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Sat Nam and Blessings Dear Yoga Friends! Thanks to all of you who attended our summer retreats and workshops. It was an incredible experience,
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Ana in Charlie's Angels Pose at Blue Ridge Retreat
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breathing in all the fresh mountain air of Georgia and the Adirondacks with you guys! We had great times and every-one's ener-
gy was awesome!
BTW did you catch the summer block- buster called Zookeeper with Kevin James? Ana is featured (on a tv screen) teach- ing yoga to the lead actress.
The theme this month: A Kunda- lini Experience! More on this fas- cinating subject below.
A Ravi Aplology. At our Blue Ridge Retreat I made the statement, "Not all of us can do Dancer Pose like Ana. Well, Ana wants us all to know that we can. All it takes is the will to do it and a little focused (shoulder/hip opening) practice. Dancer Pose workshop coming up somewhere down the line!
2011 Retreats, Workshops, & Teacher Training!!! Sat. September 24th New Haven, CT - Fresh Yoga / 319 Peck St.
Healing the Healer - K. Yoga for Yoga Teachers & Holistic Healers (and everyone else!)
12:30 - 3 p .m. $55/50 pre-reg. www.freshyoga.com / 203.776.9642
Sun. September 25th Nyack, NY - Lift Nyack / 42 Main St Nyack, NY
Kundalini Yoga - Green Energy of the Heart - 1 - 3:30 p.m.
$50 / 45 pre-reg. / 2 Main St. / www.liftnyack.com / 845-709-1634
Teacher Training, Naples, Florida starts OCT. 14th "Those who can teach, do!" --Ravi Singh Accelerate your Destiny! Use your gifts to heal, uplift, and inspire. Deepen your practice! Come and Glow for It! It's official. We're very excited to announce that Our next 200 hr. Teacher Training will be in Naples, FL. You will be able to complete it between October 2011 and April 2012! For more info, see the Attached Teacher Training Brochure and/or contact: jamie@jamieshane.com If you're not sure whether you ready to be a Teacher, or if you want to extend your training over a longer period, it is possible to attend individual weekends, or even individual sessions. Contact Jamie for details.
Our Next Retreat: Chester, CT November 4th - 6th
 We loved our Chester Retreat so much last fall, that we immediately made plans to do it again this Fall!
Guest House Retreat Center in Chester CT is an amazing place to practice yoga with its spacious yoga rooms, healthy delicious food, and, most importantly startlingly fresh air! It is very accessible, yet very private. Located in a woodsy area adjacent to State Forest with hiking trails, and 2 neighboring lakes. The vibe is very New Englandy, charming and rustic, and the fabulous, fun, pretty and quaint town of Chester nearby.
The best thing about a Kundalini Yoga Retreat is that it takes us as we are and lifts us to where we needed to be! If you are after some more peace in your life, some more will power, some transformational activity in body, mind, soul or circumstance, this is an opportunity to get a flying start into a higher echelon of being!
The cost for this whole event (2 nights accommodation, including meals) $600 (double room occupancy). Rooms are SPACIOUS, each with a private bathroom. The first yoga session will be Friday Nov. 4th at 4p.m. There will be a before bed meditation on Friday and Saturday nights, as well as two yoga sessions on Saturday, as well as a yoga session on Sunday morning. The session on Sunday will end by Noon.
We can only accept 35 people so don't delay! To register please call us at 1.800.243.9642 or e-mail us at ravianayoga@aol.com. Registration will require a non-refundable $300 deposit to hold your space. We can accept payment via credit card or paypal (ravianayoga@aol.com). Also, those who attend will accrue 15 hours towards our 200 hr. Yoga Alliance Teacher Training certification. We look forward to seeing you there!
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 A Kundalini Experience
Little Green Men on Your Yoga Mat Over the years we've heard everything. Once someone told us that, as they were meditating in our class, the wall behind us became a three dimensional scene and they saw George Washington crossing the Delaware. On another occasion someone told us that they saw little green men cavorting on their yoga mat. People often write to us and want to tell us about a particular "Kundalini," experience they've had. They're usually hoping for us to confirm that, 'Yes, thats a Kundalini experience all right. You, dear friend, are enlightened.'
