Yasodhara Blog – Yasodhara Ashram

Awareness Through the Seven Cakras: Reflections on Kundalini Yoga

Katie — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:34:12 +0000

When I first read Swami Radha’s Kundalini Yoga for the West, a foundational text within the Ashram teachings, I became fascinated by a quote introduced in the very first pages of the book:

“From being a sleepwalker, a hypnotized or conditioned person, you gradually become a person who is aware.”

At the time, I found myself returning to this sentence repeatedly. What did it mean to be a sleepwalker? What was I meant to become aware of, and how?

Over the following weeks, through Kundalini workshops and conversations with teachers at the Ashram, the question began to unfold for me. Awareness, I slowly realized, was not only about observing my external world, but also about learning to notice the patterns moving through my inner thoughts, emotions and reactions.

This is the purpose of Kundalini Yoga: to investigate the ideas and habits I have accepted blindly and without question. The Kundalini System offers a practical guide for developing self-awareness through reflection, spiritual practice and the exploration of the cakras, each associated with specific questions, practices and symbols for developing greater self-understanding.

Benefits of Reflection and Kundalini Yoga in the Modern World

Swami Radha writes, “Whatever the lifestyle, one seems to move too fast to digest the experiences that take place during each day… The natural life rhythm simply cannot absorb the constant impact of news, television and urban living, combined with the many power struggles that are outside the domain of an individual’s control.”

This brings to mind that same image of a sleepwalker – moving through the world with little awareness of what is being experienced or felt. When life becomes full of demands and pressures, it can become easy to fall into a kind of automatic living, responding rather than reflecting.

In my own life, I notice this most when I’m stretched by work and the troubles of the world – a sense of urgency and apathy fill my days as I feel incapable of holding meaningful conversations or processing all that is happening around me.

In a world that encourages constant movement and productivity, practices of self-observation can feel out of place. Kundalini Yoga encourages self-reflection and a deliberate noticing of what is happening within my mental and emotional experience.

Rather than moving automatically through states of thought or feeling, there is an invitation to pause and register these shifts as they arise.

Psychological and neuroscientific research increasingly supports the value of reflection, suggesting that reflective practices can positively influence emotional regulation and even patterns of neural activity. Studies on mindfulness-based self-reflection, for example, have linked reflective practice to increased empathy, resilience and emotional awareness.*

I’ve experienced this in simple ways myself: how a short moment of written reflection can help ease my racing mind. A simple question, “What’s happening now?”, has the potential to bring me
into a calmer state, where I’m no longer rushing but actually observing the interactions and happenings that might have brought me discomfort or anxiety.

The Seven Cakras and Self-Awareness

Within the Kundalini System, each cakra is associated with one of the senses, which signals the importance of perception itself as a site of inquiry.

Rather than treating the senses as passive receivers of information, the Kundalini System positions them as important components in shaping emotional reactions and habitual patterns. It also offers specific practices that help refine the senses, through which we can become attuned to the immense power the senses have in influencing our moods.

Paying attention to these subtle shifts has made me more aware of how deeply sensory experience shapes my emotional and mental states.

Since first seeing the cakra plates at the Ashram, the fifth cakra – the Viśuddha –has been the one I’ve felt most drawn to, with its blue colour and inverted triangle.

Known as the “gateway of liberation”, the fifth cakra (sometimes called referred to as the throat cakra) is associated with the sense of hearing. Since working more with questions from the Kundalini System, I’ve been noticing how much my sense of hearing affects my mood. On mornings when I immediately reach for my phone and fill my day with beeping notifications, news clips and phone calls, the rest of my day often carries a sense of mental urgency.

On mornings when I remember to open my window and get to hear the birds outside, listen to mantra music or simply sit quietly, I notice a greater sense of spaciousness and presence.

The Fifth Cakra and the Sense of Hearing

To me, the fifth cakra points toward a further refinement of awareness, where perception becomes less reactive and more attentive. It becomes a practice of discernment: learning when to respond, when to pause and when to simply listen without immediately interpreting or reacting.

Over time, this kind of listening begins to soften the sense of fragmentation that can come from constant stimulation. Reflection and awareness of sound have helped me notice subtle shifts in my inner state and return more easily to a sense of presence when I feel scattered.

“As we cultivate the senses and refine the mind, we are able to see the patterns of the intangible in our actions and speech, the interconnections of the senses and the Light.” – Swami Radhananda, Living the Practice

A Reflection Practice for the Fifth Cakra

Swami Radha offers a simple exercise connected to the sense of hearing: “Listening to a variety of music, carefully selected, preferably with earphones and in a reclining position, will tell you by your emotional responses to the music where you are.”

Begin by choosing two different types of music.
Sit or lie down comfortably while listening.
Notice how each piece of music affects your mood, thoughts and body.
Write down all of your observations.

Questions for further reflection:

How did each piece of music affect your emotions?
Did certain sounds create tension, calm or distraction?
What did you notice about your inner reactions?

