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�adaa!Newsletter of SATYA (Svaroopa® Association of Teachers & Yogis)December 2010 Volume 13, Issue #12

Editor — Marlene Gast, CSYT

PublishEr — Master Yoga Foundation www.svaroopayoga.org

ContributorsSwami Nirmalananda Saraswati, Master TeacherLinda AshvarianPolly (Latika) BreenDonna Criscuolo, CSYTCheryl DavisPolly DiBella, CSYTMelissa Fountain, CSYTMichele Gordon, CSYTKelly Goss, CSYTScott Holtzman, CSYTBhakta (Leslie) Johnson, CSYTJanaki (Janet) Murray, CSYTSheyna Purna (Sandy) Peace, CSYTKalpana ReddyMaria Sichel, CSYTKelly Sharp, CSYTMary Stracensky, CSYTJames Sweet


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editor’s Note Focusing on Seva 4

Executive Director’s Note Communication Is Essential in Community 5

1. YOGA’S TEACHINGS What Is Karma Yoga? 6Grace and Yoga Practices 8

2. YOGA BUSINESS Standards of Practice 12

3. MASTER YOGA NEWS Comings and Goings 14Bulletin from the Board: A Year of Transition 15

4. GEOCENTER REPORT Powerful Little Rhody 18

5. TEACHER TALK This Stuff Works 20Reflections on Satsang with Swami Nirmalananda 21Certificates Awarded 22

6. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT Assistant Teachers 24Behind-the-Scenes and Ongoing Support 24Personal Donations Received In Honor Of 26Personal Donations 27Non-cash Donations 28Wish List 28


Editor’s Note Focusing on SevaMaster Yoga is blessed with sevites — dozens of Svaroopa® yogis who just want to give back to the organization from which they themselves have received. All of the Master Yoga Board members and their committees contribute time and

expertise as seva, selfless service. Review the feature “Behind the Scenes Support” for the list of all those who serve Master Yoga in other specific ways. Of course, with every Teacher Training program that you take, you perform various types of seva — setting up the classroom in the morning, serving as Mom or Dad for the day, cleaning the classroom at night and cleaning kitchen and bathrooms. As Editor of Tadaa! I frequently interview Svaroopa® yogis about their seva. I ask, “What led you to volunteer?” The answer is

almost always the same: “I just want to give back to Master Yoga, because the teachers and the organization have given me so much.”

Yet even though this standard answer is straightforward enough, what’s the source of that urge to give back? Knowing that this issue of Tadaa! was to focus on seva, Lissa Fountain CSYT contributed a quote about seva that helps locate the force of the urge to “give back”:

“…you do seva not because anyone needs your services; you serve because your heart is overflowing. Your gratitude takes a form, and it’s called seva.”

from Resonate with Stillness: Daily Contemplations, “November 15th”, by Swami Muktananda and Swami Chidvilasananda, published January 1995

For more on seva and the practice of Karma Yoga, read on!

Marlene Gast CsYt, [email protected]

Executive Director’s Note

Communication Is Essential in CommunityThank you to everyone who sent along your kind words of support as I step into the role of Executive Director. It is an honor to serve you and Master Yoga Foundation in this capacity.

Many of you contacted me saying that you heard of my appointment through the grape vine. “Why didn’t Master Yoga send out an announcement?” you asked. Master Yoga did announce my appointment. It appeared in the November 15th “Spotlight on Your Yoga” email.

I am concerned that many of you are not reading the Spotlights and therefore missing some very important news. There is a plethora of information that shows up in the Spotlights twice a month. All announcements of Comings & Goings, and Special News appear in the right hand column. That is where the announcement of my appointment appeared as well as that of Helene Gibbens, our new MYX Coordinator. I also recently posted a new job opportunity — Communications Coordinator — in the December 8th edition.

As Master Yoga continues its transformation, progress, news and new opportunities will appear in the Spotlights long before they appear in Tadaa! Please read them and then give me your feedback. Remember that Master Yoga is here to serve you, as am I. Please get in touch and stay involved. Together we will move Svaroopa® yoga into the world.

donna Criscuolo CsYt, Executive Director [email protected]


1. YOGA’S TEACHINGSWhat Is Karma Yoga?By Janaki (Janet) Murray CSYT; Bhakta (Leslie) Johnson CSYT; and Polly DiBella CSYT

Editor’s note: To answer this question, Foundations Teachers Bhakta (Leslie) Johnson, from Minneapolis MN, and Janaki (Janet) Murray, from Queensland, Australia, teamed up. And Polly DiBella in Paoli PA offered the concluding paragraph; Polly is also a Foundations Teacher.

Tadaa! All of you introduce the concept and practice of Karma Yoga to Foundations students. So how do you define it?

Janaki: There are different yoga practices. There’s the practice of Jňana Yoga, for example. Jnanam means knowledge. So the yoga of knowledge is the study of yoga philosophy and the yogic texts. Bhakti Yoga — the yoga of the heart or the yoga of devotion — chanting is Bhakti Yoga. And Hatha Yoga – this is poses. Another yoga

practice is Karma Yoga. Karma yoga is the yoga of service or action, and for some people Karma yoga is their whole yoga. They never do poses or study texts; they simply offer their life in service. Mother Theresa was a karma yogi!

Bhakta: This time of year — the winter holidays up here in North America — Dakshina also comes to mind as a practice. It’s the practice of giving to charity, annually. Or you may even give monthly. Seva or Karma Yoga is the practice of performing actions without a personal agenda. Karma yogis simply offer their lives to service or to God. But it’s not what you’re doing, specifically, that matters. It’s not that you’re feeding the hungry in order to save the world. What is important is that you are offering your actions to God — whatever your actions are. You are serving God, as the song says, with every move your make; with every breath you take, you are serving God. This is your mental focus while you are performing actions. This will change the way you live your life.

Janaki: My parents were my first Karma Yoga teachers. Every Tuesday evening my father would take his tool box and go to the little church they were members of to do odd jobs with some of the other men. Mum used to help out at the jumble sales they held there and many other activities, and I was often with them.

One of the yoga texts is very much about Karma Yoga. The Bhagavadgita (“The Song of God”) is about a man in the battlefield of life learning how to live everyday life as a yogi.

We can have a tendency to split our life into categories. For example, I do my spiritual practices (my breathing, poses and meditation) in the morning and then I go out to work or do my chores, like they are two totally separate, different things. So Karma Yoga is great for teaching us how to bring yoga into everyday mundane life.

Karma Yoga helps us to find the integration of the spiritual into the mundane, so life becomes yoga. Also, while many yoga practices focus on cultivating the transcendent state, Karma Yoga is very grounding. It helps to keep you firmly planted in living in the world whilst still being a yogi.

Tadaa! So can you tell me more about finding the divine in mundane activities?

Bhakta: It has to do with where your mind is directed while you’re performing the activity. When we ask where the mind is directed, we might find that we’re going through life mindlessly. Karma yoga is about focusing your mind towards the divine, and performing service without a personal agenda.

Janaki: Though how many of our actions have an agenda attached? Do we do things so that people will like us? Do we do things to make us feel like a good person? The problem with having an agenda is that it doesn’t always work for us. So we can try really hard to help people, do things for others and there will still be people who don’t like us or make us feel like a ‘bad person’. The Bhagavadgita tells us to set aside our agenda or our desire when we serve others — then our actions are freed from doubts, worry or desire and we experience peace.

