first time meeting Amma, I went home and sobbed throughout the next day and night. I never cry. I think I let go of the pain I’d been burying since my childhood.”
For those drawn to deeper spiritual practice, Amma offers guidance through mantras, meditation, and teachings. These practices can help serve as the foundation for a student’s sadhana, or dedicated spiritual path, aimed at cultivating awareness and inner peace.
Amma’s Chicagoland programs will take place Friday through Sunday, August 9—11, 2024. All are welcome to attend these free programs, during which they can experience Amma’s personal blessing (a hug), enjoy inspirational live music, participate in meditation sessions, listen to spiritual discourses, experience healing arts, and savor delicious vegetarian food. To help ensure everyone who comes gets to meet Amma, it is recommended to arrive early, as the line to receive Amma’s embrace can be lengthy.
Admission is free. Location: MA Center Chicago, 41W501 Keslinger Rd., Elburn, IL. For more information, call 1-630-387-5077, email macenterchicago@ammagroups.org, or visit chicago.amma.org
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Guests played percussion instruments along with djembe drumming by M. Taylor
Lisa Faremouth Weber (Satinder Kaur), a popular yoga teacher, teacher trainer, and founder of Heaven Meets Earth Yoga Studio in Evanston, recently graduated from a three-year program, earning a Master’s Degree in Yoga Studies, focusing on Yoga Therapy, from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. Her studies included yoga texts, history, philosophy, physiology, yoga therapy, research, Sanskrit, Buddhism, Jainism, and more. In addition, Lisa traveled to India for a month to live in ashrams and participate in Indian culture. The Masters of Yoga Studies cohort included students from all over the world including Tel Aviv and Mexico.
L–R: Shabad Kaur Khalsa, Shiva Singh Khalsa, M. Taylor, and Lisa Faremouth Weber
On Sunday, June 2, Kundalini yoga teachers Shiva Singh and Shabad Kaur Khalsa hosted a graduation party for Lisa at their home in Evanston. Guests gathered in the backyard for homemade chai before the party officially began with a playing of the gong by Shiva Singh as everyone relaxed in chairs, entering into a meditative state. Next, Lisa gave a short presentation about her thesis, the subject of which was “Yoga as an Embodiment Pathway for the Adjunct Treatment for Eating Disorders.” She then guided us in a meditation, inspired us with a few sacred readings and personal stories, and led us in a chant that had special meaning to her. Joyful dancing and singing followed, also led by Lisa. Afterward, a scrumptious vegan buffet was served, followed by djembe drumming by professional drummer M. Taylor. Shiva Singh and Shabad Kaur passed out a wide variety of percussion instruments to the guests to accompanying the drumming. Everyone had a wonderful time celebrating and reconnecting with other yogis.
Lisa first opened Heaven Meets Earth Yoga Studio in 2005 where she teaches yoga, leads teacher trainings and retreats, and hosts a variety of workshops. She has earned several certifications to teach a variety of styles of yoga, including Kundalini, Freedom Style, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Prenatal, Restorative Yoga, Chakradance, Children’s Yoga, and more. Lisa is featured in Kino MacGregor’s book, Get Your Yoga On, and is part of OmStars Online Yoga Channel where you can see her Radiant Restorative series and her 30-minute documentary film, The Future of Yoga: Your Pathway to Happiness.
Lisa has openings for yoga therapy sessions, speaking engagements, meditations, workshops, mentorship, and teacher training. For more information, visit www.heavenmeetsearthyoga.com or email lisayoga@comcast.net.
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On Sunday, May 19, a party was held at Fernando’s Tequila Bar and Restaurant to celebrate Suddha Weixler, former director of Chicago Yoga Center, before he moves to Austria in June. Many of those in attendance were former yoga students of Suddha’s, most of whom he trained to become yoga teachers. Over the years, Suddha trained many teachers who went on to open their own yoga studios. They included Amy Beth Treciokas of YogaNow, Daren Friesen of Moksha Yoga, Quinn Kearny and Tom Quinn of YogaView, Jody Blumstein of Priya Yoga, Carly Carney of Beverly Yoga Center, and Miguel Latronica of Eight Limbs Yoga, among others.
Suddha also trained many teachers who now lead their own teacher trainings and retreats and others who teach yoga at universities, hospitals, health clubs, offices, and other locations. Some are full-time yoga teachers—among them Kali Om, David Wallin, Mary Klonowski, Patricia Hyland, Heidi Ellison-Childress, and Janna Parker.
Suddha Weixler with his students at N.U. Yoga in 1995.
Suddha, who came to Chicago in 1984, originally taught Iyengar-style yoga. In the 1990s, he traveled to India to study Ashtanga yoga with K. Pattabhi Jois, who created the style, and then, back in Chicago, began to host a Who’s Who of internationally known Ashtanga yoga teachers at Chicago Yoga Center, including Manju Jois (Pattabhi Jois’s oldest son), Richard Freeman, and David Swenson. Later he introduced his students to teachings of Krishnamacharya (considered to be the “Father of Modern Yoga”) taught by Srivatsa Ramaswami and Yin yoga taught by Yin yoga founder Paulie Zink, and well-known teachers Paul Grilley and Sarah Powers. In addition, over a period of 30 years, Suddha led international retreats to Peru, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, Croatia, India, Bali, and Mexico. Mexico, where he led 28 retreats over the years, was the most popular.
He returned to Germany in 1982, by which time he had become interested in learning meditation and exploring other aspects of yoga. He was inspired by a book by Swami Narayanananda, and when the Swami came to Germany, Suddha became his student, spending a total of six years in his ashrams in Germany, Denmark, and then the U.S. After he finished his teacher training in 1984, Swami Narayanananda told Suddha that his small ashram in Chicago, N.U. Yoga Center, needed someone to teach yoga. He moved into the ashram and began teaching two classes a week at the center, located at 2937 N. Southport. The numbers of students and classes grew steadily, and by 1991, the space had become inadequate. Further, other residents of the ashram had moved to Narayanananda ashrams in Wisconsin, California, or Germany. So, Suddha, who was the director by this time, moved the center to a larger facility at 3047 N. Lincoln. In 2004, he changed the name to Chicago Yoga Center.
In 1995, when Yoga Chicago magazine first interviewed him, Suddha was offering 11 classes each week plus private sessions, with three teachers assisting him. He also led Chicago-area weekend retreats throughout the year and a one-week retreat in Mexico. Soon he was teaching 25 classes a week, five classes a day. He eventually cut back to teaching 11 classes per week at locations that included the Art Institute of Chicago and Evanston Athletic Club, in addition to classes at Chicago Yoga Center. In 2019, after 30 years, Suddha retired from his Adjunct Associate Professorship at the School of the Art Institute. In 2020, like many studio directors, Suddha closed the center due to COVID, but continued to teach on Zoom.
Meditation and yoga philosophy were always at the forefront of Suddha’s personal practice and teaching. Yet he taught three styles of yoga—Iyengar, Ashtanga, and classical Hatha yoga—to thousands of students over the years.
In a Yoga Chicago survey conducted in 2016, Suddha offered the following responses:
- Describe your teaching style in five words.
Authentic yoga is about Mind.
- How has yoga changed your life?
Made me more humble, open-minded, respectful, disciplined, healthy, virtuous, spiritual, and less ego-centric.
- What is the philosophy you try to instill in your students?
There is nothing to instill, because it is there already, just to be reminded of.
- What was one of your most profound moments in teaching?
Knowing that the ULTIMATE teacher does it all, the ABSOLUTE is all pervading.
- What do you see influencing or affecting yoga teachers and students in the next five years?
After 30 some years of practice and teaching, I understand that progress and process are interrelated, and free will and the law of cause and effect (Karma) co-create the human experience and condition. We are creating and reaping the fruits of our actions. When this is realized, time and space seem less of a limitation, except if wasted.
We wish Suddha the best as he moves to Austria and look forward to seeing him when he returns occasionally to Chicago to teach in person. He will continue to teach from Austria on Zoom. He also plans to lead one or two retreats each year in Europe and might write a book! You can keep in touch with Suddha through his website, http://www.yogamind.com.
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I’ve always loved libraries, and as I’ve gotten older, I love them even more. I used to teach in colleges and currently I’m teaching in libraries. My home away from home now happens to be the exquisitely charming Burlington Public Library. It’s just a hop, skip, and a jump over the border in Wisconsin next to Lake Geneva, a popular nearby vacation destination for so many of us. It sure has been a welcomed respite over the years for me!
I teach classes in yoga and meditation as well as lead groups in an assortment of fascinating book studies. Recently, as I was passing by the colorful children’s book display, BOYOGIcaught my attention. What a great title!
The intriguing cover artwork of yoga poses surrounding a military man on his knees hugging a child brought me in closer to the subtitle, “How a Wounded Family Learned to Heal.” Now, who wouldn’t want to read such a book?
So right then and there I sought out an unusually handsome man and coaxed him into sitting next to me on a soft, cushioned library seat so we could read this picture book together. By the way, if you’re single you’ll find a lot of attractive people at the library. This man happened to be my husband, but if he weren’t I would certainly marry him.
It took just about seven magical minutes for us to slowly read through this incredible book—a story about a father veteran returning home to his young family, a changed man. No longer happy and carefree. His children don’t understand the changes in his personality. He looks the same but doesn’t act the same.
His wife enrolls them both into a yoga class at the local Y, and transformations start to happen for the entire family, particularly for the father and son. It’s a book worth reading. I don’t want to give away too much. Just get it, you’ll see.
It might take you less than seven minutes to read it. I can be a slow reader. However, the incredible flowing illustrations by Noah Denmon and the sensitive meanings within the words by David Barclay Moore have a lingering effect. I sit here now, days later, still reflecting on its thoughtful gentle brilliance. Wow.
You could meet your match at the library too. It’s all there for the taking—every type of incredible vision of fiction, non-fiction, and beyond, surrounded by the most attractive and fascinating people.
Yep, at the library it’s just another day in paradise.
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This story is an excerpt from the Kane County Chronicle’s’ Yo Joan column of June 6. Joan Budilovsky can be reached at yojoan@yoyoga.com or thru her website, www.Yoyoga.com, or possibly at a library near you.
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Durga Das performed at the first Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR) held in Los Angeles in January, 2007. Photo by Sharon Steffensen
David Newman, aka Durga Das, passed quickly on April 18, leaving the world with his songs, writings, and teachings. He was surrounded in comfort and care with his beloved Mira, daughter Tulsi, and family. David had a beautiful and conscious transition. He has left many of us sad and heartbroken. David was a great Yogi, chanting sacred matras, writing uplifting and knowing songs. He was a regular in the Yoga Festival world, including Bhakti Fest, Midwest Yoga and Kirtan Fest, and Milwaukee’s Kirtan Fest at Blue Lotus Farms. David was a regular at Yoga Now Chicago. He held Kirtan College for years, teaching and encouraging students to sing their own song. He was warm and curious, with a sense of joy, humor, and love. He had just taken on a new role as the director of the Ayurprana Listening Room, an incredible music venue in Asheville, NC.
David had an ear for all things music—from acoustic Woodstock-like jams to sophisticated dance music—all with beautiful ease and grace. Albums that stood out for me include The Hanuman Chalisa: Leap of Grace, 11 recordings of the classic ode to Hanuman; and Stars, featuring my favorite “Love Belongs to Everyone.” The cool synthesized remixes of ReBliss: Stars Revisited are beautiful. David and Mira recorded a deep ephemeral poem on Devi 2000’s “Kali Ma.” One of his later recordings, Acoustic Chant: Ukelele Kirtan Serenades, was also lovely. He brought various kirtan artists together to sing for various projects including Stay Strong. Reviews for all his recordings can be found in the Yoga Chicago magazine archives at www.yogachicago.com.
Durga Das at the first Midwest Bhakti Fest, held in Madison, Wisconsin, in the summer of 2012. Photo by Mitchell Manz Photography
David could soothe your soul with just his voice and an acoustic guitar. We will miss his high vibes, bhakti-infused humor, and the realness of 21st-century spiritual life. There are many places you can listen to Dave’s music, from YouTube to Spotify. Mira shared that if there was one song that could encapsulate what David was trying to share in this lifetime, it would be “Love, Peace and Freedom.” We will continue to chant these songs, and find the love and power he has left behind.
A celebration of David Newman’s life will be held Saturday, April 27, 7:30–10:30 p.m., sponsored by the Auricle Collective, at 522 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA. Presenters include Donna DeLory, David Stringer, Shiva Rea, Sianna Sherman, Masgood Ali Khan, Joey Lugassy, Spring Grove, Joss Jaffe, Zat Baraka, Kit Thomas, Ashley Turner, Shayna Hiller, Clayton Campbell, Libby Weintraub, Kia Miller, Tommy Rosen, David Vito Gregoli, Richard Wegman, Johanna Beekman, and Govind Das and Jacqueline. To register, email bhaktiyogashala@gmail.com. All proceeds will be passed on to his daughter, Tulsi.
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Devorah Winston Buzil learned Sanskrit chanting from her mother. Devi is the founder of Devi 2000 Collective, Chicago’s premier kirtan group. Their three albums—Devotional, Prepare Your Soul to Dance, and Kum Kum—are rooted in Bhakti yoga, the path of love. Devi’s songs have been featured on TV shows The L Word and Saturday Night Live. Devi has studied music in the motherlands of Brazil, India, and the US. At present, she is the music editor at Yoga Chicago. She is blessed to have taught yoga to adults, kids, homeless teens, and the ladies in her neighborhood’s women’s shelter. A longtime devotee of Amma, the “hugging saint,” she laughs with her two children every day. They have proven to be her greatest teachers. Devi is a firm believer in love. She may be reached at debi@devi2000.com and at www.facebook.com/devi2000/.
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The Vijnana-bhairava, an ancient teaching of India written between 750–1014 CE, is fascinating, captivating and, at the same time, practical. It is one of the bliss-saturated texts of tantric Shaivism and is a profound esoteric text for the direct knowledge of Siva (divinity). Its essential teaching is centered on the omnipresence and all pervasiveness of the universal consciousness called Bhairava-Siva and how one may attain liberation using a series (or system) of mystical practices and meditations as forms of internal alchemy and inner transformation.
The text, translated by Jaideva Singh, contains 163 teachings and practices in the form of verses that give instruction, known as dharanas, for transcending mundane awareness of the world as a place of objects of duality in order to experience the ultimate bliss-consciousness reality beyond objects. When this experience happens, physical cells, the nervous system, and nadis (energy channels) become flooded with the light of the divine. The energy moves through the chakra system as the kundalini-sakti, a coiled or retracted energy that normally lies dormant at the base of the spine until awakened.
The experience of Bhairava-Siva, the nectar of bliss, is found most readily in the space between the thoughts and in the interval between the suspended breaths. It is in the interval between the breaths that thoughts cease, allowing access for the cherished nectar to occur.
Here is a summation of seven comprehensive and easy-to-follow verses with added commentary:
Summation of Verse 25:
In this dharana, prana (exhalation) arises and is released from the interior center of the body, followed by a brief pause. In this pause one may realize the bliss of Bhairava. Of the breath of apana (inhalation), arising from the space of the surrounding environment, there is a short pause from the center of the body. In this pause one may realize the bliss of Bhairava.
If one focuses the mind on these two pauses between thoughts and between breaths, one will gradually realize the highest bliss as Bhairava, thus transcending ordinary concerns, habitual mind wandering, and emotional fixations on troublesome worldly affairs. It has been said by advanced yogis that this practice alone can take one to the highest levels of spiritual autonomy.
Summation of Verse 29:
Meditate on the fire-like sakti as kundalini moving upwards through the chakras successively from one center of energy to another. In this practice, one may experience the dramatic rise of Bhairava within. This fire is easily ignited and spread through the nadis using rapid breathing with forceful exhalations. After doing this for several minutes, stop and focus on the sensations within and realize internal bliss in expanded awareness.
