Dear Choose Happy Community,

So much of our experience is shaped by what we attach our sense of I am to. This teaching invites us to gently notice whether we’re energizing fear, anxiety, or complaint—or nurturing what we truly love and want to grow. Speaking honestly about our struggles in safe, supportive spaces allows light to enter and loosen what feels heavy. And beneath every human difficulty, there is a vast, pure spaciousness within you that nothing can harm. Awareness opens the door back to that freedom.

Here’s one of our favorite quotes from the video:

“ As a preponderance, like, do I attach ‘I am’ a majority of the times, to things that I love, and would love to energize, and would love to help make visible in my life, in my friends, in my family, in my work, wherever I am in my world? Or, do I unintentionally constrict my ‘I am’ by saying ‘I am complaining, I am afraid, I am anxious.’ And again, I want to be really clear, like when people have meditation conferences with me, they say all of those things. And that’s helpful because when you allow the truth to be lifted into view in a therapeutic, helpful context like that, then the light is coming in and it’s helping lift away those things, right?

“So, choose your situations where you’re talking about how you feel so that you have trusted confidential situations in which you can say, ‘yes, my human self is really struggling’ with whatever it is that you’re struggling with. And then also know that deeper than that, there is this expansiveness, this spaciousness, this purity of your being that absolutely nothing can touch.”

We also shared this video on YouTube, but wanted you to be able to have it on your Substack video player as well, in case you prefer that.

Having it on Substack makes it easy for you to see any other podcasts, videos, articles, or full meditation services that might be available in the Energy Mastery by clicking here.

If you have heard this teaching before, we invite you — as Swami so often invites us — to hear it as if you are hearing it for the first time. Often we receive these teachings right when we need them.

In loving service,Awake Yoga Meditation

Everything available to a paid subscriber. Are you one yet?

This is a free post made available to everyone. If you are not yet a paid subscriber to Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda, consider becoming one today to receive exclusive audio talks, articles, meditation service replays, access to the archives, and so much more.

Podcast Episodes*: All Episodes

Darshan Articles*: All Articles

From the Founder Series: All Series • Mantra Series • St. Francis Prayer Series

Live Meditation Replays: All Services • Index of All Services by Series • Sunday Meditation Services • Tuesday Darshan Meditation Services • Friday Night Healing Meditation Services • Satsangs

Book Excerpts**: All Excerpts • Satsang with Swami Shankarananda

Workshops (formerly eCourses): All Workshops • The Spiritual Art of Intentions: Creating a Life You Love • Pillars of Self-Realization: 50 Days with Swami Shankarananda • Love: The Eternal Flame of Life Within You • Wisdom: Discovering the Peace in Our True Nature

*Also available to Free Subscribers**Select posts also available to Free Subscribers

Consider making a financial contribution to Awake Yoga Meditation

Your generosity makes it possible for AYM to share Kriya Yoga, meditations, and teachings of truth with people around the world. It also allows the community to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). The presiding teacher for Awake Yoga Meditation is Swami Nityananda.

Consider making a financial contribution to Swami’s Bowl

As the presiding teacher, Swami Nityananda selflessly offers her wisdom without taking a salary from Awake Yoga Meditation. Your gift honors her giving and ensures she can continue to share her invaluable teachings. The tradition of meditation communities like Awake Yoga Meditation is to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). All of the other myriad expenses of life are offered from student to teacher through Swami’s Bowl.

Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit awakeyogameditation.substack.com/subscribe

Dear Choose Happy Community,

When doubt clouds your understanding or conflicting opinions pull you in different directions, this teaching offers a simple return point: “I am open to seeing clearly.” Discernment isn’t something reserved for rare moments—it’s a daily practice woven into conversations, decisions, rest, and reflection. The yogic wisdom reminds us that what is real does not disappear, and what is unreal cannot last. When we establish ourselves in truth, kindness and clarity naturally guide how we move through the world.

Here’s one of our favorite quotes from the video:

“If you’re aware of conflicting opinions, if you’re aware that doubt has clouded your understanding, recommit: ‘I am open to seeing clearly.’ That’s what discernment is. Discernment is seeing clearly. And it is required at any time, if you’re a human in time and space, discernment is always required.