It's understandable. Who doesn't crave some magic in their lives? Everyone wants something transcendent, fabulous, and unprecedented to light up their lives. Everyone wants to be lifted out of the 'same old, same old,' and be free of everything. When most people envision a "Kundalini Experience," they think of their bodies brimming with liquid light and their consciousness rocketing into the ethers where they become one with everything. If that type of experience happens to you congratulations, but there is a big BUT which qualifies it. Experiences like that are only real in retrospect. That means that it's not the experience itself which matters so much as what you do about it.
Often people who purport to have had a "Kundalini Awakening," are often struggling in other areas of their lives and are in need of a ray of hope or a form of escape. We all want to be singled out as special (that's probably why the most record holders in the Guiness Book of World records are from India. It's so easy to get lost in the crowd there), but what's important is not whether other people give us attention (that is usually a double edged sword), what matters is that the Universe shines a spotlight on us. Then we're getting somewhere.
A true Kundalini Experience makes us more accountable, not less. The old model of giving oneself over to something beyond, and "surrendering," is not what's really necessary to walk a Spiritual Path. What is necessary is that you find a way to set up your life so that the your inner and outer aspirations support each other. To be Spiritual is to be Real. If you're a hiker or mountaineer you know that coming down off of a mountain is often more laborious than the climb up, but down is where we need to eventually return to. That's where living takes place.
Kundalini magnifies whatever we do, think, or aspire to. In Kundalini Yoga we use a strong base of mantra. Sat Nam means the True You. And what gets magnified is our authentic Self. The part of us which never goes out of style.
Bells & Whistles We are so embedded in these bodies and in this dense world, but it is possible to liberate ourselves from these shackles. But it takes work. Nothing is for free. As long as we inhabit these bodies and live on this earth, we are accountable and are here for a reason. The reason we are here is to matriculate through experience, grow our souls, and help others do the same. Kundalini is the energy in us which inspires us to rise to our potential and experience true Freedom. Kundalini has no limits and neither does our potential. Both are in and of Infinity. The Kundalini Experience is purposeful living in the presence of energy.
In the beginning of your Kundalini Yoga practice it is possible that some flashy inner experiences can occur. To some extent it's the Powers That Be letting you know that you're on the right path. More often than not, what's going on is an initial clearing of energy channels. It's not the top rung of the ladder, it's the first rung! It's the start of a process which can often take years. The true Kundalini Experience is not so much a great Cosmic Whoosh. It occurs by degrees. One day you wake up and everything is clear, you are firing on all cylinders, your mental discipline is firm, you see connections, and there is a light behind everything. All of that is meant to be a given for all of us, but like a rare orchid, it is something which we have to look after every day, by keeping our practice strong.
Tragically Hype Your take home message? Don't let yourself be mislead by things you've read in books. People who write books often like to dramatize things in an effort to sell more books. Everyone wants to separate themselves from the pack. Let your own experience provide the answers you seek. Deal with what's in front of you and keep your practice strong. Kundalini is the Yoga of Awareness. If you practice it, it won't let you down. Through your practice you will also have amazing adventures in consciousness. Try to refrain from talking about them though. People have no frame of reference for something which they haven't experienced. Live your experiences! Let your radiance say it all. We all have a longing for the miraculous but it's important to ground everything into the every day. Very often you will come to realize that spirit has blessed you in amazing ways and miracles have become a way of life.
It may take dedicated lifetimes to clear away the dross of lifetimes, bring your mind under conscious control, and liberate consciousness. Then again, through a really devoted practice, all of that could happen this very second if you let yourself be constantly aware. Let your goal be to have no expectations and to be aware of Awareness now. Don't worry about having a "Kundalini Experience," let Kundalini experience you (magnify your unique greatness).
If you have had a bona fide Spiritual Experience, it's nothing less than a Gift of Grace. Each gift entails a responsibility. That means to take the energy and insights you've garnered and use them to heal, uplift, and inspire. Nothing less will do. A True Spiritual Experience is where your Destiny begins, not ends!
