Yogi Tea is a wonderful potion which was provided by Yogi Bhajan.

Sometimes as one travels the path, any path, we forget the simple things which bring health and healing to our lives.  Yogi tea is one of them.  In my teacher training we even had a class on how to make Yogi Tea ourselves.  Which was greatly appreciated.  I now make yogi tea on a bi-weekly basis in batches so that I can drink it in the morning as opposed to the coffee I used to always drink.  I’ve found that making it myself adds some extra good healing energy to it.  However, the Yogi Tea which is available in the store is extremely tasty and has several specific healing capabilities to help people.

(Gotta give a shout out to the folks at Busy People Inc. Organic Food, for providing the space for our class in Teacher Training.)

I’m actually sipping some Yogi Tea as I type this, he he he.

Okay so back to it, Yogi Bhajan and his students have developed a series of teas for very specific ailments.  For example, there is Yogi Tea for sore throats, Yogi Tea for pregnancy, Yogi Tea for energy, Yogi Tea to enhance breating the list goes on.  These are herbal remedies that have been mixed together using scientific understanding of the properties within them to promote healing.  It’s simply great stuff.  Oh and the Yogi Tea in the stores comes with great little inspirational messages on every tea bag, which are really fun.

As a Kundalini Yoga Teacher in the Aquarian Age one of my roles is to help spread the teachings.  And Yogi Tea is such a simple way to do so.  Here’s what you do, pick up some Yogi Tea, take it to work with you drink some, then share with your coworkers.  Before you know it, if they are tea drinkers, you coworkers will say mmmm that’s good.  I happen to share some tea with a virtual priest, who I work with.  She tried some tea and next thing ya know she goes to the store and buys some more.  Now we have Yogi Tea time in the office ;-)  That was a very simple means of sharing the healing.  The power lies in the tea itself.

Like I said to start, Yogi Tea, Simple, Powerful Healing.

For my Teacher Training practicum class I taught Surya kriya to the group.  It is a lovely set that focuses on brining in Sun energy, hence the name Surya.

In order to improve my teaching ability for the class I started doing a 40 day practice of Surya Kriya, which actually just ended.  Sun energy allows one to focus on many tasks at the same time, which I really need to excel at considering the creative endeavors which manifest through my mind.

One thing I really enjoyed about the 40 day practice was I felt I’ve begun to deepen my experience while performing Sat Kriya, which is a cornerstone Kundalini Yoga practice.

To add some flashing lights to the practice, one morning in meditation following the kriya, I had a vision of the Sun rising and shining brightly upon me.  Needless to say these communal experiences encourages one to continue with regular practice.

I’m going to take a short break from a 40 day and mix it up a little for a bit.  Sometimes I enjoy waking in the morning and simply doing the kriya that is called for on that particular day.  But now that I’ve deepened my yoga practice, I intend to perform a regular regimine of 40 day kriyas and meditations.  Stay tuned for those…

Sat Nam,

Well teacher training is coming to an end. I have only to hand in my final paper work, teach one more class for evaluation and then onto graduation. Wahooooo! er umm Wahe Guru! This has been an amazing experiene for me, (sounds rather egoic, let’s try that again.) The KRI Level 1 Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training has strengthened my relationship with my soul and has allowed me to progress firmly upon the path. When I first started this course I rarely meditated, now I can kick out 11 and 22 minute meditations no sweat.

Shabad Kaur and Shiva Singh: thank you ever so much for your dedicated service to share and spread The Teachings. I know you like little testimonials to share with the KRI, so I’ll post the testimonial I shared with the class previously for the whole internet to see.

A couple years back I lost my best friend Tony to suicide. This event took me by complete surprise and really made me sad, mad and I felt a lot of grief. Even to this day as I commute past his parents home and the funeral home where I said good bye to his physical body. I miss him. When events like this happen they say family and friends go through a wide range of fellings/emotions. One stage is forgiveness. It took me a long time to forgive myself for not realizing that my friend was in a considerable amount of pain and hurting. But I did eventually forgive myself. Yet the pain remained. It wasn’t until during layout after a heart opening kriya, taught very nicely by my fellow Teacher Trainee Marianna (thanks Marianna,) that I realized that I had not forgiven Tony for the act which he performed. And as I lay there, my heart wide open in this realization, I mentally expressed my forgiveness to him. Now that’s healing, that’s power, that’s grace. This technology of Kundalini Yoga is a wonderful thing. I am honored to be able to share it with others. (I also want to thank Shabad Kaur for the subtle counseling here.)