Through practices like these, the fifth cakra becomes less of an abstract symbol and more an invitation into conscious observation in daily life.

*Mösler, Thomas et al. “Reflective Skills, Empathy, Wellbeing, and Resilience in Cognitive-Behavior Therapy Trainees Participating in Mindfulness-Based Self-Practice/Self-Reflection.” Psychological reports vol. 126,6 (2023): 2648-2668.

By Katie Taher.

Explorations on Love As a Way of Being in the World

Nicole — Mon, 11 May 2026 16:25:01 +0000

At the time of writing this blog, the Ashram’s three-month Yoga Development Course (YDC) has just come to completion. Many of the course participants are transitioning back to families, jobs and environments that are busy with the day-to-day challenges of living in the everyday world.

In the last part of the course, questions were coming up about the transition—”how do I bring all I have gained from my time at the Ashram back into the world—the inner joy, peace of mind, the experience of calm that I’ve had here, and all that’s been revealed about my true nature as old stories and attachments drop away? How do I keep centered as I re-enter a challenging world? How do I convey what I’ve experienced these past three months to my friends and family?”

Having been through the YDC many times myself, both as a participant and as a teacher, I’ve come to understand that it’s a way of being that speaks about the changes that have happened, more than words could ever convey.

Ideas of Love in Spiritual Life

What is this way of being that is often recognized more in others than we can recognize it in ourselves? For me, it is connected to love.

There are so many ideas of what love is in our world, but what is it really?

There is something about ‘it’ that becomes visible and touches my heart when I see it in action—someone responds with kindness instead of reacting with anger…. is patient instead of being irritated….. is calm in situations that are tense…. is listening from a place of wanting to understand instead of having their views or opinions heard.

It is in the moments I see myself responding with kindness, patience or calmness where I would have reacted negatively—that I recognize something else is at work. A release has happened where I’ve been holding on, I’ve become receptive and more present to what is happening. I have a choice of how to respond.

My teacher, Swami Radha, made a distinction between love with attachment and love without attachment—which she called ‘unconditional love’.

“When we have become compassionate, when we can love without expecting anything in return, we have become truly human” (Light and Vibration).

To follow the path of yoga, truly and deeply, involves getting to the root of all that we are attached to. I’ve heard this path described as not for the ‘faint-hearted’. It takes the kind of strength that involves courage—which in the original sense of the Latin cor, means connecting with an inner strength to bring forward heartfelt action.

Ancient Teachings of the Bhagavad Gita

For many years, an ancient text from the East, the Bhagavad Gita, has been part of my life.

It is a dialogue that takes place in the heart between Krishna, symbolizing the Divine Self, and Arjuna, symbolizing the human self. Its setting is the middle of a battlefield, between opposing forces of dark and light.

Recently, I’ve been bringing some Gita verses to my work each day, from a discourse called “The Way of Love”. The words are a reminder of a way of being that I want to keep cultivating within myself. Krishna says to Arjuna:

“That one I love who is incapable of ill will,
who is friendly and compassionate,
living beyond the reach of ‘I’ and ‘mine’
and of pleasure and pain. Patient, contented, self-controlled,
firm in faith, with all their heart and all their mind given to me
with such as these I am in love” (12:13/14)*.

Our world today is one of opposing forces—which can often become overwhelming and confusing. Like Arjuna, we may sink into despair, asking ourselves: “What can overcome a sorrow that saps all my vitality? Even power over men and gods or the wealth of an empire seem empty.” (2:7/8).

Krishna’s response to Arjuna (in the 18 discourses of the Bhagavad Gita) is as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago when this scripture from the East was first recorded.

“This despair and weakness in a time of crisis are mean and unworthy of you, Arjuna… It does not become you to yield to this weakness. Arise with a brave heart and destroy the enemy.”(2:2/3).

Krishna begins to lead Arjuna on a journey that reveals the real enemy he must destroy is within himself. He calls on Arjuna to remember who he is and that he has the strength within to face whatever he is most attached to in his life—his physical self, his family, friends, possessions, pride, ideas of what is right and wrong—and ways of being that no longer serve him.

Opening the Heart to Light

By bringing the words of sacred texts into my life, through my practices and reflections, they come to life. When I find myself caught in negative emotions, the inner space created by my practices helps me hear another voice—one that is calling me to see what is happening from another perspective.

Being with my teacher, Swami Radha, was an experience that opened my heart to a new perspective and understanding of what love is—one that continues to grow and expand through my commitment to my spiritual path and through the desire to give back to life from a place of love. It has given me a way of being in the world that connects to my Heart.

“The path of the Heart is the path of Light,
the Light of love and the Light of understanding.
Nothing is more important.”
(Light and Vibration, Swami Radha)

*Eknath, Easwaran. The Bhagavad Gita. 2nd ed. Tomales, CA: Nilgiri Press, 2007.