As the kundalini-sakti (internal fire) rises, it penetrates the chakra centers and frees energy for spiritual attainment, leading to the state of supreme blissful awareness.
Summation of Verse 38:
Brahma in the form of nada (sound), which is involuntarily vibrating within, can be heard only by the ear of one who is under the guidance of yoga. By becoming intimate in meditation with this current of sound, one attains the Bhairava of Siva.
As the kundalini rises, one is able to hear the anahata nada (unstruck or self-generating sound).
Through this dharana, the inner sound will become more and more refined until it is absorbed into the highest form of bliss consciousness, bringing with it liberation from all forms of duality and obstruction by ego attachments.
This sound is the source of all manifestation.
The knower of the mystery of the sound current
is the knower of the mystery of the universe.
—Sufi Hazrat Imyat Khan
Summation of Verse 43:
If one contemplates the vastness of space in all directions simultaneously at once without any thoughts in the mind, one will experience spatial freedom all around and become identified with the unlimited expanse of universal consciousness.
By identifying one’s own mind as identical with the vastness of space, a form of expanded awareness arises that grants ultimate bliss and freedom from suffering as all dark and obtrusive elements in one’s mind and memory vanish. In this sublime state, one’s true nature shines forth, becoming a beacon of light for the welfare of others.
Summation of Verse 71:
On the occasion of great delight like seeing an old friend, finding a precious object that was lost, or in tasting a ripe and delicious peach, one should meditate on the delight itself, putting aside the object and becoming absorbed completely in the feeling. Then one’s mind will become identified with delight and supreme bliss is attained.
By focusing on the intensity and wonder of delight (without any object), one gains freedom from ego obstructions and becomes the embodiment of pure joy.
Summation of Verse 107:
One should leave aside thinking of the needs of one’s own body and contemplate that the same consciousness and life force is present in all bodies everywhere like one’s own. In this way, one transcends the separative ideas of you, me, mine, and yours and attains the highest form of spiritual bliss.
Because the same consciousness is present in all beings all the time everywhere, the realization of this reality brings with it the exquisite nectar of interior bliss and unlimited joy.
Summation of Verses 125 and 126:
Because everything is full of Brahman (the highest reality as universal bliss within), one has the same attitude towards friend and foe and remains unattached to both honor and dishonor, gains and losses. The aspirant does not hold onto attitudes of aversion or attachment to anything in any form.
The yogi is not moved to avoid or to attach to any phenomena, occurrence, event, person, or thing; neither to honor or dishonor, gaining or losing; but to see all things as equally abiding and arising in Brahman. In this equality of being, great joy is attained, and one is freed of the stresses brought on by discrimination based in attachment to differences.
Conclusive remarks: Yoga as a multifaceted system or “‘living network”’ of spiritual practices is vast in its many and varied applications and forms, whose aim is the transformation of ordinary awareness into divine consciousness. The practices outlined above can be seen as forms of internal alchemy that work by using a disciplined and conscious approach to transformation without thoughts of expectation or the desire for reward or gain, making unfettered pure enjoyment as divine bliss the highest and best reward attainable.
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Jia Senghe has practiced some form of yoga since the early 70’s and has maintained a meditation practice for more than 50 years. At a very early age, he became entranced by exquisite ink drawings of Japanese flower arrangements and by meditating Buddha figures brought back to the U.S. by his parents from postwar Japan. He currently resides in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood where he teaches internal alchemy and meditation along with Taoist yoga and Qigong. He works out of his studio on Oak Street and can often be found practicing his arts in nearby parks in the warmer months. Instagram: amanitasomahum. Check out Jia’s other articles and reviews in the Yoga Chicago archives.
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Yoga teacher, t’ai chi chih teacher, and polarity therapist Hannah Hedrick was back in Chicago for a few days in mid-March. She had taught at several places in Chicago and for decades was a national advocate for complementary practices, especially for self-help groups. When she retired from her job as director of the Division of Medical Education Products at the American Medical Association in 2000, Hannah moved to Hawaii, although she returns to Chicago regularly.
While here in March, Hannah brought together former students and friends for an impromptu class held at Wildlight Yoga, 4041 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. The class combined universal yoga principles with a simple form of tai chi called t’ai chi chih and Peer Bodywork, which Hannah developed, based on principles of Thai massage and Polarity Therapy.
Hannah Hedrick with Charles Sasan, an accredited tai chi chih teacher. Photos by Kim Grant
Hannah, who focuses on opening the heart, lengthening the spine, and engaging the outer thighs in the process, began the class leading us in some poses at the wall, including chair pose, table pose, and plank. Soon we paired off to do Peer Bodywork: sitting back-to-back, applying pressure to shoulder and hip or along the spine, rolling the body side to side, massage, and other practices. All techniques are designed to benefit both parties. Both the active and passive “peers” are equal partners in the exchange of energy to facilitate the profound healing process that often takes place. The class ended with t’ai chi chih movements, with an emphasis on opening the heart, giving and receiving, and an exchange of energy, much like the Peer Bodywork segment.
Hannah trained with many energy and bodywork teachers to develop her unique therapeutic practices, which she continues to offer to self-help groups for people with advanced life-threatening illnesses. She plans to be back to Chicago in July and October to offer programs in varied venues, including small groups in homes. To contact Hannah, email her at hedrickhneca@aol.com
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Hannah Hedrick is the co-author of The Quiet Killer, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease/Emphysema. Scarecrow Press, 2002. Read one of many stories about Hannah in Yoga Chicago at www.yogachicago.com. One of the earliest is in the May/June, 2000, issue: https://yogachicago.com/2014/03/serving-the-community-hannah-hedrick-phd/.
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“Freedom lies in being bold.”—Robert Frost
Ok, but deep down in my heart I know freedom’s more than bold or just another word. Perhaps there’s some guru out there to give a fresh perspective on letting freedom ring.
Found one!
“We have to enter into life fully to become free.”—Ram Dass
Got it.
But how does this make sense in a landscape of consumerism, honking cars, and people constantly yelling to get out of the way? As the honks mount I just want to get out, not in.
So I reflect more on Dass’s simple words and take it to mean that life has to be lived authentically to become free. However, voicing authenticity can be at times a fearful, even daunting, personal experience. Like trying to navigate a steep, winding mountain road. If everyone expressed their inner mumblings authentically…look out!
And I indeed do look out to see so many expressing their destructive mumblings on social media, YouTube, and you name it. It can be difficult not to get caught up in these destructive mumblings too. Authentic self—hmmm. Maybe there’s already enough selfies out there.
To gather some personal sanity, I’d like to shift from the craziness of what’s going on out there to a place where the depth of authenticity lies—in here. That unique radio-like frequency of inner thoughts. Occasionally these thoughts are clear and hit the station right on, but other times static takes over.
There’s probably someone reading this now who thinks their thoughts are neatly arranged and properly fine-tuned, but for most of us they’re rather messy and about as clear as mud. First there’s this thought, then that, then this and that at the same time. Where? When? What? Huh?
So, here’s a little meditative exercise in a Ram Dass-type-of-way to help clear the static—the where, when, what, huh of the mind. It’s a simple brain-building way to break free of the constantly moving train of thoughts. It can be done sitting, standing, or walking. You pick.
Observe your thoughts. Where do they take you? Are you going back in time to a troubling moment? Are you going forward to an anticipation or worry?
Release each thought, memory, or anticipation with your exhale. Bring your mind to the present moment.
Observe your body. Is there a part that is stiff or hurting? Exhale the stiffness or the pain with your breath.
Bring your attention simply to your breath.
Become the observer of where your thoughts go. As a train conductor with each changing station or each changing thought, get back on track with the simple movement of your breath.
Release each thought with your exhale. Bring a simple, clear focus to your breath.
Become free by simply focusing on your breath.
Take a moment each day to clear the static of the mind by focusing on the breath.
Yes, Dass’s good.
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Joan Budilovsky can be reached ateditorial@kcchronicle.com or through her website, www.Yoyoga.com. She’s the Expert Author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Meditation, now available on Audible.com. This story first appeared March 14 in Shaw Media Newspapers.
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When I received an invitation from Jennifer Kim, an instructor and leader at The Peace School, to be the guest speaker at their monthly Call to Peace on March 2, I was honored. One of her suggestions was to share memories of the years of publishing Yoga Chicago magazine.
The Peace School, which is the short name for the International Association for World Peace, is a non-profit organization that helps people of all ages practice peace in everyday life. They offer classes in yoga, meditation, tae kwon do, self-defense for women, and others. They also lead programs in senior centers, nursing homes, schools, and corporations.
Thoughts of peace are sent to all the countries of the world. Photo by Mark Weiss
The Call to Peace event began with Peace Breathing, whereby the group (20–25 people) breathed together, inhaling “world” and exhaling “peace.” Next, the group repeated in unison, “May peace be in [a country],” naming the countries, while a slide show played of a flag ceremony conducted during the school’s annual Peace Day held at Daley Plaza in September. Master Charles Kim (President of The Peace School and the son of its founder, Grand Master Kim), gave a short talk before I spoke.
In preparation for my talk, I browsed through past issues of Yoga Chicago, paying particular attention to the tenth and twentieth anniversary issues, 2004 and 2014, respectively, where we highlighted the progress of the magazine: how we’d started with eight pages in July–August, 1994, and, as ads increased, grew to 16 pages after the first issue. We offered a 20% discount on display ads for the first issue. The first ad (one-eighth page) came from Foodworks along with a check for $75. I was very moved. I stared at the check for a long time and then photocopied it.
Other advertisers for our first issue included Yoga Circle; Temple of Kriya Yoga; NU Yoga (which later became Chicago Yoga Center); Serene Transitions; yoga teachers Michael LaRocca and Gloria McCartney; astrologer Marcia Sacks; graphic designer Chuck Quint; and a big half-page ad from the Himalayan Institute. Monika Andreas took out classified ads for her Lakeside Yoga Center and Lakeside Day Spa. Gradually we expanded to 80 pages where we stayed for many years, publishing every two months. (Two issues contained 88 pages.) The Peace School advertised with a one-sixth page ad for many years.
Editor Sharon Steffensen with the first issue of Yoga Chicago magazine. Photo by Mark Weiss
For the first issue, Naomi Velasquez, a friend and journalist from WGN-TV, offered to interview Chicago holistic physician David Edelberg, during which he talked about yoga’s effect on the body and mind. The interview was long enough to publish in two parts—meaning there would be a second issue! The first issue also contained a profile that I wrote of the popular yoga teacher Becky Love, a meditation technique, a directory of yoga classes, and a calendar of a yoga-related events in Chicago and suburbs.
Graphic designer Michael Edwards, who shared office space with me in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, helped me lay out the first issue, designed the cover, and wisely placed the directory of yoga classes toward the back, not the front, as I had envisioned it. The next day I drove the eight pages to a printer of small newsprint publications in Lansing, Illinois, and a few days later picked up the bundles of the magazine in my Mazda hatchback.
After it was printed, friends and supporters helped distribute the 10,000 copies of the magazine to yoga studios, YMCAs, libraries, bookstores, holistic health centers, park districts, and any place that would have them. When we exceeded 40 pages, we had to change printers and eventually printed 37,000 copies. Five skids were delivered to my home in a big truck with a forklift; other bundles of magazines were delivered to A Relaxed You on Chicago’s South Side and a West-suburban location for distributors to pick up and deliver to hundreds of locations in Chicago and suburbs.
L–R: Jennifer Kim, Sharon Steffensen, Master Charles Kim. Photo by Mark Weiss
Most stories came from members of the yoga community who were not professional writers, so early on, yoga teacher and writer Rachel Fiske offered to edit the stories. Since 2001, Ellen Bernstein, a professional editor, has been editing most stories and even does fact checking and research (including on this story, which now reads very well, right?). Eventually we added proofreaders and a web consultant.
Among the magazine’s features were its the regular columns: Q&A by Goswami Kriyananda; Jacqui Neurauter’s lifestyle column “Living in Synch”; Yoga for Kids, ultimately written by Mira Binzen; Swami Shraddhananda’s wisdom that combined yoga philosophy and social activism; Ayurveda by Gary Gran; the “Beyond the Mat” column by Kali Om (formerly Cara Jepson); and a Yoga Story in which readers shared their personal experiences with yoga. There were also cultural reviews: book reviews, Debi Buzil’s music reviews, and intermittent reviews of restaurants (mostly vegetarian), yoga DVDs, and Indian dance performances. There was a “Green Yoga” column for a while, columns by Reiki healer Shenoa Robinson, and later on meditation and astrology columns by Elesa Commerse and Marsha Sacks, respectively.
Eventually, as more people began using the Internet to promote their yoga classes and workshops, we had fewer ads, and the number of pages per issue decreased. Our next-to-last print issue, March–April 2020, which was prepared and printed before the onset of COVID, had 40 pages, and we put out a “summer issue” of 32 pages—our last issue—later that year. Now Yoga Chicago is entirely online, with archives of past issues going back to 2000. We also email a newsletter twice a month promoting events, teacher trainings, and retreats to those who subscribe to it through our website, www.yogachicago.com. We continually add stories and are in the process of updating the directory listings. July 2024 will be our 30th anniversary!
Participants of the Call to Peace event reminisce about former yoga teachers profiled in Yoga Chicago. Photo by Mark Weiss
After my talk, delicious refreshments were served, and there was time for questions and comments; several attendees shared memories of various writers and teachers who were profiled. One person was surprised to hear that since 2000 I’ve been working in a room that my partner, Don, remodeled into an office above our 2.5-car garage in Edgewater. She imagined that I had a “big company” with full-time employees. Although in the beginning, people would bring their stories to me in person, typewritten or on a floppy disk, all aspects of the magazine eventually became digital, from emailing stories back and forth among the writer, editor, proofreader, and myself to sending the pages to the printer.
I thank The Peace School for the opportunity to share the story of Yoga Chicago. In the process I enjoyed rereading stories—stories I had only hurriedly read before sending them to be edited. I was amazed at how good these edited stories are! I’ve decided to actually start reading those old issues of the magazine. I thank our editors for our excellent quality and also all those hundreds of people who contributed in many ways. And, of course, the advertisers who made it possible.
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The Peace School is located at 3121 N. Lincoln, in Chicago. For more information, visit www.peaceschool.org.
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Beth and Terry Kiely, directors of Om on the Range
Om on the Range celebrated its 22nd anniversary in its usual way by sponsoring a benefit. This year, the beneficiary was The Night Ministry, whose mission is to provide health, housing, and human connection to Chicagoans in need. In a yoga class held on February 17 and through other contributions, Om on the Range raised $1,230 for The Night Ministry.
Beth and Terry Kiely, directors of Om on the Range
Since their founding in 2002 on Valentine’s Day, Om on the Range has been a part of more than 50 yoga fundraisers, raising close to six figures to help their neighbors. To see a complete list, learn about their yoga classes, and find out other information, visit www.omontherange.net.
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Statue of Swami Vivekananda at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago
The annual conference celebrating the birthday of Swami Vivekananda was held on January 13, a cold, snowy Saturday, at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago (HTGC) in Lemont, Illinois. It was the 161th birthday of the renowned Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, and teacher who is credited with bringing yoga to the West in September 1983 when he participated in the Parliament of Religions, the world’s first organized interfaith gathering, which was held in conjunction with the Chicago World’s Fair, or Columbian Exhibition.
More than 6,000 people gathered in the building that is now the Art Institute of Chicago to hear Vivekananda’s groundbreaking speech in which he proclaimed the unity of all faiths and the essential divinity of man. Vivekananda’s message of tolerance and universal acceptance established him as a leading world religious figure. Even before he began speaking, after he was introduced, the audience gave him a standing ovation.
Indian spiritual thought was not entirely new to Americans. The naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher Henry David Thoreau was drawn to Hindu scriptures that explored ways to seek God and the divine in the material world, concepts that were reflected in his writings. He and his contemporary writers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman were all transcendentalists who shared a core belief in the inherent goodness of people and nature
Vivekananda also paved the way for other swamis, including Paramahansa Yogananda, who arrived in the U.S. in 1920 and spoke at the Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston and subsequently spread yogic teachings throughout the country.
