some questions from a beginner

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam Eric and welecome to the board.

 

I'm also relatively new to KY, and a christian as well. I've been

practicing KY for 6 months. There were several posts a few months

back regarding KY and christianity. You may want to do a search and

read over them. I personally never really felt like I 'got' much out

of church. I always felt like something was missing for me. And also

like you, I did a lot of reading (although not quite to the extent

that you have). As I read, I found myself drawn to KY. The philosophy

of yoga in general, and the practice of KY specifically really

appealed to me.

 

> I am having problem achieving "liftoff"; ie; spending two nights in

> meditation, then spending two nights off, then one on, one off etc.

 

You need to decide that this is something you really want to do. You

need to commit yourself to daily practice. I started out only doing

it 2-3 times a week. But I loved it so much, after 2 weeks I started

doing it everyday. The first set I started with was the Maintaining a

Flexible Spine Set. It's a good beginner set to do. Plus, it feels

GREAT afterwards! When I'm done that one, my muscles feel completely

relaxed and de-stressed. That one is located on the

www.kundaliniyoga.org website.

 

I

> decided to start with 40 nights of "Sa Ta Na Ma" and although I

tend to be

> oriented towards immediate gratification (I've been doing hatha

yoga for a

> whole month know, how come I'm not enlightened and still can't sit

in

> lotus?",

 

I'm not sure I'd recommend starting with a 40 day med as your first

attempt. Brad, Dharam, Gururattan and others are much more

experienced in this area than I, but I believe that you may be biting

off a bit more than you can chew right now. From what you've

described, it sounds like you need to begin in smaller steps and

build up. Shoot for shorter term goals. Instead of just trying a 40

day med, have a goal of practicing a certain kriya for 7 days

straight. If you miss a day, then you need to begin counting from the

beginning. But once you accomplish that, then add to it and build on

your practice. You've been bouncing around so much, at least that's

how I understand your post, that I think you may need to establish a

routine. But not one that feels impossible or daunting (like 40

days). From my perspective, a spiritual path includes discipline. If

you don't conquer that, you won't have 'lift-off'. And everyone has

weaknesses. Your initial challenge may be to discipline yourself to

do what your soul wants to do, regardless of what distractions that

arise.

 

Also, from what I've read, people spend anywhere from years to their

whole life working on becomeing 'enlightened'. You may want to give

it a bit more time than 1 month. ;-)

 

>I've tried to promise myself that I would reserve any

> judgements/observations until the 40 day period was over and then

try to

> look back at anything gained from it -- I say this because I have,

 

This sounds reasonable, as long as the 'gains' you are searching for

are realistic for the timeline and effort put into the 40 days. In

other words, what do you hope to achieve in a specific alottment of

time? Enlightenment? I don't think there is a 'fast track' to

enlightenment. Each person achieves union/realization of God when

they are ready. And God (or whomever you want to call him) knows when

you are ready, even when you don't. I think it's great that you are

making an effort to stick with one practice and achieve a goal. I

just don't want you to get disheartened because your expectations may

not be achieved when you want them to be. For me, I could tell a

difference within 2 weeks of practicing KY. But that's me. And the

difference wasn't enlightenement. The difference was in the way I

felt. I felt relaxed, peaceful, calm. I felt like something inside of

me was saying "yes, this is where you need to go." And over the past

6 months, that feeling has steadily (not quickly) been increasing and

expanding. I'm a huge believer in the saying "nothing worthwhile is

ever easy". If it were easy, everyone could do it and no one would

appreciate it. Challenges, sacrifice, suffering (if you want to call

it that) are all part of the path. This is all just my own humble

opinion, BTW.

 

> so I guess my question is this: aside from just sit there and do

it, which

> is probably the best advice, does anyone have recommendations for

being

> more disciplined in their practice?

 

You gave yourself the best advice "sit there and do it". Think of it

this way, if you don't put in the effort, why should you expect to

grow spiritually? If this is something that is a desire for you and

that you really want, then trust that you'll find the time and make

the effort for it.

 

> Also, a practical question. How do people keep time in their

meditation.

> it seems that many KY meditations require rather precise time

frames divided

 

There are reasons for the precise time frames. But I'll leave that up

to the others to elaborate, as I can never remember myself. But I use

a digital timer. I picked it up at the grocery store, so it's nothing

fancy. But it counts up and it also allows me to set minutes/hours

and it will 'go off' when the time has elapsed. At first I found it

awkward using a clock to time myself. But I'm in the habit now and it

doesn't bother me at all.

 

Just remember, you need to sit down every day, no matter what, and

practice. This board has been a huge source of support and

information for me. So feel free to post with any questions/concerns

as you go.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Christa

[Guest guest]

Eric

I am a beginner also, I just started this last December and like you a

lot was trial and error until I found this list.

But one thing I never questioned was the advice to get up very early to

do my KY. I received the same advice from a mentor when I was having

difficulty finding time to write. She told me to get up an hour earlier

and write for an hour. Amazingly, I discovered I am very easy to

manipulate at 5am... it worked great.

Now I get up and stagger to the cold shower, a short scream later and I

am on the floor starting my spinal set, an hour later I am ready to take

on the world.

So, my advice to you is switch from evenings to mornings. I am sure the

others on this list will have better, more specific advice but this is

my two cents.

 

-cris

 

 

Walk in Beauty

[Guest guest]

Christa,

 

Thanks for your responses. While I no longer consider myself a Christian,

and haven't for quite a few years now, I found the christianity and KY posts

fascinating, and am glad that there are those walking the christian path who

are striving for a deep connection to the Divine, rather than just spending

an hour a week in a ritual they no longer understand or are comitted to with

their spirit.....

 

And sorry if all the facetiousness didn't come through. I am certainly not

looking for a fast track to enlightenment, but I am looking for something!

