Welcome to YBC40. If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to the email newsletter for info on classes and events, ...or link to this site via RSS feed. If you'd like you may have YBC40 articles from this site delivered by email as they're posted. Thanks for visiting and enjoy!

There’s a book that was compiled from Yogi Bhajan’s lectures called The Ancient Art of Self-Healing, Edited by Siri Amir Singh Khalsa, D.C. I got a copy of it up at the Summer Solstice in New Mexico. Other than that it’s pretty rare to find. It’s a fantastic book with all kinds of rare Ayurvedic treaments and recipes. The great thing is it’s indexed for easy searching by what’s ailing you. It’s a very interesting book and this is one of the appendices– a guide to vitamins and minerals by the foods in which you can find them. Coconut seems to be the winner– nearly a perfect food. I actually heard tell of some yogi in India who lived on one coconut a day for his whole life. Not one French Fry?

vitamins & minerals food-list follows below (more…)

Share This

The following is excerpted from various lectures given by Yogi Bhajan. Meditation to combat headaches is at the end.
—————————————————————————————————————-

EXCERPTS FROM YOGI BHAJAN’S TEACHINGS

on

HEADACHES

To measure how young you are: Get into Frog pose: Put your hands on the ground. Now come up with your butts in the air, keeping knees and legs straight, bending over touching the ground. Grab hold of the heels and press nose into the knees. You will never have trouble with HEADACHES if you can do this. It means you are young and you will survive.

The greatest problem with a female is that when she confronts insecurity, she gets a HEADACHE. Insecurity in woman means a HEADACHE. Otherwise there’s no HEADACHE for a woman. She’s not meant to have a HEADACHE. A secure woman can never have a HEADACHE. It is a biological, physical phenomenon, which represents a tremendous amount of insecurity. When you are very insecure about something or you have a HEADACHE, just feel, “Happy am I, Healthy am I, Holy am I” and it will go away. It works like Tylenol.

If someone has a HEADACHE, just massage them on the temples. Just pressure them and then let go. These are the temples of God. This area, these temples control the prana in your inflow of life. So we create a pressure at the base of your arcline, the lifeline of the aura.

Cat pose is meant for your creative energy and to get rid of HEADACHES.

A woman should pass her stools within 18 hours (for a man it can be up to 24 hours), because her structure will start causing so many menstruational problems. All menstrual problems come from constipation. For a woman, menstruation will be messed up, she will have a lot of cramps, dizziness, she will have HEADACHES, irregular menstruation and she will be nauseated. She will not digest her food and she would like to vomit all the time and be bitchy. The moment a woman’s stool remains in her body more than 18 hours she starts.

First thing upon rising one must brush the root of the tongue with alum and salt until one gags and the eyes water. The gagging will bring up two balls of mucous that collect at the root of the tongue overnight. This toxic mucous must come out before you swallow or it will go back into the body to produce HEADACHES and pollution. HEADACHES, even migraines can be traced sometimes to mucous. Use this alum and salt toothpowder and brush the root of the tongue.

Headache Quick Fix: Sit in easy pose. Bend forward, touch the forehead to floor then come sitting back up. This is very good for circulation. It is the best facelift and it avoids HEADACHES.

Another Posture for HEADACHES: Lie down on your back. Raise your head off the floor and do long, deep breathing for 1-3 minutes.

Meditation for HEADACHES (especially migraines):

Sit in easy pose, raise your arms up overhead, & spread them out to a 60-degree angle (like a big “V”).

Mudra: Hands are in gian mudra (palms face up, resting on the knees with the thumb and index fingertips touching.)

Eyes: Close the eyes, and look to the hairline. Hold the posture with normal breathing for at least 11 minutes, then relax the hands down onto the knees and chant in a monotone: “We are the love” (for 1-2 min.)

Comments: Pain in the back & behind the shoulders is a sign of poor blood circulation.

