Marilyn Russell, Author at Integral Yoga San Francisco

About Marilyn Russell

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So far Marilyn Russell has created 22 blog entries.

Coming Full Circle at the IYISF

by Kirana Stover

In the Winter of 1987, I studied in San Francisco. I lived on Guerrero and 22nd St. in a studio apartment with a bed that pulled out of the wall. Just up the street I discovered the Integral Yoga Institute of San Francisco, wonderfully spacious and welcoming. I had met Swami Satchidananda a few years earlier in Richmond, Virginia, when I was still in high school, so when I came upon the Institute, it felt familiar.

I was on a student budget and was offered the chance to do “Karma Yoga” mostly consisting of vacuuming the luxuriant blue rugs, in exchange for yoga classes. I loved the staircase with a secret message in the banister. I remember taking a class upstairs and at the end having a vision of Jesus shedding a tear, which turned into a diamond as it dropped into the palm of my hand.

I often studied in the cafes of the Mission District. There were so many characters in the cafes. One was dressed as a cowboy – with a vest and a hat – who sported a mustache painted on with black eyeliner. He sat at a long wooden table with me while I studied. One day he pulled a tiny piece of paper from his billfold and handed it to me. I was astonished to read the Gayatri Mantra printed there.

Another day while doing my Karma Yoga, Nischala Devi, a swami then, walked in the door. She had just returned from Portugal. I believe I first met Swami Asokananda under similar circumstances. Looking back, I never would have guessed that I would someday visit Quinta da Calma, the place Nischala Devi was returning from or that I would open an Integral Yoga Center near Barcelona. Both Swami Asokananda and Swami Ramananda have visited my yoga center. Swami Divyananda, another San Francisco regular, has been there as well. Such blessings have been showered on me!

In 1999 I returned to San Francisco for a visit and had lunch at the Institute. It was memorable because of the eclectic gathering of guests. I remember one yoga student who sold popcorn and hotdogs at the baseball stadium.

In 2023, I returned to Richmond to be with my mom. She had been diagnosed with metastasized breast cancer and very little time to live. Thanks in great part to my long-time yoga practice – “effort toward steadiness of mind” – I was able to be present with her during this time. My book, Mom’s in There was inspired by the time I spent with her. She related to the Om Shanti chant in a unique way. During her last weeks she began sharing poetry and during her last days she began using archaic pronouns.

While studying in San Francisco I decided to do my senior thesis about dreams, specifically about how other cultures had used dreams to solve conflict and whether we could do the same. This led me to several numinous experiences over a period of several years. Being with my mom was also numinous.

Why am I writing all of this? Because, as my friend Ulrika Schygulla says, “Living is round”. Life, like God, works in mysterious ways. I am filled with a feeling of grace at the chance to return to the IYI San Francisco next month and share my journey.

Marilyn Russell2025-10-14T09:24:07-07:00October 15th, 2025|Tags: Karma Yoga, mothers, yoga|

Caring, Useful, and Supportive Members of the Community

by Swami Ramananda

At the close of our morning meditations, the residents of the Institute reaffirm the intention we hold for our spiritual growth while living together in community. For the month of October, we chose a phrase from this affirmation as our focal practice: “to be caring, useful, and supportive members of the community.” This intention, however, extends far beyond the Institute. It is relevant to anyone who interacts regularly with family, co-workers or friends. Practiced sincerely, it can deepen our awareness of our interconnectedness and of the many ways we can contribute positively to the world around us.

These three words—caring, useful, supportive—invite us to approach others with an open heart, mindful of their well-being and the needs of the whole. We express caring when we genuinely wish for others’ happiness, appreciate their strengths, overlook their shortcomings, forgive their mistakes and take time to listen with understanding.

When we observe behavior that may cause harm, this intention reminds us to offer feedback with care. That means choosing the right time, speaking humbly from our own experience without judgment and remaining open to the other’s perspective. Such conversations can be challenging, but when grounded in sincerity and humility, they often deepen trust and foster mutual growth.

To be useful in community means actively seeking to contribute to the shared values and efforts of the group. Beyond our personal tasks, we find ways to serve—supporting our families, assisting co-workers or stepping in where help is needed. At the Institute, this takes the form of shared responsibilities such as cleaning, doing dishes or caring for our space together. Usefulness also appears in less tangible ways: offering prayers for peace, giving others opportunities to shine or cheerfully stepping in when someone falls short.

Ultimately, being caring, useful, and supportive reflects a shift from me-centered to we-centered living—a movement toward realizing that loving others is, in essence, loving ourselves. My teacher, Sri Swami Satchidananda, expressed this beautifully: “Real love is possible only when you see everything as your own expression. All others are none other than you; they just appear to be different. When we rise above the worldly limitations, we will find that the essence is the same.”

