Day 38 - Headaches

Here are 3 videos using Kundalini Yoga and Meditations to help if you have a headache, lifestyle considerations and prevention.

Day 36 - Quick Energizers

Are you feeling a bit tired, restless or out of sorts?   Here are some quick fix suggestions.

1.  Stand with your legs slightly apart and bring your hands up over your head hugging your ears.  Clap the hands 8 times so the entire surface of the palms are firmly struck.  Then bend forward and strike the ground with the palms 8 times.  Repeat for a minute or so.  Clapping massages the brain.
2.  Standing, raise the left leg to the chest while raising the right arm straight up.  Then alternate arms and legs, co-ordinating with a powerful breath for 1-2 minutes.  This exercise helps balance left and right hemispheres of the brain.
3.  For your Nervous System - Stand or sit, look at the tip of your nose.  Extend arms out straight to both sides, keep them straight with no bend in elbows and turn the palms down.  Criss-cross them in front of you, horizontally, alternating over and under, while chanting Har continuously with the tip of the tongue each time the arms cross.  Continue for 3-11 minutes.  Works on your ability to 'Do' and gets rid of your 'junk'.  Chanting Har stimulates the meridians in the upper palate and sound and mantra have a powerful positive effect on the glands.
4.  Right Nostril Breathing.  Block off the left nostril with the left thumb, and inhale and exhale long and deep through the right nostril.  To end inhale through both nostrils, holding the breath 10 or more seconds, then exhale.  Sit calmly and enjoy the energy for a few moments.
5.  Stand Tall and raise hands over head and shake the entire body for 1-2 minutes.  Works on the nervous system
6.  Sit down on the floor and stretch your legs out straight.  Reach for your toes, and stretch your nose to your knees.  Continue for 2 minutes - this helps  boost your energy

Day 30 - Mental Chatter

Here is a video that may help you with mental chatter and for those not focussing on a specific Meditation.

Day 28 - Water and Meditation for Emotional Balance

How much water have you drunk today?  Emotions and the need for water are intricately connected.  When there is an inbalance of water in the system and the kidneys are pressurized, there is a tendency toward anxiety and upset behaviour.  From a scientific point of view, water is the medium that increases electrical potential across  cell membranes, which is essential for the proper functioning of the nervous system. 
If you find yourself upset, worried or don't know what to do drink a glass of water, preferably at room temperature and then try the meditation below.  The combination of drinking water, followed by applying pressure at the armpits with the raised shoulders and a Neck Lock, creates a tight  lock on the entire upper body.  Combined with a natural slowing of the breathing rate, this locked posture forms an automatic 'brake' that is applied to the brain.  The brain cannot continue its previous pattern of thinking, and within a short amount of time a balance is restored.  Those with high blood pressure, a neck injury or heart disease should consult their physical before practicing this meditation.

Meditation for Emotional Balance
Sit in Easy Pose.  Straighten your spine and relax the shoulders.  Keep the chest lifted throughout the meditation.  Place your arms across your chest and lock your hands under your armpits with the palms open and against the body.  The thumbs may be outside the armpits.  Close your eyes

Raise your shoulders up toward your ear lobes as far as possible and hold them there.  Apply a Neck Lock by contracting back of the neck and throat.  The chin is pulled back toward the neck without tipping the head forward.  If you are doing it correctly, you will feel that the cervical vertebrae are in alignment with the spine.  Stay alert throughout the meditation to maintain the Neck Lock and raised shoulders, which are the essential components of the 'brake' you are applying to the brain.  Your breath will automatically become slower.

Begin with 3 minutes and gradually build up to 11 minutes.

Day 27 - Stress and One Minute Breath

Stress - 'For fast acting relief, try slowing down'     Lily Tomlin
Managing Stress starts with managing the Breath.  Breath awareness begins with recognizing the breath as both the physical breath, as well as the subtle life force of the body and mind which determines the energetic radiance, the physical health, and the psychological well being of a person.  The science of yogic breathing is called Pranayam, 'Prana' meaning life force and 'Ayam' meaning expansion.  The mind follows the breath.  The key to controlling the mind is in controlling the breath. 

When we are feeling anxious and under stress, the breath can become shallow or erratic, or we can start upper chest breathing with a faster breath rate, which leads to chronic tension and weak nerves, and poor breathing then increases susceptibility to even more stress!   So when we consciously lower the frequency of breaths per minute, we encourage great benefits.