“People who are blocked, people who have HEADACHES, it is that the kidneys, the inner thing is inflamed. 7 days a week, take 40 oz. of Cornsilk tea. This has effectively relieved a lot of symptoms.”

Share This

“Gur Prasad - How can we experience this understanding? Gur Prasad is the blessing, the grace, the transforming touch of the Guru, the teachings embodied. Grace alone completes our full merger with the Infinite. This experience is a gift from the Guru. ”

“When your merger is complete with Gur Prasad, what is the natural desire of your soul? To meditate…” –by Yogi Bhajan, From The Aquarian Teacher Textbook - Level 1

download/print meditation

Meditation for GURPRASAD

MUDRA: Sit comfortably with your spine straight. Cup the hands together, with the palms face up, at the level of the heart center. The elbows and upper arms will comfortably tuck against the ribcage. Feel that you are asking & receiving a blessing from God.

EYES: Keep the eyes 90% closed, 10% open. Allow them to close completely during the meditation.

TIME: No restrictions placed on the time. Practice at least 11 minutes.

END: Feel a great flow of energy into your body, psyche, and mind. Just let it happen… health, wealth, happiness, your caliber, capacity. “Gurprasad” means the “Gift of the Guru,” the Universal Teacher. As you practice this meditation, feel yourself being showered by all the blessings of heaven.

This is a very restful posture. The meridian points on the ribcage give immediate relaxation. Fill your heart, fill your soul, with whatever comes to you from the bounties of nature.

OPTIONAL: You can play a mantra, such as “Ardas Bhayee” by Tarn Taran and Friends, as this mantra helps to answer prayers, or, “Dhan Dhan” on the album “Mother’s Blessing” by Snatam and Prabhu Nam Kaur, as this mantra will help bring about a miracle. (listen to clip of Dhan-Dhan)

Share This

This is a great video showing how to make this Indian Flat Bread called Roti or Chapati. It’s basically like an Indian tortilla. They’re really great and you can make them fresh to use with the Cauliflower Chapati’s Recipe.  They’re especially good when made fresh!

The Recipe:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup water
• Oil or ghee (if you want this to be vegan, don’t use ghee)

add water to flour and knead until smooth. Roll into a ball and add oil, knead oil into dough. Separate into four parts. Roll with some flour until flat. Cook on a hot skillet until brown and puffy. Add some ghee to the cooked bread and serve.

Share This

A friend of mine suggested this idea a few days ago and so I ran with it. After all, everybody loves lists! Thanks Ali.

1. Think About Your Destiny Once A Day
2. Follow Your Heart
3. Follow Your Bliss
4. Pray for Others
5. Pray for Yourself
6. Meditate
7. Give to Charity
8. Follow Your Intuition
9. Breathe Deeply
10. Forgive Someone
11. Love Everyone You See
12. Treat Others as You Would Like To Be Treated
13. Do Something Self-Less
14. Be At Peace Within
15. Live In The Present Moment
16. Accept Things As They Are Now
17. Get Rid of Anger
18. Call Your Mother
19. Call Your Father
20. Be Kind to Yourself
21. Do What’s Right for You
22. Make The Higher Choice
23. Clean Your House
24. Try Something New
25. Don’t Worry

(more…)

Share This

When I worked in commercial real estate, I had a boss who once said something very wise to me. He told me that anything you do in this life is like “getting yourself into orbit.” Think of yourself as a rocket-ship or better yet, a satellite trying to get into outer space so that you can orbit around the earth. In order to get out of the atmosphere you have to defy gravity, which takes a lot of energy. A rocket expends a lot of fuel propelling itself upward towards space. However, once you make it out of the earth’s atmosphere, the gravitational pull of the earth starts to work for you. A satellite hovers around the earth, traveling at great speeds with very little to no effort. An occasional thrust to the left or right for correction keeps the ship on course, with earth’s gravity doing all the work. It’s the same thing for anything you want to do in your life. When you begin a journey of destiny, you will meet with great resistance– this is the cost of getting into orbit.

