On August 2, 2023, Spiritual Teacher, Author, and Professor Swami Nityananda and I spoke to/about non-dual awareness, joy, grace, everyday life, her teacher Swami Shankarananda and her lineage which includes Kriya Yoga and the Venerable Yogananda, presence, energy, inspiration, light, the infinite, perceptions of limitation, being in a body, identity, awareness, vastness, balance, experience, purpose, being grounded, how to move through psychic attack and existential crisis, wisdom, (unconditional) love, being of service, the highest good, calm, generosity, integration, unfoldment, illusion of separateness, expansion, absence of conflict, community, relationship, kindness, purification, responsiveness, entry and connection points to continually living in awakeness, inspiration and moving in the energy of all this.
Find Swami Nityananda online:
- https://awakeyogameditation.org
- https://www.instagram.com/swami_nityananda_giri/
- https://www.youtube.com/@AwakeYogaMeditation
Swami Nityananda is the spiritual teacher of the Awake Yoga Meditation community. She was consecrated by Swami Shankarananda as a Swami in 2014. Her teachings helps listeners and readers connect with the reality of love, wisdom, liberation, joy, harmony, and kindness. People who meditate with her find Swami Nityananda practices a selfless way of living in the world that asks, “How may I be of service?” and models through open-hearted, generous, and effervescent guidance, a path for us all to recognize our own inherent divine qualities, and to see the same in everyone.
As Juniper Ellis, she is Professor of English at Loyola University, where she teaches American Literature and World Literature Written in English. She earned her PhD at Vanderbilt University. She has held Fulbright grants in New Zealand and Germany, and other national awards including an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship and an NEH grant. Her book Tattooing the World: Pacific Designs in Print and Skin was published by Columbia University Press. Her scholarly articles have appeared in respected journals in many English-speaking countries.
Audio: Anchoring Awakeness With Swami Nityananda
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The raw unedited YouTube transcription of this podcast:
hold us and welcome this is Josh diffold of integratingpresence.com and today I
have Swami nityananda with me today uh Swami how are you
I am good it’s really amazing to talk with you so here as she we talked just barely
before the show and I asked where I was at and I’m the lovely climbs of Denmark in the middle of summer time but it
feels like a spring day when I’m used to in the states and so yes it’s it’s
lovely staying here uh in the country of my fiance so
Swami reached out to me recently uh to be on the show and she asked about
um how mindfulness could be potentially help us move beyond our
limitations but before we get into that I just want to throw it back to to Swami
and say who who is who is Swami and uh what do you do what what is this this uh
this Indian title you have here what’s going on with that so my meditation teacher was named Swami
shankarananda and he founded our meditation Community awake yoga meditation we’re in Baltimore Maryland
in the United States and he actually shared the teachings of yoga philosophy and non-dual awareness and vaya vedanta
for almost 40 years in our meditation Community I met him in 2010 and he
recognized me as his successor so when he left the body in 2014 when he passed
he gave me the name Swami nitinanda and he asked me to carry on sharing the
teachings of non-dual awareness and you’re right nanduel awareness is intensely practical so it helps us in
our daily life to move Beyond if we have a human perception of any limitations to
move beyond that with joy and with Grace right in the midst of daily life being fully present but also being connected
to an energy of resourcefulness and inspiration and freshness
well very cool uh tell me when nitya nitinanda means and also
um then I want to ask you about well what are these perceptions that people have of limitation and how all that
happens and how you work with that and how you address that sure so my teacher and again his name
was Swami shankarananda and I would invite people to visit awakeyogameditation.org our website and
just see a photo of him because it it makes your whole heart grin with joy he was just a being of enormous light and
so he would have translated nityananda as the Bliss of one who loves the
Eternal or the joy of the infinite and so that is actually also addressing your
question so human perceptions of limitation like we’re in a body
and so what that means is we appear to be in this container and the question
for each human is am I identifying primarily with that container or am I
aware of everything the vastness that is beyond that container and so as we
transform and expand our awareness to connect with the vastness of everything that is beyond that container we’re able
to move through whatever perceptions we have if we have perceptions of pain or
pleasure if we have perceptions of gain or loss we’re able to move through them
with balance and with joy moving lightly through whatever the experiences are in
time and space and also being very grounded and centered and clear about
our purpose and the joy the gift of being here in time and space
now let me play Maybe Devil’s Advocate I don’t like that term uh the the the for
the for that word but you know what it means and we know what this means but now what about someone that that gets
pretty expanded and they don’t they already know that they’re not um you know Limited in this body and
this is June as they say you know just um we’re we’re having a human experience
right we’re not we’re we’re having we’re Spiritual Beings have a human experience not the