By Swami Satyananda

What Grace Looks Like When Everything Changes

Nicole — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:37:00 +0000

This morning, the first chevrons of geese arrive from southern skies, their calls evoking both longing and comfort in me. Sap rises in the maple trees around my home, boils on a small outdoor fire, the steam off the pans, sweetening the air. Every spring, when I tap the maples and sap pours out, I experience bliss.

Harvesting sap water and tending the fires that transform thin, clear liquid into golden syrup is a labour of love, with each litre of syrup requiring approximately 40 litres of sap to produce. It’s also a seasonal ritual that enlivens my felt-connection to the sacred, the energy I call Divine and could alternately call Spring or Maple Tree.

My most reliable pathways of connection are through the more-than-human world, but they are not the only ways. Others include ceremony, reading and reflecting on sacred texts and the events of daily life, community practices, Mantra Yoga, listening and Dream Yoga.

Sometimes, I get hung up on which practices to focus on at which time, but over the last few days, a throughline I had not seen before stood out. The centrality of relationship is common to all the ways. By that I mean a mutual process of attention, response and influence. A sense of mattering to ‘each other’, whether inwardly or outwardly seems essential along my path to the Divine.

Another experience which is alive for me this season is navigating terrains of loss – the loss of my dad in December, my cat Lou in February, and my cat Hazel earlier in the year, all primary relationships. I’m currently in the process of saying goodbye to a job, one that I had wanted and sought for a long time and have only been working at for a little over a year.

So I’m investigating these together: my relationship with the Divine and navigating territories of loss.

Navigating Loss with the Divine

My initial instinct in the face of endings tends to be tension – contraction connected to the concept that loss is something happening to me, and resistance to the uncomfortable sensations that inevitably arise and that are part of grief. For me these include sorrow, anger and a sense of vulnerability in my physical, emotional, nervous system body.

My dad’s dying time was accelerated by a fall. He lived in Winnipeg. I live in western Quebec. After he fell and before I knew that he was dying, I questioned whether or not to travel to my hometown. I was having a hard time getting clear information from my mom, my dad and staff at the hospital with which to decide. Then, within days of my dad’s fall, my employer let me know that they had yet to find more funding for my position and I would be laid off at the end of March.

There was a period after receiving this news when this constellation of challenges felt like too much. There was fear related to the lost income and discomfort from being with uncertainty – what was happening with my dad, where would my income come from, would I have enough?

Tracking the Divine

In the Devi of Speech book, Swami Radhananda writes: The mystery is to see Her in action, to recognize Her in the world and in yourself.

Aren’t these situations then, Her? And if I react in my habitual ways, isn’t that like closing the door on the Divine?

Five days after my dad’s fall, I experienced clarity to go to Winnipeg. Soon after, I noticed more space inside myself, less tension, and gratitude for the clarity, which liberated energy and direction to act. I wanted to be on the first flight the next morning.

I put out a call for cat care, something I would need to be able to leave. Within 15 minutes two friends stepped forward to help. The same evening, two other friends, separately, and who had no idea what was happening in my life, texted me about jobs postings they thought I might be interested in.

When these things happened, it became harder to describe what I was experiencing as challenges. The challenges it seemed to me, came when I closed the door, when I reacted in a way that rejected what was happening, which seems to me like rejecting Her, the One with whom I want to maintain relationship. The way the events of this evening played out felt like grace.

Offering as Divine Mother

In Swami Radha’s teachings, the act of offering is central. The Divine Mother Prayer, which is also a mantra, is about affirming that everything I do is worship of Divine Mother, that every natural function and action is a form of worship. It is a continuous offering.

My offerings are not continuous. Despite many years of practice and an aspiration to become more fluid, it takes me time and practices to remember my ideals, to narrow the incongruencies, to become aware and interested in what is emerging, to seek and restore the relationship in myriad forms and formlessness.

Previously, I understood offering as my unique role in relation to the Divine, the Light that links all beings. But things have shifted, and the way I see it now is more collaborative. The Divine is always offering to me. Sometimes she delivers bliss, sometimes sustenance and sometimes ends creations I think of as integral to my world. Keeping the door open is one way I can offer in response.

-Robin MacDonald

The Yoga of Transitions: Accepting Change and Uncertainty through Asanas

Nicole — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 18:34:44 +0000

There are moments when I find myself between what was once familiar and what has not yet taken form. In this space, expectations fill me up as I try to make sense of what has happened, what is coming and how I want to meet the new.

That’s how the coming of spring feels, with its promise of warmth and renewal, yet still carrying the chill of winter. When will spring arrive and who will I become? Who will I have to say goodbye to and who will say hello?

The wider world seems to be holding a similar tension of the unknown. News headlines arrive, with uncertainty and news of suffering, stories still unfolding, outcomes not clear. It is a season of subtle tension, when my world seems to hover between endings and new beginnings.

I’ve noticed a similar rhythm on my yoga mat as I move through surya namaskar, the Sun Salutation, met by a challenge I have a hard time naming. It isn’t always the postures that challenge me, but the transitions – the brief moments when one pose has not yet released and the next has not yet fully arrived. Like when I hover in plank before lowering to my belly, or reach my arms up before standing in tadasana, the Mountain pose.

