Why’s it so hard for us to live our true identity? What are we always so afraid of? Is it ourselves or what others will think of us? I don’t know about you, but living that way exhausted me. For years I always had to do things ‘my way,’ thinking that I knew best. I always had to ‘win’ and be ‘right.’ But did that give me peace and happiness? Did that benefit the world in anyway? Far from it. I created stress and illness for myself, lost friends, hurt people, you name it. It sucked and it didn’t work or feel good! And then I found yoga… some find God, I found yoga and that began me on the path of self-realization and recovery from myself. It’s not been a fun or easy journey along the way, but life on this side is far superior. Peace, happiness and balance is priceless and there’s noone and nothing that’s worth giving that up for.

The beauty of life is that each moment of every day we can choose to see things differently, react differently, decide to be happy, to forgive. For every problem you see in your life, there’s someone in the world whose story is more difficult. That sounds cliché, but it’s true. I spend a lot of time in Haiti and over 800 people have recently died – drowned, because of the 4 hurricanes/tropical storms. The country has less than 2% of its trees left so every time it rains, people die. Can you imagine? It’s Katrina but magnified many times because the already barely functioning roads and bridges that existed before the storms, are gone so aid can’t even get to the people except by helicopter, but they don’t have enough helicopters. You wonder what this has to do with you… in addition to the fact that Haiti’s just 90 minutes from the US and what happens there environmentally and otherwise does affect us, but equally as important, it’s a lesson in gratitude. Gratitude is something that’s so hard to remember to take time to express. Ad it’s of utmost importance.

If you’re reading this blog it means that you at least have a computer and electricity. If you can’t think of anything else to be grateful for, at least pause for a moment and be grateful for that.

On October 12, 1969 – almost 40 years ago to the day!! – Yogi Bhajan suggested 40 days of no negativity. “Offer all action, all thoughts to the Creator for 40 days and see what happens!” If the idea of 40 days is too much for (a negative thought right there!) start with 40 minutes and build up! There’s nothing to loose and so much to gain.

Peace and love,

Susan

Meditation to Melt Negativity

Mudra: Sit in Easy Pose, with a straight spine. Bend the ring and pinkie fingers into the palm, and hold them down with the thumb. Extend the index and middle fingers straight up/ and hold them straight, side by side. Place this mudra about 2 feet to either side of the face, palms facing forward, fingers pointing up. The forearms and fingers will not be straight up towards the ceiling, but tilted out to the sloes, at about a 30­-degree angle. Keep the hands up at the level of the face. The elbows are bent, but not pressed into the sides of the body. They should be stretched out about 12 inches, away from the sioes. The weight of the hands will be on the armpits. This allows the armpits to be open so they can breathe and be stimulated.

Mantra: Aap Sahaa-ee Hoaa, Sachay Daa, Sachaa Dhoaa. Har, Har, Har. Tape by Singh Kaur is played. Chant along with the tape, from the navel.

Conditions: To get the proper effect, as you chant the words Har, Har, Har, strike the tongue against the upper palate, and firmly pull in on the navel point on each repetition. This will pressurize the Kundalini, and shake it from the base.

Eyes: Either focus at the tip of your nose, or close the eyes-either way will work. However, if you look at the tip of the nose, then the Third Eye point will become heavy like lead, and if you can stand the pain, the Third Eye will open.

Time: 27 minutes.

End: Inhale deep. Hold 23 seconds, and concentrate on the area from your navel to the crown chakra at the top of the head, or shashaaraa. This distance is only 27 inches. Exhale forcefully, like cannon fire. Repeat two more times, holding the breath only 5 seconds. Relax.

Comments/Effects: “This meditation melts negativity, enemies, and negative vibrations. It is such a powerful meditation that you can even go after a demon and make him a student. The armpits are the exhaust pipe of the brain. That’s why the sweat in the armpits is very different than the sweat of the rest of the body.”

“The meditative mind is the neutral mind that runs your destiny. There are three ways to conduct your destiny: through the law of karma – action and reaction; you can tune into the magnetic field of the earth and just float with it as a freeloader; or, your life can be run by that magnetic, attractive, creative, meditative, neutral mind. That way you do very well.” – Yogi Bhajan

“When your mind is balanced and refined it’s serving your soul, consciousness and your purpose and it gives you divinity and grace.” – Yogi Bhajan

They say ‘the mind is a terrible thing to waste.’ Oh how true this is but we buy too much into the idea that the mind controls us when in fact the opposite is true.  The mind is mostly automatic, it’s ever-moving, functions best on contrasts, and is just as material as the body only more subtle. When the mind is aligned with the soul, all thoughts are perceived and acted on with clarity and reality.  But when the mind is tangled up with emotions, projections, intentions, attachments, the thoughts become something other than what they are. There are 81 facets of the mind that regulate the reaction of the personality, body and mind to each thought. When controlled, the mind operates from the soul and not from the ego. Inner and outer peace is a given.

