| Yoga And Meditation |
| Your Guide to Yoga and Meditation Online |
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The word Kundalini is a familiar one to all students of Yoga, as it is well known as the power, in the form of a coiled serpent, residing in Muladhara Chakra, the first of the seven Chakras, the other six being Svadhishthana, Manipuraka, A nahata, Visuddha, Ajna and Sahasrara, in order.
Less is historically known of the Agamas than the Vedas, because the latter provide descriptive poem-pictures of Vedic life. The original Agamas are twenty-eight in number. They are called Saiva Agamas as they focus on establishing a relationship with and ultimately realizing the Supreme Being Siva. They carry names like Vira, Hero. Siddha, Perfected and Swayambhuva, naturally revealed.
The Agamas are divided into four parts called padas, lessons. The first two padas – Chariya good conduct, and Kriya, external worship,- include all the details of personal home life, house planning, town planning, personal worship in temples, the architectural plans for temples and sculpture as well as the intricacies of temple puja. The final two padas – Yoga, internalized worship and union, and Jnana, enlightened wisdom, – vividly describe the processes and stages of kundalini yoga, and the Cod-like plateaus of consciousness reached when Sivahood is attained. In the actual texts, the padas are ordered with jnana first, yoga second, then kriya and chariya – unfurling from a God-state to a human state.
The Agamas contain tens of thousands of verses, much more prolific than the Vedas. Though the Vedas stayed strictly in Sanskrit, the Agamas proliferated across India and oilier countries through many languages. But they fared poorly over the millennia, particularly the Yoga and Jnana Padas – so high and powerful. The custodian Saiva priests neglected them. Many padas of entire Agamas were lost or destroyed.
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Kundalini Yoga is a powerful type of yoga that focuses on the energy within the body. The focus is usually pinpointed through an area. In the old language, the definition for this type of yoga is known as ‘energy’ and also as ‘coiled’ and is likened to the accuracy of a coiled up snake. This energy is said to reside at the bottom of the spine, lying in wait until users tap into the power and let it flow throughout the body.
To be able to focus on this energy results in the ability to achieve consciousness of one’s inner being on a new level. This consciousness is referred to as chakras. Within the body, there are seven chakras or energy centers.
These energy centers are said to give those who practice the yoga a system of energy, control or subtle power. The chakras have within them things like the spiritual side, the kindness of a person.
They also help focus on the ability to share verbally and in the way we express ourselves. To tap into the chakras is to tap into the love, the power within and even the will to survive.
For someone who’s never studied any type of yoga, Kundalini Yoga isn’t a starting point but rather a graduating point. The poses used in the yoga are also done with practiced breathing much the same as in other styles of yoga.
However, the main component of this versus other types of yoga, is the concentration on bringing the unreleased energy into play and having it travel through the chakras until the goal of understanding or enlightenment is reached.
There are rewards to be reaped from undertaking any kind of yoga designed to improve your overall health and emotional well being. But because this style of yoga is so powerful, beginners are cautioned to align themselves either with an instructor who’s familiar with the power involved or with someone who understands how to use the energy correctly.
There are challenges involved with a yoga that has coiled energy and you don’t want to tap into something you’re not sure how to handle emotionally or physically.
While other styles of yoga do center on several different aspects such as physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, Kundalini Yoga has a strong emphasis on the spiritual. But like the other yoga forms, partaking in this kind of yoga will also strengthen the body and help users obtain a balanced life.
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Kundalini refers to the dormant power in the human organism, which lies at the root of the spinal column and is the individual bodily representation of the great cosmic power. The Kundalini energy is generally described figuratively as a coiled serpent at the base of the spine. The coiled state of the kundalini represents the unmanifested spiritual power and consciousness of humans
The awakening of kundalini energy requires long practice and preparation under the expert supervision of a teacher through the various stages of discipline involving asanas (postures), mudras (psycho-physical gestures), bandhas (muscular locks), pranayama (breath-control), meditations and mantras. . These disciplines enable the practitioner to purify and balance the two subtle channels of energy, called ida and pingala, which run adjacent to the spine on each side. This results in the gradual ignition of the kundalini energy at the base of the spine and it begins to rise up through a central channel in the spinal column, known as the sushumna nadi. As it rises, it passes through various psycho-energetic centers known as chakras. As the chakras are interconnected with different dormant areas of the brain, when the kundalini passes through them, all of the latent faculties and divine potentialities, innate in mankind, are awakened.
