Kundalini Yoga - 1

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SILENCE AND INTUITION

 

Silence is core to all spiritual practices. The Buddhists are

masters of silence. Or at least they recognize its value and

practice the discipline. One must be silent to " hear " God.

Practicing silence is recommended at Solstice. Silence used to be

required. Now it is optional. Many people chose and were actually

able to observe this sacred discipline. The experience is definitely

more effective when we observe silence. When we are silent, our

attention turns inward. We are able to identify and stop relating to

what is called " excess personality " or " externalized ego " . We begin

relating to our Essential Self or Soul. It is our Essential Self

that accesses our intuition and finds God within.

 

The Art of Silence -- A Silent Meditation for 40 Days

 

In the yogic tradition, meditations practiced for a certain number of

days have a certain effect. Forty days is the minimum to break a

habit and set the stage for an internal shift. One student asked me

once- " Forty days in a row?! " The whole class laughed. Yes, forty

days in a row! And if that seems like a long time, in the past many

spiritual masters have taken 40 years to achieve enlightenment. I

imagine that all of us on the KYList have done that path in other

lifetimes. This

lifetime, we are attempting to get quicker results, so that we can

enjoy peace and happiness in this lifetime.

 

Let's get started. Here is a simple mindful meditation to practice

for the next 40 days. Actually silent, mindful meditation is our

first, last and ongoing lesson. We will use this meditation as a

touchstone overtime to review our progress and assess our goal of

achieving inner peace, contentment and a richer, fuller life.

 

Part One. Everyday be silent and practice listening within. Morning

before sunrise is the best time. Or at least morning before you

start your work day. Simply sit quietly and observe your thoughts,

be with your breath and feel the sensations in your body. Gently and

silently be with yourself. The optimal time is 22 or 31 minutes. If

you don't have that much time, 11 minutes is also an effective yogic

time for meditation.

 

Part Two. During the day, practice listening to yourself before you

interact with others. Do your best to get your own answers before

seeking advise. Process your own thoughts and feelings before

sharing them with others. Share only those thoughts and feelings

that inform and inspire others. Do not dump your emotions on others

as a way to avoid processing them yourself. Keep your own personal

issues and process to yourself. (Unless you are working with a

counselor or therapy group.)

 

Part Three. Once a week practice silence with a partner or with a

group of friends. Observing silence, go for a walk together, be

together at home, eat a meal together or partake in another

activity. Agree on the process beforehand, so you can relax and

enjoy the experience. Have a notepad handy in case the need to

communicate arises.

 

You might also want to check out silent Buddhist evening and day

meditations or week retreats.

 

Results. The above practice makes us aware of how much we turn our

attention outward and look for cues outside ourselves. We realize

how much we say that is unnecessary and a waste of energy. We start

to see how much we try to fill in " empty " spaces to feel comfortable

or make the other person feel comfortable so we will feel comfortable.

 

We find our intuition and " hear God " in the open spaces of our

minds. I am always reminded that I have to listen to myself, if I

want to hear my intuition. It is not that our intuition is not

working. It is dormant through inactivity or is buried by all our

mental noise. We are not listening, trusting and following our

intuition. When we don't listen to our intuition, our Soul screams at

us in other ways-accidents, stress, fear, anger. (You must have

noticed! :+))

 

As Yogi Bhajan shared with us (at the last Solstice of the

millennium), our intuition is our security. When we tune into our

intuition, we know what to do. When we know what to do, we can trust

ourselves and our universe. When we trust ourselves, we are in

charge of our own lives. On the other hand, if we don't listen to

ourselves, we have nothing to trust. The best we can do it operate

from blind faith. But doubt ends up getting the upper hand. We turn

to external authorities and become a victim of forces outside

ourselves. As we move into the next millennium, our goal is to

empower ourselves from within (there is no other way) and to

extreicate ourselves from all forms of victimization.

 

The energy on the planet is becoming more and more intense. (I am

sure you have noticed!) Many people feel out of control and they

probably are. The only way to deal with the energy is match it,

join it, go with it and use it!. To do so, we must intuitively sense

it and flow with it. The good news is that the intensity of the

energy also speeds up our desire and our ability to tap our spiritual

roots.

 

Our goal over time is to integrate the above practices into our daily

lives. To do so, we have to train and monitor ourselves. You may find

it useful to keep a journal of your experiences. I find it

therapeutic and encouraging to watch my progress. Training ourselves

to connect with the divine within and maintain this connection during

every hour of the day is the purpose of all spiritual disciplines.

And with the energy available, we could witness some quick results.

 

Although the above silent meditation may seem simple, its mastery is

not. Students take years and even lifetimes to perfect it.

Fortunately, there are Kundalini yoga techniques that facilitate the

process and speed up our progress. The purpose of the Kundalini Yoga

Training is to share this technology. Our first step is to simply

practice mindful silent meditation and watch our results. It is

important to monitor your experiences so you have a baseline of

comparison as we add the Kundalini exercises to the process.

 

(by Gururattan Kaur Khalsa)