Janaki (Janet) Murray

Bhakta (Leslie) Johnson

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Bhakta: Right! That reminds me of Swami Nirmalananda’s September 2010 Contemplation Theme, “The Pairs of Opposites.” We’re freed from the pairs of opposites. We’re freed from praise and blame.

Janaki: So, Karma Yoga is about just doing work that needs to be done without expectation, without reward. It is about doing that work selflessly and being mindful of your motivation behind doing it. Are you vacuuming begrudgingly because you hate housework or because someone else didn’t do it or in service to your family (or Master Yoga or whoever)?

Bhakta: And when you perform actions in this way you are freeing yourself from creating any more karma for yourself. You keep your slate clean! You want your actions to be free of desire or hurtful motives. You could think of Karma Yoga — working selflessly — as drying your laundry with anti-static dryer sheets. If you don’t use those dryer sheets, your clothes stick together, and when you pull them apart there are sparks that can even sting you. In the same way, actions coming from explosive feelings just create static. Karma clings to you. And you cling to others, giving them karma.

But if you do things anonymously and without an agenda you’re using those anti-static dryer sheets. When you clean the training facility at the end of a program, the next group coming in has no idea who prepared the place for them. No one is checking on the quality of your work. There’s no judgment. So everyone is free of reinforcing desire for reward. Every action done as part of Karma Yoga will help free you from this habit. You’re simply focusing on serving, providing service that is beneficial and effective — not pleasurable and not good vs. bad.

Tadaa! This type of action can be very different from our usual habits. Habits can be strong! How do you effectively turn your work into Karma Yoga?

Janaki: So there are some components to Karma Yoga that you can consider as you work:

• Being present in what you are doing and to assist with that you could repeat mantra (Shivoham) to yourself (or a prayer). It will refine your mind and keep you in the moment.

• Make it contemplation — and to do that you do the work in silence. You may need to communicate with your fellow workers of course, but do you need the chit chat?

• Work for a specified/limited amount of time. Can you drop what you are doing when the time allotted is up without being attached to finishing the task? Doing so can help you cultivate freedom from worrying about the results. Instead, you simply do what needs to be done.

• Lastly, make the work an offering, make it yoga.

Polly: When I’m teaching about Karma Yoga, I ask the group to name some qualities in everyday activities that would make it yoga. They always name things like “presence,” “paying attention,” breathing,” “surrender” and “slowing down.” I point out that all of these are often the experience of Karma Yoga. When we truly relinquish our desire to be rewarded or validated or noticed, that “surrender” leads to a greater sense of presence through a quieter mind so that we “pay attention,” “breathe” more fully or easily and lose the need to rush through our day. I explain that the easiest way to get a feel for the experience of Karma Yoga is through mundane tasks, like washing the dishes, cleaning house or the car, clearing paper clutter or folding blankets. I invite them to cultivate the qualities of surrender while doing the assigned task in the training.

Polly DiBella


Grace and Yoga PracticesBy Kalpana Reddy

Author’s note: I want to thank Swami Nirmalananda for making it possible for me to write this article. Originally, it was homework for the course Teaching Yoga Sutras 2. The article is a direct result of Swamiji’s explanations as recorded in notes I took in her classes as well as from her monthly contemplations.

“ Your yoga practices draw grace to you, like a lightning rod draws lightning.”

— Swami Nirmalananda

Whether we are beginners or intense practitioners or somewhere in between, how encouraging to know that any level of yoga practice aligns us with the power of yoga, as the quote above suggests.

The most important thing is to realize we are already on the path when we choose to practice, and the other most important thing to realize is that by doing so we are allowing grace to flow through us, easing us into the essence of our own being.

This is the promise of yoga, all yogas. However, the core opening of Svaroopa® yoga works faster, more easily and more deeply. What this means is changes sneak up on you — not only changes in your physical body, but also changes in the way you apply yourself with your mind and your life. Yoga practice opens up the inner experiences of your own essence more deeply and effortlessly. This practice allows you to discover yourself, your own true nature, svaroopa.

When you are practicing yoga, practice means you do the same thing (such as the asanas) over and over again. You are also getting better, better at removing obstacles, and discovering your inner knowing, blazing already inside of you. By practicing Svaroopa® yoga, you are conditioning your body to vitality, to openness and to Consciousness.

You have to work on cultivating your practice. It is the effort you put into opening the center of your body that brings it about. The center of your body or the spine is the conduit for Consciousness. When it is open, it allows the meditation energy to flow upward through the body. It is the grace of this meditation energy that allows you to experience the Self and to live more fully in your body in a divine manner surrendering to grace and opening to grace. Grace comes from Self and takes you back to Self. More and more, you experience yourself as Consciousness-itself. As you do more yoga and meditate more and more, you are inviting grace to flow through you more freely, you will be able to take this bliss with you wherever you go, and you will benefit whomever you are with in having a unitive experience. This is yoga’s promise.

Every time you practice, you are infusing your body and mind with the color of Consciousness. Each time you meditate or do yoga, you are dipping in to the color of Consciousness and coming back out with the qualities and essence of the Self. You might think of it

as dyeing Easter eggs. Each dipping brings deeper, more vibrant colors and patterns. Each egg is brilliant in its own true color and form, as the white of the egg dissolves into Consciousness.

You are redefining “normal.” The old normal just isn’t good enough anymore. You will notice that an old habit of worrying tightens your tailbone. If your mind tricks you into reliving old experiences, your breath gets

shorter and furrows crease your forehead. But each dip into Consciousness is releasing old patterns, dissolving your resistances and negative patterns, so that you shine forth with your true brilliance and inner radiance. You cannot release the spinal tensions and continue to be the same person you were. Everyone around you appreciates the change too. As you start becoming aware of the inner openings and related changes, you are drawn to practicing more, because you have this juicy glimpse into who you are. Perhaps you are aware of the gift of the opening that this grace brings even in your yoga classes. You notice your quality of your being when you first arrived in comparison to how you

You have to work on cultivating your practice. It is the effort you put into opening the center of your body that brings it about. The center of your body or the spine is the conduit for Consciousness.

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feel at the end in final Shavasana, and the shift from the outside to the inside. Perhaps you find that when you return to your car after the class the same music you were listening to now sounds too noisy. Or maybe you are more patient and understanding with your family, or people around you are noticing you are more tolerant and peaceful with yourself and others. Perhaps at a deeper level, you are more aware of all of this transformation of living from the inside to the outside — the grace that is present through your yoga practice.

Have you ever asked yourself why you keep coming back to yoga, class after class? Is it just to feel good in your body and release stress? Or are you being drawn to this inner experience, and are you growing in your curiosity to explore more? Or are you committed to the purpose of yoga as this inner discovery, and to living in this inner inspiration all the time?

Using yoga to create personal transformation is a powerful, life-changing practice. Yet yoga offers you more, way more in transcending your idea of who you are. In Kashmir Shaivism, you attain this as a gift of grace, while you magnetize the grace to flow to you through your personal practice.

