Dear Ones,

The front of the studio as it looked in the fall of 2010.

It seems absolutely impossible that we are celebrating our sixth anniversary here at Param Yoga this Thursday, November 3rd! The saying “time flies when you’re having fun” certainly applies to me, for each and every day I wake with deep gratitude knowing that I am living the life I love by sharing the unprecedented wisdom and Grace of Yoga in our sacred Sangha. Together we have created and nurtured a true community where folks are thriving as their lives become sweeter and sweeter, day by day. Friendship, acceptance, encouragement, love and joy permeate our yogic home.

In September of 2010, with no business plan and no money at a time when I should have been considering slowing down, I was prompted by Yogananda’s guidance to rent this little space and launch a brand new business on pure faith. Listening carefully to the impressions and wisdom from beyond, deep roots have managed to anchor our growth by offering true yoga to those who seek a safe haven from a complex, often stressful world. Endless love and gratitude to my Sadguru Paramahamsa Yogananda for partnering with me in every breath.

At this moment in time, I bow to you for your continued love and support for our staff, teachings, and commitment to excellence through dedication on the path of yoga. Our adventure together has proven that the deeper we go into yoga, the deeper it gets. What a remarkable journey for all with a promise of continued growth and realization.

Thank you to Kriya Los Angeles for choosing to make Param Yoga your home as many, many souls have found their way to the Divine path of Kriya Yoga. I bow to Yogacharya Richard Peterson Baba and Judy Ma for their endless commitment and leadership of Kriya Yoga under the Divine auspices of our beloved Paramahamsa Prajnananandaji. This gratitude is extended to Swamis Atmavidyananda, Purnatmananda, Vairagyananda, and Sahajananda for their boundless love and devotion. Thank you from all of us.

As always, I remain grateful to my awesome assistant Kirsten and her uncanny ability to always be…well…100% awesome! Thank you Sabrina for joining our staff to help us flow flawlessly forward as we celebrate the now, always with love. Heartfelt gratitude to our adorable Cherise for her beautiful ongoing contribution with both asana and Ayurveda. To Brian Walsh for joining us monthly and bathing us with dynamic, Divine sound to flush out imbalance and bring us into alignment with our True nature.

To our precious little celebrity, Yoda, who I swear is the big draw of the studio and makes it simply a better place to visit just because he is here.

And finally, YOU—thank you, thank you, thank you for being you, for your willingness to stretch yourself into the best possible YOU that you can be, and for allowing me to share the path with you. I continue to be awe-inspired and completely grateful for this beautiful expression of God and the eternal Love available for all of us always. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

See you on the mat.

Love, Love, Love,

“The purpose of yoga is to make us a good human being through practice and understanding. Live in Divinity in every second. It is a conscious effort and choice.” – Paramahamsa Prajnanananda

Greetings!

Fasten your seatbelts, because the final three months of 2016 are upon us. You and I both know that there is a certain mindset that takes over as we approach the complexity of all that the fall/winter months offer us. If one is not awake and present in yogic priorities, it is quite possible to become overwhelmed and debilitated. Make this year’s end a very special one by recommitting yourself to your practice and doubling your efforts to live in a state of perpetual calm with compassionate detachment for all that whirls around you.

Remember that less is indeed more. Prioritize your time carefully as you move through the holidays in order to accommodate your practice. Keep first things first, acknowledging that if you are relaxed and moving effortlessly through each day you will be flowing in a sea of endless love that is not anchored on artificial days of celebration, but is authentic and life-giving.

While the holidays offer a time of coming together with the ones we love and cherish, they can, if allowed, lose their true meaning of gratitude and celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, whose presence on the Earth remains glorified 2000 years after he left. Be the one in your circle of influence who draws the attention to how precious these celebrations are, while minimizing commercialism and greed. When you give, do so from your heart without expectation, remaining clear about why you are giving in the first place.

Time is a major commodity in our brief lives here upon this earth. Do not waste a moment on anything that is not taking you deeper into your relationship with your Divine nature.

I celebrate you and wish you and yours all good things always and in all ways.

In Service,

“Let us contemplate with humility and love. Let us cultivate the idea that we belong to God, and God belongs to us. We belong to the whole world, the whole world is ours, I am for all, and naturally all are for me I should live and breathe in peace and love, and should move like a child of God -fearlessly. Then life will be beautiful. Think of God and God’s love and beauty. Pray that God and the masters give us expansion in the mind, expansion in the heart. Let our lives be saturated with love, saturated with compassion.” – Paramahamsa Prajnanananda

Greetings!