It is my prayer that in the future the service which I provide may help to stop others from feeling this type of loss.

So there is a story for the journal, if you would like to share more with the KRI, or prospective Teacher Trainees for that matter here are some more stories from the Yoga Teacher Training section of this blog:

• Day 1 Teacher Training reflections
• A Teacher Training Class review
• An update on the experience of going through the training and finishing a 40 day meditation
• Some perspective on teaching the class of Teacher Trainees, along with some Sadhana experiences
• Some Tantric Numerology Exploration and Reflections
• Perspective on White Tantric Yoga

If you happen upon this site and are considering registering for Teacher Training, have a look though the links, then go ahead and sign up for the course! It will be a life changing experience.

I should also note that just before starting the training class I was working a job which was limiting my growth. Since then I have a new job which has allowed me to increase my skill set while providing value for my employer.

So once again, thank you Shiva Singh and Shabad Kaur. I’d also like to thank our excellent guest instructors:

• Guru Raj Kaur, thank you for deepening or understanding of mantra
• Pritpal Kaur, I appreciate the process and precision you used to teach us ideal postures, with real examples
• Dr. Siri Atma Singh, I’m greatful for the healing capacity you communcated throughout your presenation of physiology

Potential Teacher Trainees- this is a ROCK STAR line of talented Kundalini Yoga instructors, I suggest you sign up.

In the Spirit of giving I am formally giving all course Instructors, fellow trainees, and support yogins the opportunity to use this website as a vehicle to further spread your slice of the teachings. This site currently receives about 200 visitors per day and should be a nice opportunity to communicate your Kundalini Yoga messages. Simply send me an email and I’ll set ya up with a profile in the system. (Jenilyn if you want to do some internally resource sharing we can password protect posts on this site if ya like.) Perhaps this site can become an exercise in group consciousness sharing with the world. One thing to keep in mind when mixing ancient technology with modern technology, is that they call them Ethernets for a reason….

I must graciously thank Yogi Bhajan, for doing what nobody had ever done before and teaching this technology openly in the West. Thoughout the training it was communicated how as teachers we are to create future teachers who will become 10 times greater than ourselves. I truly see this statement reflected in the dynamic cast of teachers that carried out this program. Yogi Bhanjan thank you for training these 5 10 X’s and countless others. Thank you for accepting my onto this path and into the Golden Chain.

Guru Ram Das I humbly thank you for bringing Kundalini Yoga through your House in the Aquarian Age.

And finally I gotta give a shout out to the Lord, (It’s true the Lord likes shout outs, in fact He created the concept of a shout out.)

For through His yoga the soul’s of men shall shine forth like a Lighthouse piercing through the Kali Yug to usher in a New Age. There is much work to do.

In devoted service, may His Will be done.

Sat Nam

My First White Tantric Yoga Experience

This past weekend, my karma was gracious enough to bless me with the experience of White Tantric Yoga!  (The whole karma concept is truly facinating, I often wonder how was it that the individual karma of all class participants brought us together for the experience.  Then the concept of past lives comes up and the mind truly begins to turn.)

As part of my Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training requirements I participated, with my lovely wife Jamie, in White Tantric Yoga in Chicago this past weekend, along with my fellow trainees and other blessed individuals.

White Tantric Yoga, not to be confused with Red or Black Tantric Yoga, is a powerful group experience which allows participants to release karmas, (those little karma strands that hold one back from soul purpose.)

Here’s my understanding on how it works. Class particpants sit in rows of partners, there is a male side and a female side, for some polarity balance I suppose, but it really doesn’t matter if same gender folks participate together.

A series of White Tantric videos were produced while Yogi Bhajan was still in his physical body.  One of the videos is played for the full day meditation course.  There is a course faciliator, who tunes into the energy of Yogi Bhanjan’s subtle body.  Yogi Bhajan’s energy, through the house of Guru Ram Das, then faciliates the exchange of energy within the group.

