Thank you for inviting Swamiji to offer a satsang for your community! She’s delighted to meet everyone, whether it is for the first time or if she is meeting them again. Most importantly, she’s honored to be able to share the ancient tradition of satsang.
Satsang means “in the company of Truth.” It is a Sanskrit word, made up of “sat” (Truth) and “sangha” (in the company of). It is the primary way that yoga’s ancient sages have offered their teachings for thousands of years, since the time of the Upanishads. Swamiji continues this age-old tradition by sharing the depth and breadth of yoga’s timeless teachings in this free program. Click here for more info about what a satsang is. If you would like to invite Swamiji to offer a satsang, email Shantadevi (Serene) White, who manages her Ashram teaching calendar.
Your satsang includes several elements, depending on the time available. With 2 hours, she can include all of the following; a shorter time means that we make choices:
· Teachings – Swamiji will explain what a swami is, what yoga says about you and your life, and explain some of the key sutras and teachings as well as how they apply to modern life
· Questions & answers – questions on the teachings or on any subject
· Chant – kirtan, the traditional call-and-response chanting of Sanskrit mantras. It is especially beneficial before meditation. Most importantly, it offers an experience of pure joy
· Meditation – Swamiji will lead you into the inner experience that yoga promises, including basic meditation instructions for new meditators.
Making Plans
It’s very straightforward. Here’s a checklist of things to consider:
1. Date & Time
Swamiji’s current dates are listed above. Shantadevi (Serene) White is in charge of her Ashram teaching calendar, so you confirm the arrangements with her by email. Start with email and if you need to talk, you can easily set that up! Once we plan an event, she turns down other invitations. Thus, we really do request that you are certain this will work for you and your community before you confirm it. Thank you.
2. Location
Consider the size of your group when you are picking your location. If participants sit on the floor, the room can be smaller than if they are in chairs (but be aware of any local building or fire codes). Of course, if the studio where you teach classes is available, that is the best! More people will come if your satsang is there, plus you get to enjoy the shakti (energy) that remains for weeks afterward. In addition, it’s a great promotional event for your classes.
Cost is another consideration when choosing a location (see below). Someone’s family room or basement may work well. A local community center or church hall may be available for little or no cost, plus they may have chairs available for those who need them.
3. Local Community (Your Students ad Nearby Yoga Teachers)
Of course you will invite your own students, and they can bring interested friends and family. Other nearby Svaroopa® yoga teachers will also have students who are interested. Teachers in other yoga styles may want to support your event. In addition, inviting them is a wonderful reason to call them (don’t just email them!), thus creating more of a cooperative relationship with these teachers in your area.
If Swamiji has time available, and you can gather 12 or more local teachers of various styles, she will be happy to hold a private meeting with the group, which will take 1 hour or more. We can schedule this to be held before your satsang.
4. Additional Programs In The Area
If her travel and teaching schedule allows, Swamiji will be delighted to do additional satsangs in the area. This may involve you in communications with other hosts, so your events are mutually supportive rather than competing. Ideally, if someone has a good experience at a satsang on one evening, they are interested in going to another satsang the next day! Also, Swamiji can do two programs in a day, if they are within 2-3 hours driving distance from each other.
5. Costs (For Location Rental, Advertising, Travel, etc.)
As a swami, she is committed to making the ancient wisdom available to everyone. Satsang is one of the ways she does this, which means the satsangs are free for everyone. This means that any costs need to be donated by the sponsor(s), or donations need to be solicited to cover the costs. Please understand that Swamiji also has costs associated with your satsang.
For some satsangs, her airfare is paid by Master Yoga as part of her teaching in the area, but that airfare is doing double duty, so it is important to defray that cost for Master Yoga. Additionally, Swamiji may need drivers for her arrival and departure, with obvious costs related to that – which the drivers should not be expected to bear personally. Housing and meals are also a consideration. Thus, it is important to solicit donations to cover the costs (see below).
6. Approval of Your Promotional Materials (Flier, Email, Etc.)
You may use any descriptions from the Ashram website. You are also welcome to write a description of the event and what it is like to study with Swamiji, but we must approve it before you print or email it to anyone. Please allow us two weeks to respond once you send something.
7. Reservations & Mailing List
It is hard to plan how many will be attending. Even when you ask for reservations, people are less likely to register for a free event, plus they are more likely to be a no-show even when they do make a reservation. The best method is this – in the week before the satsang, ask the students in your classes how many of them are coming, and if they are bringing guests. Though you are announcing the event and inviting them for several weeks before the satsang, it is in the last week before that you can get a good estimate of how many to prepare for.
