Podcast Transcript
Avi Gordon
Satya, thank you for joining us today. I love to start out by just asking the question, what does integral yoga mean to you? Well,
Satya
to me, integral yoga means life. That is life. It’s a good idea. Swami Satchidananda, through integral yoga, the name integral yoga, he has given us guidance on every single aspect of life and how to take any part of your life and make it into a yoga practice, make it into something beneficial for yourself, for your health, for your happiness, for your peace of mind, and for the benefit of whoever you come in contact with. So integral yoga guru said once in a satsang, integral yoga is anything that leads you to your happiness, your permanent happiness. So it’s fast, it’s universal and it’s different for every single one of us. We can start with these formal practices. We can start with hatha yoga or meditation or chanting how to Yom. That’s integral yoga, but it begins to permeate every aspect of your life and being
Avi Gordon
so happiness you mentioned. And because I think that can be somewhat confusing sometimes, right? Because certain things maybe bring you happiness in the moment, but that’s not the permanent happiness that you’re talking about, and I think that Guru Dev is talking about as well, right? So kind of deciphering, you know, okay, maybe this makes me happy, happy right now in this moment, but longevity is really what we’re going for. Is that? Right? Yeah, ultimately,
Satya
but sometimes it’s trial and error. We learn from our experiences. And when we think that something’s going to make us happy, we might pursue that and find out, wow, this is a dead end. I thought it would make me happy, and it’s not anymore. So then you have to reevaluate and think what is going to really stick with me and lead me to more permanent or fulfilling happiness,
Avi Gordon
and what’s the obstacle between like us evaluating, even and assessing, you know, what was the effect of this? Because it seems that, you know, we have to keep getting the lessons again and again and again. So it’s not like, Okay, I do something and then I learn right away, necessarily, like you have to do it sometimes 50 or 100 times before you actually realize that that’s not what you want to be going
Satya
for, right? Yes. What is the obstacle? The mind, the ego, the mind. And we live in a world, in a culture, in a society where everything is going in the opposite direction. Everything is pulling us out, pulling us out, pulling us out, and and yoga, the permit is telling us the real peace is within your true self. Your peace is within so everything is bullying us out and and we have to build up some willpower to resist that. You know, when we first were here at yoga bill in the 80s, we’re on the banks of the James River. And Gurudev said to us once, it Satsang to try to live a yogic spiritual life in this day and age, is like swimming up stream or taking your canoe and paddling up the James it really takes a lot of effort. Then some years later, after the introduction of the Internet and other things, he said, You remember I said that about swimming upstream? Well, in this day and age now, to try to live a spiritual life, you just have to try to maintain your position, because the flow is so much going in the opposite direction. So that’s what we’re dealing with. And the yoga practices are there to help us to purify and to gain that willpower, little by little, physically, to be strong and healthy. And then that affects the mind, mentally, to have a clear, calm mind, then we can evaluate things a little better and have some discrimination and discernment between what is ultimately going to be beneficial for my path and what is a
Avi Gordon
distraction and kind of across the. Forward, it seems that it’s beneficial to go internal instead of external, right? Like that. That’s a safe thing to say, that it would be beneficial. And what we’re really looking for is developing that will power power and going internal.
Satya
Well, yeah, but what do you mean by internal?
Avi Gordon
What do you mean
Satya
by internal it means, it means independence, in a way, independent from things that to have your happiness, your is not dependent on anything outside of yourself. It doesn’t just mean sitting there in a corner with your eyes closed, or in a closet with your eyes closed. That’s not a journal. You could be having a zillion thoughts and planning whatever, but it means the the calmness and the independence that you can radiate happiness and and be active and useful in the world from a very happy and place of equanimity. Sam atwam, equanimity is yoga.
Avi Gordon
Is the word responsibility, a part of this taking responsibility. And maybe the obstacle is, uh, maybe a desire to not take responsibility for your life.
Satya
Well, responsibility that that’s an interesting word, because, um, for a bhakti, you have no responsibility. You put everything at the feet of the Lord. You trust in God, Bhagavad Gita. Bhagavad Gita, you’re you look, Krishna says you, you are not the doer. Ultimately, it’s happening. It’s the cosmic plan. Ultimately, we’re not the doers to realize that, then you’re really afraid, right? Then you don’t have a responsibility. It’s God’s responsibility to take care of you and to take care of everything. But as long as we think we’re the doers, then we do have the responsibility and we face the results.
