Sa Ta Na Ma/New Experience

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam Sat Sangeet, Gururattan, Leo,Ranjit and all the rest of you at

the list who post such intelligent and interesting commentaries on Kundalini

yoga and health. I have been reading the correspondence for a couple of

weeks now and would like to introduce myself.

Due to the inspiration I felt from some of the recent threads discussed

by the group I decided to participate in the 40 day Kirtan Kriya as well. So

I started day 1 on the New Moon with this meditation too.

I will tell you a little about myself and my experience of KY and 3HO.

I started Kundalini Yoga back in 1982 whilst travelling in the US. I was

teaching myself yoga from a book and was fortunate enough to discover the

3HO Ashram in Tucson, Arizona(is it still there does anyone know?)and was

blown away by the wonderful music accompanying the chanting and yoga sets.

I determined that I would find a teacher once I got back to the UK, where I

live,but it took me another five years to start KY again, during which time

I trained in other types of Hatha Yoga. But I didn't connect with any yoga

like I had with KY in the States.

I particularly loved the music and chanting on the sound current. There

was no other combination of the two that I had found as satisfying as that

in the 3HO.

I obtained a list of IKTYA teachers and settled on one in North West

London.

My teacher was called Shabd Avtar Kaur and boy was she well named by

Yogi

Bhajan!She sang everywhere and to everyone and everything, even trees and

animals. I spent 5 wonderful years with her learning everything she knew not

only about KY, but also about Hinduism. I have a Sanskrit name but I do not

use it as it does not "feel like me" and is not the path that I personally

wish to follow. She gave up teaching, moved to India as a devotee of Babaji

and gave me all her sets, notes, tapes(it was pre-CD's).

I eventually became a KY teacher myself in Devon, England where I live.

This was a very good time for me and I enjoyed teaching so much. I did this

for a couple of years.

However due to the pressures of life, lack of yogic community, need for

money, a very busy and difficult job, 3 demanding kids, marriage break-up,

lack of time and I guess ultimately lack of commitment to "keeping up" I

eventually gave up my teaching and yoga practise 5 years ago.

I have often felt sorry about this and could not believe how something

so precious to me-and the one discipline that made me feel so happy-could

fallen away from my life.

Anyway like a miracle it came back into my life recently and I am now

going to re-train as a KY teacher in London starting next month. I have

written to Yogi Bhajan and asked him for a spiritual name exactly 20 years

after

discovering his teachings.

So I am determining to do Sadhana again and start living in a yogic and

healthful way again.

I am pleased to connect with you all and be cyber-meditating with some

of you. I wish all of you a happy, prosperous and peaceful 2003,

 

 

 

Ruth.