Local Mandali Programs

SATYA Marketing 

Local Mandali Programs help teachers support and expand their communities through “grassroots marketing.” This is how most people find their way to Svaroopa^® yoga, through friends and recommendations.

By creating these programs for your students, you support their relationship with you. Also very important, you build their relationships with each other as well as deepen their understanding of what their yoga means to them.

You are welcome to mix up the months if you prefer, or even to use a program from a prior year. It's all about what works for you and your students. 

2025 Local Mandali Events

January: Plan Your Daily Practice

This month, make a plan to practice yoga every day. There are many ways to accomplish this: a daily Shavasana and/or Ujjayi practice, a pass through the spine along with Shavasana. Pick one practice that you know you can commit to every day and stick with it for the whole month. Maybe it could turn into the whole year!

It works best if you choose the same time of day as much as possible. This helps establish a regular pattern of practice, just as you do by attending classes regularly. Make this your New Year’s Yoga resolution. When you sprinkle yoga into every day, you’re giving yourself an upgrade that will make a real difference in your life.

Encourage your students to share what they choose to do. Ask them how doing their chosen daily practice is making a difference and offer tips on how to keep it going.

February: Send Smiles for Valentine's Day

Your smile is worth a million! Your smile lights up the world! Your smile is an expression of your heart and the Light of Consciousness pouring through you. Nothing pleases Gurudevi more than to see the Self shining through our faces.

This month, have your students take a selfie after their final Shavasana. If you’re onsite, take a group shot at the end of class! Send these to the Ashram for Valentine’s Day. With students’ permission, you can post them on your website or Facebook page (no names).

To send them to us, drag and drop your photos here.  If you want us to know who sent them, tell us in an email at satya@svaroopayoga.org. Or you can print them out and snail mail the pages.

What a delightful way to share your heart with one who cares and offers us so much — our own Gurudevi Nirmalananda

March: The Pause That Refreshes

The pause between yoga poses isn’t just a physical intermission; it’s an opportunity to experience inner bliss. When you rush through your home practice, you miss these sweet moments of deepening within and the continued changes that are still developing.

This pause is a conscious transition as well: a time to absorb and digest the energy, grace and transformation inherent in the Svaroopa^® practices. Encourage your students to take 3-4 breaths, pausing between sides or between poses. They’ll be amazed at how quiet their mind becomes.

While teaching this month, you can explain the value of the pause, especially while noticing the differences between their two sides.

April: Share the Gift of Yoga

Svaroopa^® yoga classes give your students something that keeps them coming back.

Your first yoga class gave you that something more, even when you weren’t looking for it. It opened you up to an experience of your Self. — Gurudevi Nirmalananda*

Encourage your students to share the gift of yoga. Have them invite a friend to an On-Site class for free. For an Online class, they could invite a friend to their home to take the class together. They could support their friend by helping them with props. Or their friend could join in online from their own home. Sharing the gift of yoga is the best gift you can give!

*From Forever Young, August 2013 Teachings Article by Swami Nirmalananda and Swami Samvidaananda

May: Pause Before Eating

Yoga recognizes the Divine in everything and everyone, including the food you eat. You are the Divine partaking in the Divine as you enjoy a meal. By not being aware of this, we dive into our food without a thought! From yoga’s perspective, taking a pause before you eat expands your awareness. It also improves digestion and assimilation of your food’s nutrients.

To help your students slow down and center before eating, have them try this simple awareness practice from Gurudevi: Take 11 Ujjayi breaths before their first bite.*

Ask your students to report on their experiences in class. They may notice just how much more flavorful their food tastes! And how much more consciously they are eating.

*From The Yoga of Food, a course by Gurudevi Nirmalananda

June: Tailbone Awareness Month

You’ve told your students many times: “It all begins at your tailbone.” Focus this month on Pawanmuktasana (Alternate Leg pose). This pivotal tailbone pose opens your spine and quiets your mind. It releases tensions in the deep muscles that go from your sitbones to your tailbone and into the bottom of your sacrum.

