Day 10...er...14

_{I was going to write a blog 9 days ago called “Day 1” and reflect on how enormous it felt to be embarking on a 40 day commitment of 2 ½ hours of chanting every day. Well….somehow chanting for 2 ½ hours a day has cut down on my blog-writing time.}

_{[NOTE: I originally started THIS blog 8 days ago…so….whoops]}

_{Two of my friends in New Mexico decided to do this sadhana….40 days, every single day….chanting for 2 ½ hours, Ek Ong Kar Sat Nam Siri Wahe Guru! Yogi Bhajan called this the teachers sadhana and encouraged people to practice it. So….here we go.}

_{This mantra is chanted in many ways…the way we’re doing it is called “Long Ek Ong Kars.” “Morning Call,” “Long Chant,” or my favorite “Long Eks.” You chant the mantra on 2 ½ breaths (if you’ve ever been to early morning sadhana it is the first chant). Here’s my story with Long Ek’s….}

_{The first time I did this chant/meditation I HATED it. And I continued to hate it for quite some time (years, actually). Because you are chanting on your breath length it can be challenging to do in a group where everyone has different lung capacity….and it always just sort of….bugged me. Then I took a course in Rome where we did 37 ½ minutes of this meditation….and somehow during that 37 ½ minutes I totally and completely fell in love with Long Ek’s.}

_{In the past this mantra totally opens up the energy channels in my body and makes me feel activated and chill-axed at the same time. It has made me sharp thinking and I know it is clearing karmas and darkness from my aura. Whew!}

_{So here I go, embarking on 40 days. 1/10th of my day. Each and every day. Chanting.}

_{Day 1- Was WAY more blissful then I had anticipated. I was pretty zoned out by the end (I’m not actually sure how much I was chanting out loud during the last half hour)…but I really sort of loved it.}

_{Day 2- The first hour went great, I felt really solid…both physically and energetically…. The 2nd hour was tough….I got the fidgets. And a pretty serious case of ‘em. But somehow, I still made it through.}

_{Days 3,4 and 5 were all a mix of really blissful moments, moments where I hated the fact that I had agreed to do this, moments where I felt totally aligned with my life’s purpose and moments where I wanted to JUMP out of my skin just to get away from the uncomfortable sensation of being me at that moment.}

_{Day 6- I had a problem. I lead the Aquarian Sadhana at the YogaSoul center on Saturdays. This is a different 2 hour yoga and meditation practice. So far, every day I had been starting my chanting around 5am….but I was scheduled to be leading sadhan from 4:30-6:30am….and I knew it would be SO tricky to find 2 ½ hours to chant if I didn’t get it done first thing in the morning. I sent out the call for someone to cover sadhana for me…to no avail.}

_{Only one person showed up for the Aquarian Sadhana that morning…and by the grace of God, she thought it sounded like a good idea to chant Long Ek Ong Kars for 2 hours. Wahe Guru! So for the first time I split my time….I did 2 hours that morning….and then another 30 minutes later in the day.}

_{Somehow that one day of switching up the routine really threw me through a loop.}

_{The next 4 days I was only able to make myself get up with enough time to complete 1- 2 hours of chanting in the morning (I know, only 2 hours?!?!?)…so I always had to have at least 2 sittings to complete my time each day.}

_{And honestly, I don’t really like it that way. I know it sounds crazy but I would RATHER sit for 2 ½ hours at a time then spread it out over my whole day. For one, when I get up and do it before my day starts I don’t have the think about it. If I know I have another 30 minutes of chanting to do it is on my mind all day. For another, the meditation is different all at once. You have to get to a point of complete surrender when you’ve agreed to sit for 2 ½ hours…if you know you can get up in 28 minutes…it’s just…not the same.}

_{So that brings me to Day 11: I finally wrangled myself up and out of bed and completed my 2 ½ hours before leaving the house in the morning. It felt like a victory of sorts….but also not as sweet and blissful as I had expected (hoped?)}