In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, Sage Patanjali emphasizes the importance of the path of sadhana (spiritual practice) and the development of abhyasa (repetition of practice) for the beginner as well as the experienced practitioner and including practitioners that are on the path looking for further direction. He waves the carrot in front of all our noses when he says, “Samadhi (inward absorption into Consciousness) is nearest to those whose desire for it is intensely strong.”

He gives us a clear direction in his Yoga Sutra #1.22 encouraging all of us to do more yoga.

Mrdu-madhy-aadhimaatratvaat tato’pi visheshah. — Patanjali 1.22

A further differentiation in your rate of progress (toward Samadhi) arises based on the

intensity of your practice: mild, medium, or intense.

This sutra is similar to going to a restaurant that serves hot and spicy food and, based on your desire and experience, being asked to choose how hot you want your food: mild, medium or intense? Patanjali says while a strong desire to experience God alone takes you there, Patanjali is encouraging the need for practice as a quicker way of getting there. Progress is in relation to the choices you make regarding your practice — when, what, and how much.

Recently, I found my way to the ocean front to spend time by the waters. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and so plenty of people were also enjoying the ocean. As I watched them, I was fascinated to see that, while everyone was drawn to the waters, some of them were

taking their own sweet time to get their feet wet. Others seem to have accepted the invitation of the cool and soothing waters to go deeper, maybe up to their waists. And some just ran and plunged themselves into the waters with a wanting and abandonment and trust. I remembered at my most recent training, Teaching Yoga Sutras 2, I came across a comparison between yoga practice and the experience of the ocean. So I asked myself the question and reflected upon it for a considerable amount of time: Where am I at this time in my Svaroopa® yoga practices? And where do I want to go?

I started my Svaroopa® yoga path with an intense desire and yearning for meditation and probably plunged into the depth of the waters without even the fear of “I can’t swim.” My practice was medium until Meditation Teacher Training. Since then my desire and choices are for growing towards intense practice, and they increase whenever I take phone Sutra Studies, and do the homework Swamiji offers. I have become aware of the constant and ever-present presence of grace gently arising in me, moving through me, allowing me glimpses of this divine spark within me as well as in everything and everyone I see. I also realize I need my daily practice to continue to grow in that awareness.

However, my yoga practice started very differently. I was not even near the waters because my mind was

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Using yoga to create personal transformation is a powerful, life-changing practice. Yet yoga offers you more, way more in transcending your idea of who you are. In Kashmir Shaivism, you attain this as a gift of grace, while you magnetize the grace to flow to you through your personal practice.


telling me I can’t swim. In my early years, I tried to do yoga from TV programs. Since I could never touch my toes either standing or sitting and no other options were offered, I developed the mindset that I cannot do yoga with the body I have.

In 2003, when I took the Foundations of Svaroopa® Yoga, I was testing the waters. I spent the first couple of days beset with the notion that I was the only one in the class with no prior experience in yoga as well as in possession of a different body. But then I gave myself to the training — or was it the grace of my teachers that drew me into paying attention to learning the poses in spite of my limitations? I was still testing waters, even though I was totally engaged and immersed in the power of that training, even though my personal practice by myself had been zero to mild.

Interestingly though, as I reflected objectively on my beach experience recently, I became aware of grace throughout the process that I wasn’t aware of at that time. Looking back, I realized that grace had been drawing me into more yoga without my knowledge. That year I was taking classes on a regular basis as well as core weekend workshops, Embodyment® Yoga Therapy Training and Teaching without Props.

Then I took “Deeper and Deeper Yoga” from Swamiji (then Rama) and something totally changed in my desire for yoga in that workshop. After experiencing the body openings for two days, I was doing Lunge and felt the union of my body, mind and spirit as one, like an arrow. I remember feeling my body like prayer and Swamiji’s “Purno’ham, Shivo’ham” was playing in the background. I felt the bliss of Svaroopa® yoga. My eternal love for God was settled and satisfied right that moment in Lunge, which I had found torturous the year before. For the first time, I experienced the stirring of longing to share the bliss of being in svaroopa through teaching yoga. My desire was growing. My choice towards personal practice was mild wanting to be medium.

I was beginning to feel comfortable playing in the waters, and grace pulled me in to other trainings, taking

me waist deep. I was still aware that I couldn’t swim, but the fear was much less. With or without my knowledge, I was doing more yoga. Personal practice was medium, wanting to be intense. When I left Standing Vinyasa training and Teaching Yoga Sutras 2, the desire for yoga practice became intense.

So from 2010 on, my choice is to grow towards deeper and more intense practice. I see myself like the tortoise — slow but steady — in the yoga path, and grace is my guide. So I know that what I thought was possible for me in yoga changed as my desire, choices and commitment changed from 10 years ago and from 5 years ago to now.

Grace is propelling me to put forth more self effort. I am learning to step out of my own way. I am doing more yoga in the morning, during the day, and even in my sleep. I can’t imagine my life without doing yoga. I am in the waters — hook, line and sinker. I have a long way to go, but I know with surety, I am not alone on my path. I have grace at all times and so do you.

Have you asked yourself where you are in your practices? Swamiji gave us a very practical way of checking this by categorizing yoga practice as “repair-yoga, preparation-yoga, or yoga-as-a-lifestyle.”

Are you “mild” doing repair yoga? Are you doing Svaroopa® yoga for the benefits of rapid recovery from injury or illness? Or to release aches and pains? Are you just getting your feet wet? Do you do yoga to feel better? And when you

get better and come back out, do you then go back to it as you need?

Are you “medium” in preparation yoga, graduating to the next level? Are you getting immersed in the waters up to your waist or even shoulders level, moving in deeper? You realize, doing more yoga is improving your relationships, your golf game is better, your concentration in work or school is better, you are using your yoga to prevent pain ahead of time, becoming proactive. You are probably going around saying, “ My life is far better with doing more yoga.”

Have you asked yourself where you are in your practices? Swamiji gave us a very practical way of checking this by categorizing yoga practice as “repair-yoga, preparation-yoga, or yoga-as-a-lifestyle.”

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Are you “intense” in wanting to plunge in — or already in, surrendering yourself to the ocean and learning to swim with ease? When you start opening your body this way, you are also helping your mind more, by cultivating inner openings, you are having peace and clarity of the mind. Now you are doing yoga as life-style. You learn how good it feels in Shavasana and you want to feel that all the time. You remember to remind yourself that there is a deeper reality within. You are Shiva.

You are seeing yourself and others differently. This is the promise of yoga, to see yourself revealed in svaroopa, your true form, recognizing yourself and everyone else as Consciousness. As you cultivate your affection for this inner experience, your practice changes, you spend more time chanting, repeating mantra or pursuing courses that take you deeper into understanding the teachings of the sages. With the

grace of the teachers, your curiosity grows within, magnifying your longing for more practice.

When you choose how much you want to do, you are choosing how you feel in the present moment. You are also choosing your rate of progress on the yogic path. Isn’t it liberating and wonderful to know the ancient yogis have charted the uncharted territories, and have mapped for us the way that enlightened beings have followed before us?

Yoga says your goal is unchanging, but the path of practice changes along the way. The goal is to experience the unchanging essence of your own being.

As you develop your ability to dive in deeper, plunging in to your own beingness, you are able to go beyond your mind, go deeper, stay longer. The ocean of the practices keeps pulling you back in.

