Kundalini Yoga Root Chakra
Welcome to the Root Chakra series! Each week the replays will be uploaded here. Feel free to view them as often as you like. They will be available through Monday, August 3, 2020.
Please know that you are responsible for your own body. Take care that you modify or adjust a posture as you need.
Feel free to post your questions and comments in the Food Yoga Soul Facebook group
Please know that you are responsible for your own body. Take care that you modify or adjust a posture as you need.
Feel free to post your questions and comments in the Food Yoga Soul Facebook group
Download your RECIPE below for a gut healthy Prebiotic Veggie Tray Bake with Tahini Drizzle. Click on the download file link below and save the recipe to your computer.
| prebiotic-tray-bake-with-tahini-drizzle.pdf |
Week One (scroll down for subsequent weeks)
Oops! I forgot to press the record button for the first five minutes, so we are missing the welcome preamble before the pranayama starts. Basically I was saying that the breath should be directed by the belly. On the inhale, allow the belly to expand outwards (like filling up a ballon). And on the exhale, the belly contracts (like a balloon deflating). This is the correct way of breathing. Anything else is called 'reverse breathing' and causes loss of energy.
Also, be conscious to use a '3 part breath', that is, on the inhale think of filling a glass of water from the bottom the top--the breath expands the belly first, then the ribcage and then the collar bone rises. On the exhale, think of emptying the glass of water from the top down--the collar bone comes down, the ribcage contracts and then the belly contracts back towards the spine.
Home practice: This week practice the breathwork, kriya and meditation as often as you can. Also, as the Root Chakra is related to the Earth Element and Sense of Smell, take time this week to consciously smell your environment. Smell the garden earth, the forest earth, the sand and salt air or lake air, every flower you come across and especially seek out roses to smell. The scent of roses opens your heart chakra and raises your energy vibration, and will elevate the vibration of your Root Chakra by raising it to the level of the heart. Enjoy!
Also, be conscious to use a '3 part breath', that is, on the inhale think of filling a glass of water from the bottom the top--the breath expands the belly first, then the ribcage and then the collar bone rises. On the exhale, think of emptying the glass of water from the top down--the collar bone comes down, the ribcage contracts and then the belly contracts back towards the spine.
Home practice: This week practice the breathwork, kriya and meditation as often as you can. Also, as the Root Chakra is related to the Earth Element and Sense of Smell, take time this week to consciously smell your environment. Smell the garden earth, the forest earth, the sand and salt air or lake air, every flower you come across and especially seek out roses to smell. The scent of roses opens your heart chakra and raises your energy vibration, and will elevate the vibration of your Root Chakra by raising it to the level of the heart. Enjoy!
Week Two (check below the video for the meditation audio)
The home practice for this week is to self reflect on the quality of patience, which is an aspect of a well balanced Root Chakra. How does patience show up in your life? We recognize the importance of practicing patience with others, but what about patience with our own poor selves? Do you engage in negative self talk when your are impatient with yourself? Practice patience with yourself through compassion and trust that that every moment is unfolding as it should. Your comments and questions are welcomed in my Food Yoga Soul Facebook group.
Week Two Gunpati Mantra Meditation
On the video, the sound for the meditation did not come through well, so I have uploaded the audio for the mediation (See audio above.)
The Gunpati Meditation will help reroute the mental pathways and renew the mind to heal the discordant energy and make way for everything that you could ever ask for in your life.
To Begin: Sit in an Easy Pose with the eyes 1/10th open while concentrating at the Third Eye Point. Place the wrists over the knees, with your hands in Gyan Mudra.
Mantra (chanted in monotone voice)
SAA-TAA-NAA-MAA RAA-MAA-DAA-SAA SAA-SAY-SO-HUNG
NOTE: There is a part in the music where the chant stops. Please keep chanting! It will pick up again after a few repetitions.
Part I
Chant the mantra on a single breath, as you press the fingertips sequentially with each syllable to the thumb. Use the thumb to press first the index finger, then the middle finger, then the ring finger, then the baby finger sequentially with each syllable. Use a fair amount of pressure.
Time: Continue for 7 minutes with music
Part II (to END)
Inhale deeply and hold the breath. Move the body and spine in a slow twist and stretch motion. Move each muscle of the body. Move the head, torso, arms, back, belly and hands. Then exhale powerfully. Repeat this 3-5 times.