Poonam Gupta and Kali Om
The celebration in Lemont, the Vivekananda International East West Conference (VIEW) 2024, included talks, yoga, pranayama (breathing) practices, meditation, and a musical performance. The event was co-hosted by yoga teachers Poonam Gupta, who leads the yoga programs at HTGC, and Kali Om, author and former adjunct professor of yoga at DePaul University in Chicago.
Dr. Gopal Srinivasan, President of the HTGC, opened the conference with a curious story about the 10-foot-high bronze statue of Swami Vivekananda (modeled from a photograph taken after his appearance at the World’s Parliament of Religions) that is currently on the Temple’s grounds. Originally the statue was shipped to Chicago to be installed at the Vivekananda Vedanta Society in the Hyde Park neighborhood. Due to a lack of suitable space for it there, the decision was made to bring the statue to the Hindu Temple in Lemont. The statue’s foundation was not strong enough, however; during an attempt to strengthen the base, the statue began tilting backward and was in danger of falling. An engineering firm, Katz & Sons, was contacted to address the emergency. The contractor believed that the only person he knew who could properly solve the problem was his father, who lived in Florida. He immediately called him for help. As it turned out, his father had just arrived in Chicago for a surprise visit to see his children. He went to the site without delay and had a crane brought in to hold the statue while the foundation was strengthened. A few days later, July 12, 1998, the statue was installed where it stands today.
Prasad Palacharla leads the group in Sun Salutations
Talks at the conference largely centered around karma (the relationship between a person’s mental or physical actions and the consequences following of those actions). Swami Sahajananda Giri of the Kriya Vedanta Gurukulam in Joliet spoke about Swami Vivekananda’s relationship with his guru, Ramakrishna, and his own spiritual evolution, teaching, and work in the West.
Prasad Palacharla, PhD, spoke about the four paths of yoga: jnana, the yoga of knowledge and wisdom; bhakti, the yoga of love and devotion; rajas, the yoga of meditation and consciousness; and karma, the yoga of action. Focusing on raja yoga, he emphasized the need to let go of our ego and attachments. After his talk, Prasad led the group in a practice of sun salutations, pranayama, and meditation.
Gopal Gupta, author and Distinguished Professor of Ethics at Aurora University, spoke on “Karma, Grace, and Freedom.” Our actions bring us toward our goal, he said, yet action is limited. Referring to the Bhagavad Gita, he said Lord Krishna helps us balance between effort and grace.
Kali Om
Kali Om spoke about swadharma (following our inherent, natural tendencies regarding work), karma yoga, selfless action, and performing our duties without seeking the fruits of our actions. “The results are not up to us,” she said. “We think we are in charge, but we are not.” When we give up our expectations of results and sense of agency (I made this happen), we are more at peace.
After the talks, the attendees were treated to a rousing devotion-filled kirtan led by the group Prana, which is composed of seven musicians/singers. The conference ended with a delicious Indian lunch.
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The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago is located at 10915 Lemont Road, Lemont, Illinois. Free yoga classes are held on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:00 and Saturday mornings from 9:00 to 10:30. Kirtans are held on the third Friday of the month from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. For a schedule of all the HTGC activities, visit their website at www.htgc.org.
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Accept + Welcome + Embrace = AWE
I heard this expression recently while zooming into WisdomHeart.com.
It clicked.
An accepting welcoming embrace is a mighty nice experience. But like so many good things in life, it takes time and patience to learn this fine art of giving and receiving.
Time and patience. I haven’t had much of either lately, so I’m taking a trip. We all need a trip to refresh and renew every once in a while, right? The kind of trip where we don’t fall on our faces but instead enter a special place where past failures don’t define us—where new inspirations exist. A fresh start!
I’d like to invite you to come along. Only if you’d want to go, of course. We’re all so very busy. No pressure. Just know the invitation is open to join at any time. I’ll be taking many of these kinds of trips throughout the year.
Consider me your tour guide.
First step: The check
We’ll check our baggage at the door. Whether starting on the right foot or the left—be there. Recognizing any imperfections as adding depth and character to who we are.
2nd step: The cloak
We’ll each wrap ourselves in a cloak of newfound compassion. Knowing deep inside we have the ability to live our greatest dreams guided by humility rather than arrogance.
Now we’re ready—let’s go!
Arek Socha, Pixabay.com
We’re embarking on a journey to a place where the landscape is shaped not by societal pressures but by the contours of evolving kindnesses.
Planes, trains, and automobiles aren’t needed on this first leg of the journey. All the movement takes place within the breath. Just an inhale and an exhale. In fact, if you’re reading this, you’re breathing so you are already on board!
Simply watch the steady transitions of the dance between the inhale and the exhale, the tension and the release. In time, notice the delicate temperature changes. Cool air in. Warm air out. Embrace the choreography of the movement.
And just when this steady tempo of breath becomes familiar and cozy, it may be interrupted by a bustling array of thoughts, questions, and musings. This part of the journey can get a bit bumpy. But no need to worry. We’ll get through it all just fine.
With no judgment, only a gentle redirection of attention, return the focus to the rhythmic dance of the inhale and exhale.
Within the silence that follows, some quiet echo sounds: Am I this thought? Am I that thought? Unfolding layers of self-awareness.
Once again, a gentle redirection of attention back to the breath.
The breath becoming a sanctuary to turn to. A quiet place where the turbulence of thoughts can settle into breezes of calmness. Our well-worn cloaks of compassion expanding in the gentle winds.
All this through a simple breath. An awe-inspiring breath.
And here we are now in Port 2024. Aloha!
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Joan Budilovsky can be reached ateditorial@kcchronicle.com or through her website Yoyoga.com. She’s the Expert Author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Meditation available on Audible.com. This story first appeared in the Kane County Chronicle on January 4, 2024.
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If you are someone who regularly remembers your dreams, then there is a good chance you have had the eye-opening experience of precognitive dreaming.
My own fascination with dreaming began when I was a teenager. I was an avid dreamer and relished the process of waking up each day and ruminating over the rich landscapes I had visited during my sleep. When I was seventeen, I had a dream that was innocuous enough. I was at my high school, not in a way that was readily recognizable, but in a dream-like sense. In the dream, I was sitting on the floor, legs crossed, in a circle with others who were sitting in the same way. That was it.
About a week later, I walked into my dance rehearsal at school. We had a very comprehensive program for dance led by a gym teacher who had been a dancer in her younger years. This dance company was one of the many creative endeavors that carried me through a difficult adolescence. There had been some recent drama in our ranks, so Miss Hicks wanted us to sit down for a group discussion. She invited us to sit on the floor, and we did so, spreading out into a large circle of students sitting cross legged. Just like in my dream. As I sensed a powerful intuitive connection being established, I realized I was living the very dream I had had a week ago. I didn’t have the language for it at the time, but now I understand that I was having my first precognitive, intuitive dream. A career as a psychologist and an expertise in dreams and dream interpretation would follow.
Everyone is intuitive. This begs the question, what is intuition? Webster’s defines intuition as “the power or faculty of attuning to direct knowledge or cognition without evident rational thought and inference.” In other words, intuition is an inner knowing that something is true or so because we can sense it, rather than having confirmed it from outside evidence. Intuition is a form of perception, but one that sits apart from the rational, thinking mind that governs how we perceive the world around us. That thinking mind is the voice that you identify as your Self, the part of you that knows who you are, where you are, and when you are. But what about other forms of perception?
We often think of our intuition as being a still, small voice inside of us. That still, small voice is difficult to hear and even more challenging to respond to and honor when it whispers bits of intuitive guidance in your ear, because the voice that is our narrator is almost impossible to turn off or dial down enough to let it be heard. While everyone has a different inner monologue, it is safe to assume that we all relate to ourselves in the same rational, and perhaps even literal way. We talk to ourselves in our mind, and that inner conversation generally eclipses all other forms of perception.
Something different occurs, however, when we go to sleep. Our rational perception goes to sleep with our conscious awareness. For somewhere between six and nine hours a night on average, we drift into another realm entirely, where sleep is like a little visit to death. We are reborn each morning as our brain wires back up and our thinking mind turns on. Almost instantaneously, we are back to the orientation we are familiar with: I think, therefore I am. Not so during sleep. As we move through the various stages of sleep, we drop lower and lower into a place deep inside our psyche where we are deeply connected to existence itself. Reality falls away, and we enter the realm of dreams, where anything can happen and probably will. The rational mind is sleeping, so that still small voice opens up and sings loudly in the form of dreams, exponentially increasing our ability to connect to intuition. Many people report dreaming of things that will occur in the future but have not yet happened, or precognitive dreams.
When I asked people who follow me for examples of precognitive dreaming for my upcoming book, the response was almost overwhelming. Clearly, intuitive perception while dreaming is a universal experience, though not so much in waking life. The mind perceives most everything in our waking life, but the mind cannot always be trusted. Most people either ignore their intuition or get so confused by all of the sensations in their mind and the body, they often don’t know how to trust what their intuition is telling them. You’ve heard this before and have probably said it: “I had the instinct, but ignored it.” Instincts are our intuition in action, coming from the part of us that is fourth-dimensional where time is irrelevant. In waking life, most people are shut off from the ability to perceive such a subtle energetic piece of information, partly because the rational mind rejects it. When we are asleep and dreaming, the rational mind is also asleep, and we are much freer to have experiences out of time, which include the intuitive phenomenon we call precognitive dreams.
But how do we develop our intuition during our waking life? Sleeping and dreaming provide the best blueprint. The rational mind is literally asleep, so our perceptions can expand into other energetic dimensions. We can do this while we are awake, but clearing out the detritus in order to hear the still, small voice beneath the clamor will require some effort. Most forms of meditation are designed to quiet the mind, and this waking life discipline is very similar to what happens when we sleep. The best way to develop your ability to tap into your still, small voice is through meditation. Any waking life discipline that can quiet the chatter in your head can help you distill your listening to hear your intuition in its still small voice.
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From Psychic Dreamer: Exploring the Connection between Dreams and Intuition © 2024 by Dr. Michael Lennox. Used by permission from Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., www.Llewellyn.com.
Dr. Michael Lennox is a psychologist, astrologer, and expert in dreams and dream interpretation. He teaches classes in self-investigation to a worldwide audience and is the host of the weekly podcast, Conscious Embodiment: Astrology and Dreams. He is also the author of Psychic Dreamer, Llewellyn’s Complete Dictionary of Dreams, Llewellyn’s Little Book of Dreams, and Dream Sight. Visit him online at www.michaellennox.com.
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During the week of June 18, Chicago-area yogis celebrated the ninth International Day of Yoga, officially designated by the United Nations as June 21. The theme for this year was “Yoga for Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” or “Yoga for the Welfare of All as One World—One Family.” On Sunday, June 18, at 10:00 a.m., on Chicago’s Navy […]
The International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) held its annual Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR) this year in Reston, Virginia, June 15–17. Yoga therapy is defined as the professional application of the principles and practices of yoga (including postures, breathwork, meditation techniques, and more) to promote health and well-being within a therapeutic relationship […]
Years ago, I developed and taught a course for College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois called Yoga for Chronic Pain. I had studied this subject for years prior and really wanted to help in some way all the many loved ones I knew who had pain issues. I didn’t have any problems with pain myself at […]
Sylvia Ewing encourages us to “be part of the world, not apart from it … and to bring beauty, light, and joy into the world.” She tells the story of moving into a new neighborhood a year ago where once there were strangers, now there are friends. She created the community she wanted to live in. […]
In the summer of 2001, I had the pleasure of teaching yoga to sixth- to eighth-grade Chicago public school students. They were enrolled in the DePaul Preparatory Academy, a summer enrichment program. We met weekday mornings in a classroom at the downtown campus of DePaul University. I would surreptitiously (and very carefully) burn a stick […]
What is meditation? Webster’s Dictionary has two definitions for it: discourseintended to express its author’s reflections or to guide others in contemplation. This makes sense. the act or process of meditating. Oh brother, so now I have to look up “meditating.” Here’s what Webster has to say about “meditating”: to engage in contemplationor reflection. Ok, this fact checks […]
Sylvia acknowledges that although there is divisiveness and pain in the world, there is also beauty and joy all around. When we let go of fear and replace it with love, peace, equanimity, and grace, we help heal ourselves and others. Be part of the beauty, says Sylvia.
https://4v6d43.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Yoga-Chicago-Magazine-Podcast-Let-Go-of-Fear-by-Sylvia-Ewing.mp3
This excerpt was taken with permission from Black People Breathe; A Mindfulness Guide to Racial Healing, the new book by mindfulness and breathwork expert Zee Clarke. Although written for Black people, the self-care practices are recommended for everyone.
In her book, Zee offers 33 powerful tools that Black people can use to help deal with challenges they experience because of what they look like. Doctors and psychologists have discovered that the experience of racism can result in a wide range of health impacts that kill them slowly—death by a thousand cuts: high blood pressure, heart issues, depression, anxiety, and much more. Whether it’s microaggressions, racial profiling, or not feeling seen or heard, Black People Breathe takes an inclusive approach to mindfulness, centering and validating the experiences of anyone who has suffered from racial injustice.
I used to be on autopilot, and I didn’t realize how much of an impact my morning and evening practices had on my energy levels, my productivity, and my ability to feel good throughout my day. This is where mindfulness, yet again, was extremely helpful to me. Awareness of my current state was the first step. Let’s start with morning routines. What do your typical mornings look like?
I used to wake up startled by my alarm clock and hit Snooze as many times as I could afford. My alarm was on my phone, and when I did wake up I couldn’t help but look at my notifications. I might see a news article pop up and find myself succumbing to click bait and suddenly watching footage of something terrible that set the tone for my entire day. I might click on a work email and find myself responding, half awake, from my bed—not exactly the most articulate emails I’ve ever written. I often found myself caught in a mindless Instagram scrolling session, only to realize that twenty minutes had gone by and I was running late and needed to shower. This would lead to getting ready in a mad frenzy, skipping breakfast, or scarfing down something way too quickly for my digestion.
As for evening routines, I would be so exhausted from my workday that I would eat dinner and pour myself a very generous glass (or two or three) of red wine. I would turn on the television because my brain needed a rest, and the next thing I knew I had passed out on the couch with the TV on.
Think about your current morning and evening routines. If you were to be intentional about them, what would you change? Make a list. Which of these changes could you easily implement tomorrow? I invite you to try to make just one of them tomorrow and see how it impacts your day.
When I took a moment to pause and look at my routines, I made a number of changes. The first thing I did was buy an alarm clock. I realized that the mere act of picking up my phone to turn off the alarm created too many temptations to engage with the world (news, work, social media) before I was ready.
The second thing I did was a practice a meditation teacher shared with me years ago—a daily check-in. This means checking in with yourself about how you’re doing. I say to myself, as soon as I wake up, “Good morning, Zee; how are you doing?” I use my name because it creates a feeling of being cared for. It’s personal and it feels warm and loving. I take a quick moment to answer myself. If I’m cranky, I say, “Cranky.”
The simple acknowledgment of this feeling gives me the opportunity to do something about it, either to ask myself why, or to nurture myself with something to make me feel better. If I’m feeling energetic and ready . . . well, that sets the tone for the whole day!
I invite you to try this right now. Ask yourself how you are doing. What’s your answer? Now try this tomorrow morning when you wake up. See what your answer is then and how it’s changed.
In addition to my daily check-in, I started meditating for a few minutes every morning as well. At first I started out with five minutes so that I couldn’t come up with excuses about not having time. I wanted it to be easy and doable. After this became a regular practice, I started gradually increasing the amount of time. Some people aren’t into meditation and choose to just spend some quiet time reflecting. Others use this time for prayer. Regardless of what you choose to do, there is something powerful about pausing and taking a few minutes for yourself before getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of the day.