8 cycles per minute:  We start to feel more relaxed.  We experience relief from stress and increased mental awareness.  Parasympathetic nervous system begins to be influenced.  Healing processes are elevated.

4 cycles per minute:  Positive shifts in mental function.  Intense feelings of awareness, increased visual clarity, heightened body sensitivity.  Pituitary and Pineal glands begin to co-ordinate at an enhanced level, producing a meditative state.

1 cycle per minute:  Optimized co-operation between brain hemispheres.  Dramatic calming of anxiety, fear and worry.  Openness to feeling one's presence and the presence of spirit.  Intuition develops.  The whole brain works.

(One minute Breath)
Posture:  Sit in Easy Pose with Neck Lock, or sit in chair with straight spine
Inhale to a count of 20 seconds
Hold the breath for 20 seconds
Exhale to a count of 20 seconds
Continue for 3 minutes

Day 18 - Kriya and Meditation for Sleep

If you want to Get Up, Set Up and Keep Up, it really starts the night before.  If you go to bed late or you have trouble sleeping you won't want to get up.  Here are some tips to wind down in the evening.

1.  Stop watching Television or other activities later in the evening and spend a few minutes writing a list of things you want to do the next day. 
2.  Avoid over eating, drinking caffeine or having sugar in the evening.  It is helpful to have some protein before bed.
3.  Drink a glass of water (don't go to bed thirsty)
4.  Give your feet a massage with Almond or your favourite Oil.  The feet have 72,000 nerve ending so by massaging your feet you're soothing your nervous system and organs.
5.  Breath exercise - start with long deep breathing - about 10 breaths, and then block off the right nostril with your thumb and inhale and exhale deeply through the left nostril only.  If the mind is too active think 'Sat' on the Inhale and 'Nam on the Exhale.  The slower your breath the calmer your mind. Sat Nam gives your mind something to focus on and calms the mind.
6.  You might also try sleeping on your right side, this allows the left nostril to be more dominant during sleep.  Check your posture, if you are sleeping on your side you can put a pillow between your knees, this takes pressure off the lower back. 
7.  Keep your room dark.  If you are exposed to light between 1.00am and 3.00am your melatonin levels decrease and your biorhythms are thrown off balance. 
8.  Use Lavender Oil - put a few drops on your pillow. 
9.  Train your subconscious by practicing setting your mental clock when to wake up ( best to have a back up to start)
10. Follow along on the Video below for a Bedtime Yoga Series and the second video demonstrates the Meditation Shaybd Kriya to help with sleep.

Day 10 - Gyan Mudra

What is a Mudra? 
A mudra is a position of the hands that locks or seals and guides energy flow and reflexes to the brain.    Each area of the hand connects to a certain part of the body or brain, representing different emotions and behaviours.  The hands become a keyboard for input to our mind body energy system.  Each finger relates to a planetary energy and the quality that each planet represents. 

In a Kundalini Yoga class you are usually asked to have your hands in Gyan Mudra which is the the tip of the thumb joined together with the tip of the index finger.  This stimulates knowledge, wisdom and the power to compute.  The energy of the index finger is associated with Jupiter, representing expansion.  It gives receptivity and calmness.

Day 09 - Commitment

I hope you are enjoying the long weekend.  With the new moon today it is a great time to plant seeds literally in the garden but also in your mind.  Perhaps you've been struggling with your meditation and if you have missed a day the best thing is to get back into it and re-commit; - don't waste energy on yesterday but focus again on today.  What can I do right now to get back on track? - what are my obstacles? - too tired at night - then change the time to the morning.  You keep getting interrupted - set boundaries, no place to meditate - create a corner in a room - get creative. 
Let me know how you are doing. 

'It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that allowed us to follow through'.  Zig Ziglar.

Day 04 - Meditation Minutes

Yoga science says that there are specific lengths of time needed for certain desired effects during meditation.  Most meditations are done for 11 or 31 minutes, but 3 minutes is a great place to start.

3 minutes of meditation affects the electromagnetic field, the circulation and stability of the blood
11 minutes of meditation begins to change the nervous and glandular systems
22 minutes of meditation balances the three minds, (Negative, Positive, Neutral Mind) and they begin to work together
31 minutes of meditation allows the glands, breath, and concentration to affect all the cells and rhythms of the body. 