_{Day 12: Good, solid morning practice.}

_{Day 13: Whoops. Off the horse again. Some combination of the late night hot bath, weird alarms on my iphone and just plain tiredness from a really busy day the day before, an early morning committment and a snow storm meant I didn’t chant AT ALL before I left the house that morning. Oh! No! Again, purely by the Grace of God I was still able to get it all in before the end of the day….and vowed that this was the end of this silliness….from now on every day, all 2 ½ hours DONE before I leave the house.}

_{Day 14- 17: Or not. Some times I get it all done in the morning. Some times not. Some times I feel super blissful and happy about it. Sometimes I feel so-gosh-darn-fidgety!! And that’s just during the meditation.}

_{In the rest of my life I can really feel the work this meditation is doing on me. Yogi Bhajan talked about how we have a wrong view of meditation. We think it is where we sit and experience bliss. But actually meditation is the house cleaning of our minds. When you clean your house it can get pretty nasty…and if you do a real thorough deep cleaning you realize even the surfaces you thought were clean are harboring dirt….and even surfaces you’ve cleaned before need to be cleaned again….and you even get into that deep dirt behind the refrigerator and everything. And while (yuck!) it is nasty during the cleaning process…isn’t it lovely to have it done.}

_{Same thing in meditation. So I’ve agreed to a real, deep, serious clean out. I sit in meditation each day….and then for the rest of my day I am looking at all the crud, dirt and ickiness I’ve been moving out of my mind, heart and energetic field. So, it’s not pleasant. And I’m having a hard time being nice and gentle to myself in this process.}

_{I have to say each day “it’s ok, no one expects you to be perfect, you’re doing a good job.“ and sometimes I believe it and sometimes I don’t. But I try to say it to myself anyway.}

_{I do believe this process is a unique and beautiful healing experience for me. And I do believe in the end I will love to walk into my clean, organized and happy home (meaning my Self).}

_{And, I also know that you don’t just clean a house once. So while this particular meditation will be done for me on December 10th….I can guarantee on December 11th I’ll be on my mat again meditating, cleaning, praying and growing.}

_{Thank you all for reading and for your support (tangible or energetic) during this time. I am grateful to have you in my life. Stay tuned for more updates.}

_{Sat Nam}

_Nirmal

MY Soul Sings

Yesterday was not only a spectacular Full Moon...it was a "true" blue moon....which means there were two full moons in the same zodiac sign. I'm not usually one to pay much attention to astrology except in reverse. What I mean is, I don't look up astrological information to know what's coming....but I do notice when everyone I know is experiencing some kind of challenge/shift/opportunity and almost always this correlates to some kind of astrological thing-ah-ma-bob.

So, for the week leading up to this Blue Moon I have felt S-T-R-E-S-S-E-D! I often felt a huge weight on my chest and when I looked at my to-do list I just wanted to throw my hands up, hide in my cave and pretend the "real" world didn't exists. I went through about 3-4 days of this feeling totally helpless...and then I remembered: I have TOOLS to handle situations like this!

One of the totally awesome things about Kundalini Yoga is that there is always SOMEthing we can do to make ourselves feel better. For me, my go-to tool when I am feeling overwhelmed (or disconnected from God, or unsure of what decision to make, or even just really happy) is Japji.

Japji is the "Song of the Soul" and it was written by a super-awesome teacher who lived in India a few hundred years ago called Guru Nanak. Japji is a 40 verse poem/song/prayer. They say that each verse relates to one element (earth, water, fire, air, ether) and one chakra. The first verse relates to the 8th chakra and ether element (so the most etheric, "out there" quality we have as human beings)...and then the energy of the sound current travels down through the chakras until the very last verse, which relates to the earth element of the 1st chakra (or our most rooted, physical element). When I chant Japji I visualize and feel the energy of the universe manifesting and sinking in to me. I feel like the rhythm and sound of the words creates a very peaceful, connected easy space within me. I really do feel like my soul is singing.