Avi Gordon
Even maybe there could be a responsibility to that letting go to that devotion and putting yourself in and remembering, oh, it’s not me doing this. It’s It’s, God, I’m putting myself in the hands, yeah,
Satya
well, you’re thinking, you’re sort of saying responsibility is like your responsibility to yourself to remind yourself, or your willpower to stay on your yoga path, right? And, and that is, you know, some these words like willpower or discipline and responsibility. Sometimes they feel people feel uncomfortable with those words, but they’re actually great. They’re actually great and and it’s something to develop and to find the freedom in having willpower and discipline.
Avi Gordon
The conversation about words is very interesting to me, too, and something to keep in mind, right? Because I think often we treat it as though words mean the same thing for everyone, right? I find that we all have a relationship with words, so a word that maybe you connect with and feel comfortable with to someone else, that’s not a word that they like and they have a negative association to it. So I think that’s a good foundation when we’re having conversations and, you know, using words that it’s not the same for everyone,
Satya
that’s really true. You know, there’s a word Viveka in in yoga, which means discrimination, is also often translated as discrimination. And I had a very good friend in Europe, a yoga teacher, excuse me, and that word discrimination is a very negative connotation for her, and every time she heard it, she’d say it would just put her off. It was like a red flame in her because of her own experience with discrimination on another level. And so to realize that you can’t just use a word like that, you have to think discernment or understanding the difference between the positive and the negative, or the eternal and the temporary. It has a much different meaning in spiritual sense and spiritual practice. How
Avi Gordon
did your yoga practice begin?
Satya
My yoga practice began at integral Yoga Institute in Berkeley in California, early 70s. I was looking for I was looking around at all different spiritual practices and groups in Berkeley, everything was available, and a lot of them were right out there on the street. And so I had tried a lot of different ones, but the one thing I was looking for was something practical, because I heard a lot of philosophy, but I thought there must be someone, some path, someone to tell you what to actually do. What are you supposed to do? All philosophy, God is one, all of this. What are you supposed to do? And I went in to take this yoga class in Berkeley, and the first thing the teacher said, sit down in a comfortable cross leg position that that did something to me. I went, Oh my gosh, they know exactly. He knows exactly what to do. And then he said, close your eyes. Focus on your breath. And the whole class was taught like that, such clear instruction. Well, I was sold before we even finished the eye movements, I said, this is for me. This is my path. I know this is, this is for me. If I had, I thought if I went up to the teacher right after the classes that I want to I want to live here. I’m ready to live here, he’d think I was crazy. So I waited a while, a few months, and just went to classes every day or as many times as I could. But I knew that was my path. I never met Guru Dev. I had I hadn’t met Guru Dev. I just knew there was something about the teachings and the practice. It was what I was looking for. When
Avi Gordon
you find something like that in life that lights you up, you automatically, you know, just go after it more. Okay, I’m going to come to another class after that. Or does it take a little bit of planning and discipline for yourself to kind of remember. Because I think sometimes we find things that we really like, but then we’re distracted by other things. And it’s not until a long time into the future that we oh yeah, there was that one thing that I really liked, but I didn’t follow up with it,
Satya
yeah. That happens, yeah. But luckily for me, I was young, very young, luckily for me, I knew right away that was my path, and I knew Swami Satchidananda was my guru, even before meeting him in person, I just knew that, and that has never changed. That’s a blessing. Now I see what a blessing that was, because that has never changed for me. So I’ve had a zillion distractions, but that, that is the lifeline of my life. And of course, I never, I always lived in the ashram there. We called it integral Yoga Institute, but it was ashram living,
Avi Gordon
and did that lifeline start right then? Yeah, during the first class, right then, that was in. And do you see a clear distinction for yourself, like personally before and after? Oh, yeah, that event,
Satya
Yeah, completely changed my life. Completely changed the direction of my life.
Avi Gordon
What direction would you say you were going in before that?
Satya
Probably prisoner or death, eventually, or something, no or something, yeah, not that great. I
Avi Gordon
you know to say that too, I think is is real for many of us, that we feel that like yoga has literally saved our lives, and to keep in mind as teachers, and maybe that’s intimidating, right to think that, wow, this is so powerful that this can change lives. But it’s also amazing that that we found something that that helps us so much and that maybe we can offer to others, can help them too well.