The main purpose of Kundalini Yoga is to awaken this Kundalini energy which gradually takes the practitioner to progressively elevated levels of consciousness. The awakened Kundalini energy merges the individual consciousness of the practitioner with the vital consciousness of the entire universe and thus bestows upon them many divine, occult powers. It also brings upon the practitioner the realization that we are all spiritual being having a human experience. The keyword here is realization, that is, when the practitioners understand this as the truth in the very core of their being.
Kundalini Yoga is the highest form of yoga and all other forms of yoga are merely preparations of the mind and body for its practice. A focused and diligent practice of other forms of yoga will ultimately lead the practitioner in this direction, of its own accord, by raising their levels of consciousness.
In yogic traditions there is a mention of three types of spaces: Mahakasha, Chittakasha and Chidakasha, all derivatives of the word akasha which means sky in Sanskrit. Mahakasha means the space outer to oneself. Then comes Chittakasha or Mental Space, which is the abode of all thoughts, dreams and imaginations. All experiences at this level are hallucinations when compared to genuine spiritual experiences. And finally, we have the Chidakasha or Knowledge Space, which is where all genuine spiritual experiences take place. The practice of Kundalini Yoga gives us access to this Chidakasha.
Kundalini Yoga is simply the most efficient method for balancing body, mind and spirit with the infinite nature of the Universe. Once the Kundalini energy is awakened and reaches the topmost chakra called the sahasrara the practitioner achieves spiritual enlightenment and experiences a state of joyfulness, which radiates in every aspect of their living.
Nicholas Martens is a long time practitioner of Yoga. For more information about Kundalini Yoga visit the Kundalini Yoga Site
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Waves lapped against the gentle beach in the darkness as I listened deeply to the ocean, and the lingering exhalations of the other sixty people around me. The moon was rising over the water behind Snatam Kaur, GuruGanesha Singh and Manish Vyas, who watched us silently with light in their eyes as the music slowly faded. They had just finished leading another evening of beautiful kirtan (call and response singing) during their sacred chant retreat in Mexico.
After a few moments, Manish gently broke the silence, “Listen to the waves, and then listen to the space between the waves. Find yourself in that space.” This is where the kirtan had carried us, to this space, this deep silence between the waves. As Manish spoke to us, I could still feel the mantra coursing through my bloodstream with each heartbeat, Snatam’s voice carrying on into the silence. I felt such a sense of joy, my heart wanted to burst. I looked around and saw my emotions mirrored in the expressions of the people surrounding me. And suddenly, there was no space between the person next to me and me. We became so deeply connected by that shared experience, that there was an intimacy created beyond explanation. I did not know these people before we arrived at this kirtan event, but we left as family.
This experience of deep connectedness and community is being expressed by people attending kirtan gatherings and concerts all over the world. For many, kirtan has become their favorite practice of devotion, but for some, kirtan is a completely new experience. The idea of chanting in a group is completely foreign to them.
Akasha, a yoga teacher in Birmingham, Alabama, went to a David Newman (a.k.a. Durga Das) concert earlier this month. “I brought a bunch of my students to the concert,” he said. “They all had strong physical Yoga practices, but had never been to a kirtan event before. We don’t get kirtan artists touring through Birmingham. There were some people who came who had never chanted in their lives. Half-way through the night, I saw them rocking back and forth with their eyes closed, singing their hearts out. My students said that they felt electric afterwards. The experience of devotion towards oneness and towards each other was so strong. It didn’t matter if you could sing or not, everyone was chanting along.” And that’s the thing about kirtan; we are carried by the group energy to an exciting exploration into whom and what we are.