“And so just in the morning: ‘I am open to seeing clearly’; before you go into a business meeting: ‘I am open to seeing clearly’; before you have a conversation, before you meditate, before you sleep at night: ‘I am open to seeing clearly.’ “The Bhagavad-Gita tells us, and this is one of my favorite teachings from the Bhagavad-Gita, ‘The unreal hath no existence. The real can never cease to be.’”And so establish yourself in the real and ask yourself, ‘What do I know is real?’ And then come from always that kindness, come from always that respect, and it will allow you to navigate all things in time and space.”

We also shared this video on YouTube, but wanted you to be able to have it on your Substack video player as well, in case you prefer that.

Having it on Substack makes it easy for you to see any other podcasts, videos, articles, or full meditation services that might be available in the Energy Mastery by clicking here.

If you have heard this teaching before, we invite you — as Swami so often invites us — to hear it as if you are hearing it for the first time. Often we receive these teachings right when we need them.

In loving service,Awake Yoga Meditation

Everything available to a paid subscriber. Are you one yet?

This is a free post made available to everyone. If you are not yet a paid subscriber to Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda, consider becoming one today to receive exclusive audio talks, articles, meditation service replays, access to the archives, and so much more.

Podcast Episodes*: All Episodes

Darshan Articles*: All Articles

From the Founder Series: All Series • Mantra Series • St. Francis Prayer Series

Live Meditation Replays: All Services • Index of All Services by Series • Sunday Meditation Services • Tuesday Darshan Meditation Services • Friday Night Healing Meditation Services • Satsangs

Book Excerpts**: All Excerpts • Satsang with Swami Shankarananda

Workshops (formerly eCourses): All Workshops • The Spiritual Art of Intentions: Creating a Life You Love • Pillars of Self-Realization: 50 Days with Swami Shankarananda • Love: The Eternal Flame of Life Within You • Wisdom: Discovering the Peace in Our True Nature

*Also available to Free Subscribers**Select posts also available to Free Subscribers

Consider making a financial contribution to Awake Yoga Meditation

Your generosity makes it possible for AYM to share Kriya Yoga, meditations, and teachings of truth with people around the world. It also allows the community to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). The presiding teacher for Awake Yoga Meditation is Swami Nityananda.

Consider making a financial contribution to Swami’s Bowl

As the presiding teacher, Swami Nityananda selflessly offers her wisdom without taking a salary from Awake Yoga Meditation. Your gift honors her giving and ensures she can continue to share her invaluable teachings. The tradition of meditation communities like Awake Yoga Meditation is to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). All of the other myriad expenses of life are offered from student to teacher through Swami’s Bowl.

Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit awakeyogameditation.substack.com/subscribe

Dear Choose Happy Community,

When unhappiness shows up, the invitation isn’t to fight it—but to look deeper. This teaching reminds us that beneath every feeling of weakness is a strength that has always been present within you. Before any story, label, or identity, there is simply I Am. When you rest in that presence with care and gentleness, clarity and wholeness naturally arise. You are not broken—you are remembering who you are.

Here’s one of our favorite quotes from the video:

“ Anywhere that we have a feeling of unhappiness or anywhere that we have a feeling of ‘I would love to let go of that weakness and gain clarity and strength,’ it’s looking deeper than the weakness and connecting with the strength that is already present with you at the core of your being. ”This is the strength that is with you before you come into embodiment. This is a strength that he is talking about that says ‘I am’ before you attach anything to ‘I am.’ ”And so just allow yourself, if you can say in your heart three times silently, ‘I am.’ Don’t add anything to it. Just ‘I am.’ Say it with caring, with love, with joy, with light. ‘I am.’ And just allow yourself to feel the purity and the wholeness of that being.”

We also shared this video on YouTube, but wanted you to be able to have it on your Substack video player as well, in case you prefer that.

Having it on Substack makes it easy for you to see any other podcasts, videos, articles, or full meditation services that might be available in the Energy Mastery by clicking here.

If you have heard this teaching before, we invite you — as Swami so often invites us — to hear it as if you are hearing it for the first time. Often we receive these teachings right when we need them.

In loving service,Awake Yoga Meditation

Everything available to a paid subscriber. Are you one yet?

