Albuquerque Meditation Group

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Marsha Gaillour

via Google

I have attended the Albuquerque Meditation Group of Self Realization for more than 38 years. It has been a great foundation of support on my spiritual path. I travel often these days and it is always nice to come home to a welcoming family that practices the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda. It is a place of dedicated effort and practice of these teachings. The friendships I have experienced have been life long.

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The Change Leader

via Google

I have attended the Albuquerque Meditation Group for 8 years, and been a member of SRF for over 30 years. The experiences I have had at AMG and other SRF temples, centers and groups have been nothing short of welcoming and joyous. I strongly recommend AMG and SRF for anyone who is serious about learning about and following the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, author of the spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi.

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Kira Watt

via Google

This group has been a part of my life since I was a young child. I am grateful for these teachings and for this community.

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Kali Bone

via Google

I will start this off by saying I appreciated the Sunday morning experience in meditation hour with our family together including our four children and after that the Sunday school we attended with our children. We were told in the early morning that the meditation group in the evening on Sunday was for all - that it wasn’t for members only. So we showed up to the three hour meditation with our family on this Sunday evening. Immediately upon walking through the front door to the outside yard where the group was - that was doing the energization techniques, my husband was rudely pulled inside in an annoyance by one of the main woman who run the place (who has a husband who helps run it as well - he greets people at the door.) I could hear her annoyance at my husband upon talking with him as I stood just outside the door with the group doing the exercises. After around 10 minutes the outdoor part of the technique was done with, and the group walked inside and the woman’s voice changed from annoyance to “nice.” But this was “covert niceness.” Then she tried to scurry us off to the chapel right upon us walking inside - she said “this is advanced technique” in a covert nice but truly mean way, she asked us to go wait somewhere away from the group. As if my family is below “advanced technique.” She scurried us off as if we were children in trouble for being somewhere we shouldn’t have. To be very clear we are direct disciples of other guru’s - one has very endearing love to Yogananda, and all of our gurus are “Nath lineage Guru’s.” Even our twelve year old is a direct disciple of our family gurus and is initiated into Kriya Yoga. At one point when we were alone with her husband - all I said was I was “very confused by the lady.” The husband told me to “watch out, be gentle that’s my wife.” I am allowed to feel and say my feelings always - that I’m confused. The ladies husband even said it was strange because the energization technique is for everyone - yet she surely segregated us and told my husband it was for members only. Maybe this “covert niceness” was said indicating a problem that our kids meditate. Many there in the one hour morning meditation seen it was very easy for our children to meditate a full hour in silence. My guru’s were meditating for hours when they were 3 and so was Yogananda at some young age. We were definitely treated in a distasteful manner by this couple. And if its no kids for any meditations than that too was not said anywhere - like “no kids allowed anywhere besides Sunday school.” Kids are - all of life and the separation of kids as if kids should just worship fun and not learn focus just doesn’t suit our family nor yoga in general. Even when my now 6 year old son was 5 he could say very advanced Sanskrit mantras, that even some adults should not say as they are too powerful and not their right path. But we enjoyed spending time with a lot of you, our family enjoyed a lot of you all. I have a very huge disagreement with this lady’s husband that doesn’t think kids should deeply meditate. The lady’s husband even said to us he see’s those 12 year old kids in India meditating for 12 hours a day and he doesn’t believe kids should do that - that they should be kids. But this thinking is adharmic because the most advanced beings today were the ones meditating for hours a day as kids, including Yogananda and our family’s gurus which are also very well known. The lady’s husband called mine to discuss this and he said that they were doing techniques that were for members only but when this incident occurred the lady’s husband said he didn’t know why it wasn’t okay for us to be there, because the energization technique is for everyone. So thank you for the ones who were authentic towards us in well being. The lovely people around only gave us compliments of our children meditating. It was also lovely to see people who although we have different Gurus - our paths connect. Om Babaji.

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Meena Makhijani

via Google

Tranquil location for meditation.