So, on the 4th day of my pre-blue-moon-stress-out I remembered Japji....I sat down and chanted it right then and there and I kept chanting it or having a recording of it playing around me all day for the next several days. And it made all of the difference. I could right away feel myself shifting from "how can I do this?!?" to "The Universe will take care of me." And that is a much happier place to be.

Japji is one of my favorite things...in the world, because it is so beautiful and SO effective. And you can experience the beauty of it too! Japji is always the first thing we do in the Aquarian Sadhana.

Sadhana is a lovely yoga and meditation practice that happens before sunrise (I know, I know...it's early....but it's also totally worth it!). You can experience the beauty of Japji and the entire Aquarian Sadhana at YogaSoul on Thursdays and Fridays 4-6am and Saturdays 4:30-6:30am. Also, a fellow yogi, Sat Rattan is offering 40 days of Aquarian Sadhana at Rivebend Yoga Studio in Saint Paul in honor of her upcoming marriage...5am every day until 12/21. If you need more info or have any questions please feel free to shoot me an email.

Blessings,

Nirmal

This Stuff Really Works

You know…I’ve been practicing Kundalini Yoga for about 10 years now. (Shocking, I know!) So you would think that some of the awe and wonder of the practice might have worn off by now…but, NO! Not at all. I still find myself marveling at how much this stuff really works and how powerful and obvious the effects are in my day-to-day existence.

I was recently assigned the Pituitary Gland Series by my mentor. This is a relatively easy yoga set to stimulate the “Master” gland, which plays a major role in regulating many of the body systems and processes. From a more yogic perspective we say that the Pituitary gland is associated with the Third Eye Point. This is our energetic center of Intuition. As some of you know, I am a pretty intuitive person is certain instances or moments…but my intuition is always something I feel like I could develop or strengthen more.

I also have to admit that I’ve been assigned this kriya (set of yoga postures) before…and I would do it for a few days and then give it up. I just couldn’t get it to stick. For some reason now is the time. I am on Day 17 of a 120-day practice…and I am absolutely LOVING it! This is one of the greatest sets ever! (If you take my classes you also know I say that about a lot of sets….but they all really are that good)

I love how this set makes me feel afterwards…totally calm, focused and energized. I love the flow between the postures in this set….graceful movement from lunge, to resting to standing, down dog moves gracefully to cobra etc. But, the coolest part is how IN TUNE I am lately. After the first week of doing this set I started to feel like Angad (the owner of YogaSoul, who I do a lot of work with) and I had the same brain. It was like we were literally thinking the same thoughts…a few times I had to ask if we had actually spoken about certain topics or if I had just picked it up intuitively.

And beyond that things just started clicking right into place in my life with SO much ease….I was almost unnerved by how easily some major life shifts happened. In ONE DAY I bought a new car and applied for a new, beautiful apartment…wowzas!

And I can honestly with 100% certainty say all of this beautiful stuff is a direct result of me getting onto my mat every day and practicing this set of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan.

I know, I know I’ve been doing this forever why am I still so shocked at how well it works? I don’t know why I am still so amazed…but I hope it continues. I hope I never cease to be amazed and grateful for this perfect technology. I hope I get to continue to be overwhelmed by gratitude for the ability to sit on my mat each day, to practice yoga and meditate. I hope that the wonder of it all continues for the rest of my life.

Wahe Guru! (Which translates as Wow! The power of the universal energy, which brings me into the light of the Divine)

Nirmal

PS- Mantra Night is coming up!! Friday 10/1 6:30pm at YogaSoul…come share in my ecstasy by chanting Wahe Guru!! Click Here to Register

PPS- I am leading the Pituitary Gland Series every Saturday during early morning sadhana…4:30-6:30am, come bliss out with a FREE yoga class! Click Here for Details

Amazing Body!

Part I- Amazing Body! Part II- Women Rule!

I L-O-V-E anatomy. One of the reasons I went back to school to become a massage therapist was so I could take more anatomy classes. (I know, dorky, right?) I just think this amazing package we’ve been given to live in is so gosh-darn fascinating.