other way around but what if somebody gets really um fast expanded and then
they start running up against what’s perceived as Darkness or maybe
um I don’t know people with expanded abilities and things like this where they run up against maybe what they’re
perceiving as entities or psychic attacks things like this you know um
have you have you encountered folks like this people that are are maybe even just a plain old existential crisis about you
know being overwhelmed by vastness and I see that you know there is the wisdom
and and uh that you know I’m absolutely nothing right like a a SPAC in just this
vast Universe what was but to me that that’s wise but it also needs to be
balanced with I’m I’m love I’m everything you know everything uh is is
full of love all the time and I think um flowing between these two of this this
wisdom of how vast and infinite and boundless uh things are with this with
this notion that that that love can flow through it all the time so a few things there yeah
I I agree with you very much so for example in meditation it’s really
helpful to begin by connecting with that feeling of groundedness like feeling
your feet on the earth feeling your interconnectedness with all of life and feeling that there is a flow of supreme
love and kindness and wisdom that moves through this whole existence feeling
that same steadiness at the base of the spine and then it’s from that grounded calm clear-centered balanced awareness
that the expansiveness can come and it can come in a gentle way it can come in
an effortless way it can come in a way that is continually guided and supported by light and by Supreme love and so I
would say also in my community and in my tradition there’s a deep emphasis on
being of service so we are all here to be supportive and to be kind and to be
present and to be wise as as much as we possibly can with ourselves and very
practically with the people we live with with the people we work with with our
neighbors if we’re on the bus or the train or wherever we find ourselves we’re invited to be
as established as we can in that energy of calm and connected to the Supreme
wisdom which is vaster than individual awareness and then it’s deeply important
for us to use and to do so generously and skillfully and courageously all of
the talents that our individual self has and to be continually offering them to the highest good our own highest good is
included in that and what we find in our community is that a community is deeply
helpful for people who are expanding their awareness because it does help ground and integrate that expanded
awareness into a human body a human heart a human mind a human life so in my
experience and from the people that I help move through these Pathways of
spiritual unsoldment there’s nothing scary about the process and so we’re
always able to connect with light we’re always able able to unmask the illusion
of separateness and we’re always able to see and feel and be supported directly
by that energy of the love that is vaster than any human limitation the
love that is faster than any appearance of Darkness humans certainly have the
ability and the option to choose pain and to choose that illusion of
separateness but also when we study ourselves and we have a practice community and we have a really pure set
of teachings and an energy of support that is present flowing in that community and in those teachings it very
profoundly helps so that there’s nothing scary about this process of expansion
and there’s always just that very simple pure I am here what is highest and best
in this moment I am here how may I be helpful how may I be hopeful how may I be of service right
where I am I love this notion of being in service because it’s it’s really hard to be in
conflict with anything or anyone that I’m serving is same way with gratitude to you know the it’s really hard to be
in conflict with something I’m grateful for and also the third thing I found too is
this notion of Celebration too uh it’s kind of hard to to be in conflict with
something I’m celebrating as well you know and of course this is with the reminder
that abuse is never okay right it’s not just going to be grateful that someone’s
abusing me or something like this right or grateful or celebrate something ridiculous like that no we need to do
whatever we can if someone’s in a situation like that where we remove ourselves from that situation right
that’s not what I’m talking about um so but you one thing yeah also you
touched on was um was um community and I want to talk a little bit about Community here and uh like
what challenges have you had what have you found that works and doesn’t work um you know what makes a community run
smoothly so I mean I think that a community that
is animated by the principles that I just talked about it’s just beautiful like it’s an absolute gift and so
there’s an immediate palpable presence of support and welcome and joy and so
people who join our meditations or who join in person or hop on Zoom or YouTube
where we also share our meditations there’s just this feeling of being greeted being welcomed and then when one
is greeted and welcomed in that way it helps establish one in that I’m always turning within to The Light Within
Myself I’m always welcoming that and when I’m in contact with The Light Within Myself then I agree with you very
much it’s possible to move in the energy of Celebration it’s possible to move in
the energy of gratitude it’s possible to move in the energy of collaboration and cooperation and so I would actually say
that what happens then is community becomes not only the meditation Community which of course is a really
important foundation of at but it becomes everyone and so there becomes almost like a universal Community a
universal kindness a universal kinship and we’re living and moving in that