Kirtan is a new kind of concert experience here in the West. It’s not so much a performance as a journey into the self through the practice of listening and singing. And while there might be leaders at a kirtan concert, everyone is a part of the music. In kirtan, everyone sings. Snatam Kaur calls her concerts “coformances” rather than performances because she says the audience is an equal part of the music. Kirtan is a practice that started in India thousands of years ago, but in the last decade has become a phenomenon across the United States and has transformed musically to appeal to the ears of American audiences. Two recent books chronicle this movement and interview and track the evolution of some of the most popular kirtan musicians including Krishna Das, Deva Premal, Bhagavan Das, Snatam Kaur, Ragani, Jau Uttal, Dave Stringer and Wah! Linda Johnsen, author of Daughter of the Goddess and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Hinduism, recently released a book called Kirtan! Chanting as a Spiritual Path and Journal of Vaishnava Studies editor Steve Rosen’s (Satyaraja Dasa) The Yoga of Kirtan also includes an audio CD of the music.
There is a theme that runs through the unique stories I hear from people who attend all of these various musicians’ kirtan events. People feel like they become a part of something bigger than themselves. Even after having gone to kirtans for years, I will sometimes find myself in the midst of an entirely new energy at a kirtan concert. The first time I saw Dave Stringer perform, I was seriously blown away by it. It was a packed house, and he carried us with him in the progressively building nature that is the trademark of kirtan. In addition to the deeply peaceful feel of some of the kirtan concerts I had been to, at Dave’s I got up to sing and dance at the back of the room with a group of strangers – and through that experience, we really connected. It was such a different experience of kirtan for me that I realized I wanted to experience them all. I wanted to feel the uniqueness that each kirtan artist brings to the group.
It didn’t matter if you could sing or not, everyone was chanting along. And that’s the thing about kirtan; we are carried by the group energy to an exciting exploration into whom and what we are.
I asked Hargobind, my business partner, about Krishna Das’ last concert. “Krishna Das is hilarious,” he said. “He tells these hysterical stories about India and his Guru and chanting. Through his humor and stories, you feel connected to him, like he’s just a guy you might hang out with. And then he starts singing, and his chants are so rich and upbeat and simple, that you feel relaxed and comfortable enough to join in, and so energized once you start chanting that you are really pulled into it. So you chant, even if you didn’t expect to.”
For a lot of people, this unique experience of feeling comfortable singing in public is in itself a feat. Our western sensibilities have been so tuned to the performance aspect of singing that the act of singing is accompanied by fear. Overcoming this fear alone can be life-changing. And once the fear disappears, the practice of chanting as a group brings with it layers of transformation that unfold the more we chant.
GuruGanesha Singh, a touring kirtan artist and an accomplished guitarist says, “In chanting, there are no bad sounds. In Kirtan, everyone’s voice is nectar.” While sitting in the audience at a kirtan concert, singing along, you can really experience just that: your own voice becomes as beautiful as the performers’. All of the voices merge together to become one voice.
When I asked Mahan Rishi, who has been organizing many kirtan concerts over the last few years in Philadelphia about this experience of community at the events, he said, “Kirtan concerts evoke a sublime, beautiful sense of heart. The kirtan environment creates softness where people can let go and feel a part of a mass flow of compassion. In the 1970s, I went to a Neil Young concert at Madison Square Garden. Neil Young walked off the stage in the middle of the concert and announced, ‘The Vietnam War is over.’ This wave of love went through the stadium. Kirtan is like that. People feel love within themselves that is universal and open when they chant. And the kirtan environment feels so safe and caring that they feel free enough to share it.”