After adding meditation to my routine, I started journaling for a few minutes every day, writing down whatever was on my mind. If there are difficult, emotional things, this practice gives them a space to be heard so that they won’t be as distracting during the rest of the day. Sometimes my morning journaling morphs into my to-do list, which helps me get organized. Sometimes it includes a list of things that I’m grateful for. There is no set agenda for this practice, because it is a space for your thoughts to be expressed. Some say that this practice allows you to be more creative during your day, because getting these thoughts out clears space for the creativity to flow!
I also like to set an intention for the day. Sometimes it might focus on something I’m working on personally, like having more patience, being more present during meetings, or being open to trying new things. Other times it’s about something I need, like taking some time for myself or taking deep breaths when times get tough. Why set intentions? The most obvious reason is that it increases the likelihood of it happening! The more scientific explanation is that the region in our brain called the reticular activating system filters out any unnecessary information so that only the important things get through. By deciding what’s important to you upfront, your brain is then programmed to focus on those areas.
The last thing I experimented with in my morning routine was exercise. It’s no secret that exercise increases endorphins, gives you more energy, and is generally good for your health. The reason I say I experimented is that time was the biggest barrier here. You might have read my new morning routine and thought, “Well, how does she have time for all that? I need sleep! That doesn’t work for me!” In fact, up until the exercise experiment, everything I do takes no more than fifteen minutes. My daily check-in takes a few seconds, followed by five minutes of meditating and five minutes of journaling, and setting an intention could take a few seconds or a few minutes. Fifteen minutes that could change the entire trajectory of your day!
However, depending on what you do for exercise, it could add a good chunk of time. So, for me, on the days that I have time and can easily swing it, I work out. On the days that I don’t have time, I do something really short, such as a ten-minute online-yoga routine, or playing one of my favorite songs and dancing for a bit. Just moving my body to the music for a three-minute song gets my blood flowing! I invite you to try it one morning! If you are self-conscious about people you live with judging you, just grab some headphones, go to a private place (the bathroom, the basement, etc.), and let your body move freely. Dance like no one’s watching!
For my evening routines, I started being intentional about going to bed at the same time. I leave my phone outside of my bedroom. I limit electronic devices for the final hour before I go to sleep. During that hour, I light some incense or a candle. Aromatherapy has so many benefits, including reducing stress, anxiety, and pain, as well as improving sleep quality.
During that hour, I make a gratitude list. Note that some people like to do this in the morning; both are equally effective. I write down three things I’m grateful for. You can try this right now. What are you grateful for in this moment? What are the first things that come to mind? They can be really simple, even one word. Sometimes my three things are my family, the sun, and love. Sometimes the three things end up being the same as yesterday’s, and that’s okay, too! I have friends who take this a step further and create a family ritual of gratitude that they do with their children every evening. Research shows that the practice of gratitude has a number of benefits, from opening the door to more relationships, to improving physical and psychological health, to improving our sleep quality and boosting our self-esteem!
Before I go to bed, I make sure to do one thing that I love. Sometimes that is reading a book. Other times it’s taking a bath. Regardless, it’s something that brings me joy.
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Zee Clarke is a Harvard MBA who went from leading teams at Fortune 500 companies and startups in Silicon Valley to teaching mindfulness and breathwork to people of color. Why? After experiencing a number of race related challenges, from racial profiling and harassment by the police to microaggressions in the workplace, she realized that mindfulness and breathwork were much more powerful outside of the yoga studio and in the context of our everyday lives. Trained in India, Zee leverages her toolkit of yoga, meditation, breathwork, sound healing, and Reiki, to ensure that all people of color have the tools to thrive despite any challenges that race, gender, or sexuality might present. Her new book is Black People Breathe; A Mindfulness Guide to Racial Healing, released March 14, 2023.
“The mouth is for talking and eating; the nose is for breathing.”—Proverb
Are you breathing through your nose or mouth as you read this?
In yoga, the breath is considered to be a bridge between body and mind; when you control the breathing, you control the mind. But when we breathe through the mouth, it is difficult to control the breath—therefore the mind does not come under control.
In the two yoga traditions I’ve studied—Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga and classical Hatha-Raja yoga as taught by Sri Dharma Mittra—we breathe through the nose. Yet lately, in my health club classes, there has been an epidemic of students breathing loudly through the mouth, with loud, sighing exhales.
Of course there are specific yoga pranayamas (breathing practices) that include breathing through the mouth, such as Falling Out or “Ha” breathing, Shitali (cooling breath) and Sitkari (hissing breath), but they are for a specific purpose and are performed for a very short period of time. During asana, nose breathing is preferred. As BKS Iyengar said in Light on Life, “Breath is the vehicle of consciousness and so, by its slow measured observation and distribution, we learn to tug our attention away from external desires toward a judicious, intelligent awareness.”
Ashtanga teacher Pattabh Jois used to say that breathing through the mouth while practicing Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga can weaken the heart. In 25 years of teaching ashtanga, this has proven to be true. He also used to remind us that “This is a breathing practice” in which we focused on ujjayi, or victorious breathing, through the nose.
Dharma Mittra often reminds us that deep, even, diaphragmatic breathing can reduce strong emotions such as anger, depression and anxiety, and improve our energy levels.
Medical science bears out the superiority of nasal breathing. Breathing through the nose cleans, warms and humidifies the air before it enters the lungs. (In fact, the nose has a four-stage filtration system. The hairs filter out particles in the air; the mucous has an enzyme that kills viruses and bacteria. The turbinates and sinuses warm and condition the air and produce nitric oxide, which improves lung function).
Nose breathing maintains the correct balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in our blood. When we breathe through the mouth, we usually inhale and exhale air quickly in large volumes. This often leads to a kind of hyperventilation (breathing excessively fast for the actual conditions in which we find ourselves). Breathing through the nose slows the exhale, which means that the arteries and vessels carrying blood to the cells can deliver more oxygen to them. This can reduce the “fight-or-flight” response of the sympathetic nervous system (which makes us feel tense, irritable and depressed). In fact, nasal breathing is said to tone the vagus nerve, which stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system and makes us feel safe and grounded.
Additionally, increased resistance from breathing through the nose allows us to inflate lungs more, not less, according to the February 20, 2023 episode of the Huberman Lab podcast, hosted by Andrew Huberman, neuroscientist and tenured associate professor of neurobiology, psychiatry, and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. In addition, he noted that nasal breathing is more favorable for long-term health, delivering more nutrients and removing more carbon dioxide from the system. He encourages his listeners to breath through the nose whenever possible, so that nasal breathing becomes our default respiration. Nasal breathing relieves congestion (even though it seems counterintuitive) and helps our sleep. Indeed, I’ve used medical tape to keep my mouth closed while sleeping, as suggested by James Nestor in his 2020 book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. My sleep improved almost immediately.
Mouth breathing causes elongation of jaw and droopiness of eyelids, according to the 2018 book Jaws: The Story of a Hidden Epidemic by Sandra Kahn and Paul R. Ehrlich. They go on to say that nasal breathing by default can have an effect on our appearance, elevating the eyebrows and cheekbones and improving the jawline; it also has better outcomes for our teeth.
There are some medical researchers who believe that mouth breathing and the associated hyperventilation that it brings about can result in asthma, high blood pressure, heart disease, insomnia, sleep apnea, IBS, migraines, sinusitis, angina, hay fever, and a host of other medical problems. Dentists claim it leads to tooth decay.
Famed osteopath Robert C. Fulford, D.O. says in his book Dr. Fulford’s Touch of Life about nose breathing: “Remember: always try to breathe through your nostrils, and not through your mouth, because air must contact the olfactory nerves to stimulate your brain and put it into its natural rhythm. If you don’t breathe through your nose, in a sense you’re only half alive.”
If you can’t breathe through the nose, get a neti pot—and use it every morning. The ancient Kriya yoga (cleansing practice) of saltwater nasal irrigation can also reduce seasonal allergies and sinus headaches. You may find it initially difficult to breathe through the nose, because it requires more effort—but keep trying. If it still doesn’t work, try eliminating meat, wheat and dairy for a month, and see if it helps. If that fails, ask your doctor for a referral to a specialist, as it could be something structural or more serious.
As James Nestor writes in Breath, “In a single breath, more molecules of air will pass through your nose than all the grains of sand on all the world’s beaches…the nose is the silent warrior: the gatekeeper of our bodies, pharmacists to our minds, and weather vane to our emotions.”
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Kali Om, E-RYT 500, is the author of the 2018 book Beyond the Mat: Don’t Just Do Yoga—Live It, which is sold on all eBook platforms and as a paperback. She will lead local retreats April 22–23 and October 21–22, 2023, and in Belize February 17–24, 2024. She leads small group classes Sundays at 10 on Zoom and in Lakeview; she also teaches in-person and online private lessons as well as Ashtanga and restorative yoga and philosophy and meditation on Zoom. Kali also offers multi-level donation-based classes on Facebook Live at https://www.facebook.com/yogikaliom She has been teaching yoga since 1998 and is a disciple of Sri Dharma Mittra, with whom she is certified at the 1,000-hour level. In addition, Kali studied five times with Pattabhi Jois at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in India. She has certifications in numerous other aspects of yoga and a master’s degree in journalism. For more information, visit yogikaliom.com, or contact her at 773.315.5489 or kaliom108@yahoo.com.
Holiday shopping can be stressful for all of us: the crowds, traffic, parking, limited inventory, and making sure you get all of the things on your list. However, for Black people and many people of color, the stress can reach exponential levels because of how we are treated. I personally have had store employees call the police on me, accusing me of shoplifting though I had just made a purchase and had the receipt in hand. There are now many studies that show that Black people have higher rates of high blood pressure and heart disease as a direct result of discrimination, microaggressions, and racism. Shopping while Black, especially during the holidays, is no different, and it is in these moments that Black people need to be intentional about taking mindfulness and beathwork practices outside of the yoga studio and into our everyday lives.
I, like many Black women, try to do everything I can to prevent any biases and stereotypes from dampening the holiday spirit. I shop online whenever possible, especially when I already know what I want and I have the time to wait for shipping. If I must go into stores, my mother taught me to always wear makeup and always wear higher-end clothes to avoid any potential “incidents” of unintended consequences. The definition of a microaggression according to the Miriam Webster dictionary is “a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group.” I want to emphasize the words “unconsciously” and “unintentionally,” because regardless of intentions, the risk of these things happening is high. According to a Gallup study, Black adults are 19 times more likely to be treated like they are dishonest and seven times more likely to receive worse service at stores than white adults. Knowing this reality, I try to go to stores at less popular hours. I now always get a receipt and make sure to know exactly where it is so I don’t get flustered if and when I get approached by a store employee, the security guards, or police they might call.
Hypervigilance is a term that recently came into my purview, and it is the most accurate description of how I feel when I’m shopping during the holidays. It’s when you’re in a state of extreme alertness, constantly assessing potential threats. The anxiety can be extraordinarily overwhelming, and it’s quite the opposite of the joy that we think of during the holiday season.
So how can mindfulness and breathwork practices from yoga help? When Black people are in a state of hypervigilance while shopping, and when incidents of microaggressions actually do occur, it is natural to go into fight-or-flight mode. This is our sympathetic nervous system kicking in, alerting us that we’re in danger. Our heart rate quickens, and our breath becomes faster and more shallow. When we are in this state, we are more likely to say or do something that causes even more conflict. The fight-or-flight response can not only exacerbate the situation, but it’s also terrible for our health in the long term, especially if we are constantly in this state. In my upcoming book, Black People Breathe, I share practices that can be a game changer to counter all of these effects on our mental and physical health when shopping. And, for Black people getting ready to go holiday shopping this season, here’s what you can do to take care of yourself regardless of what happens.
6 Mindfulness & Breathwork Practices for Shopping While Black
- The Night Before Shopping: Calm Your Anxiety with 4-7-8 Breathing
When you know you have a big shopping day ahead of you, your thoughts might be racing. There are all the things you don’t want to forget on your list, and there are all the things that might happen. Maybe someone grabs the very last of the one thing your daughter really wanted. Maybe the store clerk is going to follow you with their gaze, and you’ll feel that they are suspecting you of who knows what. When all of the “what-ifs” keep you up at night, it’s important to do some deep breathing to calm your nervous system. 4-7-8 Breathing can be instrumental in helping you to find a sense of peace, and get a good night’s rest before a big shopping day. I invite you to do this before you go to sleep.
Here’s how it works:
- Exhale and empty the lungs.
- Inhale through the nose for 4 seconds, counting 4-3-2-1 in your mind.
- Hold the breath for 7 seconds, counting 7-6-5-4-3-2-1.
- Exhale through the nose for 8 seconds, counting 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.
- Repeat at least 5 times; the longer you practice the greater the calm you will experience.
Feel free to follow along in this guided practice video here.
- The Morning Of Your Shopping Day: Do a Mindfulness Self Check-In
It’s easy to just jump right into your to-do list. So much to do, so little time. However, pausing before you do anything can have a huge impact on your day. The morning that you’re going to do some holiday shopping, pause and ask yourself, “How am I doing?” Be honest with yourself. Maybe the answer is that you’re energized and excited. Or, you might be tired and stressed. Or, something else completely. Based on your answer, follow up with this question, “What do I need to make this a pleasant and enjoyable experience today?” Maybe the answer is an ice cream treat as a reward. Maybe the answer is 10 minutes of quiet “me” time. Identify what it is for you, and make sure you do that!
- Before You Leave the House: 3-Part Breath for Grounding
It’s important to get grounded before walking into what might be a chaotic situation. Try the 3-Part Breath for Grounding before you hit the road:
- Inhale slowly and deeply and observe the air enter and move through the throat, fill up the chest, and ultimately expand the belly out like a balloon. As you inhale, say to yourself: “Throat – Chest – Belly,” as the air goes through each part of the body.
- Exhale slowly and feel the belly button come towards the spine. Feel the air come up through the chest, and back through the throat. As you exhale, say to yourself: “Belly – Chest – Throat,” as the air goes through each part of the body.
- Repeat at least 3 times.
- If You Get Triggered: Belly Breath
Many things might cause Black people to get triggered. Someone might cut you off in line or a store salesperson might act like they don’t see you when you’re obviously trying to get some help. If something happens that causes you to get upset, try the belly breath so that you can decide what to do next from a calmer place:
- Inhale through the nose and allow your belly to expand like a balloon.
- Exhale through the nose and allow your belly to come towards the spine.
- Repeat 3 times or as many times as needed.
- While Waiting in a Long Line: Practice Gratitude
You might be tempted to start scrolling on your phone when you’re stuck in a long line, however I invite you to practice gratitude instead. If you’re with family members or friends, play a round of Gratitude Ping Pong. You say one thing that you’re grateful for. Your companion says one thing they are grateful for. And, you go back and forth until you get to the front of the line. If you’re alone, then make a list on your phone as you wait, making the list as long as possible until you get to the front.
- When You Get Home: 10 Minute Savasana
You made it, and now it’s time to rejuvenate. Turn on some peaceful music. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Ask your family members to not disturb you during this time. Put your phone on do-not-disturb as well. Put on an eye mask. Lie down, and allow yourself to be supported by the earth.
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Zee Clarke is a Harvard MBA who went from leading teams at Fortune 500 companies and startups in Silicon Valley to teaching mindfulness and breathwork to people of color. Why? After experiencing a number of race related challenges, from racial profiling and harassment by the police to microaggressions in the workplace, she realized that mindfulness and breathwork were much more powerful outside of the yoga studio and in the context of our everyday lives. Trained in India, Zee leverages her toolkit of yoga, meditation, breathwork, sound healing, and Reiki, to ensure that all people of color have the tools to thrive despite any challenges that race, gender, or sexuality might present.
Taoist yoga is a type of yoga that combines the ancient Indian yoga traditions with the Chinese theories of yin and yang, movement and stillness. Taoist yoga provides deeper insights for the practitioner into the body’s internal energy dynamics. This form of yoga can be a daily practice for all people, regardless of their fitness level, age, or body type. And it is especially beneficial for older adults. At 73, I can honestly say that I feel more like a 40-year-old with plenty of creative energy to work with in my daily life.
