Guest guest Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 Sat Nam Lynn! Glad you followed your intuition and wrote, you will receive some really inspired messages from the group, I am sure! A couple of things came up as I read your message. As far as your affinity with the Mantras, you are connecting to the sound current, the Shabad, which is a very healing space to be in. Very profound changes and shifts can occur with that practice alone. I have seen it take place with many of my students who are drawn to the Shabad more than any other aspect of KY. There are 84 energy points in the palate which are stimulated as you chant a specific mantra. Through chanting we absorb more prana. The Healing Mantra Ra Ma Da Sa Sa Say So Hung may work well for you in your situation. It stimulates Kundalini to flow in the central channel. It causes the pituitary master gland to tune the entire glandular system. It purifies the aura and activates self healing through manifesting a sense of security. This mantra helps you develop a pattern of health. Mantra is Kundalini Yoga, every aspect of your practice whether chanting, practicing kriyas, meditating are all part of the practice. You don't have to stand to practice! You can sit in a chair, or a wheelchair, for that matter, and move your upper body and raise the Shakti. Once you "tune in" you are connected to the lineage. Kundalini Yoga awakens awareness. It strengthens the health and well being of the physical body, it is very useful for emotional balance, mental clarity, stress relief, and personal transformation, which you have already experienced. Just follow your inner guidance, if you feel you would like to call in a teacher to help you modify the movements for your particular situation, do it! There are no accidents, perhaps your path will be to inspire and help others who are suffering some form of incapacitation of the physical body yet have a deep need to practice the original "power yoga!" Wahe Guru! Keep up, YOU are an inspiration! Blessings in Health! Guru Ravi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 Sat Nam, Most important thing is to do what you can. Can you sit in a straight backed chair with both feet on the floor, balanced? If so then you can do spinal flexes from that pose and twists. Even Sat Kriya (Whoopeee!). There are so many ways to adapt and adjust. When I tore up my knee about 15 years ago and could not sit in easy pose or on my knees, I got very well acquainted with front stretch and stretch pose! It all depends on your doctor's limitations. Listen to him or her and mybe push the envelope only a little bit. What about pranayamas? And meditations too, just sit in a chair with the spine straight and both feet on the floor. Kundalini Yoga increases your creativity, so be creative. There's lots you can't do but there's also lots you can. Most of all enjoy, heal yourself through chanting (Ra Ma Da Sa) and so forth. Regards Kundaliniyoga, lynnoc wrote: > > Hi Everyone, good Saturday afternoon: > I am summoning my courage to write to this group, as I'v been a silent lurker > for a month or so. I began Kundalini Yoga in the afermath of surgery on my > knee, for a torn meniscus and chondro malasia. I had seen an add on Amazon for > a Yoga tape that looked "different" and I thought I might like it. I had > never found myself gravitating to other Yoga systems I had tried on numerous tapes > --I'm an impatient kind of person and they all seemed rather slow, and did > not capture my interest. Kundalini Yoga was different, from the moment I saw it > on the first tape I used; I more than liked it, I fell in love with it. I > began to do it daily, signed up for a class at our local Kundalini Yoga Center, > took a private lesson. And then after only about a month of this, I fell > thanks to a very weak leg, about ten weeks after my knee surgery, and broke TWO > bones in my ankle. I had emergency surgery, and spent six days in the hospital. I > was sent home in a cast with a wheel chair, crutches, a walker, and strict > instructions not to do much, i.e. not to put ANY weight whatsoever on that leg. > So I have been working from home, seeing clients (I am a psychologist); doing > research (I am a professor of doctoral students in clinical psychology and a > researcher); and wasting time browsing the Internet. I have been listening to > healing Kundalini mantras on CDs that I purchased, but otherwise I've not done > much of anything except work that I have to do, and that I can do from my > perch on the couch. > > The surgeon X-rays my ankle every two weeks, and says the healing is going > wonderfully, (he took the staples out at two weeks) but he still will not put me > in a walking boot, as there is now so much hardware in my leg, (I've never > seen anything like it, I was stunned when I saw the first post-surgery X-rays) > and he said I am not "ready" to do anything that calls for even balancing > myself with the bad leg. He shakes his head and said solomly "you had a really bad > break." Which is not too inspiring somehow, its a little frightening. But I > have faith that I will get through this and walk and maybe even walk better. > > I am sure that I could do quite a bit from the couch, or the wheel chair, > following some of my tapes. I am hesitant to call anyone for a lesson, as I feel > so flaky about what I've been doing and not doing. But I somehow lost my > momentum, and have been thinking about writing to all of you, as you seem so very > knowlegeable about so many subjects. And some of you are into healing, and > healing is needed here. > > I want to get going again, given the limitations at the moment which may be > many, but still I can do what I think made such a difference to me in my few > short weeks of doing Kundalini Yoga. My back pain which has been chronic for > about 30 years, went away in a matter of a week. It was astounding, and I so much > loved the chanting etc, something I had not expected at all. I walked away > from classes with a smile on my face, especially when the teacher wasn't "too > serious" and took a personal interest in the students in the class. > > If anyone has suggestions, ideas, recommendations for me, I would be very > very grateful. I want to get motivated to move again, in this unique and quite > magical way. I am older (64) and arthritic, so I was doing everything with some > revisions (and my physical therapist took tapes home to study how to make the > revisions needed, liek she made donuts out of little towels to make it > possible for me to "kneel" though I broke my ankle before I had a chance to try > this out in class. > > Now of course I can't even get onto the floor for the moment. But I need to > get back into Kundalini Yoga as fast as I can, I feel it will make a huge > differnence to my process of healing. I thank you so much if you have ideas for me, > and inspiration. I can't quite say why I love the chanting meditations as I > do, but I do. I can't seem to do them outloud very well on my own, and I feel > slightly lost now about how to resume my path to Kundalini. > > Thank