2. YOGA BUSINESSStandards of PracticeBy Donna Criscuolo CSYT, Executive Director

These times are great times for Master Yoga. We expect Svaroopa® yoga to grow, and we expect to see communities of Svaroopa® yoga teachers and students expand everywhere. As a local community grows, the student base expands for existing teachers, and those teachers are inspiring a few students to become teachers. The more teachers teaching Svaroopa® yoga, the more people there are practicing Svaroopa® yoga. It is a wonderful cycle of creating community on the local level. As teachers, we continue to expand our sphere of influence every time a new student takes class or we send one or more students to Foundations and on to Teacher Training.

As we expand, we will most likely hit some bumps in the road. The Code of Ethics that all of us teachers receive in Level 1 YTT — and which were discussed in the September issue of Tadda! — provide foundational guidelines for how to behave in a yogic community.

But as our communities grow we may face some specific issues that had not occurred to us — issues for which we could use a specific list of “do’s and don’ts.”

For example, when a student goes off to Foundations and comes back with the intention of teaching, they are full of inspiration and enthusiasm. Hopefully, you are there to welcome them back as a colleague and offer them support as they embark on this beautiful path. You most likely take the new teacher under your wing. They may assist your classes, sub for you, perhaps even teach a class or two at your studio. But then they decide it is time to move into their own teaching space — and may even take some of your students with them. After all, those students have been taking their class. Or they let your students know about their new venue and pass out business cards and give contact information. Perhaps the new teacher feels justified in doing so. They may say, “It’s all about the yoga, not the teacher.” This statement is true, but what about your investment in marketing, rent and time to cultivate your student base, not to mention your countless hours and

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dollars invested in your training and continuing education? Is it OK for a new teacher to build their base on your efforts? Or should new teachers also build their own businesses from the ground up?

In recent conversations with some seasoned teachers, I have come to realize this question arises more often than not. The situation that triggers the question arises mostly from enthusiasm mixed with fear around building their own success. So, how do we act as teachers teaching in community? How do we support one another without causing harm to those who came before?

Even though our Code of Ethics provides a great deal of general guidance, at this stage in our growth I believe it would be helpful to have even more specific standards on how to be in a community of professional teachers of Svaroopa® yoga. Let’s begin a conversation focused on creating guidelines on how to act as a community of teachers all with the same goal in mind — bringing Svaroopa® yoga out into the world. We need to keep in mind that it is about serving the students. We never want to put them in a position of feeling obligated or needing to choose. As teachers we are there to support and guide our students. The best practice is to keep the students out of it altogether.

In thinking about how to show respect for one another and for our practice, I have some suggestions to start a conversation about professional standards among teachers in a local community:

• It is never OK to solicit another teacher’s student. It’s not OK for a teacher to promote what she/he is offering to another teacher’s student base without permission. Do not hand out your business card or marketing material. Do not email them or talk about your new venture to them. Protect and respect the other teacher’s business, efforts, training and experience. After all, you are teaching because you were inspired by their teaching. Show that teacher and her students that respect.

• If another teacher’s student contacts you, ask them how they found you and why they are wanting to work with you instead of their regular teacher.

There are usually a few reasons why a student will seek a new teacher. The most obvious is that the newer location is more convenient for them, closer to home perhaps. Another reason may be that they are hitting some resistance and are avoiding it by going to another teacher who may not know them as well. Another reason may be that their current teacher is just not a good fit. All of these are valid reasons, but how do you best serve this student and your colleague? If you are the newer teacher, it is likely that your training and experience are limited. The student will be best served by the more experienced teacher.

• Once another teacher’s student shows up in your class or contacts you, have the courtesy to make contact with that teacher and let them know. They may be able to give you insight into the student in order to serve them best. There may be important feedback that the teacher needs to hear. Open a dialog and show courtesy to the other teacher.

• Lastly, unless the student has a serious issue with their teacher, refer them back. It is important for us to support each other as well as the students. Sometimes students just want to please us or they get caught up in the enthusiasm of the newer teacher. It is important for teachers to set boundaries with students and protect and support one another. By discussing the situation together, you can decide how to best serve the student and still respect each other’s business. Ultimately, the student will find the teacher. However, the role you play in that is an important one. Communication is key when you are in community.

I propose that together as the larger Master Yoga community of Svaroopa® yoga teachers we begin to talk about how to grow locally, effectively and harmoniously. Let’s get involved and talk about potential standards of business practice and move toward consensus.

If you are interested in participating in a conference call on this topic in mid-February 2011, contact me at [email protected]. Together we will grow Svaroopa® yoga and support ourselves and our community.


3. MASTER YOGA NEWSComings and Goings [Reprinted from “Spotlight on Your Yoga”, with updates]

New Executive DirectorA Message from the board of directors

Join us in congratulating and welcoming our new Executive Director, Donna Criscuolo CSYT. Thank you to the Governance Committee and Board members who reviewed 97 internal and external candidates through a three-month search period, so we could find the perfect candidate right in our own front yard.

Donna has seen Master Yoga from many perspectives, beginning as a student in Teacher Training. Donna is a CSYT, plus she served on our Board of Directors before becoming part of our administrative staff. She worked closely with our previous Executive Director for a year and a half before becoming our Interim Assistant Director in July 2010.

Her corporate experience prior to becoming a yoga teacher and prior to joining Master Yoga give her a strong base in business management and marketing. Donna sees great growth and opportunity in Master Yoga’s future. As she puts it, “Master Yoga needs a yogi to bring Svaroopa® yoga into the world. I feel I am that yogi.”

Donna says, “Master Yoga is about you. You are invited to participate in this exciting journey of bringing this beautiful and powerful practice to as many people around the world as possible. Our community is what Master Yoga is all about.” Contact her at [email protected] with your thoughts and suggestions. She welcomes your input.

Welcome To Helene GibbensWelcome to Helene Gibbens CSYT, our new Master Yoga Extension (MYX) Coordinator. She works with hosts in locations all over the world to coordinate our off-site programs, including weekend workshops, Foundations courses and retreats with Swami Nirmalananda. Helene wants to “connect more fully to the community, and help Master Yoga continue to bring exceptional programs directly to you.” Reach Helene at [email protected].

Thank You To Michael Newman and Welcome To Scott HolzmanPlease help us offer seven years of thanks to Michael Newman, who has done seva as our E-Group Moderator. He was the sole moderator for many years before being joined by co-moderator Desiree (Radha) Evancio. Michael, thank you for your steady presence, and for providing us all with gentle reminders as needed and encouraging lively discussions.

Also, please welcome new co-moderator Scott Holtzman. Scott brings life-long experience with computers, which will support the administrative tasks of adding and removing names and email addresses and dealing with the website. To the communications component of this role, Scott brings patience and compassion as well as the expectation that previous experience in writing may serve well in facilitating discussions. He looks forward to being trained by Michael and Radha, whom he came to know as a friend in YTT Levels 1 and 2. He foresees working with her as a new chapter in their friendship. Scott takes on this seva as an “honor and a privilege” — a chance to serve Master Yoga, and ultimately Swamiji, who have “given so much.”

october 2010Comings & GoingsKaya Mindlin CSYT has resigned as Independent Foundations Teacher effective at the end of 2010. Kaya is moving to Texas with her finance, planning a wedding and settling into a whole new life.