As well as having close links with traditional yoga, with its stretching, breathing and movement exercises, Taoist yoga is also connected to tai chi (moving meditation) and is a form of qigong (energy cultivation). It is a relatively simple way to cultivate and elevate one’s energy level as well as enhance the quality of energy within the physical body.
Taoist yoga uses awareness, breath control and muscular contractions in coordinated combination to purify and transform energy from baser, or “lower,” states to more refined, or “higher,” states of being.
The goal of this ancient practice is to cultivate and unify the three inner energy fields within the human body. These are known as jing, qi and shen, or essence, energy and spirit—the Three Treasures of Taoism. The lower energy field is located in the belly, the middle energy field is in the chest and the upper energy field is in the head. Jing is essence or primal substance like sperm, egg and cerebral spinal fluid. Qi is vital, everyday energy needed for organ functioning and all daily activities. Shen is spirit or spiritual awareness. One key component of the practice is in the compression and absorption of the qi into the cells, tissues, organs and glands of the physical body, which is always done in sync with the breath during the exercises.
All of the processes involved in aging, such as the weakening of sensory or organ functions that normally result in the decline of the health of a human being, can be slowed or reversed by concentrating, purifying and unifying the three life energies by making them independent of external pressures such as personal identity losses, income decrease or debilitating stresses due to illness or disease that cause aging and decay.
The following exercise is designed to concentrate, harmonize and transform lower base energies (such as urges and compulsions) into higher spiritual energies and awareness and is regarded as a longevity practice in Taoist alchemy because of the way that it nourishes the whole body, including the brain.
The exercise: Sitting with both palms of the hands and soles of the feet pressed together, take 10 deep breaths. On the last inhale, hold it in and press the feet and hands together very strongly. While pressing hard, contract the anal muscles and roll the eyes upward. Make sure the spine is straight in an upright position.
Keep this posture with inhaled breath held in for five heartbeats or up to eight seconds and then release and exhale after inhaling another sip of air. Repeat the process up to three times for one round. You can do up to three rounds or nine sequences per session. Do as many sessions each week as comfortable or as time permits.
By doing this practice regularly, internal energies harmonize, general health improves, the life force is fortified, and organ systems benefit. Some of the personal benefits that I can attest to are better, deeper sleep; a healthy appetite; a quicker recovery from stress and low energy; accepting losses without regret; knowing intuitively what is and is not in my best interest; and the ability to drop bad habits and unhealthy energy patterns.
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Jia Senghe is a practitioner of Taoist internal alchemy who has maintained a meditation practice since the 1970’s. He is the founder of the Oak Street Shakuhachi Studio where he teaches the art of the shakuhachi, (a Japanese bamboo flute), meditation, and Qigong. His email address is jiasenghe@gmail.com.
Sun salutations, downward facing dog, child’s pose—yoga can make you feel so good, and decades of research show it enhances flexibility and strength while reducing stress. It makes you want to say Ahhhh. Emerging science is revealing even more benefits of this ancient practice, specifically of the brain-boosting variety.
Here are 10 ways yoga enhances brain function:
1. Increases brain volume. As a psychiatrist and brain health expert who has analyzed over 225,000 brain scans related to behavior, I can tell you that having more brain volume is a good thing. A study in Cerebral Cortex found that long-term yoga practice increased gray matter volume in multiple areas of the brain. These changes in brain anatomy and brain connectivity improved pain tolerance.
2. Increases connectivity:The human brain has about a billion nerve cells, and each cell boasts thousands of connections. In fact, experts suggest there are more connections inside your brain than there are stars in the entire universe. All these connections help your brain process information and communicate with other regions more efficiently. Yoga improves connectivity, according to research in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
3. Increases alpha brainwaves:Alpha brainwaves occur when individuals are in a relaxed state and aren’t focused on anything specific. One small study in Perceptual and Motor Skills found that alpha waves increased during yoga sessions. This may have important impacts for mental health: research suggests that alpha brainwave training with neuro feedback may reduce symptoms of depression.
4. Reduces stress, anxiety, and depression:Our brain-imaging work at Amen Clinics shows that mental health issues are really brain health issues. On brain SPECT imaging scans, stress, anxiety, and depression are all associated with overactivity in certain areas of the brain. Calming these areas helps reduce symptoms. According to a 2019 systematic review of existing scientific findings in Brain Plasticity, regular yoga practice lowers stress, calms anxiousness, and soothes depression.
5. Improves brain function.The 2019 systematic review also points to overall improved function in many brain regions. This study suggests that practicing yoga just a few times a week is sufficient to see many of these benefits. Another study in The Journals of Gerontology found that doing hatha yoga three times a week for eight weeks resulted in improved cognitive performance in older, sedentary adults.
6. Shrinks the brain’s fear centers.The amygdala is an almond-shaped structure located in the temporal lobes that is involved in fear and emotional responses. A 2018 study in Brain Imaging and Behavior found that a yoga practice is associated with a smaller amygdala. The researchers suggest this helps practitioners cope with stress.
7. Improves memory:Yoga may help with memory. Having to remember all the Sanskrit names for the various poses gives your memory a workout. In addition, studies show that yoga increases verbal memory performance and improves our ability to complete working memory tasks.
8. Increases focus and attention:Findings in the Journal of Cognitive Enhancement point to improvements in focus and attention thanks to the meditation used in some forms of yoga. In this study, enhanced focus was noted after only three months of consistent meditation and yoga practice. A meditation practice can also help people in their everyday lives to prioritize and shift their attention to more meaningful tasks, according to evidence in Consciousness and Cognition.
9. Reduces inflammation in the body and brain. Chronic inflammation has been associated with a host of psychiatric disorders, such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and bipolar disorder. Decreasing inflammation can help, and mind-body exercises like yoga have been found to lower inflammation, according to a study in Frontiers in Immunology.
10. Increases GABA in the brain.Gaba-aminobuytric acid (GABA) is an amino acid that helps to inhibit brain excitability, or the excessive firing of neurons. Low levels of GABA are associated with mental health issues, such as anxiety and some forms of depression. Boosting GABA naturally can help: fascinating research has found that a 60-minute session of yoga triggered a 27 percent increase in brain GABA levels.
If you want to boost your brainpower, just say, “Om.” Making yoga a regular practice can be highly beneficial for that three-pound supercomputer between your ears.
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Daniel G. Amen, MD is a physician, board-certified child and adult psychiatrist, award-winning researcher, 17-time bestselling author, and in-demand speaker. He’s Founder and CEO of Amen Clinics, which holds the world’s largest database of functional brain scans relating to behavior. He’s lead researcher on a landmark brain imaging and rehabilitation study on pro football players. He’s been on health-related podcasts, television programs, books, articles, music albums, and movies; and made numerous court and public appearances. His new book is Change Your Brain Every Day: Simple Daily Practices to Strengthen Your Mind, Memory, Moods, Focus, Energy, Habits, and Relationships.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
–Maya Angelou
While mulling over ideas for my 200-hour yoga teacher training paper, I took a class from an instructor who long ago inspired me to continue with yoga after several false starts. I hadn’t practiced with her in years, first due to scheduling conflicts, then Covid, then a post-pandemic habit of isolation. I couldn’t recall specifics of her teaching but never forgot how I felt after leaving her class: stretched and strengthened in body and soul.
The feeling after this most recent class was no different, but this time I analyzed (and will weigh in later). I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the experience. This instructor’s class was packed and, according to a registrar, continues to be the most popular yoga offering at the facility. My guess is that her loyal following values the same teacher attributes I do. But what about other students in other classes? What are the qualities of the teachers they return to? Are there universal likes and dislikes? Or is it all individual preference? And to what degree should the teacher be influenced by the opinions of her students?
What follows is a collection of stories, impressions and opinions from a dozen yoga students I interviewed. All were asked what they liked about their favorite instructors—and what made them vow to never return to a specific class, instructor or studio. It turns out that in addition to remembering how their favorite and least favorite teachers made them feel, the interviewees also remembered specifically what those teachers said and did. While these findings are anecdotal, they reveal strong consensus on several points—and wildly differing opinions on others. So here it is: the good, the bad and the often contradictory.
YOGA STUDENTS INTERVIEWED & YEARS PRACTICING
Paige, 61—20 years
Katherine, 55—35 years
Natalie, 24—3 years
Holly, 56—12 years
Jennifer, 60—20 years
Michelle, 33—3 years
Joanne, 63—10 years
Maggie, 47—20 years
Lynne, 63—15 years
Tom, 58—4 years
Ellen, 66—15 years
Lee, 58—15 years
TAKEAWAY #1: KNOW YOUR SUBJECT
Students want their yoga teachers to know their subject—and to clearly communicate that knowledge.
Paige likes specifics: “I don’t like when teachers don’t give you much direction. I want to know that my left heel should be at a 20-degree angle from something else or that the hips should be on the same plane.”
Katherine: “I want something actionable. ‘Feel as though you’re pulling your heels closer together’ is something you can do as opposed to vague inspiration or advice.”
Natalie relies on detailed cueing as, in her experience, the instructors at her studio do little in the way of demonstration. “I like when I don’t have to look around the room to understand how to do the pose. It’s just subtle descriptions of how to do it—explaining where your feet should be positioned and if one of your legs should be straight or the other one bent. It’s frustrating when I’m in a pose and I look around and I see people doing it different ways and not hearing anything from the instructor, like ‘everyone make sure your back leg is straight.’”
The students I interviewed who gravitate toward higher-level classes have the highest standards for deep knowledge and experience and value effort, preparedness and creativity.
Holly, on one of her favorite instructors: “I like that they know anatomy really well and their instructions are spot on so that if you make the adjustment they describe, it really helps you figure out a pose. And that they can get you into a pose multiple ways.” Another instructor she likes “also is very creative and can get you in poses really different ways and you can’t anticipate what’s coming next.”
Jennifer said this of her favorite instructors: “Both of these women are more creative than I’ve ever experienced where they go in from one pose to the next where it flows so uniquely, so I think they put a lot of thought into that.”
Katherine, on her two favorites: “Both were very, very experienced but also crafted classes that clearly took some real thought and creativity to make the class. They invariably came up with classes that had overarching goals and themes and often introduced sequences or movements that were things I’d never done before. It’s pretty rare that I go to a class and we do something truly new that I’d never seen or done before and that’s great. So I think creativity and a coherent, balanced menu of movements across a class are qualities I value the most.”
Perhaps the most demanding of the interviewees, Katherine criticized teachers who come to class “with no sense of having thought about what they wanted their class to accomplish or where they wanted to go, who teach as though they were just teaching an exercise class and wanted to hit some muscle groups—or doing the same things they do every time.”
Michelle also enjoys variety and appreciates the effort her favorite instructor puts into planning and execution: “I like that it’s a different warmup every week. If it’s the same, only those body parts are getting that particular stretch.” And she likes that her teacher periodically refers to notes—this makes Michelle feel confident her teacher has a plan, is organized and is keeping her eye on the time.
One of Joanne’s favorite teachers is a popular online yoga personality, and Joanne enjoys the choices this streaming format affords: “One thing I like about her program is that I can choose something for my hips or my legs or my back or balance.” This instructor also gives thorough cues. “Frequently, depending on where my laptop is, I can’t look at the screen and I’ll literally just close my eyes for as much as I can—unless I have a balance issue—and just try to do it not looking at all.”
Maggie learned to appreciate the power of good cueing long ago: “One of the best teachers I had was in a full foot brace when I met her. I actually thought, ‘How is this lady going to teach the class? She has a broken leg.’ I was in my 20s and I’m like, ‘I don’t understand, she can’t do yoga, how is she supposed to be a yoga teacher?’ Of course, she had perfect cueing, and it was one of the funnest classes ever.”
That seems to be the gold standard—to be able to arrange the bones and help students deepen a pose with words alone. But many, as Natalie, would appreciate at least some demonstration. Whether that’s because her instructors are not strong cuers or Natalie is more of a level one student, I can’t say. Tom, also a level one, feels the same: “ I like when the instructor does the poses at the same time of instruction, at least at the start of the pose, because that’s a good visual aid. It’s hard to describe every pose in words so seeing it is helpful.”
Lynne takes that a step further: “I like the modeling. I like when they show you how to do the pose the correct way but also show you what it looks like the incorrect way.”
Hearing this directly from students—unprompted, in their own words, coming from their own life experiences—drove home the importance of what we learned in training. Give clean, clear cues. Know the poses inside and out. Sequence logically. Explore new possibilities. But the rule I knew was important…was more important than I could have imagined.
TAKEAWAY #2: ENGAGE WITH YOUR STUDENTS
From the least experienced student to the most, all brought up the importance of the instructor being tuned in to what’s happening outside her own mat.
Lynne’s favorite instructor “is with you every minute. She’s in the front making sure she’s seen well. She’s checking in with the people.” Lynne has also experienced the opposite: “When they just stand in the front and they’re not even involved, they just stare at themselves in the mirror. They’ll do the pose and admire themselves, and they’re not with the class.” Ouch.
Tom: “My favorite instructor was one who paid attention to what the others and I were doing in class, taking the time and not necessarily running through things too quickly but taking the time to observe and help people understand what to do.” Sometimes in other teachers’ classes he got lost in the flow: “One of the things I ran into because I was a beginner was, if I didn’t get the pose right, I’d fall behind. And then the amount of time in the correct pose would be too short and then it would cause me to stumble through a period of poses until I got back on track.”
Katherine: “It really bugs me when you have a small class and one or two people are clearly beginners and don’t know anything, and the teacher is milling around and yet not making any corrections or even acknowledging that there are people in the room struggling. That’s sort of unforgivable.” (This was important for me to hear. Katherine is an experienced yogi, and she does not mind class flow being interrupted to bring along those who need help. In my practice teaching, I’ve been concerned that the larger group may grow impatient in a situation like this.)
Maggie: “I brought my mother to a class. I explained to the teacher that it was her absolute very first time ever being on a mat before. It was a yoga basics class, so I don’t feel it was inappropriate, and she was using Sanskrit names for the poses and she said things like ‘move into your vinyasa.’ I spent the entire time re-cueing my mother what to do so I didn’t really get a workout because I took over helping my mom. I thought it was so misleading. When someone is telling you, ‘This is my very first time trying yoga’? Really, you’re not going to give them a little bit of extra love? It wasn’t like there were 25 people in the class.”
As a yoga teacher in training, stories like these make me shudder. While I know that maximizing each student’s experience is critical, I understand how difficult it is to provide individual feedback while keeping the class moving forward. This is especially true for new instructors who may still be solidifying their cueing skills and knowledge base. And it’s increasingly challenging in a time when levels have become fuzzy, inconsistent or nonexistent; several of the interviewees attend studios that no longer list class levels in their schedules. Accommodating all levels in a single class seems a daunting task. Still, many teachers pull it off—and their students thank them for it.
Maggie’s favorite instructor “made the effort to connect with the student and it wasn’t just watching someone else do yoga. They would walk around and say, ‘Does this work for you? I know you said you had a sore shoulder. Do you want to try something else?’”
Joanne appreciates individual attention in the form of physical adjustments, which do more than just bring her into alignment. “There is that nice feeling of literally human touch,” she said. “It’s nice to know there’s someone there literally helping you along.”
While all like the idea of physical adjustments, several noted that these were being offered less and less. As Natalie said, “I’ve been adjusted a handful of times” at her current studio. “I would like for that to happen more, but I think the instructors probably don’t want to do it because of consent.” (Consent to physical adjustment is, in fact, required of yoga instructors and explicitly addressed in the Yoga Alliance Code of Conduct. My guess is that two factors are largely responsible for the decrease in the practice of physical adjustment: hesitance due to the spotlight on consent since the Me Too sexual assault awareness movement and confusion surrounding social distancing practices as the Covid pandemic has evolved.)