Add an extra Alternate Leg in your lesson plans OR include one of the many variations or adjustments you have learned in YTT. It’s a great time to review your pink sheets.

Challenge your students to do at least one Alternate Leg pose a day in their daily practice. Encourage them to pay attention to how their body feels during the day and to get down on the floor when they are achy or in need of more opening. Have them share what they are getting from this pose. This will help them realize how important their tailbone release is!

July: The Yogic Art of Cleaning

Shaucha means pure. It is the first of the niyamas, yoga’s lifestyle practices. This month’s activity explores its effects, both outside and inside.

Everyone wants pure water, pure food and a pure air quality but not many want a pure mind. — Gurudevi Nirmalananda*

Ask your students to pick an area of their home to clean, declutter and reorganize — their car, refrigerator or kitchen drawer, family room, etc. They can donate unwanted items to a charity.

As the month progresses,, ask them to report how cleaning and simplifying outer spaces has an effect on the spaces inside. Are they enjoying the results of their efforts? Have them to share their experiences of purification.

*From Pure, Purity, Purification, November 2011 Teachings Article, by Gurudevi Nirmalananda

August: Remember Your Inner Experiences

One of Swami Muktananda’s favorite spiritual practices was to sit in his garden in the afternoon and ponder that morning’s meditation. He would mull over it, re-absorbing it and reaping its transformative power. You can do that too.

Once a day take a “meditation remembrance” pause. It also works to remember a serene and luminous moment you had after your yoga class. The practice comes from this sutra:

Vishoka va jyotishmati. — Yoga Sutras 1.36

You refine your mind by remembering inner experiences of serene or luminous states.

This is an easy way to Imprint your mind with Consciousness. Contemplate the inner wisdom that is always inside. You can re-read something you wrote in your meditation/yoga journal. You may want to circle an entry that stands out for you. Practice remembering your enlightened moments!

September: Are You Breathing?

During this month, notice when you are not breathing. Then try the technique Gurudevi recommends:

When you notice your breath has stopped in the midst of your day, slowly exhale. You may even need to squeeze your breath out a little bit. Pause, an easy pause, then your breath will come in on its own, a natural full easy inbreath. Your breath will start up again with a quality of ease and openness.*

To help them remember to breathe, have your students put up notes around their house or in their car, with “Am I Breathing?” written on them. This is an amazing quick fix for finding Self again!

*From Mystical Yogic Breathing CD by Gurudevi Nirmalananda

October: Support = Release

Support = Release is a fundamental principle of Svaroopa^® yoga, something we experience in every pose. When you meet your body’s tensions with just the right amount of propping, you are able to let go and feel that reliable spinal release.

And when you align your body properly and lean into the support beneath you, something miraculous happens. It’s called svaroopa, the experience of your own Self.

This month ask your students to pay greater attention to their propping in class and in their home practice. As a teacher, see if they need help with certain poses or suggest an extra blanket or two when needed. During the month check in with them and have them report on the differences.

November: An Attitude of Gratitude

When you feel grateful for your life, you feel full to overflowing. You want to share and give to others without getting anything in return. Your inner fullness fills you with a deep, sweet peace. This is the effulgence of the inner Self. One who feels gratitude is truly blessed!

This month, give your mind a higher vibration by cultivating gratitude. Encourage your students to keep a daily list of what they are thankful for and have them share from that list weekly in class. At the culmination of their gratitude practice, encourage them to make a donation to Svaroopa^® Vidya Ashram or the charity of their choice. This is called the Yoga of Giving.

December: Meaningful Reflections

This month, have your students cultivate the art of spiritual reflection. As 2025 comes to a close, it’s the perfect time to reflect on what they’ve learned from practicing yoga and the changes they’ve experienced.

Ask your students to have pen and paper ready to write down a word or phrase during class, as they realize what they have gotten from yoga this year. Or they can note it on their phone, even send themselves an email.

Have them share what they have written at the end of class. At the end of the month, you can send out an email listing their responses.