We are running a Teacher Training program at YogaSoul (Eagan, MN) and this past weekend was one of our training weekends. And on Sunday I got to teach the “Western Anatomy” portion of the course. It combined two of my favorite things, teaching and bodies…so I was happy.

When our bodies were being designed they were so beautifully put together…the nervous system and the endocrine system work elegantly together to keep all of our systems running in perfect balance. Our Respiratory and circulatory system have a harmonious relationship that keeps us moving and energized. How awesome and perfect.

Bodies certainly keep working even when we don’t take very good care of them (another cool thing, I think). But, even better, when we even take SMALL steps to take good care of our body-machine it pays us back with BIG time feel-good rewards. This is one of the reasons I practice yoga…it just makes me feel good in my own skin (and muscles and glands and…)

I am happyhappy that I got to share some of my excitement and knowledge with the beautiful teachers in training this weekend. And it is my prayer that this knowledge will make them better teachers when they get out there and start helping people.

On another note: Women Rule!

Yogi Bhajan (the Master of Kundalini Yoga) taught a TON of wonderful stuff for women. He spent weeks each summer teaching women how to become “Eagles” instead of “Chicks.” The teachings of Kundalini Yoga are so powerful and healing for everyone…and especially for women. If we re-orient the way we expect the world to be and step into our own power we realize how to make everything serve us and how to uplift everyone around us. It is SO great!

I had a lot of resistance to the Women’s Teachings when I first studied them. I didn’t think that how Yogi Bhajan described things was how it SHOULD be….or how I WANTED it to be. But the more I studied and tried applying his concepts to my life the more I surrendered….and this allows me to use the natural energy and flow of the world, rather than fight it.

I’ve been thinking for a long time about how to develop and support the community of women practicing Kundalini Yoga…so, I am very excited to announce:

The Women’s Circle: A gathering of women on a spiritual journey.

Each week we’ll meet in a small group (only 7 spots!) led by myself and my dear friend, Della, we’ll explore a spiritually based book and discuss what it means to be a woman on a spiritual path. This will be a supportive and cozy group and I hope you can join us.

You must pre-register by THIS Friday! 9/25/10

The course runs 4 Saturdays, 10/2, 10/9, 10/23 and 10/30. Cost:$54

Click Here to Register

In October we will be discussing the book: Everyday Grace by Sat Purkh Kaur.

If you’re interested in the November group sign up soon, we’ll be discussing the Eight Human Talents by Gurumkh Kaur.

Yoga-Thon-A-Rama

I was blessed with the opportunity to spend a month in New Mexico this summer. Every year in August the Kundalini Research Institute holds a month-long Teacher Training Course. This year I was invited to attend the course as a Trainer in Training (or TNT as we we’re called during the course).

Most teacher training courses happen over a 9 month period...with lots of time for introspection, reflection and processing. In the immersion format everything is SO tightly packed that there really isn’t time for all of that. I think I’ll still be absorbing and learning from this course for many months to come.

That being said I have grown immensely in my appreciation for and understanding of what it really means to be a Trainer of Kundalini Yoga Teachers. This is no small thing. I truly and honestly believe that the way we are going to change the world to a more peaceful place is by individuals becoming more peaceful within themselves. In my experience Kundalini Yoga and Meditation is the best way to create harmony, peace, happiness and love within MYself...and I see that transformation happen every time I teach a yoga class.

So, to be able to teach other people HOW to create the space for individual students to have their own transformation from darkness to light, sadness to happiness, discord to peace....is a huge responsibility. We’re talking superhero, save-the-world kind of stuff here. Whew!

I know, beyond a doubt, that this is my path in life. To love, share and expand the teachings of Yogi Bhajan...to hold a space where individuals can find their light and learn to turn on the lights of those around them....what an awesome gift.

I hope that as the weeks continue I will begin to grasp even more depth and appreciation for my month at the “mother ashram” in New Mexico...and as I do, I hope to share those insights with you. Thank you all for being a part of my journey on this path.

Sat Nam,

Nirmal