What Happens When You Follow The Teachings? (A Reflection from Dhruv)
When I follow the teachings, I notice a clarity in my thinking. I notice an increase of self-acceptance, self-compassion, and self-forgiveness. I notice more capacity in myself to be generous and loving and forgiving with others. I notice I have more gratitude for the subtle things in my work and relationships. Put simply, I notice I am happier and that I want to share that happiness with others.
When I follow the teachings, it feels like a veil gets lifted from my perspective. When the veil is down, my perspective feels competitive, fearful, limited, stressed, and often not good enough. When the veil is lifted, my perspective feels loving, charged, part of a greater whole, easygoing and steady, and above the turbulence of stress. I remain aware that I have the ability to lift and lower the veil by choosing where I place my attention. I feel empowered.
I meet with Swami Nityananda a couple of times a year to share the turns my life is taking. I have yet to come across a situation that she can't reframe into a way to grow spiritually. The generosity of spirit that I feel when working with her buoys my spirit and provides yet another reason to keep following the teachings. She listens with such love and empathy and acceptance. She models a way of being in the world that some might think is impossible, and yet, she does it with such ease and grace that it makes you believe that you can live in that way too—and you can! A great teacher, she patiently finds new ways of saying the same thing until it clicks. There is no judgment, only a welcoming invitation to live a life that has more love, joy, and peace in it.
Though I did not know the terms Kriya Yoga, Karma Yoga, Advaita Vedanta, and non-dualism prior to meeting Swami and participating at Awake Yoga Meditation, I had come across elements of them under different names which resonated with me over the course of my spiritual journey. I believe this is why I felt such an immediate connection to Swami and AYM. But the books I read or the retreats I went on were not connected to a community I could join. When I got stuck trying to apply a lesson to a particular circumstance in my life, the authors and workshop facilitators were inaccessible and I remained stuck. Not so with Swami Nityananda and AYM. The doors are open. Swami makes herself available to you individually and helps you apply the teachings into your unique life and circumstances. Swami Nityananda's tireless commitment to living the teachings and her efforts in stewarding a supportive community where others can practice living them are some of the greatest gifts I have ever received.
“...a practice that reliably turns up love, kindness, self-compassion, joy, forgiveness, and gratitude so that it is louder than the fear, inferiority, and self-contempt that used to feel so paralyzing.”
There is a clear before and after in my life—before Swami Nityananda and AYM and after. Before, I was clinically depressed, suffered regularly from panic attacks, and lived most of my day with a hum of fear, inferiority, and self-contempt as the backdrop of my mind. After: I now have a practice that reliably turns up love, kindness, self-compassion, joy, forgiveness, and gratitude so that it is louder than the fear, inferiority, and self-contempt that used to feel so paralyzing. Challenging circumstances still present themselves, of course, but I feel a connection to a calm, steady source of power within me. It is only ever as far away as a breath and it has proven time and time again to bring insight and to create the conditions for a path forward. It has created a new hum as the backdrop of my mind: the pleasant hum of happiness.
Though I've done my best to describe the impact these teachings have had on me in just a few short years, there are no words that can truly capture the depth of gratitude I feel for this practice, this teacher, and this community. It is beyond words.
———
If you are interested in learning more about working with a Swami Nityananda, you are always invited to schedule a private, personal, spiritual conference whether you are completely new to the study of yoga philosophy and meditation or one who is seeking to deepen your practice.