This is a free post made available to everyone. If you are not yet a paid subscriber to Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda, consider becoming one today to receive exclusive audio talks, articles, meditation service replays, access to the archives, and so much more.

Podcast Episodes*: All Episodes

Darshan Articles*: All Articles

From the Founder Series: All Series • Mantra Series • St. Francis Prayer Series

Live Meditation Replays: All Services • Index of All Services by Series • Sunday Meditation Services • Tuesday Darshan Meditation Services • Friday Night Healing Meditation Services • Satsangs

Book Excerpts**: All Excerpts • Satsang with Swami Shankarananda

Workshops (formerly eCourses): All Workshops • The Spiritual Art of Intentions: Creating a Life You Love • Pillars of Self-Realization: 50 Days with Swami Shankarananda • Love: The Eternal Flame of Life Within You • Wisdom: Discovering the Peace in Our True Nature

*Also available to Free Subscribers**Select posts also available to Free Subscribers

Consider making a financial contribution to Awake Yoga Meditation

Your generosity makes it possible for AYM to share Kriya Yoga, meditations, and teachings of truth with people around the world. It also allows the community to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). The presiding teacher for Awake Yoga Meditation is Swami Nityananda.

Consider making a financial contribution to Swami’s Bowl

As the presiding teacher, Swami Nityananda selflessly offers her wisdom without taking a salary from Awake Yoga Meditation. Your gift honors her giving and ensures she can continue to share her invaluable teachings. The tradition of meditation communities like Awake Yoga Meditation is to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). All of the other myriad expenses of life are offered from student to teacher through Swami’s Bowl.

Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit awakeyogameditation.substack.com/subscribe

Dear Choose Happy Community,

In moments of overwhelm, it can be hard to tell what’s spiritual insight and what’s nervous system overload. This teaching gently reminds us that within every human lives multiple capacities—the capacity for harm, and the capacity for love.What grows is determined by what we choose to think, feel, and energize. When we pause and choose understanding over hatred, we begin to expand what is highest and best within us. Awareness turns reaction into conscious choice.

Here’s one of our favorite quotes from the video:

“ In the yogic tradition, the concept of evil and also of good just relates to capacity. So within every human, there is the capacity to cause harm. There is the capacity to choose violence. There is the capacity to have thoughts that are not for the highest or the best. There is also the capacity to choose goodness. There’s the capacity to choose understanding. There’s the capacity to choose love. There is the capacity to choose extending a hand. ”So that exists within each of us. And then as we move throughout our human experiences, the thoughts we think and the choices that we make, help to expand either of those capacities.

“So again, from the yogic perspective, it is just about what am I choosing? Am I choosing that which is the highest and the best, or am I choosing that which keeps hatred activated?”

We also shared this video on YouTube, but wanted you to be able to have it on your Substack video player as well, in case you prefer that.

Having it on Substack makes it easy for you to see any other podcasts, videos, articles, or full meditation services that might be available in the Truth, Love and Justice by clicking here.

If you have heard this teaching before, we invite you — as Swami so often invites us — to hear it as if you are hearing it for the first time. Often we receive these teachings right when we need them.

In loving service,Awake Yoga Meditation

Everything available to a paid subscriber. Are you one yet?

This is a free post made available to everyone. If you are not yet a paid subscriber to Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda, consider becoming one today to receive exclusive audio talks, articles, meditation service replays, access to the archives, and so much more.

Podcast Episodes*: All Episodes

Darshan Articles*: All Articles

From the Founder Series: All Series • Mantra Series • St. Francis Prayer Series

Live Meditation Replays: All Services • Index of All Services by Series • Sunday Meditation Services • Tuesday Darshan Meditation Services • Friday Night Healing Meditation Services • Satsangs

Book Excerpts**: All Excerpts • Satsang with Swami Shankarananda

Workshops (formerly eCourses): All Workshops • The Spiritual Art of Intentions: Creating a Life You Love • Pillars of Self-Realization: 50 Days with Swami Shankarananda • Love: The Eternal Flame of Life Within You • Wisdom: Discovering the Peace in Our True Nature

*Also available to Free Subscribers**Select posts also available to Free Subscribers

Consider making a financial contribution to Awake Yoga Meditation

Your generosity makes it possible for AYM to share Kriya Yoga, meditations, and teachings of truth with people around the world. It also allows the community to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). The presiding teacher for Awake Yoga Meditation is Swami Nityananda.

