The Book That Fell Off the Shelf
I’m not exaggerating when I say that my copy of Autobiography of a Yogi literally fell off a bookshelf and landed at my feet. I was in a used bookstore in Portland, browsing the philosophy section, when a thick orange paperback tumbled to the floor. I picked it up, read the back cover, and something in me said, “You need this.”
That was five years ago. Since then, Yogananda’s teachings have become a daily part of my life. But getting started was confusing. His world is vast, dozens of books, multiple organizations, various meditation techniques, a whole lifestyle system. When you’re standing at the trailhead, the mountain looks impossibly large.
If you’re just beginning with Yogananda, this is the seven-day guide I wish I’d had. Not a comprehensive overview, just enough to get you started without feeling overwhelmed.
Day One: Read the First Three Chapters of Autobiography of a Yogi
Don’t start with Yogananda’s teachings. Start with his story. Autobiography of a Yogi is one of the most widely read spiritual books in history, Steve Jobs had it as the only book on his iPad, and it was given to every attendee at his memorial service. But it’s not a manual. It’s a narrative, vivid, personal, sometimes fantastical, always engaging.
The first three chapters cover Yogananda’s childhood in India, his early spiritual experiences, and his relationship with his mother. They’re beautifully written and immediately pull you into his world. You don’t need to believe everything he describes. You just need to read with an open mind.
“The deeper the self-realization of a man, the more he influences the whole universe by his subtle spiritual vibrations, and the less he himself is affected by the phenomenal flux.”
– Paramahansa Yogananda (1946)
Set aside thirty to forty minutes. Read slowly. If something resonates, sit with it for a moment before continuing. If something sounds unbelievable, let it pass without judgment. You’re not here to evaluate. You’re here to receive.
Day One Practice: Five Minutes of Stillness
After reading, sit quietly for five minutes with your eyes closed. Don’t try any specific meditation technique. Just sit and notice what the reading stirred in you. Maybe it’s curiosity. Maybe it’s skepticism. Maybe it’s a strange sense of recognition. Whatever it is, just be with it.
Day Two: Learn the Hong-Sau Technique
Yogananda taught several meditation techniques, but the one he recommended for beginners is Hong-Sau, a concentration technique that uses the breath as its object.
Here’s the basic method: Sit comfortably with your spine straight. Close your eyes. Focus your attention on the natural flow of your breath, don’t control it, just observe it. As you inhale naturally, mentally say “Hong” (rhymes with “song”). As you exhale naturally, mentally say “Sau” (rhymes with “saw”).
That’s it. The breath leads; you follow. The mental sounds give your mind something to do besides wander. When your mind does wander (and it will, frequently) gently return to the breath and the sounds.
Yogananda said this technique calms the mind by slowing the breath, which in turn quiets the thoughts. I’ve found it to be one of the most accessible meditation techniques I’ve ever tried. It requires no special posture, no timer, and no prior experience.
Day Two Practice: Ten Minutes of Hong-Sau
Set a gentle timer for ten minutes. Practice Hong-Sau. Don’t worry about doing it “right.” The fact that you’re sitting, breathing, and returning your attention when it wanders is the practice. Everything else is refinement that comes with time.
Day Three: Read Yogananda on the Spiritual Eye
In Chapter 14 of Autobiography of a Yogi, Yogananda describes the “spiritual eye”, the point between the eyebrows that he considered the seat of spiritual perception. This concept is central to his meditation practice.
You don’t need to understand it fully yet. Just read about it and, during your meditation today, experiment with gently focusing your closed eyes slightly upward, toward the point between your eyebrows. Not straining, just resting your gaze there. Yogananda said this focus helps concentrate the mind and opens the door to deeper meditation states.
Day Three Practice: Hong-Sau with Spiritual Eye Focus
Do your ten-minute Hong-Sau session, but this time, add the gentle upward gaze. You might notice a subtle difference in the quality of your attention, a slight sharpening, a feeling of greater focus. Or you might not notice anything different. Both are fine. The practice is the same regardless of what you feel.
