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News From KRI - September
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The Yogi Bhajan Library of Teachings
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A Note From Nirvair
Sat Nam and Greetings from New Mexico.
We just completed our
2018 Level One Teacher Training Immersion in Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan® in New Mexico USA. What a wonderful training program and great group of trainers! Our Lead Trainer, Sat Siri Kaur, was an exceptional leader and an inspiration for all. The experience the students and teachers had was one of the best ever! The deep bonds that this international group of students created with each other, and the profound inspiration of Yogi Bhajan's teachings, was very special. Please join us in 2019 as a student, or if you are in the Aquarian Trainer Academy, as a
Trainer in Training. Become a teacher and serve your world. It is a rich and deep experience.
Fall is the time of the equinox and the beginning of the school session in the Northern Hemisphere. Many Kundalini Yoga teacher trainings also start this time of year. You can sign up for Level One Teacher Training almost anywhere in the world and learn the technology of Kundalini Yoga, meditation, and lifestyle.
The core of all Level One KRI Certified Trainings is that the students have a wonderful experience that prepares them to teach Kundalini Yoga and serve in the Aquarian Age. No matter where you train, you will find a consistent quality of expertise, love, care, and attention. Yogi Bhajan's impact on the world has been truly amazing. We have trainings in over 50 countries listed in the
KRI Trainer and Program Directory.
I get deeply immersed in the Yogi Bhajan Library of Teachings® on a daily basis, searching for topics, concepts, and wisdom. What an amazing resource! I always like to share some technology or insight with you that has inspired me. Here, Yogi Bhajan talks about the importance of the equinoxes:
Nirvair Singh Khalsa
CEO Kundalini Research Institute
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Deepening your Core Capacity at Level Two Mind and Meditation
This summer I had the blessing of taking the KRI Level Two
Mind & Meditation module in Espanola, NM. I had taken
Lifestyles & Lifecycles eons ago but had not participated as a learner with a "beginner's mind" for a very long time. Whereas the Level One program gives the Foundations of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan, the Level Two modules are about Transformation and deepening your core capacities, character, and consciousness. In the words of Yogi Bhajan,
"I am just trying to make you change, because you want to change but you don't change. I know you. It is very difficult for you to leave your habits. First we create habits and then our habits create us."
Six days of intensive study with our four extraordinary trainers from South Africa, Canada, and the United States, along with the Master himself through daily video classes, answered a personal prayer - to have the time and opportunity to delve more deeply into my Self after decades of "doing" in the world. Over fifty students from around the world came to do the hard work, as described by Guru Nanak, of "Conquer your own mind and you will conquer the world". I observed and experienced unique qualities in this group, even as we were all working on ourselves. There was always kindness, generosity, compassion, humor, and love in the room. A key component of the training program is ongoing personal meditations, journaling, and small group meetings for ninety days - transformation doesn't happen in a New York minute!
A few members of my small group offered to share their experience for this article.
Blessings to all,
Sangeet Kaur Khalsa (Espanola)
Sangeet Kaur discovered her singing voice at the age of 8, and studied music performance at the University of Toronto. After several years of singing with Canada's first professional chamber choir, she became a longtime student/teacher of Yogi Bhajan in 1978. Sangeet Kaur is well-known as an accomplished singer and recording artist. She serves tirelessly in her local Sikh community, in her home studio, and via the internet -mentoring others to find their own true voices.
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SAVE THE DATE - Vitality & Stress in New Mexico
KRI Level 2 Certification Program in Kundalini Yoga as Taught by Yogi Bhajan
®
June 23 - 30, 2019
Espanola, New Mexico
Vitality already exists within you. Many of the kriyas and meditations in Kundalini Yoga gradually build and circulate energy within you, removing blocks and releasing stress. Free yourself of tension. Give yourself a chance. Join Senior Trainers at the Mother Ashram for this transformational Level 2 module, Vitality & Stress.
Plan to stay in Espanola after Summer Solstice to continue studying with KRI's International Teacher Training Program. Registration opens November 15th. View details on the
Level 2 Program website.
"Once you are content, everything will come to you. When you are discontent, everything will go away from you. This law applies to you and beyond you. With elementary stress you can never be content." -Yogi Bhajan, November 8, 1989
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Limit Them - Building the Confidence to Succeed in Unlimited Environments
A child wants to be strong to face tomorrow. That's what a child wants, but the child is not trained that way. They are protected - not prepared. So naturally, children have to revolt and they can't take their parents' proclamation, "I want to protect you." What for? What are you protecting them from? Prepare him, prepare her. -Yogi Bhajan April 17, 1993
Today I dropped my daughter off at the airport for another year at Miri Piri Academy. She was not happy about going to school this year and it was a difficult morning with tears and silence and anger. We had been discussing all summer the reasons I have made the decision for her to return to MPA again, but despite hearing and understanding my reasons, she wanted to try something different. She felt that she was missing-out on some alternate experience of teenage life that she desperately wanted to try.
