Primary Essay: The Supreme Preparation(s)
Bodhicitta in Practice: Preparing Body, Breath, and Mind for Spiritual Growth
Primary Essay on the topic of Bodhicitta, click button below to download and read offline or for print.
Part One • Why Prepare?
Preparation is Natural
In recent years, we’ve increasingly committed our energy to practicing bodhicitta within Shambhavananda Yoga, both individually and collectively. Bodhicitta—often described as “the supreme preparation”—embodies the four boundless qualities: love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Cultivating these qualities before meditation can make the practice significantly more productive, as many practitioners have observed.
This idea of preparation is intuitive in many areas of life. For any activity requiring focus or resilience—whether a hike, a speech, a game with friends, or simply starting the day—we often take time to prepare. Likewise, meditation benefits immensely from preparation. Some might find meditation challenging or ineffective, akin to a novice runner trying to run without training. Just as seasoned runners know, effective preparation can take months or even years, with both immediate warm-ups and long-term commitment enhancing the experience.
In this Level Two Meditation Teacher Training, we recognize that you’re not beginners; you’re more akin to experienced athletes who understand the foundational skills and can relate to new practitioners who may be eager yet lack the foundational prep for deeper practice. Therefore, we begin this course by discussing the concept of preparation for meditation and sharing lineage-approved tools to support both your students and yourself. These tools can help ensure that advanced practices like circular breath or Shambhavi Mudra resonate deeply, reducing the risk of frustration or distraction. As we all know, preparation enhances our capacity to engage fully, handle greater energy, and responsibly take on more challenging practices.
Preparing for Success
In yogic philosophy, the journey to the heart is not a direct one but rather a path that weaves through layers—body, breath, and mind—guided by the koshas. This nuanced progression is sometimes overlooked, with the misconception that one can simply leap into the heart without attending to the body or breath. For instance, sitting down at the end of a busy day and jumping straight into mantra without settling the mind can often feel like “herding cats,” a struggle to quiet the mind. While this approach may work on occasion, especially for seasoned practitioners, experience shows that neglecting this preparatory process can turn meditation into a mental battle, leaving us feeling scattered rather than relaxed.
This is why Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras outline the eight limbs as a progression, encouraging practitioners to climb, limb by limb, toward a meditative state. The journey begins with asana, or movement, which we use to reach for the next limb—pranayama, or breath regulation. From there, pranayama helps us reach higher, toward meditative disciplines like mantra, visualization, and advanced breath work. Much like climbing a tree, each limb serves as a foundation, propelling us upward toward the ultimate state of samadhi. This gradual ascent ensures that we’re grounded and supported as we progress through each stage of our practice. As Babaji teaches, “the original goal of yoga was to prepare the physical body and the breath and the mind to withstand the rigors of having your kundalini awaken. The original purpose was to fine tune and prepare the physical to deal with the unleashing of these cosmic energies and these states of cosmic consciousness” (SBF, 517).
Similarly, the koshas reflect this layered approach, reminding us that these stages are not isolated steps but interconnected aspects of our being. While it may seem that each limb of Yoga or layer of the koshas represents a separate practice, the limbs and layers reveal a more harmonized progression. When we bring the body into balance, the breath naturally reveals itself, showing that surrendering at each layer allows us to access the next. Just as we must stabilize the body to engage fully with the breath, working with the mind requires a balanced body and breath. It’s tempting to want to skip steps, to “cut to the chase” of meditation, but the yogic tradition teaches that reaching the higher limbs is only possible after climbing through the foundational stages. We cannot genuinely reach the fifth limb, for instance, without first grounding ourselves in the third and fourth. This layered approach fosters a stable, integrated experience, ensuring that each limb supports and enhances the next as we move toward the heart. As Babaji teaches in Seat by the Fire, “Pranayama and hatha yoga prepare you to have a deeper meditation,” and “Mantra practice is a tool that will prepare you for a cosmic experience” (p. 50,44). This kind of preparation not only allow us to reach higher heights, but ensures that we can sustain those heights when we reach them. As Babaji teaches, “I could awaken your kundalini now and you would have a certain kind of experience, but if you prepared yourself by purifying your mind through sadhana and tapasya, the awakening of the kundalini would be much better. I could zap you all and make you all see all sorts of things, but what good is that going to do? So you get a buzz, you feel a little energy, you see some lights, you think, “My God, I’m enlightened.” Well, you are enlightened for about 20 seconds.”