Kaya says, “Teaching Foundations has been a challenge, a labor of love and an incredible growth experience for me as a teacher and as a person. Though perhaps shorter than any of us would have desired, I do not feel that it has been time wasted or that anything has been lost. My capacity to be supportive of and aware of a room full of people — in terms of how they are learning and absorbing as well as how they are

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handling the profound changes they will get — is something that will always be with me in any context that I continue to teach. My training as a teacher trainer has profoundly affected my ability to teach beginner, continuing and deeper classes. I’m happy to report that experience to anyone interested in TTT.”

Kaya will continue her relationship with Master Yoga as a writer and editor. We wish her much success and happiness in the future.

Bulletin from the BoardA Year of TransitionBy Marlene Gast CSYT

Editor’s note: With great gratitude, we acknowledge that Governance Chair Kelly Goss generously contributed the content for this update on the Master Yoga Foundation Board of Directors.

You walk into Master Yoga’s training facilities and begin to set up your blankets, greeting old friends and meeting new Svaroopis. It’s the beginning of another teacher training or immersion program. Does the work of the Master Yoga Board of Directors come to mind? Probably not. Instead, the prospect of enhanced core opening for yourself and of new teachings to bring home to your students beckons. And the week of transformation unfolds seamlessly. Most of us give little thought to the organizational structure that supports us as students and teachers of Svaroopa® yoga.

Founded by Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati (then Rama Berch) as a nonprofit organization in 1995, Master Yoga Foundation is the main source of Svaroopa® yoga teachings; it supports program development including all levels of yoga teacher training and oversees the teachings and the delivery of them. A Board of Directors is essential to the structure of a non-profit, and the first Master Yoga Foundation Board of Directors began serving at its inception.

The term “Board of Directors” may evoke a formal group intent on arcane financial reports meeting at the top of a skyscraper, remote and aloof. Though Master Yoga Board members do keep comprehensive oversight

of all of the operations that support our teachers-in-training and bring us our beloved programs, these sevites do not resemble the distant stereotype. While a keystone, they do keep the Master Yoga organization strong, our Board is a radiantly dedicated group with an abundance of Shakti! They contribute expertise, time and effort as well as financial support to Master Yoga. Over the past two years members of the Master Yoga Board have transitioned from providing Master Yoga with expert, hands-on administration and guidance for an organization run by its founder to a leadership and policy-making role. This transition has been an exciting and challenging process. Governance Chair Kelly Goss says, “We are taking on the leadership role , and we’re laying the foundation for serving Master Yoga in a new way.”

This transition occurred as a result of Swami Nirmalananda becoming a yoga monk and founding a new organization — Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram. The two sister organizations support one another, while focusing in different arenas, with some overlap between them. Swamiji explained this relationship in a Satsang talk in Natick, MA on June 4, 2010: “Master Yoga Foundation focuses on the poses and expands into some of the other arenas – the meditation and consciousness practices. The Ashram focuses on meditation and consciousness practices.” Swami Nirmalananda continues as Master Teacher on the Master Yoga Faculty, sees the agenda for monthly meetings and provides historical perspective and advice on issues as needed. For the annual Board meeting in Pennsylvania, she provides input on issues when invited and supports Board members through leading chanting and meditation.

So what does a year in the life of the Master Yoga Board of Directors look like now? For a slice of life, consider the decisions that they have had to make over the past year:

1. Reviewing how to best support Master Yoga Teacher-Trainers, for example, formulating policies for interning and means of recruiting

2. Creating and managing the budget, including monitoring income and expenditures and approving expenses such as renovating the new Master Yoga headquarters in Exton, PA

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3. Formulating and finalizing the contracts for the Foundations Teachers who are independent contractors as well as Teacher-Trainers

4. Negotiating the licensing of the Svaroopa® yoga service mark and teachings from the Svaroopa Teaching Collection (STC) which owns them

5. Approving new levels of teacher certification

6. Creating a five year business plan for Master Yoga every year (think of the annual Board meeting as a condensed version of the Yoga Business Skills: Defining Your Vision course)

7. Managing the process of new Board member recruitment, from someone expressing interest in giving back to Master Yoga, to reviewing their application, through formal appointment by existing Board members

8. Forming a transition plan and structure for the interim between departing and new Executive Directors

9. Negotiating the transition of Meditation Teacher Training to the Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram

10. Determining internal policies around finances such identifying who can make expenditure decisions – as in a household, who pays for groceries and how? Ensuring that MYF is run in a fiscally responsible, proper and ethical manner

11. Identify the other non-profit organizations who will receive donations from MYF, since it practices the yoga of dakshina (tithing)

12. Reviewing and reinvigorating the Leading Teacher Program

This transition from a task-oriented Board to a leadership and policy-setting Board has highlighted that the seva of serving on the MYF Board of Directors is a profound yoga practice. The Board members used to serve as managers of different aspects of the organization. For example, says Kelly Goss, “For a marketing campaign, in the past we would schedule timelines, we would determine what it would look like, we would draft associated email. We focused on the details of day-to-day operations. Now we are focusing primarily on policy. For example, we are discussing what role the Conference is going to play in the community long-term and we’re identifying what

decisions need to be made to ensure the long-term direction. Our dedicated staff then execute the actions that are needed for the Conference to actually run.”

Regarding their new leadership role, Kelly Goss says, “For us Board members this transition has been a lot like a deep yoga practice of its own. It’s a process and has required that we ‘sit in the unknown’ as we continue to refine existing policies and formulate new policies. Our focus is to guide Master Yoga in serving new teachers-in-training through YTT as well as existing teachers and their students through the full range of Master Yoga programs. Of course, while Swamiji still supports Master Yoga, the Board now has the primary leadership role in for these endeavors.”

Kelly says that this transition has cast the practice of seva in a new light. She says, “The seva of Board members is a large part of their overall yoga practice, and it has a huge impact on our lives. One of my students says that Svaroopa® yoga is ‘sneaky.’ You do your marker pose, you’re not working hard during a class, and then all of sudden in the final marker you notice everything is different. On the Board, we sevites serve to the best of our abilities, and we do run into our ‘sticky’ spots. Fortunately, each of us is wonderfully supportive to one another, and we’re all going through a similar process. At the end, all of a sudden something happens, and we notice that our individual ways of being in the world are different.”

“For example, a year ago, we needed to find a new executive director, and most of us felt overwhelmed. We questioned ourselves repeatedly. Are we doing this right? Then when we went through this process again recently, we felt the shift and said ‘OK — let’s do it’. The Executive Director search and hiring served as our marker pose.” Overall, the Board sets the course for Master Yoga Foundation and leads it in this direction, while ensuring that the organization stays true to the yoga principles and teachings as it moves forward.

Board roles and committees that manifest this vision are:

• Board Chair, Tish Roy

• Secretary, open

• Treasurer, open

• Education Chairperson, Sally Broadhurstcontinued


• Governance Chairperson, Kelly Goss

• Public Relations Chairperson, open

• Resources Development Chairperson, Sandy Amiel (recently appointed)

As you see, we have some open positions, and we are actively recruiting new Board members for these

positions. For detailed descriptions of these positions and their committees, please visit http://svaroopayoga.org/join-the-board.asp. On the webpage, simply click on a Board title to learn more about the position and its committee. Then consider making Karma yoga one of your practices, and offer seva to Master Yoga Foundation by lending your expertise to one of the open positions.