In Think And Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill says once you determine what your definite chief aim in life is, you must demand of yourself “Persistent, continuous action toward it’s attainment.” It’s this persistent, continuous action which is the energy you use to get into orbit. (more…)

Share This

Vegetarian and Vegan baking tips

(to be fair the following was completely and blatantly ripped off from The Post Punk Kitchen - word-for-word. http://www.theppk.com please visit them. There is a ton of great stuff on there.)

Get rid of the eggs
Replacing eggs is the most challenging aspects of vegan baking. Those suckers bind, they leaven and they give structure to our baked goods. However, like a bad boyfriend, they can be replaced, and with pleasing results. Here some info on replacements I have tried.
(more…)

Share This

WAKE UP, WARM UP AND GET UP

SIMPLE THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU GET UP IN THE MORNING - Yogi Bhajan, March 1992

If before getting up and before opening your eyes, you spend one minute doing the following things, you will preserve your health and prevent disease.

1. Clench your fingers.
2. Move your shoulders in a circle.
3. Tense and release your lower back.
4. Point your toes.
5. With your hands flat at your sides, stretch your whole body.
6. Curl around inuously, like a snake, 3 inches left and right.
7. Put the palms of your hands over your eyes, open your eyes while your hands are covering them, and then slowly move your hands forward and away from your eyes. In theis way your eyes become gently introduced to the first light of day.
8. Massage your mouth and face with the pamls of both hands.
9. Cat stretch left and right.
10. Raise your head up slowly and pull your knees up to your chest.

Now get up and enjoy your day. This routine is very helpful on those days when you have to get up and you don’t want to.

From The Kundalini Yoga Manual: Physical wisdom: Kundalini yoga by Harbhajan Singh Khalsa

Share This

Meditation on the Breath For Healing & To Break Depression

(As taught by Yogi Bhajan ) <<download/print>>

Basic Position: Sit in any relaxed position with a straight spine. Relax the hands in your lap, palms face up, left under, right on top; or put the hands in giaan mudra (index finger and thumb-tips, touching).

Eyes: Close the eyes 9 parts, leaving them just slightly open. Focus the eyes on the tip of the nose.

Breath:

Inhale through the nose, in four equal parts, until the lungs are completely full. Exhale through the nose.

Each part is a quick, sniff-like inhale that causes the sides of the nose to collapse in very slightly. It is important to focus on the flow of the breath, and to keep the broken breath equally divided.

Mantra:

The following mantra can be mentally recited on the inhale:

SAA: (Infinity, Cosmos, Beginning)

TAA: (Life, Existence)

NAA: (Death, Change, Transformation)

MAA: (Rebirth)

On the exhale, mentally recite:

Wahe Guru. (Wow! The Ecstasy of that which brings me from the dark to the light)

Time:

Practice this 11 minutes daily, for 40 days (in a row).

Comments: This breath is used to heal one’s self and to break depression.

Share This

The following is written by my teacher, Harijiwan about the teacher’s training experience. I will be participating as an apprentice in this teacher’s training. I urge anyone who has the will and the means to do it. It will certainly change your life. —————————————————————————————————————————

Join the Golden Chain -

by Harijiwan

In Jap-Ji, the celestial song of the Earth and Heavens, Guru Nanak says, “Paatalla Pataal lakh Aagaasa Aagass.” Limitless the worlds below, limitless the worlds above.

The Ancient ones tell of those places where beings are trapped in worlds where the Sun sets. The darkness comes and enters the minds of the people. Pain and confusion occur. People get lost, and can’t find their way.

But, the Ancient ones also tell us of beings of light, pure and bright, who have found a way to escape the suffering of the darkness. These beings have linked themselves to each other and to a luminous place that exists far, far beyond time. This is the Golden Chain. Through the blessings of this ancient lineage, you can find your way to the clear light of awareness. From this expanded consciousness you begin to experience the totality of your potential and the endless possibilities of fulfillment. (more…)

Share This