These in-between moments require a willingness from me to be present and let the new arise, to greet change, even though leaving something behind feels tender.

Resistance to Change: Opening to Possibility

“Even ordinary changes in life are often resisted because of the uncertainty of the unknown. When the unknown is encountered, the intellect, together with the emotions, puts up a struggle to eliminate it or explain it away.” Swami Radha

Resistance arises in moments of transition. Muscles tense up, mind clings to the familiar, the little voice that says “not this!”. Who is it that’s speaking? What part of me resists change and discomfort?

It’s a part of me that’s trying to keep up with the changes around me, holding on to what feels safe and pushing back against the uncertainty of the next moment. And yet, even in that hesitation, there is an opening – a space where curiosity begins to stir.

Swami Radhananda’s words offer some guidance: “In the clearing of the mind, we connect with some inner wisdom and can let go of resistance, which opens us to possibility.”

So, I focus on my breath, close my eyes and acknowledge the hesitancy, inviting the breath to guide me through. As I soften into the exhales, I feel a sense of opening in my mind. Paying attention to my breath helps me accept the in-between and to look forward to the change that’s coming.

Namaste to the Past: Accepting Change with Gratitude

In an attempt to embrace change and transition in what feels to be an ever-changing world, I practice Namaste to the Past, or parsvottanasana. I start in Mountain pose and bring my hands together behind my back. I feel an opening in my shoulders and chest, a sense of bravery and confidence fills me.

I step forward with my right leg and begin to lean forward, in gratitude. My hands remain together behind me – a quiet acknowledgement of where I’ve come from and who I’ve been.

With each breath I am reminded: the past has shaped me, and spring lingers around the corner with the promise of renewal and blossoming. I still cling to the familiarity of the past and feel intimidated by the unknown. There is fear that the new season will bring changes I’m not ready for.

Yet, my feet are steady on the ground, a firm foundation that supports me in the pose. Slowly, I lift my upper body to standing and step my left foot to meet my right, stepping into the new. The transitions in this pose sing like a song: a melody of letting go, a harmony of gratitude and a gentle rhythm of courage.

Foundation and Stability During Life Transitions

This transition shows me that as long as I have a strong foundation, I will be able to step forward and greet what awaits me. But what is the foundation that supports me in times of challenge and change?

Lately, I turn to two powerful anchors: my breath and community. From this place, facing transitions becomes less about resistance and more about acceptance -knowing that change is a natural rhythm of life, not a threat.

Swami Radha offers a helpful reminder:

“You have to learn to accept the good and the bad, just as you do with the weather. Can you change the weather? The weather is a marvelous lesson. You can complain about how cold it is, how rainy it is, how it’s this, that and the other. But you can’t change it. So it’s better that you fit yourself into the weather and take as little notice of it as possible: “Well, it’s raining today. So what? It has to rain. Otherwise nothing grows.””

Following her wisdom, I try to accept the good and the bad, both in the news and in my daily life. I remember that I can’t control what happens in the world, just my part in it. So, I lean into my breath and the support of loved ones as I step toward a new spring, with gratitude for this life.

A Simple Yoga Practice for Navigating Change. Practice parsvottanasana and ask yourself: What is my foundation? How do I greet change in my life now?

-Katie Taher

Reflections on Early Days – Swami Sukhananda/Jayne Boys in Canterbury

Nicole — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 17:09:15 +0000

Swami Jyotihananda (Susan Oughtred) & Swami Sukhananda (Jayne Boys) circa 1990

A Sacred Beginning (1988)
I first met Swami Sukhananda in the summer of 1988. It was long before we both became Swamis. We were Jayne Boys and Susan Oughtred in those days. She had just spent 11 months at Yasodhara Ashram, having taken part in the YDC, then staying on to offer Karma Yoga. She came to us from a job in the Civil Service in England, and after a month on the course she took an abrupt turn, quitting her government position in order to go deeply into Swami Radha’s teachings and explore her vision of supporting Swami Radha’s work in Europe.

Answering the Call in England
As Jayne began her journey home, she stayed for a few days at the Calgary Shambhala House (as the Centres were named then) where I was the director. We made a warm connection during her brief stay and I drove her to the airport with the hope of meeting her again sometime in the future.

Arriving back in England, Jayne quickly began to contact bookstores letting them know about the availability of Swami Radha’s work and Timeless publications. As well, she invited everyone she knew to come to the satsangs she was offering on Sunday evenings in her home on Roper Road, Canterbury. Hatha Yoga was and is an integral part of her own practice and quite quickly, a large following of students was coming to the Hatha classes she was offering.

Jayne’s students and Susan at her house

Once bookstores became aware of our publications, Jayne made contact with a distributor and agreed a contract with them to distribute Swami Radha’s books and recordings in the UK. All this in her first few months back home. She also kept a store of books and recordings in her home to sell to people who came to the classes she was offering and to ship to people in Europe as the interest in Swami Radha’s writings grew.

