At The Expanding Light

Deepen your spiritual practice with a routine of Paramhansa Yogananda's energization exercises, gentle Ananda Yoga, deep relaxation, and meditation.

Every morning and afternoon a gong rings seven times to call guests at Expanding Light into the temple for sadhana, or spiritual practices. For 35 years The Expanding Light Yoga and Meditation Retreat has been hosting truth-seekers who come to begin or deepen their spiritual search, or simply to rest and recharge.

With classes on hatha yoga, meditation, and personal growth, guests from around the world have benefited from the tiemless and practical teachings of yoga. Daily sadhana is an integral part of what The Expanding Light has to offfer, helping our guests begin and end each day with calm vital energy and deepened inspiration.

Join us now in this guided sadhana video by first focusing your body and mind with an instructional Energization Exercise routine, followed by a guided gentle Ananda Yoga posture session, with I, Omar playing in the background, one of Swami Kriyananda's most beautiful and inspiring musical scores. Next spend time in deep relaxation, and end with a period of meditation to commune with the joy that is within you always.

Below is short clip of the introduction and the beginning of the Energization Exercises created by Paramhansa (Paramahansa) Yogananda:

About Barbara Bingham

Barbara is a Hatha Yoga teacher, a Registered Physical Therapist and a former gymnast. She brings all of her training together in her yoga teaching and helps people enjoy using their bodies in the healthiest way possible. She can show clients how to adjust yoga movements to their particular limitations, whatever those might be. Known for her playful, approachable style, Barbara also brings compassion and sensitive awareness to her yoga teaching. She finds the greatest joy in making yoga accessible to everyone.

Barbara created a video, Yoga for Menopause, and is working on a book of the same title. She also has created The Expanding Light Sadhana DVD, a routine of Paramhansa Yogananda's energization exercises, gently Ananda Yoga, deep relaxation, and meditation. A woman of many talents, Barbara also serves as a photographer and graphic designer for The Expanding Light. She enjoys capturing the natural beauty of Ananda and the people who live and visit here.

Barbara says:

"Ananda Yoga has been a gift to me with its gentle but effective approach to movement, its potential for strengthening and stretching the body and mind, and its beautiful and powerful affirmations. I have been transformed by the teachings of Yogananda and by my associations with the people here at Ananda. I try and share the gift of peace that I have received by capturing the beauty of Ananda through photography and through teaching Ananda Yoga ."

From a student:

"Barbara made the program. Her background in Western medicine made what she taught logical and believable. Her knowledge of each movement will allow me to take home a newfound confidence in knowing the limits of my body and its potential. Barbara's spiritual process has given me a new confidence in my own path."

— Carolann Stoney, Pomona, CA