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YOGA TEACHER TRAINING COURSES (TTC)
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December 4 - 31, 2013
January 4 - 31, 2014February 3 - March 2, 2014March 5 - April 1, 2014April 4 - May 1, 2014May 5 - June 1, 2014EARLY BIRD SPECIAL
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August 29 - September 2 October 5 - 9, 2013 October 27 - 31, 2013 September 3 - 7, 2013 October 10 - 14, 2013
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Greetings!
Good news! The Yoga Retreat will be offering another Early Bird Discount for the month of August on any upcoming 2013-2014 Yoga Teacher Training Course. Sign up by August 31 to take advantage of this special $250 savings. Through this comprehensive training program, you can learn to deepen your practice, change your life and enrich the lives of others through yoga. Call us to register or get more details and sign up online now! Come discover a healthier, more vibrant YOU, here at the Yoga Retreat!
Om Shanti. Om Peace.
Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat Bahamas
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How to Become Fearless and Develop Confidence
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Individual Karma vs Collective Karma
Q & A with Swami Swaroopananda
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 Will a person who lives a pure, peaceful and spiritual life still be affected by the collective negative karma associated with the time and place in which they live?
Answer: Yes, of course. Think about the sinking of the Titanic. There were many different kinds of people on the Titanic - evil people, normal people, saintly people, all types of people. When the boat sank, however, everyone who was on board shared in the collective karma, but the experience of everyone on board was different. This is the point. Everyone shared in the collective karma of the sinking boat, and at the same time, the experience of each one was different.
One person had the opportunity to get into a lifeboat but he gave his place to another passenger. Then the boat sank and the person died. This was just one experience, right? The boat is sinking, people are panicking, and this one person gives his place to another person. He saves a life, and in the end he loses his life. Of course the person whose life he saved never forgot this individual, never. So, you see? There was a common experience. Within that common experience - if you know the story of the Titanic you will recall that the orchestra was playing as the boat was sinking, that some people were panicking, some people were peaceful, some people were helpful. At the end of the day, some people's lives were saved and other people's lives were not saved.
From a spiritual point of view, what is the lesson? The lesson is that, yes, there is indeed collective karma, but we also have free choice within that collective karma to create our own destiny, and also to help and shape the destiny of others. The life of the person who survives because another person sacrifices his own life will be transformed forever. The sacrificing person not only saved the physical life of the other person, he also helped to transform the other person's life.
Within a collective karma situation, all of us have choices to make. We have to make them. Yes, in that situation, some of us may physically die and some of us may physically survive. But the choices we make are the most important thing within that situation. Those choices - the free choices within the collective situation - are what make the situation spiritual.
The planet Earth is like a boat, so let's assume that the boat is sinking. In some parts of the boat, people are saying, "Ah, nothing is happening." In another corner, people are panicking. In another corner people say, "We are in first class, we should be the ones to survive." In another corner, people are sacrificing their own lives for the sake of others. It is a collective situation but each of us has free choice, which makes our lives spiritual, and which makes other lives spiritual.
I remember hearing a funny story from a very wise person. There is a boat sailing in the Caribbean. Suddenly, the captain sees on his gadgets that water is rushing into the boat. He actually can see that the water is gushing into the boat through a particular cabin. So he sends the first officer to that cabin to see what is happening because the boat is going to sink. When the first officer enters the cabin, he sees a passenger with a drill, cutting a big hole in the wall of the cabin, and water is rushing in. The first officer says to the person, "Are you crazy? Look what you are doing! The boat is going to sink!" The passenger then replies, "This is not your business. This is my cabin."
Who is that passenger? We are that passenger. We say, "Oh, this is not your business, because this is my cabin." This is also freedom of choice.
Yes, there is collective karma. Yes, there is a collective situation. Our free choice within that situation is what is spiritual, and even if our free choice is poor, we can learn from others. Our free choice is often poor, but we are inspired by the free choice of other people - like Mahatma Gandhi, like Mother Theresa, like Swami Vishnudevananda and so on. We are inspired by the free choice of others. The saints also have freedom of choice, even more than us. Om Shanti, Om Peace
Swami Swaroopananda, Director
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Prana Balancing Techniques with Dale Buegel, MD
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 | During the upcoming Prana in Life Enhancement program held December 20 - 22, 2013, participants can learn to work with pranas (energies) directly to facilitate balance on the physical, emotional, and energetic levels. Working with poses and the breath helps to regulate prana indirectly; learning to directly sense flows and blockages of energy helps us restore balance and enhance our lives. Having taught yoga for nearly 40 years, Dale Buegel, M.D. will guide us in 3 workshops to learn to work with the pranas in postures, breath, and meditation practices.
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"Dhyanam nirvishayam manah": That state of the mind wherein there are no Vishayas or sensual thoughts is meditation.
"Tatra pratyayaikatanata dhyanam": A continuous flow of perception or thought is Dhyana (meditation). There is continuous current in the mind of one object like the flow of water in a river (Pravaha). There is only one Vritti in the mind. It is Ekarupa-Vritti-Pravaha.
Meditation is the keeping up of an unceasing flow of God-consciousness. It is the flow of continuous thought of one thing or God or Atman, like the continuous flow of oil. All worldly thoughts are shut out from the mind. The mind is filled or saturated with Divine thoughts, Divine glory and Divine presence. Meditation is regular flow of thought with regard to the object of concentration. Meditation follows concentration.
Meditation is the seventh rung or step in the ladder of Yoga. Yogis call this 'Dhyana.' Jnanis term this 'Nididhyasana.' Bhaktas style this 'Bhajana.'
Yama (self-restraint), Niyama (religious observance), Asana (posture), Pranayama (restraint of breath), Pratyahara (abstraction or withdrawal of the senses), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation), Samadhi (superconscious state or blissful union with the Supreme Self) are the eight steps of Yoga.
Lord Jesus says, "Empty thyself and I shall fill thee." This corresponds to the teaching of Patanjali Maharshi: "Yogas-chitta-vritti-nirodhah"--"Yoga is restraint (annihilation) of all mental modifications (functions)." This emptying process or making the mind blank is no doubt a trying discipline. But continued practice of an intense type will bring success. There is no doubt of this.
--- Swami Sivananda
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