To end today's practice, close with three long Sat Nam after the meditation
Kundalini Yoga acts as a mirror. It reflects back to us where WE ARE on our path, acknowledges our strengths and supports us as we journey to light up and grow in areas of weakness. Each time when we sit on the mat, we are making the choice to choose love and experience new ways of being. With this meditation, we are being asked to cleanse ourself of NEEDy energy and embrace the NEW idea that once we let go and shift out of the needy/needer energy we will be healthier and we will attract a similar reflection in our environment.
Letting go doesn’t mean we lose everything, it actually means we gain everything. At a very physical level, letting go can be quite an emotional experience; however when we dive into the tiny threads of energy linked with letting go we will find a freedom and a positive momentum that helps us attract everything in our life that is necessary for us to be in our highest good at each moment.
The act of asking ourselves to let go can tap into our fear programming that says, when we let go, we have nothing. There is very little truth in that fear, as when we let go of holding on to people, places and situations, we release the chords of attachment and merge more into a space of neutrality and non-attachment where we have the potential to make available “everything” to come to and through our experience.
Holding on, leaves little room for new manifestations and creations to blossom. When we hold on, we create energetic boundaries that say NO THANK YOU to new ideas and inspiration.
The Gunpati Meditation will help reroute the mental pathways and renew the mind to heal the discordant energy and make way for everything that you could ever ask for in your life.
To Begin: Sit in an Easy Pose with the eyes 1/10th open while concentrating at the Third Eye Point. Place the wrists over the knees, with your hands in Gyan Mudra.
Mantra (chanted in monotone voice)
SAA-TAA-NAA-MAA RAA-MAA-DAA-SAA SAA-SAY-SO-HUNG
NOTE: There is a part in the music where the chant stops. Please keep chanting! It will pick up again after a few repetitions.
Part I
Chant the mantra on a single breath, as you press the fingertips sequentially with each syllable to the thumb. Use the thumb to press first the index finger, then the middle finger, then the ring finger, then the baby finger sequentially with each syllable. Use a fair amount of pressure.
Time: Continue for 7 minutes with music
Part II (to END)
Inhale deeply and hold the breath. Move the body and spine in a slow twist and stretch motion. Move each muscle of the body. Move the head, torso, arms, back, belly and hands. Then exhale powerfully. Repeat this 3-5 times.
To end today's practice, close with three long Sat Nam after the meditation
Kundalini Yoga acts as a mirror. It reflects back to us where WE ARE on our path, acknowledges our strengths and supports us as we journey to light up and grow in areas of weakness. Each time when we sit on the mat, we are making the choice to choose love and experience new ways of being. With this meditation, we are being asked to cleanse ourself of NEEDy energy and embrace the NEW idea that once we let go and shift out of the needy/needer energy we will be healthier and we will attract a similar reflection in our environment.
Letting go doesn’t mean we lose everything, it actually means we gain everything. At a very physical level, letting go can be quite an emotional experience; however when we dive into the tiny threads of energy linked with letting go we will find a freedom and a positive momentum that helps us attract everything in our life that is necessary for us to be in our highest good at each moment.
The act of asking ourselves to let go can tap into our fear programming that says, when we let go, we have nothing. There is very little truth in that fear, as when we let go of holding on to people, places and situations, we release the chords of attachment and merge more into a space of neutrality and non-attachment where we have the potential to make available “everything” to come to and through our experience.
Holding on, leaves little room for new manifestations and creations to blossom. When we hold on, we create energetic boundaries that say NO THANK YOU to new ideas and inspiration.
Week Three
This week we look at the Root Chakra concept of "I feel Safe". The Root Chakra is associated with the adrenal glands. It is the the adrenal glands that emit the stress hormones, whether that stress comes from an external factor or an internal factor such as our own negative or critical thoughts. This week's meditation is called the "Isht Sodhana Mantra" which means the First Chakra Mantra. It is both a chant and a visualization which allows us to hold the images of darkness and light together, and energetically moves us from darkness to light. Check below the video for the meditation audio and instructions. This week's home practice is to set an intention of the aspect of your life you would like to move from darkness to light and practice the meditation (daily if you like). During the week call your intention to mind often and just allow the energy of the meditation to move your life from darkness to light easily and naturally.
Week Three Meditation "Isht Sodhana Mantra" (First Chakra Mantra)
Isht Sodhana Mantra Meditation
This mantra connects the concreteness of the Earth element with the vastness of the Ether (heaven) element, and projects it through the heart. It makes you present, calls on your highest spirit, keeps you humble and effective in new ventures, and attracts opportunities for financial prosperity.
