Dear Teacher, Eight- Week Curriculum Kundalini Yoga for Vision: To See Your Goal and Keep it in Your Consciousness 90- Minute Classes Compiled by Shakta Kaur Kundalini Yoga in the Loop (KYL), Chicago, IL, USA For 3HO IKYTA December 21, 2012 This Kundalini Yoga for Vision curriculum was designed just for you! It is an 8- week series of 90- minute classes based upon Yogi Bhajan s The Eight Elements of Excellence which reads: The 8 Elements of Excellence The Vision to see your goal and keep it in your consciousness. The Courage to attempt it and to keep up. The Grit to go through it. The Humility to know who the Doer is. The Knowledge to substantiate it. The Prayer to feed it. The Grace to carry yourself through it. The Determination to achieve it. In 2010, the 3HO IKYTA s Teachers Conference theme was Vision. In 2011 it was Courage and in 2012 Grit. In 2013 the IKYTA Teachers Conference theme is Humility. You may want to share this Kundalini Yoga for Vision series of classes to start off the New Year! Or, to start a new season! Each class in this curriculum includes one main kriya and one meditation. It is certainly not a definitive list of all the choices you could make in a curriculum focusing on vision. (There are plenty more from which to choose. In fact, a 9th supplementary class is also included here!) It is my hope, however, that you will find inspiration with this series. And, that you will teach it or a similar curriculum to those in your community... soon! May God and Guru continue to bless you, and all 3HO IKYTA Kundalini Yoga Instructors, Practitioners and Teachers worldwide. Yours in service, Shakta Kaur Kundalini Yoga in the Loop (KYL), Chicago, IL, USA www.shaktakaur.com 312-922- 4699
Wondering how to market your Yoga for Vision series? Try this! Yoga for Vision- - To See Your Goal and Keep it in Your Consciousness Are you feeling a need to... - - Access a whole new level of intuition and wisdom? - - Find new solutions to old problems? - - Manifest a previously unimagined goal? - - Tap into your own creativity and source of your vision? If so, then come to [studio name] during the months of [XXX and XXX] for Yoga for Vision- - to See Your Goal and Keep it in Your Consciousness. Your vision is related to your intention but it is what comes before intention. It is a grasp of the direction your creativity wishes to take you. We are often taught that we need to have vision first, intention second and creativity as the third element that infuses intention with our Shakti, with our life force. The creative force manifests as the feminine. Vision is the approach of the masculine offering to take creativity into form.* But, unorganized creativity, inspiration and a little bit of chaos has to come first! We have to become comfortable with holding the space for all possibilities. Then the vision, intention and organization follow naturally and without effort... so long as our need for control can be relinquished! Your vision may not always make intellectual sense. It may feel more intuitive, but, it will always seem right. The moment you trust your consciousness, your intuition will become handy, opportunities will come to you and you will be boundless! How to keep that vision in your consciousness is the next step. Come to [studio name] during [XXX and XXX] to learn a new set of guiding forces and principles as you re- vision your future! Call XXX- XXX- XXXX for information or simply click here to pre- register for classes: [XXX]. * Special thanks to Lena Stevens for these ideas!