Satya
I see that in every class, every class that we teach. That’s why being a yoga teacher is a great inspiration, and it’s an honor, because you see the people when they come in, especially if you teach beginners, which I love beginners, you’d see them when they come in, and then you see them at the end, and there’s a change. They may never take another yoga class their whole life, but for one small amount of time, they experience the peace within. It’s so beautiful, and that’s the gift that. I feel that Guru has given us in this very simple practice, and a lot of people get bored with it, and they think they want to spice it up and and I understand that yoga teachers, there’s a competitive world out there now, but the essence of what we’re offering is so precious. And you just see it in the faces of the people, the whole vibration of the classroom changes from start to finish in that integral yoga class. It’s astounding. It works. That’s the thing. It works. You do a little yoga practice, you get the benefit right then and there.
Avi Gordon
Thank you. In your opinion, what makes a good hatha yoga class?
Satya
In my opinion, integral yoga Hatha one, that’s my favorite class. But in my opinion, otherwise, I don’t go to too many yoga classes, except here at the ashram. So I’m probably not a great person to ask. But in my opinion, I like to feel a balance. I like to feel a little challenge. I do like to learn new things and feel a little physical challenge. I like the balance, and I like a time at the end to assimilate everything and a meditation or something centering at the end. So I would say that’s what I would want to put in what you do with the asanas. I think can vary a little depending on the population, but to have some meditative experience and some kind of deep relaxation, or relaxation, I think that’s an important part.
Avi Gordon
What do you recommend for teachers to be doing while their students are in Shavasana?
Satya
I well, I like to, I like to see, watch the students and hold the space, and I just focus on the students. Sometimes I might meditate a little bit or close my eyes a little and repeat a mantra, but mainly I focus on the students and just looking at their faces and feeling that I’m protecting them, that there’s this sort of blanket of protection that I’m holding that space.
Avi Gordon
Do you not recommend for teachers in general to close their eyes while they’re teaching like because sometimes it feels like to really get in touch with the body, closing your eyes, you kind of tune in a little bit more. But maybe that’s not the right time to be doing it.
Satya
I recommend that you focus on the student, and I don’t recommend doing the practice while you’re teaching. It’s two different things. I don’t even really demonstrate much or do awesome as much in a class, a little, maybe just to give the point, or it depends, but I focus on the students. And I feel, if you really focus on the students, that it’s almost as though you’re doing the practice through them, and you get the benefit at the end. You feel like you’ve done the practice. When
Avi Gordon
you say that, it makes me think that it’s even maybe possible to kind of as you know you’re teaching. It’s an opportunity to lose the ego, in a way, because you’re so focused on on the students, you’re not even really concerned with the ego or the self very much is that, because I
Satya
find teaching a yoga class is a one time where I’m not even there and there’s no thought, there’s no mind, and that is a beautiful experience, and I’ve shared that with other yoga teachers who have that experience. In fact, that’s why they maybe like to teach, because it stops all this constant what we have to put up with all the time is, oh, that’s always going on in the mind, all these thoughts and fruities. So then you just focus, you’re teaching the class, and you’re just focused on the students, and for that whole hour and a half piece,
Avi Gordon
right? It’s and I think it comes from the feeling that what you’re doing is very important. Because, like in general, in life, if, if you’re doing something that’s very important, let’s say even there’s an emergency that requires your attention, you’re not thinking about the self at all. Just you lose it, yeah, you’re just totally focused. On what needs to be done, because there’s no time to get caught in the mind about like your image, or yourself, or any anything like,
Satya
right? That is the real Karma Yoga. You are not the doer. You are you. You just focus in on the job that has to be done, and you’re not there. You’re being the instrument. Yeah, emergencies are like that. I’m sure that’s why probably people love who get into that profession. They they might feel very much attracted to that and love it because you’re out of yourself, your selfish self,
Avi Gordon
and maybe even that that relates to dharma in a way too, because it’s feeling that what I’m doing is very important. So that’s Dharma, right? It’s what I’m kind of meant to be doing, either in general, in life or right in this moment. Not
Satya
that it’s important, but it’s the right thing at the right time. It’s, it’s, it’s in the flow of
Avi Gordon
truth, righteousness, right? Yeah, I like that. Even it’s beyond the word important, yeah, it’s important
Satya
that sort of, you know, it’s relative to,
Avi Gordon
can you tell us about the different kinds of classes you teach and your intention as a teacher for each one?