One of Paige’s favorite pre-Me Too, pre-pandemic instructors was able to turn adjustments into teaching moments for all. “She was a very good corrector and made sure we all were doing it right. I liked that she could correct without making you feel like you were on display. She would go around and emphasize proper alignment. It was also always stressed that you wanted to push yourself but not so far that you wanted to ride that edge between effort and ease. I liked that, and the whole non-competition thing and it doesn’t matter that some days you have better balance and some days you don’t, some days you’re more flexible and some days you aren’t. That you should listen to your body and that it was your own individual practice.”
Wow. That teacher knew her stuff, applied it to each student and schooled her class in yoga philosophy—possibly without them even knowing. Which leads me to…
TAKEAWAY #3: GIVE YOUR STUDENTS MORE THAN A GOOD STRETCH
Almost all of those interviewed like it when teachers incorporate lessons about yoga tradition into class or share readings illustrative of yoga precepts—if they do it well. Apparently, everyone’s a critic.
Natalie: “Sometimes the readings they do are super cool but sometimes the readings they do are lame. If it’s a good reading it really adds to the class.” She likes when teachers share yoga philosophy, “but only if it’s done in an unpretentious way.” She doesn’t care for “stories about their revelations in the Alps or wherever.”
Paige said she likes to learn about authentic yoga tradition, but “one thing that was a huge turnoff for me in several classes was a lot of mysticism. One woman even played the accordion at the beginning. I don’t want to hear all that. I like a quote or one thing you can think about, but I don’t want a lot of pseudobabble from my yoga teacher.”
Katherine continued with the “don’ts”: “I don’t want to hear about Mercury rising. That just does not work for me.” And “if you can’t say it in English, don’t think that chanting it in Sanskrit is going to magically transform anything.” (By this rather harsh critique, she was getting at her desire for teachers to have a true understanding of the lessons they’re imparting.)
Ellen: “I like history and the idea that we are doing something that was practiced long ago. I like the sense of continuity that comes from that.”
Tom: A bit of yoga philosophy is “good if it’s short—a snippet is kind of cool.”
In sum, the overwhelming opinion was this: keep the lessons about yoga tradition short, sweet and authentic.
In regard to breathwork, almost without exception, those interviewed consider it essential to a good yoga class. Several said a focus on breath is one of the main things they enjoy about yoga. Others applaud teachers who throughout class remind them to return to their breath—and intention—when poses become challenging.
TAKEAWAY #4: BE KIND
While all those interviewed are adults, none have outgrown the desire to be included, the need for encouragement, and discomfort with embarrassment.
Natalie: “I like it when the teacher introduces herself and is nice and welcoming to the new people in the class because then I don’t feel like I’m behind or an outsider.” This sentiment was repeated almost verbatim by several others interviewed.
Lee: “Sometimes when I’ve gone to other studios while traveling, I feel like there’s been a vibrational hostility to the new person, like ‘you’re not doing it exactly our way’—that bristliness toward the new person.” What would have helped in that situation? Lee said an initial “we’re happy you’re here today” from the teacher would have gone a long way.
Lee’s other pet peeve: “Because I’m a little chubby these days, I feel the assumption [from the instructor] that I’m a total beginner.”
Ellen recalled a substitute instructor “who had a way of putting down certain people in the class. She made you feel like she was superior or you were old. She was a runner and did yoga as a side thing, which is fine, but….”
Maggie likes teachers who explicitly promote acceptance, using inclusive language to welcome differences and dispel the notion that there is one right way to do a pose, with reminders such as: “Don’t look at what your neighbor is doing because your position is not [necessarily] going to look like what your neighbor is doing.”
Tom uses intention to help him accept what he can do. He said that when an instructor allows time to set an intention, “it’s a good reminder to the class, I think, because I know that my movement is different from anybody else’s and so my intention would be different so I can’t start feeling bad because I can’t do as well as the person next to me because that’s not the point of it. It’s my own intention I need to be focused on.”
Some instructors, apparently, did not get the memo on acceptance. Joanne, on a class she once attended after a period of ill health: “I remember feeling humiliated. I had to keep stopping. There were people who seemed to be twice my age who were still going and I was kind of embarrassed that I couldn’t do the class. In that situation I would have appreciated the teacher saying, ‘Why don’t we modify?’” Instead, Joanne said, the teacher took on a cheerleading role, saying, “‘You can do it!’ But I really couldn’t.” This teacher didn’t seem mean spirited but, rather, unaware or inexperienced.
In contrast, one of Joanne’s favorite instructors “corrects me in a gentle manner that doesn’t feel like she’s trying to embarrass me at all.” And another “is very encouraging and is not judgy and you can tell that she’s trying to be all-inclusive for people of all different abilities.”
Inclusion can take many different forms. Lynne: “I like when yoga instructors have loud voices. I’m not the only one—there are 48 million of us who have hearing loss in this country. A lot of yoga instructors talk so softly and Zen that you can’t hear them. It’s very important to have not a yelling voice, but a loud voice—and to articulate.”
Paige noted that corrections should be given sensitively and in the right spirit: “I’ve been in classes where I’ve been adjusted and you feel really embarrassed, like you’re on display.” So when are adjustments okay? Paige is comfortable with adjustments that come from instructors who care: “The instructors I love are ones that I feel are really invested in me having the best experience I could possibly have—that’s why I don’t mind being adjusted by any of those people. Even one who had kind of a brisk personality, I didn’t mind it because I knew she was doing it because she wanted me to have the best experience—that to me is huge.”
Michelle’s favorite instructor is “very comfortable teaching the class and she doesn’t make me scared to do the poses. ‘You need an adjustment? Don’t worry, we’ll help you.’ What she’s teaching is very useful for everyone. There’s no weight limit. Everyone is participating in that class, men and women.”
TAKEAWAY #5: BE YOURSELF
Many of those interviewed say personality counts—and some seem to be as much devotees of certain instructors as they are practitioners of yoga. But no one yoga instructor personality fits all students.
Holly, on the levity of a favorite instructor: “I really like their personality—‘this is yoga, you can smile, it’s just yoga.’”
Lee: “My favorite instructors are real people who aren’t afraid to crack jokes, aren’t afraid to show their personality but yet are really serious about the practice and are observing your progress in the practice and knowing when you can move to the next level and helping you get there. My favorite instructor of all time was really funny and literally just made you laugh and even ribbed you while you were doing yoga. Honestly, I like teachers who don’t put on the persona of hushed tones and acting all Zen—who just act like who they really are.”
One of Jennifer’s favorite instructors “made everything fun and turned the poses into fun activities. She played a lot of interesting contemporary music mixed in with some typical music that you hear during yoga, so it was a combination that was a little more energetic but very mindful as well.” What Jennifer doesn’t like? “I don’t want to hear how you’re feeling today. As an instructor, it’s not about you. I paid to come take your class. I don’t like getting too personal.” Jennifer likes personality to shine through in the creativity the instructor brings to sequencing and class setting—but not so much through the sharing of personal stories.
Katherine dislikes what she considers oversharing as well. She related the story of a recent class where the teacher/studio owner showed up late and flustered and then, to explain her tardiness, “gave an extended monologue that was an unprofessional overstep.”
Katherine’s two favorite instructors are “very different in personalities, which makes me think that I don’t particularly care about the personality of the teacher or their demeanor.” Yet she does appreciate individuality, as she recalled a time years ago when, for the entire class, her teacher “just chanted a free-flowing monologue in a gung-ho yoga teacher’s chant…but in English. I don’t even remember what it was about, but it was actually pretty effective. So I think some personality is fine.”
Paige’s two favorites also had different personalities. On the first: “At first I wasn’t sure if I liked her because she’s kind of brisk and no-nonsense but I ended up liking her a lot.” (This is the same hands-on instructor Paige referred to earlier in the BE KIND section.) On the second: “She had a spirit about her that I loved. I think that was the main thing I loved about her class. It wasn’t so much about the technical. She was an older woman who had been saved by yoga from really bad arthritis. I loved being in her class because of what she felt that yoga could do for you and she wanted to share it with you.”
Joanne concurs that authenticity goes a long way, especially liking one instructor because “she is really committed to this—not only the physicality of it, but the mindset behind yoga. I get that sense very strongly, that she wants to create the right environment, from the scent to the calmness. I really appreciate that because I would say 85 percent of the reason I do yoga is to calm myself down. Not so much for the flexibility, though there’s that too. It’s just to take some time for myself and do some self care. She illuminates that feature of it, which I find peaceful and wonderful.”
Ellen likes class camaraderie and getting to know her instructors. One of her two favorites is a retired kindergarten teacher and a master of encouragement. The other is a gardener and weaves into her class stories about the blood moon, leaves falling, the coming of spring—as well as current events: “When the Cubs were in the running for the World Series, they had six games already won, so we did everything that day in sixes.” Seems risky to me, with the potential to offend White Sox fans, but these teachers know their audiences—both groups have been practicing together for years and get together socially outside of class.
The ego issue, alluded to previously, came up multiple times. While teachers need to be confident to inspire confidence in their students, it appears that some cross a line. Katherine: “Sometimes you’ll get a teacher who is just pretty darn arrogant and the narcissism shines through. It’s too much about them and not enough about the practice and what’s going on in the room.” Lynne: “When you’re an instructor, you should give your energy to the students. You can see when instructors have an ego up there. That’s a huge turnoff.”
TAKEAWAY #6: YOU CAN’T PLEASE EVERYONE
By no means do I share the opinions of all I interviewed.
Unlike Katherine, I actually liked learning about Mercury retrograde in a yoga class I attended in late September. I’d had an odd month, with people from my past popping up left and right and—I swear—every light turning red as I approached it. I was open to a planetary explanation because I respect and trust the teacher who wove the theme into her class.
While I like an instructor who creates a warm and welcoming environment, I’m not looking for a class that’s also a social group, as Ellen’s seems to be.
And I don’t share the impatience some have with intention setting or readings. Yoga is not just physical exercise, and the more experienced I become, the more I understand the importance of all eight limbs.
Different people, different priorities.
Remember Lee’s favorite instructor, who joked and “ribbed” students during class? Her sister, Lynne, felt the opposite: “I don’t think instructors should make fun of anyone or insult anyone. I’ve been to that place Lee was talking about, and that’s why I stopped going there—I don’t like poking fun. I think it should all be positive.”
Opinions differed on instructors’ voices as well. Ellen values teachers who speak in a gentle voice, because she finds it calming. Katherine said, “I don’t think there’s a voice that’s best but some kind of semi-hypnotic presence is often effective for me.” But Holly can’t abide a “monotone voice that’s kind of boring.” One person’s “semi-hypnotic” might just be another’s “monotone.”
And then there’s the brutally honest (from an interviewee who shall remain nameless): “I hate when there’s a yoga instructor not in good shape. It’s like, what the hell?”
CONCLUSION
These students’ very human stories—the good and the bad, the funny and the disturbing— have given me a window into what other students have felt and experienced in yoga classes over the years. They underscore the importance of what I learned in training, putting human faces to the dos and don’ts (and also the maybes) of yoga instruction. I’ll never forget Lee’s comment about feeling that instructors assume her ability based on her weight. Or Katherine’s story about the creative chanter. Or Joanne’s experience with the cheerleading yoga instructor.
I also have my own ongoing experiences as a yoga student to draw on. Which brings me back to the instructor I mentioned at the beginning of this paper—the one I returned to after several years away. What specifically had she done years before to leave me with such warm memories of her classes? It didn’t take long to remember. As ever, she arrived well before the first student to set the stage—this time with floor lamps, electric candles and soothing music to transform a cold public space into a studio-like setting. She welcomed each person by name, introducing new students to the class so they felt they belonged. In a gentle but authoritative voice she delivered clean, concise cues. She interwove breath, asana, philosophy—and, yes, laughter—seamlessly. By the end of class, I once again felt that sense of physical and spiritual expansion that her classes had always helped me achieve.
While it’s valuable to be aware of the many and varied needs, desires and aversions of yoga students, it’s equally important to not feel bound by them. A yoga class is not a business where the customer is always right. To actually teach yoga, teachers need to remain true to their training, themselves and the Yoga Alliance Code of Conduct, which “centers on the principles of the yamas towards the purpose of internal self-reflection and external conscious action.”
For example, some students may see yoga as simply physical exercise. But the Code of Conduct states that yoga tradition should not be ignored: “Members SHOULD educate and inform themselves about the history and genesis of yoga and proactively inform Students and Trainees of the origin and practices from the lineage, style, or methodology being taught.” At the same time, “Members SHOULD seek to responsibly adapt yoga teachings and practices for Students of various cultural backgrounds while also understanding the existence of appropriation and commodification in contemporary yoga and its effects on Indian and other cultures and traditions.”
Ultimately, the teacher must use her best judgment.
In the 2016 Yoga Journal article “19 Yoga Teaching Tips Senior Teachers Want to Give Newbies,” Gina Caputo, founder/director of the Colorado School of Yoga, issues a powerful directive that sums up what I’ve taken away from this series of interviews:
“Work just as hard on transcending some of the regressive patterns of your ego as you are on advancing your asana and your knowledge. Once we accept that it is impossible for us to be everybody’s yoga teacher and that there will simply be many students who don’t resonate with our style and we let go of some of that deep-rooted desire to be liked and appreciated, we become more potent teachers. And not just in the transmission of yoga, but also in teaching by example. Be yourself, nobody else can do it better.”
Amen.
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Paula Benson is a local writer, editor and newly certified yoga instructor.
Om on the Range’s 21st anniversary yoga fundraiser resulted in $1,200 to support Friends of the Children—Chicago. This local charity intentionally identifies children facing the greatest obstacles and pairs them with paid, professional mentors—Friends—for 12.5 years. No Matter What. A big shout-out to Friends of the Children for serving Chicago’s youth and to Om on the Range for continuing their philanthropy-on-the-mat tradition.
Om on the Range yoga studio opened on Valentine’s Day 21 years ago in Chicago’s North Center neighborhood. Every year to celebrate, they hold a fundraiser. For more information about their yoga classes, private sessions, special programs, retreats, or community outreach, visit www.omontherange.net.
Sankalpa is the Indian traditional resolve to evolve. Recently, it has become a part of mainstream Yoga culture often connected with Yoga Nidra practices.
Often taken lightly as an intention, paraphrased as an affirmation, changed frequently as a fleeting desire, Sankalpa is a sacred vow towards personal and societal betterment. It is the promise to know the real Self, beyond all possible layers of adjuncts, limitations, and adjectives.
There is nothing wrong with having a good intention, a positive affirmation, or a heart-felt desire. It is just that by mistaking them as Sankalpa, we are diluting this sacred concept, philosophy, and practice.
Here are three myths associated with Sankalpa.
Myth No. 1: Sankalpa is an affirmation
Short answer is “No.” It is neither an affirmation nor an intention. A bit longer version is: Sankalpa is a sacred vow to evolve that is generally practiced as a part of Yoga and Yoga Nidra. It is not an ordinary, everyday, casual affirmation to stay positive or eat-pray-love. Here is my take on positivity from a recent Instagram question:
Q: Whenever I start some work with positive mind, it always leads to disappointment. I thought positive mind is a good state.
My response: Our basic understanding is based on the notion that something positive should lead to profit or desirable result. This is the biggest problem:
1) There is a difference in being positive minded and positive result minded. We are positive result minded, which leads to expectations and therefore disappointments.
2) Being positive means being open to the consequence, not being attached to a positive outcome.
3) A mind that is open and flexible is positive; a mind that only wants positive is closed. It is as dangerous as being negative minded.
If you want to be positive, then be open and ready for whatever comes your way.
Myth No. 2: Sankalpa is a magic wand
Short answer is again, “No.” I see something amiss when I see Yoga paired with goals revolving around greed, wants, and desires. Yoga is rooted in contentment (santosha is one of the five niyamas [observances]). Sankalpa is observed so that personal betterment leads to the betterment and uplifting of the community as well as upholding of dharma (virtue, righteousness, goodness). It gives a constant focus, determination, and a clear path for the mind to make decisions that may be hard and require courage. It is not a “make-my-wish-come-true” practice. It is a “may-my-wish-BE-truth” practice.