Consider making a financial contribution to Swami’s Bowl

As the presiding teacher, Swami Nityananda selflessly offers her wisdom without taking a salary from Awake Yoga Meditation. Your gift honors her giving and ensures she can continue to share her invaluable teachings. The tradition of meditation communities like Awake Yoga Meditation is to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). All of the other myriad expenses of life are offered from student to teacher through Swami’s Bowl.

Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit awakeyogameditation.substack.com/subscribe

Dear Choose Happy Community,

If you’ve been feeling exhausted, tense, or mentally drained, this teaching offers an important insight. Neuroscience shows that negative self-talk activates the same stress response as real physical danger. In other words, when we attack ourselves with our thoughts, the body believes it’s under threat. Energy begins to return when we notice the pattern and choose to stop. Self-kindness is not weakness—it’s a powerful way to restore vitality.

Here’s one of our favorite quotes from the video:

“They say that if a car is about to hit your body physically, that activates the same regions in the brain and the same cascade of stress responses that is activated by negative self-talk, like being about to be run over by a car, like in imminent danger of being run over by a car. Negative self-talk has the same consequences in your brain in terms of creating the stress response, in terms of creating sort of this, physical unease, but also emotional unease, but also mental unease. ”And so there’s a tremendous benefit, if I have been engaging in negative self-talk, to just say to myself, ‘I’m going to stop, I’m going to drop that.’

“And then also, this is really interesting as well. So one of the researchers, he doesn’t say that it’s negative self-talk, he says it’s self-attacking. He says like, that’s actually what you’re doing, you’re practicing self-attacking if you’re engaging in negative self-talk.”

We also shared this video on YouTube, but wanted you to be able to have it on your Substack video player as well, in case you prefer that.

Having it on Substack makes it easy for you to see any other podcasts, videos, articles, or full meditation services that might be available in the Energy Mastery by clicking here.

If you have heard this teaching before, we invite you — as Swami so often invites us — to hear it as if you are hearing it for the first time. Often we receive these teachings right when we need them.

In loving service,Awake Yoga Meditation

Everything available to a paid subscriber. Are you one yet?

This is a free post made available to everyone. If you are not yet a paid subscriber to Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda, consider becoming one today to receive exclusive audio talks, articles, meditation service replays, access to the archives, and so much more.

Podcast Episodes*: All Episodes

Darshan Articles*: All Articles

From the Founder Series: All Series • Mantra Series • St. Francis Prayer Series

Live Meditation Replays: All Services • Index of All Services by Series • Sunday Meditation Services • Tuesday Darshan Meditation Services • Friday Night Healing Meditation Services • Satsangs

Book Excerpts**: All Excerpts • Satsang with Swami Shankarananda

Workshops (formerly eCourses): All Workshops • The Spiritual Art of Intentions: Creating a Life You Love • Pillars of Self-Realization: 50 Days with Swami Shankarananda • Love: The Eternal Flame of Life Within You • Wisdom: Discovering the Peace in Our True Nature

*Also available to Free Subscribers**Select posts also available to Free Subscribers

Consider making a financial contribution to Awake Yoga Meditation

Your generosity makes it possible for AYM to share Kriya Yoga, meditations, and teachings of truth with people around the world. It also allows the community to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). The presiding teacher for Awake Yoga Meditation is Swami Nityananda.

Consider making a financial contribution to Swami’s Bowl

As the presiding teacher, Swami Nityananda selflessly offers her wisdom without taking a salary from Awake Yoga Meditation. Your gift honors her giving and ensures she can continue to share her invaluable teachings. The tradition of meditation communities like Awake Yoga Meditation is to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). All of the other myriad expenses of life are offered from student to teacher through Swami’s Bowl.

Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit awakeyogameditation.substack.com/subscribe

Dear Choose Happy Community,

In moments of fear or self-doubt, it’s easy to forget who we truly are. This teaching invites us to return to the heart, where each breath reconnects us with the immortal Self—the vast, infinite love described in the Katha Upanishad. When we breathe into that presence, fear begins to soften, and pain and shame lose their grip. The love within us is larger than any limitation. Every breath is a doorway back to our true nature.

Here’s one of our favorite quotes from the video:

“ In the Katha Upanishad, this is also named as the Self with a capital S. The immortal Self is the sun shining in the sky, the breeze blowing in space, the fire burning on the altar, the guest dwelling in the house. The immortal Self is in all humans. The immortal Self is the fish that is born in water, the plant that grows in soil, the river that gushes from the mountain, the changeless reality, the illimitable.

“The immortal Self, the adorable One, seeded in the heart is the power that gives breath. So what this means is every time you breathe into the heart, you are connecting with pure divine, infinite love. Like if you can imagine all the love that you have ever known, and then you multiply that, like the Upanishads do these thought experiments, they say multiply that by a thousand, and then multiply that by a thousand and then multiply that by a thousand and keep going on.

“That’s the love that is there every time you breathe into your heart. And so that is all powerful. That melts away fear. It melts away pain. It melts away shame. It melts away limitation. It melts away self-judgment.”

We also shared this video on YouTube, but wanted you to be able to have it on your Substack video player as well, in case you prefer that.

Having it on Substack makes it easy for you to see any other podcasts, videos, articles, or full meditation services that might be available in the Energy Mastery by clicking here.

If you have heard this teaching before, we invite you — as Swami so often invites us — to hear it as if you are hearing it for the first time. Often we receive these teachings right when we need them.

In loving service,Awake Yoga Meditation

Everything available to a paid subscriber. Are you one yet?

This is a free post made available to everyone. If you are not yet a paid subscriber to Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda, consider becoming one today to receive exclusive audio talks, articles, meditation service replays, access to the archives, and so much more.

Podcast Episodes*: All Episodes

Darshan Articles*: All Articles

From the Founder Series: All Series • Mantra Series • St. Francis Prayer Series

Live Meditation Replays: All Services • Index of All Services by Series • Sunday Meditation Services • Tuesday Darshan Meditation Services • Friday Night Healing Meditation Services • Satsangs

Book Excerpts**: All Excerpts • Satsang with Swami Shankarananda

Workshops (formerly eCourses): All Workshops • The Spiritual Art of Intentions: Creating a Life You Love • Pillars of Self-Realization: 50 Days with Swami Shankarananda • Love: The Eternal Flame of Life Within You • Wisdom: Discovering the Peace in Our True Nature

*Also available to Free Subscribers**Select posts also available to Free Subscribers

Consider making a financial contribution to Awake Yoga Meditation

Your generosity makes it possible for AYM to share Kriya Yoga, meditations, and teachings of truth with people around the world. It also allows the community to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). The presiding teacher for Awake Yoga Meditation is Swami Nityananda.

Consider making a financial contribution to Swami’s Bowl

As the presiding teacher, Swami Nityananda selflessly offers her wisdom without taking a salary from Awake Yoga Meditation. Your gift honors her giving and ensures she can continue to share her invaluable teachings. The tradition of meditation communities like Awake Yoga Meditation is to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). All of the other myriad expenses of life are offered from student to teacher through Swami’s Bowl.

Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit awakeyogameditation.substack.com/subscribe

Dear Choose Happy Community,

When we feel tense and exhausted, it’s often not just from doing too much—it’s from how we relate to time itself. This gentle teaching invites us to pause and ask: What is my relationship with time? Swami Nityananda reminds us that time isn’t our enemy—it’s the Divine, showing up as support, as grace, as the very structure that carries us. When we shift from urgency to curiosity, from resistance to play, peace becomes possible—even joyful.

Here’s one of our favorite quotes from the video:

“ If I am feeling tense and exhausted and I would like to feel at ease, I would like to be able to let go of stress, I’m inviting us to tune into what is my relationship with time. So just ask yourself, ‘What is my relationship with time?’ And I think that humans, very often, they can have like this sense of anxiety or this sense of pressure or this sense of urgency in relation to time.