4. GEOCENTER REPORTPowerful Little RhodyEditor’s note: The following article was assembled from thoughtful input from GeoCenter Liaison Maria Sichel, CYST, pioneer teachers Mary Stracensky and Polly (Latika) Breen as well as other Rhode Island teachers who were able to respond to our request for input on short notice.

As the first of 13 colonies to declare freedom from British rule and the last to ratify the US Constitution, Rhode Island is known for its independence. Atop the cupola on the state house dome stands a bronze statue called the Independent Man. The smallest state in the US, it is also known for the immense mansions that Nineteenth Century industrialists erected along its coastlines, estates that boast beautiful and various gardens. The themes of independence and flourishing diversity are reflected as well in Master Yoga’s Rhode Island GeoCenter. GeoCenter Liaison Maria Sichel says that it has taken “strong personalities” to plant the seeds of Svaroopa® yoga in Rhode Island and successfully nurture it. “These are the qualities that it takes to be in a new place and start something new.”

Pioneer teachers in Rhode Island are Mary Stracensky and Polly (Latika) Breen. Maria says, “We affectionately dubbed Polly (Latika), Mary, and Addie Alex the yoga ‘grandmothers’ for Rhode Island as our roots are traced back to them. Of course this is purely a genealogical term, definitely not a sign of ‘old age’! At a recent GeoCenter meeting, Mary and Polly shared their stories. Mary was teaching hatha yoga. Feeling tired and burned out and looking for some rest and relaxation, she signed up for a Bliss Weekend at Kripalu because it sounded good. But when Mary arrived at Kripalu, the program turned out to be

Foundations! Well, she stayed anyway… and when she went to drive home she felt something on her seat... what is that? Reaching around she realized it was her back… flat against the seat where she usually had a pillow to support her spine… that was June 1999.”

“Polly was studying another style of yoga and had to experience a few other styles as part of her teaching certification process. She asked whether Svaroopa® yoga would count. Polly’s instructor replied, ‘Yes. At least you won’t get hurt.’ So Polly did a weekend with Swami Nirmalananda and experienced such shaktipat energy coming from her that, having found what she was looking for, Polly quit the other teacher training. This was in 2000.”

Though Addie teaches in Massachusetts, she was Maria’s first Svaroopa® yoga teacher, before Maria moved from Massachusetts to Rhode Island and tried classes with a local yoga teacher in another style for a few months. “But” says Maria, “I just missed something — the something more — the finding of something deeply inward dwelling.” So in 2001 Maria commuted back to Addie’s classes in Massachusetts, and then in 2004 Maria herself began Teacher Training with Foundations, as one of the second generation of Svaroopa® yoga teachers.

Maria, who refers to herself as GeoCenter “instigator,” relates that “Rhode Island is now in its third generation of teachers. The GeoCenter began with Polly and Mary, Julie Barry, Diane Cozine, Leanne Korb, Denise Wall and myself forming a solid core of teachers by 2004. We have grown from that original 7 to 15 now.”

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She describes the RI GeoCenter organization as informal and says that as a group they do whatever they can to help each other. At first, meetings were lunches at a restaurant or in the home of a teacher. Meetings now take place about three times per year, and members travel to a different teacher’s studio each time, building community through experiencing where each other teaches. And of course teachers exchange Embodyment® sessions and sub for each other. From Warwick RI, Wendy Hickey says, “As a third generation teacher I do find the support valuable, especially in terms of the business aspect of teaching. I also know that the opportunity to sub for others in a variety of studios is an invaluable of experience. “

So far, Rhode Island has hosted three Master Yoga Extension (MYX) programs — one per year. These programs help to build a sense of community among Rhode Island students of Svaroopa® yoga. When students travel even thirty minutes to an MYX program led by a Master Yoga Teacher Trainer, the experience expands their awareness beyond their attachment to their local teacher and they can feel the connection with the wider Svaroopa® yoga community.

For the first MYX immersion in Rhode Island, Karobi Sachs offered “Beyond Pain.” Then Addie Alex led “Slow Down.” This past September, Vidyadevi presented “Yoga, Life & Breath.” Maria had polled students to identify the MYX program to request.

They responded, “We spend so much time in asana, let’s focus on the power of the breath.” After the program, a student shared the following:

Since I began in earnest a daily practice of Ujjayi Pranayama and poses (really, just since the ‘Yoga, Life & Breath’ workshop), there have been many remarkable changes and improvements in my general health and well-being. My sleep is more restful and regular — seldom do I now wake in the middle of the night and toss and turn as I did before. My digestion is better, as well. The yoga poses we do regularly in class have become easier for me and, therefore, are more effective. I am carrying the inner calm we experience in class with me throughout the day. Most notably, as a singer, I have more depth and capacity of breath: I can sustain longer phrases and sing with more support than I have been able to do for years. As a singer in her mid-sixties, I thought that my best days were pretty much behind me, but perhaps I was wrong. I will keep doing yoga and I will keep singing!

In 2011, the Rhode Island GeoCenter is hosting their first Foundations, January 16th through 20th in Cumberland RI. This introductory teacher training, of course, initiates the next stage of growth. Maria says, “We are growing as a group, unfolding together. We are a flower garden of individual species, all pulled together for mutual support. But each of us is unique. We are not all zinnias planted in a row!”

5. TEACHER TALKThis Stuff WorksHow Great Is Yoga?Editor’s note: This miracle story is based on interviews with Sheyna Purna (Sandy) Peace and her former student Linda Avsharian. When Sheyna Purna moved in September 2009, Linda continued classes with Cyndy Gribskov and Kris Blasczak.

In 2004 Linda Avsharian, now 62, had been diagnosed with osteoporosis in her hip and osteopenia in her spine, through a DEXA scan, which measures bone density. (DEXA is the acronym for Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry.) Following that diagnosis, Linda wrestled with the prescribed medication to increase

bone density. Linda recalls that the medication would “tear up” her esophagus, and after a short time she would need to discontinue it. Then she would try it again, but the same painful digestive issues would recur and again she would stop the bone density medication. In 2009, Linda had another DEXA scan that showed worsening spinal osteopenia: The bone density score was -1.6. (A DEXA scan score between +1 and -1, shows normal bone density; with a score between -1 and -2.5, bone density is said to be osteopenic; below -2.5 is defined as osteoporosis.) Linda decided to give the medication one more try.

continued


At the same time, a chiropractor diagnosed Linda’s mid-back pain as spinal disc issues, and he referred her to an orthopedic surgeon. That doctor diagnosed spinal arthritis and recommended cortisone injections. Linda, however, declined it because she had read that cortisone can worsen osteopenia.

In early May 2009, Linda saw an ad for “gentle yoga” in the rural community of Ramona, CA. So she called the phone number that connected her with Sandy (Sheyna Purna) Peace CSYT, who was offering Svaroopa® yoga. Linda says that after her first class, two longtime students – Kris Blasczak and Tana Tyler – welcomed her and told her how much Svaroopa® yoga had changed their lives. While their words inspired Linda, she also loved the practice from the beginning. Even more, she found encouragement in Sandy’s words about Lunge: “If you do Lunge every day, you won’t get a hump in your back.” With a family history of osteoporosis and knowledge of the damage it has done to her mother’s knees and spine, Linda took Sandy’s words to heart.

