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 Sat Nam and Happy August Dear Yogis! We hope you are enjoying a spectacular August and are recharging your energy batteries with some spontaneous fun and, of course, some daily Kundalini Yoga! We had another amazing weekend at our Healing Path Teaching Training Module at Delta Groove Yoga in Memphis in July. We are so grateful to have had the presence of one of the most gifted healers we know: Dr. Carolyn Clauss, who tirelessly shared her gifts with all of us.
In this newsletter we share some ideas for things to do in August. We hope you have fun trying our new Kundalini pose: Frog Stretch! Use it to open your hips and spark your creative fire, to ignite Spirit in the remaining days of this beautiful summer! Upcoming Workshops and Events
We look forward to seeing you at
Adi Shakti Yoga Center in Boulder Aug. 24/25, at Indigo Yoga & Pilates in Pleasant Hill, CA Aug. 31st - Sept. 1st, (see below).
August 24/25 Boulder, Colorado - Adi Shakti Yoga Center
River Deep Mountain High! Join us in Boulder for a soul stirring celebration of Spirit! Saturday 10 a.m. - Noon: Move Your Energy Move Your Life. 2 - 4 p.m. Shine Like the Star You Are! Sunday 10 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. The Kundalini Experience $35 ea./$100 for weekend.720.2533962 / www.adishakticenter.com
Download Flier Here!
August 31st - September 1st - Indigo Yoga & Pilates - Pleasant Hill, CA
Creativity, Prosperity, and Conscious Communication. Unlock the mysteries of the vishudda (Throat) chakra and be a Master Manifester, heir to the Great Voice. Saturday Aug. 31st, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. Diving for the Blue Pearl All-In-One Workout/in, Sunday September 1st, Sky Blue Kundalini Yoga Workout, 11:30 - 1:30 p.m. $40 ea. $75 for both. Indigo Pilates & Yoga Studio 2395 Pleasant Hill Road 2nd Floor, Pleasant Hill, California 925.988.9642 / www.indigopleasanthill.com Download Flier Here!
September 13 - 15
Memphis Teacher Training at Delta Groove Module 5: Maps of Consciousness
September 21 - 22,
A weekend of workshops at 306 Phoenix House in Tulsa, OK: Procession of the Goddesses. October 25-27
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Things to Do In AugustAugust is the 8th month and 8 is the number of Infinite energy, healing, and fearlessness. In this last full month of summer we are inspired to dream, renew and try something new. Frank Lloyd Wright designed a puppet theater for his young son (probably in August!), and inscribed these words: "Fusing the self that wakes and the self that dreams." August gives us a chance to take it all a little less seriously. Break out of schedule ruts. Get out and move. Experiment with summer's rich bounty of fruits to feed your cells (they thrive on the new just like our brains and souls do!). Open your chakras to the fullness of summer. There is plenty in nature  to awaken our chakras. Chant in a waterfall (as one of our Facebook friends was inspired to do): 2nd and 5th Chakras. Pick your own blueberries: Getting close to the earth and gardening is the 1st Chakra. Climb a mountain and meditate in motion: All of the chakras. Sit in a beautiful place and take it all in: 7th Chakra. Give your stuffed bear a bath: 4th Chakra! Or, climb a mountain! When you climb a mountain for the first time after a long time living in the flat lane, you may notice that your ankles are really stiff and sore the next day. This is because as you climbed the mountain, striding from springy moss, to soft pine, to firm soil, stepping up, onto, and over twigs, roots, stones and rocks, your ankles wobbled, and turned, and twisted, and rotated in answer to every forest step demand. They did exactly what they were designed to do: use their full mobility. One hike is not enough, keep hiking and your ankles, legs, and lungs will quickly adapt. These days our ankles only flex fully in about 2 dimensions to walk us through our day. It's actually very healthy for our ankles to be fully mobilized, it stimulates meridians (ovaries and kidneys) which run through them, for glandular health and overall well being. If you get a chance this August treat your feet to a mountain climb. If no mountain exists then the next best thing we know for full ankle mobility and stimulation, is the ankle roll from our Energy for Super Radiance DVD. Pose of the Month!
 Here is a great stretch to do after a hike or any other August activity. We introduced it in our July Memphis Teacher Training and everyone left a little lighter on their feet, longer in their lines, and with a definite hop in their steps! :) It's an effective hip opener, and provides a deep inner thigh stretch. It also stretches the hamstrings and sciatic nerves. We describe it here with Long Deep Breathing but you can also do it with Breath of Fire.  Frog Pose Stretch: Come into Frog Pose (A squatting position with the heels together and lifted, arms inside your legs, fingertips supporting you). Extend your left leg. Keep your spine lengthening upward as you breath long and deeply. After 1 min., angle your lengthened torso towards the extended leg, and take hold of your left toes (or hold higher on your leg if necessary) with your left hand. Still supporting yourself with your right fingertips, continue to breath long and deeply for 1-2 min. more. Return to the starting position and do the same sequence on the other side.