“Each musician holds a different energy. They help to infuse something unique through their own way of chanting,” he continued. “Deva Premal and Miten hold an amazing energy. They know how to really create that inner dance between themselves and the community. There is such a depth that comes from them that it allows people to really connect with the profoundly soulful part of their heart. They combine that with a playfulness that gives it a universality that emanates from their music. Their concert in Philadelphia was unbelievable. We all felt it for weeks afterwards. So many people reached out to us feeling so moved by the event that they wanted to carry that connection forward.”
“The real reason I do these concerts is for Philadelphia: to help build the community consciousness. The kirtan events connect the Yoga centers and the Yoga students and create community in ways that nothing else does. They dissolve the boundaries that can’t be dissolved in other ways. The chanting blends the different Yoga traditions as well and has brought a lot of people beyond the separateness to a much greater state of harmony.” Listening to him, I realized that what kirtan does for the individual, it can also do for groups, bringing communities together.
Manish Vyas, who grew up in India studying classical Indian music, says, “Kirtan in India is a very ancient spiritual phenomenon. It was known as a layman’s way of connecting to the divine. Not everyone is a scholar or has had a chance to practice a path, so the simple men and women had kirtan as a tool to dissolve and merge with the divine. My teacher, Osho, said that kirtan is one of the simplest and most powerful techniques of meditation. It is so effortless and joyful at the same time that the kirtan participants just have to allow the music and rhythm to take over and simply flow with it. What happens next is a huge whirlpool of energy generating from the phenomenon of group singing and dancing. And in a group, one’s separation from the other dissolves. In that space, one is finally ONE, even for a few moments. We use so many methods and techniques to find this union, and through kirtan, it is accessible effortlessly.”
That is the amazing thing about the group chanting experience. It just happens. You feel your voice emerge almost without intent. And it feels perfect.
Markus Sieber, who is half of the band Mirabai Ceiba, says, “Chanting can be like a light in the darkness. You can sing for your pain, for your sadness, and it can transform you. Singing and playing music together is a way of subtle communication beyond words.” When you hear Mirabai Ceiba in concert, you feel all of those things and more. You are sharing those songs of longing with everyone around you and breaking through to a new place together.
Valerie Ortiz, who saw Snatam Kaur’s concert in Virginia last year said, “Snatam’s concerts just open your heart wide open. And then all you are is love.” And in a room full of people, that love has plenty of places to land.
Karan Khalsa is devoted to sharing sacred music and technology through her writing and her business, Spirit Voyage: spiritvoyage.com
The author is the CEO of Spirit Voyage Records which is engaged in yoga music and healing meditations . The company practices various forms of Kundalini Yoga and meditation music.
Article Source: http://www.thecontentcorner.com
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To make your body fit there are many exercise, many equipments, and also medicines. But if want your body fit and fine without any trainer, without ant equipments and medicines. Then there is only way by Yoga. Here I am describing you some features and explanation about yoga.
What is Yoga?
The word “Yoga” comes from Sanskrit. It is a Hindu traditional way of exercise by which we can make control on our body and mind. By doing yoga we can make our body physical and mentally strong. If you do yoga 45 minutes a day after doing that I can surely tell you that your mind and body feel relax. Now there is short information about types of Yoga.
Types of Yoga Position:
1. Free Spirit
• Vinyasa yoga
2. Gym Rat
a. Bikram or Hot yoga
b. Power Yoga
c. Vinyasa Yoga
3. Gymnast
a. Ashtanga Yoga
b. Forrest Yoga
4. Injured
a. Iyengar Yoga
5. Mellow
a. Hatha Yoga
b. Integral Yoga
c. Kripalu Yoga
6. Self – motivated
a. Ashtanga Yoga
7. Singer
a. Jivamukti Yoga
b. Kundalini Yoga
8. Spiritual Seeker
a. Anusara Yoga
b. Jivamukti Yoga
c. Kundalini Yoga
9. Traditionalist
a. Iyengar Yoga
b. Ashtanga Yoga
c. Integral Yoga
d. Kripalu Yoga
e. Kundalini Yoga
Most Popular types of yoga:
1. Raja Yoga – It is “Royal Yoga” running from the time of king. It is a special Yoga for your mind (dyana) to make it relax. Sit in any position and close your eyes and do meditation. It makes your whole body and mind relax. Do it 45 minutes in one day.