The Three Minds

Negative, positive and neutral are three functional aspects to the mind. The negative, or protective mind, is the survival gauge and it tries to protect us from pain or anything dangerous. The positive, expansive mind, is after pleasure, fulfillment and is constructive, risk taking and active. The neutral, meditative mind is where it’s at. This aspect of the mind looks at things in relation to your purpose and reality, with no judgment or attachment. This mind is connected to your higher self. To be enlightened, all three minds are in balance.

A Great Meditation…

Kundalini yoga and meditation helps to change our brainwaves so that we can be mentally and emotionally balanced. Here’s a great meditation that specifically changes the brainwaves. If you’re up to trying it, do it for 40 consecutive days, and if you skip a day you have to start all over again. After my 40 days I found that I didn’t react unconsciously and things didn’t bother me as much as they had before the meditation. I felt more stable and neutral in my life situations.

MUDRA – HAND POSITION
Sit in easy pose (cross legged) with a straight spine. Bring arms comfortably to the sides of the body with the elbows bent. Hands in fists with the thumb over the last three fingers, facing forward. Forefinger or Jupiter finger up straight. Hold the Jupiter finger very straight, tight and stable, without tensing the rest of the arms and body. The forearms should be perpendicular to the ground. During the meditation check the position and move the elbows forward as needed to maintain the position.

EYE POSITION
Eyes slightly open, looking at the tip of the nose.

MANTRA
Har Hare (ray) Hari Wha He Guru

Chant in a monotone, enunciating clearly and moving the mouth in a very pronounced way (exaggerate the lip movements). Pump the navel point with each part of the mantra. (Pull the navel point toward the spine.) If you feel ready, you can add a slight root lock (tightening of the rectum, sex organs and navel point) with the pumping of the navel center, which further stimulates the fire in the spine.

Har Hare Hari are the three aspects of God – Generate, Organize and Deliver

Wha He Guru means ecstasy and imprints the mind with a feeling of cosmic well being.

TIMING
Continue for 31 minutes. It can be done for 11, 15 and 22 minutes, but for the full effect do it for 31 minutes for at least 40 days.

ENDING
Hold the position and listen mentally to the mantra for 2 minutes.

Inhale deeply, hold the breath, tense the whole body as tight as you can, exhale.

Repeat 2 more times or a total of 3 times.

Relax on your back or meditate afterwards. Do not jump up immediately.

BENEFITS
This meditation will bring your brainwaves to the frequency of the neutral mind. In the neutral mind we are tolerant and we don’t take things personally. This meditation is highly recommended for teenagers whose raging hormones cause their brainwaves to go out of control. It will help all of us keep our cool.

This meditation also opens up the heart chakra and activates the navel center. This mantra has also been given as a prosperity mantra.

Peace and love,

Susan

“The main problem in the world is stress. It is not going to decrease – it’s going to increase. If through pranayam the shock can be harnessed, the entire stress and disease can be eliminated.” – Yogi Bhajan

More stress?  I don’t think so! Yet everyone is so stressed out, even those of us that have the tools to deal with it.  Sometimes it’s just impossible to remember in the moment what to do to chill. When I find either myself in that state,  the best way to try to reconnect with myself, my center, my peace, is through the breath.  It’s with us 24/7, it’s free, it’s pretty much a guarantee that using it properly will help, and it feels good when we connect with our breath.

We breathe all our lives but have never been taught to do it properly. How crazy is that since it’s one of the primary ways that we stay alive. Basic breathing can change stress in a moment. We don’t need anyone or anything to do it,  we just  need a commitment to ourselves. Different breathing techniques are used to either energize, calm, and balance, depending on the effect we’re looking for. Mastering the breath promotes health and vitality, expands  the range and creativity of emotions, controls moods, and helps achieve a feeling of connectedness. Breath and the word are directly connected – breathe properly and see if it has an impact on you. Proper breathing also  helps release emotional tension held within body. The key to controlling the mind is by  controlling the breath.

HOW TO DO LONG DEEP BREATHING (YOGIC BREATH)

Long Deep Breathing is usually taught first because you can become aware of the full distention and contraction of the diaphragm.  Once this is learned, more advance pranayam  (breathing) techniques are easier to learn.

Sitting cross-legged or even in corps pose lying flat on your back. With long deep breathing you first fill the abdominal area by inhaling the air down, then pressing the air consciously into the lower areas. By arching somewhat forward with your palms on the knees, then with arms straight pressing the palms inward towards the lower body against the knees, the chest cavity will open forwards, so that you can not only keep the pressure on the lungs in the lower abdominal area, but also feel the lungs filling in and through the chest area and, finally, because of the forward arch of the spine the upper area of the lungs will fill as well, all without the need to either open the rib cage or raise the shoulders.