Satya
Well, I teach half a one basic and I teach the basic teacher training program. That is my number one favorite. Well, I like all my classes, but I’m very attached to the one month residential Teacher Training Program here at yoga fill so I’ve seen that from the beginning when it started in Connecticut ashram, when Gurudev just said to people, whoever wants to be a yoga teacher, you have to come and live At the ashram for one month. And that program grew, was developed for that purpose. And he always said, if you want, don’t think about becoming a yoga teacher. Become a yogi. Live a yoga lifestyle. And where can you learn that, except by coming and living in an ashram for some time, and it’s so beautiful that he’s given that to us here. I think the light program here is very much like that also, because the people come for one month and that 30 day program is it’s astounding the transformation that takes place in people’s lives. So I love that basic teacher training program. I love that I also teach the intermediate, which is great, because people come back and then they deepen their practice to the intermediate teacher training. But all of my teacher training programs, because I teach here at yoga bill, I I have the same general purpose behind it all, that you come here and take a yoga retreat for yourself, and that you learn to teach by doing the practice yourself. That’s That’s my method, and that’s my motto. And I tell people right from the beginning, don’t think I’m just going to give you a list. Like in an adaptive Yoga people come and they think, well, they’re going to get a list for this problem. Do this asana, like prescription. That’s not it, because every body is different, and every condition is different. So in adaptive people come for 10 days, and we look at the basic asanas, say, a co proposed, how many? What is the essential benefit and focus of a co repose? And how can you get that in all different body types. Say somebody can’t lie on the floor and lift their head and chest. How can they still get that strengthening of the upper spine back muscles? How can they get that so you find all different ways where you could get that same experience of the COVID pose, even though you may not be able to do it in the classical way. So that’s great. And when you experience it in your own body, then when you have a student who can’t do something, will come back to you, oh, try. You can try this, and then you can help them to get the benefit of the asana, even though they may not do it in a way that looks like the asana.
Avi Gordon
So it seems that even if you’re not like when you’re teaching, that you might not be doing the you. The postures yourself. You’re still sharing your practice, because you’ve developed it yourself. You’ve gone there, you’ve done it. You understand. So you don’t necessarily need to be doing it in that moment, but you can be with your students and what they’re doing it because you’ve been there yourself so many times exactly,
Satya
and it’s in your body, it’s there the memory of the pose, or the adaptation, it’s in your body and and it comes out at the right time. So I teach adaptive yoga teacher training that is for people who have taken the basic and then they want to learn more how to adapt for different body types. Because a lot of times people leave after their basic TT, and then they go teach a class, and maybe at a y or someplace, and half the people in the class can’t even sit on the floor, so that’s sort of a shock sometimes, and you want to know how to help them to have the experience that you want to share, but they’re physically have other limitations. So that’s adaptive yoga. And then I teach restorative yoga teacher training, and I teach restorative yoga on a regular basis, which I like a lot. And restorative is using the props to hold the body in the asana. So it’s a very deeply meditative and profoundly relaxing practice, very much needed for stress reduction. And it creates, I feel, it creates a healing environment in the body, because you can hold the pose longer and you can let go, and then the energy, or the Shakti of that pose, can remove blockages, and body has a natural healing instinct, so you can access that energy. He’s holding a
Avi Gordon
fair question, Oh, great. When will we be able to take the advanced teacher training from siting?
Satya
Well, I’m not scheduled to teach the advanced teacher training at this time. Ashokanandez teaching this summer here at yoga bill, and he’s also teaching one in Europe. And I sort of put my energy into other areas instead of offering the advanced. Have you taught the advanced before? Uh, no,
Avi Gordon
so just not. Do you have interest? Or could it happen one day? Well,
Satya
it probably could happen. Anything’s possible, but I was going to do it, and then I just put my energy into other directions. Then. So great. I don’t have any plans for it now.
Avi Gordon
How do you recommend for teachers to work their own individual creativity into their classes?
