In this heartfelt introduction to Yoga World, Ramakrishna Ananda shares how authentic yoga harmonizes body, mind, and spirit, leading one from stress into peace, joy, and levels of higher awareness. Drawing from his own journey and the wisdom of a number of prominent yogis, you are invited to explore Yoga World and discover yoga’s power to reveal the true self.

God, the Lord of all, is real and loves us. We are, unfortunately, often unaware of the Divine, not sensing the underlying Spirit in everyone and everything. The beauty of yoga is that it helps us awaken to the realization that God is real. Find out how to go beyond the confusion and delusion of maya. The Divine is calling you to wake up and come home. Can you hear the call?

Yoga can help reduce suffering. One can de-intensify painful experiences by moving from an ego focus to a sense of soul and Spirit. Yoga practices are designed to help us learn from life events, providing opportunities for change and transformation. While suffering is a human experience, its effects can be lessened. Try these techniques to help reduce any pain and suffering.

Yoga practice is designed to awaken the kundalini (the spiritual energy in the spine). As this latent energy stirs and rises up the spine, it brings spiritual awareness. You can’t make it happen but can prepare for it through sincere and loving yoga practice. Learn how yogis describe spiritual awakening.

Yogis find that the spiritual path is full of gusto and delight. They seek lasting, enduring happiness rather than fleeting enjoyments. As you prioritize your practice, you’ll welcome greater harmony, joy and bliss. Explore approaches which bring more joy into your life.

In the view of yogis, the main reason we are born as humans is to learn to love. The scriptures of the world urge us to love. The avatars, descents of Spirit who live among us and show us the way, teach love. Through yoga we can cultivate love, the heart’s true feeling. Enjoy these inspiring quotes from Sri Ramakrishna and experience the implosion of love.

In the view of yoga, we are created by the Divine to go through various experiences, eventually discovering our true nature. Then we can enter into the divine interplay between the individual soul and the Infinite Soul. Yoga practices help us develop these realizations.

Through bhakti yoga (the yoga of devotion) we can develop a personal relationship with God. The Lord, concerned with our feelings, thoughts and cares, wants to interact with us. We can live in a state of relatedness, where we have an ongoing interplay with Spirit — our spirit flows out to the Lord and the Infinite Spirit comes into us. As we relate to the Infinite in a personal way, six precious treasures are given to us.