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DVD's for a Transformational Summer!
Especially For Women: Feel Great, Look Great!
Stretch & Strengthen
High Fun Factor
Personal Transformation
For Your Inner (and outer) Warrior or Athlete
To Sparkle and Shine!
Your Yoga Rotation Must Haves
To Love and Be Loved (OUR NEW DVD!)
Our DVD's are also available on
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Spooky Streetlights
Hope you are well. I'm in recovery from a very stressful period in my life. It seems that street lights are going out when I walk under them and coming back on when I've passed. I remember you talked about that at a teacher training, never thought it would happen to me. Really spooky. Aside from needing a probable exorcism <grin> what would be a really good yoga set to fix that? I'm not very energetic from the medications I'm on, so needs to be an easy one.
Thanks for writing. What you are experiencing may be a coincidence or then again, it may be a real phenomena. Things like that can happen when one's solar plexus is locked up and pent up emotional energy interacts with the environment, especially all things electrical. There is a well documented case of a women in Germany. Whenever she went to work all of the bulbs would burn out. We recommend our Solar Power and Yoga Bliss Hips DVD's.The solar plexus is the hub of our nervous systems and it's where we take life in. When energy is bottled up in that area as a result of physical or emotional stress, things tend to go haywire in our environments. it's been theorized that some poltergeist activity is the result of intense conflicting emotions in a household.
While visiting Freud in Vienna in 1909, Carl Jung asked him about his attitude toward parapsychology. Freud was skeptical and dismissed the subject as nonsense. Jung vehemently disagreed, and began to feel his diaphragm glow, as if it was becoming red-hot. Suddenly a loud bang came from a bookcase. Both jumped up, and Jung said to Freud: "There, that is an example of a so-called catalytic exteriorization phenomenon!", Jung's long-winded description of a poltergeist, or "noisy spirit." When Freud said "Bosh!", Jung predicted that another bang would immediately happen. It did. Jung said that, from that moment on, Freud grew mistrustful of him. From Freud's letter to Jung about the incident, one gets the feeling that he felt Jung himself was somehow responsible for it.
Men Like It Too!
1.I do your dvds twice a day, usually the Body Electric and Fat Free Yoga, or Bootcamp and Solar Power. I was doing well until last week. Now I feel very tired and cannot keep doing it twice a day (nothing changed last week). Should I have a rest and do my practice once a day, or should I keep going on?
2. I don't like other sports like running and swimming, etc. (I have no patience running day after day), Kundalini yoga is the only type of exercise I look forward to. Now here's my issue. I am a man and lots of my male friends say that yoga is for girls. I don't agree, but I want to know if Kundalini Yoga helps muscle building. Or I should do some other sports? Can any of your DVD's help me get great muscles and eight packs?
Thanks for writing and congratulations on keeping up with your Kundalini Yoga practice! It is better to listen to your body, honor its wisdom, and not to over extend yourself. Often in our Kundalini Yoga journeys our bodies are involved in deep healing and they want us to rest. We recommend doing an extended Meditation instead of a second yoga session for now. We feel that if you keep practicing Kundalini Yoga Flow Bootcamp, Warrior Workout, and Navel Power, you will have very defined muscles. A regular Kundalini Yoga practice will give you things which standard exercise doesn't. These include glandular balance, nerve strength, a detoxing effect, fierce focus, and inexhaustible endurance. Also, Kundalini Yoga will give you the most important type of muscles: Spiritual muscles! As far as yoga being "for girls." Let us remember that women are Warriors too, maybe even more so! Also, many of the most remarkable men in history have done a Spiritual practice.
Qi Gong and Kundalni
Hello. Was hoping I could ask you this question. I have 14 of your DVD's. Me and my wife love them. We also love Qi Gong and find they compliment each other well. My question is this. Recently I read an article from one Qi Gong teacher that said he used to practice Kundalini Yoga until it made him sick. He said it's a fire path and that it only raises energy upwards and doesn't create balance as you are stuck in the upper chakras. He said Qi Gong is more balanced in that it returns it to earth. When I heard this I understood what he was saying, however it seemed a bit one dimensional in thought. My personal opinion is yes you are raising energy that is dormant upwards however what I don't believe is mentioned is that this energy also returns as its been transformed in the heavens. So it returns back to earth into higher matter for a spiritual cause on earth. I can't comment on his sickness, however it seems like his belief lead him to a different path for balance. Maybe he wasn't ready for Kundalini. Anyway, was hoping I could gain your insight into this? Thank you.