Satya
Wow, you have you’re just yourself. You have to be yourself when you’re teaching. But a yoga class may not be the time where you’re sharing a lot of your own personality. It’s, I mean, it comes through, because that’s who you are, but at the same time, it’s not a performance. So as far as I’m concerned, so the more you do your own practice, the more centered you are. Then when you go to teach your class, you’re an instrument. You’re an instrument for the teachings to come through you. Now, if you’re trying to create a class or or something that is yoga and creativity, or yoga and some art form, or some talent that you have that you want to share, and you’re combining those, then that is something else also that you could develop and you could offer that, but it always should come from the the purity and the depth of your own practice. And it comes out.
Avi Gordon
So is there another another question, another question, yeah, is there
Satya
a children’s yoga teacher training? There is a children’s yoga teacher training? We haven’t had it here at yoga bill the last time we offered it. That we didn’t get enough people. So it’s not scheduled right now, but there is, and there is another person, nitya, who’s teaching a children’s yoga teacher training here. She’s from Richmond, a long time disciple of Swami Satchidananda, and really, very excellent, and in teaching children’s yoga, and she has a beautiful course and practice and children’s camp. She brings her kids here every summer, and it’s a joy to see them. They’re fabulous. They love Carmen yoga. They’re always cleaning and helping, and they put on these little plays. They’re fabulous. So I would look into Nithya is yoga until we have the integral yoga children’s course. Again here,
Avi Gordon
it’s amazing to think about the possibility for Children who start out, you know, doing yoga from a young age too. I think most of us didn’t start until we were adults, yes, but now more and more children are starting. Yeah, wow. I just think about it like the possibility, if you start out when you’re when you’re five, six years old, doing yoga how your body can feel and the longevity and mental clarity and all of it.
Satya
Yes, yeah, it’s beautiful. So you have a great opportunity now to teach your baby. The baby will teach you for a while, and then she can do it with you. Do you have
Avi Gordon
any mental tracks that you feel like maybe don’t serve you so much, but still pop up time to time, and you wish that maybe they wouldn’t.
Satya
Of course, everybody does, but there’s no point in me sharing my garbage here on the television, because what is the point? We all have our stuff. Y’all have our stuff. So through yoga, how do you own it’s gradually diminishing, and
Avi Gordon
I guess the trick is really just to not get caught in it, right? So it just comes and it moves past instead of latching on to whatever that that thing is, right? Well,
Satya
exactly, yeah, that’s a good sign. That’s a good sign that it’s moving on, but we do have our addictions or things that we have grasped and we’re holding on to, and we still have to let them go. I mean, let’s face it, otherwise we’d all be perfect right here and now. So, so we have to systematically, or little by little, let them go. For me personally, I try to just turn my heart and my mind towards something positive, like chanting, or chanting is a great thing, or some more vigorous yoga practice or something, and that really changes the station and gets me out of whatever it is that might be bothering
Avi Gordon
is pratipaksha Bhavana, taught in basic
Satya
teaching, yes, yeah, yeah. And Marsha yoga and chanting is that is exactly what chanting is replace your if you’re stuck in your mind with a recurring thought or something that won’t leave you alone, then you can turn or you can chant or and that replaces that thought. I just call it changing the station,
Avi Gordon
changing the station. I wanted to ask also I thought of, well, in our culture, I think there’s a real tendency to judge right a lot. There’s a lot of judgment I feel, and there’s a lot of, maybe, I would say, taking our opinions too seriously. Like, I like this person, I don’t like this person, they’re like everything. Like and dislike, in my opinion, is very important. And I felt that a lot in yoga classes, like as a teacher, right? You feel the eyes on you, and you could feel that maybe even like analyzing you do I like this person my you know, am I gonna follow what they’re saying? Am I not that sort of thing that comes from putting yourself out there, you know, in front of a classroom. Do you feel that all, do you have any recommendations for teachers that maybe that’s overwhelming for them a little bit to be in front of a class and to have kind of all the students critiquing
Satya
them, so to speak. Well, yeah, that is a difficult I mean, that’s why I’m here. I live at yoga bill. I just show up, teach my class, go home, and I don’t I’m not involved in the marketing or the all of that aspect, which, personally, I would never survive in, that it’s just not. My thing, so I I’m happy to be here. And whoever comes to the class, I can offer the class, but this is a very protected environment, and select people are coming to yoga bill for for a reason, and they enjoy the classes. And so for people who are out teaching at studios and different places, or you’re trying to support yourself in teaching yoga, that’s that is really a challenge. It’s really a challenge. And the world of yoga, I think, is becoming highly competitive too. So there’s all of that. And then at the same time, we’re talking about here integral yoga teachers who somehow they have some connection to the spiritual aspect of their yoga practice. So you have to always go back and connect with your own true self and energy and the Shakti within. And just when you go give it up, you have to say, I’m here. I’m an instrument. Whatever happens, good or bad, it’s not my problem. I have a motto, my husband and I, we anyone who took TT with me, they’ve heard me say that my job is to show up, be prepared, show up and then shut up. That’s it, good or bad. It’s not your problem. I mean, it’s hard, because if you get criticized or or if you get fired, or they say, well, we don’t want your yoga classes here. That’s going to hurt. It’s going to hurt. But at the same time, do you want to teach in a place that is not conducive to the type of yoga that you’re offering, so you have to be true to yourself.