energy and it becomes a delight to walk through time and space and to just be
moving in that energy so as we transform our own Consciousness and establish
ourselves in that light and in that energy of cooperation and sharing and
generosity as you were talking about then what happens is that energy flows back to us and our perceptions and our
experiences of the world as we move through time and space Also transform as well and so of course human structures
will transform as that happens and so this way of being has very practical
consequences for each meditator so for each of us wherever we are like we might be in very high powered positions as
CEOs or doctors or lawyers or surgeons or in boardrooms helping make
high-powered decisions that energy of cooperation silently will be sharing
through us and it can have a profoundly transformative effect for the organization wherever we find ourselves
also very profoundly transformative for our families for our relationships with
the wonderful humans with whom we share our lives and it also transforms our
relationship with ourself so you were mentioning it’s not possible to be in conflict with another but what happens
is we also end up not being in conflict with ourselves and then there’s a kind of Unified
harmonious way in which our energy is liberated when we’re not fighting within
ourselves I couldn’t agree more and I know years ago when I first started kind of doing
hard opening exercises basically just loving kindness and I know all them
prod from an unwholesome lifestyle and starting to surface to be seen and to be
cleared and you know just the aching of the heart whether I was going through to
bring attention to it but then a lot after that cleared a lot then it’s just uh yeah it seemed like it uncovered
um how we’re a place from where we’re supposed to come from this kindness I mean even just on the basic level it’s
just the absence of ill will and you know it’s like creatures can sense this
this harmlessness this this friendliness and and a lot of times it really begins
with ourselves and seeing how I was treating myself and and treating and
treating others and so as the heart kind of
got cleaned and uh cared for then that like you’re saying it just
kind of spills over to everyone we’re around and even beings can sense that
well they’re safe we give this gift of safety uh of not being of harm to those
around us yeah so what would you have to say about just uh just kindness in
general you know so one of one of the stories that my
teacher told was he was sort of setting this up he was like I will tell you the
secret I will tell you the secret you know so so whatever is like the the consummate teaching of all the yogis
this is the secret and the secret according to my teacher was
be kind be kind be kind
and so I do agree with you very much and and it’s making me almost cry with
gratitude and respect that those who have walked this path of meditation before us this path of spiritual
unfoldment before us are very very clear that if we can go directly to the energy
of kindness that’s one of the great gifts that we can give ourselves and so then to extend that energy of kindness
to ourselves I agree with you very much the yogic teachings and the Buddhist teachings share that there is a process
of self-transformation a process of purifying the heart a process of purifying the mind or the Consciousness
so that we are aware that one of the ways to put it is that this Pure Love is
the only reality this energy of kindness is way down there at the bottom of everything and if we allow everything
else to melt away or burn away whatever image you want to use what remains is
kindness and so for us to a allow ourselves to go directly to kindness and
to almost let that be the gauge of our days and our nights and of our own
success kindness is Limitless and so success also can be Limitless as well
and I agree with you very much about there’s almost like this openness that each of us walks around in
this energy of openness and it’s the energy of optimism it’s the energy of positivity it’s the energy of the best
possible outcome and so that frequency lifts everyone like the squirrels feel
it the Birds feel it if you’re walking and a little rabbit hops by you the
little rabbit will feel this energy too um so one of the dramatic stories that
happens in the yogic tradition is that even wild animals feel it and and they
sort of become cooperative and kind to one who is established in this energy so
I’m not actually saying go out and seek out wild animals but this is so in our everyday life this
is see that there’s an angry person who’s melting down in the post office or
on the bus or in a meeting room or in your living room wherever you find yourself if you connect with that energy
of kindness that will silently shift the energy that’s present and available in the room
it makes that energy of kindness and calm available to others it’s never
forced upon another so you’re not overriding another’s Free Will that’s not possible but you’re
making that open invitation to kindness and calm present and available and as
another human is able to connect with that and integrate with that energy and live into that energy then increasingly
what happens is that energy feel fills the room wherever we find ourselves take
not Han said that once he said that it only takes one calm person in a boat to
save the boat from being vanquished by the winds and by the waves and so that’s for each of
us we’re invited to be if we are the only calm person in the room we’re invited to be that one calm person that
that holds that frequency and that energy yes it’s it’s beautiful and I’ve heard
so many different stories too and experienced some things myself of how protective it can be too I mean I’ve