You can safely assume that everyone attending the program is interested in hearing from you and from Swamiji in the future. Please do add names of the new people attending to your own mail list. In addition, please provide the Ashram with their names for our mail list, which you can easily do by having a sign-in page or by using registration forms.
For the Ashram mail list, we need only their first and last name, email and zip code. You can send the information a few days later, in Excel or a Word document, or simply in the body of the email. Send the list to sva@svaroopavidya.org.
When you send this info, it would be great if you could include any comments you received from your students. These are very helpful for Swamiji in ascertaining how her teachings are being received. She is always working to finesse her teaching abilities, and make it easier for students to have a deep and profound experience.
8. Supplies
Chairs - Many yogis wish they were comfortable on the floor, but find that 2 hours gives them a “reality check” they weren’t ready for. They are better off in chairs. In addition, hopefully others will attend even those who are not yet in asana classes. Plan for half or more of the attendees to sit in chairs.
Yoga props – the Svaroopa® yoga blankets are best, but we can make do with a variety of blankets, pillows and bolsters. However, it is hard for Swamiji to teach meditation to people who are poorly propped and thus experiencing physical pain. If you don’t have enough props, please ask them to bring their own. Still you must anticipate that people who need 4 blankets will bring only one (unfortunately). This means you need to make sure you have some extra props available.
Harmonium – if we will be chanting, it’s best if Swamiji can provide live music. She plays the harmonium with the chant. However, having played harmonium for over 30 years, she is a little picky about the instrument. If you have a harmonium available for use, please have it available, but know that Swamiji might choose to lead the chant without the harmonium if it doesn’t have the sound she is looking for.
Teaching bench – Swamiji prefers to sit on a coffee table! This means it needs to be wood (not glass), and sturdy enough to hold her without being wobbly or getting damaged. The table elevates her so everyone can see her, and (more importantly) she can see them. It also is easier to transport and set up than a chair, most of which don’t have the solid seat or straight back that Swamiji prefers.
She will need two yoga blankets and a white sheet for the top of the coffee table. Set the coffee table up so that the wide side faces the students.
Place one “flat” on top of the table to pad it. A “flat” is a yoga blanket, folded long and narrow with 8 layers of blanket in it. This is how many teachers have their blankets folded when they are stacked up.
Take the second “flat” and fold it one more time lengthwise (not like a “fold”), so it is even narrower than the flat. It will have 16 layers of blanket. Place it on the back edge of the bottom blanket, for Swamiji to use as a “wedge.” Leave at least 20” of the lower blanket showing (uncovered), measuring from front to back.
Put the sheet on top of the whole thing.
If Swamiji will be playing the harmonium, it’s best if it is on a matching end table, which is the same height as the coffee table. Set this up along the right side of her teaching seat. She will need someone to move it into place in front of her when it is time to chant.
Puja table – Place a small table at Swamiji’s left side, for the photo of her Guru, which she will bring with her. She’d also appreciate one flower blossom or a fresh leaf (no stem, no vase, no water) that she can place at His feet (at the base of the photo). No candles, please. Please do not set up a flower arrangement.
Bottled water – She would also appreciate having one small water bottle. Please don’t provide a pitcher and glass, as she won’t take the time to pour it during her presentation.
9. Room Preparation
Set the room up early, before anyone arrives. You may want some helpers to come early and help you. Have the chairs in rows in the back half of the room, with space in the front for people to sit on the floor. If you have enough props, place one pillow or blanket in each floor-spot, so people know where they can sit. Then they can bring in their own props or get additional props from the stacks at the sides or back of the room in order to prepare their seat.
Be there to welcome everyone. You may want others to help you with welcoming, so you are free to have a private conversation with someone without the new arrivals being neglected. Look each person straight in the eyes, with a joyful smile and welcome them lovingly – on Swamiji’s behalf! Thank you!
Have everyone seated by 15 minutes before your starting time, and ask them to sit quietly for the last few minutes. Play one of Swamiji’s chanting CDs, to help them settle quietly into themselves. Late arrivals may come in as they arrive, simply taking their seat quietly. Swamiji will arrive about 10 minutes before your starting time.
You or someone else needs to meet her outside. You’ll gather her supplies and take them inside to set up at her teaching seat.