How beautifully our bougainvillea has withstood the heat of summer as it stands majestically framing Param Yoga’s back door, beckoning you to enter into a world of sacred peace, Presence and joy. Day after day, the studio stands as a refuge for those who are desirous of deepening their yogic path through a persistent and consistent practice drenched in love.

September arrives as the precursor to the final quarter of 2016, once again offering us the opportunity for completion in all areas of our lives in preparation to move forward with fresh resolve when October births. Taking advantage of this window of completion with mindfulness and the sincere desire to “put your house in order” (your physical house and your Spiritual house), you will be making room in your life for positive growth and needed change.

We often speak about the importance of non-attachment to everything in your world, but upon closer introspection you may discover that your world is loaded with “stuff” that needs to be purged…but that you are attached to for one reason or another. Stand back, be honest with yourself and, throughout the month of September, allow yourself to let go of overload in your world, whether it shows up in your surroundings, your body, mind, emotions, relationships, finances – wherever. Free yourself up from the inside out and make room for love, Light and great joy to flow into you and through you.

In Service,

“We catch hold of the past and get stuck. We cannot proceed. Along the journey of life, memory is the greatest bondage: what we should remember, we forget, and what we should forget, we always remember. Can we not live intelligently and move forward?” – Paramahamsa Prajnanananda

Greetings!

We find ourselves, like it or not, in an extremely volatile time in history. The world often seems upside down and backwards as it spirals into the unforeseen future with all of us feeling the fray. With tremendous accessibility to technology today it is literally possible to find the exact answer you want to hear about any subject with the truth being skewed to suit your desired outcome. For instance, Google the question, “Is the moon hollow?” and see what you come up with. There are endless answers and data both confirming and denying the moon’s core. Ultimately, today’s endless flow of information often leaves us in confusion and unable to discern the truth, because in many cases it has been desperately dismantled to fit the desired outcome of those who wield it to get what they want at the expense of others.

Stop the madness, fellow yogis! Yoga teaches us that we must be established in truthfulness (YS: 2.36). It is our yogic responsibility to have integrity through right thoughts and actions. The Buddha is credited as saying, “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who said it, even if I said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.”

Slogging our way through the murk and mire takes a personal commitment to understand who we are, where we are going, and how to do all that we can to stay the course, no matter what. As Yogis, we are flexible, patient, kind and supportive as we gently let those who have different ideals, values or understanding happily go their way, while we, breath by breath, stay within our own true nature with the resolve of moving ever forward into personal liberation.

It always comes back to us, each of us, to take responsibility for who we are, how we live, and how our thoughts and actions impact not only our own life and the lives of others, but the greater whole.

The key, then, is to be persistent and consistent with your daily meditation practice. Each and every day, no matter what, dedicate quality time to go within where the treasure trove of your personal truth resides, ever desirous of your presence to bring you clarity, calm and detachment. Go within and ask, listen, trust, and lean into your relationship to the Divine that will always buoy you against the waves of this uncertain and often camouflaged reality. May the blessings of God and Gurus be ever with you.

All Love, all the time,

“Be a yogi. A yogi is intelligent and skillful. Use your every sense organ carefully. Especially while speaking, be extremely vigilant. Think before you speak. Let every word be properly filtered so that untruthful, arrogant, and hurtful words are avoided. Truthfulness is a virtue, and words have tremendous power. Be extremely careful when you speak.” – Paramahamsa Prajnanananda

Greetings!

July reminds us of how incredibly fortunate we are to be Americans living in the land of “the free and the brave.” We often take for granted how blessed we are each and every day to wake up in a country where we have choice, where we are greatly cared for, where we may believe what we want, live where we want, and love who we want.

The simple truth that you may choose to participate in yoga classes is an indication of your very freedom. This year, embrace all that is good about being an American. Do not take your personal freedom for granted even for a moment. Instead, let your heart overflow with gratitude for all the goodness that is yours today—each day—and spend your conscious attention in improving yourself first before criticizing or finding fault with anyone else.

We are an important part of the “melting pot” that created America. More than likely, our forefathers were unaware of the “science of soul culture” called yoga. Yet, they were determined to write the Constitution in a way that would prevail through generations to give us all freedom and choice. Blessed and grateful are we, the recipients of their wisdom and forethought.

May the blessings of God and Gurus be ever with you as we celebrate this outstanding nation of ours. See you on the mat!

All Love, all the time,

“When I am looking at you I am looking at myself in you. When I look at you there are not two, there is One.” – Paramahamsa Prajnanananda

Salutations!

