Invoking The Divine: Eric Stoneberg on Deity Practice & Daily Life

As those of you who have attended my live events know, I am wildly inspired by the Indian mythological tradition, and have been weaving deity practice into my personal sadhana for a number of years now. Recently I took some time off from live teaching and put together an online program entitled Sacred Story, in which I share some of what I have learned about Indian myth and Hindu deities. This has been some of the richest learning I have done on my own path of yogic studentship and looking back I can see it has been done in three parts. One part includes learning from teachers who have brought these teachings into their own lives, while another comes from my own personal study and reading, and third is the learning done through bringing these stories, and the characters within them, into my daily life through personal practice and contemplation.

As I prepare to offer my Sacred Story course  I wanted to bring in the voices of some of the teachers who have inspired me most, and share them with you.  The very first person I thought of speaking to was  New York yoga teacher Eric Stoneberg, so last week I got on the phone with him and we had a super fun chat on the topics of deity practice, personal sadhana, mythology and more. Eric is someone who has supported me on my own path through his many audio courses (which you can check out here) and it was pure delight to talk with him in person about these practices which are so very alive for him. Eric is a student of Rajanaka Yoga and shamanism, and has learned much from his own teachers, whom he has been studying with for a long time. And yet he truly has made the practices his own, which is why I wanted to talk with him and share his perspective with all of you.  I have always found Eric to be a teacher who strongly encourages practice, exploration and inquiry as a way of deepening knowledge, and someone who has an overall message of personal empowerment which I think you will enjoy. One of my favourite things he said in this chat is “We learn from each other, and we empower ourselves.” I truly love this!
If you would like to listen in on our conversation you can do so using this link here.
Our chat was less of an interview and more of an informal conversation between two people who share a common interest, which I hope you will find interesting. As we talk we will touch on many topics such as-

• the possibilities of deity practice
• the power of story
• the path of self empowerment and personal initiation
• how to foster your own intimate relationship with the deities as supportive allies
• seeing the mythic themes in your everyday experience
• and much more!

Listen to what Eric shared with me here, and to find out more about him check out his site www.ericstoneberg.com.
Please share your comments or questions below, as I would love to hear your insights and perspectives too!