“But then sometimes there’s another response, which is, ‘I just want to avoid it. I just want to pretend time doesn’t exist.’ And so just notice where are you in that? And then remember this teaching from the Bhagavad-Gita, and this is chapter 10, verse 33: The Divine says, ‘I am time.’ Do you know what that means? That means time is actually our friend.

“Time is our companion. Time is a gift. Time is a form of support that the Divine gives us. The very next phrase, ‘I am time. I am the cosmic support of all that exists.’ And so to open, and I would invite you to have a sense of curiosity, a sense of play, a sense of humor. Can I open to have fun in my relationship with time?”

We also shared this video on YouTube, but wanted you to be able to have it on your Substack video player as well, in case you prefer that.

Having it on Substack makes it easy for you to see any other podcasts, videos, articles, or full meditation services that might be available in the Open to Clarity and Peace by clicking here.

If you have heard this teaching before, we invite you — as Swami so often invites us — to hear it as if you are hearing it for the first time. Often we receive these teachings right when we need them.

In loving service,Awake Yoga Meditation

Everything available to a paid subscriber. Are you one yet?

This is a free post made available to everyone. If you are not yet a paid subscriber to Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda, consider becoming one today to receive exclusive audio talks, articles, meditation service replays, access to the archives, and so much more.

Podcast Episodes*: All Episodes

Darshan Articles*: All Articles

From the Founder Series: All Series • Mantra Series • St. Francis Prayer Series

Live Meditation Replays: All Services • Index of All Services by Series • Sunday Meditation Services • Tuesday Darshan Meditation Services • Friday Night Healing Meditation Services • Satsangs

Book Excerpts**: All Excerpts • Satsang with Swami Shankarananda

Workshops (formerly eCourses): All Workshops • The Spiritual Art of Intentions: Creating a Life You Love • Pillars of Self-Realization: 50 Days with Swami Shankarananda • Love: The Eternal Flame of Life Within You • Wisdom: Discovering the Peace in Our True Nature

*Also available to Free Subscribers**Select posts also available to Free Subscribers

Consider making a financial contribution to Awake Yoga Meditation

Your generosity makes it possible for AYM to share Kriya Yoga, meditations, and teachings of truth with people around the world. It also allows the community to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). The presiding teacher for Awake Yoga Meditation is Swami Nityananda.

Consider making a financial contribution to Swami’s Bowl

As the presiding teacher, Swami Nityananda selflessly offers her wisdom without taking a salary from Awake Yoga Meditation. Your gift honors her giving and ensures she can continue to share her invaluable teachings. The tradition of meditation communities like Awake Yoga Meditation is to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). All of the other myriad expenses of life are offered from student to teacher through Swami’s Bowl.

Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit awakeyogameditation.substack.com/subscribe

Dear Choose Happy Community,

When we long for connection, it’s easy to feel isolated or alone. This teaching reminds us that meditating with others—whether in person or at the same time—can reduce stress, support emotional balance, and help the mind become more flexible and steady. Most of all, it strengthens our ability to remember a deeper truth: I am love, and I am always connected. Community practice doesn’t just link us to others… it brings us home to ourselves.

Here’s one of our favorite quotes from the video:

“ Community meditations, meditating at the same time with other people, reduces individual stress and also reduces societal stress. And so some of the mechanisms that science is aware of by which this happens when we meditate in community, it helps us enhance the adaptability within the way our brain is functioning.

“It helps us with our emotional regulation. It helps us with our attention and our memory. And so one of the things that means is it becomes easier for me to remember and to focus on that foundational realization ‘I am love. I’m always connected to the source of all the energy, the light, the healing, the growth, the inspiration, the expansion in the universe always.’

“And so it helps heal that feeling of isolation.”

We also shared this video on YouTube, but wanted you to be able to have it on your Substack video player as well, in case you prefer that.

Having it on Substack makes it easy for you to see any other podcasts, videos, articles, or full meditation services that might be available in the Open to Clarity and Peace by clicking here.

If you have heard this teaching before, we invite you — as Swami so often invites us — to hear it as if you are hearing it for the first time. Often we receive these teachings right when we need them.

In loving service,Awake Yoga Meditation

Everything available to a paid subscriber. Are you one yet?