The energy moves in a diagonal manner, angles break up energy, through the group breaking up karmas and providing healing.

For this course the longest meditation was for 31 minutes.  I was actually prepared for 62 minutes, so this was like cake for a first experience.  (It does help if one has a regular meditation practice.  I could hear Guru Raj Kaur’s voice saying, “neck lock,” and was like praise the lord for neck lock during 31 minutes of meditation.  This was the largest group I’ve practiced kundalini yoga with thus far, and I was diggin on the group energy.

Here’s a pic of me in the middle of the day.

On the way home from White Tantric, I felt as though my frontal lobe had received a nice cleansing.  New regions of my mind were more sensitive to my awareness.  (Makes sense as Kundalini Yoga is the Yoga of Awareness.)  My ajna center got sparkly through the process as well.

They say the transformational process takes 40 days to integrate into ones being.  I just want to work at keeping the vibration within my being.

If you get an opportunity to participate in White Tantric, I highly recommend it! 

For me, I say bring on a Solstice celebration, if I don’t make it there in the Winter of 08 I’ll be there Summer 09!

Tantric Numerology  Exploration

I’ve found Tantric Numerology to be a type of Natal Chart reading which coincides with a person’s evolutionary development manifested through their 10 bodies. 

I know what you may be thinking, “but Krishan, don’t we only have 1 body?”  We do have one physical body, but in the Kundalini Yoga tradition there are actually 10 of them.  They are as follows:

1. Soul
2. Negative Mind
3. Positive Mind
4. Neutral Mind
5. Physical Body
6. Subtle Body
7. Aura
8. Pranic Body
9. Arcline
10. Radiant Body

(9 out of 10 from memory, not bad.  Attribution to the book, The Aquarian Teacher, by Yogi Bhanjan.)

As I continue my studies in trantic numerology etc. I’ll do some more explorations into these various bodies.

Here is the internet’s current best resource for Tantric Numerology.  I punched in my birthday info and here’s what I discovered, with some supporting notes from the link above.

Krishan Singh’s Tantric Numerology: 

(Bullets below from Aquarian Teacher descriptions of the 10 bodies.)

Soul: 5 the Physical Body, core identity relation to self.

• Teacher
• Balance
• Sacrifice

Karma: 10 the Radiant Body, my relation with others.

• Royal Courage
• Radiance
• Nobility

Gift: 6 the Arcline, this is my gift from God.  The arcline provides the power of projection.  I am blessed to be able to project my prayers into manifestation.  May they be used to serve humanity.  Thank you for the Gift God!

• Justice
• Protection
• Projection

Destiny: 7 the Aura this is how others see me.  I guess they are able to sense my aura.

• Mercy
• Security
• Love

Path: 4 the Neutral Mind, neither positive, nor negative.  Intuitively interpret without judgement.

• Service
• Compassion
• Integration

Numerologial Reflections 

This is very useful information for people to understand themselves, who they are, what they are gifted as an individual and what aspects they can work on to improve themselves living their Soul purpose.  The Sadhana recommendations provided in from the link above are very insightful.  I also picked up some useful insights from Guruchandar Singh Khalsa’s book on Tantric Numerology. 

I was reviewing the book with a fellow teacher trainee of mine, Anotnella.  I noted my Karma number to her, my Radiant Body.  Now her being the intuitive person that she is she says to me, “yes you have this ability but you do not use it.”  I thought to myself, my goodness, she is right.  I used to always be a very outgoing person, always radiating out towards others around me.  Lately I’ve been more reserved.  I’ve been this way to try to not draw attention to myself.  I thought this was a way for me to be humble in my presence.  But when she stated this I realized, I can still be a radiant individual and humble at the same time.  In fact my Karma is to be Radiant.

And so the veil is coming off.  No more Mr. quite guy.  It’s going to be time to make my presence felt.  May that presence, serve, up lift and heal those around me.  For in service, there is humility.

Sat Nam

Krishan Singh

I’m pleased to share that Snatam Kaur will be performing in Chicago Illinois, on March 27th.