This isn’t to say that advanced practitioners can’t settle quickly into mantra practice or meditation. For those who have established a steady, disciplined meditation seat over years of practice, it’s possible to move smoothly into deeper practices with minimal preparation. These practitioners have spent years refining their connection to the body and the breath, creating a stable foundation that allows them to engage the mind directly. As Swami Rudrananda used to teach, ‘What takes you 10 years to accomplish, once you accomplish it, once you have that pathway, you can do in 10 minutes’. In this way, preparation becomes simpler and more efficient over time.
However, for beginners or students still learning these practices, it’s essential to ensure they feel steady and calm across the layers of body, breath, and mind before moving into the heart or more subtle energetic practices. Taking time at the start to guide students into a balanced and harmonized state allows them to confidently engage with these deeper layers, enabling a more profound, centered meditation experience
To honor this approach, it can be valuable to start meditation classes with practices that ground students in their bodies through simple asana or gentle movements, naturally drawing their awareness inward. Following this, balanced pranayama can help settle the breath, laying the foundation for meditation. This preparation creates a grounded entry point for mantra or heart-centered practices, and even more advanced techniques introduced in this training, fostering a meditation experience that feels stable, present, and deeply connected.
Reflect: What is your pre-meditation preparation routine? Does it involve movement, pranayama, gratitude, bodhicitta, etc.? In what ways would you like to expand your pre-meditation prep routine?
Part Two • Preparing to Prepare: Body and Breath
Generating Inner Sensation
When we prepare the body for meditation, focusing on two essential elements can help us genuinely “arrive” on the cushion: generating inner sensation and cultivating deep core support. Let’s start by exploring the importance of generating inner sensation.
Our nervous system contains two primary types of neurons: motor neurons, which control movement (such as moving muscles, making the heart beat, or lungs expand), and sensory neurons, which gather information from our environment and relay it to the body’s nervous system to inform us of our current state. While we typically think of nerves as directing actions—sending impulses to activate muscles, for instance—what may surprise you is that our sensory neurons outnumber motor neurons by as much as 20 to 1. This ratio suggests that our bodies prioritize sensory input, placing a premium on awareness over action.
In simple terms, this means that for every action we perform, our body first gathers a vast array of sensory data—such as reading body language, tone, and other environmental cues—before generating a single response. We are biologically wired to emphasize sensory experience. Yet, in our modern lives, this dynamic often reverses. We are frequently in a near-constant state of action, where internal sensation is dulled, and we become more externally oriented. When we sit down to meditate, this habit of external focus often persists, making it challenging to connect to our breath, heartbeat, or the sensation of our seat.
Taking time at the beginning of class to engage in simple asanas, rolling patterns, or any mindful movement while emphasizing sensory awareness can help recalibrate this balance. By guiding students to tune into where they feel each movement in the body, we can shift the scales back toward sensing rather than acting. Each asana, each movement, and each rolling pattern thus becomes an opportunity to restore our internal sensitivity, helping practitioners reconnect with the subtle sensations of their physical bodies. This sensory awareness of the body’s physical layer then serves as a gateway to accessing the subtler layers, such as the breath or the heart, creating a grounded and receptive foundation for meditation.
Reflect: Why kinds of Movements help you prepare the body for meditation? Take a moment to describe them in the comments section below, and come to our next class together ready to lead your favorite one.
Deep Core Support
The second key focus when preparing the body for meditation, beyond generating inner sensation, is cultivating deep core postural support. In our predominantly sedentary culture, we rarely engage in movements that naturally activate the body’s deep stabilizing muscles—the muscles that enable us to lift, push, or pull. Over time, these deep postural muscles can weaken or even “go offline,” leading to an inability to sit upright comfortably for extended periods. A common posture among younger practitioners today is the “cat-back” or C-spine, a deep slouch with minimal abdominal engagement. Others may overcompensate with an exaggerated back arch, resulting in strain rather than support.
While there’s no quick fix for these imbalances, there are ‘fixes’ that take effort over time. One effective method is activating core support through simple practices like toe taps, before sitting for meditation. You don’t need to be a yoga teacher to learn these techniques—just an openness to subtle core engagement. We’ll explore these exercises together in class, allowing you to experiment and consider whether integrating them into your practice is beneficial. Even a few moments of warming up the core can make a significant difference, creating a seated posture that is more productive, buoyant, and, as Babaji often describes, “uplifting and supple.” This core stability fosters a lightness that practitioners can carry with them onto the mat.
