AHYMSIN-Americas Newsletter Articles

  THE YOGA IN HENRY DAVID THOREAU by Renée Silvus If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal—that is your success. All nature is your congratulation, and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself.  When we think of Thoreau, we might recall a brash misanthrope chronicling his two years at Walden Pond. This invitation to joy and blessing is also his voice. While at the pond, he read the Bhagavad Gita twice, finding it “unquestionably one of the noblest and most sacred scriptures which have come down to us.” Thoreau continued to read more Vedantic texts and integrate Samkhya philosophy over the next six years while revising his Walden manuscript. He had been experiencing meditative states since his early twenties. “Silence is the communing of a conscious soul with itself….She is audible to all men, at all times, in all places.” This journal entry i...

  What is the Yoga Secret Most People Don’t Know About PREPARATION by Randall Krause   It was in the early 1990s, and I was attending a workshop taught by Swami Rama. I walked into one of the public rooms in the Himalayan Institute and encountered the huge figure of Swami Rama, clothed in a maroon robe, surrounded by students. I gathered my courage, walked up to him, and said, “Will you teach me to meditate?” He turned his face to me and, in his forceful way, bellowed, “Yes!” I relaxed and felt a smile spread across my inner being. But then, with a look of concern, he added, “Are you prepared?” I didn’t know what he meant. So, I said, “I don’t know if I’m prepared, Swamiji.” A moment passed. “Get prepared, and I will teach you!” he said energetically. I backed away, turned, and began walking out of the room, with a feeling of confusion spreading through me. As I walked, another man in the room stopped me and said, “You should have told h...

  Looking for a Rope to the Sky by Rob Diggins   When I was first approached about writing another article for the AHYMSIN-Americas newsletter, I reached out to my mentor for guidance, offering a few preliminary prompts I had been considering—many of them the result of gentle editorial nudging. As usual, my mentor responded quickly, if not instantly, with this advice: “Dearest, use your intuition and consider what is most needed.” And with that, I was off to the races. Or was I?   What is needed? A Rope to the Sky?! Allow me to approach this question—a kind of Zen koan—by offering a little of my backstory.   I’ll begin by describing an activity I know intimately, in the hopes that this description will allow us to draw out a particular, essential element: focused listening and cultivated awareness . These, in turn, give rise to what the Parampara refers to—alongside other attributes—as skill in action . In a word: enlightenment . ...

  Exploring Silence: In or Out ... A Personal Reflection by Jenny May Living in a remote mountain location provides me with a space, beautifully conducive to Silence; natural trails that allow me to move my body freely, few neighbors and no hustle and bustle of the city. Blessed to live in this location, I have the opportunity to practice one to three days of Silence on my own a few times each year.   Most recently, during a three-day opportunity to practice alone, I found myself wondering, “What does it mean to be in Silence?”   I kept my twice daily hatha and meditation practice during these three days, and I also maintained my usual daily activities such as gardening, home and yard maintenance and writing. However, instead of engaging in phone calls or email conversations, I incorporated hour-long segments of subtle body practices, reading sacred texts, listening to Swami Veda lectures, and so on.   The days filled with sacred activity passed so ...

  Dharma: A Path with Heart ©2025 by Randall Krause In my early years as an aspirant in the Himalayan Yoga-Meditation Tradition, I was eager to discover and embody my dharma. Dharma is a Sanskrit word with various meanings, one of which is one's natural purpose, mission, vocation, or calling. That was what I sought. I wanted to find “my work,” which would enable me to access my hidden talents and gifts, and would, in turn, lead me on the path to Self-realization.   When we walk our dharma path, we touch something deeper within ourselves, tapping into our innate gifts to best serve the world and find greater fulfillment. Swami Rama said that our dharma brings us the experiences we need to grow on our meditative path. Each of us has a dharma, and it doesn't have to be grand or earthshaking; it can seem humble. Yet it's our natural mission, and everyone’s is unique. You've undoubtedly met or seen people living their dharma; they r...

   Non-Violence and Spiritual Strength by Swami Veda Bharati   Let spiritual experience become personal. The more you go into your personal spiritual questions, the more answers come. It’s not answers to questions. Simply, guidance comes.   The answer is silence of the mind – clearing your emotions – clearing your emotions so that they do not become obstacles in the way of your spiritual experience.   A lot of people have emotional experiences. They are spiritually inclined, so they think they are having a spiritual experience. I believe in utter purity. I don’t believe in all this flying off to astral travel, and out-of-body experiences, and dreaming this and dreaming that. A lot of people think of that as spirituality. And there are a lot of people who have written books on that basis, and they are very misleading.   My idea of spiritual experience is . . . total stillness . . . stillness of body, stillness of breath, ...