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We really appreciate your great feedback (and reviews) on our
Our Two New DVD's Many of you discovered Kundalini Yoga thru reviews on Amazon. Don't forget to share your own real life testimony in the form of reviews there to help someone else start their own KY journey!
Kundalini Yoga:
The Body Electric Workout
Kundalini Yoga Flow Bootcamp
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· Add To Your DVD Collection!! ·
  
Here is a list of our 22 DVD's and links to Amazon.com where many of these are on sale! Complete your collection and fly high!
- Yoga Total Tune Up - Four 20 min. segments. Powerful stuff!
- Yoga Cleanse - Perfect workout for your winter detox and more!
- Navel Power - For personal power, focus, will, and stomach of steel!
- Warrior Workout - a non-stop high energy feast.
- Ultimate Stretch Workout - Great Kundalini for longer leaner lines!
- A Journey thru the Chakras - Climb the ladder of lights,blossom!
- Am/Pm Yoga - Start and end your day on a high note!
- Kundalini Yoga for Beginners & Beyond - A Kundalini "must have," featuring the classic basic spinal series and the Five Tibetans!
- Fat Free Yoga - If you don't have this one, the time is now!
- Dance the Chakras Yoga Workout - Move thru the chakras, literally! Two sets: a half hour chakra workout and sacred movement sets.
- Yoga Beauty Body - Featuring the "Magnificent 7," and much more!
- Yoga Bliss Hips - Let your energy flow in new and exciting ways!
- Yoga House Call - Yoga fixes for long term issues, quick sets, more!
- Yoga Quick Fixes - Yoga fixes for on-the-spot self-healing, quick sets plus. Featuring Delete Depression, Headache Helper, So Long Sciatica...
- Yoga for Beginners & Beyond: Stretch, Strengthen, Be Stress Free - Kundalini/Hatha fusion. Embody the basics and grow your Kundalini practice!
- Kundalini Yoga for Energy & Super Radiance - Kundalini Yoga to be the bright being you were born to be!
- Kundalini Yoga Cardio, Stretch, & Strengthen - Get set to sweat and grow!
- Kundalini Yoga Transformer All-In-One Workout - An amazing inner/outer workout. Featuring "Born Free," and more!
- Kundalini Yoga Solar Power All-In-One Workout - An amazing set to open the all-important solar plexus plus Awaken Your Senses.
- Kundalini Yoga Meditation for Beginners & Beyond - Grow you inner life and burn brightly in this world!
- Kundalini Yoga Flow Bootcamp All-In-One Workout
- Kundalini Yoga Body Electric All-In-One Workou
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 Questions of the Month
We get hundreds of emails per month with your questions. We like to share some of them here so everyone can benefit. Enjoy!
Can't Stay Faithful It has been so long since you guys were in our neck of the woods. I hope you are coming back soon. I have a close friend whom I would like to get your opinion about. She is a married young woman but is having a hard time being wife and mother, now she is turning to sex to help her stress. I thought that she should work on her 2nd chakra but I feel like she should be doing a meditation along with it. I have shared your DVD's with her. She is only a new student to yoga of any kind, and I am not sure how far she will carry it out but that is up to her, I just want to have the tools to assist. Do you have any suggestions? Peace and love. We suggest that you share the Sa-Ta-Na-Ma Meditation (on Yoga Quick Fixes and Yoga House Call) with your friend. Second chakra work is good but the real issue is on the emotional level. That Meditation is a gentle inroad into work on that level. Start her with chanting Sa-Ta-Na-Ma (playing the fingers) 3 min. out loud, 3 min. whisper, 6 min. in silence, 3 whisper, 3 out loud. Let her know that that energy can be trans- muted into amazing creative energy which can help her to do great things. Also let her know that what she is experiencing is ultimately a product of an unsettled mind and that meditation is the way. That said, what she is feeling and going through is real and needs to be addressed. Let her know what there are more creative and positive ways to deal with those feelings. A Meditative Mind helps us to deconstruct things without creating personal karma or adding to other people's suffering in the process. It is good that she is willing to share her story with you and is already beginning the path of work on herself. Ask her if she is willing to put the brakes on and not act out in any way for 40 days while she begins a meditation. It may be true that unless one relates to marriage and parenthood as true Spiritual Paths, then aspects of those roles can cause conflicts. After all, aren't we here to be creative and have experiences? Don't those roles generally situate us in clearly defined boxes without a lot of elbow room? Most people don't realize that thoses boxes are really tunnels and that the only real freedom entails getting to the other side. By that we don't mean waiting until your kids move out and the marriage dissolves! We mean learning to be a responsible person, growing through experience, while finding a way to be authentic and true to yourself. Life is a balancing act and yoga means balance! Co-Worker Blues
Hi Ana and Ravi I use your DVD's and find them very inspiring. Thank you. I teach kundalini and recently completed a 40 day sadhana of 11 min of sat kriya and another one to release anger for 3 min. The problem is that I got tendonitis from this and have been nursing my shoulder back for months now. Still can't do some things like camel pose and bow pose without feeling it. This causes me some conflict since i am not new to this yoga and I was just trying hard to break through some emotional blocks. But now I am not so sure and do not want to encourage my students to push them selves and possibly get hurt. Can you address this if you have any experience with this situation? I am 56 and have been doing this yoga about 7-8 years.
