yoga journey
I was introduced to yoga asanas as a child by my mother who was a student of Lilas Folan's televised class. Since then I have had many yoga teachers along the way. In my later adolescence I entered a bhakti yoga ashram and began a serious and dedicated practice.
During several trips to India, beginning in 1990, I had the privilege of formally studying bhakti yoga under Bhakti Prapanna Damodara Goswami, of Jagannatha Puri, in Orissa, who gave me the Sanskrit name Krishna Kanta Dasi (servant of the Goddess) during a traditional diksha (Brahmin) initiation ceremony in the gaudiya vaishnava heritage. Later, in 1996 I began studying Svarupa Yoga in La Jolla, California, under the direction of Kundalini master Swami Nirmalananda, formerly known as Rama Berch. In 2003 I received Shaktipat Kundalini from Rabbi Gabriel Cousens at his ashram in Patagonia Arizona.
Despite my path's apparent eclecticism, I have been a steady practitioner of bhakti yoga since 1986. Twenty years later, I co-founded The Secret Yoga Institute with author and teacher Graham M. Schweig, my life partner. Together, as registered yoga teachers, Graham and I create and present teaching materials for yoga teacher training courses and workshops. My meditation videos have been shown at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC and I've served as a contributing editor for Integral Yoga Magazine for several years.
In 2017 I was honored to edit Bhakti Blossoms, the first collection of contemporary poetry by women in the Bhakti Yoga vaishnava tradition, published with Golden Dragonfly Press, and featuring the voices of 108 participants from around the world.
articles
Mantra, Yoga & Health Magazine article (April, 2014)
"The Darkness that Embraces Light" The Tattooed Buddha, Nov. 2020)
"Dancing with Demons", The Tattooed Buddha, June, 2020
"When Spiritual Teachers Hurt Us",The Tattooed Buddha, February, 2019
"Healing the Heart with Conscious Speech", The Tattooed Buddha, May, 2018
"Sticks and Stones: The Practice of Conscious Speech, Part II", The Tattooed Buddha, May 2018
"Drops of Grace: Reflections on Gratitude," The Tattooed Buddha, November 24, 2016
“Karuna Sindhu: Oceans of Compassion,” The Tattooed Buddha, November 9, 2016
“Ayurveda Recommends More Hugs in Autumn,” The Tattooed Buddha, September 18, 2016
“You are Worthy of Love,” Yoga Revolutionaries, August, 2016
“All You Need is Love,” Yoga Revolutionaries, July 2016
“Conflicts and Really Listening: Bhagavad Gita’s Peace Formula,” Yoga Revolutionaries, June 29, 2016
'Women of Bhakti and Buddhism: Ending the Silence' The Tattooed Buddha, September 8, 2015
‘How Yogis Succeed in Relationships According to the Bhagavad Gita’ Integral Yoga Magazine, Winter 2014
'The Yoga of Poetry’ Adore Yoga, September 11, 2014
‘The Blossoming Lotus’ Mantra Yoga + Health, April, 2014
‘Honoring the Feminine Heart’ The Interfaith Observer, March 15, 2014
‘The Light of The Heart’ Mantra Yoga + Health, December 2013
‘Our Mystical Relationship to Circles’ Holistic Diva Living, October 10, 2013
‘Secrets of The Feminine Heart: Radhashtami Reflections’ Rebelle Society, September 12, 2013
‘The Scared Circle of Yoga’ Integral Yoga Magazine, Summer 2013
‘Nourishing our Yoga Practice’ Integral Yoga Magazine, Spring 2013
‘The Lights of Enlightenment’, Integral Yoga Magazine, Winter 2013
‘Mantra Medicine’ Integral Yoga Magazine, Fall 2012
‘Rhythms at the Heart of Yoga’ Integral Yoga Magazine, Summer 2012
Sadhana: Alchemical Fire of Spiritual Practice’ Integral Yoga Magazine, Spring 2012
‘Creative Play as Yoga’ Integral Yoga Magazine, Winter 2012
‘The Breath of Bhakti: Pranayama from a Devotional Perspective’ Integral Yoga Magazine, Summer 2008
‘Music of The Universe: Our Relationship with Sacred Sound’ Integral Yoga Magazine, Winter 2008
For 25 articles on yoga published in Elephant Journal, click here.
inside an asana series
‘Savasana: A Passage to Immortality’
Integral Yoga Magazine, Fall 2011
‘Padmasana: Lotus— The Emblem of Divine Beauty’
Integral Yoga Magazine, Summer 2011
‘Bhujangasana: The fertile Snake of Consciousness’
Integral Yoga Magazine, Spring 2011
‘Surya Namaskar: Honoring the Divine Light of The Self’
Integral Yoga Magazine, Winter 2011
‘Vrikshasana—The Tree Pose’
Integral Yoga Magazine, Fall 2010
‘The Peacock Pose: Dance with Divinity’
Integral Yoga Magazine, Summer 2010
YOGA IN THE GITA
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“With this wonderful new book, Catherine and Braja take us on a great leap forward in our ability to learn and grow and love according to the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita. In doing so, they help bring the "Gita" back toward its rightful place in the Western yoga world, and they even take great pains to show how it all ties in with the Yoga Sutra.” -Bob Weisenberg Editor of Best of Yoga Philosophy, Author of Yoga Demystified, Bhagavad Gita in a Nutshell, Co-editor of Yoga in America
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