fear during meditation

[Guest guest]

Several times students have told me that they get scared during

shavasana-sometimes with the music or the gong, or without.

 

some see scary images. I've been telling people instead of trying to

clear their minds they should try and focus on something, breath,

positive thoughts, a mantra they can understand. That seems to help,

but I just want to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong in Shavasana.

 

Any suggestions?

[Guest guest]

One of the real beauties of this Kundalini Yoga and Meditation is that it brings out lots of very difficult emotions that have been stuck in our psyche and energetic systems for lifetimes! Whether those emotions be fear, hurt and pain, sadness, regret, insecurity, anger, and so on. When this happens, I always tell my students and healing clients to (mentally) shout "Hurray!"

 

That's because this is a time of very precious healing, a gift to help us clear out those old, destructive energy packets--kind of like the "information" on old DVDs or computer programs that get stored in our energetic system, ouir aura.. These are the habitual emotions or sensations that jump from "out from nowhere" when they get triggered, and they color our every interaction, our every response in their own less than wonderful way until they get cleared.

 

So, in that very profound and sacred healing process, as those old, stuck energies are being released, it is not uncommon to re-experience them as they make their way out of our systems. The result of healing them is that you drop debilitating emotional habits such as fear, and become much more free to really experience the Light and Life of your Soul--moving towards complete freedom, authenticity, clarity, and spontaneous integrity!

 

So, if your students are going through difficulties with any meditation or kriya, perhaps ask your students to stay committed to their breath, their mantra and their mudra, and witness the emotional difficulties as they move out of their psyche. And be grateful--really grateful! Pretty exciting, don't you think?

 

Lots of Love,

 

Siri-Gian Kaur

www.SoulAnswer.com

[Guest guest]

I want to concur with Siri-Gian Kaur that it is wonderful to

experience fear or any emotion during kriya or meditation. That means

" the yoga one just did is working! "

 

Shavasana, or corpse pose as we call it in English, is extremely

important. It needs to be experienced with palms open and facing up to

allow the body to be fully receptive. It is a period of complete

surrender, relaxation, of letting everything be, and of offering no

resistance. I like that Renee put " meditation " in her title selection

as shavasana is usually called a relaxation.

 

I used the word " surrender " . In shavasana, we need to surrender to the

experience whatever it may be: flow of love, flow of tears, flow of

fear... We have learned to fear emotions except the " positive ones "

and this does not help, it blocks everything even love, because love

needs to be unconditional. Emotions are just energy in motion. It is

when we start judging emotions that we create trouble. " I am scared "

therefore something is wrong. Most likely not in a yoga class setting

with a caring teacher. When an emotion is scary, we simply need to

experience how our body experiences the emotion. We need to accept the

sensations associated with what we call " fear " or " anger " or

" sadness " . The truth is not in what we call it. The truth is how our

body experiences it. When we accept the sensations, we are in our

truth. We can also feel grateful for what is happening without fear of

not listening to our " emotion " correctly, because it is not the

emotion that needs to be listened to, it is the body. As one pays

attention to the sensations, these are given freedom to be released.

Otherwise the release does not happen as easily or does not happen at all.

 

Experiencing the Gong. I always give a little explanation before a

gong meditation when I have new students. I tell them how the gong is

extremely powerful and that its vibration needs to be felt through the

body. The vibration will help release toxins and negativity, but it is

important to let it happen. So if one feels negativity, if one feels

fear, please open your body to the experience, don't be scared of

what's happening, instead know that something very powerful and

healing is happening, relax into it. Enjoy the experience.

 

After the meditation I ask, especially the new students, how the

experience was for them. I always have one or more of my new students

acknowledging that they felt scared but that they remembered my

comment and that they were able to enjoy the meditation. they are

grateful for the experience.

 

Once a student has experienced that they can open up to their

experience of fear and make it a positive enjoyable experience in the

classroom... they can then bring that into their daily life... their

life is transformed for ever... how powerful!

 

Blessings,

Awtar Singh

Rochester, NY

[Guest guest]

For about a year, at about the 5 minute mark in shavasana, I would

start crying. Gradually my chest became more open and I don't cry

anymore now. For people who do experience intense emotional reactions

during or after a yoga set, it can be difficult to be comfortable

expressing these reactions in a yoga class. For a long time, I

couldn't help comparing myself to other people who never " seemed " to

not react as intensely as I did. One thing that really helped with

this was actually going to solstice last summer where I was NOT the

only person crying (or laughing, screaming, etc...)It was so

refreshing! Moreover, I realized that this emotional release is the

point of all this hard work we do, and to shame or repress it out of

fear or embarrassment is counterproductive. I congratulate anyone who

does yoga and encourage them to embrace all the mental and emotional

changes that happen. Stick in there, it will pay off. As Yogi Bhajan

said, " Keep up, and you will be kept up! "

 

Sat Nam,

 

Kehar Kaur