That was a start, but Jayne wanted to spread the word further. She began submitting articles about the Ashram and Swami Radha’s teachings to the Yoga magazine, Yoga and Health. She wanted people to know, ‘hey, there’s an incredible place to go to deepen your practice of Yoga, and deepen your understanding of the sacred teachings.’ She also wrote engaging articles for the Ashram journal, Ascent, describing how opportunities were opening up for her in England and Europe as she dedicated herself to Swami Radha’s work.

Jayne with her custom made Radha House sign

The First Radha Centre: A House Dedicated to the Light (1990)
Swami Radha, very pleased with what Jayne was doing to support her work, asked me in 1990 to go to Canterbury to dedicate Jayne’s house as a Radha Centre – the first one. At that time, I was the President of the Friends of Radha Foundation, which oversaw all the houses in Canada and the USA. I was pleased to be able to go to Canterbury and meet her again.

Up until that time, the houses of Swami Radha were called Shambhala Houses. As a result of Jayne’s house being dedicated to Swami Radha, within a year, all the rest of the centres in Canada and the US were renamed “Radha House” in honour of Swami Radha’s 80th birthday in 1991.

When I arrived, we had a celebration with her students to honour the fact that, along with everything else Jayne had been doing in that first year and a half, she had completed all her book reflections and could now return to the Ashram in the summer to take further Teacher Training courses. I was delighted to be able to give her the certificate showing she had completed the YDC and the reflections.

It was wonderful to see what Jayne established in such a short time in England, and to witness her deep caring for the students who were attracted to the nectar of the teachings. I also found, when I arrived, that Jayne had gone back to university to take teacher training so that she could support herself in order to continue to make Swami Radha’s work known.

Jayne receiving her YDC certificate from Susan

Expanding the Circle of Light (1993)
I returned to Canterbury again in 1993 on my way to spend a year in Linz to help open a centre there. At this point, Jayne had received encouragement from Swami Radha to build a conservatory on the back of her home – full of light, looking out over her garden. We had a big celebration with all her students and friends to formally open the space to all.

During that short visit, we set up a booth in London at the Mind, Body, Spirit Festival, a huge interdisciplinary event showcasing Yoga, New Age, and a considerable number of other offerings – there were literally thousands of people in attendance for the week it was open. We showcased Timeless books and videos of Swami Radha, which we played on a small TV. The traditional photo of Swami Radha was in the forefront of the booth, and again and again, people stopped and looked at her, making comments about the kindness in her eyes, then staying to watch videos, look at the books (we had lots of sales) and take pamphlets about Radha House Canterbury. It was a tremendous opportunity to spread the word to a large and diverse group of people.

The Mantra as Protection and Blessing (1995)
In 1995, I had returned to Canada from a time in Europe. That summer, Swami Radha asked me if I would go to England again for a few years so that Jayne could come to live at the Ashram to deepen her experience of Ashram life and living the teachings in community.

Then, there was a wonderful opportunity. On September 8, 1995, Swami Radha offered a Mantra Pronouncement, open to all who wished to take part. There is a story of Krishna who, as a young child, lifted a mountain like an umbrella to hold it over the people of a village to protect them from a terrible storm. One hundred twenty-eight people came from all over to bow before Swami Radha, and receive the Hari Om mantra. It seemed to me that this is what Swami Radha was doing with the Mantra Pronouncement, offering the Mantra as a vast protection for all who were receptive.

Jayne was receptive and had been at the Ashram for the summer. She called her school principal, telling him she would be late returning to her teaching job and he gave her unequivocal support. The other person who was at the Ashram then was Danuta Karpinska, a long-time student and supporter of Radha House Canterbury. Both received the Mantra, and so another step was taken in solidifying the Teachings in the UK and Europe.

Jayne and I returned to Radha House, Canterbury, that September and lived together for the year 1995/96, when she then moved to the Ashram. On November 30, 1995, Swami Radha passed into the Light, her work complete. Jayne and I flew out for the special ceremonies taking place at the Ashram the week after her passing. Students and devotees from all over the world came to honour Swami Radha and her legacy

The official hanging of the Radha House sign at Jayne’s House

Giving the Teachings a Lasting Form
Flying home to the UK, we read over the Charity application Jayne had written for the entity now called The Radha House Association (RHA). It was accepted in 1996 and so Swami Radha’s works and teachings now had a form to contain them in the UK.

I remained in Canterbury holding the teachings there until 1998, when Jayne returned again to carry the Teachings forward.

A Life of Steadfast Devotion

It has been gratifying and deeply touching to see Jayne’s ongoing commitment to keep her goal and her promise to bring the Teachings to Europe. In 2013, Jayne deepened her promise when she was initiated into the ancient order of Sanyas as Swami Sukhananda Saraswati.

Swami Sukhananda’s dedication has inspired and encouraged a strong group of devotees to help carry the work forward and some have taken the steps to Mantra Initiation. And so the work in Europe continues to expand with many holding the Teachings and the Light.