These deep core muscles are not the superficial abdominals but are tucked beneath them. Muscles like the transverse abdominis, obliques, multifidus, erector spinae, pelvic floor, and inner thigh adductors work to lift and support us throughout the day, relieving constant pressure on the superficial muscles. Cultivating this internal support creates a foundation for meditation that feels grounded yet light, supportive yet open, facilitating a more centered, sustained practice.
Reflect: How does your back feel during and after meditation? Do you currently have a deep core awakening practice to help you prepare, or would implementing one be of benefit to you?
Preparing the Breath: Less is Truly More
Gentle is Powerful
In Shambhavananda Yoga, there is a predominant focus on preparing the breath, centered on Babaji’s long-standing teaching that balanced, gentle breathing is the most effective form of pranayama. While there are many ways to regulate breath with varied effects, Babaji emphasizes that only once our breathing becomes balanced and gentle can we access these deeper pranayama practices. As Babaji teaches, “Think of the breath as a vehicle rather than a jackhammer. Often students use the breath too strongly. You will not be using the breath to cut the rock open…The breath is like a massage…When students are able to be open and simple with their breath they realize that controlling the breath is not the same as watching the breath … The pranayama within the breath is simply flowing with the breath.”
Through his teachings, Sri Shambhavananda has highlighted a common issue: many people are over-breathing, taking in too much air, too forcefully. This teaching is supported by physiological research showing that most people tend to over-breathe, disrupting their breath chemistry and limiting oxygen delivery to cells. As Patrick McKeown, one of the foremost teachers on the physiology of breathing writes in his book “The Oxygen Advantage”, “The unconscious habit of overbreathing has hit epidemic proportions all across the industrialized world, and it’s highly detrimental to our health. Chronic overbreathing leads to loss of health, poor fitness, and compromised performance and also contributes to many ailments including anxiety, asthma, fatigue, insomnia, heart problems, and even obesity. It may seem strange that such a disparate range of complaints can be caused by or worsened by overbreathing, but the breath of life influences literally every aspect of our health” (p.8). Over-breathing leaves us feeling stressed and unsettled.
The fundamental principle is this: blood flow delivers oxygen to our cells, and it’s the presence of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the blood that signals cells’ need for oxygen. When we inhale too deeply or frequently, the blood becomes oversaturated with oxygen, which in turn signals that there’s no need for further oxygen delivery. When we exhale slowly, however, CO2 levels rise, allowing cells to communicate that they need more oxygen. In essence, breathing slowly and gently allows CO2 levels to increase, which is the key to prompting oxygen release from the blood to our cells. As Dr. Crystal Frazee, a breathing behavior analyst, describes it, “Good breathing is actually defined as: ‘Retaining the proper amount of CO2 so that we can oxygenate properly and that our systems remain in harmony’…Respiration is all about CO2…When CO2 is at right levels in blood and airways, then we can have adequate oxygen levels.” When we slow down our breathing, we allow the CO2 levels to become balanced, and we start feeling more oxygenated without the need to ‘breathe deep’. So we see that less is truly more when we look at the breath’s biology.
Practical Approaches to Preparing the Breath for Meditation
So, to put it simply, slower, lighter, and gentler breathing optimizes oxygen assimilation. As our blood becomes more oxygenated, we feel calmer, less breathless, and naturally settle into the parasympathetic “rest and digest” state. This gentle, balanced approach to breathing prepares us physiologically and energetically for deeper states of meditation and internal work.
One of the most beneficial steps we can take to prepare for meditation is to slow our breathing, emphasizing quality over quantity. Gently extending the exhale allows CO2 levels to rise and balance, helping to optimize blood chemistry for proper oxygen assimilation and nervous system downregulation. This technique aligns well with findings from Andrew Huberman, a Stanford University Optimologist, who highlights studies showing that slow, deliberate exhaling through pursed lips has been shown in numerous studies to be an effective method for lowering our heart rate and shifting the nervous system into a calmer state.