Day 03 - Mantra

Thank you for the feedback on the Ether Tattva Meditation and I`m glad you are enjoying it. Faye is thinking to extend the meditation to 31 minutes, Janet says the mantra is lovely and Brenda is thinking of keeping it going for 90 days!   I'm doing the Ether Tattva as well and having just completed a 90 day - 31 minute rather challenging meditation for my second level yoga training, I feel a bit like I'm on vacation with this one.  I'm also finding that I can't get the mantra out of my head, keep chanting it while I'm driving and in the garden. 


'Mantras are not small things, mantras have power.  They are the mind vibration in relationship to the Cosmos.  The science of mantra is based on the knowledge that sound is a form of energy having structure, power, and a definite predictable effect on the chakras and the human psyche.'  Yogi Bhajan

Mantra is the use of sound to affect consciousness 'man' means mind and 'tra' means wave or 'tune the vibration' (as in tuning an instrument or the radio)

Chanting mantra produces specific vibratory frequency within the body.  The sounds and thoughts produced by the body and mind radiate out of you.  The vibratory frequency of a mantra draws to you whatever you are vibrating.  You are like a magnet attracting vibrations to you by what you send out.

In addition, something else happens when you chant.  There are 84 meridian points, or pressure points, in the roof of the mouth.  Every time you speak you stimulate them - and their associated glands and organs - with the tongue.  And every time you chant a mantra, you are tapping out a particular sequence - rhythm and position - that initiates a chemical reaction in the brain and body.  It's as if you have an electronic, computerized security system in your mouth.  Punch in the right code on the upper palate and you gain entry to the brain and your inner chambers of higher consciousness.  How cool is that!!!  Happy chanting and Wahe Guru.

Day 14 - Why Meditate at the same time?

 Meditation helps clear the subconscious of fears. As each fear comes up and we look upon it neutrally, the fear loses its power over us. We become more flexible and feel more free. Most fears were learned at a particular time of day. So these fears tend to occur most intensely at the time of day they were originally experienced. By meditating in the morning, we slowly attract the anxieties from all other parts of the day. Normally we react to anxieties on their time and conditions. In meditation, the effects of old fears come to us on our time and under our conditions. Since they come at the same time each day, it becomes easier and easier to deal with each one. Eventually the mind is cleared of the clouds of fear and begins to see the light and power of creative consciousness. Then the morning meditation clears out the daily worries and projections so no further long term subconscious fears can accumulate. Another reason for meditating at the same time is that it creates a habit or routine and this natural rhythm will help it get easier. Optimum time for meditation is between 4.00am - 6.30am. There is much prana - life force energy in these hours, fewer people are awake and busy, so the clutter and bustle of daily actitivites does not interfere with your practice. Next best time is early evening 4.00PM - 6.30PM and the next best time is when you can do it!

Day 13 - Misconceptions about Meditation

A common misconception is that meditation involves stopping the mind from thinking.  This isn't possible.  Our minds are designed to produce thoughts.  So in meditation, the trick is to simply allow our thoughts to exist, without attaching to them, and without reacting.  When we let go, there comes a point where the mind feels very quiet because we aren't reacting to our thoughts.  If you do react to your thoughts, don't react to your reaction - simply go back to the meditation.
Another misconception is that meditation is going to be blissful and we will get the aha moment.  For me I get my inspiration usually later, but meditating and clearing the mind gives me that inner peace that I need in order to be sensitive and to be more aware of my thoughts and actions.  Sometimes emotions can come up, we can feel angry or sad - it is important to acknowledge these feelings and then release them.

No one else can limit you.  If you want to limit yourself, you can.  Otherwise the entire resources of the Universe are yours to use.
              Yogi Bhajan

Day 07 - Why Meditate?

Meditating is becoming less of an option and more of a necessity as the energy and rapid changes on the planet intensify. We need to find that quiet space every day where we can just be, start to tune into our own intuition and re-connect with our heart. We also have to be able to face our day and our challenges and spending this time for ourselves gives us the ability to cope with our lives. This is especially so when our life seems overwhelming or when we are in conflict. Yogi Bhajan said that 'If you don't set up for the day, if you don't posture yourself, ready to engage the day, how are you going to keep up?". You may feel that nothing happens when you are Meditating, but by making a commitment to yourself and with consistency you will start to see many changes taking place in your life. That is why it is good to journal after your meditation each day - even if it's a couple of lines.