Jai Swami Sukhananda/Jayne Boys, bearer of the Light…May Swami Radha’s work continue to grow.

–Swami Jyotihananda

When Grief is Born of Love: A Spiritual Reflection on Impermanence and Community

Nicole — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 23:32:07 +0000

There is the old Buddhist parable about Kisa Gotami, a grieving mother whose only son has died. In her anguish, she asks the Buddha to restore him to life. He instructs her to bring him a single mustard seed from a household untouched by death. As she goes from door to door, she discovers that every family has known loss. Through this realization, Kisa Gotami comes to understand the universality of death and the truth of impermanence, allowing her to accept her grief and find peace.

Her story keeps returning to me whenever I face grief in my own life. I have always loved this parable because it demonstrates our common humanity — our shared suffering of grief and our ability to love deeply.

Recently, in our small community on the East Shore where the Ashram resides, we had two community members whom I was honoured to call friends pass away within a few days of one another. They were well-loved and cherished. Both held the qualities of true compassion, kindness and deep love for their family and community. Their lives touched many people and there now hangs a collective grief in the air as we all find our way through this loss.

These passings, along with other griefs I have experienced, always bring me back to an exploration of love, and to the spiritual teachings on impermanence that help me meet grief with compassion, rather than resistance.

Swami Lalitananda’s words remind me: “Death is a gift that is born with life. In yoga, we don’t ignore the fact, but invite it in to help us live life with awareness.” (The Inner Life of Asanas)

What Does Love Ask of Us in Grief & Loss?

This is a question I am living with deeply right now as I say goodbye to my friends, watch my children find their own paths, and sense that my aging dog will soon no longer be by my side. With my heart broken open, I am often uncomfortably exploring impermanence. I see that it does not diminish love, but instead reveals its depth.

It was in the presence of this love that the Ashram residents gathered to chant Hari Om, a sacred mantra practice, as one of our community friends prepared to move into the Light.

As our voices moved together in devotion, I felt the vastness of love, the place where we are all connected in Divine union. I envisioned our friend flying high above the lake, in instant joy, knowing a love far greater than I could imagine and wrapping Light around everyone.

In that shared devotion, I realized some of what love asks of me in very tangible ways.

Love asks me in grief to open to the Divine, to come together in community and ritual when the weight is too much for one heart to hold. Love asks me to spread the Light to others and witness what radiates back. Reminding me that grief, when held together, becomes something bearable, even meaningful.

It asks me, too, to let go—to allow my children to find their own way. I have to reach deep for this, still seeing myself holding them in my arms, promising I would never let anything bad happen to them. Love is asking me to trust.

Where Love Leads Us in Grief

Love from these griefs is leading me to presence, moment by moment, in everyday life.

I get down on my knees and pet my dog like the goddess she is. I look at my friends and family with a renewed sense of awe and appreciation. I’m putting down what is not important, not quite fully there yet, but like Kisa, learning to put away the mustard seeds.

It is in this unfolding, ordinary devotion that I begin to see Divine Mother’s work in action — the force of compassion and caring that quietly sustains life. Swami Radhananda’s words echo:

“What is Divine Mother’s work? She is the force of compassion and caring, so needed yet so often unrecognized in our world….When you can see Her life-giving rays even in desperate human tragedies, you begin to understand how much there is to learn and how fragile our existence is. It’s important to give wholeheartedly back to life. A different vibration of gratitude is set in motion, a clearer way of looking at the world and the mystery it holds.”

This is what I am still learning to live and to keep asking. And it feels like a question best held in community.

May we come together — in grief, in joy, in the sacredness of the ordinary.

A spiritual practice for coming together in the Light:

Hari Om

–Nicole Plouffe

Yoga Is Now: Reconciling Spiritual Longing with Everyday Life

Nicole — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 22:06:38 +0000

In this new episode of Ask A Swami, Swami Samayananda discusses life inside and outside of the Ashram, and how Karma Yoga can be woven into everyday living.

Reflecting on her own experience of working in the world, she shares the powerful teaching that “Yoga Is Now,” emphasizing the importance of living the practice and integrating the teachings into each moment of daily life.

This episode can be streamed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music or YouTube.

Courage to Change: Weaving Qualities of the Heart

Nicole — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 18:19:43 +0000

Dear Reader: Shortly after writing this blog, two amazingly courageous women of the East Shore community in which the Ashram is situated, passed away. Janet Wallace, creator of Barefoot Handweaving and community organizer for artisans, businesses and non-profits alike, died peacefully Jan. 3 after living valiantly with ALS. Sadly, our dear friend Megan Rokeby-Thomas died suddenly on Jan. 6, following Janet into the Light. The owner of Ladybug Coffee, Megan was an extraordinary leader and activist for the community, who exuded such qualities as compassion, joy, kindness and determination, always putting people first.

I feel honoured to have forged strong friendships with these two women while working together on community issues. I hold the learnings from their courage and love in my heart. This reflection on courage is dedicated to their beautifully-lived examples.