Shitali Breath
To prepare for meditation, you might try inhaling through the nose and then exhaling slowly and fully through pursed lips, as if trying to make a candle flicker from a foot away without blowing it out. Known as Shitali breath in yoga, this ancient practice creates a long, sustained exhale, which raises CO2 levels, balances breath, enhances oxygen delivery, and promotes relaxation in the nervous system.
Balanced Breathing: Counting or Mantra Based
Another method is balanced nasal breathing: inhaling and exhaling through the nose for a count of five or five and a half seconds, an optimal breath length demonstrated in studies. Aligning a mantra with this rhythm can deepen your practice. For instance, the six-syllable mantra Om Namah Shivaya aligns well with a slow, balanced breath, helping to sustain focus and harmony.
Gently Extending the Exhale
Finally, simply allowing the exhale to finish completely, feeling the natural end of the breath, can be an excellent way to down regulate the nervous system and establish a calm foundation for meditation. Gently lengthening your exhale by even just a second can have a deeply grounding effect.
Whether through pursed-lip exhalation, balanced nasal breathing, or a gentle extension of the exhale, these techniques help prepare the breath and body to settle into a deeper, more peaceful meditative state.
Reflect: Do you have any simple pranayamas that help you prepare for meditation? Was the scientific information about breathing slower, lighter and gentler new to you? Do you breathe this way for pranayama or are you looking forward to trying this?
Part Three • The Supreme Preparation: Bodhicitta
Preparing the Mind and Heart
Having prepared our body, breath, and nervous system for meditation, we’re now ready to move into the subtler practices that have been central to our Sangha for years—known collectively as Bodhicitta. Bodhicitta, regarded as the supreme preparation for meditation, allows us to open and prepare our hearts for the deep, transformative work that unfolds in practice.
In Tara’s Enlightened Activity by the Khenpo Brothers, we’re reminded to approach Bodhicitta qualities with great intensity, “from the core of our hearts and the marrow of our bones.” This profound commitment requires courage and dedication to truly embody these qualities in our practice. Without such preparation, as the text warns, we risk falling into a state of boredom, fatigue, or merely going through the motions. But with Bodhicitta as our foundation, our practice becomes infused with enthusiasm, transforming into an “undying practice,” one that continually renews and grows within us. Motivation and preparation, as they tell us, are supremely important.
Let’s take a moment to explore these four qualities—love, compassion, joy, and equanimity—through the lens of the Shambhavananda Yoga tradition. Together, we’ll examine how these qualities manifest in our personal practices and, in our own words, reflect on how we can embody this “supreme motivation.” This reflection will help us find our unique voices for expressing and cultivating Bodhicitta, allowing it to inspire and uplift our practice at every level.
A Note on Personal Reflection
Taking time to examine these qualities—love, compassion, joy, and equanimity—through the lens of the yoga tradition can help refine our understanding, narrowing our focus to the most impactful aspects. However, it’s important to remember that these qualities are deeply personal and intuitive. We don’t need to formally study them to understand their significance in our lives. That’s why they’re part of the warm-up process. Just as physical warm-ups consist of simple, intuitive movements preparing us for more complex ones, our meditation warm-up should be straightforward and instinctive, leading naturally into more nuanced practices.
Ideally, exploring how the Shambhavananda Yoga Tradition describes these qualities will simplify, rather than complicate, your experience of them. This process encourages a deeper connection, making these qualities more essential, intuitive, and grounded. Your personal experience forms the foundation of all these teachings. Reflect on how you perceive love, compassion, joy, and equanimity within yourself. Engage with these qualities intuitively, and then refer to curated resources and quotes for support.
In a world abundant with information, we often overlook the immense value of being a true practitioner. It’s increasingly rare to devote daily time to practice, and that commitment is the most priceless asset you bring to teaching. Information, scripture, and science are valuable, but they are secondary to the core experience you cultivate through daily practice and your relationship with these qualities.
So, as we open the door to traditional interpretations of these qualities, consider taking a pause to sit with Bodhicitta and reflect on your relationship with these attributes. If you feel called to take time to practice and explore these four essential qualities of preparation before reading further, I encourage you to do so.
Boundless Love
In the Shambhavananda Yoga tradition, love is viewed as a transformative force that goes beyond mere emotion or attachment. It is a path to spiritual growth, freedom, and connection with the divine. This section explores three central perspectives on love within this tradition, drawing on the teachings of Swami Rudrananda and Sri Shambhavananda. Through these teachings, love is understood as an inner source that radiates beyond the self, a force that emerges from deep surrender, and a limitless energy that connects us to the essence of who we are. By embracing this expansive view of love, practitioners are invited to cultivate a profound sense of freedom, compassion, and unity with all beings.
