Yoga Beyond Asana

Open to the Fountain of Happiness!

An Interview with Satya Kalra

By Randy Peyser

 

Kalra is the author of Yoga Beyond Asana: The Complete Guide for Blissful Life, which offers a 30-day program to open to a greater fountain of happiness in one’s life. Satya is also the founder of Path to Anandam, a non-profit that promotes the “Anandam Lifestyle” (Blissful Living).

Yoga Beyond Asana is a guide for self-transformation that explains how to apply the true meaning of yoga to one’s life. It takes the reader on a beautiful, daily spiritual journey to access one’s Higher Self.

Satya works with individuals in seminars, small study groups, and online venues, and also leads workshops at large conferences in the U.S. and India. When you look at Satya’s picture, you can see that she embodies the bliss she teaches. Her personal mission is to live in love, peace, and Anandam, propagating blissful living.

Yoga Beyond Asana contains daily messages and beautiful color illustrations, and makes a perfect gift for those who want greater happiness. A Daily Planner in the back makes it easy to do personal transformational processes.

 

Randy Peyser: Why did you write Yoga Beyond Asana?

Satya Kalra: Millions of people practice yoga postures (asanas) without understanding the true meaning of yoga. Most people see yoga as a physical practice. If they can do their poses, touch their toes, and feel more flexibility or become slimmer, they feel they are doing yoga. These are all parts of yoga that are concerned with external activities. However, yoga offers so much more than physical exercises; yoga connects you with your True Being, your Self, and the Divine, the Supreme.

Yoga has 8 elements. Asanas (postures) are only one of the elements. Weakness in the body requires asanas. However, some of the other elements include: the recitation of AUM, which is AUM Yoga; Surrender Yoga or Let Go Yoga, which is where you put yourself in the arms of the Divine; Action Yoga, where you perform services for others without expectations of a return; and Compassion Yoga, where you feel compassion and express love for people, especially when they’re sick or need emotional support.

There is also a form of yoga called, Sorrow Yoga or Despondency Yoga, which involves the calling for Divine help during a difficult situation and acting accordingly with faith.

Sorrow is the foundation of first Yoga. Many people get connected to Divinity through sorrow, which might be the first time they’ve asked the Divine to help them. It might also be the first time a person starts to feel humble, more human, or even appreciates help from others when they are sick. Sorrow makes people feel more grateful.

Randy: Can yoga apply to every aspect of our lives?

Satya: Yes, every activity can be yoga, and every moment of our lives can be a practice of yoga to keep us connected to our super consciousness. People can even practice yoga on their death bed (by reciting Aum mantra Gita 8.12.13). Yoga takes you beyond your body and connects you with your mind and with your Supreme Higher Self, which is what we call Spirit or God or Super Consciousness. Basically, we connect with the Higher Self.

Randy: So yoga can help people make choices in their lives by helping them to establish a deeper connection with their Higher Self.

Satya: Yes. Yoga helps you discriminate between what to do, what not to do, and how to do it. Then you can make your own choices and your choices will be coming from your Higher Self, not just from the physical or mental level/ego. When we make choices from our mental level, we do not have that global vision. Yoga gives you higher vision to help you make your own choices.

Randy: You were a CEO of a successful biotech company. What led you to leave that life behind?

Satya: I left India 42 years ago and arrived in a new country, with a new culture, and a new language. I felt lost and disconnected. I got degrees in life sciences, but also took courses in business management. Whatever career goals I set, I achieved, but the higher I reached in the biotech world, I still was not happy.

My inner voice kept telling me to do another path. I had been meditating for 35 years. With God’s blessing, one night when I was pregnant with my second daughter, Mintee, a golden energy with an AUM symbol encapsulated me. Every night, I drew that golden energy to me like a blanket and entered into that golden energy and slept all night in that light. I think that was my guiding light.

I was still doing all my other activities, but I did not get disconnected. I stayed fully connected. But I was still not happy within my life. I was spending so much time in my career that I could not share what I was experiencing within my inner world with anyone and I could not help people as much as I wanted to.

Finally, with God’s grace, the Divine call came to me. I re-signed from my CEO position and started Path to Anandam to help people become happy, and that is also the reason I wrote Yoga Beyond Asana.

Once people learn how to open up the fountain of happiness within themselves, they want to share their happiness. Then wherever they go, people will ask, “How come you are so happy?” When I shake hands with someone, people often ask, “How come I have goose bumps just from shaking your hand?” The answer is that the Divine energy flows when you find that blissful place to live from. That is the true purpose of yoga.

Satya has so generously offered to donate the profits from sales of Yoga Beyond Asana to help Awareness Magazine staff writer, Randy Peyser, pay medical bills for breast cancer.

To purchase Yoga Beyond Asanas or find out about Satya’s upcoming workshops in the U.S. and India, visit: PathtoAnandam.org/yoga-beyond-asna.php.

Randy Peyser edits books and helps people find literary agents and publishers. www.AuthorOneStop.com