2. Hatha Yoga – Hatha yoga is widely performed in America. It uses body position (asanas), breathing style (pranayama), and Meditation (dyana). This yoga makes you physically and mentally strong.
3. Iyengar Yoga – It is a form of Hatha Yoga, is completely giving primacy to the physical alignment of the body.
4. Bikram or Hot Yoga – Bikram yoga is developed by Bikram choudhury. This Yoga is performing in hot room. This yoga systemically for wellness and restoration. There are 26 different poses in Bikram Yoga.
5. Pregnancy or Prenatal Yoga – This yoga is performing during the time of women pregnancy to make her body fit and in shape. It also best yoga for your baby. We enjoy performing this yoga in pregnancy period.
6. Laughter or Hasya Yoga – Hasya Yoga is physical oriented methods that remove your tension, out of this world and place in new world of peace. During this yoga people laugh for 30 to 40 minutes with noise of clapping and Ha Ha……. People perform this yoga to make their mind free from their personal tension.
7. Ashtanga Yoga – Ashtanga yoga is a yoga therapy, realigns the spine, detoxifies the body, and builds strength, flexibility and stamina.
Following are the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga:
1. Yama (Restraints or Abstinence)
2. Niyama (Disciplines or Devotion)
3. Asanas ( Pose of Yoga)
4. Pranayama (Breath Control)
5. Pratyahara (Retraction of the Senses)
6. Dharana ( Fix of Attention)
7. Dyana (Meditation)
8. Samadhi (Deep Trance)
Bella Mclaine is a freelance writer, she is passionate about writing – some of his content work can be seen at website Importance of Yoga
Article Source: http://www.thecontentcorner.com
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Though the world is going gaga over yoga, there are some people who still don’t understand the necessity to practice yoga. If you too are looking for reasons to practice yoga, then be prepared to have many coming your way. Yoga is a holistic practice that offers both- physical as well as mental benefits. Let us take a look at some of the advantages that yoga has to offer.
Yoga prompts lots of plasticity in your body and that is one of its main benefits. There are various yoga poses that require you to stretch your body which increases the muscle movement and adds to adaptability. Also, yoga adds additional pliancy to some body parts like legs, back, shoulders, and hips.
Yoga also enhances the overall strength of your body. It reinforces your capacity to support your own body. Besides, regular working on diverse body parts improves the power of your body. In addition, it also tones your muscles.Regular practice of yoga yields lean muscles, which subsequently aids in weight loss.
Another significant benefit that yoga offers is that it combats pain. Yoga gives flexibility to the body by keeping the muscles in movement. This alleviates the tightness of muscles and therefore helps to counter discomfort. This is the reason yoga may also be of significant help in relieving back trouble.
Every one of us breathe but there are just a few of us who breathe in the right manner. Most of us practice shallow breathing and the air is not able to reach our lungs. Yoga involves various breathing techniques that teach you how to respire right. This helps improve the final health.
Besides offering you numerous physical benefits, yoga benefits you at the psychological level too. It quietens and calms your mind, reduces stress and improves your concentration levels too. If you get indignant too often, then yoga can help you a great deal. It asks you to work on your body which brings quietness.
Yoga is also a really effective anxiety control method. It helps you remain untouched by everyday stressors and therefore relaxes your mind.Meditation which is an integral part of yoga is one of the best routes to relax your intelligence and ease out your body. If you practice yoga on a consistent basis, you are bound to keep away from stress quite effectively.
Better concentration adds to the list of benefits offered by yoga. Lots of us find it hard to concentrate or focus on a particular thing. Yoga can help resolve this problem. It asks you to concentrate on your movements and the middle of your body. This not only increases your awareness level but also delivers remarked improvement in your concentration.
So, with these and a lot heaps of other benefits, yoga is surely a practice that you may take up instantly.
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