Class One CREATIVITY FIRST Main Kriya: Creative Energy Kriya (Maintenance Yoga, pp. 5-8 and Aquarian Times, Vol. 8 Number 2, May/June 2009). NOTE: Reduce times to 1 ½ minutes per exercise. Meditation: Gathering Energy for Creativity (Transformation Vol. 2, p. 97 and The Mind, p. 172). 11:30 am: Deep relaxation. 11:45 am: Meditation. * 1) We are often taught that we need to have vision first, intention second and creativity as the third element that infuses intention with our Shakti, with our life force. But, unorganized creativity, inspiration and a little bit of chaos has to come first! 2) The creative force manifests as the feminine. Vision is the approach of the masculine offering to take creativity into form. 3) We have to become comfortable with holding the space for all possibilities. Then the vision, intention and organization follow naturally and without effort... so long as our need for control can be relinquished! 3 Key Skills (...a half dozen, actually!): 1) Plow Pose. 2) Locust Pose. 3) King Cobra 4) Crow Pose. 5) Frog Pose. 6) The Guru Gaitri Mantra with four Hars. CLASS TWO BECOMING SHUNIYA Main Kriya: Meditation: Adjusting the Centers of Interconnection & Intercommunication (Reaching Me in Me, pp. 1-2; Transformation Vol. 2, pp. 62-64; and Level 2 Life Cycles & Life Styles Manual, pp. 71-72). Meditation for Awareness and To Become Strategic (Transformation Vol. 2, p. 94 and The Mind, p. 180). 11:25 am: Deep relaxation. 11:40 am: Meditation. *
1) The caterpillar is a good example in understanding the concept of vision. Imagine that you told a caterpillar that one day it would be able to traverse from tree branch to tree branch, from flower to flower. How might the caterpillar imagine that happening? Perhaps the caterpillar would visualize giant sticky pads on the bottom of each foot. Or, maybe the caterpillar would visualize individual Velcro attachments to each leg. It would be difficult for the caterpillar to visualize as a butterfly would. The caterpillar can only imagine as a caterpillar! That is, until the caterpillar willingly enters the chrysalis. There the caterpillar s DNA undergoes a fantastic transformation. At the end of the prescribed time a caterpillar doesn t emerge. But, a beautiful winged creature called a butterfly does! How was the caterpillar to know that it would fly not walk from tree limb to tree limb, from flower to flower? It was impossible to visualize the metamorphosis as a butterfly because it had, up until that point, always been a caterpillar! Similarly, we have to be willing to let go of our need to control. We have to be willing to let the formless/the Creator/God manifest the exact form our vision will take. Shuniya comes first. Only after Shuniya can we then organize for intention and action. 2) Shuniya is a state of mind and consciousness where the ego is brought to zero or complete stillness. There a power exists. When you become Shuniya then the One will carry you. You do not grasp or act. With folded hands you are not. It is then that Nature acts for you (The Mind, p. 198). We use Kundalini Yoga and Meditation to bring ourselves into Shuniya. Teachers of Kundalini Yoga can sense when this happens in their classes. There is a point when a special stillness falls over the students. It is that time when the energy shifts. 3) Becoming aware of and having the ability to attract opportunities and resources is cultivated by using pranayam and bandhas to create stillness (Shuniya). Into this stillness (chrysalis) a seed is planted and a new pattern of being is created. Awareness of the meanings and consequences of events that are set in motion is another quality of this state. 3 Key Skills: 1) Alternate Leg Lifts (with arms in mummy position). 2) Double Leg Lifts (with arms in mummy position). 3) The Guru Gaitri Mantra with two Hars. CLASS THREE AN INFINITE PERSPECTIVE Main Kriya: For Creativity (Physical Wisdom, pp. 12-13). Meditation: Beaming and creating the Future (Transformation Vol. 2, p. 98). NOTE: To give a taste of this multi- part meditation in a 90- minute class reduce the times to 5 minutes/5 minutes/3 minutes. 11:20 am: Deep relaxation. 11:35 am: Meditation.