Myth No. 3: I don’t know how to create Sankalpa
We do not need to create Sankalpa. Phrases like “Aham Brahmasmi” (I am pure Brahman), “Tat Twam Asi” (You are THAT), and “So’ham” (I am THAT) are essentially Sankalpa. We do not need to crack a Sankalpa code or design one. We simply need to pick one we feel deeply connected to and inspired by to becomeKnowing your Sankalpa gives you a blueprint to follow for a lifetime. However, It is not somewhere you arrive without sadhana (personal practice), discernment, and self-inquiry. It is a labor of sincerity, integrity, and radical honesty.
Brahman symbolizes divine, sacred, pure, universal consciousness. It is also referred to as “Tat.”
**Here, THAT symbolizes untainted, complete, pure wisdom/consciousness essence.
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Indu Arora is a Yoga-Ayurveda-Tantra teacher, mentor, and author. She considers herself a student for a lifetime and has been sharing information about Yoga philosophy, Yoga Therapy, and Ayurveda for the last two decades across more than 50 cities worldwide. Her unique gift is making Yoga, Ayurveda and Tantra a practice that is as equally useful and accessible for a beginner as for a sincere seeker who has made it a lifelong journey. She is inspired by and taught under Kriya Yoga, Himalayan Yoga, and Kashmir Shaivism Yoga lineages. She has studied in a traditional Guru-Shishya parampara. Her teaching style is rooted in empowering and inspiring students to awaken their insight. Her core philosophy is ‘Yoga is a Work-in and not a Work-out’. She is the author of Mudra: The Sacred Secret (2015), Yoga: Ancient Heritage, Tomorrow’s Vision (2019), and SOMA: 100 Heritage Recipes for Self-Care (e-book, 2020; updated hard copy, 2022).
Indu Arora is offering a variety of short and deep dive workshops and training in 2023. Her annual Yoga Nidra training begins February 17. All programs will be held online via zoom, video replay available to watch, and offer CEU’s from Yoga Alliance and IAYT for eligible participants. Partial scholarships, installment payments, special pricing for Indian residents and bundle prices available upon request. Simply email info@yogsadhna.com for inquiry. Link: https://www.yogsadhna.com/upcoming/index
Sylvia offers wise and comforting words for dealing with crises, trauma, and pain. She created this podcast during the heart of winter and around the time of another police shooting of a Black person in the U.S. In her guided meditation involving our breath, Sylvia invites us to be part of the light and to spread it for the benefit of all.
https://4v6d43.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Yoga-Chicago-Magazine-Podcast-Breathe-In-Your-Peace-by-Sylvia-Ewing.mp3
A celebration to honor the 160th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda was held Saturday, January 14, at the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago (HTGC) in Lemont, Illinois. Swami Vivekananda was the swami who introduced yoga to the West on September 11, 1893 in Chicago when he spoke at the Parliament of Religions held in conjunction with the Chicago World’s Fair.
The celebration, called the Vivekananda International East West (VIEW) yoga conference, began with opening prayers by co-chairs Poonam Gupta and Kali Om, who are Chicago-area yoga teachers. Next, HTGC president Dr. Bhanoo Sharma celebrated the contributions of outgoing HTGC yoga and VIEW founder, Prasad Palacharla, PhD, and his wife and fellow yoga teacher, Rama Palacharla. Prasad is a lifelong yoga student and teacher by vocation who first learned yoga in India from his high school teacher and later took his teacher trainings from Naperville yoga teacher Poonam Gupta. He has been teaching at the HTGC for the past 16 years and co-hosted VIEW conferences for the past 10 years.
Prasad Palacharla, PhD
Prasad led a warm tribute to the late Swami Varadananda, manager of the Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago. The Swami had been a popular featured speaker at the VIEW conference for many years and passed away on December 30 at the age of 78.
Prasad then gave a talk about Swami Vivekananda and his circuitous journey to the U.S., the obstacles he overcame to be allowed to speak at the Parliament (which is now the Art Institute of Chicago), and the standing ovations he received, lasting for several minutes. Vivekananda stayed in the U.S. for two years, leading conferences, and spreading the teachings of Vedanta, planting the seeds of the four major traditions of yoga: Raja, Bhakti, Karma, and Jnana yoga. He presented these traditions as philosophy, not religion, and taught that the purpose of yoga is to manifest the divine within. The goal was to overcome the senses and control the body and mind by controlling prana (life force)—a subject reflected in some of the later presentations. Prasad said that as a result of Vivekananda’s visit, now 36 million people practice yoga in the U.S.
Vivekananda (1863-1902) inspired many other swamis such as Krishnamacharya, Sivananda, Sri Aurobindo, and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, including Paramahansa Yogananda who came to the U.S. in 1920.
Poonam Gupta
Poonam Gupta, director of the Universal Spirit Yoga, next led the group in a Hatha yoga asana practice and guided the participants in a way that people of all levels felt comfortable. She is the co-chair of the HTGC yoga program and is an Ayurvedic practitioner who also leads both yoga and Ayurveda teacher trainings. Poonam started learning yoga with her father at a young age. She has studied various paths of yoga with teachers from many traditions and continues to study with teachers in India and the U.S.
Kali Om
Kali Om, adjunct professor of yoga at DePaul University, next talked about yoga philosophy and pranayama (control of the life force through breathing techniques). She spoke of the benefits, which include improved health, clarity of mind, and preparation for meditation. She also discussed the three bodies (physical, subtle, and causal), how the breath is a bridge between the physical and subtle bodies, and the chakras (energy centers) and led the participants through practices based on those ideas (including two that are recommended by Swami Vivekananda in his book Raja Yoga).
Kali has dedicated her life to the practice, study, and teaching of yoga since 1998 and is the author of Beyond the Mat; Don’t Just Do Yoga – Live It. Her column and cartoon appear in Yoga Chicago magazine, and she leads workshops, teacher trainings, and retreats both online and in person. She has completed 200-, 500-, 800-, and 1000-hour teacher trainings with Sri Dharma Mittra, studied five times in Mysore, India with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and is certified in many facets of yoga.
Swami Vairagyananda Giri
Swami Vairagyananda Giri, a swami from the Kriya Vedanta Gurukulum Temple of Harmony in Joliet, spoke about prana, the breath, and dharma (one’s duty). He explained how the right and left nostrils relate to the opposite sides of the brain, and how breathing practices can create new pathways in the brain. Most brain cells are dormant, he said, advocating practicing pranayama techniques for 30 minutes twice a day. Born in Odisha, India, he met his guru, Paramahamsa Prajnanananda, in 2003, joined the monastic lifestyle in 2004, and took a vow of renunciation in 2012. Swami Vairagyananda leads programs around the world.
Next, a delicious Indian lunch was served, followed by call-and-response kirtan (chanting) with Chicago’s kirtan band, Devi 2000, led by Debi Buzil. Devi 2000 has recorded three albums: “Devotional,” “Prepare Your Soul to Dance,” and “Kum Kum,” rooted in Bhakti yoga, the path of love and devotion, and is finishing up work on a fourth. Debi is a longtime devotee of Amma, the “hugging saint,” and teaches yoga to adults, children, homeless teens, and ladies in her neighborhood’s women’s shelter. She is also the music editor at Yoga Chicago magazine.
The celebration ended with a brief meditation, followed by closing remarks by Poonam Gupta and Kali Om, which included thanks to HTGC Yoga co-chair Sreenath Gupta and the many volunteers and participants who made the conference possible. They concluded with a traditional Vedic prayer.
The celebration was a resounding success, with an inspiring mix of lectures, hatha practice, music, meditation, and nutritious vegetarian food. Participants were especially happy to gather again in person and look forward to next year’s celebration in January, 2024.
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The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago is located at 10915 Lemont Rd., Lemont, Illinois. Their website is www.htgc.org.
Joan and her dog, Lucky Lukey, aka Luke
Fresh beginnings are exciting, so often filled with hope and the prospect of beautiful dreams coming true. As we move forward into the new dawning of Aquarius (aka 2023) there’s sure to be some shaky ground coming up with different life lessons to be learned. Or old lessons repeated, yet to be learned.
Heartache–pain–hope—wonder, all wrapped up in a shiny bow ready to be opened for the new year. Perhaps some of us have already opened that pandora’s box and are walking on some shaky ground right about now. Whether firmly footed or not, the new year has certainly begun.
How’s this year going to pan out differently from last year? Will the wisdom gained in 2022 firmly and finally take hold? Was any wisdom at all gained in 2022? What do you think? I sure wonder.
I’m hoping our minister has some effective new year insights on this type of reflective strangeness. He’s usually spot on with inspirations…
“We’re each evolving as a spiral,” he begins.
Going up or down? I wonder.
“Going Up!” he bellows.
He’s read my mind! This guy’s insightful. But come on, there’s so many problems in the world. It seems like a never-ending swirl of difficulties. When one problem calms down, another one revs up.
“Once you’ve seen the light, you can’t go backwards even if you try.
Because you now know.
Your spiral continues upward.
Not that you won’t fight it and attempt to resist the upward movement.
Finding balance will make the inevitable upward movement easier,” he says.
Keep going, Minister. I’m feeling the lift. Maybe you’re on to something.
“Before fixing the world, fix yourself.”
Ok, I knew this couldn’t be easy.
“Find quiet time,” he explains,
Time to be still.
Time to really listen.
Just listen.”
He pauses then ever so softly,
“Shhh … listen.”
Silence.
More silence.
Pin drops.
And when the dropping pin disrupts my quiet mind, I turn to my breath and slightly raise a finger or thumb to keep my busy thoughts at bay so I can truly listen.
First a thumb—inhale/exhale.
Next a finger—inhale/exhale.
And so on with each finger or thumb, inhaling and exhaling.
Heck, sometimes even my toes get involved to help declutter that busy mind.
Until ready to sit quietly and gratefully again in silence. My eyes/ears/mind focused on truly listening.
Shhhhh.
Listen.
“Only one whose joy is inward,
inward his peace,
inward his vision,
goes to that paradise sun.”
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Joan Budilovsky is a columnist and author of many books, including several in The Complete Idiot’s Guide series: (to Yoga, Meditation, and Massage). She is also a yoga and meditation teacher and a meditative harpist. Joan has a PhD in Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is contemplating teaching second grade, an age level she especially loves. She can be reached at yojoan@yoyoga.com. Her website is Yoyoga.com.
This story first appeared in the January 12, 2023 issue of the Kane County Chronicle (reprinted by permission).
A birthday calls forth a sudden grateful love and the miracle of becoming family. Sylvia says love can fill our hearts when we least expect it, and it rewards us when we give it. Sylvia sends a soothing metta (a wish for true happiness) to you and your loved ones to use before you fall asleep.
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Pranayama is a yogic practice of balancing the prana in the Ida and the Pingala nadis (energy channels). When I say pranayama, people tend to translate it into English as a breathing technique or a breathing exercise, which it is not. “Prana” means “the vital energy”; “yama” means to gain control over it. So, it is a subtle process through which you can gain control over your inner energies. These processes are taught in their depth because transforming inner energies are very important to stabilize the body and the mind. Since prana has the karmic memory of the individual imprinted on it, it functions in each person in a unique manner.
Whatever you do in life, how your body, your mind, and your whole system functions is ultimately determined by your prana. Prana is an intelligent energy. Since prana has the karmic memory of the individual imprinted on it, it functions in each person in a unique manner. By contrast, electricity does not have memory or intelligence. It can light up a light bulb, power a camera, and do a million other things, not because of its intelligence but because of the particular device that it powers. In the future, there may be smart electricity, too. If you manage to imprint energy with a certain memory, you can make it behave in a certain way.
Five types of prana
There are five basic manifestations of prana in the body. These pancha vayus—prana vayu, samana vayu, udana vayu, apana vayu, and vyana vayu—direct different aspects of the human mechanism. Through yogic practices like the Shakti Chalana Kriya (a set of powerful, purifying practices that enhance the flow of one’s vital energy), you can take charge of the pancha vayus. If you gain mastery over these five vayus, you will be free from most ailments, particularly psychological ones. This is something that the world needs today.
Unless we act now, in the next 50 years, the number of people who are psychologically unbalanced, disturbed, or deranged will increase many times over due to various factors in our lifestyles. We are handling many aspects of our lives in a grossly negligent way, for which we are going to pay the price. If you take charge of your prana, whatever the external situation may be, you will remain psychologically balanced. Right now, a whole lot of people are psychologically unbalanced, though not everyone may have a medical diagnosis.
Pranayama benefits
Suppose your hand does its own thing and pokes you in the eye, scratches, and beats you—that is a sickness. This is what most people’s mind is doing. Every day it pokes them from inside, makes them cry, bawl, or worry. In so many ways, it creates suffering for them. That means it is sick, even if in a socially accepted manner. Every kind of suffering that human beings are going through day in and day out is created in the mind. This sickness has set in, and it will multiply because of the social structures, the technology around us, and various other influences. Through yogic pranayama practices you can take charge of the pancha vayus.
A pranayama practice
Nadi Shuddhi pranayama is a five-minute guided yoga routine for positive energy (https://tinyurl.com/nadibalance). This pranayama balances your nadis, calms your mind and improves your ability to act effectively. The practice is great for beginners and can be done anywhere: at home, in the office, the park. If you practice Nadi Shuddhi, you will realize the benefits in no time.
One who takes charge of one’s prana can be 100% assured to have unshakable psychological balance. This should also prevent physiological ailments to a large extent, though an element of risk remains due to various reasons, including infections and all kinds of chemicals and poisons that we are exposed to on a daily basis. There is no absolute control over what we take in through the air, water, and food, no matter how careful we are about what we consume. How much impact it has on us depends upon each individual.
Physiological health cannot be guaranteed 100% for external reasons. But psychological wellbeing can be 100% guaranteed if you take charge of your prana. If you are psychologically in an extremely good place, a few physiological issues will not be a problem. Most of the time minor bodily conditions are less of an issue than the reactions to them that happen in your mind. How the pranas function within you, how they transact with the rest of the universe, how they enter a newborn, and how they leave the dead, all clearly show they have an intelligence of their own.
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Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic, visionary and author of New York Times bestseller Inner Engineering. For information on Shakti Chalana Kriya and other pranayama practices, visit www.isha.sadhguru.org. For free webinars, visit www.InnerEngineering.com/webinars.
Sylvia shares tips and techniques to help you regain your calm and to balance mind, body and spirit. Yes, even yogis with decades of practice find themselves in a funk from time to time. Many people report feeling anxious, having racing hearts, or suddenly having eczema and mystery rashes, or hours or days of feeling […]
A psychiatry study reviewed in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published November 1, 2022, revealed that mindfulness meditation worked as well as a standard drug for treating anxiety in the first-ever head-to-head comparison. According to the study, results of the randomized clinical trial showed a 30% decline in anxiety as measured on […]
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India declared June 21 to be the International Day of Yoga, he also established October 23 as Ayurveda Day. This year the theme was “Ayurveda Everyday, Ayurveda Everywhere.” Ayurveda was defined as follows: “Ayurveda, the original healthcare tradition of humanity, is not just a medical system, but a manifestation […]
It’s that challenging time of the year again when the days become short and dark. The sweet memories of balmy summer nights fade away as the colorful leaves dry up and disappear from the trees. In the past, I used to dread this dark and damp transition time of the year. Thanks to the help […]
“In Taoism the importance of the feminine element in human life is strongly emphasized, and mythically and historically it counts very many women among its greatest figures.” —Thomas Cleary In this review we will explore several female adepts of early Taoism along with some of their practices in which balance, renewal and wholeness can be […]
Everyone has moments when anxiety may come to the front of our consciousness. Sylvia shares a meditation that she uses to help herself regain perspective and peace of mind.