Avi Gordon
Seems that there are these situations that come up for us on our path where we have to make a choice of, kind of how serious we are about our spiritual path and these practices, right? If all of a sudden there’s this pressure, I think finances do it for us a lot, because all of a sudden, okay, there’s this situation and all my spiritual practice is now, you know, go out the window, and I’ve got to deal with this thing, and I kind of enter then the world of stress and anxiety and ego, yeah, all of that. But really, that’s the way I see it. That’s the time when you really need the spiritual I had this moment, personally, when I came to the ashram and I just done the LIGHT Program, and then I was on the phone with my insurance company, and I was very frustrated, and I was angry and all worked up, and I real, and I was in a peaceful state for the previous three or four weeks, and I I just stopped for a second. I said, Wait a second. All that just boom, left so easily, is gone. And so I made an intention then that, like, No, this isn’t just something I’m playing at as a spiritual practice. I’m not compartmentalizing it. This is my life, and this is, you know, what I believe, and this is how I want to live. So I don’t know, yeah, it’s true.
Satya
It’s true. We all have to make that. We make that choice over and over and over again. But if our yoga is really our spiritual path, and it is our life, and we are really ultimately going towards a goal of self realization or perfection in action or peace and joy, permanent peace and joy. If that’s really our goal, then we have to use the situations that were put in as part of that practice, just like talking to the insurance company on the phone. I mean, there’s nothing that can make you more crazy than something that doesn’t connect up with reality, like that, and it makes no sense. And all they want, they’re asking you for more and more money. So you’re going to but then at the same time to go and be able to use a yoga tool to deal with that and not lose your peace over it. Those are the real tests. Those are the real tests. And for yoga teachers going out and working in different studios or trying to get. Uh, established as a yoga teacher somewhere, those that’s a real test, because you have to always maintain your peace. That is your greatest asset is, oh, being coming from a peaceful place of total equanimity. That’s rare. Even in the world of yoga, that’s rare. So maybe no one will notice right in the beginning, but over time, if you’re the peaceful person who can fill in in any situation,
Avi Gordon
to value your peace, yeah, you
Satya
have to value that,
Avi Gordon
besides Hatha Yoga, what ways are you interested in teaching students yoga?
Satya
Well, I’m very interested in pranayama. I’m very interested in breathing, deep breathing. I find people have very restricted breath out of people are reverse breathers, chest breathers. So I find, I think, actually, to teach someone deep breathing, or natural breathing, that’s one of the most valuable tools you can share. And in restorative actually, I have a whole class a practice restorative yoga for enhancing the breath capacity, and it some poses using the props that can help you to access your deep breathing, and I find it’s very deep and and very profound. And people who come with very restricted breathing. I had one woman, she was so stressed out, she came here to the ashram, and I met with her, and after she was in that pose for a while, and we’d been talking, and then she was breathing, she said to me at the end, she said, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever taken a deep breath. Ever. That’s amazing. Wow.
Avi Gordon
So what do you think happens with the breath, like our is it something learned over time? Are children breathing? Because with the breath, it seems that there’s something about tuning into the natural breath as well, like, how does how do I just want to breathe what feels right to me, but then also doing different practices that maybe change your natural breath,
Satya
right? Well, there’s, there’s several things happening. First, on the physical level, of course, all babies breathe naturally, and they have belly breath, and they have deep breathing, and it’s natural. Somewhere along the line, we were all like that. So somewhere along the line, something happened. Maybe it was one event or over time, something stress, stress causes us to restrict the breath.