“Living the Dream” is the focus of our Yoga Day 2016. Paramahamsa Yogananda often used the dream state to explain what we experience here on earth and encouraged us to wake up! Together on Saturday June 11th we will step in and out of the dream to glimpse our true nature through all facets of yoga. With a full day designed to stretch you, encourage you, and support you as you experience this mini retreat, diving deep within to discover peace, calm, and clarity. Registration closes this Saturday at midnight, so please don’t miss your chance to share a day in paradise with us as we share the dream.

After spending three days with my Guru Paramahamsa Prajnanananda at the Kriya Institute Mother Center in Homestead, Florida, I find myself fully charged, nourished, and filled with Grace. How blessed and fortunate I have been in this life to have found my way to yoga and into the presence of a living Realized Master. It just doesn’t get more auspicious than this. Fortunately, the Grace and love I received is not just for me but for all of us here at Param Yoga and Kriya Los Angeles. Please know that you are greatly and deeply loved while being held up by the Divine. I look forward to seeing you soon. May the blessings of God and Guru continue to flow upon you and through you always and in all ways.

In Service,

“You are essentially pure consciousness. You are observing this world of objects and even living beings, including the body. You are distinct and free from them. Cultivate this knowledge in every breath; then you are free.” – Paramahamsa Prajnanananda

Greetings!

May has arrived, reminding us that 2016 is well on its way and offering each of us renewed vision for our immediate and long-term futures. Be bold as you continue on the path of self-study, defining and understanding on a deep level who you truly are from the inside out. Use all your yoga resources to stay the course, remaining calm and detached in every moment to better define your authenticity with integrity and wisdom.

Param Yoga has wonderful opportunities ahead to support your practice, starting with a FREE Kriya Introduction on Friday May 13th. You’ll gain an overview of the ancient art of Kriya Meditation as taught by a lineage of realized Masters that is as important and vital today as it was a thousand years ago. If you are drawn to Kriya, then you are invited to come to the two-day workshop that follows on Saturday and Sunday to learn the user-friendly techniques of meditation that are life-changing. I highly recommend this technique to enhance your current spiritual, religious or intellectual path.

You officially have 9 DAYS left to pre-register for our outstanding Yoga Day 2016! Please take advantage of this money-saving offer now, as you do not want to miss this fantastic celebration of yoga, our community and Living the Dream! Pre-registration gives you the added opportunity to be first in line to reserve your spot for extra services, including: Psychic Palmistry with Professor Sasi, Vedic Astrology with Vimal Sood, Ayurveda Consultation with Cherise Bangs, or Therapeutic/Reiki Massage with Amy Izenberg.

I send my love and blessings to all of the Mothers in our community, young and old, who have given themselves with devotion to lovingly raising their children in ways that will guide this world we share into heightened wisdom, wholeness and peace. I salute you, one and all. Have a blessed and beautiful celebration of you and yours.

In Service,

“On this Mother’s Day, I pray to the Divine Mother to give us hearts that can feel pure love for all living beings so that our lives are comprised of pure love, compassion, and kindness. Let our love for the mother, Mother Earth, and even the entire creation be sincere and our lives be simple and practical, loving nature and all creation. Let this Mother’s Day be a day of gratitude for our earthly mother and motherhood in general.” – Paramahamsa Prajnanananda

Greetings and Salutations!

Well, here we are in the second quarter of 2016. As a community, we continue our commitment to personal growth and expansion. What’s changed for you in the first three months? Anything? Have you been vigilant about asking yourself often, “Who am I?” Has the journey led you inward to where all wisdom and answers reside? Has your awareness changed? Paramahamsa Prajnanananda teaches that discovering who we are is easy, because it is our nature. Staying in the awareness of our true identity is an altogether greater challenge. For the recognition that we are Satchitananda (eternal – conscious – bliss) implies that we are always in a state of ultimate unchanging reality. In “reality,” living this truth continuously, without break, is not so easy. In fact, for most of us it is impossible.

That struggle to embrace constant awareness leads us back in humbleness to the mat. We embrace our lives, breath by breath, with integrity, taking time each day to pray, to meditate and anchor ourselves in the scriptures that make our hearts sing, leaning into our Guru’s presence to hold us up and anchor our lives in a perpetual place of peace, calm and wakefulness. Then the possibility of glimpsing Satchitananda becomes a yearning, a goal toward which the Soul begins to gravitate with more confidence, little by little, day by day. It is your birthright to reach this state of Being-ness, and I for one have complete faith that, if this is what you want, you will absolutely make it so.

