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SANGHA・Potluck & Community Time
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SANGHA・Potluck & Community Time

SANGHA・Potluck & Community Time

Celebrating 6 Branches of Integral Yoga
60 Year Anniversary Weekend Celebration • Friday, OCT 2 – Sunday, OCT 4
HATHA • physical well-being | RAJA • mental mastery | BHAKTI • devotion | JNANA • wisdom & Self-realization
KARMA • selfless service | JAPA • transformation through sacred sound

FREE | $54–540 Weekend Pass
Accepted memberships: Active teachers, Weekend Pass* holders, and “Friends” all levels.

All sessions are offered on a sliding scale to support accessibility for all. You may pay for individual sessions or purchase a Weekend Pass, which serves as one payment for all sessions throughout the weekend. Weekend Pass holders must still register in advance for each session they wish to attend in order to reserve their space. As a special weekend in support of our nonprofit mission, we invite you to contribute as generously as you are able to help us continue sharing the classical teachings of Integral Yoga with all who seek them for years to come. Thank you.

Book now/In-Person

We appreciate advance registration.

Join us in a joyful gathering of community, connection, and gratitude.
As we share a nourishing potluck meal and stories of how the teachings of Integral Yoga continue to touch our hearts and lives in meaningful ways. In this spirit of togetherness, we celebrate the living presence of Yoga in our community and our ability to meet life’s challenges together.
Please bring a vegetarian dish to share (no meat, fish, or eggs).

Swami Ramananda, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, is the Executive Director of the Integral Yoga Institute in San Francisco, C-IAYT, and a greatly respected senior teacher in the Integral Yoga tradition who has been practicing Yoga for over 45 years. Ramananda offers practical methods of integrating the timeless teachings and practices of Yoga into daily life and transforming the painful aspects of human experience into steps toward realizing one’s full potential.
He leads beginner, intermediate and advanced-level Yoga teacher training programs in San Francisco and offers a variety of programs in many locations in the U.S., Europe and South America. Ramananda co-developed the Stress Management Teacher Training program with Swami Vidyananda, has trained many teachers to bring Yoga into corporate, hospital and medical settings, and has taught mind/body wellness programs in many locations. He is a certified Yoga therapist and founding board member of the Yoga Alliance, a national registry that supports and promotes yoga teachers as professionals. He co-founded The Spiritual Action Initiative (SAI), which brings together individuals committed to working for social justice for all beings and for the care and healing of our natural world. His warmth, wisdom and sense of humor have endeared him to many.

View Weekend Schedule –PDF

Enjoy a Weekend Pass; make one payment and access ALL sessions throughout the weekend! Remember; Weekend Pass holders must still register in advance for each session that they wish to attend in order to reserve their space. When registering for individual sessions, select the Weekend Pass as your payment.

Book a Weekend Pass

Gift a Weekend Pass

Sevika Ford2026-09-09T10:04:59-07:00August 25th, 2026|Tags: community, Integral Yoga Potluck, Integral Yoga San Francisco 60th Celebration, Integral Yoga Sangha, Sangha|

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|

Sunday Spiritual Talk: Radically Unselfish
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Sunday Spiritual Talk: Radically Unselfish

Sunday Spiritual Talk: Radically Unselfish

$5-$20 | Enroll for free, use promo code FREE.

Book now/Online

Please register in advance; a Zoom link will be emailed 1 hour before the session, or join Zoom directly via your Momence

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. observed that, “The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around,” then immediately following, he also said, “that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.” Those words continue to be relevant today. Dr. King himself was beaten, stabbed and even jailed almost 30 times. Still, he continued on this path because he believed he could make a difference. Imagine if the rest of us took up even a fraction of that kind of commitment. Using the guidance of the Yoga Sutras, let’s come together for an hour long discussion to figure out what meaningful and sustainable action looks like today and bring the light of truth to overcome ignorance.

Satsang is a special time for us to come together as a community. In Sanskrit, Sat means truth and Sangha means community. Satsang offers an opportunity to come together to share spiritual teachings. The philosophy of Integral Yoga is explored often through an informal discussion. Although our spiritual paths may diverge, the act of sharing spiritual teachings with others is inspiring and creates a solid foundation for continued practice.

People of all faiths are welcome.

Mia Velez, E-RYT 500, entered the Integral Yoga Sangha in 2016 through the kitchen by helping to cook Thursday community lunches and silent retreat meals. In 2018 she was certified as an Integral Yoga teacher to learn more of the IYI approach and be part of the lineage. Mia is a disciple of the Moy Yat Ving Tsun Kung Fu lineage and is highly influenced by her martial arts training. After completing her first 200-hour teacher training in 2008, she began to see undeniable parallels in Yoga and Kung Fu. When she began teaching Kung Fu in 2014, she incorporated Yoga insight and principles in her classes. Her goal in teaching is to connect with the students and to facilitate a safe space for exploration and self-inquiry. Yoga and Kung Fu are integrated into her daily life as a mother, a preschool teacher, and an advocate for gender, race, and class equality through multiple non-profit groups.

Sevika Ford2024-12-16T18:35:48-08:00December 11th, 2024|Tags: community, Mia Velez, Sangha, Spititual talk, Yoga Sutras, Yoga teachings|