heard people meditators in the jungles of Sri Lanka being protected by their their their loving kindness practice and
again I don’t Advocate and you know go putting that to the test the other day I was walking this field across the way
here and these three sheep come right up to me and just you know within a foot and just stand there and look at me and
uh then they just moved on and kept eating again and yeah um so this uh this
notion um so in in the Buddhist Traditions it’s called the Brahma viharas these four flavors of love and
loving kindness or meta is one of them and it reminds me of a quote by Kurt Vonnegut uh who says the Only Rule in um
life is kindness you know and I I there’s a lot to that you know it’s just
this basic thing of non-ill will I mean it doesn’t have to even be you know
um spiritual uh uh you know loving kindness or anything just the absence of ill will I think gives us a gift gives
everyone around us a gift I mean not everyone can it’s sad but not everyone can say that they haven’t taken a life
today you know just imagine this whole world if everybody would just abstain from killing another human life for one
day how uh transformed this whole world would be with the other Brahma baharas are um
compassion and this uh the other one is this rejoicing or this gladness this
vicarious joy that we can be happy for everyone else’s joy and so that
increases our chances of Happiness um like how many billion people they say
is on this Earth You know if we can be happy for their happiness uh this is a challenging one for me though because I
usually get into well why is that person happy and I’m not but there is no limit to this you know it’s not like I’m we’re
stealing each other’s happiness there’s it’s boundless and then of course the other one is equanimity and that’s what
you mentioned about the calm and the the this even Keel this Grand apparently
wisdom of I I care about you uh but I know that
you have to make your own decisions in life too and I can’t live your life for you but I’m here for you if I need be
and me getting upset about things isn’t going to help me or you or anyone you
know you can do this you you’ve you’ve got this and you have to make your own decisions in life that type of thing so
when you talk about love yeah tell me more of these flavors of love because I mean I can love ice cream right I really
love ice cream well that’s great but I mean you know that’s not what we’re talking about here exactly is it
oh so so much joy and thanks for the way that you put that into words it was absolutely beautiful
um and actually in the yogic teachings a very similar teaching is present as well
and so there is like um another thing I’m curious to know if this is present in your tradition as
well but it’s recommended that we establish ourselves in neutrality non-attachment if we see someone who is
making errors and causing pain to themselves and others and that can be a
challenging one humanly as well so yes just to just to confirm that in the
yogic teachings as well it is recommended that we practice what you called um I think
loving kindness I think my tradition often calls that like unconditional love or pure love sure yeah and so it’s that
Universal pure love it’s non-physical love it’s beyond the love that you
mentioned for your ice cream but when you’re established in love for the source of all love that’s another way to
put it then you recognize oh this ice cream is amazing because it comes from the source of all love but you’re not
asking the ice cream to provide you with lasting satisfaction and fulfillment because you know that comes only from
the source of all love and then what happens is in our relationships with humans we’re also very clear Love
Actually flows to us from the source of all love and so it’s flowing through
humans from the source of all love and what happens then is our relationships transform because grasping and clinging
is non-present because we’re connected to the source of all love and so that
flow is established it’s always present it’s always here with me and within me and and so then that comes naturally
from other humans and then as well compassion so in one of the teachings in
the yogic tradition is that compassion is sort of like love plus wisdom and it
helps Find A Way Forward um and so that’s just a really wonderful thing to connect with as well and I
really love what you said about the the love that understands that I’m here for
you I love you and I trust you you are filled with light you are living an amazing life and I support you in making
your choices in your journey and that’s a very freeing and healing pathway as
well yes it is and I just wanted to come back to this and yeah it is too and that way
we don’t interfere with someone else’s Journey too and I like this this you
said earlier about we could never um we could never interfere or I forget
exactly what you said but let’s talk about this too because I think you also said something about
um oh well it reminded me of of a situation where you know we um where we
might need to take action oh wasn’t it something you said like um we’re not supposed to um well what
came to mind is this example of someone in front of us that is doing harm to
someone else okay and you know it’s a really tough situation uh now
what if it’s in my it’s in my capacity to speak out and say you know hey stop
beating that person up or or even if I could go over there and stop it without any harm to myself or the other person
you know to me it seems an obvious choice to do that now I’m open to as
saying why that might not be but especially when it comes to maybe mothers and stuff they’re they’re going
to protect their children the best way that they know how right and so I guess speak a little bit to to this maybe I
was misunderstanding no I agree very much with what you’re saying and this is it’s sort of like