This is a free post made available to everyone. If you are not yet a paid subscriber to Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda, consider becoming one today to receive exclusive audio talks, articles, meditation service replays, access to the archives, and so much more.

Podcast Episodes*: All Episodes

Darshan Articles*: All Articles

From the Founder Series: All Series • Mantra Series • St. Francis Prayer Series

Live Meditation Replays: All Services • Index of All Services by Series • Sunday Meditation Services • Tuesday Darshan Meditation Services • Friday Night Healing Meditation Services • Satsangs

Book Excerpts**: All Excerpts • Satsang with Swami Shankarananda

Workshops (formerly eCourses): All Workshops • The Spiritual Art of Intentions: Creating a Life You Love • Pillars of Self-Realization: 50 Days with Swami Shankarananda • Love: The Eternal Flame of Life Within You • Wisdom: Discovering the Peace in Our True Nature

*Also available to Free Subscribers**Select posts also available to Free Subscribers

Consider making a financial contribution to Awake Yoga Meditation

Your generosity makes it possible for AYM to share Kriya Yoga, meditations, and teachings of truth with people around the world. It also allows the community to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). The presiding teacher for Awake Yoga Meditation is Swami Nityananda.

Consider making a financial contribution to Swami’s Bowl

As the presiding teacher, Swami Nityananda selflessly offers her wisdom without taking a salary from Awake Yoga Meditation. Your gift honors her giving and ensures she can continue to share her invaluable teachings. The tradition of meditation communities like Awake Yoga Meditation is to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). All of the other myriad expenses of life are offered from student to teacher through Swami’s Bowl.

Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit awakeyogameditation.substack.com/subscribe

Dear Choose Happy Community,

When the world feels overwhelming—filled with anger, fear, or harmful words—this teaching reminds us of our deeper task. Like the river, we are invited to become vast in our goodwill, steady beneath the surface no matter what storms arise. The fire may exist, but we are not the fire. We can choose to go deeper, to respond with clarity, peace, and love that radiates outward. Nothing outside of you has to shake the peace within.

Here’s one of our favorite quotes from the video:

“ This is our task: to fill ourselves with goodwill and to be like the river so that we are deep and enormous in our goodwill. And the fire, like the Buddha is not saying that the fire is not there, he’s acknowledging it’s there, but he’s saying you are deeper than the fire. And so go deeper than the fire.

“And anything that you see in time and space is just an opportunity to go deeper, always. And then what happens is you become imbued with this goodwill so that nothing can shake you. No matter what it is that you observe or experience in time and space.

“The Buddha goes farther. So that was about if you see people who are lying, people who are using words to create hatred. People who are using words to create fear. People who are using words to create harm. This is what he says: stay with goodwill. Be deep and immeasurable like the river in your goodwill. Extend goodwill even to the people who are saying that. Even to the people who are doing that. And then allow goodwill to radiate forth through you to benefit the entire world.”

We also shared this video on YouTube, but wanted you to be able to have it on your Substack video player as well, in case you prefer that.

Having it on Substack makes it easy for you to see any other podcasts, videos, articles, or full meditation services that might be available in the Open to Clarity and Peace by clicking here.

If you have heard this teaching before, we invite you — as Swami so often invites us — to hear it as if you are hearing it for the first time. Often we receive these teachings right when we need them.

In loving service,Awake Yoga Meditation

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This is a free post made available to everyone. If you are not yet a paid subscriber to Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda, consider becoming one today to receive exclusive audio talks, articles, meditation service replays, access to the archives, and so much more.

Podcast Episodes*: All Episodes

Darshan Articles*: All Articles

From the Founder Series: All Series • Mantra Series • St. Francis Prayer Series

Live Meditation Replays: All Services • Index of All Services by Series • Sunday Meditation Services • Tuesday Darshan Meditation Services • Friday Night Healing Meditation Services • Satsangs

Book Excerpts**: All Excerpts • Satsang with Swami Shankarananda

Workshops (formerly eCourses): All Workshops • The Spiritual Art of Intentions: Creating a Life You Love • Pillars of Self-Realization: 50 Days with Swami Shankarananda • Love: The Eternal Flame of Life Within You • Wisdom: Discovering the Peace in Our True Nature

*Also available to Free Subscribers**Select posts also available to Free Subscribers

Consider making a financial contribution to Awake Yoga Meditation

Your generosity makes it possible for AYM to share Kriya Yoga, meditations, and teachings of truth with people around the world. It also allows the community to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). The presiding teacher for Awake Yoga Meditation is Swami Nityananda.