1) The mind is largely an unknown factor in the process of creation. It is necessary to be able to tune the mind to the basic life forces within and without and to be able to relax the mental processes so that the spontaneous creative impulses can come through clearly and honestly. The practice of this kriya will open the channels through which your own inner creativity can flow (Physical Wisdom, p. 13). 2) We use meditation to project the mind past the finite. We then create a relationship to the world and to our future that comes from an authentic place within. 3) Being willing to go through the creative process...as messy as it can be...is integral to living our destiny, seeing the vision of our life from the perspective of the Infinite and holding that goal clearly in our consciousness. 3 Key Skills: 1) Guru Pranam ( bowing to the teacher in all things ). 2) Vibrating the upper palate and cranium while chanting Ong continuously. 3) Experiencing a 3- part meditation. CLASS FOUR PULSE & IMPULSE Main Kriya: Balance the Mind 5 (Transformation Vol. 2, pp. 102-103). Meditation: Balance Pulse and Impulse (Guru Yoga & Tratakam Technology, p. 19). 11:30 am: Deep relaxation. 11:45 am: Meditation. 1) It is important to balance the mind with a daily personal practice of yoga and meditation. Today we use the energy of the group to balance the mind, the tattvas, the gunas, the chakras and the ten bodies. This allows us to act from our original, authentic self instead of from the emotions and commotions swirling around us. Our natural state is to pay attention to what is on the outside, to the finite world. That is important from a very basic need for personal safety. However, we also need to listen internally, to that pulse, that little voice; to that authentic Self within. Our traatik* meditation takes us to that internal place. *Traatik the art of constant gazing. Traatik brings a gradual stillness to the waves of the mind. This one- pointedness opens the gates of perception (Guru Yoga & Tratakam Technology, p. 1). 2) Pulse Impulse. Great patience is needed to choose wisely in life. We are propelled by impulses. We are tossed by thoughts and streams of desires. When we act and create from the core of our being, when our actions are authentic and conscious, we show our caliber and pulse. The pulse is the concentrated life force to create the pure essence of what we are. As pulse and impulse are balanced in your mind you gain the ability to distinguish the pulse and impulse in any object.... The meditation lets you see the reality of the person and gives you the mental caliber to create from your pulse instead of your impulse (Guru Yoga and Tratakam Technology, p. 19). 3) The story of how the soul came to earth. When God created Prakirti, to see His own Self, the soul did not want to go. The longing and love of the soul for God was so great. They are the same frequency and
being. So, it was decided they could not be truly separated. It was agreed that... there would be a time limit for the experience that would be regulated by the amount of prana given to the soul through the breath.... Second, the soul was given a subtle body to accompany it and give it clarity and distinctness.... The third thing agreed and given to the soul was the mind, given as a vehicle, as a servant.... With the mind, the soul can always tune into and experience God. It can always tune back to the earth, to this moment in time and space. It is also the mind which adjusts the five tattvas (elements) into a balanced proportion to match your character and activity (The Mind, pp. 44-45). 3 Key Skills/Practices: 1) Partner gazing exercises in the Main Kriya. 2) Mountain Mudra in the Meditation. 3) Gazing via a traatik meditation. CLASS FIVE YOUR INNER THUNDER Main Kriya: Meditation: Surat Shabd Yoga: Awakening the Inner Thunder (1993 Level 1 Teacher Training 3- Ring Binder, pp. 225-226). Keeping You Steady & on the Path (Transformation, Vol. 2, p. 116); also called The Crystalline Path on the CD The Illuminated Path, by Ashana). 11:25 am: Deep relaxation. 11:40 am: Meditation. 1) Our natural impulse is to listen for outer sounds with the ears... for our personal safety! Our alertness protects us from many dangers. But, if you can listen to the inner chamber of the mind a whole new universe of vibration will open to your awareness (paraphrased, in part, from 1993 K.R.I. Level 1 Teacher Training 3- Ring Binder, pp. 223). 2) The energy of the nervous system and consciousness can dwell in different areas of the body and attach to different objects of concern. The main kriya today mobilizes the energy of the lower chakras and the lower and mid regions of the body. As that energy is released and synchronized, it concentrates through the heart center and then the higher centers in the head. As the pituitary and pineal glands start to function at a higher level, the inner sounds become more apparent (paraphrased, in part, from 1993 K.R.I. Level 1 Teacher Training 3- Ring Binder, pp. 226). 3) In our meditation we use Yoni Mudra to close all the gates in order to listen to our inner sound, our inner thunder. The implication is the power of the sound to dissolve your old attachments and break the habitual attention of the subconscious.* When you open the inner surat shabd, it is like traveling through a turbulent sound barrier; at first everything is shaken and scattered, then there is profound silence and smoothness. We can finally listen to our internal pulse instead of being drawn and pulled away by our impulses. *(The) Subconscious (mind) realm of dreams and memories; seat of fears, negative habits, emotional impulses and commotional behavior. The subconscious can be kept clear through meditation (Meditations for a New Millennium, Glossary).
