- NITYANANDA
INSTITUTE
- The Power of Spirit through the Practice of Yoga
- The Power of Spirit through the Practice of Yoga
A brief description of the community, the spiritual practice, the teacher and lineage, service and programs.
COMMUNITY
Nityananda Institute is a community of dedicated spiritual practitioners. Our mission is to develop deeply conscious, compassionate, capable people who are fully integrated into contemporary culture. Connection with a spiritual community provides support for our spiritual growth and reinforcement for our practice.
We have a residential program as well as an extended community of students. Our first ashram was established in Bloomington, Indiana over 30 years ago. We have always lived in an urban environment and been engaged in the life of the community around us. We are now based in Portland, Oregon, and have centers in Boston, Massachusetts; Santa Monica, California; New York City; Oslo, Norway; and Kathmandu, Nepal.
Our community includes people of all ages and from a variety of professions, cultural backgrounds and interests. Anyone seeking authentic spiritual experience is welcome. We keep rules and regulations to a minimum to allow each person to find the expression that is appropriate for them. We respect and celebrate diversity.
"The quality of the environment
at Nityananda Institute is very special." --Geshe Kalsang
Damdul, Institute of Buddhist Dialectics
SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
The spiritual practice at Nityananda Institute is based on the tradition of Trika Yoga. Yoga is an ancient discipline taught and practiced for thousands of years in Asia. The term yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning to integrate. The goal of Trika Yoga is to unify the three aspects of our being--body, mind and spirit--achieving a state of dynamic equilibrium among them.
Trika Yoga is a nondualistic tradition, and its basic philosophical assertion is that all of existence is nothing but the boundless energy of consciousness. Everything that we are is an expression of that same conscious energy. Through practice, we seek to reach the state of liberation, in which we can sustain our recognition that our true nature is one with universal consciousness.
The principles of our practice have been distilled from the personal experience of our teachers and are presented in understandable and practical terms. The essence of our practice is to release tension and allow creative energy to flow in all dimensions of our life. The emphasis is on developing our awareness of the flow of energy. Other guiding principles are to keep our attention focused inside ourselves as we move through our day, open our hearts and minds to all of life, and treat everyone we meet with love and respect.
The specific tools we use are meditation, chanting, mantra, hatha yoga, and study of spiritual texts. Rituals (or pujas) are another element of our personal practices. Many of the ritual practices of Trika Yoga have not survived as living traditions. In those instances we practice counterparts to those rituals which developed in the Vajrayana Buddhism of Tibet. The practices of Chöd and Phowa have been transmitted to us from Lama Wangdu Rinpoche, a lineage holder in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Chöd is a practice for cutting through tensions to understand their ultimate nature, and Phowa helps to uplift our consciousness and the spirits of those who have passed away.
Through our practice, we learn to extend the flow of energy into all aspects of our daily life and work in the world. By staying attuned to the flow, we experience an accelerated process of change and growth that leads to the maturing of love and fulfillment in our lives. We become established in a state of joy and total well-being that benefits everyone with whom we come in contact.
"This Ashram is not about spiritual ideas. It is not about spiritual philosophy or tradition. It is about spiritual experience, the experience of spirit which exists prior to and transcends every tradition. It's about contact with the highest reality and living that contact every single day in our ordinary lives. It's about finding the balance between that extraordinary idealism and our pragmatic need to face the diversity and complexity of daily life." --Swami Chetanananda
TEACHER AND LINEAGE
The tradition of Trika Yoga places great emphasis on the role of the teacher in promoting spiritual growth. The teacher is a field of energy from which a student can draw to support the process of transformation. The connection with a teacher allows us to have a direct, one-on-one experience of pure awareness, the ultimate reality.
Nityananda Institute is directed by Swami Chetanananda (Swamiji), an American meditation master who is dedicated to exploration of the potential of the human spirit. Swamiji has synthesized the teachings of his lineage with the philosophies of Trika Yoga and Vajrayana Buddhism, and articulated them in a language and discipline that is grounded and practical. He is the author of several books on spiritual practice and leading a spiritual life. He is completely devoted to pursuing his own spiritual growth and supporting his students in their process.
Swamiji studied with Swami Rudrananda (Rudi), who passed away in 1973. Rudi was one of the first Americans to be recognized as a swami (master of oneself). As a spiritual teacher, Rudi was a powerful fusion of East and West, dedicated to spiritual growth and transcendence. Rudi was a student of Bhagavan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri, one of the great Indian saints of the 20th century, for whom the Institute is named.
"I find the lack of dogma at the Institute attractive; the emphasis is on each person taking responsibility for their own practice and their own life." --Cynthia Brown, practicing student
SERVICE
The practice of extending the flow of creative energy expresses itself in a different ways for different people, and we each find opportunities for meaningful exchanges with others. We extend our practice by serving our families, our friends, our co-workers, and our spiritual community and teacher as well as the larger community of which we are a part. In Portland, for example, Nityananda Institute members teach hatha yoga classes at a local women's shelter, participate in search and rescue teams, organize the annual picnic for the neighborhood association, and are frequent lecturers at local schools and universities. In 1993, prior to moving to Portland, Nityananda Institute was recognized by the City Council of Cambridge, Massachusetts for its contribution to the community there:
"The City Council hereby extends its gratitude and thanks to Nityananda Institute, the Director Swami Chetanananda and its members for being outstanding citizens of Cambridge and good neighbors" From a resolution adopted by the Cambridge City Council, May 24, 1993
PROGRAMS
Nityananda Institute offers daily meditation programs, hatha yoga classes and practice of the Chöd and Phowa. There are intensive practice retreats in Portland twice a year. Individual study is facilitated by study groups and a growing course curriculum. The Institute sponsors visiting scholars and practitioners of alternative healing methodologies for lectures, as well as art and music programs. The Rudrananda Ashram in Portland offers a residential program for students seeking the deepest possible immersion in a spiritual life.
"While serving a core group of residents as home and refuge, Nityananda Institute also offers a place where we can all learn and grow." --Barbara Blossom Ashmun, The Hollywood Star, December 2000
Please also visit the main site of Nityananda Institute at www.nityanandainstitute.org, or view the official page of Swami Chetanananda.