In fact, one of the few things that rubs me the wrong way about KY are the

claims of, this yoga is 64x faster than other types of yoga for xyz (as if

spiritual growth is quantifiable)

 

I guess the point that I meant to make, that I didn't make very well (I tend

to talk around things rather than just cut to the chase) is that the two

spiritual paths I find myself walking right now are yoga (I have spent the

last 6 months doing hatha yoga) and paganism/ceremonial magick (I found

Gurunam's ritual combining KY with the Qaballa absolutely fascinating) And

it seems that both paths emphasize discipline and ritual - no matter what

you may or may not be feeling, do the lesser banishing ritual of the

pentagram or sit in mantra meditation for 22 minutes....and it's like

whereas at one point in my life I was acting out of a connection - for

example saying a prayer before meals was not a discipline or a habit but a

natural outflow of my connection and gratitude....

 

Is spirituality something to work at? Must we make everything a series of

tasks to master. Why would a loving God make it such hard work to get back

to the Source? These are some of the questions I am struggling with. And it

is like does the ritual come out of the connection or does the ritual create

the connection?

 

I know that right now my Spirit is crying out to relearn the power of ritual

and discipline, and certainly both paths that I currently tread with a foot

on demand it. But it would be nice just to sing out a made-up gobbedlygook

song of pure joy occasionally because I'm feeling overwhelmed with Divine

Love......

 

I fear I'm not making the sense that I want to make, but hopefully you get a

sense of where I'm going....

 

namaste,

eric

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam Christa, Eric,

 

Christa you must want something from me, how flattering to be put in a group

with Gururattan and Dharam. Lets see... they have 60+ years of

KY experience between them and I can add my 6 and puts us almost at 70!:-)

 

Yes Eric, welcome to the board. And I'll add to Christa's good comments,

that the more you do a sadhana, the more your consciousness will be

dominated by Higher Self. That just evolves. Ego will be there every step of

the way, you will like most everyone, find excuses NOT to do

sadhana, some good some bad. You'll rate your sadhana good or bad. But over

time that'll subside, just stay with something simple and build on

it like Christa said. Otherwise you've got a built in excuse to miss

days--you've made it rigorous, too early.

 

"From my perspective, a spiritual path includes discipline. If you don't

conquer that, you won't have 'lift-off'." --Sadhana is discipline,

the discipline works through the yoga, which prepares one for meditation. The

yoga and especially the meditation work to break the barrier

between the mind and the spirit--and you may get half-dozen different variations

on this from others but its the general idea.

 

"I've tried to promise myself that I would reserve any

judgements/observations until the 40 day period was over and then try to look

back at

anything gained from it -- I say this because I have" -- Don't promise yourself

anything, you don't have to.

And there's nothing to judge. Just observe self having fun, and going through

changes. At this point you are probably better off just

mechanically doing the yoga and just being aware when your critical mind (ego)

is hijacking your yoga practice. Even if you just tune-in and do 3

minutes of BOF, you're better off than having done nothing.

 

Best advice to be more disciplined? Just do something everyday. If you

feel like only 11 minutes, fine. Don't judge it, just disengage mind

and do it. I beleive the best any of us can hope for is to contain ego, the

judgments and analysis, and criticisms will always be there. But the

more yoga and meditation you do the more Higher Self dominates. You will notice

a subtle change too, in that you'll 'take your meditative mind

with you' when your finished with sadhana. That is, you'll practice daily what

you do in sadhana, noticing when critical mind is engaged etc..

When you're aware of it, then you can deal with it.

 

Blessings

 

Brad

[Guest guest]

> Christa you must want something from me, how flattering to be

put in a group with Gururattan and Dharam. Lets see... they have

60+ years of

> KY experience between them and I can add my 6 and puts us almost at

70!:-)

 

Yeah, but you're list co-moderator now too. So you can add that to

the 6 years!

 

Christa

[Guest guest]

Hi Eric,

 

"In fact, one of the few things that rubs me the wrong way about KY are the

claims of, this yoga is 64x faster than other types of yoga for xyz (as if

spiritual growth is quantifiable)"

 

-- if you are referring to 'produces results 16 times faster', thats from Yogi

Bhajan I believe, he is a master of both Hatha, and Kundalini yoga.

 

I do Hatha too, and I can tell you, Kundalini is raised in both (as in all yoga)

but much of what we do in KY DIRECTLY effects our K-energy. Not

so in other forms of yoga. When I want to clear out my head, and energize I do

Kundalini, when I feel too in my head and need some more yoga, I

add some Hatha.

I feel a much stronger effect from doing my KY sadhana, than doing an hour long

Hatha class.

 

"Is spirituality something to work at? Must we make everything a series of

tasks to master. Why would a loving God make it such hard work to get back

to the Source?"

 

--Eric, Kundalini is fun. 'God make it', we make it that way. You can view a

series of asanas or a kriya as tasks or you can step back and enjoy

'watching' the movement, the breath, and feel the energy you've created when

your still. 'Get back to the source', yoga and meditation reveal to

us down the road the hallucination

of seperateness. That 'feeling' begins to blurr alot after yoga practice, its

most evident to me right after sadhana or when I've been practicing

and teaching alot.

 

"But it would be nice just to sing out a made-up gobbedlygook

song of pure joy occasionally because I'm feeling overwhelmed with Divine

Love......"

 

--ok, go ahead. Or try this one. Tune-in lay down in savasana, and belly

laugh, for 3 minutes and see how you feel. BTW, belly laugh is

actually in a kriya or 2.

Or chant, maybe you need to chant to feel that 'feeling of Divine Love', first?

Try Long Ek Ong Kar's for 11 minutes, and really vibrate in the

frontal/third eye area.

 

Blessings

 

Brad