Avi Gordon
Could it also be, you know, ego in a way, like these ego games, because seems that like self acceptance, like accepting who I am, then there’s a relaxation that happens then that would allow for a more natural flow of the breath. But if I’m, you know, competing against someone else and kind of worrying about that, there’s an anxiety and stress there that would, that would change the breath?
Satya
Yeah, it’s interesting, because you’re equating natural breathing with truth. In a way, it’s interesting. That’s an interesting idea, because the breath and the mind are totally interconnected, and so whatever is happening in the mind, if you’re in a situation where you’re having a very false ego, arrogant presentation of whatever you think is going to get you what you want that’s going to be reflected in your breath, and you’re saying Like when you’re just being yourself and you’re calm, then that will also be reflected in your breath. But for most of us, it’s easier to access and interrupt the breath than to interrupt the mind. So once you interrupt the breath and take a little control and change it, that’s going to have an effect immediately on the mind also,
Avi Gordon
and it does so much, right? Yeah, the breathing techniques you’ve seen, oh my gosh. What happened to my mind? Dooms, you know, cleared up.
Satya
Yeah, it clears up, or changes, or calms down, changes. So that’s. A very powerful practice, and I feel happy like that, Swami Sivananda Gurudev, that the breathing is a part of our practice from the very beginning, because there are other yoga traditions where they don’t introduce pranayama for quite some time. And we’re lucky that we have that right from the beginning. And
Avi Gordon
how about also pranayama in Asana while you’re doing Asana, do you is that more of like an advanced
Satya
teaching? Well, actually, not actually. It’s interesting. Buddha dev always recommended you do your pranayama practice separate from your asana practice. And in Asana, you let the breath flow naturally, however the asana moves it, and you don’t do so much conscious restriction of the breath would or a pranayama practice in the asanas, you keep them you do that. It’s two separate practices, makes
Avi Gordon
sense, yeah.
How would you describe your relationship with nature? What are your thoughts on the immense plethora of diversity on this planet?
Satya
I love it. Wow. That’s amazing. He gets just coming over here this spring, right now, it’s so gorgeous here. And I was coming up that tree, that red bud tree, right out here, and all the little blossoms are falling to me. It’s like a puja tree, because all the flower petals from the tree now are on the ground. It’s all pink, and the tree is pink. It’s so beautiful. Well, I love the nature. I don’t know what you mean by that question, but I love everything. I love the beach. I love the ocean. I love to be in the mountains. I love nature. That’s why I love here, being here, because here you can just walk out of these buildings and you’re in the woods. Yeah,
Avi Gordon
it’s one of my favorite parts, too. Just a walk in the woods.
Satya
I love it, and I feel so blessed because I love to walk. I love to take long walks. And here, when I’m here yoga bill, I can walk everywhere, and I never run into very little traffic, maybe a car on the Lotus road. That’s a big deal. You can walk forever here in the woods and all around, and you don’t run in. There’s no traffic. You’re in this whole protected property. It’s beautiful. We have the lake. We have the river. Actually, just the other day, I went down on that river walk. Have you been there recently?
Avi Gordon
Not recently, but it’s, I love
Satya
going there. It’s beautiful. And the path goes right along the river. Beautiful.
Avi Gordon
Do you remember Guru Dev saying anything about more like strenuous, like cardio exercise, the place of that. Well,
Satya
he always recommended that if you do some your exercise, if you have a cardio or weight lifting or any kind of more strenuous exercise, to do that and then cool off and then have your yoga afterwards. And I have found in my own practice, when times, when I did some weight training or something that afterwards to cool off and then do some a little bit relaxation or stretch and pranayama, that it burns out, any of that acidic leftover from The workout, and the next day you can go again. It’s really, it’s very complimentary,
Avi Gordon
right? I think that’s missed a lot is that, you know, it’s common to stretch before, you know, you play a sport or do stretch exercise, but afterwards, it’s like that, that skit, yeah, but
Satya
that’s a great time to to stretch out and do some pranayama, because you burn out that lactic acid that is built up, maybe from your workout, and your body’s back to neutral. But I always, whenever I walk, I always come and put my legs up the wall for 10 minutes when you’re finished. Yeah, and my sisters, I did a half marathon with them a few times we did together, and when we’d get back, I made them put their legs up the wall. And if you feel revived afterwards,
Avi Gordon
would that be like one, like a core? Or simple practice that you would recommend if you don’t really have time in your day to do, you know, a full practice to put your legs up the wall.