3 Key Skills/Practices: 1) Mulbandh. 2) Mahabandh. 3) Yoni Mudra. CLASS SIX YOUR UNIQUENESS Main Kriya: For Balancing the Brain (Kundalini Yoga for Youth & Joy, pp. 41-42). NOTE: Reduce times of each exercise by 30% in order to easily complete this kriya in a 90- minute class. Meditation: Remove Fear of the Future (Self- Knowledge, p. 26 and Transformation Vol. 2, p. 42). 11:30 am: Deep relaxation. 11:45 am: Meditation. 1) Rather than striving to be different from everyone else reach for your uniqueness. The technology of Kundalini Yoga and meditation brings out your uniqueness. Your soul chose to incarnate in this body at this particular time for a specific reason. Your uniqueness is the special gift you are to bequeath to the planet. This is where true vision manifests... from your uniqueness. 2) To manifest your uniqueness we need to connect to the flow of life that moves through your heart center (Transformation Vol. 2, p. 42). Today s kriya does just that... with lots of arm exercises! 3) You re here to connect to your pulse; not to get distracted by your impulses. This journey is for your soul... not for you. Connect to you unique creativity; manifest your intention, your vision for our life. You came to the planet to manifest a particular destiny you know. And, then you re supposed to go home... victorious! We practice Kundalini Yoga and Meditation to ensure that the pulse of creativity manifests through us, with our will and the Creator s will as one. Today we balance the brain which allows the intent of the soul to bubble up from the heart center. 3 Key Skills/Practices: 1) Breath of Fire. 2) Kicking the buttocks. 3) The Dhan Dhan Ram Das Guru mantra. CLASS SEVEN UNLOCK THE CHAKRAS Main Kriya: Meditation: Sat Kriya for the Chakras (Kundalini Yoga Fan, Pritam Hari Kaur Khalsa.) NOTE: this kriya could not be verified by KRI review. Meditation to Experience and Project Your Original Self (Snatam Kaur CD) with the mantra, Ram Ram Hari Ram. 11:15 am: Deep relaxation.
11:40 am: Meditation. 1) Chakra Lock. Sometimes we lock onto one chakra and one value. For example, in the 3 rd chakra we seek power and dominance and we think this is what we must value to live a good life and fulfill our Self. We see it everywhere. Or, we use an idea or goal associated with a higher chakra to achieve the goals of a lower chakra. Ex., a valuable spiritual perspective on forgiveness (4 th chakra) or purity/authenticity (5 th chakra) is applied and used to create power over someone or to judge them as lesser or bad. Chakra Lock ceases to balance the goals of one chakra with the virtues of the others. We lose perspective. Putting every situation into one value center creates disasters. Chakra Lock requires a fanaticism that is dangerous to the good. No other realities are seen and all other values are reduced to singularity. For human beings it is like trying to place the entire ocean in a thimble. The thimble is painfully small; it won t work; and even if you capture a little sample of the ocean you lose its nature, vastness and function. The ego, in Chakra Lock, is just like that (Level 2 Manual, Life Cycles & Life Styles, p. 223). 2) The best chance to counterbalance the tendency of Chakra Lock is to build your capacity for a neutral mind* which can observe mindfully, stay open and lower the internal noise of the ego s entitlement and need to be right (Level 2 Manual, Life Cycles & Life Styles, p. 223). *Neutral Mind one of three functional minds, i.e., negative, positive and neutral mind. The neutral mind is the mind that judges and assesses without attachment in relation to your own purpose and reality. It observes the actions of both the negative and positive mind and judges both in relationship to your higher self. Each thought is filtered through the negative, positive and neutral minds. The neutral mind reflects the uniqueness of the soul. All meditation develops the neutral mind (The Aquarian Teacher Level 1 Textbook, pp. 120-122). 3) By conquering your mind, you can conquer your world. - - Guru Nanak. If you are master of your mind, the world shall obey you. You will question every thought, action and feeling and choose what your mind will engage and manifest as your vision. 3 Key Skills/Practices: 1) Sat Kriya in eight different postures including Shoulder Stand (or Half Plow Pose), Locust, Crow, and Celibate Pose. 2) Deep relaxation for as long as the kriya! 3) Ram Ram Hari Ram mantra. CLASS EIGHT A BLISSFUL KNOWINGNESS! Main Kriya: Meditation: Kriya for the Instinctual Self (Keeping Up, pp. 18-20 and I Am Woman, pp. 21-23). Indra Nittri Meditation, Level 1 KRI International Teacher Training Manual, p. 98, using the mantra, Ek Ong Kar Sat Gur Prasad Sat Gur Prasad Ek Ong Kar. 11:15 am: Deep relaxation. 11:40 am: Meditation.
