Breath Meditation: See the World in a Different Way

by Nischala Joy Devi. April 29, 2014. Here is a simple meditation, using your breath. Breath meditation is wonderful to help center and balance and reestablish calm on a busy day.To begin, sit comfortably on the floor or in a chair that supports you well. Observe your...

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Mantras: Uplifting Words

by Nischala Joy Devi. April 20, 2014. The word "mantra" has found its way into our common language usage today. It is always amusing for me to open the newspaper and find the word mantra in the comics or the financial section. They use it to mean a word that, when...

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Hum Into Spring With Yogic Breathing

by Nischala Joy Devi April 8, 2014 At last! After a harsh winter in many parts of the U.S., Spring is here. People who have been bundled up for months are stepping outside and deeply breathing the fresh air. Although pranayama, the yogic breathing practices, do us...

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Learning From Your Breath

by Nischala Joy Devi.March 27, 2014. Reverse breathing is a habit that is born out of being frightened over and over again. As we feel fear, our "normal" sympathetic response is to inhale and hold the breath. This allows the blood to be shunted to our extremities,...

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Are You Holding Stress?

by Nischala Joy Devi. March 19, 2014. Most of us go through our lives with little awareness of the way different parts of our bodies hold tension and, of course, are eventually adversely affected. The more aware we are of the ways stress affects us physically, the...

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Vairagya: Remembrance of the True Self

by Nischala Joy Devi. March 12, 2014. In the last couple blogs, I've been talking about Abhyasa and Vairagya two components that are essential to reunion with the True Self. Patanjali talks about this in the Yoga Sutras: Yoga Sutra 1.12 Consciousness is elevated by...

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Developing Devoted Practice, Abhyasa

by Nischala Joy Devi. March 1, 2014 In last week's blog, I talked about Abhyasa (Devoted Practice) and Vairagya (Remembering the Self)--the vital duo that team to elevate our consciousness and bring us union with the True Self. This week, let's talk more about...

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Two Components to Reunion With Your True Self

by Nischala Joy Devi. February 18, 2014. We all want to soar in our yoga practice and spiritual growth. In the Yoga Sutras, Sri Patanjali talks about the importance of teaming devoted spiritual practice with remembrance of the True Self. Both are vital to our...

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Don’t Forget to Serve Yourself

by Nischala Joy Devi. February 4, 2014. Knowing how much we have to give comes as we learn more about ourselves from the inside out, not from the opinions others have of us or how we would like to be. As we serve others without expecting rewards, our capacity for...

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Bring Love to Your Service

by Nischala Joy Devi. January 22, 2014. When performing any kind of service—whether paid or volunteer—genuine love and care for those we serve makes all the difference in the quality of service, the effect on the people being served, and the effect on our own hearts....

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