Satya
Well, I think it’s a great practice to I’m very into inversions. I love inversions, and I really believe in them, because so much where, of just the gravity is pulling us down, and people were always sitting, so I think an inversion to get your legs up and get the blood flow back to the heart. It’s very helpful. And also, if you’re going to do legs up the wall, if you can put a block or something under the sacrum, so your pelvis is a little lifted too. It’s a great, very gentle inversion and recirculates the blood. What
Avi Gordon
about sleeping with a pillow under, under your legs, so the legs are, are elevated, elevated.
Satya
I don’t know about sleeping. I think sleeping maybe I don’t know, because it might put too much congestion for too long a period of time.
Avi Gordon
What’s one of Guru devs teachings that you use on a daily basis? And what’s, what’s one of Guru Dev teachings that you’d like to keep in mind more often?
Satya
Well, all for good, peace as
Avi Gordon
a second part. All for good.
Satya
They’re all the same to me. All for good. I love that. Peace is your nature. Do not disturb it. I love that. I’m not the body, not the mind, immortal self, I am
Avi Gordon
that one. Can you describe more of the effect that that one has saying I’m not, I’m not the body, I’m not the mind, immortal self, I am like, can you just use any more words to describe where that takes you?
Satya
It makes me to not take life so seriously. It does. I can just just like thinking, like when, when you’re looking or experiencing something that just really is so against you, going against what you really believe and what you’d like to see happening, and you can just say, Thank God, this isn’t real, you know, thank God I’m not the body. I’m not the mind, even though I don’t experience that on on the ultimate level, I can remind myself and that puts distance, gives me a way to step back and be more the witness. Anytime we can do that we are stepping towards maintaining our peace. I
Avi Gordon
How do you stay motivated to be a lifelong learner?
Satya
Wow, that’s easy, because there’s so much I don’t know. I don’t know anything, so it’s great to learn something. Try to learn something every day. And there’s so much to learn. Even just in my little field of yoga, there’s so much to learn. I never get tired of it. Even in asanas, there’s so much to learn. Even in excuse, even in the same old cobra pose we’ve done 10,000 times, there’s always a new experience.
Avi Gordon
Seems like that could be a place where the ego Could, could really get involved there in terms of learning more, especially when you’ve been studying it for so many years, teaching for so many years, and you feel comfortable to say there’s still so much more, just to keep that humility right, and also to take more trainings, right? I mean, is there a time, you know, for teachers out there, and maybe you’ve taken 123, trainings to, you know, how do you know? Should I invest in the time and the money to go take another training or, you know, do I do I know enough? Do I not know enough right now?
Satya
Well, it’s not the trainings, per se, the training it’s the teacher. Is there is that person. Can you learn something from that person? Are they an example, inspiration to you? Then it would be worth spending some time with them, but not just for a training to check it off or to get the hours or something. That’s one thing, but it’s really. Be to have inspiration from the teacher, someone you would really go like, wow, I’d like to be like that. So then you want to go and spend some time with that person,
Avi Gordon
even this idea of growth, right? Like just growing throughout your whole life. Because especially, I think if you feel that like you’re already so thankful that maybe you found yoga, meditation, these practices so you’ve already grown, grown so much, and you could see clearly, I’m so glad that I am where I am now, as maybe opposed to where I was before. But then it’s, it’s hard to see how much better it could still get. Maybe your content. Contentment is great, but maybe the balance between contentment and a wonder of how much more even can I grow?
Satya
Right? Because we can always grow. You know, the goddess serosati herself has a book in her end, she’s still learning, and she has her japa Mala in her hand. So if the goddess of wisdom and learning herself is still with books and japa, where are we? We should always be learning something. And it’s not so much. It’s not accumulating information. It’s it’s deepening our experience of truth. That’s what the real learning is.
Avi Gordon
That’s fun, right? And
Satya
that is fun because every every thing, every step or every level, life becomes truth. The whole of nature becomes more clear. The whole of purpose of this whole cosmos becomes more clear, and we feel more a part of it, not separate, we feel more the oneness.
Avi Gordon
Thank you so much. Satya,
Satya
really special time. Thank you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