Courage to Change: Weaving Qualities of the Heart

What better time than now–the start of a new year–to consider what kind of person I want to be going forward? To take time and reflect, what changes do I want to make?

As you read this, 21 participants enter the three-month Yoga Development Course at the Ashram. It takes courage to step aside from day-to-day life for this inner exploration.

I think about bringing a fresh perspective to my own reflections—as a 73-year-old woman in a new stage of life—knowing that we all hold the potential of courage within us.

Looking for examples of courage in my life, I am fascinated by how a theme of mother emerges: From my spiritual mother, Swami Radha, going to India and returning to Canada in an orange robe—a symbol for her commitment to live on faith—in the 1950s… To my birth mother starting a new life with two young daughters after the death of her husband by suicide in the late 1950s… To my own choice to not have children for medical reasons, despite my husband’s and my plan to start a family in the 1980s.

As part of my own story, I recall a work associate calling my decision courageous. For myself, it was the only choice if I was to honour what my heart and inner wisdom said.

Living with a Courageous Heart

Is courage in fact a quality of the Divine feminine?

Courage has a well-known connection with heart, through language with the Latin and French meanings of the words ‘cor’ and ‘coeur’. In yoga the lion’s pose speaks of being lion-hearted. In our lives, it emerges as both the power of strength and the softness of vulnerability.

Swami Radha summarizes Kundalini Yoga for the West as “a foundation for character building, courage and awareness.” Looking within its pages, I find courage in the 5th chakra—the level of consciousness of my namesake, Gauri. In this place of surrender and listening, she says “the aspirant has become courageous and forgiving. The feelings (refined emotions) are now truly a stepping-stone toward compassion.”

I may not be there yet as everyday judgments, pride and uncultivated imagination still arise. Positively, though, I ask myself: wasn’t requesting a brahmacharya initiation with the spiritual name of Gauri in itself an act of courage? And likewise choosing to live at the Ashram for the past 12 years?

For all of us on this spiritual path of self-inquiry and evolution, “It takes strength and courage to go against the mainstream of life… It takes courage to say: I want to reflect on my life; I want to clarify what my words and actions are. In this way, leading a spiritual life can be a political act,” Swami Radhananda writes in Living the Practice.

We Ashram residents happily witness this all the time as guests enter into our retreats or Karma Yoga, and leave with newfound clarity and wisdom, often with resolve to make change.

And sometimes, a significant change we can make is simply to accept what is. Self-acceptance also takes courage—”the acceptance of your physical appearance and of your mental and emotional makeup,” says Swami Radha in Time to be Holy. This seems a fine dance in my own life, determining what needs to change in situations with others and within myself, and when to simply let things be.

The Power of Speech: Courageous Voice

I’ve needed to learn about using my voice courageously through the years—learning when and how to speak up, and when to let go and focus solely on my own responses. Years ago I trained for a certificate in Conflict Resolution which helped me considerably. I’ve learned that, as Swami Radhananda reflects in Clearing the Air (Living the Practice), “To find resolution is often simple and liberating… This means having the courage to address undercurrents, to speak truthfully in an uncomfortable interaction, or to simply ask, ‘What is happening?’”

A purple heart stone given to me by someone who I felt the need to challenge continues to remind me of the choice I can make anytime.

Teaching mantra workshops also reminds me of the power of our speech. For many people, using their voice in chanting mantra offers a significant step toward learning to speak their truth.

I love Swami Radhananda’s description about harmony and have indeed experienced this: “We have to be courageous enough to enter in and to allow what emerges from chaos.” I continually learn the benefit of stepping forward without knowing what might emerge.

I did this when I was 19 years old and moved from Saskatchewan to Calgary without a firm plan. Decades later, each day gives me opportunities on smaller and bigger—and often more subtle—scales. Swami Radhananda further says: “Change is a natural part of life and change requires that we take risks and face fears. If we don’t risk, we can never transform fears into courage or our obstacles into strengths.”

As I enter into 2026, I’m focusing on three intentions: simplify, love, trust. I’m eager to explore how I can open up and truly live each of these ideals.

“Courage does not drop into our lap,” writes Swami Radha in the 3rd chakra. I am motivated by this expression. She invites us to examine our fears and to overcome them by cultivating our imaginations and applying our time and energy positively.

Here is a practice suggestion for your own exploration:

Reflect on how you define courage—using key words, associations, examples from your life.
Consider a situation where you need to use courage to move forward. Do a practice (such as Divine Light Invocation or Mountain pose) and reflect on your next step.

— Gauri

Karma Yoga: Walking the Path to Wisdom

Nicole — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 15:48:15 +0000

At the Ashram we are in a transition time, which the season of fall is mirroring. Each day there is change—the snowline creeps down from mountain tops, a cool wind stirs up waves on the lake, the golden and flame coloured leaves fall from trees, vibrant against the billowing dark blue grey clouds.

Reflecting about this time of transition at the Ashram, I recognize we have entered a new season. As elders, many of us have devoted years of service to Swami Radha, the teachings and the Ashram. Swami Radha’s example of selfless service, love and dedication has sparked a deep desire to keep these sacred teachings present and alive in the world.