connect to I’m comfortable using the word divine but if a listener prefers
the word the universe or the source or the higher self please use that word connect to the Divine first and then
listen very quietly to what is most of service and then full on use your
talents your skills every tool that is present and available to be of help so I’ll give an example
say that you are a person who loves animals and you are aware that there’s a case where an animal is being harmed
absolutely connect with what is healing and what helps that animal do so after
connecting with this expanded awareness so that you’re not coming from only
reactivity or your individual self and your feelings of anger and upset but
you’re coming from this vast resourcefulness and so another way to put this like yogis might say
if an angry elephant is running towards you that’s the Divine in the form of that
angry elephant but it’s perfect for the Divine in the form of you to step out of the way of that angry elephant and to
use your example if you see a kid or a mom or a kid and a mom in the pathway of
the angry elephant it’s perfect for you to step in and help the mom and the kid
out of the pathway of the angry elephant that’s actually part of what we’re here to do so it’s really important for us as
humans to be Noble and generous and dedicated and present and honorable
using all of our talents and our skills and our ability to respond another way to put this is like if you become aware
of the Divine in the form of a thief it’s completely great to call the Divine
in the form of the police if that’s a good way to respond or you know whatever it is that you have to do if you can
turn on a floodlight to shine light and just like make the thief go away that might be helpful in that moment as well
and so to understand like underneath all of it is unconditional love but humans
can’t forget that and can cause harm and do damage and it’s absolutely part of
our role to be very faithful honorable responsive stewards the best that we
possibly can to do it connecting with that energy of universal compassion and
awareness and then you know like listening very quietly within ourselves will know like how to respond in that
moment and it’ll be helpful sure beautifully put yes and that’s uh
there’s a very good way to look at it and and you mentioned my tradition and I
I do study and practice a lot of the Buddhist stuff but I still wouldn’t label myself anything in particular uh
in these Traditions the um the thing that closest resembled what you said
when you mentioned that before is non-clinging you know this this non-attachment and especially
non-clinging though too the this relinquishment this letting go as it’s
commonly said today you know and yeah the the the the the
the least amount of clinging the better so yeah yeah so now this this uh
tradition it’s I saw kriya yoga in there now is this the thing of um Yogananda
too did he do Korea yoga as well and tell people a little bit about that if
you’d like um and as far as the actual practices to in the types of meditation that you that
you’re into and do absolutely so um my teacher was Swami
shankarananda and he founded our meditation Community awake yoga meditation he was consecrated as a Swami
by Swami premananda Swami premananda was consecrated as a Swami by Yogananda and
so I pay honorable respect and so much gratitude and Devotion to everyone who’s
been part of this path and part of this line and so some people might know that in 1920 Yogananda came from India to the
United States to share teachings of yoga philosophy and to share meditation techniques referred to by the name of
kriya and so those practices were taught from Yogananda to Swami premananda to
Swami Shankar Nanda to me and I now share those teachings and those practices and so the meditations that we
share at a wake yoga meditation when you hop online on Zoom or on YouTube or you
walk into an in-person meditation there are like often a 20-minute silent meditation and we provide a few
invitations for people if you would like a few points of Entry or guidance and then we just dive deep into the
Stillness and then we share teachings of yoga philosophy which are very much like what you and I have just been talking about this whole time so there will be
like a meditation talk so that’s sort of like what you can expect if you joined one of our meditations kriya yoga is
taught individually so a student would make an appointment with me and I would
tailor teach the teachings of kriya yoga to that student and Korea yoga is an
incredible ability to practice meditation in 20 minutes in the morning 20 minutes at night integrated fully
into daily life so this is moms and dads and you know grandparents and it’s
married people it’s single people it’s people from all backgrounds it’s people from All Nations
and what happens is people find when they practice kriya kriya works with the
breath a lot and it helps you go directly Within and and it gives you tools of self-transformation right
within you so you were mentioning there’s like an amazing gift of becoming aware just of what is present in me and
how may I within this body within this human heart and these emotions that I’m feeling within this human mind and these
thoughts that I’m thinking within this human life how may I enjoy balance and steadiness and Poise and flexibility and
there’s also a great sense I would say of divine joy and divine happiness and divine fun and as you were mentioning
earlier happiness is unlimited it’s it’s boundless and so we’re able to connect
with that in meditation and then whatever our talents are whatever our skill sets are in daily life that energy
of boundless inspiration and boundless joy and boundless strength from within ourselves it’s just flowing forth and
