Here’s a film that has been making the rounds lately. It’s called "The Secret." The message of the movie is: thoughts become things. Well that is how the universe works. It is the most basic concept of meditation. In the movie, everyone from quantum physicists to philosophers state that everything is energy: Ek Ong Kar, we and God are one. Basically, if we think negative, critical thoughts, we attract negative manifestations in our lives and if we think positive, loving, creative thoughts, we manifest those things in our lives. What that means is that passionately fighting against something you dislike actually produces more of that very thing. For instance, why do people protest war instead of being pro peace? We have the power to choose what we wish to think about. It’s the most important power we have. What do you choose to think about? Take a look:
Archive for the 'Meditation' Category
It’s definitely Winter… well in the Northern Hemisphere anyway… and this time of year is actually my favorite time of year. It is both very special and very potent. We are approaching the Winter Solstice - the darkest point of the solar year. The sacred energy of the Winter is the seed energy of the coming year. Under the snow, in the stillness of this time of deepest darkness, the seeds of the coming year lie waiting to germinate and awaken. Just as the Summer Solstice is the time of the most powerful male projective energy, Winter Solstice is the deepest time of the feminine power. That’s why this time of year is celebrated in so many cultures and traditions: Christmas, Diwali, Chanakuh, etc. The celebration of the return of the Light. Here in the northern latitudes, midwinter’s day has always been an important time for celebration throughout the ages. On the shortest day of the year, the sun is at its lowest and weakest point - the nadir from which the light then will grow stronger and brighter. This is the turning point of the year. The Romans called it Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. It is an opportunity for deep transformation. Within each of us new modes of perception and new ways of working together are opening up. It is a time for renewal and regeneration. In these times of so much change and transition, we need to move cautiously and be guided first by our negative mind so that we can listen deeply and be fully aware of all the forces at play. Then the positive mind can do its part, and through meditation, the neutral mind will function.
Some of us are blessed to gather and meditate together, but all of us, wherever we may be at this time, can do the following meditation which is effective for transition and for opening up hidden channels within ourselves.
- Place the left hand, palm flat, over the heart (hand is open and relaxed, fingers point towards the right shoulder)
- Place the right hand, palm flat, on the top of the head (dasam duar)
- Breathe slowly and deeply. Look down at the tip of the nose with the eyes nearly closed. Listen to the Raga Sadhana CD by Sangeet Kaur and Harjinder Singh.
(You can get this CD at SpiritVoyage.com)
…..Guruka Singh
Earlier in June when we had the Jaap Sahib Course here in Espanola, New Mexico, Sukha Singh (UK) showed me an awesome audio recording that he had of a really young Sikh boy from Anandpur Sahib who played the Nagara Drum with amazing skilll. When you hear the rhythm of it, one definitely feels the spirit of Guru Gobind Singh ji. The recording was only for a minute or two long so Hari Singh (Vancouver) looped it to go for 11 minutes. Sukha Singh later led us in a meditation with this audio, as we chanted the Guru Gayatri Mantra "Gobinday, Mukhanday, Udharay, Apaare, Hariang, Kariang, Nirname, Akame" along with the rhythm of the drumming.
Listen to the below audio track and you’ll see what I mean. Sit down and get in a meditative posture and powerfully chant the Guru Gayatri Mantra along with the beat.
Audio of The Ranjit Nagara Drum
Download MP3
RANJIT NAGARA : Literally: the drum (Nagara) of victorious (Ranjit) or the "drum of victory". In 1684, Guru Gobind Singh Sahib got a special drum prepared. It was named Ranjit (the winner of the battle-field). This drum was beaten at Kesgarh Sahib throne, at Aanandpur Sahib, every day, as a declaration of the sovereignty of the Sikh nation. Guru Sahib made it obligatory that before the closing of Gurdwara, Nagara must be beaten. Nagara is a symbol of sovereignty. Only the winner of a battle could beat it. Nishan (flag) and Nagara (drum) are an integral part of a Takht (Khalsa Throne) and all the Gurdwaras.
Ranjit Nagara (A Poem)
Today I hear your thunder.
For the first time. But not the first time.
The rhythm is familiar. Yet, I’ve never heard it before.
You call out to battle, but your echo is your only answer.Maybe you long for a different time.
A time I do not know. But I wish I did.
Your beat would have proclaimed my destiny.
In the last moments of my life, I could justify my existence.Today, your drum still sounds a call to battle.
While many listen, no one hears.
There is no battle, and there is no cause.
There is no glorious death to be had.Perhaps you and I are strangely similar.
Your sound makes me, too, yearn for that different time.
You would sound, and I would answer.