As a parent, these are some of the hardest moments. The moments when we put our foot down, when we limit our children's choices, when they cry or scream or protest repeatedly, and we have to stick to our decisions regardless of their anger or sadness. These are the moments when we have to remind ourselves that we are here not just to protect our children, but to prepare them. Setting limits is an important part of that preparation.
Ultimately, we want our children to recognize that they are part of the Infinite, that their spirit is vast and they have the capacity to transcend the limitations imposed by their communities, environments, and especially their own fears and mental patterns. The purpose of setting limits on our children's environments and choices is to give them an opportunity to build their confidence, skills, and awareness for that moment when it is time to transcend those limits, even those limits that we have set for them.
Saraswati Kaur Khalsa is the Assistant Principal of Miri Piri Academy and has been serving there since 2007. She has been a student of Yogi Bhajan since birth and completed her Level One Kundalini Yoga Teacher training under his guidance. Saraswati holds a Master's Degree in Social Work and has been working with children and schools since 1998. Her daughter also attends Miri Piri Academy as a student.
Jugat Guru Singh Khalsa is the Principal of Miri Piri Academy in Amritsar, India and a KRI Certified Lead Teacher Trainer. From his childhood, he was guided by Yogi Bhajan and has dedicated his life to serving the mission of Yogi Bhajan by helping to shape the next generation into leaders and teachers of this amazing technology. Jugat Guru Singh is a member of the Chardi Kala Jetha, which travels around the world teaching and performing Gurbani Kirtan,including local performances at the Golden Temple.
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The History of Self-Regulation: Early Western Medical Interest
By Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, Ph.D.
The ability to self-regulate internal states, either physical, mental, or emotional, is a fundamental construct underlying not only the field of mind-body medicine (which includes yoga), but also much of what is in the broader field of behavioral medicine. The practices in this realm include cognitive and meditation skills, relaxation techniques, and the contemplative mind-body practices of yoga, tai chi, and qi gong. Through these practices, one acquires the skills of regulating functions including physical movement, respiratory activity, cardiovascular functions, and cognitive and emotional activity and reactivity. Research studies have confirmed that yoga practice can lead to significant improvements in muscular tension, neuro-muscular activity and coordination, basal respiratory rate, blood pressure, heart rate, cognitive performance, meta-cognition, and management of mental stress and reactivity of emotion.
The control of some of these functions is mediated through the direct command of the central nervous system including the ability to consciously relax muscles and change respiration rate - this is somewhat self-evident. What has been of more interest scientifically, with respect to self-regulation, is the ability to exert control over processes believed to be automatically regulated, such as the autonomic nervous system, which can affect changes in the activity of internal organs and functions including heart activity, blood pressure, and metabolic rate. This is because historically, and even currently, in the field of medicine these activities have been believed to be out of the control of conscious will. One of the most well-known measures of this self-regulation of autonomic function is heart rate. Historically, what is of particular interest, are the early descriptions of instances/cases in the West that have suggested the feasibility of this kind of self-regulation.
William James was a very notable philosopher, psychologist, medical doctor, and Harvard faculty in the late 19th century. In fact, the Department of Psychology on the Harvard University campus now bears his name, William James Hall. He was a pioneer in the field of psychology who gained widespread recognition from his seminal 1890 textbook
The Principles of Psychology, a tome of 1,200 pages taking 12 years to complete. He also had the opportunity to interact personally with yoga master and proponent Swami Vivekananda during his visits to Boston in the late 1800's. This influenced his work in research on contemplative states and practices, and meditation specifically, culminating in his landmark 1902 book
The Varieties of Religious Experience. He was one of the early academics to recognize and describe the mind-body interaction and the capacity for self-regulation. In his 1890 text he wrote a clear statement of the mind-body connection: "Mental states occasion also changes in the calibre of blood-vessels, or alteration in the heart-beats, or processes more subtle still, in glands and viscera. ...it will be safe to lay down the general law that no mental modification ever occurs which is not accompanied or followed by a bodily change." He then cites cases of "exceptional individuals" reporting direct effects on the heart rate at will -a famous medical anecdote of a Colonel Townsend who could stop his heart at will and a 1889 report on voluntary control of the heart by a Dr. S.A. Pease.
Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, Ph.D. is the KRI Director of Research, Research Director for the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He has practiced a Kundalini Yoga lifestyle since 1973 and is a KRI certified Kundalini Yoga instructor. He has conducted research on yoga for insomnia, stress, anxiety disorders, and yoga in public schools. He is editor in chief of the International Journal of Yoga Therapy and
The Principles and Practice of Yoga in Health Care and author of the Harvard Medical School ebook
Your Brain on Yoga.
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Sat Nam from The Yogi Bhajan Library of Teachings
®
Sat Nam from The Yogi Bhajan Library of Teachings!
We have just completed this year's Yogi Bhajan Library of Teachings Endowment Fund campaign. Your contributions, big and small, are all an important part of our success. Building the Endowment Fund will be a project for many years to come, Thank you!
Our prayer is that over time we can raise enough funds to create an endowment fund of $11 million to support the Yogi Bhajan Library of Teachings in perpetuity. This may sound like a lofty goal, but as Yogi Bhajan said;
"Those who will serve this path and serve the future, shall feel liberated by their own virtue." Yogi Bhajan
June 20th,1993
As many of us have experienced, the teachings of Yogi Bhajan continue to touch people's lives in very profound ways. At the Yogi Bhajan Library of Teachings we are dedicated to extending his teachings out into the world through this online database so that they may continue to touch and transform individuals for many years to come. Join us in our mission as we continue this work. Your gift to the
Endowment Fund will secure the Library for many years to come. Call us at 855-519-4790 to find out how you can become part of serving this legacy.
"May you ever live as a light for the sake of all those who have to come with you and for the generations to follow." Yogi Bhajan
July 8th, 1998
In Service,
Shabd Simran Kaur Adeniji,
Fundraising Coordinator
Kundalini Research Institute
Email: donations@kriteachings.org
The Yogi Bhajan Library of Teachings® is a non-profit organization and all donations are tax deductible under IRS code 501(c)(3).
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KRI September Specials of the Month
Exploring the Breath Technology of Kundalini Yoga as Taught by Yogi Bhajan®
Compiled from the Teachings of Yogi Bhajan and illustrated by Harijot Kaur Khalsa
Praana, Praanee, Praanayam is a collection of Yogi Bhajan's quotes and kriyas gathered from lectures throughout his 35-year teaching career in the West. Yogi Bhajan was a Master of praanic energy, and these quotes and kriyas can help you to understand and experience who you truly are in the universe of praana.
Regular Retail: $35.00
Promo: $29.75
Kundalini Awakening in Everyday Life
by Hari Kirin Kaur Khalsa
"The sole purpose of life is the soul." -Yogi Bhajan
Learn to express your soul's longing, delve into images that awaken your imagination and speak of a truth yet explored. Allow Art & Yoga to take you on a journey to your intuitive, creative, and authentic self-the True Being, awakened!
This book is for anyone interested in yoga and the arts. It explains how to create a daily Art and Yoga practice. It provides step-by-step guidelines for producing art and doing yoga as complementary practices individually, in a group, or in community. Yogis will find creative exercises to deepen their experience of yoga, while artists will discover simple, yet profound yoga and meditation practices that will help their creative flow, focus, and intuition. Along the way, we will draw inspiration from the teachings of Yogi Bhajan, nature, artists of the past, and recent developments in healing and spirituality.
Retail: $29.95
Promo: $25.46
Timeless Wisdom from Yogi Bhajan DVD Series
3 Kundalini Yoga Class DVDs and 3 Kundalini Yoga Lecture and Meditation DVDs in two complementary mini series
Kundalini Yoga Class Series
(These all have yoga sets)
Kundalini Yoga Lecture and Meditation Series
(These are lectures followed by meditation)
Retail: $19.95 per DVD
Promo: $16.96
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KRI September Recipe of the Month
Raita - Two Ways
Excerpt From:
From Vegetables, With Love: Recipes and Tales from a Yogi's Kitchen
(Revised and Expanded New Edition)
Siri-Ved Kaur Khalsa
Tamaatar Raita
Plain and Simple Raita
About Raita
Raita ("RYE-tah) is a yogurt side dish, usually flavored with salt (or black salt) and various combinations of chopped vegetables, parsley, cilantro, and spices. A most basic raita would be yogurt mixed with salt, a little toasted cumin, and minced green onions or fresh dill. Customarily served as part of a spicy Indian meal, a serving of raita helps soothe the stomach and cool the palate. For very best flavor and loving vibes make your raita with homemade yogurt (see How to Make Your Own Yogurt on page 90). For lighter results, dilute with water as desired.
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