The practice of meditation is an ancient practice. It's been practiced in many lands, for many lifetimes. You may have practiced it before.
I teach Zen, tantric mysticism, jnana yoga, bhakti yoga, Tibetan mysticism, occultism and psychic development. I also teach poetry and literature, film and many other different things.
Yogas chitta vritti nirodhah - (Yoga is to check the mind from changing) - which is acceptable to all. That is also the goal of all. The method is chosen according to one's own fitness. The goal for all is the same. Yet different names are given to the goal only to suit the process preliminary to reaching the goal. Bhakti, Yoga, Jnana are all the same.
If you run into a Buddha, then that energy field, the "rad" level is so high, it's incalculable. Their effect on an individual is for many, many, many, many, many, many lifetimes.
The Tapas and the other hard Yogas that were practiced in other Yugas do not work now. What is needed in this Yuga is giving, helping others.
Yoga is many things to many people, but in its full potential the practice of yoga can provide the means to transform suffering into happiness and Suzanne Bryant's film YOGA IS shows us this path.
In the classical spiritual definition, a soul mate is someone that you have reincarnated with many times. You find each other in many lifetimes.
To practice jnana yoga, the yoga of knowledge and discrimination, it's necessary to have a highly developed mind.
There are not anywhere else so many ways of trickery, so many false lights, so many veils, so many guises, so many illusive deceits, as are practiced in every man's conscience in respect to his motives, thoughts, feelings, conduct, and character.
Many of the people I work with I've worked with in other lifetimes. I moved to California because I knew that many of my students from past lives were in California.
When I speak of tantric yoga, I'm speaking of a type of yoga that is best practiced by persons who live in society. It's a yoga for the last yuga.
Jnana yoga is practical.
When there is no mind, you are in yoga; when there is mind you are not in yoga. So you may do all the postures, but if the mind goes on functioning, if you go on thinking, you are not in yoga. Yoga is the state of no-mind. If you can be without the mind without doing any posture, you have become a perfect yogi. It has happened to many without doing any postures, and it has not happened to many who have been doing postures for many lives.
I've tried many other styles of yoga, but nothing has ever given me the same centeredness, energy, and internal balance that I feel when practicing Ashtanga Yoga.
There are different pathways - be it Zen, tantra, karma yoga, or jnana yoga. Different ways have been devised to do the same thing for different types of people according to their temperament.
One day after many, many lifetimes, we get wise. We decide that the fun in life is to give.