Dynamic Stillness Part Two: The Fulfillment of Trika Yoga by Swami Chetanananda

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About the author

Swami Chetanananda (Swamiji) is the abbot and spiritual director of The Movement Center, based in Portland, Oregon. A teacher in the lineage of Bhagavan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri, he is a powerful presence and a source of great nourishment for those who come in contact with him. Born and raised in the Midwest, Swamiji’s life was transformed, in an instant, upon his first meeting with his guru, Swami Rudrananda (Rudi), in New York City in 1971. Swami Chetanananda describes the moment: “I took one look at him and melted . . . I felt an extraordinary beauty and love shoot into me and shatter me . . . It took me all of five seconds to know that this was what I had lived for.” Since that day, Swamiji has devoted himself to realizing his highest potential and to empowering others to realize theirs. He teaches eyes-open meditation, a direct transmission practice in which teacher and student share the experience of the underlying unity of all things. In 1978, Swamiji took sannyas with Swami Muktananda, and took the name Chetanananda, meaning “the joy of consciousness.” In the course of his studies with Muktananda, he began to explore the teachings of Kashmir Shaivism. Recognizing that the treatises written by the practitioners of this tradition described much of his own experience, Swamiji studied Shaivism in depth. He spent time with Swami Lakshmanjoo in Srinagar and has collaborated with major scholars and sponsored translations of many important Shaiva texts, including the first English translation of the Tantrasra of Abhinavagupta. Swamiji has a profound grasp of the philosophical and practice traditions he has studied. He conveys their essence in direct and accessible terms, making them relevant to everyday circumstances. He offers simple, practical techniques for working with creative energy and explains them in ways that can be practiced by anyone. The fundamental method he teaches uses the power of the breath to circulate the creative energy (kundalini) and intensify its flow so that tensions and obstacles are dissolved, leading to a more refined awareness. To learn more about Swamiji’s teachings, retreats, and travel schedule, as well as programs and publications available from The Movement Center, visit www.themovementcenter.com.

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Dynamic Stillness Part Two

The Fulfillment of Trika Yoga

by Swami Chetanananda

Overview

Dynamic Stillness brings the Indian tradition of Trika Yoga into a Western idiom. This two-volume series presents a comprehensive overview of Tantric spiritual practice as taught by Swami Chetanananda. The focus is on self-mastery through the practice of meditation. Part Two, The Fulfillment of Trika Yoga, delves more deeply into the traditional model of strategies (called upayas) for spiritual growth and explores how the groundwork laid in a beginning practice unfolds into an increasingly refined awareness throught three dimensions of practice: individual effort, energy, and the Self. Together these elements bring a practitioner into the direct experience of the vibrant awareness that is our very essence, which Swamiji calls dynamic stillness, and provide concrete tools with which to address the challenges of life.

Description

Dynamic Stillnessss, a two-volume series, aims to bring the Indian tradition of Trika Yoga into a Western idiom. The two volumes present a comprehensive overview of the meditation practice taught by Swami Chetanananda, a practice which involves working with a teacher, meditation itself, and extending what we learn through our spiritual practice into every area of our lives. Together these volumes present what is both an ancient system and a contemporary, living one, with the two elements complementing and illuminating each other. The first volume, The Practice of Trika Yoga, discusses in some depth the questions likely to face a person as he or she begins a spiritual practice. It reviews the elements of Trika Yoga from the perspective of the beginning student. This second volume, The Fulfillment of Trika Yoga, briefly reviews the contents of Part One, giving an overview of the beginning phase of practice. It then explores how the groundwork laid in beginning practice unfolds into an increasingly refined awareness. Part Two is not merely a discussion for advanced students, however. The beginning student will discover that this refined awareness is already a part of his or her daily experience. The issue is one of training ourselves to sustain that awareness regardless of what is going on around us. Therefore both volumes provide useful orientations to a student at any point in his or her inner work. In this sense they function together as a practitioner’s manual.