Working with the next generation, we are all involved in preparing for the change that is coming. For another season in the life of the Ashram.

A steady constant in all of this is the practice of karma yoga—the path of selfless service. Understanding what it actually means to put the ideals of selfless service into practice is a lifetime’s learning.

I’ve come to understand that the real work of karma yoga is not so much about the actual work I do, but about what is happening on the inside and how I approach whatever I am doing. What is my motivation? Is my heart in what I am doing? Where am I in putting my ideals into practice? Are my speech and actions benefiting and contributing to the welfare of others, inspiring them to lead a life of service?

Karma Yoga, Swami Satyananda, Yasodhara Ashram, 1983.

Living in a spiritual community intensifies the learning—revealing whatever gets in the way of being kind, considerate, patient, forgiving. It gives a way to put these ideals into action.

Teachings of the Bhagavad Gita and Daily Life

The Bhagavad Gita, an ancient Indian spiritual text, has guided me for many years, its teachings woven into the fabric of my life. It is a text that I turn to often—to understand the deeper meaning of life and the path of selfless service—and how to put this into action.

The Gita, which translates as The Song of God, is a dialogue that takes place in the heart —between Arjuna, symbolizing the human self and Krishna, the Divine Self within. The setting is in the midst of a battlefield, the opposing sides symbolizing the eternal battle between the forces of light and dark that take place within the heart of each human being.

One of my favourite passages is where Arjuna asks Krishna “Tell me of those who live established in wisdom, ever aware of the Self, O Krishna. How do they talk? How sit? How move about?” (2:54)

Arjuna’s question brings the mystical teachings right into the practical everyday world that we live in. How do we recognize wisdom in action?

Krishna speaks of those who live in wisdom as being able to “see themselves in all and all in them, who have renounced every selfish desire and sense craving tormenting the heart“ (2:55).

He goes on to say, “Use all your power to free the senses from attachment and aversion alike, and live in the full wisdom of the Self.”

Like Arjuna, I have wanted to know what it means to be ‘established in wisdom’ – what does it look like in action, in the world and in my own life.

To those steadfast in love and devotion I give spiritual wisdom, so that they may come to me. Out of compassion I destroy the darkness of their ignorance. From within them I light the lamp of wisdom and dispel all darkness from their lives (Bhagavad Gita 10:/11).

My questions and desire to know brought me to the Ashram and a lineage of teachers who embody this wisdom through their dedication and example, living lives based on selfless service.

Grace of the Guru – Wisdom Embodied

When Swami Radha went to India in 1955, she observed Swami Sivananda in his day-to-day life. She wanted to know how he lived the teachings, how he spoke, how he interacted with people, and ignited the desire to live a life of service.

Through questioning, observing, letting go of her resistance and going beyond her personal comfort she began to see and experience the wisdom, compassion and love that was embodied in Sivananda. Her heart and mind opened and she was able to receive the teachings, and then offer them back to the world in a way that has affected the benefit and welfare of many people’s lives.

Being with Swami Radha was to see wisdom in action. Like Sivananda, she taught through example. She shone the light on my own resistance, pride and attachments to comfort. She opened the way to step into and experience another way of being—my mind and heart focused on serving a higher purpose.

It is a different time now, but the essence of the teachings is the same. Witnessing the movement of the next generation as they come closer to living lives dedicated to serving a greater purpose brings a deep feeling of joy—to know that these sacred teachings will continue to be present and available in the world.

Swami Radha would sometimes tell a story from the Eastern teachings about Divine Mother’s compassion. When She saw “how Her people harm themselves through their own jealousy, self-justification, greed, pride and selfishness, She begins to cry tears of sorrow. Her teardrops fall to earth and each one becomes a devotee, willing to do Her work, the highest and most blissful aspiration there is.” – Living The Practice

Divine Mother Prayer: Essence of Selfless Service

Below is a beautiful prayer to Divine Mother from the Ananda Lahari – The Wave of Bliss that I turn to often throughout the day, to keep focused on the purpose of my work.

O Divine Mother,
May all my speech and idle talk be mantra
All actions of my hands be mudra
All eating and drinking be the offering of oblations unto Thee
All lying down prostrations before Thee
May all pleasure be as dedicating my entire Self unto Thee

May everything I do be taken as Thy worship.

– Swami Satyananda

A Swami’s Advice to Younger Self

Nicole — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 19:24:33 +0000

In this podcast episode of Ask A Swami, Swami RadhaTarananda, a disciple of Swami Radha, reflects on the advice she would give to her younger self at the beginning of her spiritual journey. She speaks about what faith means to her and the power of reflection, emphasizing her guru’s example of living on faith as she built the Ashram.

Swami RadhaTarananda invites Katie to reflect on the advice she would give to her younger self, and together they explore the “sparks” and “threads” that have guided them to where they are today.

This episode can be streamed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music or YouTube.