Sandy says, “I was always impressed how Linda returned every week, without fail. I saw incredible changes in Linda’s body and movements as the yoga began to open her. Svaroopa® yoga has changed her life. When I moved to another location, Linda continued on with my student Kris Blasczak, who is now engaged in Svaroopa® yoga YTT and took over the class in Ramona. Each week Linda also drives 30 minutes each way to take a second class in Poway from Cyndy Gribskov.”

Linda says she especially appreciates the consistency of knowledge and instruction among different Svaroopa® yoga teachers while they have individual ways of stating the same information. As Linda puts it, “The information is consistent, but the teachers are not robots!” Between her two weekly classes, Linda enjoys a home practice guided by the Primary Practice DVD, and she receives Embodyment® Yoga Therapy sessions occasionally. In the spring, she also took part in Vidyadevi’s “Gateway of the Heart” weekend immersion.

Just a year after beginning Svaroopa® yoga, Linda noticed that her mid-back pain was “not as bad.” She feels it “only while standing after a busy, busy day.” In September 2010, Linda had another DEXA scan. Her

spinal bone density score rose to -.6, which indicates normal bone density. Linda’s doctor said, “I have never seen anyone improve so quickly,” and he was happy to hear about Linda’s yoga practice. Though she still has osteoporosis in one hip, that too has improved. And she reports even more than physical healing – more peace in her life. Regarding these changes, Linda says, “So how great is Yoga??? Not a hard question to answer.”

Reflections on Satsang with Swami NirmalanandaBy Michele Gordon CSYT

It is the first morning after our very first Satsang with Nirmalananda at Rehoboth Beach Yoga (RBY) in Rehoboth Beach DE. We received many teachings at this first event for our GeoCenter. We were taught that to increase asana practice and to engage in meditation is not enough to move each of us along our yogic path. Now we must each study the texts, to bring them into our relating with daily life, thus increasing our understanding of the thinking and sorting of ideas and concepts, in order to put these into the actions we perform. Swami Nirmalananda makes the teachings from the texts easily accessible through her monthly contemplation articles.

Nirmalananda once said, “You uncover the greatness within by doing something every day to bring it forth. It is what you do every day that counts.” It is what each of us does every single day that counts, on more than a personal level. Our words affect everyone who hears them. Our actions are seen by every family member, boss, co-worker, store clerk, and yes, even every yogi! What it is that you want to portray, is what will be portrayed.

One participant’s question was, “Will I ever know my Self?” Yes, she will, because she further expanded that she wants to. You shall transcend into what you want, what you hunger for. Isn’t that a settling, awesome and all encompassing thought? In fact, it’s a reality.

Each of us has been given a gift — the gift of a path to liberation from all past doings, fears and mistakes. Do your asana, meditate frequently. And read and study the ancient texts. Immersion will assist you to the Self.


Certificates Awarded

Pregnancy Yoga

Kaya Mindlin

Beginners’ Bliss Teacher

Kris Montigny

Deeper Yoga — Level 1 Yoga for Your Back & Gentle Yoga Teacher

Tish Roy

Svaroopa® Yoga Therapist — Level 1

Deborah Shapiro

Certified Svaroopa® Yoga Teacher

Sandra Rushton

Svaroopa® Yoga Basics Teacher

Karen Dillon O’Neil

Barbara Wilson

Anne Marie Susas

Theresa M. Reynolds

Carol M. Kwasney

Natalie Schiffer

Andrea L. Perry

Jacqueline Brooks

Julia Djaic

Kathleen A. Sheridan

Kristina Gremski

Barbara McCarthy

Lynne Somerville

Sally McAfee

Pepper Wolfe

Bucky Sparkle

Kathleen Biasotti

Lynda Jones

Rob Gold

Dana Clark

Rhoda Joyner

Svaroopa® Introductory Yoga Teacher

Wendy Hickey

Joseph P. Yezzi

Chris Peppell

Louise Douglas

Darla Takayoshi

Mary Lou Soczek

Sarah Dwelley

Linda Hardman

Mary Scheets

Stephen Alling

Embodyment® Yoga Therapist

Wendy Hickey

Mary Lou Soczek

Chris Peppell

Anne Marie Susas

Linda Hardman

Louise Douglas

Cynthia Gribskov

Kristine Blaszcak

Pepper Wolfe

Nora Beckjord

Kathleen Biasotti

Darla Takayoshi

Vichara — Yogic Self-Inquiry

Nathan Matanich

Julie Barry

Maureen Shortt

Donna Criscuolo

Kirsten Hale

Annette Bongiorno

Caroline Kutil

Sue Cilley

Helen Chavez

Marie Hayton

Margo Gebraski

Kelly Sharp

Terry Gardner

Peggy Vidya Trainor

Sally Broadhurst

Carolyn Beaver


6. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORTMaster Yoga would not exist without the support of so many generous yogis, including those who offer seva. The following people deserve our special thanks for their hard work, time, and effort.

Assistant TeachersName Program Date Location

Sevites

Marlene Gast Foundations of Svaroopa® Yoga Sept. 29 Boise ID

Andrea Terni Living with Heart Oct. 2 Malone NY

Margo Gebraski Foundations of Svaroopa® Yoga Oct. 8 Hawaii

Connie Clews Foundations of Svaroopa® Yoga Oct. 8 Hawaii

Deborah Shapiro Foundations of Svaroopa® Yoga Oct. 15 Rockport MA

Kirsten Hale Foundations of Svaroopa® Yoga Oct. 20 Richmond VA

Deborah Woodward Foundations of Svaroopa® Yoga Oct. 20 Richmond VA

Julie Barry The Shavasana Course Oct. 22 Kripalu, Lenox MA

Liane Bracciale Foundations of Svaroopa® Yoga Nov. 3 Ithaca NY

Susan Warden Foundations of Svaroopa® Yoga Nov. 17 St. Paul MN

Paid Assistants

Kemm Sarver Experiential Anatomy Oct. 15 Malvern PA

Rukmini (Maria) Abbruzzi Embodyment® Yoga Therapy Oct. 17 Malvern PA

Sally Broadhurst Embodyment® Yoga Therapy Oct. 17 Malvern PA

Shweta Ports McBurnie Foundations Review Nov. 3 Malvern PA

Kelly Sharp Foundations Review Nov. 3 Malvern PA

Shweta Ports McBurnie YTT Level 1 Nov. 5 Malvern PA

Shweta Ports McBurnie YTT Level 2 Dec. 3 Malvern PA


Behind-the-Scenes and Ongoing SupportName Seva

Pam Church Typing comments from Program Feedback Forms

Parvati Gebhardt Typing comments from Program Feedback Forms

Annette Zucco Online research

Nora Beckjord Online research

Bruce Roberts Providing ongoing website support

Deborah Woodward Proofreader for Svaroopa® yoga catalog

Jonathan Feeney Website support, yoga directory listings and database research

Niranjan (Nathan) Matanich Editor of “SATYA Q&A”

Marlene Gast Editor of Tadaa!