And in my death, we both would find our meaning.~ RMS
Poem from the blog: "Memoirs of an Errant King"
Narayan is almost five years old (on Aug 12) and I am realizing more and more how important it is for him to get an experience of what we do every day (yoga, meditation, banis, etc). He is like a fireball bouncing all over full of energy. A while ago I decided to commit to taking time every morning to do a daily Sadhana with him to help him with this. Kids these days have so much outside stimuli and are very hyper, so I think it is important to challenge them and teach them how to still their mind and body. This is what I am working on with Narayan.
Every morning we take about ten minutes to sit down together to do some different things. I try to vary what we do every day a little bit…so that he doesn’t get bored with it. I generally start with some basic yoga. Kids when they are really young are naturally very flexible…but as they get older loose this if they do not stretch their body out (we need to take care of our body and our mind!). Narayan isn’t very flexible anymore so we have been working on him stretching out and then doing some various other yoga excercises. If you are interested you can get a great book called "Fly Like a Butterfly: Yoga for Kids" by Shakta Kaur. She also has a website with some yoga for kids. Narayan has fun with this :)
After body is warmed up, stretched out and more relaxed…we do a meditation. This is what I really want Narayan to work on. It is hard for him to still his mind/body and focus internally. So, we have been doing different meditations. Mostly, just sitting still with eyes closed and spine straight, and chanting a mantra (could be Mul Mantra, Wahe Guru to some tune, or others). We have started with just a mere 3 minutes, and it can be hard for him, but he is definitely getting better and more focused. It’s really great seeing the difference in how his energy changes after doing it. He slows down and get’s more centered.
I realize how important it is to take this time to teach your kids these types of things and give them an experience. They may not be really into it when they start out but when they are older and have that experience and base…then they will thank you. It is also a challenge to keep it as a positive thing and not something that they are being forced to do (negative).
I work all the time so it is always something hanging in my mind reminding me that I have to spend time with Narayan to teach him these things. It’s so easy to just get caught up in every day life and be "Busy"…and loose touch with what is most important. So…my point is that all of us parents should take the time to find something to do with our children and teach them. Teaching starts at home with the parents. We can’t expect our children to be stay Sikhs if we have not taught them the reasons and given them an experience that they relate to.
This afternoon when we were doing a meditation I looked over my shoulder and saw Nirvair Singh sitting there meditating and the lighting was pretty cool. The setting sun was shining on his face and behind him was a purple cloth along the wall, and the light was also shining through that so it made a purple glow.
Tonight I would like to share with you an extended trailer of a nice documentary, Beautuful as Butterflies, which was just produced by Jai Jagdeesh Kaur from South Africa. This blog post is its debut on the internet, so you are some of the first few to see it outside of South Africa. I hope you all enjoy and appreciate the story (as much you can from the short trailer). The full documentary is about 56 minutes long.
The film chronicles the story of four brave women from poor communities in Cape Town South Africa, who have been abused in different ways during their lives. It explores their experiences and healing using Kundalini Yoga and the creative arts to overcome the pain from these past experiences.
Sexual and physical abuse towards woman and children is more common then you probably realize. Even within the Sikh community. It’s one of those "hush hush" topics that don’t get discussed often. It’s important that woman have a support system and way to deal with these issues. Otherwise they can hold this pain for the rest of their life. In this video one of the tools is Kundalini Yoga, which helped change their lives, and allow themselves to deal with the pain.
"What Kundalini Yoga has done for me, a doctor would never have been able to do," says Rachma Attwood, now in her sixties.
"It was as though my body was in knots," explains Rachma. "Yoga undid them." Attwood believes that Kundalini Yoga and her prayers have brought her to the restorative space in which she now resides.
Desiree Mathinus, who has worked in the laundry facility at the Cape Town military base for 20 years, says that yoga has changed the course of her life forever. Radiant and full of enthusiasm for each day, she and Rachma are training to become yoga teachers so that they can convey their experiences with others in their community to whom yoga is not yet readily available.
The film provided the vehicle through which Desiree Mathinus, who was abused since the age of 7 by a family member, courageously shared her suffering for the first time. Yoga gave her the means to repair her soul. Her husband is a priest and now she uses Kundalini Yoga in her counseling with his parishioners. Her own priest extols the virtues of the Yoga. Margaret Jones and Nomsa Ntlabati, a rape crisis counselor, both sing praises of Kundalini Yoga and the journey it has taken them on.
As a result of the film, St. Joseph’s Adult Education Program has been approached by psychiatrists from state mental hospitals, prisons, and centers for abused women, and we are teaching Kundalini Yoga in all these various communities.