1. Love as Surrender and Inner Freedom
In the Shambhavananda Yoga tradition, love is deeply connected to surrender and spiritual freedom. Perhaps this is why it is such a great starting point for our preparation, to feel love you have to get the gears of surrender moving. The urge to feel love also requires that we let go of our burdens, and requires us to feel a sense of openness and freedom. Rudi teaches that this feeling of love is indeed ‘necessary ingredient’ for our evolvement, and thus is an essential aspect of our preparation. As we know from Babaji, love and devotion are the fast tracks to spiritual growth, so why not take time to get in the fast lane before we meditate? Love is also such an intuitive experience, beyond the mind and deeply personal. As the quotes tell us, nothing can stand between us and the feeling of love, which makes it a great starting point for every sit.
• From Spiritual Cannibalism: “Love is complete trust and surrender. Only by letting go deeply can we take into ourselves the highest ingredients necessary for our evolvement.”
• From A Seat by the Fire: “The path of devotion and unconditional love is the most joyful and blissful path to the experience of the divine… This love does not contain any limitation. It is truly an extraordinary experience.”
• From Spiritual Practice: “When we find that state of being that all the scriptures, all the yogis, and all the great teachers of the world have talked about—when we find that internally—we become supremely free. We are able to love more, be more open, and experience life more fully.”
2. Love as an Inner Source Independent of External Conditions
You are probably familiar with the teaching in the Yogic Tradition that love is not dependent on external people or conditions. Instead, it is an innate quality, a radiant energy within, that one can access through spiritual practice. Reaching for love helps us surrender our nearly constant reliance on the external world and get out hearts growing, which makes love such a wonderful focal point as our marketing culture often tells us just the opposite. Love is radiating from within us like the sun behind clouds— we don’t have to create it, just feel it and let it grow from there.
• From A Seat by the Fire: “Spiritual growth is the process of finding the source of love that exists inside of yourself, which is independent of other people, other situations, and anything of a material nature. When you have found the source of love in yourself, you have found real love.”
• From Spiritual Practice: “The spiritual approach is different. Through meditation, you reach a state of being or a quality of energy that exists in all of us all the time, though it is sometimes hard to find when you are caught up in the emotions of another person.”
• From Spiritual Cannibalism: “Spiritual growth, like love, can exist only in freedom.”
3. Love as a Boundless Radiant Force that Expands to Include Others
As the last focal point also alluded to, love is viewed as an expansive force that goes beyond personal attachments and external objects— and because it is such an eternal and intrinsic aspect of our true nature it has no limit to its expansion. When cultivated, this love radiates outward, touching others and creating a sense of connection that transcends the self. In this way, love and compassion seem to feed into each other, as Faith often teaches.
• From A Seat by the Fire: “The love that you can bring forth that is unbiased, flowing, and expansive is ananda that comes from the Inner Self… But when you discover this place inside of you that is beyond mind… you experience the love and consciousness which flows from there.”
• From Spiritual Practice: “Love is this very special feeling that you experience in your heart… If they really are in that place, the vibration of that love spreads out all around them. They include a lot of people in their lives—their kids, their family, and their sangha.”
• From A Seat by the Fire: “As you grow and evolve you get freer, you get happier… It is because you are discovering that there is something inside of you which is like a sun sitting in there radiating this love, this bliss, this compassion.”
Reflect on your experience of cultivating love in your Bodhicitta practice. How do you access this space within yourself? What feeling or intention allows you to tap into this quality genuinely? Pay close attention to what initiates this process for you—not just theoretically, but in a way that feels real and authentic. Consider what actually sets this mechanism in motion.
Then, ask yourself: what is your focal point, your “way in”? What personal approach or practice helps you connect most directly with the experience of love? For now, stay focused on your experience of this process, but later, you might find a quote that resonates and supports this approach. For now, consider deeply: what is your way into the experience of cultivating love?