At times like these I wished I lived in Chicago again.   I hear that everyone who attends her concerts are changed.  In fact one of my fellow Teacher Trainees mentioned that the reason he signed up for the course was an experience from a Snatam Concert.

March 27th 2008   7PM - 9Pm

General Admission- $25

Portage Park Center for the Arts
3914 North Menard Ave.
Chicago, IL 60634

Call Spirit Voyage Music 1-888-735-4800

From SnatamKaur.com…

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Snatam Kaur is one of the most popular New Age artists of our time, selling over 50,000 albums a year.

“We come to Snatam’s concerts to experience a beautiful atmosphere her voice creates, to heal and to grow.”

Check out her audio clips, here.

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As my yoga instructor Shiva Singh likes to say, “no one regrets participating, just missing it.”

Sign up today! 

I completed the 40 day Sadhana as part of our teacher training course, wahoooo!

I learned that it feels great to accomplish challenging changes in lifestyle.  I still need to practice a perfect 40 day Sadhana, but the stepping stone is in place for it now.  I learned, or rather was further reinforced, that Kundalini Yoga is an appropriate path for me.  I also learned that as our classes’ group consciousness is for real and it is strong.  

One take away from the 40 day Sadhana experience that I absolutely prefer a group experience when doing the Aquarian Sadhana.  I absolutely love the group energy which is extremely motivating..  As mentioned in class I did come to really enjoy Japji and have added it into my daily Sadhana.  Through the teacher training I’ve come to realize the importance of meditation and have added meditation of some kind to my regular Sadhana practice as well.  The 40 day experience was truly foundational, the foundation could use some resealing again in the future, but it is strong.  Now every morning I get to continue to build upon this foundation and get deeper with my practice of Union.

good stuff!

Krishan

I must say I am very impressed with the breadth and depth of the teacher training I have been receiving at Spirit Rising Yoga in Chicago.  It’s so wonderful that this great body of knowledge has been placed into a formal teaching curriculum.  Honestly this should be a college course made available through the universities.  I don’t suspect it will be long before a progressive university picks it up as such, maybe the UW will get hip to it.  It provides a subtle blend of psychology, quantum physics, aerobics, anatomy, philosophy, humanology, religion (more so reflection on religious concepts,) and yoga.    I suspect that in the future elements of this course will be rolled out across our educational system for the betterment of humanity.

I got to teach last time we had class together.  I taught Transforming the Lower Triangle into the Upper Triangle.  This kriya focuses on brining the energy from the lower centers (triangle) up to the higher centers (triangle.)  It’s actually a rather challenging, yet achievable set.  I remember taking it for a test spin several weeks ago and saying, wow this is a tough one, I can’t wait to go through it in class, thinking I’d have it taught to me.

Then it turned out that this one was mine to deliver to the class.  I was rather ill the week prior leading up to teaching.  Typically I like to rehearse a kriya for a week or so in the morning prior to teaching, in order to help it lock into my body memory, but my illness stopped me from doing this.  So instead, I was forced to mentally rehearse this in my head, over and over and over again.  At the end of the day the mental rehearsal was probably more helpful then going through the motions over and over.  I spent special attention to the transitions between the exercises in order to create a smooth experience.  I believe this came through in the class I taught.

I got some really kind and constructive feedback from my fellow yogis.  You know it’s pretty amazing this Kundalini Yoga.  While teaching a Teacher does not perform the exercises, demonstrate from time to time, yes, but not perform them.  I was pleasantly surprised to realize an affect of transforming the lower triangle into the upper while teaching a distinct sensation came to light between my third eye and crown.  It’s not that I doubted this to be possible, it’s just that I didn’t even think about this aspect of teaching before.  If you want to master something, teach it right

I am still in the middle of a 40 day Aquarian Sadhana.  I’ve felt much better since the last teacher training and this has really allowed me to deepen my practice.  Lately I’ve felt a very strong connection to the Japji portion of the Aquarian Sadhana, which helps connect to Spirit.  In fact I intend to recite Japji, or something that delivers a similar effect, every day as part of my daily practice.