Kundalini Yoga became a life line of hope for all four women who took hold of this chance to voice their history and re-discover joy. They remembered the words to long forgotten songs and once more learned to sing.
Beautiful as Butterflies will be screened at the European Yoga Festival in France on Thursday, July 27, 2006, at an evening study group at 5:30 p.m. in the chateau. For further information and to purchase a DVD, visit www.stjosephsaep.co.za. All proceeds from the film go to their non-profit organizations.
Jai Jagdeesh Kaur/Julia Landau is the director of two nonprofit organizations, St. Joseph’s Adult Education Program and Footprints Educational Trust, which both provide skills training. She is also a filmmaker, a journalist, a mother of three, and a Kundalini Yoga teacher. Journey to Myself, her latest book, contains creative writing from women in prison. She was given the Sunflower Award for her work with women from marginalized communities.
Watch The Extended Trailer Video
Here is an excerpt from the book "Victory & Virtue" and few pictures that I have added to the article. This portion was written by Guru Raj Kaur (Vancouver, Canada) relating to Yoga and Sikhi. I just thought it is another similar perspective that might be interesting to you all.
"It is the Shabad Guru which unites us to the Infinite, through the meditation on the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. Kundalini Yoga prepares us to hear that Shabad.
While compiling this book, we were aware that it would be read by Sikhs who chose to become Sikhs, as well as those who were born into a Sikh family, usually of Indian origin. It is historical fact that almost all of the people who chose to become Sikhs were inspired to do so through the practice of Kundalini Yoga and the practice of Nam Simran at Kundalini Yoga classes. I do not believe that this is a coincidence. I believe that by the Grace of Guru Ram Das, who sits on the Throne of Raj Yog, the teachings of Kundalini Yoga were brought out of India to the West to lead the souls whose destiny it is to walk in the Guru’s Way unto the Guru. I believe that it is important to maintain the practice of this "preparation". We also recognize that it is the Grace of the Guru which leads us unto liberation.
Kundalini Yoga is the householders yoga. It is the Yoga of Awareness, of Charhdi Kala. Guru Nanak admonished the yogis of his time that they were on the wrong path, teaching them that leaving their families, leaving this world and practicing austerities would not merge them with God. This is true. He did not teach that yoga itself is bad and in any way incongruent with the life of a Sikh. In fact, the internal process of merging with the Infinite that is described in the Siri Guru Granth Sahib is identical to universal principles of union with God which were taught by the ancient yogis.
A Sikh does not do yoga to "earn" his or her liberation. A Sikh uses the techniques of Kundalini Yoga in the same way that s/he would take a bath in the morning, or be conscious of how s/he maintains the body purely, eating a vegetarian diet, not partaking of tobacco or alcohol. In other words, a Sikh prepares this sacred body temple as purely as possible to bring the Holy Naam, the Holy Gurbani into it, to do justice to that Sacred Word. However, Kundalini Yoga prepares not only the physical body, but all of the Ten Bodies of which this magnificent human system is composed.
I see no contradiction to a life as a worshipper of the Siri Guru Granth and my Kundalini Yoga practice. There is nothing in the path of Kundalini Yoga which in any way contradicts what is taught in the Siri Guru Granth. It has been my personal experience that Gurbani Kirtan and developing a relationship with the Siri Guru Granth Sahib has given me the bliss and grace of life. However, it was and continues to be my Kundalini Yoga practice and teaching which keeps me in Chardi Kala and continues to remind me to seek the Guru’s Feet as my refuge.
I truly believe that it is the Miracle of Guru Ram Das that the ancient teachings of Kundalini Yoga were offered to the Sikhs to keep them in Charhdi Kala. How else can we explain the miracle of so many Westerners coming to the feet of Siri Guru Granth Sahib through the practice of Kundalini Yoga?
Dhan dhan ram das guru
Jin siria tinai savaria
Pooree hoee karama
Aap sirjinaharay dharriaa!
Many people ask me why I practice Kundalini Yoga, and how this relates to Sikhi. Personally I don’t look at Kundalini Yoga as a "Sikh Thing", however It is "yoga for the householder" and I see it as very complementary to the Sikh lifestyle. There is nothing in Kundalini Yoga that is against Sikhi. The yoga keeps you healthy, calms your mind and helps you be more clear and open to then meditate on Gurbani.
Every morning before I do my banis I take about 15 minutes and do some yoga. This helps my body wake up and get going for the day. While most people are grabbing their coffee/chai and getting a dosed up with caffeine to wake up their body, I’m getting my "juice" the natural healthy way. It keeps me flexible and healthy. In the past year at first I was not very regular with my daily yoga and sadhana. I work long hours on the computer and many times am fighting off some type of sickness (small things like mucous, low energy, tension, stress, etc).