Michael Newman, Desiree Evancio, and Scott Holtzman

Moderating our E-group (thank you to Michael who is stepping down after seven years on this project, and thank you to Scott who is stepping in)

Michelle Gross Sending thank you notes to honorees of donations

Nathalie Abadjian Sending out thank you notes

Susanne Koltai Interior design consulting for new studio

Dave Knight Removal and installation of sound system in new studio

Chris Peppell Packing the studio for the move and/or unpacking and helping to set up the new studio

Abby Chemers Packing the studio for the move and/or unpacking and helping to set up the new studio

Susanne Koltai Packing the studio for the move and/or unpacking and helping to set up the new studio

Kristin Lewis Packing the studio for the move and/or unpacking and helping to set up the new studio

Charles Beckjord Packing the studio for the move and/or unpacking and helping to set up the new studio

Sharon Lance-Murphy Packing the studio for the move and/or unpacking and helping to set up the new studio

Anita Strittmatter Packing the studio for the move and/or unpacking and helping to set up the new studio

Ilene Fischman Packing the studio for the move and/or unpacking and helping to set up the new studio

Sheliagh MacLean Packing the studio for the move and/or unpacking and helping to set up the new studio

Polly DiBella Packing the studio for the move and/or unpacking and helping to set up the new studio

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Behind-the-Scenes and Ongoing Support (continued)

Name Seva

Judy Goodkin Packing the studio for the move and/or unpacking and helping to set up the new studio

Kemm Sarver Packing the studio for the move and/or unpacking and helping to set up the new studio

Jim Woodward Removal of hardware at Malvern studio, and helping with Malvern studio repairs and disposal of trash

Gratitude to the BoardWe especially acknowledge the members of the Master Yoga Foundation Board of Directors and their committees for their time, commitment and dedication.

Personal Donations Received In Honor OfDonation By In Honor Of

Betsy Bommer All Svaroopis

Julie Caputo Beverly Caputo

Theresa Reynolds Donna Criscuolo

Kristine Freeman Donna Criscuolo

Kalpana Reddy Elizabeth McKenty

Peggy Maier Elizabeth McKenty

Stacey Stephens Jennifer Gough

Janice James Joyce Gibbs

Julie Berkhout Julie Berkhout's Students

Carol Kwasney Karobi

Trisha Gebhardt Lakshmi

Melissa Fountain Lissa's Students

Barry Wallis Michael Shprekher Wallis

Donna Criscuolo Niantic Yoga's Students

Nadine Misiaszek Soraya Pereira

Carolyn Hart Student Scholarships

Ann Katz Swamiji

Susie McCowen Swamiji

Tish Roy Swamiji, MYF Staff & Board

Bonnie Schindler Tish Roy & The Board

John White Tish Roy

Marge Wilsman Vidyadevi & Karobi


Personal DonationsAdeline Alex Danielle Sarason Kirsten Hale Nancy Rynowecer

Adell Kochubka Deborah Moncur Laurel Lozzi Nora Smith

Andrea Perry Deborah Pence Leslie Tydings Norma Sigal

Ann Scheppach Deborah Woodward Lizabeth Darling Pamela Chagnon

Anne Taft Diane Wells Lloyd Apirian Paula Delong

Annette Bongiorno Elizabeth Lawson Lorraine Langlais Philip Milgrom

Becky Bronson Elizabeth Siekierski Louise Howlett Regan Ristich

Beth Cunningham Ellan Catacchio Mari Mulitsch Sandra Gilbert

Beth Holmes Evy Zavolas Maria Abbruzzi Sandy Peace

Betsy Bommer Frances Light Maria Sichel Sandy Van Oosten

Brenda Turner Gregory Merritt Marilyn Carpenter Scott Holtzman

Carolyn Anklam Helen Chavez Marlene Gast Sharon Bergen

Carolyn Mason Jacqui Cresswell Martina Caviezel Stacey Cross

Cayla Allen Jeanne Ormiston Mary Henzi Sue Bakley

Charles Beckjord John Ford Mary Mullane Susan Gallo

Chelsea King Joyce Gibbs Maureen Dhamodharan Susan Hutchins

Christine Hernandez Judith Kenney Melody Meyer Susan Sehlmeyer

Christine Washington Kelly Goss Michael Newman Svaroopa Vidya Ashram

Constance Vineyard Kelly Sullivan Michelle Gross Terry Gardner

Tish Roy

Non-cash DonationsThank you to… for…

Judy Goodkin Paper shredder

Kelly Sharp Furniture for the new studio

Wish ListBy Kelly Sharp CSYT Exton Campus Coordinator

I’d like to extend a special thank you to the community at large for picking up needed items for the studio before you come or while you are here. Some of you let me know when you are dropping something off, but often, it is done anonymously, and the only way that I know is when I come across something in the studio that I didn’t purchase. I am humbled by the generosity that is exhibited when this happens — and also by the reminder that resonates with each selfless donation…

that this is more than a teacher training school, and more than a yoga studio: It is the home for our community. Thanks to all that pitch in to care for it!

The items listed below are especially needed by Master Yoga as we settle into our new home. If you have them available or can contribute toward their purchase, Master Yoga would be grateful for the donation! There is a list set up at Target and Target.com under Master Yoga

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Foundation, with everything but the dish drainer and the garbage disposal conveniently located in one place.

To access Master Yoga’s list, go to www.target.com and move your mouse over the gift registries and lists link at the top of the page. Three boxes will pop up and you can click on the advanced search option in the box to the right, which is Target lists. Then choose the search by organization option, and enter Master Yoga Foundation. You will see our list will come up. You can opt to have items shipped directly to the new studio.

• (27) room Essentials ball Cafe drapery rod – Nickel (28 - 48”) - $9.99 at Target.com or in Target stores*

• (21) Woolrich(r) Grommet Window Panel Pair – White (42 x 84) - $24.99 at Target.com or in Target stores*

• (6) room Essentials sailcloth valance – White (54 x 15) - $9.99 at Target.com or in Target Stores*

• (3) honey-Can-do 3 tier deluxe bamboo shoe shelf – $39.99 each at Target.com*

• honey-Can-do folding tabletop ironing board – $23.99 at Target.com*

• Proctor silex Adjustable steam iron – White - $12.99 - Target.com*

• Garbage disposal – Waste King WK 1001 - efaucets.com - $88.50

• dish drain with adjustable legs to allow for draining on an angle

Shopping ListThe following are items used regularly at the Exton studio and elsewhere in our country-wide organization. Please contact Kelly ([email protected]), who will welcome your donation of any of these items at the Exton studio:

Tissues Sponges and Scrubbies

AA and AAA batteries Paper for the printer/copier (8 ½ x 11)

Coffee Business envelopes

Bragg's Liquid Aminos Expo Low Odor Chisel Tip Dry Erase markers — from $5.79/pack

Honey Toilet Paper

Agave Nectar Paper Towels

Raw Sugar Dish Detergent

Spoons 40 gallon trash bags

Food Storage Containers 8 gallon trash bags

Kitchen Towels Cleaning supplies (especially glass cleaner)

Swiffer wet mop refills Swiffer duster refills

Glass cleaner

december 2010 a aa!swami nirmalananda saraswati, master teacher linda ashvarian polly (latika) breen...

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