Today I’ve come to the realization why I’ve been resistant to always waking up at 4 for the Aquarian Sadhana.  It’s because I know in my heart that once I do this, bang, it will become a part of my daily routine ongoing and I wasn’t sure I was ready for that yet.  Thus far I’ve been less focused on the time and more focused on getting through as many of the elements of the Full Aquarian Sadhana as possible.  This past week I’ve made it through all components all days but one.

We are supposed to keep a little Aquarian Sadhana journal of our experiences, so I thought I’d share some here.

Aquarian Sadhana Experiences 

• At this one time I was deep in a chamber, or cave of sorts.  I felt this other entity some ways away from me and there was a vacuum of sorts in between us.  Not completely understanding what or who the entity was I rehearsed a mantra of protection.  After further reflection I do not suspect I required protection, I simply need to get used to new experiences from within
• Regularly during the chanting I slip out of regular consciousness, then pop back in, not knowing if I’ve been chanting for the past X amount of time, or simply in a semi slumber, or deeply abstracted.
• One morning I heard the voice of a fellow teacher in training chanting, Sat Siri Siri Akal.
• I find that after I go through an entire Aquarian Sadhana and sit in silence for a while, there is a tremendous amount of energetic activity within my minds eye.
• Virasan is one challenging pose to maintain during the chanting part of the Aquarian Sadhana, lately I’ve found it to be extremely uncomfortable across my back and shoulders.  I guess I’ve got some blocks to push through.
• I do have the kriya for my Aquarian Sadhana memorized, which is cool.  It seems as though this portion of my practice is already well established and comes with ease
• I have a small statue of Lord Krishna is my yoga room.  This morning I had a vision of the Statue/Lord Krishna, in a slightly different position, but standing high upon a building.  I thought to myself, yes, that’s as it should be.

On another note, I’ve realized that I’ve had a regular Kundalini Yoga practice for the past 4 years now.  I can’t believe the change that has occurred in my life since I began, well I believe it now, but if you would have told me then what I know now I would have been like, yeah right what ever.

I truly love Kundalini Yoga and look forward to being a vehicle for helping others with their transformations!

Sat Nam,

It’s been a while since I’ve last posted, my bad, I’ve been extremely busy with Teacher Training.

We had a great class recently and went through the chakras, wahoo! I actually realized I’ve been pronouncing it wrong for some time now, it’s not a blunt hit to the head, but oh well. I also need to add an 8th chakra to this blog- The Aura. Yogi Bhajan taught of the 8th chakra, which is the sum total of all the chakras/an individuals energy field.

We did several meditations associated with the chakra energy centers, and WOW were they powerful. I mean give me some more of that stuff please The group energy is fantastic, my undying appreciation goes out to my teacher training, teachers, and supporting yogis class for sharing in this experience with me. (gotta give a shout out to Yogi Bhajan and Guru Ram Das as well.)

Words carry a vibration. May this website vibrate strongly to positively effect people for change!

We’ve recently started a 40 day Sadhana. We are on day 8 I believe. My kriya is Nabhi Kriya for Prana and Apana. I am super excited to complete the 40 days, though the 2.5 hours in the morning has been challenging. I’ve actually been kind of ill the past week or so, I caught something going around the office.

It’s made it very difficult to keep a long Sadhana, but I am happy to say I’ve maintained the kriya every day. One thing that would be useful through the program is support on how to integrate it into the family life. Jamie likes to sleep

I must say that this program challenges you on all levels. It’s like a college level course that has roots on the Spiritual plane. (the tree of life comes to mind.) I could envision a beautiful scene using this imagry, including the Golden Chain teachers etc.

On tap for next week is learnings on our 10 Bodies.  That’s right, there’s more than 1.  I love this subtle, abstract, scientific stuff.  There’s no other body of knowledge like it.

I am actually teaching the class first thing too. It’s a physically challenging, yet very achievable set- Transforming the Lower Triangle into the Upper Triangle.

May the Guru flow through me on that morning.

Sat Nam.

Kundalini yoga is an excellent means of preventative maintenance for the body to fight dis-ease.

I like to view it as one component of a holsitic approach to alternative medicine.

I’ve recently contributed a post on Alternative Medicine, on Madison’s community blog Dane101.  Check it out!