Boundless Compassion
In the Shambhavananda Yoga tradition, compassion is understood as a deeply transformative quality that goes beyond emotional sympathy or attachment. If you are the type of person that like to ‘care for’ or ‘take care of’ those around you, then compassion may be both an easy feeling to generate, but simultaneously it could be a hard quality to understand from the spiritual perspective. This is because we see in the texts that compassion is not a horizontal hug, per se, but rather the expansion of our hearts’ energy externally to encompass our karmic situation. It’s not a reaching out, but an ‘expanding out’, that occurs alongside our practice. In this way, compassion is a by product of spiritual growth that transcends our ego’s need to ‘fix’ a person or situation. It is an expansive force that arises from a place of inner freedom and wisdom.
1. Compassion as a Byproduct of Inner Growth and Self-Awareness
In the Shambhavananda Yoga tradition, compassion is understood not as something that is forced or manufactured, but as a natural result of spiritual growth. As Rudrananda once shared during satsang, we often picture ourselves as the ones to go around hugging and uplifting people around us, when in reality, we are the ones who need to be uplifted. Compassion, in this way, should flow from an overflowing cup, not from one that must be emptied to give to others. True compassion arises when we are nourished and centered ourselves, allowing us to give freely without depletion. As practitioners develop wisdom and face their own challenges, compassion emerges naturally, unburdened by ego or superiority.
• From A Seat by the Fire: “Compassion isn’t earned by feeling superior to someone… Compassion comes from having gone through difficulties and having gained some wisdom about the nature of samsara.”
• From Spiritual Practice: “Loving compassion is something that comes from inside, a place where everything is done naturally, simply, and not with any exaggerated demonstration.”
• From A Seat by the Fire: “When you develop wisdom, you also develop understanding, and compassion comes naturally. You don’t have to force yourself to have compassion.”
2. Compassion as a Transcendental State Beyond Personal Ego
Compassion, in this tradition, is seen as arising from a transcendental state of consciousness, one where the personal self or ego is diminished. This perspective emphasizes that true compassion is not about fixing others’ problems or feeling superior, but about remaining grounded and offering support from a place of clarity and freedom.
• From A Seat by the Fire: “There is no ‘you’ involved in true compassion, because you are working from a transcendental state of consciousness… Compassion isn’t earned by feeling superior… but comes from wisdom and the experience of samsara.”
• From Spiritual Practice: “Real compassion is the ability to be fairly neutral, yet to provide something as extraordinary as we are able. Often we become attached to our own doership, and that’s not always healthy.”
• From A Seat by the Fire: “Loving compassion doesn’t mean that you bring the suffering into you. It means that you are above it… and when you are above it energetically, you can serve others… real love and real compassion.”
3. Compassion as an Expansive, Freeing Force
Compassion in the Shambhavananda Yoga tradition is also linked to spiritual freedom and expansion. As individuals grow spiritually, they become more open, finding space within themselves for love, compassion, and understanding. This compassion is inclusive and free of judgment, arising from a deep recognition of the divine spark within everyone.
• From A Seat by the Fire: “The philosophy and practice of yoga… is about freeing… When you are free, you have room inside you for more love and compassion and more understanding.”
• From Spiritual Cannibalism: “Compassion is an expression of great objective understanding, not an idiot’s response to someone else’s emotional mess. All understanding must come from enlightenment…”
• From A Seat by the Fire: “If you experience a real spiritual truth, it frees you and brings up boundless compassion and love… Truth exists inside of everyone equally.”
Reflect: Take a moment to consider your relationship with cultivating the quality of compassion. How do you engage with this concept through the lens of your yogic practice? Reflect on the idea of helping others not by physically reaching out, but by directing your awareness inward, centering it within your heart. How does it feel to nurture compassion from this place? Notice the process: how do you cultivate this quality? How does the mechanism truly work for you, beyond any theoretical understanding?
Boundless Joy
Joy can be a hard concept to cultivate as we get older. We get so used to working, and then just collapsing in bed, taking care of others, paying the bills, that its easy to lose our connection to the spirit of joy. One wonderful way that I have been able to tap into the spirit of joy on a daily basis is using an affirmation of “Today is going be a great day” when I wake up, or throughout the day “This essay is going to be a great experience”. It helps me shift the trajectory of my work from the downward spiral of doership to the upward spiral of joy. It may seem unnatural at first, but as you take time to tap into the feeling of what you are saying, you may find, like I did, that an attitude of joy is just around the corner in almost every moment of our day.