Another issue that is troubling me that I would like to address with yoga is that I am having a conflict with a co-worker. I won't go into all the details but it is hurtful to me and I have not been able to resolve the issue with her directly, and i find my mind and heart are unsettled. I do my sadhana, and pray most every day. I try to stay positive but there is an undercurrent that I find negative, wierd, I can't really describe it. We work in a small office. I use sage before work and have gotten some shamanic guidance but the difficulty
persists. Do you have any recommendations? I would like to get at the root of this or just not be so sensitive to others moods and energy. But I am a rather sensitive person. I would appreciate any insights you might share. Thank you again.
Kundalini Yoga is definitely designed take us beyond our comfort zone and through the wall of our limitations. That said, it is important to be systematic and to take time to build up to things. One of the reasons why we put so much emphasis on proper alignment is that if we extend the times of something (like doing 11 min. of Sat Kriya) without correcting body imbalances, we run a greater risk of injuring ourselves. We always emphasize that "Keeping Up," is not an end in itself. It's an inner attitude we want to cultivate while making sure that our technique is correct, figuratively and literally!
When we feel tension in the upper body it usually means we're not being supported somewhere below. It's all about grounding through the legs and lower body. Going forward, it is important to strengthen your core muscles and the muscles of your upper back. When doing extended exercises which involve using your arms, make sure that your shoulder blades are anchored down your back and that your shoulders are not doing the work. We suggest working around any poses which cause you discomfort.
11 min. of Sat Kriya for 40 days, plus the other 3 min. technique is an excellent start, to work through emotional blocks. We recommend So Darshan Chakra Kriya (read about it under "S," on the A-Z Health Archive on www.raviana.com) for 62 min. per day for 1000 days (you can build up to 62 min. over time). That type of practice is what it takes to get to and through one's deep "stuff." If the tedonitis condition you described and the issue with your co-worker, were to be taken a metaphors for an inner issue, then So Darshan would be the perfect practice. Also try the Born Free and Purify Your Past segments on our Kundalini Yoga Transformer DVD.
Re: the situation with your co-worker: if relating to that person from your Heart doesn't work then your only recourse is to orient yourself at your Navel chakra. Be neutral, patient, and fearless. Don't let yourself be drawn into a dysfunctional dynamic and set firm boundaries (Navel Power). Sometimes we can be susceptible to negativity because we insist on being "nice," when we need to be fierce.
As a piece of the puzzle re: tendonitis: research low oxilate foods. Also, it could be a liver issue. The emotional precursor for inflammation would be inner anger. So Darshan will help you to burn through that. Also try the Yoga Cleanse DVD. We wish you joy, health, and abundant blessings!