This practice is not about adding new obligations but about cultivating a way of being. To be caring, useful, and supportive is to remember our shared humanity and to live in harmony with it. Each small act of kindness, service or understanding becomes a step toward a more compassionate world—one in which we recognize that the good we offer to others is also the good we offer to ourselves.

Marilyn Russell2025-10-05T18:39:37-07:00October 6th, 2025|Tags: caring, community, Service, supportive, useful|

Yoga and Relationships

Part 1 Learning to Love
Applying the teachings of Yoga to our relationships can be a potent way to learn and grow on the spiritual path. Yoga teaches us that there is a natural, unchanging peace within us all. When we experience that internal source of deep contentment, we also feel our interconnection with all of life and a natural love and compassion for each other.

When we lose touch with that inner sense of fulfillment, we look outside, often to each other, as a source of happiness. We all may discover at times that we are unconsciously depending on others to feel good about ourselves or to feel safe enough to open our hearts. Loving someone becomes contingent on feeling sure that she/he loves us. Sri Swami Satchidananda would tease us about this form of love, calling it a business arrangement.

The love and support of others is not something we can control and count on to always be there. So the more we depend on what others think or feel, the more we set ourselves up for disappointment and suffering. Though we may have heard the teaching that nothing from outside ourselves can make us happy, we come face to face with that truth in our relationships.

Of course, we all enjoy the heart to heart connections we make with each other – deep friendship and intimate love are beautiful and powerful aspects of human life. What we must learn is to love without looking for something in return, experiencing the joy of giving love. When a mother loves her baby, she doesn’t expect anything — the experience of opening one’s heart fully to another is itself fulfilling. We are all learning, often from the pain of our unhealthy attachment to others, to love in this selfless way.

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Part 2 Maintaining Equanimity in Relationships
Just as we learn to open our hearts in relationships with those we love, we must also learn in our difficult relationships. If we dislike someone that we find annoying or shun those that are struggling, we also suffer from closing our hearts with negativity. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali clearly advises us to cultivate an inner response of compassion to someone who is suffering.

In this context, a compassionate mindset does not dictate specific behavior. It means that we keep our hearts open to the suffering of others. Compassion may take many forms — anywhere from lending a helping hand to offering a prayer, acting with kindness or listening with empathy. This practice keeps our hearts at peace, knowing that we too struggle when challenges arise.

The Yoga Sutras also address situations in which a person’s behavior is hurtful toward us or others. Rather than judging or condemning such a person, we can cultivate equanimity of mind. We may avoid such a person or set boundaries to protect ourselves, but we can refrain from developing anger or bitterness which have no real benefit, and act as a poison in our hearts.

Even when such behavior is directed at us, we can learn to not take it personally, so that someone else’s actions do not ruin our efforts to remain at peace. We may still choose to correct a person’s inappropriate behavior, but without malice toward the person who is likely suffering in some way.

This last relationship is especially challenging since it is easy to be swept away by anger or resentment. But the benefit of cultivating equanimity even in the most difficult circumstances holds immense potential for us. We can learn to live with peace in our hearts no matter what behavior we encounter. Even a little progress allows for the natural flow of love and compassion outward through the heart, which is one of the most fulfilling expressions of our true nature.

Marilyn Russell2025-09-09T18:10:23-07:00September 10th, 2025|Tags: Attachment, Equanimity, friendship, intimacy, love, relationships, Yoga Sutras|

Unraveling Our Conditioning

by
Kia Meaux

There is a constant force shaping our experience that we usually don’t recognize: we are often “at the effect” of everything we encounter. The reactions that arise within us in response to these experiences are called the “effect.” For example: we might see a steaming cup of coffee. We experience the effects of this encounter as: craving, a rush of energy, and the internal thought “I need that.”

We typically don’t realize that we are controlled by our own biases and reactions to everything we come across. Every perception—whether dramatic or subtle, physical or mental—affects us in some way.

One of the key roles of the mind is the ability to decide what is beneficial and what is harmful for us. This allows us to steer clear of negative experiences and embrace positive ones. However, much of this decision-making happens automatically, without conscious thought.

This process plays a dual role: not only does it help us navigate life, but it also shapes the very sense of who we are. Because of this, the origins of these decisions often remain hidden from our awareness. What we do feel, though, are their consequences. By closely examining these consequences, we can begin to uncover the deeper patterns or “programs” that drive our behaviors and responses so persistently.

It can be a very powerful practice to begin noticing everything you are at the effect of and understanding what the effects are. The more fully we observe the ways we automatically react to events, the better chance we have for slowing down such impulses and making more conscious choices.

Marilyn Russell2025-08-12T15:02:17-07:00August 13th, 2025|Tags: awareness, conditioning, consequences, craving, Kia Meaux|

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