About Our Santosha Shala
Santosha Shala means, sacred home of contentment. Santosha Shala is a collective effort to create a cozy space where we can practice the Art and Science of Yoga.Louise Scalza, a Licensed Massage Therapist will also offer Massage Therapy and Reiki in our space.
Yoga Teacher Training Certifications will also be held in this space.
A Jewel in the Lotus is a 200 and 500 hour Registered School with Yoga Alliance. Continuing Education Credits can be given to current teachers since Diana and Angela are each, Experienced Registered Yoga Teachers (E-RYT).
A Jewel in the Lotus Yoga will offer an ongoing Yoga Teacher Mentoring Program. Workshops and small group classes will be held in our space. Please click on the Studio Schedule to find the class that best fits your schedule, life, and personal Yoga goals. You can also always book a small group or private as well.
Angela will be teaching her regular schedule with Fitness Incentive in Babylon and Suffolk Community College, while involved in this project. Angela will be offering Retreats and Workshops regularly... As always.
How the Name A Jewel in the Lotus Came To Be
Om Mani
Padme Hum means, hail to the jewel in the lotus. This Mantra was given to me by the Himalayas while Climbing
them in 2000. I had a seizure at 17,000 feet...which was quite severe.
I guess I had what is called a "near death experience"...in the
Himalayas of Nepal. It was an experience of Death and Life for me. When I
eventually returned to America after 6 weeks in Nepal I decided to take
my first Yoga Teacher Training.
My personal understanding of this Mantra is why I chose to name my Yoga Studio and my business A Jewel in the Lotus. A Lotus grows out of mud and muck unstained to then bloom into a beautiful flower. Through my experience and experiences shared with me by my Teachers, Students and fellow Yogi's that through Practice we peel away layers of "mud and muck" to see who we truly are... A Jewel in the Lotus.
Om mani padme hum is the universal mantra of Love and Compassion, and its immediate meaning is "Hail, the Jewel in the Lotus". When this mantra is recited, it is in fact continually repeating the name of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of all compassion and love.
This mantra is invested by the grace and power of the mind of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva who himself gathers the grace of compassion of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas. In this view, the mantra is endowed with the capacity to purify our mind from the veils that obscure it. The mantra opens the mind to love and compassion and leads it towards awakening.
This mantra is indicated by the next four syllables. MANI, meaning jewel, symbolizes the factors of method-the altruistic intention to become enlightened, compassion, and love. Just as a jewel is capable of removing poverty, so the altruistic mind of enlightenment is capable of removing the poverty, or difficulties, of cyclic existence and of solitary peace.
The two syllables, PADME, meaning lotus, symbolize wisdom. Just as a lotus grows forth from mud but is not sullied by the faults of mud, so wisdom is capable of putting you in a situation of non-contradiction whereas there would be contradiction if you did not have wisdom.
Purity
must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and wisdom,
symbolized by the final syllable HUM, which indicates indivisibility.
According to the sutra system, this indivisibility of method and wisdom
refers to wisdom affected by method and method affected by wisdom.
Each
syllable has a genuine purifying effect: OM purifies the veils of body,
MA purifies the veils of speech, NI purifies the veils of mind, PAD
purifies the veils of conflicting emotions, ME purifies the veils of
latent conditioning, HUM purifies the veil that covers knowledge.