Day Four: Explore the Energization Exercises
Yogananda developed a set of physical exercises that he taught alongside meditation. These “Energization Exercises” involve systematically tensing and relaxing different parts of the body while directing energy to them through concentration.
You can find basic descriptions of these exercises through the Self-Realization Fellowship (the organization Yogananda founded). For today, try a simplified version: stand up, take a deep breath, and tense your entire body for a count of five. Then release completely. Do this three times. Notice how your body feels after the tension releases, that relaxation is the state Yogananda wanted people to cultivate before sitting for meditation.
“The body is literally manufactured and sustained by mind.”
– Paramahansa Yogananda (1946)
Day Four Practice: Body Tension Release, Then Hong-Sau
Do three rounds of the full-body tension-and-release exercise, then immediately sit for ten minutes of Hong-Sau. Notice whether the meditation feels different after the physical preparation. Most people find it does, the body is more settled, the mind follows.
Day Five: Read About Yogananda’s Guru, Sri Yukteswar
Chapters 10 through 12 of the Autobiography introduce Sri Yukteswar, Yogananda’s guru. These chapters are among the most memorable in the book, Sri Yukteswar was demanding, precise, sometimes harsh, and deeply loving. His relationship with Yogananda is the heart of the book.
Reading about this relationship teaches you something important about the yogic tradition: it values the teacher-student bond as a vehicle for transformation. You don’t need a guru to practice Yogananda’s teachings. But understanding the role of the guru in his tradition helps you understand why his teachings carry the particular warmth and authority they do.
Day Five Practice: Fifteen Minutes of Hong-Sau
Extend your session to fifteen minutes today. You might encounter restlessness or boredom, both are normal at this stage. When they arise, treat them the same way you treat any other thought: notice, release, return to the breath.
Day Six: Introduce a Short Prayer or Affirmation
Yogananda used affirmations and prayers extensively. He believed that words spoken with deep concentration and feeling could impress the subconscious mind and shift consciousness. His book Scientific Healing Affirmations contains dozens of these.
For today, choose one simple affirmation from Yogananda’s teachings and repeat it silently for two minutes before your Hong-Sau session. A good starting affirmation: “I am calm. I am peaceful. I am well.”
Say it slowly. Feel each word. Don’t rush. The affirmation is a warm-up for the meditation, it sets the emotional tone for the silence that follows.
Day Six Practice: Two-Minute Affirmation, Then Fifteen Minutes of Hong-Sau
The total session is now about seventeen minutes. Notice how the affirmation affects the quality of the meditation that follows. Many people find that the affirmation creates a sense of calm that carries into the Hong-Sau practice.
Day Seven: Sit in Silence and Review
On the seventh day, don’t read. Don’t learn anything new. Just practice what you’ve learned.
Start with the body tension-and-release exercise (one minute). Then do your affirmation (two minutes). Then do Hong-Sau with the spiritual eye focus (fifteen minutes). Then sit in silence for five minutes, doing nothing at all, no technique, no effort. Just being.
This twenty-three-minute session is a complete practice. If you did only this, every day, for the rest of your life, Yogananda would consider it a meaningful spiritual practice.
Exercise: Your Weekly Review
After your Day Seven session, take five minutes to write down your experience of the week. Not an essay, just brief notes. What felt natural? What felt forced? What surprised you? Did any particular moment stand out?
This isn’t grading yourself. It’s listening to your own experience. Yogananda valued direct experience above all else. He didn’t want followers who believed his teachings on faith. He wanted practitioners who tested them and discovered their truth firsthand.
Your first seven days are just a beginning. If the practices resonated, continue them. If you want to go deeper, Yogananda’s organization offers structured lessons that progressively introduce his more advanced techniques. But don’t rush. A daily practice of Hong-Sau, done with sincerity and consistency, is more valuable than a dozen advanced techniques done sporadically.
Yogananda crossed an ocean to share these practices with the West. The least we can do is sit down, close our eyes, and give them an honest try.
