The United Nations General Assembly in accordance with the call of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is celebrating World Yoga Day on June 21. This is the day of the Summer Solstice, the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere and a day considered significant in many traditions. The fact that scores of countries all over the world, including many Islamic countries, are observing the day is testimony to yoga’s universality.
Unfortunately, in India, this occas
By Manmohan Singh
It’s no doubt that long traffic hours, desk-bound jobs, endless chores, altogether lead to a complete mental and physical exhaustion. Owing to the overworked body, many people are unable to pursue their hobbies or find it difficult to indulge in any other form of exercise. All this is because of low energy levels and insufficient prana (vital force) in the body. Now, if you are wondering whether there exists any powerful solution to increase the energy, then the science of yo
From Back to Godhead
How the Gita teaches the eight steps of hatha yoga, the topic of Patanjali’s Yoga-sutras.
According to a survey by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, an estimated 13.4 million Americans practice yoga, and many more experiment with it every year. Yoga is everywhere—from Mumbai to Moscow to Monte Carlo. But while yoga is meant to bring one closer to God, many of today’s yogis have a different agenda, the most common being to keep their bodies in shape.
“They’re not
As a teenager coming of age in the 1960s, I was preoccupied with spirituality. I had become disinterested in the mainstream religion of my forbears, and I was passionately looking for a path that spoke directly to me as an individual.
I didn’t want some amorphous, otherworldly transcendence, either — this I knew for certain. Nor did I want mere political activism, which many in my day tied to spirituality in a rather tepid, tenuous way. Instead, I wanted something that truly nurtured my inner w
A 200-hour full immersion Yoga Teacher Training Program concluded a few days ago at New Vrindaban taught by Gopi Manjari Devi Dasi. After an intense 18 days of training, six students went away with not only their well-deserved yoga instructor certificates but also a powerful introduction to Krishna consciousness, a heartfelt connection with Srila Prabhupada, and a memorable experience of bhakti.
Gopi Manjari is a seasoned yoga teacher who runs her own studio called “Bhakti Yoga DC” in the heart
By Madhava Smullen
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Bhakti Center in New York City has been offering a new selection of virtual yoga teacher training and meditation teacher training programs, as well as training in Ayurveda and kirtan.
Taking advantage of the online format, the classes are held at times that also accommodate a global audience – often hour-and-a-half sessions from 5:30 to 7:00pm on weekdays, with some modules offered between 10:00am and 5:00pm on weekends. This
Yoga is often misunderstood as merely breath control, asanas or exercises; for some it is about practising some rules and regulations based on morality and for others it is cultivation of scriputral knowledge. But the real purpose of Yoga is to fix our mind on the Supreme.
According to Bhagavad-gita, yoga can not be practiced unless we practice mind control. An uncontrolled mind restricts the soul from reaching its natural blissful state, which a practioner is trying to acheive through yoga.
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From Back to Godhead
Nowadays everyone knows what yoga is. Or do they?
In the West yoga is more popular than ever.
“It’s at the top of its game,” says Dan Gurlitz, general manager of Koch Vision, whose distribution of Yoga Zone DVDs and videos is a “serious seven-figure business.” According to Kimberly Leonard, writing in US News & Word Report, “During the last decade the number of Americans who report practicing yoga has nearly doubled to 21 million.” Other Western countries follow close
With a new name on the way and a whole raft of new workshops and activities, Villa Vrindavana Yoga Center is providing yoga enthusiasts an authentic experience in a spiritual community, as well as a non-judgemental, pressure-free zone where they can decide how deep they want to dive.
One of ISKCON Europe’s most beautiful temples, Villa Vrindavana is located near Florence, the gorgeous capital of Italy’s Tuscanny region and birthplace of the Renaissance. Gopi Sundari Dasi, daughter of Villa Vr
