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