Transformation Story Hi... I feel compelled to write to you and thank you. I would like to share a bit of my story, and ask a few questions as well. I have been suffering for years, as the result of a combination of extreme trauma, both physical and mental. Recently I was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder... and I thought to my self, wait this can't be right- but my answers to the testing where pretty solid. So I found a therapist (by asking other mental health professionals who was the most compassionate) almost immediately she recommended Kundalini yoga to me. I selected your dvds (do to lack of an accessible teacher in this part of maine) because Ana was the only person smiling while she practiced on any of the samples I saw- and that meant and means something to me. It's been 15 days of solid practice every morning, and my life has been changed. a decade of reiki, chinese medicine, chi kung, and therapy have not been able to give me what these tapes have in two weeks. I feel an almost full spectrum of emotions again, and the amount of pain, pain, and seizures I live with has drastically reduced. I have found a new passion for creating art (something I used to be known for and totally lost) and I feel like a human being for the first time in so long. I cannot thank you both enough- the spirit of compassion and love that comes through your dvds has opened me up to life again and along with the technologies of this yoga, I have hope for the future again. So Ravi and Ana- please do accept the warmest thanks I can offer.
High Life is there any meditations that you can get a high from?
Any Kundalini Yoga meditation will get you "high," if you are really present with the practice. Each Kundalini Yoga Set/Meditation are designed to deliver us to an amazing inner state: bouyant, blissful, vibrant, clear, loving, and the list goes on. It's like walking into an ice cream store called "1000 Flavors." Each Kundalini Yoga Set/Meditation is like one of those flavors. What happens as we progress through our practice is that the highs keep getting higher but we also become more sober in relation to them because there is work to be done on ourselves and the world. If you want to get seriously "high," in a good way, try the Born Free Breath Meditation sequence on our Transformer DVD or the Body Bliss set on our Body Electric DVD, to name just a couple of examples. Oh yeah, how about the Ease Anxiety segment on Yoga Quick Fixes, the Hands like a Teapot Meditation on Fat Free Yoga and the list goes on and on! Sat Nam x!
P.S. REALLY IMPORTANT: Sometimes people with addictive personalities relate to Kundalini Yoga in the same way that they related to their substance of choice. Initially this is a great thing, because Kundalini Yoga represents a healthy choice and you really can't get too much of it, especially if you are in serious need of detox and self-renewal. Nevertheless, we don't do Kundalini Yoga just to get "high." We do it to get down to business and to be effective and compassionate human beings.
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Meditation of the Month - Bonfire of the Vanities
 Mercury goes into retrograde August 3rd. It's a great time to do some inner house cleaning and consciously deal with any unfinished business from the past. The Bonfire of the Vanities refers to a practice from the 15th Century in Italy. Fueled by the promptings of zealous priests, people would throw objects, which were deemed sinful, into a large fire. These included cosmetics, playing cards, and sheet music for popular songs. Of course making a show of casting off objects of vanity becomes its own form of vanity. Our minds just laugh at our antics when we think we can subdue them so glibly. The process must be an internal one. .
Have your right hand in a fist with the right thumb extended. Press your thumb tip into your navel. Cover the right fist with your left hand. Feel that your right thumb is a heating element, glowing red hot. Do Long Deep Breathing.
As you inhale offer up every extraneous thought, feeling, and past action, not in accordance with Higher Consciousness and your inner excellence. As you exhale let a bonfire at the navel grow hotter and brighter as these things are consumed and transformed. This is its own reality. Don't doubt yourself or your ability to transform from what was to what is meant to be. This meditation will support an Open Heart. As your first order of business, open your heart to yourself and forgive yourself for every resentment, or self-perceived failure. The fact that your life has funneled you to the time and place where you are able to sit down and do a Spiritual Practice, means that you are as successful as anyone could possibly be in this world.
Your eyes in this one are barely open, looking down and in towards the tip of the nose. Do this meditation for 5 - 11 min. This meditation is a form of alchemy. Turn the lead of your limitations and past pain into the gold of positive attributes, self-forgiveness, and fearlessness. Let Sat Nam be ever present on your mind.
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Raviana Group Page on Facebook
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Our Website - Check out our tour schedule, A - Z Health Archive, More!
RAVIANA NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE - Just click on this link to read past newsletters. |
We wish you a sunny, healthy, happy, fun August!
 All Best, Ana Brett & Ravi Singh www.raviana.com / ravianayoga@aol.com
Disclaimer: The advice we give is in no way intended as a substitute for medical counseling. Please consult your physician before beginning any exercise program or nutritional protocol |
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