Relax back and listen. This is not just a beautiful song, it is an ancient mantra that helps us to reprogram our subconscious. This particular mantra, Chattra Chakkra, helps us to release doubts and insecurities. You can learn the words and sing along to increase the effectiveness. You can sit quietly in meditation to increase it further.
Here are the lyrics (in the original language of Gurmukhi):
Chattra chakkra vartee, chattra chakkra bhugatay
Suyumbhav subhang sarab-a-daa sarab-a jugtay
Dukaalang pranaasee dayaalang saroopay
Sadaa-ung sungay abhangang bibhoota
Mantra is number one in order of importance in Kundalini Yogic Technology. Second is breath. Third is the posture, or asana. Everyone can do Kundalini Yoga. Even a few minutes a day will help balance all your energy systems, increase internal strength, and reprogram the nervous system. There are thousands of exercises, meditations, pranic exercises, and hundreds of mantras, so boredom is never an issue.
This is not the kind of yoga that takes a lifetime to master. You can benefit from your first class. Any level of fitness can attend. You just do what you can. The majority of the postures are simply seated. You don’t need more space than a yoga mat, or a large towel on the floor. If something gets too hard, take a break and do the breath and mantra. That’s it.
If life is feeling overwhelming, burdensome, even hopeless, you must take steps to help raise your energy and pull yourself up out of the darkness and back into the light. The light is always there, we just forget, and we get dragged down if we don’t do anything to offset the negative pull that can seem all pervasive these days.
The negative path, destruction, in many ways can seem easier. It is the path of least resistance, going downhill, sinking. But you may have noticed that you also feel progressively worse when you allow this inertia to take over.
We can take simple steps to return to neutral, to release fear and negativity and reset ourselves to the center. From neutral, we learn to return to our true Self and to release the old patterns which block us.
Then we can gain enough energy to begin to build towards the positive. The uphill, positive-oriented path may seem to take more effort, but it results in lasting growth, creation, true power, and a virtuous upward cycle which leads to greater feelings of well-being, joy, peace, and love.
And when we feel tired, we can learn to rest back in the neutral and recharge with simple exercises.
‘The secret is that only that which can destroy itself is truly alive.‘ – Carl Jung, Psychology and Alchemy
I strongly recommend Kundalini Yoga to all my clients. At minimum, listen to mantras daily. My favorite is White Sun. They won a Grammy for their beautiful second album. (Chattra Chakkra, linked above, is on White Sun II.) White Sun, the original album, includes many of the traditional mantras that are used in Kundalini classes and daily practices around the world. White Sun III is also beautiful and includes many lesser known mantras to add to your repertoire.
For Kundalini yoga workouts, I personally do at least 3 classes a week with RA MA TV. For under $20 a month you get unlimited streaming classes, with new videos posted regularly. (They offer a two week free trial period.) My favorite teachers are Guru Jagat (the founder), Gurujas (the lead singer of White Sun) and Harijiwan (the guru of the former two women). There are many other teachers and classes as well, but these three are deeply experienced, knowledgable, and steeped in the original Kundalini tradition.
You can also find free classes from RA MA TV online. Here’s one with Guru Jagat.
A quick note about Kundalini and its practitioners. No doubt, you will notice the white outfits and turbans. You will hear mantras in another language. Maybe you’ll wonder if it’s a cult or religion.
Generally speaking, the teachers are devotees and convert to Sikhism. They wear the traditional (or not so traditional!) garb. They are given new names that sound strange to Western ears. They eat a vegetarian diet and don’t drink alcohol.
Sikh means seeker, disciple or learner. Sikhism is based on the spiritual teachings of Guru Nanak, the first Guru (1469–1539),[9] and the nine Sikh Gurus that succeeded him. As you get to know these people, and learn about Sikhs, you discover they are some of the kindest and most down-to-earth people on this planet. They are not here to covert anyone to anything. They have families and jobs and watch TV and use swear words and tell jokes, just like the rest of us. In my experience, the teachers of RA MA have zero agenda, other than to help each of us find the tools that will best serve us, and to help raise the vibration of the planet one person at a time.
Kundalini Yoga is non-religious and is called Kundalini Yogic Technology because it takes ancient, scientifically tried and tested methods of working with the human body, brain, nervous system, organs, and energy fields to bring them back into balance- mind, body and spirit. Many of these techniques are now being discovered by modern-day science to be effective: Kirtan Kriya is one simple, 11 minute meditation that has been repeatedly proven in studies to change the brain and enhance mental health. Dr. Helen Lavretsky of UCLA Neuropsychology also found that Kundalini mantras can override genetic code.
One more note: RA MA Kundalini Yoga classes are about 1 hour and 15-30 minutes long. You start by ‘tuning in’ with traditional mantras. Then the teacher usually talks for 15-30 minutes. Following that, class begins. Some classes are more active and workout-oriented than others. Some include more meditation. The key is to try a few classes per teacher and discover the ones you like the best. RA MA TV also includes shorter class options, as well as ‘Intro to Kundalini’ videos and much more. And some special classes are longer than an hour and half.
(Note that the RA MA TV classes may appear to be longer than the 1hr 30 min runtime, but usually the lead-in video screen plays for a while until class actually starts. I used to avoid these ‘longer classes’ only to discover they were almost all about one hour and a half long too.)
Lastly, the reason I suggest Kundalini Yoga to my clients is because it greatly supports the work we do in Intuitive Psychotherapy and Emotional Energy Transformation. Kundalini Yoga is therapeutic in many ways, including helping us to repattern and reprogram and heal ourselves mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In just 3-11 minutes a day you can greatly support the growth, transformation, and the inner work you do in therapy sessions.
Here’s a simple daily practice you can try: 3 minutes of Cat/Cow and the 3 minute Addiction Meditation. (Yes, you can overcome addictions with it!)
Ok, that’s it out me for this week. Any questions, reach out to me here.
‘We change the world not by what we say or do, but as a consequence of what we have become.’ -David Hawkins
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Emily Marshall is an Intuitive Psychotherapist who specializes in helping clients transform and release negative emotional energy and discover their True Self. Online and in-person sessions in Boulder, CO. Rates are ‘Pay From the Heart‘.