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My teacher Harijiwan often says, “At this level of incarnation, nothing is wasted.” What he means is that all your experiences up to this moment right now were given to you to serve you in a positive way, even if they didn’t feel that way on the way up.
This is yet another great philosophy from a great mind. What happens when you accept every moment of your life, good and bad, is that you can get on with things that matter. Joseph Campbell says that “Regrets are illuminations come too late.” We all have moments when we see things clearly in hindsight that we couldn’t see when we were deep in the fray. To regret things just slows you down. Getting in the habit of acceptance frees you. Accepting that nothing in your life was wasted allows you to use all of your talents from all of your experiences to your advantage.
I used to look back on my life and wonder if I hadn’t made some big mistakes. I realize now that each experience served me… from being a West Point Cadet, to an Army Officer, to a Comedian and Actor, filmmaker, Post Production Coordinator, DVD mastering supervisor, Marketing Director to Kundalini Yoga Teacher. Every moment served me and nothing was wasted. My life experiences, by virtue of being quite varied, allow me to illustrate things to my students in ways that wouldn’t be possible had I not done the things I’ve done. The varied experiences allow me to put a real face on the teachings.
Moreover, my experiences afford me great success in the businesses I now engage in. As a marketing consultant for a real estate firm I have no fear of engaging clients or speaking to big groups-having been on stage and in front of a camera makes my business easier and more profitable. You get the point. Don’t bemoan your life experiences. Use them to profit and enrich your life so that you can be happy and healthy and then give some of it away.
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve written. There have been days when I had wanted to put something out but sadly I found myself with absolutely no time. It’s actually quite a good thing as what actually happened was an avalanche of abundance for me as I got about a week into the course. In a past life (about four years ago) I had worked as a marketing consultant for a big commercial real estate company in Hollywood. When I left that job, I went completely into Kundalini yoga, finally taking the teacher’s training and ultimately teaching this boot camp as well as other classes. These past few years of teaching have been amazing but it was an interesting study in living. Unless you own your own studio it’s tough to make a living at just teaching yoga. Anyway, the short story is that my old boss recommended me to a property owner downtown who needed my help marketing his buildings. Ultimately he offered me a lot of money to come work for him and I accepted.
So first of all, we now know that the prosperity and abundance and all the gifts that come with dedicated practice also work for the teacher! The elevation and detachment and neutrality that comes with kundalini yoga has allowed me a great ability to do this job without losing my mind. I watch as the people who work around me get very stressed and pulled in by the hectic work. I feel strangely detached, yet each day it seems I am more effective than the next. It’s simply because of this practice. I know when to relax and conserve my energy in between tasks by simply breathing. It’s amazing to go back deeply into the working world and bring back the fruits of over four years of intense practice and teaching.
This is really important to realize because kundalini yoga is a householder’s yoga– meaning it is an intense practice of realization that can be done by everyday people who have lives to look after, jobs, families and big screen tv’s. In a very subtle way Kundalini Yoga by it’s mere existence is proof that spiritual practice isn’t relegated to monks and renunciates.
So this last boot camp was quite interesting. I began the new job on March 17th, the day of my namesake… St. Patrick’s day. So two weeks into the program I shifted into work mode and after teaching each morning I’d rush off to this job which often kept me at work until after 7 pm or later. This gave me an average of 4.5 hours of sleep a night and it was magnificent. There’s a saying… “the more you do, the more you CAN do.” It’s true. Anyway, this boot camp was the biggest ever and perhaps even the best. The miracles of kundalini yoga seemed more clear than I’ve ever experienced before.
One woman told me how she’d been trying to get pregnant despite major problems she’d had with her reproductive system. The problem had put undue pressure on her marriage and she’d come to the boot camp with the intention of removing all the blocks in her life with regards to her marriage and having a family. About ten days into the program, she came up to me after class with tears in her eyes as she related this whole story to me and told me that miraculously, she was pregnant and that her marriage was now better than ever.
