The meaning of spirituality has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape of man", oriented at "the image of God" as exemplified by the founders and sacred texts of the religions of the world. The term was used within early Christianity to refer to a life oriented toward the Holy Spirit and broadened during the Late Middle Ages to include mental aspects of life.
A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions. The feminine form, sometimes used in English, is yogini.
Paramahansa Yogananda was an Indian-American Hindu monk, yogi and guru who introduced millions to meditation and Kriya Yoga through his organization, Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) / Yogoda Satsanga Society (YSS) of India – the only one he created to disseminate his teachings. A chief disciple of the yoga guru Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, he was sent by his lineage to spread the teachings of yoga to the West. He immigrated to the US at the age of 27 to prove the unity between Eastern and Western religions and to preach a balance between Western material growth and Indian spirituality. His long-standing influence in the American yoga movement, and especially the yoga culture of Los Angeles, led him to be considered by yoga experts as the "Father of Yoga in the West". He lived his last 32 years in the US.
Ravi Shankar is an Indian yoga guru, a spiritual leader. He is referred to as Sri Sri (honorific), Guru ji, or Gurudev. From around the mid 1970s, he worked as an apprentice under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation. In 1981, he founded the Art of Living foundation.
Kriya Yoga is a yoga system which consists of a number of levels of pranayama, mantra, and mudra, intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development and engender a profound state of tranquility and God-communion. It is described by its practitioners as an ancient yoga system revived in modern times by Lahiri Mahasaya, who claimed to be initiated by a guru, Mahavatar Babaji, circa 1861 in the Himalayas. Kriya Yoga was brought to international awareness by Paramahansa Yogananda's book Autobiography of a Yogi and through Yogananda's introductions of the practice to the West from 1920.
Inner peace refers to a deliberate state of psychological or spiritual calm despite the potential presence of stressors. Being "at peace" is considered by many to be healthy (homeostasis) and the opposite of being stressed or anxious, and is considered to be a state where our mind performs at an optimal level, regardless of outcomes. Peace of mind is thus generally associated with bliss, happiness and contentment.
Autobiography of a Yogi is an autobiography of Paramahansa Yogananda published in 1946.
Karma yoga, also called Karma marga, is one of the four classical spiritual paths in Hinduism, one based on the "yoga of action", the others being Jnana yoga, Rāja yoga and Bhakti yoga. To a karma yogi, right action is a form of prayer. The paths are not mutually exclusive in Hinduism, but the relative emphasis between Karma yoga, Jnana yoga and Bhakti yoga varies by the individual.
Nath, also called Natha, are a Shaiva sub-tradition within Hinduism in India and Nepal. A medieval movement, it combined ideas from Buddhism, Shaivism and Yoga traditions of the Indian subcontinent. The Naths have been a confederation of devotees who consider Shiva as their first lord or guru, with varying lists of additional gurus. Of these, the 9th or 10th century Matsyendranatha and the ideas and organization mainly developed by Gorakhnath are particularly important. Gorakhnath is considered the originator of the Nath Panth.
Be Here Now, or Remember, Be Here Now, is a 1971 book on spirituality, yoga, and meditation by the American yogi and spiritual teacher Ram Dass. The core book was first printed in 1970 as From Bindu to Ojas and its current title comes from a statement his guide, Bhagavan Das, made during Ram Dass's journeys in India. The cover features a mandala incorporating the title, a chair, radial lines, and the word "Remember" repeated four times.
The Isha Foundation is a nonprofit, spiritual organisation that was founded in 1992 near Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, by Sadhguru. It hosts the Isha Yoga Centre, which offers yoga programs under the name Isha Yoga. The foundation is run "almost entirely" by volunteers. According to Sadhguru, the word isha means "the formless divine".
Ram Charan is an Indian-American business consultant, speaker, and writer resident in Dallas, Texas.
Sadhguru is the founder and head of the Isha Foundation, based in Coimbatore, India. The foundation, established in 1992, operates an ashram and yoga centre that carries out educational and spiritual activities. Sadhguru has been teaching yoga since 1982. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy and Karma: A Yogi's Guide to Crafting Your Destiny, and a frequent speaker at international forums.
TarcherPerigee is a book publisher and imprint of Penguin Group focused primarily on mind, body and spiritualism titles, founded in 1973 by Jeremy P. Tarcher in Los Angeles..
Swami Mukundananda
Sri M, also known as Sri Madhukar Nath, is an Indian yogi, spiritual guide, orator, and educationist. He is an initiate of the Nath tradition of Hinduism and is the disciple of Sri Maheshwarnath Babaji, who was a disciple of Sri Guru Babaji. Sri M lives in Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh, India. He received the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian award, in 2020.
The International Day of Yoga is a day in recognition of Yoga, that is celebrated across the world annually on June 21, following its adoption by the United Nations in 2014. As Yoga exercises have shown significant benefits for physical and mental well-being, it was considered important by the UN to globally promote this wellness practice, which originated in ancient India.
The Adiyogi Shiva bust is a 34-metre tall (112 ft), 45-metre long (147 ft) and 25-metre wide (82 ft) steel bust of Shiva with Thirunamam at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. It is recognized by the Guinness World Records as the "Largest Bust Sculpture” in the world. Designed by Sadhguru, the founder and head of the Isha Foundation, the statue weighs around 500 tonnes.
Michael Alan "Mickey" Singer is an American author, journalist, motivational speaker, and former software developer. Singer is best known for his writings on spirituality, meditation, and New Age philosophy, and two of his books on the subject, The Untethered Soul (2007) and The Surrender Experiment (2015), were New York Times bestsellers. Singer established the Temple of the Universe, a yoga and meditation center in Alachua, Florida, in 1975.
Gurus of Modern Yoga is an edited 2014 collection of essays on some of the gurus (leaders) of modern yoga by the yoga scholars Mark Singleton and Ellen Goldberg.