sharing naturally through us and so it just the overall effect of career meditation is it just helps you be more
of your highest self and more of your best self beautiful and there’s a I haven’t seen
the whole documentary I don’t think on Yogananda isn’t it just called awake I think it might be yeah it’s uh it has a
lot of archival footage and and his the famous book autobiography of a yogi I
read a little bit of that in the past it’s quite a phenomenal um life Journey he had and all the
things that he was his abilities and his presence was really inspiring and
continues to inspire so many people um now let’s talk a little bit about Awakening if you’d like um what would
you just say in general to Awakening um you know maybe your own experience around it uh if there’s any kind of
Trends I don’t know if that if that can be you know how people approach it in your tradition and outside your
tradition what advice you would have to give people for awakening
so I think the foundational observation is that the energy of awakeness is
already with you it’s already with every single human it’s been with you from the
first breath that you breathed in this body in this lifetime and so what happens when you become consciously
aware I want to meditate I would like to consciously awaken that process quickens
it becomes very Dynamic and I would also say there is a self-pacing to this process as well so whatever is most
helpful you will be guided to it if having a teacher having a meditation Community is helpful you will know and
it will be supportive whatever books are helpful you will know you will be guided to them and so just step by step Moment
by moment guidance and support are present are always with each of us my teacher taught that we are at a time of
heightened Awakening on this particular planet that there’s more light coming in and that as a result humans across the
planet perhaps in unprecedented numbers are becoming aware of this energy within
ourselves awakeness it’s non-separate from each of us so it’s just you and
it’s you being your to yourself so it’s you being your open-hearted self you being your rejoicing self you being your
generous forgiving gracious Good Humor itself and so Awakening is just being
that and then living in that current of energy and inspiration continually and what happens then is as
we meditate we become established in that and so for myself I would say and
I’ll invite listeners to think about everyone has entry points and points of
connection so for myself one of the things that I was aware of I grew up in
Washington state in the part of the state where it’s mountains and Evergreens and lakes also very harsh
Winters but I was aware of myself connected to the natural world so I was
aware that my body was an extension of the natural world and the natural world
flowed into my body and that was actually my earliest awareness and so that for me is a natural point of
connection and awareness for every listener think about your earliest points of feeling connected what were
they because they’re always there they’re always with you and then allow those points of connection and awareness
to be continually present within you it is a foundation of strength within you
and so just be connected to that Foundation of strength within you and let it be one of the first things you
become aware of when you wake up in the morning let it be one of the last things you give thanks for before you go to
sleep at night if you need a reset in the middle of the day just connect with it let it be that you reconnect with
that that connection that freshness that aliveness within yourself I met my teacher in 2010 and I would
also say that is a huge catalyst so my teacher was just this incredible radiant
presence of joy and dynamic energy and vitality and it’s sort of like if you’re
not a strong singer and you come into contact with an amazing strong singer it
helps you sing and it just helps you be open-hearted in your singing and just sing with abandon you don’t care if
you’re on tune or not so my experience is that that’s what happens uh when you meet your teacher it’s like you just
become aware of this current of Harmony this current of spiritual energy this current of transformation this current
of support so it’s an incredible wind at your back and also steadiness Earth
beneath your feet and also expansiveness like the sky above you and it’s really
really helpful for anyone’s transformation if your primary motivation is always how can I be most
of service that just grounds and integrates all of this and it helps
ensure just the purity of your heart your Consciousness your awareness it also gives you that motivation so you
were mentioning that in the process of unfolding like it’s common for humans to become aware
of I regret that in my previous life before I became aware of this awakeness
I caused harm to that person or I made this choice and maybe caused harm to myself
so when you have that sense of I’m on this path to be of service it helps you
move forward it helps you have a sense of like this is my higher purpose and so it helps you love yourself through and
Beyond sort of like keeping the wisdom from those past experiences but being
able to let go of the pain and being gracious to yourself the same way that you would be gracious to another if
another were transforming keeping the wisdom and letting go of the pain
beautiful yes it’s it’s really so important this when I kind of made the choice to be of service it’s it’s as
clear as day because there’s usually there’s I mean maybe it’s oversimplification but we can have a
service to self or service to others and it’s just you know it’s just it’s it’s
clear as day to me now and this also includes being taking care of ourselves
so where we can be of service too and so that that counts as well now what would