Another woman who’d done the bootcamp once before just wrote me after the end of the course and told me how regrettably she’d had to miss the last few classes because of work. She explained that an avalanche of high profile crap at work had her tied up. Despite her inability to make it to class because of time, she made sure to do the meditation at home each day to complete the forty days. She related how ordinarily she would have been completely unraveled by this work situation, but because of the regular practice, especially the early morning practice of the boot camp, she was able to navigate the insanity of this work obstacle course, without getting very dirtied by any of it. In other words, she experienced what we always talk about as one of the benefits of Kundalini Yoga: The elevation and clarity of an expanded radiance literally keeps out the negative situations and somehow, in the clarity of mind that the yoga gives you, the right things just seem to happen at the right time.
For lack of a better way to say it, “my cup runneth over.” I am in awe at how this yoga works for those who practice it with a determination that becomes devotion and reverence. I am humbled by whatever grace led me to teach it and I am extremely grateful to the students who jumped on for this last ride.
I’ve been absent a while and for that I apologize. A new boot camp always becomes all consuming. This newest program as been a great success thus far. As we’ve finished this first week, the seventeen or so strong souls who’ve come out have been there nearly every day with great dedication and commitment.
I’ve also been involved as an apprentice teacher trainer with Harijiwan and Tej Kaur in their Kundalini Yoga Teacher’s Training in Santa Monica. As an apprentice I am helping out with the program and teaching a class or two on my way to becoming a trainer of teachers myself.
So as a catch-up, this will be a blast of wisdom bits from both the boot camp as well as the teacher’s training.
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This morning as I ended the meditation I was graced with some thoughts which I shared at the end of class…
As you move through your life, don’t pray so much that all of your troubles be taken away, but rather pray that you have the strength to burn them in the fire of your spirit, so that they may give you the strength of experience and ultimately, wisdom. A mere piece of coal under great pressure eventually becomes a diamond. Keep making yourself bright and strong and the darkness of your troubles will slowly disappear.
This weekend Tej Kaur was teaching about the breath and she said that when you breathe consciously and mentally pull the breath (prana) through the crown of the head (7th chakra ) you actually charge or light up the nadis which are channels of energy through the body that the life force travels on. Breathing conciously in this way and charging the nadis from the top down balances the entire energy system as the breath comes in! This is good to know, especially because of how we traditionally think about breath and the lungs as well as everything going from bottom to top.
I like to read some inspiration if there’s time at the end of class. The following is a prayer that came from Yogi Bhajan and I found it at the end of a lecture called Learn To Love in the book Meditations for the New Millenium.
May your words have projective power, may your face shine like the moon, may your body radiate like the sun, may your brightness be acknowledged by those whom you touch, feel, speak to and befriend. May you learn all the faculties of God– totality, reality, infinity, kindness and compassion. May your prosperity shine through you to serve those who are in need and may you extend your hand of friendship to those who are lonely. May your essence flow, may you be recognized by your best qualities, wonderful manners and your livelihood. May this day bring you all these blessings plus more, so that you can live healthy, happy and holy. May your nine holes be under your control. And may you give your heart to that one who is like God to you, so you can find your infinity forever. Sat Nam.
We go from individual consciousness through group consciousness to get to universal consciousness. When you relate in group consciousness you see the reflection of the many facets of your mind. (This is why you have to go to class as well as meditate at on your own.)
Knowledge leads to experience which becomes wisdom.
There’s a biorhythm of the earth and there’s an individual biorhythm that each person has. When you open your eyes in the morning, if you don’t catch the rhythm of the earth, you are playing catch-up all day. This is why you should play sacred mantras at night while you sleep, so that when you wake up you are surrounded by a vibration of sacred sound and are more likely to be in sync.
Breath gives you control over your mind and body.
The three most powerful ways to create change in yoga, respectively are:
Mantra and sacred sound current (Gong)
Conscious Breath
Posture or Asana
This is why Kundalini Yoga is quicker than the more solely physical practices.