Thanks for writing and congratulations on keeping up with your Kundalini Yoga practice! We feel that what your Qi Gong Teacher expressed reflects a misunderstanding of Kundalini Yoga. Kundalini Yoga is not a "Fire Path," it is a Path of Balance. For instance Breath of Fire is not "fire," it creates a self-regulating rhythm in the body. Your Teacher may have "gotten sick," because his yoga practice initiated a de-tox. Also, it's a great misnomer to state that Kundalini Yoga simply brings energy up into the head, or focuses primarily on the upper chakras. Kundalini Yoga is all about integration. Our chakras don't truly open until the energy circulates down. Spirit is all about expression in life. Kundalini Yoga is the best of both worlds. Heaven on earth. Earth as a springboard to Heaven. It is important to stay grounded but it is also a blessing to be exalted in Self. Awakening the Pineal
Good morning. Around my 28th birthday I felt what could be described as a light bulb in my head being smothered out... I have realized that maybe this has something to do with my pineal gland.. I am currently on a mission (adventure) to reactivate my pineal gland. I don't think it has stopped functioning all together but I do know that it might be just about completely dormant at this point. Single mommy working 6 days per week at a job I hate has really started to take its toll on my ability to find peace & happiness & to use this magical light within for my well being...I have researched supplements (gotu kola, passion flower, st. john's wort), have switched to vegan, have read about crystals (amethyst & lapis), and I even have indigo colored sunglasses that I wear in the mornings and evenings while driving to my [much loathed] job... I started reading Awakening the Third Eye by Samuel Sagan, MD... I am beginning to feel something but I want to find out any information that I may have skipped over. I am wondering if you have any info on awakening the pineal.You have always been such a wealth of information to me... I have all of your DVDs, including the chakras one (though I haven't used that DVD in probably over a month, I guess I should give it a try again; I love that one!). Peace & Love
Thanks for writing. Kundalini Yoga represents the most direct path to re-activating the pineal and its associate center, the Shushura, aka Thousand Petaled Lotus, Seat of the Soul, and 10th Gate. Up until age eight we exist in a state of Divine Innocence. If we're in supportive and nurturing environments, we're still "One with the Universe." Then a kind of Cosmic amnesia sets in. The rest of our lives becomes a journey back to Oneness with the beautiful Wisdom of Experience adorning our souls. There is a Meditation on our Kundalini Yoga Meditation DVD called Deep Meditation into Thoughtlessness. That will help to activate your pineal gland. Also, doing an extended version of the Sa-Ta-Na-Ma Meditation which is on our Yoga Quick Fixes and Yoga House Call DVD's would be the perfect thing to do. As taught on those DVD's, you would: chant the mantra out loud for 5 min., do it in a whisper for 5 min., keep the mantra going silently for 10 min., and then do 5 min. whisper, and 5 out loud. Meditate in silence for 1 min. before resuming normal activity.
Age 29 is called your "Saturn Return," and it means that whatever karma hasn't been dealt with for the first 29 years will come home to roost. It's an amazing time to be doing a Spiritual practice. Also, you are moving into a new phase of Consciousness towards a higher order of being! Everyone has work and responsibilities, but we owe it to ourselves to make time for our Inner Work. Dedicate yourself to a powerful practice. Make that a priority and the Universe will figure out ways to give you all the time you need to process and self-bless. Onward and upward! |
 Sphinx Kriya Begin on all fours: knees straight down from your hips, hands straight down from your shoulders. Lower your forearms to the floor. Your fingers are slightly spread, and the outside edges of your thumbs are meeting. Arch your spine as in Cow Pose. Position your head so that you can gaze at your thumbs. Your chin is tucked slightly and the back of your neck is long. Your eyes are 1/10 open looking down and in towards the tip of your nose. Inhale deeply and chant this mantra up to eight times (it may take some practice to build up to 8) per breath:
Sat Nam, Sat Nam, Sat Nam, Sat Nam, Sat Nam, Sat Nam, Whahay Guru
Continue for 11-31 minutes. Then inhale, hold the breath for up to 15 seconds, and concentrate at your Third Eye. Then relax the breath, and sit on your heels with your hands in your lap and meditate in silence for at least 1 min. Be sure to drink some water after completing this Meditation. Only practice this when you have time to relax afterwards. The power of this Meditation is greatly enhanced when it's preceded by 45 min. of Kundalini Yoga.
Sphinx Kriya was taught in the fourth year of "Egyptian Mystery school." It gives the power to know the past, present, and future. It sparks deep intuition, and engenders Vac Siddhi, the Power of the Great Voice.
Mundane consciousness helps us to change a tire, but it can be also be a snare which keeps us estranged from the beauty and mystery of life. The monuments of the ancients remind us that one dimensional values can never do justice to the majesty of awesome Spiritual attainments. The powerful techniques ceded to us by the Holy Line of the Saints and Sages of the ages are open doors into the Self which never dies. It is a timeless edifice which looks out onto the Desert of Eternity and invites us to join the caravan of the Pure Ones on the Great Journey into the Unknown.
As you practice this you are among the august company of dedicated people of Spirit who used techniques like this to shatter the boundaries of time and space. Aspiring people on the Path would give everything they own to a Teacher to be taught a Meditation of this caliber. Rock this technique with an attitude of gratitude and deep devotion and "keep it alive," for all of the generations to follow.
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We wish you an exhilarating, fun, and joyful August!
Sat Nam & Blessings! Ana Brett & Ravi Singh 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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