the other thing before we start wrapping up here what kind of like practical advice would you give to people and kind
of like um the work a day world I mean maybe there’s not too many people listening
that are are there but maybe there will be you know um are are just practical things throughout the day too what you
mentioned already was really helpful is there anything else um to share with folks
yeah so I mean thank you for asking that question it’s one of the things I’m really grateful my particular line of
teachers and line of teachings invites us to wake up and to be fully awake in
daily life like right in our Apartments our houses wherever we are in our jobs
um and so our meditation Community includes doctors and surgeons and dentists and lawyers and it includes
CEOs it includes really high-powered people it of course also includes creative people musicians and artists
and songwriters and people who work in healing modalities and what are
meditators consistently report is that when they meditate and for many of them
it’s 20 minutes in the morning what happens is they are able to be fully
present in exactly the situations that I mentioned they never describe them as
high stress and high pressure but I think objectively it can be described as they are being of service and very high
pressure situation patients from a human perspective that they’re able to do that and to be fully present I think the word
that you mentioned was Equanimity they’re able to bring that Equanimity that sort of presence that balance that
Poise that remembering of their dedication to being here to be helpful
and so it just it just brings Clarity it just brings Clarity like if you’re having a challenging conversation in a
meeting room or a boardroom you remember the higher purpose and you have that
ability to let go there’s no attachment present and you are connecting with what
is the most positive possible outcome just the energy of that not necessarily even knowing in advance what form that
will take or what that will look like but as you open to the most positive possible outcome it helps the other
people in the room also open to the most positive possible outcomes so yes I mean
I would say that these teachings and practices are intensely helpful for humans who work in very high-powered
situations it’s also intensely helpful for parents for people who are partners
for people who are friends for people who are neighbors for people who are taking care of parents so for any human
this basically helps us be our full joyful free best Sauls like right where
we are and we also gain the ability I think to uh rejoice in the presence like there is
full Divine Joy already present right where we are and when we’re connected with that we’re able to almost relax and
have fun as we go and when we relax and have fun as we go we certainly help others relax and have fun
um so our Cooperative Enterprises whatever we’re part of um like if we’re in a classroom that
energy will communicate itself silently to everyone else who’s in the classroom as well I couldn’t agree more and to the people
that say you know oh it’s so selfish to meditate you know uh 20 30 minutes a day
I can’t stress enough no you’re giving a gift to everyone because at least in my
experience I know I can meet the day Meet myself meet everyone around me that
I encounter or even just be when I’m not meeting anyone just be kind of more in a
better state that that has a domino effect has a ripple effect that does make a difference
um and this notion of opening I think is very important this opening and allowing things because some people will just
write something off to begin with or not be open to um great outcomes and even to the what I
found too is that life seems to have in store for us so much more amazing
magical things and I can even possibly ever imagine or set a goal towards you know and not to say that I shouldn’t
imagine and set goals but it’s just it is sometimes you know life can be so fantastic and amazing that I mean I
couldn’t have dreamed that I would be in you know in Denmark um with a fiance that I had followed for
years online and really respected and just found so amazing and here we are
together you know one of the so many different possibilities um so yeah so um Swami tell people how
they can find you online uh any events that are coming up anything that you might have in the works or just and then
anything you’d like the message you’d like to leave with people absolutely and so much stories here in
your you and your fiance I’m just so thrilled for you and that’s beautiful thank you for sharing that story
so awakeyogameditation.org is the website for our meditation community and we have
meditations Sundays Tuesdays Wednesdays and Fridays and so we invite you to hop
online everything’s online so you can join on Zoom you can join on YouTube we
have a lot of teachings that are on the website as well so if you’re interested check that out we share teachings on
YouTube there are many videos we also share teachings on different online platforms so we are on Instagram and we
are on Tick Tock and we are on Facebook as well um I’m trying to think I mean we’re really excited we have a lot of
different Publications so if you’ve enjoyed the conversation that we’ve had there’s a recent publication I published
a book last year called awake The Yoga of pure awareness which is a lot about what we just talked about and so that’s
available on our website as well coming up I’m really excited because we’re publishing later this year an amazing
book which shares teachings from my teacher Swami shankarananda so I’m very very excited about that
well cool thanks again for joining and may you all be blessed with your most
optimal ideal life and love and happiness connection and openness
bye now
Integrating Presence 