1) Human beings have certain instincts as do animals. But, human beings also have the capacity to direct, shape and give meaning to the expression of these instincts. Many of the strongest instincts find expression and are represented by the first, second and third chakras. Some humans get locked into one or more of these lower chakras. Being mindful, pausing, listening and then re- trying is the key to clearing and balancing our instincts. To alter the instinctual patterns and to avoid chakra lock we use nerve strengthening and glandular balancing yoga sets like today s kriya. 2) Indra Nittri means the eyes of Indra. It connotes the feeling that every pore of the body becomes an all- seeing eye. It represents knowledge of your vision that comes through the soul and intuition. You experience a blissful knowingness! 3) Ek Ong Kar Sat Gur Prasad Sat Gur Prasad Ek Ong Kar (the Siri Mantra) means God & We are One. I know this by the Grace of the True Guru. I know this by the Grace of the True Guru. That God and We are One. This mantra is a gatka shabd - - one that reverses the mind. If the mantra is chanted just five times it will stop the mind and put it into reverse gear. It is so strong that it elevates the self beyond duality and establishes the flow of spirit. This mantra makes the mind so powerful that it removes all obstacles. Its positive effects happen quickly and last a long time. It brings great intuition to the practitioner so that one s vision can bubble up from the heart center, from the soul, from our essence. 3 Key Skills/Practices: 1) Continuous movement from Cobra Pose into Front Platform Pose and back again. 2) Moving from Shoulder Stand into Plow Pose. 3) Synchronizing the pull of the navel and diaphragm while chanting Ek Ong Kar Sat Gur Prasad Sat Gur Prasad Ek Ong Kar in the meditation. SUPPLEMENTARY CLASS! CLASS NINE HOLD YOUR VISION! Warm- Up: Archer Pose (3 minutes each side) breathing long, slow and deep. Main Kriya: Kriya to Open the Heart Center (Transformation, Vol. 2, pp. 46-47). Meditation: Inner Assessment (Transformation, Vol. 2, p. 236 and Physical Wisdom, p. 42). 11:25 am: Deep relaxation. 11:45 am: Meditation. 1) Archer Pose is a posture of courage and fearlessness. Often, while in the throw of creativity you need extra stamina and grit to manifest your vision. This posture an excellent sadhana on its own helps instill the courage to keep up fearlessly. 2) One s true vision bubbles up from the heart center, the seat of the soul. The main kriya has a calming effect that allows you to eliminate unnecessary thoughts and feelings so that you can be more in the present and experience your vision more clearly.
3) The meditation helps us be centered, alert and uses our chakras to create and maintain balance. It helps us avoid chakra lock which can be our tendency under the stress and transition during the creative process of manifestation. Rather than reacting to one chakra (or area of the self) that suddenly becomes more intense, we include our entire system and sensitivity to integrate, balance and make effective decisions that allows us to hold our vision constantly in our consciousness. 3 Key Skills/Practices: 1) Archer Pose. 2) Mentally chanting Sa Ta Na Ma on both the inhale and the exhale while pressing the thumbs to the finger tips sequentially (main kriya). 3)Three- part meditation.