"It's Like a Temple of Peace" - Reasons People Come to the Ashram

Why do you come to Divine Art of Yoga Center ashram?

Kantu: "I started coming seven or eight years ago and was always drawn there by the baijis. Talking to them gives you peace. I go for the meditation, the yoga - it's like a temple of peace, which you feel as soon as you get there. It's like you're in a completely different place with a good vibration. Since retiring, I've only wanted to do public service, so I started teaching pranayama, yogic breathing exercises and om-meditation at the ashram, which gives me great satisfaction."  

What's in between Meditation and Yoga? Pranayama

For the best night's sleep, do pranayama (breathing exercises).

According to B.K.S. Iyengar, “Pranayama is a conscious prolongation of inhalation, retention and exhalation.”

Pranayama night at our ashram always draws the biggest crowd. We start by sitting in a circle and chanting OM three times. Then we go through a series of breathing exercises that have multiple and immediate effects on the body.

Liz McCollum Ford puts it like this: "To understand pranayama it’s helpful to understand prana. Yogi Bhajan said “Praana is the most powerful and most creative thing God ever created, because out of praana came life.” So what is prana? Classical yogic texts describe prana as the energy of the universe. This energy is the creator, sustainer, and destroyer, and because it permeates everything in the universe it is considered the breath of life."

For those who are new to this, I recommend trying it the next time you see it offered at your nearby yoga studio, ashram or community center. Out of the many health benefits, you'll definitely sleep better that very night.

Give Until it Feels Good

  

If you’re the type who likes to give, I don’t have to tell you the benefits that come from that.

Particularly if you have a skill or a gift that benefits the community in some way, everyone is missing out until you share it.

At the ashram it’s fun to see people’s talents put to good use, from the electrical engineer who plays and teaches tabla, to the mortgage manager who makes the best homemade salsa (which she sells, then donates to Nepal relief).

There are some wonderful cooks who alternate providing dishes for the Sunday afternoon meal after satsang; there are naturopathic practitioners who can cure your neck and back pain on the spot using pressure points; even harmonium lessons are available upon request.

And where would any community be without computer experts? We have several. One person makes patterns for dresses and saris. Another is particularly handy overall, rooting out mechanical and other problems with appliances. 

Obviously there are excellent yoga and meditation instructors, as well as pranayama (breathing techniques for good health). There’s that person who writes a blog that celebrates this community… 

And there are many others who give in ways big and small that no one knows about. They don’t need thanks, but I acknowledge them here anyway.

Givers know that the reward is instantaneous if you’re doing it out of love. “If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:3)

I was recently introduced to “seva,” a Sanskrit word that means “selfless service” or work performed without any thought of reward or repayment. In ancient India seva was believed to help one's spiritual growth and at the same time contribute to the improvement of a community.

Sounds perfect.