May the right of Spring bring you renewal and reinforced commitment to your ongoing expansion into Self-Realization.

Love, Love, Love,

“We are all living sparks of divinity. The one who dives deepest into his Self not only realizes his identity with the Cosmic Spirit, but tastes the sweetness of infinite joy. In the rush and clamor of our conscious life, we do not pay attention to the mystery of our being.” – Paramahamsa Hariharananda

March has arrived filled to the brim with wonderful opportunities here at Param Yoga for your continued exploration into who you are as you advance upon your path. Please check out all the fun and informative events below and be sure to save June 11th to join us for another amazing Yoga Day at Rancho Providencia!

As Spring approaches, it ushers in the promise of renewal, rebirth and rejuvenation. This year, Easter comes early (March 27), because it always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon (March 23) occurring on or after the vernal equinox (March 20). For many of us, Easter offers a time to pause and reflect on the phenomenon of the short life of Jesus Christ and how his teachings continue to impact the whole of humanity. Imagine if you had lived during his lifetime and were able to spend time in his presence – what must that have been like? Would you have recognized this simple man as the Christ? Would you have questioned and/or mocked him? Interesting to consider, even though we shall never know. We do know that the legacy of Christ recognizes Him as a living Avatar who came to assist us humans on earth to learn to live from love and to trust that we are capable of living and behaving as He did. It was His promise that we are capable of even more than he demonstrated in his short 33 years. How many have learned and successfully demonstrated his teachings and advanced to live eternally in peace and love?

Since the time of Christ there have been many realized beings who have graced the earth, perhaps lacking in the remarkable popularity and longevity that Jesus created, but impactful nonetheless. Whether they are avatars or incarnated advanced beings returning to shine Light for us, we cannot truly know. As Yogis, we embrace the idea that the great ones come to teach us how to move into realization in this lifetime, and if we recognize them and pay attention through their immense love, the promise of Christ lives on in all of them.

While each of us, through innate desire and tenacity, has the ability to create our highest good in this world, if we are fortunate to discover a teacher who makes our heart sing, the speed in which your progress accelerates can be remarkable. Here at Param Yoga we are blessed to have the ability to offer training in Kriya Yoga, Yoga Sutras and Sanskrit, all through the auspices and leadership of a fully realized being, Paramahamsa Prajnanananda. If you have the inclination or perhaps simply the curiosity to be exposed to such a soul, please join us and let the obvious love move you.

From my heart to yours I wish you happy springtime, Happy Easter, happy everything!

Love, Love, Love,

“In essence, it can be said that a disciple, through his apprenticeship with the realized master, should try to discipline his extrovert mind and senses and make them more Truth-oriented. Yoga is really a discipline. Undisciplined people cannot enjoy the real beauty of yoga, which is already in them, though they are not aware of it. Those who follow the realized master and his teachings about scriptures, and practice a technique like Kriya Yoga, can really enjoy the constant state of yoga.” – Paramahamsa Prajnanananda

Learn more at www.Kriya.org and www.KriyaLosAngeles.org.

Upon your birth, the world changed. You had an immediate impact in this world and, as subtle as it may be, you continue to have an ongoing impact that is substantial enough to affect your circle of influence and beyond.

If, as Yogis, we know that our thoughts create our reality and we embrace the idea that who we are and what we do has a rippling effect, then how could we ever justify thinking or behaving in any manner that is void of love? After all, we souls yearn for love, to receive love and to give love. In many respects it is the belief in love that soothes us and often protects us from harm’s way. But then, you know this. Yet it is far too easy to forget the responsibility we have to one another to live in harmony, Grace and peace.

February is the month that capitalizes on love. Why not use this time to reinforce your personal objective to live in love, to walk in love, to act in love and to become love with every breath? You be the mirror for others to peer into and see themselves through loving eyes, gestures, and words. You can do it, I can do it, we all can do it…if we try. Make a daily effort and it will be so and the world will, bit by bit, become better, happier, healthier and more beautiful because YOU make a difference. Think love.

Loving you, loving all,

“All of us have the same basic need: to love and be loved. By turning the selfish love we feel toward ourselves and our immediate circle into warmth and compassion for all those who share this earth with us, we will find ourselves released from the self-made prison of our emotions. We will be free at last to love wholly, without fear and without restraint. Through loving others, we love God, and that love returns to us a thousandfold when it is given unselfishly and without ulterior motives.” – Paramahamsa Prajnananadaji