What we see in the Shambhavananda tradition is that joy is the necessary spark that ignites our practice, and sets it in the upward spiral. Joy is an attitude, its a way of working and living that transforms our actions. We see that it is not automatic like it was when we were kids, but rather, must be cultivated on a daily or hourly basis. We see that joy is a litmus test for our practice, that if we aren’t practicing joyfully, then stop and find a way to do it with a slight smile. This is perhaps also why it is a great preparatory moment in our practice, to ensure that our efforts are not leading us down into doership, but rather, up into joy.
1. Joy as an Inner Quality Independent of External Circumstances
In the Shambhavananda Yoga tradition, true joy arises from within and is not dependent on external situations or material achievements. This inner joy is a byproduct of spiritual practice and self-awareness, allowing practitioners to experience happiness despite life’s challenges and unfulfilled desires.
• From A Seat by the Fire: “You have to find that joy and that happiness inside of yourself in spite of all the dramas and the unfulfilled desires that you have. This is real spiritual understanding.”
• From Spiritual Practice: “Sometimes we get so focused on what is wrong with us and our lives that we do not experience the joy and love that are possible.”
• From A Seat by the Fire: “If a spiritual practice isn’t bringing you joy, and growth, what’s the use of doing it?”
2. Joy as a Product of Self-Purification and Letting Go of Attachments
Joy is also seen as something that arises through the process of inner purification and releasing attachments. Spiritual practices help practitioners recognize that suffering is rooted in internal attachments rather than external circumstances, and joy naturally flows as these attachments are released. So as you practice, and release attachments, joy natural arises— if we let it. Which is why its a great focal point for preparation, to start to see the joy coming.
• From A Seat by the Fire: “As you do purification practices, release into the joy that exists inside of you. As you take part in yajna, throw your psychic tensions into the fire, releasing the burdens that you have been clinging to, even though they make you miserable.”
• From Spiritual Cannibalism: “I found that the releasing of tension opened in me a joyousness that allowed God to enter my being.”
• From A Seat by the Fire: “When you raise your consciousness through an inner spiritual discipline some things will just drop away… it was with a sense of joy that, ‘My God! I can get free of some of these things that were major pains in my life!’”
3. Joy as a Sign of Spiritual Progress and Service to Others
Joy in this tradition is also seen as a marker of spiritual maturity and growth. It is cultivated not only through personal practice but also by serving something greater than oneself. Through selfless service and alignment with higher purposes, practitioners discover a deep and abiding inner joy.
• From A Seat by the Fire: “When you serve something greater than your own small needs you find tremendous joy… They have an inner joy and an inner radiance. They have discovered something.”
• From A Seat by the Fire: “Some people feel that they are progressing as they accumulate more intellectual knowledge or wisdom. You are progressing when you find more joy in your life.”
• From Spiritual Practice: “I think it’s important that every day you find something to be grateful for… You will find no joy and no nectar in your life.”
Reflect: Take a moment to reflect on how you cultivate joy in your Bodhicitta practice, or even in your daily life, as this can be a valuable pathway to access when you’re sitting. Joy is a rare quality in adulthood—something easily overlooked or even misunderstood. Often, when we see joyful people, we may think they are somehow missing something or not fully grasping the weight of the situation. A joyful practitioner is uncommon, which makes joy an essential ingredient in our practice. So how do you find it? How do you cultivate true joy, even in the smallest of ways, to spark and enliven your practice? Reflect on what brings you genuine joy, and notice how this feeling can fuel your path forward.
Boundless Equanimity
Equanimity is somewhat distinct from the previous qualities of joy, love, and compassion. While we actively cultivate those qualities, almost like mechanisms of growth, equanimity is the moment we lay everything down. It’s a letting go, where we release even our preparation and become profoundly simple and centered within ourselves. It’s the quiet before the storm, the centeredness holding pure potential—akin to the Paramashiva aspect in the Tattvas, Shiva in a state of unmanifested, pure potential, like a still lake without a ripple.
If you’ve ever prepared for a performance, you might recognize this quality. You study your lines, do the prep work, warm up, but then there comes a moment when you let it all go and become fully present. As an athlete, for instance, you might warm up for hours, running through drills and getting in the zone, but when that first pitch is thrown, everything is released, and you’re simply present.
Similarly, in a yoga or meditation class, we do all the work, all the preparation, and then sit, allowing the students to drive and the class to unfold without mental agitation. Equanimity is that quality at the end of our preparation process, enabling us to do the work and then let it go, so that everything can come together in the most organic, unique way possible.