Once the lungs are completely filled in this manner, hold the breath lightly for a moment and press the shoulders back and expand the chest out so that the full length and pressure on the diaphragm can be felt.Then contract the entire length of the diaphragm from the upper chest to the abdomen, so that all the air is squeezed out.

By breathing in this way through the nostrils for several breaths, the flow of energy consciousness (the feeling of prana) through the diaphragm can be felt from the pressing down and distending of the air into the lower region of the lungs, where most of the blood circulates, then filling through and up to the chest areas from the back to the front and into the upper lungs.

The pressure in the lungs in all areas of the lungs also generates energy in all the nerve endings, so that the entire body is effected both by the breath and the pressure on the nerves.

Once the Long Deep Breathing is done in the manner described, the focus on the muscles of the abdomen, chest and shoulder areas as being involved in the breathing begins to recede, as the natural bellows like motion of the entire diaphragm is felt.

BENEFITS OF LONG DEEP BREATHING

The benefits of long deep breathing are many.  It relaxes and calms you as it works on the parasympathetic nervous system; increases flow of prana (life force); moves toxins out of  the lungs; cleanses the blood; speeds up emotional and physical healing; activates and clears nerve channels; helps break subconscious habit patterns like insecurities and fears; aids in fighting addictions; gives you the capacity to manage negativity and emotions and supports clarity, cool-headedness and patience.

The sweetest part of all of this is that there is no gym membership required, no fancy equipment or accoutrement’s, we could apply this breath anywhere, and anytime.  What a gift that is to cherish.

Peace and love,

Susan

What is a habit?

A habit is a behavior that we do without thinking, a repetitive pattern that we seem to not be able to stop or change. Generally we get locked into bad habits, not good ones. We mistake habits for who we are –‘but this is who I am, I can’t change, I have no control over this…’ Our ego doesn’t want to change because familiarity is comfortable, even if what we’re comfortable in is uncomfortable. Our ego doesn’t want to change because it always thinks it’s right, that it knows best.

How often have we said that, how often have we continued to do things as though we’re completely on auto-pilot, feeling like we have no control or way to stop the behavior? How often to we do something and after the fact wish that we had done it differently? But generally these things are just habits, they’re not who we are. In order to change, we need to develop the awareness about the behavior, and then we can make the necessary shifts to change the habits.

HABITS AND THE CHAKRAS

Chakra means ‘wheel.’ It’s an energy center/vortex or nerve plex in the body. We have seven charkas that correspond to the endocrine system and the 8^th charkra is the aura/magnetic field. The chakras all need to be balanced for peace of mind, body, spirit. The first, root charka (mulahara) is associated with foundations, security and habits. Located at the base of spine, it’s all about automatic behavior. Often we do things automatically or unconsciously, like riding a bike — we just do it. Conscious action becomes unconscious behavior. Strengthening the first chakra helps us look at adjusting habits. The ability to make and break habits is associated with the navel center, or 3rd chakra. When our navel center is strong we have the will to make decisions and to keep them, which makes it easier to break habits. If we have a strong navel center, it feeds us the fire that we crave when falling into addictive/habitual behavior, thus helping to strengthen us so that we can break the habit!

The 4/4 Energizing Breath to Help Strengthen the 3rd Chakra

This is a great quick pickup when you have only a few minutes. If you do it 2 or 3 times a day at strategic times (before meals, meetings, driving home, etc.) and when you begin to feel tired, you will notice a big difference in the way you feel.

Do it between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. to avoid the late afternoon pass-out-syndrome.

Sit straight. Place the palms together at the heart center with the fingers pointing up. Focus at the brow point with eyelids lightly closed. Inhale, breaking the breath into 4 equal parts of sniffs, filling the lungs completely on the 4th. As you exhale, release the breath equally in 4 parts, emptying the lungs on the 4th. On each part of both the inhale and exhale, pull the navel point toward the spine. (The stronger you pump the navel the more energy you will generate.) One full breath cycle (in and out) takes about 7-8 seconds. Continue for 2-3 minutes.

If you press the hands very hard, and do it vigorously, 1 minute will recharge you. If the mind has a lot of anxiety or confusion, add the mantra “Sa -Ta – Na – Ma” mentally on both the inhale and the exhale.

Sa=infinity Ta=Life Na=Death Ma=Rebirth

To end, inhale deeply, press the palms together with force for 10-15 seconds. Create a tension in the whole body by pressing as hard as you can. Hold as long as possible. Exhale powerfully and repeat the inhale, hold, press. Exhale, relax and allow the tension in the body to vanish.

