Dear Friend, “Whatever you have strongly in your mind, you can attract,” stated Swami Kriyananda in a recent talk. “You can attract wealth or poverty. I remember a man who had all the money he needed, but he didn’t have as much as he wanted. He kept saying, ‘I’m poor.’ Well, he had more money than I had, and I … Read More
Are We Ready for This?
Yesterday was an interesting day. The morning at work began fine, outwardly, but my heart and mind were not in the right place. This showed up in a lack of kindness to some of my co-workers. In the afternoon, this lack of harmony, as if reflecting itself in the world around me, began to express itself: we found out that … Read More
Chanting Is Half the Battle
I’ll be giving a live webinar on Thursday night on just this subject (which will include a first ever interactive kirtan with tabla, guitar, and harmonium) and wanted to give a little background of what chanting has meant to me. When I came to Ananda and experienced chanting for the first time, my heart was wonderstruck at how so few … Read More
Service, Adventure, Excellence, and Self-Discovery
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Even the teachers who were presenting the awards were choking back tears. Every June as school draws to a close, the Living Wisdom Schools at Ananda Village present one of our most inspiring and heart-opening events of the year — the School Awards Day Ceremony. Community members, family, friends, and neighbors gathered … Read More
My First Three Months of Meditation
Seven years ago, unexpectedly, I woke up one morning with a strong desire to meditate. I’d thought meditation was a good idea for some time — but meditation was something that other people did. I’d tried it and it hadn’t worked out. But, here was this new feeling: “I must find God!” I struggled on my own for a month … Read More
“The Channel Is Blessed…”
Living in a spiritual community isn’t all it’s cracked out to be. It’s much, much more. Besides the fountainhead of bliss gushing forth amidst daily spiritual practice, service and fellowship, there come truly beautiful, blessed and rewarding opportunities. Such was our recent two-day trip, as myself, along with my six fellow 20-something-year-old gurubhais (fellow disciples) explored our first outreach opportunity … Read More
One Thing
First, I’ll tell you about the play. At the Portland Living Wisdom School, the primary class (first, second and third grade) performed “Frog’s Dream”, a musical play set in the rainforest. I co-teach the class and my job was to sit on the sidelines and hit the play/pause button on the CD player at the right time. The frog’s dream … Read More
Seeking the Light
Hi Everyone, It has been an amazing Spring here at Ananda Village. It was very long and wet, but the result was a very vivid wildflower season, a very long tulip season and some great clouds and luscious flowers and skies. I have been pretty busy with all kinds of stuff, just like everyone else I know, but also have … Read More
Swami Kriyananda at the Yoga Festival in Rome
Over the past several years, the Yoga Festivals in Italy have grown in size and importance. Ananda has been involved from the beginning, cooperating with the organizers and making presentations of Ananda Yoga and meditation at both the Milan and Rome venues. The Rome Festival is held in the large park of Villa Pamphilli, an area of 2 square kilometers … Read More
Serving with Young Adults at Ananda Village
My husband and I returned to live at Ananda Village in March of 2009 after living at Ananda Sacramento, California for the last 23 years. There we served as the Colony Leaders and Spiritual Directors. Ananda Farms today… We are now working with the young adults at Ananda Village and working with some of them on the Ananda farm. As … Read More