Posture: Sit in easy pose or in a chair with your spine straight. Apply Root Lock. Lift the chest
high, chin in (i.e., Neck Lock).
Focus: The eyes are slightly open focused at the tip of the nose to stimulate the third eye and pituitary gland. Breath: Will come naturally as you chant.
Mudra: Active Gyan Mudra (thumbs overlapping the nail of the index fingers). Allow the hands to rest over the knees. Elbows should be straight.
Mantra:
Dharti Hai.
Akash Hai
Guru Ram Das Hai
Visualization: When chanting Dharti Hai (=earth): from the navel down, see a rich, solid grey; the dust of the earth. Saints feet have touched the dust of the earth. Perhaps you will be blessed to touch the very dust they walked upon. You will be elevated to the consciousness to have a human body, a human vessel.
When Chanting Akash Hai (=heavens/ethers): From the eyebrows up, visualize the most beautiful sky blue, rich, royal and light; the unlimited ether, the vast heavens. Royal blue; totally open and free in all directions. (The secret is to hold the image of the grey and the blue at the same time. Hold them both; hold the polarity.)
When Chanting Guru Ram Das Hai (=moving from darkness to light): Meditate at your heart center. See an absolutely bright, white, radiant light, shining, penetrating all of the above and below. This is the movement of compassion, the manifestation. This is your presence, the reality of the present.
TO END: Inhale and hold the grey of the earth, the blue of the ethers, the white light your innocence and
compassion ... stretch up and shake out your arms.
This mantra connects the concreteness of the Earth element with the vastness of the Ether (heaven) element, and projects it through the heart. It makes you present, calls on your highest spirit, keeps you humble and effective in new ventures, and attracts opportunities for financial prosperity.
Posture: Sit in easy pose or in a chair with your spine straight. Apply Root Lock. Lift the chest
high, chin in (i.e., Neck Lock).
Focus: The eyes are slightly open focused at the tip of the nose to stimulate the third eye and pituitary gland. Breath: Will come naturally as you chant.
Mudra: Active Gyan Mudra (thumbs overlapping the nail of the index fingers). Allow the hands to rest over the knees. Elbows should be straight.
Mantra:
Dharti Hai.
Akash Hai
Guru Ram Das Hai
Visualization: When chanting Dharti Hai (=earth): from the navel down, see a rich, solid grey; the dust of the earth. Saints feet have touched the dust of the earth. Perhaps you will be blessed to touch the very dust they walked upon. You will be elevated to the consciousness to have a human body, a human vessel.
When Chanting Akash Hai (=heavens/ethers): From the eyebrows up, visualize the most beautiful sky blue, rich, royal and light; the unlimited ether, the vast heavens. Royal blue; totally open and free in all directions. (The secret is to hold the image of the grey and the blue at the same time. Hold them both; hold the polarity.)
When Chanting Guru Ram Das Hai (=moving from darkness to light): Meditate at your heart center. See an absolutely bright, white, radiant light, shining, penetrating all of the above and below. This is the movement of compassion, the manifestation. This is your presence, the reality of the present.
TO END: Inhale and hold the grey of the earth, the blue of the ethers, the white light your innocence and
compassion ... stretch up and shake out your arms.
Week Four
This final week of the Root Chakra series we focus on breaking the chains of attachment and nourishing the organ of elimination. There is a relationship between attachment and the condition of our elimination (constipation or loose stool) where the food we take in is transformed and returned to the earth. The meditation this week is the Gunpati meditation (see Week Two for instructions and music if you wish to do the meditation alone).
Do you have challenges with elimination and/or digestion? As a Certified Holistic Nutrition Consultant, I offer one-hour private consultations for $99 Cdn where we look at your Ayurvedic constitution and imbalances and your current health concern, and I offer you several food lifestyle and digestive health recommendations, along with essential recipes specially for you, to move your health forward. Please contact me by email if you are interested in pursuing this or if you need more info. sandra.briand@gmail.com
Do you have challenges with elimination and/or digestion? As a Certified Holistic Nutrition Consultant, I offer one-hour private consultations for $99 Cdn where we look at your Ayurvedic constitution and imbalances and your current health concern, and I offer you several food lifestyle and digestive health recommendations, along with essential recipes specially for you, to move your health forward. Please contact me by email if you are interested in pursuing this or if you need more info. sandra.briand@gmail.com