Isha Experience

Jennifer Lomboy, an Isha meditator from California shares her experience of Inner Engineering and the amazing health changes she experienced. Just over one and a half years ago, I found fibroid tumors in my uterus, so many they formed the size of a grapefruit.  Because of the size and location of tumors, it created great discomfort and started to interfere with my lifestyle and drastically limited my activities.   I had become anemic and weakened by the heavy menstrual bleeding caused by this condition that at one point, I even passed out.  Adding to the complications, was the tumors seemed to be growing rapidly.  The timing of finding all this out was that it came 3 months after going to a talk one day in West Los Angeles by Sadhguru about the “ Inner Engineering ” program.   What started off as a text from my friend with the words “Do you know a man called Sadhguru?” ended up leading to the day that changed my life, and I became ...

The day of the first ever Shambhavi Mahamudra Pragram conducted by Sadhguru began aptly with a thunderstorm! Nothing could dampen the spirit of the Singapore volunteers though, who were organised to the T. With eyes closed, one would never guess the furore of activities that were happening from all teams – registration, dining, hall, seating, delivery, audio/ video, stage, decoration – it was done that silently. It was truly moving so see everyone walk about so graciously and pouring their love into all they were doing it. What an intense day for Isha Singapore! Months and months of planning, meetings and running around finally culminated in a beautiful first day of the Shambavi Mahamudra program. With 500 participants, and 250 volunteers, the whole venue complex was abuzz! Having worked through the previous night, the morning was spent straightening out last minute issues and giving final touches to everything. When the participants walked in to the hall, they were ...

Everything was going well for me in my life (except for the extreme weather of Delhi ;) ). A good job, good money and a very loving family. As bachelors, five of us were sharing a rented house in Noida. Some discussion cropped up regarding one of roomies named Karthik Shekhar that he is into some Baba or swami thing. Thinking of myself as a good Samaritan and having brought up in a communist family, I was prompt to warn him, “Bro, these are all fraud guys minting money, so, watch out!” Karthik looked at me and responded with a big smile. Few weeks later, Karthik suggested a personality development program to me. He told me how this program will help me become more confident and help me adapt better to various situations in my life. The name of this personality development program was, “Inner Engineering”. Anything to hone my life skills, I am interested! So I registered myself for this program. First day into the class and I realized that this was a yoga progr...

On April 23, 2016   By Sagar In Spiritual “Neither in this world nor elsewhere is there any happiness in store for him/her who always doubts.” Bhagvat Gita   I was brought up in the foothills of Himalayas where great Yogis and Sages were born. However, I never realized the opportunities that I had for my spiritual growth. I never looked within myself. If I was living at all, I was living in my mind, forgetting my own “self” most of the time. I was always busy checking emails, doing homework, arguing with people, and so on. I learned later that I was not really living because the very nature of life is “awareness”. But the atmosphere where I was brought up had its influence on me. I knew about the benefits of Yoga for our health and well being. I knew about the potentials of Ayurveda that existed since ancient times. I knew that there is some thing deeper in Indian classical music  which has been described in ...

Although not all types of yogic practices are advisable for pregnant women, the practice of yoga is very important and even crucial in making an expectant mother’s experience of pregnancy, child birth and parenthood as wonderful as it can be. Isha’s flagship program, Inner Engineering  offers Shambhavi Mahamudra , an ancient kriya that brings harmony to one’s body, mind, emotion and energy. Of special importance to a pregnant mother are the increase in vitality, balanced moods and emotions. Today we take a look at the experiences of two Isha Yoga practitioners, and how Shambhavi Mahamudra has helped with their pregnancies. "You are not just giving a body to the child, in many ways who you are is imprinted on the child. So how you keep yourself during pregnancy is a very important thing." ~ Sadhguru Joanna Neale, Australia I did the Inner Engineering Program with Sadhguru while I was pregnant. Everyone at Isha was so positive, happy and kind....

What is Shambhavi? Meditation is a powerful tool for wellbeing, and is essentially a process to take one beyond the limitations of body and mind. Teachers and practitioners of these “inner technologies” have also experienced the many physical and mental benefits of meditation and yoga. In recent years, a growing number of scientific studies and research on meditation have corroborated these experiences. The Shambhavi Mahamudra kriya program is a live meditation course available for those who have previously completed Inner Engineering online . This experiential step allows one to deepen the process imparted in the online course, providing daily support for one’s continued growth. The word “kriya” refers to a yogic internal energy technique incorporating the breath. Millions of dedicated practitioners of all ages and walks of life experience greater emotional balance, concentration, focus, stability and better health with regular practice of this daily 21-mi...

Survey conducted on 536 Inner Engineering practitioners showed improvement in the following areas:   Reduced risk of heart diseases and better cardiac functioning Heart Rate Variability studies show that Isha Yoga causes greater balance of the Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System, thereby enhancing the ability of the heart to respond to various stressful situations effectively. This reduces the risk of cardiac ailments like hypertension, angina, infraction, arrhythmias, etc. Improved attention Neurocognitive tests show that Isha Yoga increases performances in attentional tasks suggesting better distribution and faster allocation of attentional resources and enhanced sustained attention skills. Enhanced Mental Capabilities The EEG study on Shambhavi Mahamudra also showed higher levels of coherence between the right and left sides of the brain. This greater whole brain synchronization leads to greatly enhanced mental capabilities like better learning ability, increas...

Meditation is a powerful tool for spiritual growth, and is essentially a process to take one beyond the limitations of body and mind. Teachers and practitioners of these “inner technologies” have also experienced the many physical and mental benefits of meditation and yoga. In recent years, a growing number of scientific studies and research on meditation have corroborated these experiences. Isha’s introductory practice is the Shambhavi Mahamudra, an ancient kriya that has millions of dedicated practitioners who aver that they experience greater emotional balance, concentration, focus, stability and better health with regular practice of the meditation. In fact, there have been several scientific studies that measure the various benefits of practicing the kriya regularly – both with regard to brain activity during the kriya, as well as statistical research of how it affects people’s health and well-being. How does the Kriya Work? The reason why most people are unha...

I have completed 40 days of practicing Shambhavi Maha Mudra Kriya twice a day, and in this post, I would like to share with you my experience of it so far. But first, let’s start at the beginning. At the end of September, I attended Inner Engineering, a course conducted by Sadhguru’s Isha foundation. I have been following Sadhguru for the last few years. I have completed inner engineering online (this is not a pre-requisite for the teacher-led program) and also the Hata Yoga Surya Kriya program ( you can read about my experience here) . My husband has also been practicing for the last two years, so the prospect of taking this course was not new to me, and yet, everything was. This blog post isn’t to share much about the specific events of the program,  the teachings, the exercises, the schedule or the initiation to the kriya itself. I truly believe it is something you need to experience for yourself. Words can only take you so far, and besides...

When I had ventured out to attend the DoPT organised Isha course  at Coimbatore  with Niyati, I somehow knew that I needed it and felt a strong urge to value whatever it ends up teaching. I guess I did end up valuing it as I stand here completing the prescribed mandala of 40 days. This implies that I managed to do the twice-a-day cycles of Shambhavi Mahamudra, albeit with occasional (possibly minimal) breaks in discipline consistently for 40 days that follow the course. I enjoyed the sense of discipline that it gave me. A hidden sense of judgement seemed to come to the fore as the days passed. Yet, when I'm asked as to what has changed in me since, a sense of bafflement engulfs me. I can't really pin point as to what has changed or how much it has changed and how it has benefited me as a causal relationship result.  But in an attempt to honestly assess myself as I try to see within, I feel that maybe - Maybe, In my desperate attempts ...