Guest guest Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 Sat Nam, There is a question about grounding. Especially related to avoid too much energy in the head. Grounding requires feeling the sensations in your body and staying present to everything that you feel in your legs, feet, abdomen, solar plexus, heart, throat and neck. The commands that I use in class include feel what you are feeling inside your skin feel all the sensations in your body be with your breath in your body enjoy what you are feeling feel where you are sitting and be here at this moment with this breath. I am sure you can find more that keep you present. Blessings, Guru Rattana :+) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 20, 2009 Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 can you please specify and elaborate on how you define 'finding their place in this world?'. thanks Paula On Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 9:55 AM, mirelle7 <mirelle7 wrote: sat nam dear group members, I encounted many people who have a hard time grounding themselves, , finding their place in this world, especially those living in cities.Any suggestions how to help these people? Exercises, suggestions, foods for grounding? Thank you. Love, Sat Kirtan Kaur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 20, 2009 Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 Sat Nam, As a Kundalini Yoga teacher (since 1972), ashram resident/head for 16 years, a trainer of teachers, a psychologist, a certified bioenergetics analyst (somatic-relational approach to psychotherapy), human being, blah-blah-wolf-wolf J…; this is a topic to which I have given much thought. Here is what I have come up with. We need to be grounded in order to hold, manage, channel and utilize the energy that flows through us. Without grounding, there is no template (think intention, vision, destiny, organization, dharma, etc) to guide the life. In one sense, we ground into whatever is the object of our attention. More importantly, there are three main ways to ground that provide value in helping us hold the energy with which we have been blessed. We can be (1 )grounded in the body (conscious connection to the physical realm as we experience it through the senses – fully alive, compassionate/courageous capacity to be fully present and completely free to express – should we choose to – our current experience of reality; (2) grounded in another (the way an infant is grounded in the arms of a parent, or a student is in the compassion of the teacher or a therapy client in the holding of the therapist, or lovers in each other’s gaze) or (3) grounded in the spirit (trusting the unseen world, the deep knowing that everything is truly OK, feeling the love and guidance from the saints and gurus, grounded in God’s love, God’s will) . This approach mirrors Yogiji’s description of our journey from individual consciousness through group consciousness to Universal consciousness. When focusing on grounding, we should not lose sight of the value in each of these forms – grounded in body, grounded in another, grounded in the Spirit. That said mostly when we talk about being more grounded, what we mean is being more on the ground; that is, grounded in the body, on the earth, able to manage the day to day, not spaced out. I assume this is what you are asking about. As we know, the Teachings of Yogi Bhajan, of which, Kundalini Yoga is a significant part, is vast. He taught tools and provided experiences that helped to facilitate being grounded in all three major domains (think Kirtan Kriya, in the three voices – aloud (body), whisper (relational) and silent (spirit)). That said, mostly I think of Kundalini yoga as a powerful tool/lifestyle for becoming rounded in the spirit. I think this is how it is mostly practiced - Letting go of the daily stresses, the familiar patterns, getting high/above it all so as to find freedom in the spiritual realm while releasing the karmas that bind us. Indeed, any form of growth requires a period of disorientation as we release who we have been and begin to embrace who we are becoming. This period of disorientation is often “ungrounded”, sometimes anxious - that is not settled in a familiar pattern. To get from who we WERE to who we ARE is greatly helped if we have people around us who understand the process & can see our potential. This is the role of teacher, but also of sangat; people who can help to ‘hold’ us as we are releasing the old, but not yet at home (grounded) in the new way of being in the world. This is turning into a really long response….sorry….. So, this arc of growth occurs across a variety of time spans, including the length of a Kundalini yoga class. So, when preparing students to go deeply into a meditation, as an example, I always begin a class with a sequence of ‘warm up’ exercises that helps the student come more fully into his/her body – grounding in the body, before yielding to the flow of spirit. Al Lowen in his books on Bioenergetics spends a lot of time talking about and sharing exercises that help to ground in the body. After particularly intense classes Yogiji would have us sit and talk to each other and eat something to help us ground before going out from the class, also walking barefoot on grass was another recommendation he would make. One last thing to consider, some folks are less grounded by nature (VATA types in the Ayurvedic system). Ayurveda has many recommendations about treating excessive VATA conditions. This I would also highly recommend. Enough for now, Blessings, Peace, Gurucharan Gurucharan S. Khalsa, PhD 428 W. Harrison Av, #200 Claremont, CA 91711 (909) 593-3798 gkhalsa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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