I have done yoga all my life, however I have not been very consistent in recent years because things have been very busy. I was spending so much time on the computer during the day…and then the many hours at night posting things here to this blog. My average day on the computer at the office and home is currently about 14-15 hours. I thought I was busy when I was single. Then I got married. Then I REALLY thought I was busy. Then I had a child. I thought that was the max. Then somehow I got into this blog and now it is just over the top. I was starting to feel the pressure on my body and family. The blog and outreach through it is very important to me, so I didn’t want to cut that out. So, I made a commitment to myself that as long as I do a strong daily sadhana EVERY day no matter what, then I will allow myself to continue. I didn’t want to sacrifice my personal spiritual practice since this is the whole point of my postings on the blog.
So with that commitment for the past 4 months I have been rock solid with my daily sadhana (yoga, meditation and banis). It has been very fulfilling for me because in the past It was hard to maintain, and this time around I am really having amazing experiences doing it. The yoga I do every morning REALLY has made a huge difference in dealing with the physical and mental stress. This is the first year I haven’t been even close to sick during the winter (even with myself working more than ever!). I used to have colds and lots of mucous in the morning. Now I feel full of energy and overall really good. 
I attribute this to my regular yoga practice. We all have different things that help keep our body in shape, but Kundalini Yoga works very well for me and is many thousands of years old. It is not just like doing stretches and getting exercise. It is much more scientific, working on specific glands, parts of your body and your life energy. There have been quite a few scientific studies showing amazing health benefits from doing yoga. Yet some Sikhs still criticize yoga, and at the same time eat terribly unhealthy food, don’t take care of their bodies, and overly use pharmaceutical drugs which in many cases just treat the symptoms and not the actual cause of the problem. Our body is a temple which we must take care of. Sikhs refrain from Alcohol, drugs, smoking, etc because it is unhealthy and clouds the mind. We as Sikhs must be clean and clear to connect with our soul/higher self/God.
I always get frustrated when people so blatantly criticize yoga without knowing anything about it and probably having never practiced it. Maybe they relate yoga to Hinduism, which isn’t accurate sinch yoga is not part of any religion. Many people ramble off quotes from Gurbani and interpret it meaning "Yoga = Bad", when in fact if you look at the writings about yoga in Gurbani many references are aimed towards those sadhus and people that do this as a mean to the end (trying to find God) and seclude themselves from society, or do it in an effort to get "powers" (siddhis). This is not the case for Kundalini Yoga.
Ok… back to me again; After I do my yoga I then do a few different meditations (Simran and Mantras from Siri Guru Granth Sahib). At this point I feel pretty good physically and am mentally very "tuned in" and focused. I then start doing banis and it is a much deeper experience for me, than just waking up and going right to banis. I can’t really explain it but it is like night and day.
I am not trying to say that every Sikh should do yoga, but merely trying to share with you all why many of us practice it and have this as part of our daily routine. It is just merely one tool that can be used by someone if they wish. If it is helps you, then great! If not…maybe something else will. In this world there is no ONE WAY. That is the beauty. We all journey on this path of life in different ways with the same end goal. If someone doesn’t practice something the way you do it, that doesn’t make it wrong. It is just merely different. We should respect that and be open. We as Sikhs have to be universal and accepting not critical and judgmental. Every person has the choice to choose their own path.
If you are interested in learning more about Kundalini Yoga, here are a few recommendations for books and videos which you can purchase.
You can also go to a Kundalini Yoga class to try it out. Search the International Kundalini Yoga Teachers Directory.
Books
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Kundalini Yoga by Shakta Kaur Khalsa Excellent for beginners. Over 250 full-color photos, including yoga for couples, families, & lots of healthy food recipes. This is a very visual yoga book (and a few of my classmates are "models" in the book, including the cover). Also available at Amazon.com |
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Kundalini Yoga: The Flow of Eternal Power by Shakti Parwha Kaur Khalsa This is an excellent book by Shakti Parwha Kaur who has taught beginner classes all for the past 30 years. It has loads of information and is presented in a very simples and easy to understand way. Also available at Amazon.com |
Videos
I haven’t personally used many videos because I have been doing yoga since I was really young and use the books for reference to different yoga sets. However, the videos are a great way to learn in a more interactive way than just by reading a book and following the instructions. Nirvair Singh Khalsa (from Alaska) had produced quite a few good Kundalini Yoga videos covering a range of benefits. There is a whole beginner set, and then there are particular videos for weight loss, back pain, stress, etc. You can order videos directly from his website or just check out what the options are. There are different video standards for USA and Europe/Asia so you might check with him if PAL versions are available.