Consider making a financial contribution to Swami’s Bowl

As the presiding teacher, Swami Nityananda selflessly offers her wisdom without taking a salary from Awake Yoga Meditation. Your gift honors her giving and ensures she can continue to share her invaluable teachings. The tradition of meditation communities like Awake Yoga Meditation is to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). All of the other myriad expenses of life are offered from student to teacher through Swami’s Bowl.

Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit awakeyogameditation.substack.com/subscribe

Dear Choose Happy Community,

It’s okay to acknowledge when someone’s anger hurts you or crosses a boundary. But this teaching reminds us that we don’t have to take on their anger or mirror it back. With practice and steadiness, we stay aligned with truth and centered in our own emotional clarity. When we hold our ground with love, we naturally move out of situations that no longer match our vibration.

Here’s one of our favorite quotes from the video:

“ Sometimes people in their anger can hurt us, and it’s okay to acknowledge that feeling of hurt. It’s okay to say ‘this is really unacceptable behavior. I don’t deserve this’. That’s all okay. And we don’t have to let somebody’s anger become our anger. We don’t have to mirror that anger back. We don’t have to allow somebody’s, misunderstanding, misperceiving of what is real to make us feel sorrow.

“We are the masters of our emotional state, and so it’s again, just through steadiness and practice that we can stay in alignment. And the truth is, if we are doing our work, that person will find a way out of our experience. It’s not a match, it’s not a vibrational match.

“If I’m steady, I’m centered, I’m love, I’m clear, I’m navigating this with skill, at some point they will find a way or it will heal. It will resolve itself.”

We also shared this video on YouTube, but wanted you to be able to have it on your Substack video player as well, in case you prefer that.

Having it on Substack makes it easy for you to see any other podcasts, videos, articles, or full meditation services that might be available in the Truth, Love and Justice by clicking here.

If you have heard this teaching before, we invite you — as Swami so often invites us — to hear it as if you are hearing it for the first time. Often we receive these teachings right when we need them.

In loving service,Awake Yoga Meditation

Everything available to a paid subscriber. Are you one yet?

This is a free post made available to everyone. If you are not yet a paid subscriber to Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda, consider becoming one today to receive exclusive audio talks, articles, meditation service replays, access to the archives, and so much more.

Podcast Episodes*: All Episodes

Darshan Articles*: All Articles

From the Founder Series: All Series • Mantra Series • St. Francis Prayer Series

Live Meditation Replays: All Services • Index of All Services by Series • Sunday Meditation Services • Tuesday Darshan Meditation Services • Friday Night Healing Meditation Services • Satsangs

Book Excerpts**: All Excerpts • Satsang with Swami Shankarananda

Workshops (formerly eCourses): All Workshops • The Spiritual Art of Intentions: Creating a Life You Love • Pillars of Self-Realization: 50 Days with Swami Shankarananda • Love: The Eternal Flame of Life Within You • Wisdom: Discovering the Peace in Our True Nature

*Also available to Free Subscribers**Select posts also available to Free Subscribers

Consider making a financial contribution to Awake Yoga Meditation

Your generosity makes it possible for AYM to share Kriya Yoga, meditations, and teachings of truth with people around the world. It also allows the community to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). The presiding teacher for Awake Yoga Meditation is Swami Nityananda.

Consider making a financial contribution to Swami’s Bowl

As the presiding teacher, Swami Nityananda selflessly offers her wisdom without taking a salary from Awake Yoga Meditation. Your gift honors her giving and ensures she can continue to share her invaluable teachings. The tradition of meditation communities like Awake Yoga Meditation is to support the presiding teacher’s Dakshina (reimbursement of basic living expenses for housing, transportation, and insurance). All of the other myriad expenses of life are offered from student to teacher through Swami’s Bowl.

Choose Happy with Swami Nityananda is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit awakeyogameditation.substack.com/subscribe