Guru Photo – Swamiji will give you a framed photo of her Gurus, with a silk cloth to place it on. Place it on the puja table at her left, with the photo angled slightly (so that she can see it). Place the single flower blossom at the base of the photo. If no flower is available, pick a small leaf from a plant and place it there.
Asana – Swamiji will give you a woolen cloth to place on her seat, on top of the blankets and sheet.
At this point, if people are talking, make an announcement that Swamiji has arrived and ask for their respectful silence as she comes in.
10. Introductions
Swamiji would love to have you introduce her! You can use anything that’s written in her bios, available on the Ashram website, Master Yoga’s website and in Master Yoga’s publications. The best introduction you can offer is when you tell them something about yourself – about why you have invited her and what you hope they get from the event.
After your introduction, Swamiji will thank you for your invitation and hard work, and also ask everyone who helped you to stand up so she can thank them.
11. Closing & Departure
At the end of the satsang, Swamiji will leave while people are still seated. She’ll thank everyone for their kind attention and probably thank you and your helpers again. She’ll explain that you have some announcements, say her farewell, bow to them, and simply walk out of the room. One of the reasons for this is, if she stays, many people want to ask her about their neck and back problems, which you handle very well. Or they want to know about their sister who wouldn’t come to the program – when her focus is on the people who did come to the program! Also, when she stays, the room turns into pure chaos. People stand around, the volume gets louder and louder, and they all forget that they had an inner experience.
Swamiji will need her supplies (photo and asana, and maybe her harmonium) brought out to her right away. You’ll probably need a helper to do this, as you’ll be standing to make your final announcements, and probably a donation request (below).
12. Donation Request
Beyond the costs of the satsang (described above), Swamiji is trying to build the treasury for Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram. Thus she does ask that hosts request donations of the attendees. We’ve had groups offer anything from $200-$2,500, depending on how many people were there and how enthusiastic they are about the Ashram.
Donations are also an important part of yoga, as they give students a way to express their gratitude in a tangible way, as well as an opportunity to practice generosity. Therefore, it is important for you (and the others who are helping you) to understand the importance of supporting the satsang financially.
Thus, please do consider two parts to cultivating donations. This means you could do both of the following:
(1) Ask your co-teachers and/or sevites to pledge a certain amount to cover the costs. You can easily figure out a suggested donation amount by considering how much you’d like the core group to donate and dividing it by the number of people who will be contributing.
(2) Plan a way to make it easy for attendees (satsangis) to offer donations. This can include any one (or several) of these ideas, which have been done by other satsang hosts:
Donation baskets that are visibly placed with a sign over each, “Donations for Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram”
A comment in the promotional flier/email mentioning, “Donations appreciated”
Or listing a specific amount in the fliers/emails, as “suggested donation” or “minimum donation”
Making an announcement about donations being gratefully accepted. Such an announcement should be done when Swamiji is out of the room, either before or after the satsang, or both.
We will send you Ashram Donation Envelopes about a week before your satsang. You can place these in the basket as well as hand them out when you make your announcement.
Each donor will receive a nice thank you from the Ashram. Please send the donations to Svaroopa® Vidya Ashram, 1400 Hampton Drive, Downingtown PA 19335. Please include a note identifying them as coming from your satsang. If you prefer, you can go online in the Ashram website and use your credit card, and simply deposit their donations in your account.
If there are cash donations, please deposit them to your account, write a check to Svaroopa Vidya Ashram (or SVA), for the total and send it with the donation envelopes, or use the credit card method already described.
We Help You
Shantadevi works with your planning and in confirming your satsang. We can also help you with preparing a flier, simply putting your location and date in a flier that many have used before.
Once you have confirmed your satsang, Pat Morrison will contact you. She will help you with any questions or concerns, and will stay in touch through your preparation period. She is in close contact with Swamiji and can get information from her or give information to her quickly and easily.
Both Shantadevi and Pat are volunteers, doing seva for the Ashram and to support Swamiji. Thank you
We are very grateful for your loving invitation. Swamiji says, “I look forward to having this personal and intimate time with you and everyone else!” Namaste
For more information
Swamiji’s current dates are on our Calendar.
Shantadevi (Serene) White is in charge of Swamiji’s Ashram teaching calendar – click here to email her.
Pat Morrison coordinates satsang details with the host, after the satsang is scheduled and confirmed – click here to email her