'Keep Up and you will be Kept Up'  Yogi Bhajan

Day 03 - Eye Focus at Tip of the Nose

If you are doing the Wahe Guru Meditation here is a video to help with the eye focus at the tip of the nose.  This Drishti is also used in many other Kundalini Yoga Meditations so it is useful to watch. 
Click here for link

Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse today

Full Moon is a great time for inner reflection, yoga, meditation and ritual. Light a candle, and especially for Moon in Gemini, work with chimes and bells to help clear your space and use an essential oil. Lavender is a lovely oil for stimulating and soothing the nervous system simultaneously. Hyssop oil will help open the lungs and allow your breath to be deep and strong. Peppermint and thyme oils are also wonderful for stimulating the best qualities in Gemini and releasing any stagnancy and confusion, replacing it with clarity.
In the middle ages local healers used astrological wisdom in performing treatments. The moon was believed to provide the greatest aid to healing, and often herbs would be gathered under the light of the Full Moon and medicinal plants would be grown and harvested only during certain lunar phases.
So take some time out today to re-centre and re-connect.

Day 19 - Time - Your Most Precious Commodity - How are you using it?

Tomorrow we are half way there and it's TIME to CHECK IN. 
If you haven't had much TIME to meditate here are some thoughts that may help.
Try going back to 3 minutes a day.  Do it right after you brush your teeth.  You have TIME to brush your teeth yes?  It is in your routine - automatic.  that is how meditation becomes when you get into the habit - thus the 40 days.  Cathy said to me the other day she can't imagine NOT meditating now. 
We are very good at getting side tracked on Facebook, having a cup of coffee etc - actually we are expert at it says the authors of some of these Procrastination books. 
Would you rather say I don't have time for me - meaning I'm not worth it OR would you like to say to yourself YES I AM worth it, I say YES to me!
Many blessings. 

Day 17 - Staying Motivated

One way to help stay motivated is small rewards and thinking about a treat at the end.  Here are some ideas:
-  beautiful CD of relaxing music
-  an inspiring book
- How about a candle or two?
- A new meditation cushion/mat or sheepskin rug
- Going for tea or chai with a friend
- Trying some new tea - great tea shop on 4th avenue
- Going to Van Dusan Gardens to see the Christmas Lights
- Going for a manicure or pedicure
- Maybe a Massage!
What else can we add to this list?  Also Cathy was wondering about events that are being held on Winter Solstice - Tuesday.  Does anyone know of any?

Day 9 - Why Meditate?

How are you getting on with your Meditation? What have you learned about yourself? Are you noticing any changes? Remember they may be subtle. Some of you have already experienced aha moments, and new awareness, for others it may take longer. Be patient.
So what does meditation do?
Promotes a sense of well-being, inner peace, stability and calm.
Develops your intuition
Releases reactions and unconscious habits, subconscious fears and blocks, and builds the spontaneous and intuitive link to awareness of self.
Promotes the ability to focus energy, enhancing effectiveness and efficiency.
Promotes clarity of mind, mental awareness, and the ability to be present.
Resolves core issues of stress-producing patterns
Develops the frontal lobe of the forehead, which controls your personality.
What does meditation do for you??

Getting Ready

Only 2 days to the Start of the Challenge!  Here are some tips to help you plan ahead.
1)  Where are you going to do your Meditation?  Decide on a place that is quiet and away from other people in your home.  You might want to sit on your favourite chair or cushion, or create an area where you can light a candle.
2)  What time of the day?   Whenever is the most convenient for you.  I find morning is good but after work can be relaxing and act as a transition into the evening.  Some may find before bed a good time but I have tried this before and some days I've been too tired at the end of the day.  
3)  Are you going to Journal what comes up?  If so you you'll need a notebook and pen ready.
4)  Do you want to meditate to music? You will need to organize that before as well. 
5)  Do you have other people in your home to consider?  If you are going to chant and decide your best time is 5.00am that might not go well with your room mates.
6)  Have you decided on your Meditation?  Gazing at a Candle is meditation, long deep breathing - it doesn't have to be complicated.
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