you everyone here, I have been so impressed by the kind responses that > you provide to everyone's questions, and I appreciate your willingness to > speak to a real novice, who barely got going. I was a little fearful about writing > to you all, but then I reread some past digests, and thought, you would > probably encourage me to write to you, to ask for help from your vast storehouse of > information about the body and healing. > > Lynn > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 Sat Nam, Lynn, I'm glad you wrote to this group about your situation! They are a very knowledgable and always-uplifting bunch! I see you've already received several responses specific to what kriyas and exercises you should be able to practice while you're recovering. I would like to share a bit from my own experience and hope that you find it encouraging. In 1994 I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. I spent many years exploring various roads to wellness with some success in some areas. I had not at that time discovered kundalini yoga. When I WAS introduced to KY in 2001, I was convinced that practicing it could address the underlying glandular/endocrine system imbalances of my condition. But just at that time I gave up engaging in any physical activity because it was too painful & too exhausting. I had tried to cut back, modify, do less, go gentle, all to no avail, & I was just worn out from being in constant pain. I worked one-on-one with a wonderful KY teacher but found that I couldn't consistently do any of the sets she was recommending, not even for a few minutes a day. But I also loved the mantras. So I finally decided that I would "just" chant every day, since it seemed like that was "all" I could do. I listened to mantra CDs with headphones on, sometimes flat on my back in bed when I was in too much pain to sit up. I chanted out loud, connecting to that healing sound current, creating the vibration within myself. I rearranged my DNA -- I changed on a cellular level -- & eventually I began to heal. Today I'm able to work full-time again, do cardio & weight- training workouts, do kundalini yoga (the physical postures as well as the mantras!), & I'm preparing to take KY training this fall. And while I am not as old as you are, I am definitely NOT a spring chicken, either! : - ) So -- since you already have a love for the mantras, put on those CDs and chant. THAT'S kundalini yoga! I started with "Japji Sahib" because that is what spoke to me in the moment when I needed guidance. Someone suggested "RA MA DA SA SA SAY SO HUNG" -- I have chanted that also & it's beautiful & a wonderful mantra to use in the healing process. And don't worry about how "well" you chant out loud on your own. Try to let go of self-consciousness & self-judgment. The point is that you are connecting to a healing sound-current when you chant. Understanding that, coupled with your intention to heal, will take you a long way. Blessings on your path! Nirvair Kaur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 Lynn: First healing happens faster if you take it in as if it was the best thing that could have happened to you to bring you where you need to go spiritually, materially, mentally. You can think of what happened to you as if it had happened in a dream. That is, if it had happened in a dream you would be left with how it affected your life in the dream. You would not have to deal with the physical pain. That's one aspect of it. Our daily life is like a dream. When you die, who cares how many times you broke a leg as long as you lived humbly, compassionately etc etc So take in the experience you are going through and marvel in it and know that it is exactly as it should be for you right now. From there, you relinquish any desire for healing, just an acceptance and an inner integration of the experience. That is the true yoga! What you see on tapes, in the classroom, and so on, are ways to prepare you for the experience of life. You got it! Now breathe through it! Relax in it. That's it! If you want more, here are suggestions: You can learn the Ra Ma Da Sa Sa Se So Hung meditation for healing, you can learn Sat Nam Rasayan. . . You can also imagine doing the exercises of any set you want with your subtle body (not your physical body). With your subtle body you would imagine the total experience of each exercise (so it is more than a simple visualization of each exercise) but without actually using your physical body except for the finger postures, chants, and breath works which you would actually do as described the best way you can. This is exciting in a way! It is about taking in the mystery of life and mastering it! Understand life at a new level. Blessings, Awtar S. Rochester, NY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 sat nam lynn! i think you are further ahead than you think you are, because you are looking for ways to keep your limitations from stopping you, instead of giving up. you are brave and maybe don't even know it!! you mentioned in your post that you love doing the chanting and meditations, so why not do those? i have often seen the advice here to do what resonates for you, do what feels right, do what you're drawn to. there are some amazing CDs of mantras and so on that you can just listen to, or chant along with if you want to. you don't have to be sitting on the floor in full lotus to get the benefit, i don't think. i often fall asleep to this music. :-) i have also read on this list that it is beneficial simply to *visualize* yourself doing the postures, even if you can't do them yourself. and, to go to a group sadhana (practice), and sit or lie down comfortably and let the energy of the group wash over you. no one would judge you if you were not able to do the asanas themselves. or, i would be very surprised if they did!!! try it! maybe it will help! may you be fully healed, and soon, according to Divine plan!! xxoo, seattle sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 21, 2006 Report Share Posted March 21, 2006 HI Lynne, Actually, you are in a very good place in terms of learning meditation and energy work. All the physical yoga that we do is really to prepare the body for meditation and pranayam. If you can sit with a straight spine, you have everything you need! I wouldn't be ashamed to ask for a private session with someone. You certainly wouldn't turn away one of your clients would you? I'm sure if they said they were embarassed to ask for help, you would be very warm and helpful to them.... In your position, I would ask for help with pranyam (breath work) healing mantras and meditations. Truth is, in Kundalini Yoga, pranayam, mantra and meditation are the goals of our work. It has been my experience that when I have been incapacitated, that I am able to achieve the most in my energetic and meditative practices. So, from God's perspective, this might be the time in your life when you learned how to really connect with yourself and God. Hope that helps, Shabd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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