This book has been a delight and essential reading for the spiritual community for many decades. It’s one of those books you want to carry around, open randomly and read for its wisdom, guidance and inspiration. First published in 1971, its message is simple yet reaches deep within the human psyche offering ‘a way’ to […]
Author, astrologer, and photographer Ray Grasse has written another fascinating book, this one a collection of essays about many aspects of astrology, the Beatles, the Aquarian Age, the Hubble Spacecraft “Deep Field” photo, Citizen Kane, chakras, the soul, God, reincarnation, metaphysics, mysticism, and other subjects of interest to those curious about the deeper meaning of […]
Breath is life. With the onset of COVID-19 came the increased need for self-care physically, mentally, and spiritually. Building our own immune system, balancing our mind, our body and our spirit, and increasing our wellbeing is only one breath away. Using the power of our breath to support our actions can help lead us toward […]
Life is a spiritual journey. Every breath, every relationship, every joy and sorrow are calling you to remember who you really are, and to be and experience all that you came here for. Our discomforts, challenges, and even crises are invitations to free ourselves, expand our wings and rise into our highest expression—for ourselves, for […]
The International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) held its annual Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR) in the Chicago area for the first time, June 9–11. The conference, at the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort, offered both in-person and virtual attendance. As always, it brought together yogis, yoga therapists, researchers, medical workers, and others in community […]
On Saturday morning, June 18, the Consulate General of India, Chicago, held an event in Chicago’s Grant Park in downtown Chicago to commemorate the 8th International Day of Yoga (IDY). The summer solstice, June 21, was designated in 2015 as the IDY by Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. The theme this year was Yoga […]
Welcome to Home of Harmony, 3801 N. Keeler, Chicago, a new spiritual center opened by the Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago. The purpose for the center is to bring together religions and people from various traditions to discuss commonalities for deeper understanding and to spread the message of peace, harmony, and progress for all of […]
On Sunday, June 26, Chicago was blessed by a visit by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a humanitarian spiritual leader, global ambassador of peace, and founder of the Art of Living Foundation. The event was part of his world tour, “I Stand for Peace,” held at the University of Illinois Forum, 1213 S. Halsted in […]
The teachings in this little book have been a valuable inspiration to me in life and shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) practice. I hope others will see its value regardless of one’s spiritual path or goals in life. A quote from one of the training manuals at the Kimura Dojo gives us the essence of Kenzo’s […]
In this podcast Sylvia acknowledges the pain and cruelty that seems evident in the world but reminds us that goodness is never far. In the wake of the Highland Park mass shooting Sylvia encourages us to make the world better by bringing order and peace to our hearts and homes.
On December 11, 2014, less than three months after Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi proposed the idea, the United Nations 193-member General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring June 21 of every year to be the International Day of Yoga. The resolution was introduced under the agenda of Global Health and Foreign Policy by India’s […]
Sylvia notes that a fatal view of the future can prevent us from the ability to bring peace and happiness to this moment. She offers guidance and a meditation to replace fear and division with loving kindness and unity.
Sylvia reflects on the seasons and reminds us that aligning with each stage or season of our life allows us to live with joy and enthusiasm. She offers guided meditation to increase these feelings as well as a technique to break the pattern of negative thoughts.
Black yogis and Buddhists priests are everywhere. During this traditional Black History Month Sylvia invites you to learn more about the people who are on the path, those mentioned in her podcast and people like Howard Thurman and other seekers who show how connected we are in a world that is always under the threat […]
Jerome Smith first became interested in Eastern philosophy as a child when he watched the show Kung Fu on TV. “I saw these wise Chinese men teaching,” says Jerome. “I thought I would like to live in a monastery with monks and learn wise, spiritual things.” He joined the Air Force after high school and […]
In this podcast Sylvia outlines the concept of mindful mercy from a favorite author and Zen teacher Larry Ward, Ph.D. Ward shares his experience as a Black man and student of Thich Nhat Hahn to encourage us to be a part of healing America’s racial karma. Sylvia then invites you to meditate on calming a […]
The seventh International Day of Yoga—June 21, 2021, which is also the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the day of the year with the most daylight—was celebrated over an 11-day period in the Chicago area. The theme was Yoga for Well-Being. An ancient Indian practice for attaining physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness, yoga […]
Yoga therapy is increasingly being integrated into mainstream U.S. health care as more and more research demonstrates that yoga can play a key role in improving our health. In fact, first-year Harvard medical students are now required to take a course that looks at the science of yoga and also includes a chair yoga practice. […]
Peace from Anxiety; Get Grounded, Build Resilience & Stay Connected Amidst the Chaos By Hala Khouri Anxiety is on the rise, with more than 40 million people in the U.S.—and millions more around the world—experiencing anxiety each year. Reasons range from personal issues, climate change, COVID-19, and politics, to a general concern for the future. […]
I love beginning from three-legged dog; it really makes you feel like you’re flying! But a more accessible way would be to start in lizard pose, opening your hips. For lizard pose, come onto your elbows, legs extended back. Bring one foot forward to the outside of the elbow. Hold, release the pose, repeat on the […]
Stephanie Hicks had been practicing yoga on and off for a few years, but in 2011 she was motivated to become serious about her yoga practice. Her mother had passed away a few years earlier, she was attending graduate school, and she was looking for a practice that would help her feel grounded and centered […]
“Breathing is considered to be the most important of all the functions in the human body, for indeed all other functions depend on it. [As human beings] we may exist some time without eating and a shorter time without drinking; but without breathing, existence may be measured by just a few minutes.” This initial paragraph […]
Life has been especially tough during the past year, and while there is hope that we’ll see some return to normalcy in the near future, the stress over health, jobs and our dormant social lives still weighs on so many of us. It’s important that we find ways to lighten the burden on our mental […]
This ongoing pandemic has left an imprint on my heart and in my mind in more ways than one. From an extraordinary number of waking hours still spent on screens, to continuing to cope with limiting in-person contact, the need to adapt to endless changes and demands has taken a toll on our lives and […]
Q: Can one be taught spirituality? If so, at what age should one begin learning? It seems to me that it must come naturally with time or experience, that we must first play in the material world, to realize the shallow joys of “success” and “riches” and also the grief of attaching oneself to objects […]
“All yogis must have the Yoga Sutras. Without them, you go nowhere. It is like spaghetti without the sauce.” —Sri Dharma Mittra It’s sometimes said that our mother is our first guru. My mother always told me to go to the source—advice that has served me well in yoga. It took me to India to […]
As you might have guessed, the word kindfulness is a hybrid of kindness and mindfulness. On its own, mindfulness is simply present-moment nonjudgmental awareness, often practiced in meditation. The dictionary says kindness represents the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. Brought into meditation, these qualities can enhance what might otherwise seem dry or even […]
In this podcast Sylvia shares a few favorite quotes from Lebanese-American artist and writer Khalil Gibran (1883–1931, whose notable book The Prophet became popular in the 1970s. And in doing so, Sylvia reminds us that when it comes to the fortunes and gifts of a nation, all is change.
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Let’s face it, we live in a busy world. This may be the reason that podcasts have become so popular. Not only are they easy to access, but we can multitask while we listen.
I’m not a big podcast listener, but I’ve been listening to a wonderful one lately. I’m enjoying it so much that I was truly disappointed to learn that the first season will be wrapping up soon and, at present, there are no plans for a second season.
At first, I was drawn in by the podcast’s name: “Two Old Fogey Yogis.” I’m a yogi and well, the calendar tells me I’m pretty old, so I suspected it might be something I could relate to. I’m mostly retired now and I feel content with the contributions I have made. As my involvement in work and the world has diminished, my inner life has only expanded and become an increasing source of joy and renewal—thanks to Yoga. It seems that is the two yogis’ experience as well.
The title of the podcast is catchy, but I’m not a fan of ageism and am sensitive to the fact that American culture traditionally has celebrated youth, beauty, and current accomplishments, while its older members are often “put out to pasture.” I looked up “fogey” in the dictionary: “a person with old-fashioned ideas” and found descriptive terms such as stiffness, rigidity, and dullness. Yet the practice of yoga (by yogis) unfailingly fosters physical flexibility, youthfulness in both appearance and attitude, enhanced energy, and mental clarity. I know these two yogi podcasters, and they amply personify such qualities. Both have practiced Yoga virtually all their adult lives, and continue to do so.
As I tuned in to the introductory episode, I thought it might offer hints on how to adapt one’s Yoga posture practice for the “golden years,” which could be useful (though not my top interest). But I soon discovered that this podcast was not mainly about asanas/postures. Their focus is much broader than that.
You may have noticed that I capitalize “Yoga.” Why? Because for me, it’s a sign of respect for a classical tradition that is more of a philosophy, lifestyle, and spiritual path than just a practice of postures and to emphasize that this approach is different from goat yoga, beer yoga, nude yoga, and other takeoffs on traditional Yoga. And that’s what I encountered right away listening to my fellow old fogey yogis: a deep dive into the rich and multifaceted tradition of classical Yoga. That, plus the humorous and interesting way these two yogis offer self-revelatory discussions on a range of subjects—from their personal Yoga journeys to their struggles and strategies to maintain steady Yoga practices to demystifying enlightenment and even to how Yoga can help our interpersonal relationships and communication. Their reflections on the wisdom of the traditional sacred Yoga texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and their real-life experiences applying Yoga helped me remember what can be the positive side of getting older: wisdom gleaned over time.
Photo by Matthew Bennett (@mbennettphoto), unsplash.com
Even in my younger days, Yoga was never just one thing for me. Now, it comprises fewer postures and more Yoga Nidra (a deeply relaxed state), pranayama (breathing techniques), and meditation. It’s not just a practice I try to do daily but also a way of living a life in alignment with the principles and precepts of Yoga—yama and niyama (dos and don’ts). It’s about truly living Yoga—the cliched but true “taking Yoga off the mat” and into every moment of my life. And, the two yogis reminded me of what drew me to Yoga in the first place and why I’ve stuck with the practices and a lifestyle that includes being vegetarian, valuing inner peace, treating myself and others with compassion, recognizing we are all one in spirit, and so on. Also, in the process of listening to the wisdom of these two yogis, I’ve picked up some very helpful tips for my Hatha and meditation practices and inspiration for better understanding of foundational Yoga literature; I’m grateful to them for helping this senior yogi reflect on his own life, spiritual journey, and the wisdom uncovered in the process.
Oh, yes! I should mention that the two old fogey yogis are Swami Asokananda and Rev. Prem, two of the most senior members of Integral Yoga, a unique community, spiritual center, and Yoga academy (also called Yogaville), located in Buckingham, Virginia. Integral Yoga was founded in 1966 by Swami Satchidananda, affectionately referred to as the “Woodstock Guru” because he was flown in to the music festival by helicopter (due to a traffic jam of eager attendees) at the last minute to try to set a peaceful vibe at what was quickly becoming a unmanageable crowd that swelled to “half a million strong” (as the Joni Mitchell song goes!).
Leaving the catchy title of the podcast aside, while these two yogis personify Yoga, neither abandons her or his own personality in the process! In the 20+ episodes released in 2020 and 2021, Rev. Prem comes across as an extroverted introvert, while the Swami seems more of a dyed-in-the-wool introvert, but opposites attract and they find their yin-yang balance quite naturally.
As I reflect on my own life as an “okay boomer,” I recognize just how quickly time has flown. I and my sixties-generation sisters and brothers may not be as physically spry as we once were, yet as the days somehow turned into decades, a major observable effect of the inexorable process of Yoga for me has been a gentle mellowing and smoothing of sharp edges.
I hope that “Two Old Fogey Yogis” might return for a second season. Perhaps, as a friend of mine recently suggested, they could come back as “Older, Fogier & Yogier.”
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“Two Old Fogey Yogis” is hosted on www.Soundcloud.com and can be found on most podcast apps.
(A version of this article was originally published in Elephant Journal.)
Larry Hari Barker was born and raised in Virginia, where he continues to live peacefully as a member of the Yogaville community in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. He worked as a bank examiner with the Federal Reserve for over 17 years prior to becoming a Yoga teacher.
For thousands of years, before the Buddha, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, or Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, there was shamanism, a means of merging with the spirit world for knowledge, healing, and power. Shamans were the first to learn of the power and benefits of becoming one with nature and the animal spirits for the sake of the health and well-being of themselves and their respective communities or tribes.
In the process of becoming a shaman, individuals would learn to heal themselves of psycho-spiritual imbalances by going through intensely challenging tasks and overcoming formidable obstacles. Over a period that could last for many years, they would attempt to purify themselves through a variety of extreme methods: isolation in caves or forests; bathing in icy water; ingesting psychotropic plants; stretching their limbs; rapidly breathing; gazing at water or stars; walking on hot coals; sitting still for days or weeks; singing; fasting; dancing; listening to plants, the songs of birds, or the cries of deer; and so on.
The initiates would go into ecstatic trances where they would receive messages, knowledge, and power from the spirits of animals or ancestors who had taken pity on them for their intense disciplines and offered them gifts and paths to wholeness. They would meet certain animal spirits that would show them how to make themselves well. This process gave the shaman a gift or several gifts of healing that they could then offer to other members of their tribe.
Much or perhaps all of what we call Indian yoga today was derived from the earliest practices of shamanic cultures.
For several decades renowned anthropologist Felicitas Goodman, founder of the Cuyamungue Institute and author of Where the Spirits Ride the Wind, studied the use of bodily postures as ways to access ecstatic states and communicate with the spirits. She concludes, “Hatha yoga postures originated in indigenous shamanism.”
In China, shamanism has been recognized as the forerunner to Taoist and Chinese yoga. Qigong master Zhongxian Wu goes so far as to say, “As my practice of Chinese wisdom deepened, I began to understand that ancient Wu (Chinese shamanism) is the root of all Chinese culture.”
An Olmec jaguar shamanic figure (www.crystalinks.com)
Everything that both female and male shamans did spontaneously to heal themselves was adopted by others who then organized, categorized, and systematized their practices into the various spiritual arts and yoga traditions that have come down to us in the forms we know today. Let’s look at some examples:
Shamans pierced their bodies with pointed bones or stones to shift the energy in their bodies. This eventually became known as acupuncture.
Shamans stretched and contorted their bodies in many different ways to change their inner landscape and communicate with spirits. This became known as Hatha yoga.
Shamans engaged in rapid breathing or holding the breath beyond normal limits. This became internal alchemy, pranayama, and Kundalini yoga.
Shamans bathed in icy rivers and lakes or rested and cleansed themselves in hot springs and steam caves. This later evolved and became the sweat lodge and hydrotherapy.
Shamans searched out and discovered special places where nature spirits and animal spirits dwell. These became religious holy pilgrimages where shrines were set up.
Shamans would go without eating or drinking for long periods of time. This later became known as fasting.
Shamans sat for hours in total darkness and stillness. This later became known as meditation.
So, I believe that it can safely be said that many cultures’ spiritual practices and healing modalities can be traced back to the ancient shamans.
My Journey into Shamanism
My initiation into shamanism began at the same time I learned to meditate in 1970 and lasted until 1985. During that time I learned not to fear the contents of the shadow but see it as a holding space for parts of myself that had been denied expression and recognition and to embrace those parts. I learned that embracing the shadow frees energy and that that is really all there is to learn. From there, everything takes care of itself according to the individual shaman’s personality and gifts relative to the needs of the community and people around him. The experience of my initiation helped me understand the true nature and connectedness of life relative to the human spirit. With this I could go on, as the initiation is like a doorway into the unknown, which is vast and filled with possibility, opening to other worlds that a shaman may or may not choose to explore.
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Jia Senghe is a Taoist practitioner, shaman, and artist. He has maintained a regular meditation practice since the early 1970’s when he began his shamanic initiation. Jia is the author of several books including Primal Light Shamanic Qigong; Internal Alchemy and Healing with Medicine Buddha. He is the founder of the Oak Street Shakuhachi Studio where he teaches shakuhachi (a Japanese bamboo flute), meditation, and Qigong in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago. His website is utaguchi.com.