If you need rest, immediately lie on the back with the eyes closed and relax for 2-5 minutes. Take a few deep breaths, stretch, and you will be ready for action.

Changing habits

This comes from balancing the charkas, making a commitment, and changing our focus. It takes 40 days to create or change a habit – to initiate change. It takes 90 days to confirm the change. It takes 120 days for the change to become you. In 1,000 days, you’re it. Make a commitment to wanting to change and you’ll make it happen. Commitment leads to dignity, dignity leads to divinity, divinity leads to grace.

Some thoughts for November… We are magnificent beings, yet we so often forget. Why is it easier to believe the negative rather than the positive when it comes to our self? Let’s make a commitment right here, right now, to always project our magnificent self. Here are a few things that you can easily incorporate into your life — they always remind me on the days when I forget. You have nothing to lose by trying, and observe if things in your life begin to shift.

Master your words…

Speak your truth. Think your truth. Be your truth. Always. Be fearless, courageous, and warrior-like when it comes to this. The entire universe is made up of vibrations. There’s a vibratory frequency to everything on this planet, including words. You create your reality simply with the words choose.  Yogi Bhajan says that the best way to improve your communication skills is to talk to a tree… Find a remote one and say something as you to then tree, then answer from as though you are the tree.  This will totally change your way of communication.  ‘If your words have the strength of the Infinite in them and you are virtuous and you value them, you are the greatest of the great. If you don’t value words, you have no value. Your own word is your value as a human being. Your word is your value.” – Yoga Bhajan   

The Mind…

They say ‘the mind is a terrible thing to waste.’ How true. We believe that the mind controls us when in fact the opposite is true. The mind is mostly automatic, is ever moving, functions best on contrasts, and is just as material as the body just more subtle. When the mind is aligned with the soul, all thoughts are perceived and acted on with clarity and reality – when the mind is tangled up with emotions, projections, intentions, attachments, the thoughts become something other than what they are. There are 81 facets of the mind that regulate reaction of the personality, body and mind to each thought. When controlled, the mind operates from the soul, not ego, inner and outer peace is a given.

The Three Minds…

There are three functional aspects to our brain — negative, positive, and neutral. The negative, or protective mind, is the survival gauge and it tries to protect us from pain or anything negative or dangerous. The positive, expansive mind, is after pleasure, fulfillment and is constructive, risk taking and active. It’s most important though to develop the neutral mind. This mind looks at things in relation to your purpose and reality, with no judgment or attachment. The neutral, or meditative mind is the ultimate win-win mentality. In this state you can see life with compassion. It evaluates the input of the negative/positive minds and gives you guidance within 9 seconds. It’s intuitive and gives you access to your soul, or higher self. It’s from the neutral mind that it’s possible to truly speak and live your truth. Enlightenment comes when all three minds are in balance. “By meditation, you can direct your mind positively towards success, you can spread properity and you can shine like sunshine.” – Yogi Bhajan

Remember That You Are Great…

Be proud and grateful for your individual uniqueness and the gift of your precious life. Love yourself, know that you are divine and great, and project your magnificent self.

Susan

A habit is a behavior that we do without thinking, a repetitive pattern that we seem to not be able to stop or change. Generally we get locked into bad habits, not good ones. We mistake habits for who we are and can be heard saying repeatedly, ‘but this is who I am, I can’t change…’ Our ego doesn’t want to change because familiarity is comfortable, even if what we’re comfortable in is uncomfortable.

Habits are directly linked to the 1^st chakra. Chakra means ‘wheel.’ It’s an energy center/vortex or nerve plex in the body. There are eight chakras in the body — seven correspond to the endocrine system and the eighth is the aura/magnetic field. The chakras all need to be balanced for peace of mind, body, and spirit. The first, root charka (mulahara) is associated with foundations, security and habits. Located at the base of spine, it’s all about automatic behavior. Often we do things automatically or unconsciously – riding a bike, we just do it. Conscious action becomes unconscious behavior and we get stuck.

Changing habits may seem impossible but it’s not. Yoga can be a great help as it works to balance the chakras. In addition, getting clear with yourself about wanting to change and then making that commitment to change your focus is extremely important. It takes 40 days to create or change a habit – to initiate change. It takes 90 days to confirm the change. It takes 120 days for the change to become you. In 1,000 days, you’re it. Make a commitment to wanting to change and you’ll make it happen. Commitment leads to dignity, dignity leads to divinity, divinity leads to grace. Through the process, please be gentle with yourself and remember that you are already divine and have all of the answers within.

I will tell you about Yoga in very simple terms: The human mind is potentially Infinite and Creative. But in practical reality it is limited. So a technical know-how is required through which one can expand his/her mind to bring about the equilibrium that enables him to control his physical structure and experience his Infinite Self.” – Yogi Bhajan

Peace,

Susan