Each time you consciously focus on or think about your breath, your aura radiates and expands.
A daily movement breath and meditation course to help you focus, change, remove bad habits, project yourself into who and what you truly want to be.
Why: Because we live in a fast-paced, stressful, distracting world and you need some leverage–some help to access, focus and use all of your energy to its full potential and create your lifestyle to order.
When: 6:15 AM - 7:45 AM Daily (Nobody said it would be that easy!)
Where:
Goldenbridge Yoga Center (map.)
6322 Delongpre Avenue
Hollywood, CA 90028
How:Read all about the program, what students have said about it, the FAQ (frequent questions page,) then register at Goldenbridge to change your life.
Benefits experienced by some who have done Kundalini Yoga:
Deep relaxation
Better focus and productivity
More creativity
Less stress
Happiness just being
Elimination of Depression and bad feelings
Losing weight
Greater Aerobic Capacity
A general glowing radiance
Better Relationships with family, partners and friends
This was in response to a post on the kundalini yoga teacher’s forum, subject: knowledge should be free. The gist was that this person thought it was hypocritical to charge for passing on spiritual teachings. The following is a response.
Many people believe that spiritual knowledge should be free. In many ways it is, but living in a world of duality, one has to give in order to get. That is also in accordance with karmic law. Karma is simply cause and effect, which was proven scientifically by Newton in his third law–“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” As far as charging for this knowledge, the waters get muddy here in the west, in our modern capitalist system.
In the past, spiritual tradition was typically handed down from Master to Student at great physical cost. A new Chela, or student, wishing to find a master and learn the spiritual path would travel arduously up into the Himalayan mountains and once he found the master, would then work for that master for several years or more until accepted. That is if the master accepted him in the first place and allowed him to work. After this tremendous expression of commitment, the student would then get one kriya to practice and master. In that context, if you stop to think about the volume of technology Yogi Bhajan passed on in such a short time, it’s mind boggling. (more…)
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…)
Came across this video on YouTube… It’s a great explanation of kundalini yoga from one of my teachers, Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa. Gurmukh is a great master who with Gurushabd Singh, her husband opened the Goldenbridge Yoga Center in Hollywood where I teach.
This video is a great overview of the practice from the point of view of one of the great masters of this yoga, Gurmukh.
I was talking with my class about this earlier today. Spirituality is between you and the creator. Any human being, even the most saintly among them is going to have imperfections. Don’t get me wrong, there are some damn good humans out there but each one of them has the same temptations and struggles that you do with your mind. The only difference is that exceptional humans bring a courage to life that allows them to conquer the vicissitudes of their minds and stay centered on a single path.
“It’s not the life that matters, it’s the courage you bring to it.” –Yogi Bhajan
The trouble is when we see someone great, we want to idolize them. We want to put them on a pedestal and make gods of them. (more…)
I’ve started officially teaching Kundalini yoga at a place called Le Studio in Hollywood. The teachers I’ve studied with have all spoken of this feeling that comes through you when you teach. It’s all a part of that selfless vacuum I was talking about a while ago. You become a conduit for the energy of people bringing themselves to a better place. The energy of the golden chain of teachers that practiced and mastered this yoga literally comes through you as the class practices the various kriyas and meditations. This sounds really esoteric but it’s really no so much. Teaching is somewhat of a selfless act. As I write this I get wrapped around the axle. So let me just put it this way… (more…)
So I was re-reading some of these posts and I realized they’re really long and quite a bit heavy. Not to mention they’re two months old. (I can mention it, you probably shouldn’t) So I thought I would put some things down in more raw form as they come to me. For example, this morning during Sadhana-meditation some stuff occurred to me. Yogi Bhajan saying (and I can’t reference the quote directly but…) basically when you serve others, The Creator serves you. I understood it as it came to me in meditation, but explaining what I think it is, is a whole other thing. (more…)
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