Week #17 – July 5-11, 2020 Kriya to Keep Up Spirit & Sodarshan Chakra Kriya

Overview

WEEK 17 – Kriya to Keep Up Spirit & Sodarshan Chakra Kriya – This session begins with a 6 minute meditation. A four second inhale and a four second exhale. The two pitched sound is from the free “Breath App.” It is simple and easy to use. I like the option where you can time your inhale and exhale by seconds. 2:3… 4:4… 4:6… 5:5… 6:6… and 5:7. You can also set the duration of time you choose to breathe and meditate. This kriya begins with a neural muscular exercise that really lights up your neuro-pathways.

The three hand movements, best to review before you begin so you can stay with the music.

  1. Palms up, 60 degrees in a V.
  2. Point connected fingers forward.
  3. Point connected fingers up as though you are holding a tray on your up stretched palms.
    Repeat.

NOTE – This Kriya wasn’t available in a micro version, so this amplified link from 3HO.org is available here.

ADDITIONAL NOTE – If you are on your moon/menstrual cycle, please do not hold your breath, just do long, deep breathing.

CHANTS in this Kriya include:

Adi Mantra – I bow to the Creative Wisdom. I bow to the Divine Teacher within. This mantra is used to access the divine flow and self knowledge within each of us. We chant it three times. Once for ourselves, once for the people in your class and once for the greater world.

Inhaling Sat, exhaling Nam (pronounced sut nahm) – 3 minutes. Translation: My Truth is my Identity. Inhale Sat. Exhale Nam. This is the reverse of what we usually do when we breathe. We are inhaling while saying, “Sat/Sut” while we draw the belly to the spine. As we relax we say, “Nam” on the Exhale as the belly expands and pushes out.

Closing song of all Kundalini Yoga classes worldwide.
May the long time sun
Shine upon you
All love surround you
And the pure light within you
Guide your way on

PRANAYAMA – BREATHING in this Kriya includes:

See details at the top of this page regarding the breathing we do as part of this week’s meditation.

MUSIC includes:

Yogi Amandeep Singh – Huu Hu (Long and Slow)
Gurucharan Singh Khalsa – Wahe Guru during Sodarshan Chakra Kriya

ROCKY’S TAKEAWAY

Kriya to Keep Up Spirit & Sodarshan Chakra Kriya
Students say this is a lighter Kriya. It is easier physically and mentally, it feels lighter too. It is a more subtle Kriya. Perhaps a good one to do when you have lower energy. You will still work your core with the leg lifts and the standing exercises are great for opening up the lower lumbar spine. We conclude with Sodarshan Chakra Kriya which is stimulating because of the alternate nostril breath. Again for beginners, the breathing pattern allows you 9 seconds to exhale through the right nostril, inhale through the left nostril and then hold/suspend the breath for 24 seconds adding the stomach pumps. Just watch the video and follow along. You will soon get it!

One final note: I invite you to read: My Morning Mat Waits for Me. You can find it just under the photo gallery below. It is a very brief essay about the process of this Kundalini Yoga series and the ways in which I notice things shifting with 115 consecutive days on my mat.

Sat Nam.

Kriya Illustrations & Detailed Instructions

My Morning Mat Waits for Me

This morning marked my 115th consecutive day on my mat. 115 days times a ninety minute session is over ten thousand minutes or 172 hours on my mat since the COVID-19 shut down began, March 15. What does this mean?

We start all Kundalini Yoga practice with the same ritual. The familiarity quiets the mind, drops the chatter, slows down the breath and I get comfortable and present within my body. When my eyes close sitting in easy pose, Sukasana, my spine is straight and tall. My body, my mind, my emotions, my spirit…all know in this moment I am about to begin Yoga.

Kundalini Yoga is a Yoga of awareness. Yoga means union. In these opening seconds I am setting an intention to integrate body, mind and spirit. It is not a “woo-woo” StarTrek kind of moment. It is merely one human begin sitting together with another human being. While we sit, we breathe, connecting deeply to each inhale and exhale. We actually measure our breaths by seconds. Generally a four-second inhale and a six-second exhale. Our exhale is fifty-percent longer than our inhale. We are breathing in oxygen. The human body converts this life force, this Prana to energy and we slowly exhale the waste, carbon dioxide.

As time begins to pass, my spiritual muscle and emotional and physical muscles awaken. My thoughts begin to slow down. My emotions settle. My physical body feels expansive, strong and pain free. This is when moments, nanoseconds of integration and connection ignite. The magic begins.

I am tethered to my spirit. I am in the moment. I have absolutely no needs, no wants, no desires. I am enough. Complete. This sense of centering then allows me to move into a sixty-minute moving meditation. I complete the hour refreshed, invigorated, inspired, energized and patient. I am fully human. Grateful to be alive and to experience my aliveness.

One more day on my mat. One more day to integrate and move beyond my individual self. Sat Nam.

Rocky Blumhagen
Musing on a Morning Moment for Advanced Memoir
Stanford – July 7, 2020

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