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Dhyanyoga Centers (DYC) was established over 30 years ago to provide a vehicle for Shri Anandi Ma and Dileepji to do work on behalf of Dhyanyogiji. There are local groups spread throughout the world. Each group offers instruction in meditation and weekly public meditation programs.
Dhyanyoga Centers-Antioch is our first official center in the United States. Our center's mission is to bring you the purest form of yoga to help you go within, reach your own source, and ultimately find your own internal truth.
Below is an excerpt of an interview done with Shri Anandi Ma on her vision for the new center in Antioch,CA.
Q: What is the reason that you have built the center in Antioch? How will it benefit the public?
A: The center will offer services, programs and classes that will help people to improve their health, reduce stress, and enhance their relationships. The key to all of these aspects of human life is to go within. That’s where the treasure is. Through meditation, we come to know ourselves. Once we know ourselves, these other things can be achieved, we can understand life, reach our true identity, and play our part in supporting a better community and a better world.
Q: I hear that you will be offering Hatha Yoga classes. What is the advantage to taking yoga classes at
your center?
A: The goal of yoga is to improve physical health, mental clarity and to reach your spirit. For most of us, our bodies and minds are the master of our spirits; the goal of yoga is to free the spirit so that it can become the master of the body and mind. At our Center, yoga asanas are taught according to the original teachings because this contains the maximum benefit. Many other styles of yoga are offered now that have been adjusted to suit the culture and times, but although there may be some physical benefits on the surface, these adjustments actually diminish the effects of the techniques as they were originally conceived. Fundamentally yoga is designed to support your spiritual growth, not just physical health.
Q: Speaking of the origins of yoga, how far back does your tradition of Kundalini Maha Yoga go?
A: It is difficult to give an exact number but over 10,000 years.
Q: How did you learn these ancient teachings?
A: We learned from our master Dhyanyogi Shri Madhusudandasji. He then chose me as his successor as head of the lineage of Kundalini Maha Yoga.
Q: I understand that you also have an ashram in India. What is it like to be a Master of such an ancient path in the modern world of Antioch, CA as opposed to your ashram in India?
A: There is no difference. We are here to help people wherever they are. The spirit is universal energy and resides in every person as the soul. Since India is the birthplace of these practices, there is more general support, but people seek to learn to meditate and to develop inner peace universally, not only in India.
Q: Will the public be able to meet Shri Anandi Ma at the center in Antioch?
A: Yes. That is a major reason why we have built the center as well—so that there is a place where I can be in residence for certain periods so that people can come to weekly meditations, workshops and seminars.
Q: Other than meditation and hatha yoga, what other classes will be offered?
A: We will teach classes on healthy cooking; life styles based on Ayurveda that support balance of body, mind and spirit through proper eating and breathing; and we will also offer individual and group counseling.
Q: If you had to sum up one goal for your center, what would it be?
A: To reach your own source; know yourself, go within, and find your internal truth.
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