In the Shambhavananda Yoga tradition, equanimity is seen as a profound inner balance that emerges through surrender, clarity, and resilience. This section explores three perspectives on equanimity, highlighting it as a state of centeredness achieved by releasing attachments, maintaining stability amidst life’s fluctuations, and moving beyond ego-driven reactions. Through these practices, equanimity becomes a foundation for greater peace, clarity, and presence in all aspects of life.
1. Equanimity as an Inner State of Balance through Surrender
In the Shambhavananda Yoga tradition, equanimity arises from the ability to surrender attachments, letting go of ego-driven responses and the need to control. This surrender creates a state of inner calm and clarity, where one can respond to life from a place of centeredness. This is why Faith often equates equanimity with surrender, the ability to simple release it all. And from this space we see clearly, as Rudi teaches, we begin to understand our potential.
• From A Seat by the Fire: “Surrender is the ability to let go of the manifestation of attachments that arise in your mind… Surrender brings about a transcendental state because you gain the ability to rise above your own tensions and limitations.”
• From Spiritual Cannibalism: “The surrender begins to effect a balance… Only in a condition of complete inner harmony can you understand your own potential.”
• From Spiritual Practice: “Once you find that point of balance, that state of being inside of you, you don’t worry about defending your definitions so much.”
2. Equanimity as Cultivating Inner Strength to Remain Unaffected by External Chaos
Equanimity is also described as an ability to remain steady and unaffected by external situations. Through spiritual practices, practitioners learn to cultivate an inner stability that allows them to respond to challenges without being swayed by the drama of outer events. We might not always feel balanced, but we can focus on balance even amongst a wobbling mind and body. Equanimity is that steady internal gaze, no matter the outer circumstances.
• From A Seat by the Fire: “You neither embrace anything that comes nor run away from it. You stay in that state, and everything washes through.”
• From Spiritual Practice: “The more balanced you are, the more consciously you are able to deal with life’s situations. You are more perceptive and aware. You see a broader picture.”
• From Spiritual Practice: “If you are very balanced and calm in yourself, then you may be able to influence the outcome. You don’t run away from the situation.”
3. Equanimity as Clarity and Freedom from Ego-Driven Responses
Equanimity is achieved by moving beyond ego-driven thoughts and emotions, allowing a person to find clarity and make decisions from a place of inner truth rather than reaction. This clarity of mind and freedom from ego-based motives enhance one’s ability to connect deeply with the present moment and with others. In terms of preparing for meditation, this allows our practice to take on its most productive form, free from the influences of our mind.
• From A Seat by the Fire: “When you arrive through meditation to a place of clarity and deep surrender, then the next step is fairly simple and very obvious. It isn’t something that you have to reach out for.”
• From Spiritual Cannibalism: “The mind must be totally removed from the creative force as the inner work begins… If the force comes through the mind and emotions and you internally digest it… it will produce harmony.”
• From Spiritual Practice: “To have the opportunity at any point in your life to seriously work on those patterns is rare… it will give you the inner balance and the inner strength to have a successful and productive life.”
Reflect: Take a moment now to reflect on your experience of equanimity. What does it feel like to drop into this space at the end of your Bodhicitta practice? How do you access it, and what makes it feel real? Notice what arises when you’re in the space of equanimity—what does that sensation feel like to you? Consider, too, how you might guide others toward this space within themselves. Reflect on the steps you would take, the atmosphere you would create, and the words you might use to help others access this quality of centeredness and calm within.
In Conclusion
To conclude as we began, the qualities of Bodhicitta are intuitive and simple at their core—qualities that don’t require extensive study to understand. Just like a warm-up before yoga or a game, the preparatory exercises should remain simple, guiding you out of your head and into an inner experience. Hopefully, exploring these qualities through the lens of the Shambhavananda Yoga tradition has helped to expand, deepen, or root them within the context of lineage teachings. Take time to read the curated resources that offer additional quotes from teachers to further ground your experience.
As we’ve emphasized, these teachings serve to support your personal experience, which is always paramount. The reflection questions throughout are intended to help you connect more deeply with your inner journey, with the curated resources and quotes offering supportive grounding for that experience. Above all, let these teachings serve to enrich your practice and connection to Bodhicitta from the inside out.