Tag Archives: yoga

What Is Sadhana?

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立石光正

立石光正 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On this blog you will hear me talk about sadhana a lot.  It is basically a dedicated(hopefully daily) spiritual practice, specifically a yogic practice.

A traditional sadhana as taught by Yogi Bhajan is done in the ambrosial hours(before the sun rises) and includes chanting, meditation, pranayama (breathwork) and at least one kriya that is repeated daily for a period of time, hopefully to mastery.  A cold shower before yoga is recommended.

It’s a great way to begin each day.  Sadhana can be done with a group(and is great that way) or alone.

Most Kundalini Yoga teacher trainings will require sadhana practice.  I fell in love with Sadhana during my teacher training.  Yoga festivals (such as 3HO Solstices, Sat Nam Fest, Wanderlust, etc.) also have sadhana, and many yoga centers in various cities also have sadhana, though the hours are usually not the traditional hours (4-6:30am).  Sadhana classes are often free or by donation.  It is usually a more relaxed, meditative and atmospheric class than a regular yoga class, but there is definitely a portion of the sadhana that is great work-out.

If you’re doing sadhana on your own, in private, it’s important to have a good location in which to practice.  You can however do sadhana at whatever time works best for you.  If you’re not experienced I’d recommend sticking to a sadhana organized or recommended for you by a yoga or spiritual teacher.  If you are experienced, feel free to experiment.

My sadhana has at times consisted of transformational (reichian) breathwork and ecstatic yogic dance, along with chanting and meditation.  At other times I would do traditional kundalini yoga warm-ups, pranayama, a couple of kriyas, meditation and chanting.  Sometimes I split my sadhana into morning and evening.  Doing just an hour in the morning of meditating with music and doing a very simple (non-noisy) kriya, usually spinal kriya, so as not to disturb others sleeping, and reserving my energy to move with force and ability to chant loudly for my evening sadhana.

For more information about setting up your own Sadhana practice, check out this article.  Sadhana Q & A with Yogi Bhajan

For Kundalini Yoga and spiritual practice advice check out Siri Mera Kaur, where you can sign up for a free “Bliss Path E-course” to get you started on the yogic path.

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On My Spiritual Journey…

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Currently, my dreams are mostly getting away from me.

I’m taking short naps several time a day/night and not really doing a great job of dream journaling.

Due to the fact that I’m not waking up early, I am missing out on my yoga practice at times… I’m just in a habit of doing yoga at a certain time.

What I am doing however…is a lot of chanting.  Rediscovering some of my favorite Kundalini Yogi musicians and shabds is really incredibly helpful for me.   This music is healing me and bringing balance back to my life.

Chanting is so simple and powerful, and anyone can be moved by music.  No matter your body type or the kind of pain your trials you may be facing.  This music gives me the chills and gets me activated.

Another thing that I’m really connecting to is the community aspect.  How healing it is to be in an inspiring community, even briefly.

I’m not capable of going to this particular event this year, but I would so love to…I am certainly planning to attend one of the others in the future.  However, if you can attend I can help you get a discount.   Send me a message, you may even be able to win a free ticket.

 

Summer Days

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English: Summer Days

English: Summer Days (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Spirituality is whatever keeps you feeling deeply you…

When I think of summertime I think of taking a spiritual retreat into nature and spending a lot of time in the water; refreshing and renewing.  I haven’t done much of this yet, but I feel I am preparing for it now.  I am trying to create a lifestyle pattern that nourishes my spirituality.

For me, that is right now looking like this:

Early morning: fruit picnics(usually melon), yoga, dance, listening to music and watching inspiring videos.
Morning: Working, playing with kids, cleaning, reading, writing, doing art
Afternoon: Meditation, naps, smoothies, pool-time
Evening: Dinner, baths, tea, story-time, more music/chanting, meditation
Night: work, reading, inspirational videos, art, outside time
Late night: Dreaming

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Describing Kundalini Yoga, Pt. 1

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Meditation

Meditation (Photo credit: Gurumustuk Singh)

 

There’s a reason Kundalini yogis don’t usually go the easy route and just say “I practice or teach yoga”. I mean, I’m sure some of us do from time to time, especially when tired, but when we’re on we know we absolutely have to tell the whole truth and that is that we practice Kundalini Yoga.

 

Modern ideas of yoga can be very limited when Kundalini yoga is so diverse and different from what many yoga practitioners experience in their gyms, community centers and Yoga centers. From what I’ve seen Kundalini yoga is usually practiced in more spiritually minded centers and in studios owned by Kundalini yogis themselves.

 

Of course it is also practiced in schools, prisons, hospitals, in homes and parks. You can even occasionally find Kundalini yoga in a gym or yoga studio that offers different types of yoga. But I really want to explain what sets Kundalini Yoga apart.

 

My daughter was an accomplished yoga teacher before she was 2 years old. She led a room full of adult yogis on a regular basis…she knows her Kundalini. So today when she was showing some impromptu yoga to my teenaged cousin my cousin doubted that what she was doing was actually yoga. “I thought yoga was quiet”. My cousin said. “Not our kinda yoga.” I responded. But I don’t know if she understood that I wasn’t talking about my daughters personal brand of spontaneous yoga or a strong lineage of the Kundalini Yoga community.

 

Another time she saw my daughter doing self-professed yoga and responded “that’s not yoga, it’s just running around.”  I explained to her that sometimes in Kundalini Yoga we run around in circles.  Later she saw my youngest daughter doing breath of fire and questioned, “what are you doing?  Oh, you’re doing yoga?”  She’s starting to get it.  I taught my cousin a KYoga class once, but it was just a beginner’s Spinal Kriya.

 

So what exactly is Kundalini Yoga and what sets it apart from other types of yoga?  Well Kundalini Yoga is not the only type of yoga that is mind, body dynamic, but in my experience it is the only one that works as fast as it does.  Kundalini Yoga is breath-centric.  We don’t just breathe deeply…we breathe in completely, extending the breath and do the same with exhales.  We focus our breath on our mudras, or internally, we use only nostril breathing, alternate nostril breathing, and different techniques of using the tongue to manipulate our breath.  Most well-known is breath of fire.  A type of pranayama that has been insultingly described as hyperventilating, but actually expands the breath capacity and is focused in the belly, rather than the chest, it feels freeing rather than restricting.

 

There are so many aspects to Kundalini Yoga that I cannot write in just one blog post.  But most important to the practice is breath of fire.  You could practice breath of fire in bed, in the car, while walking, while dancing, in the shower, or you could sit down, with legs crossed for 11 minutes everyday to practice it and you will get joyful results.   If you start with the breath it will take you places and that is where I will end this first introduction to Kundalini Yoga.   I will return with the other aspects shortly.

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