Kundalini Meditations? Results?

[lorajc]

I was thinking about my life for the last 3 years and how so much bad has been happening and I'm wondering when my luck is gonna turn around and have some blessings come my way. From past experiences, things usually got tumultuous for a while and then better and it was a cylce; however, as I just stated, it has been a very rough 3 years. It began when my DH and I started going thru a divorce, then we got back together, both lost our jobs, and it sort of goes on from there.

Needless to say, I want to start adding Kundalini in to handle the extreme stress that I've been encountering. I usually skipped the mediations in the past, but after conversing with Ana a couple of times, she always stressed the importance of the meditations.

This morning I only had time to do about 5 minutes of one, but it was for turning stress into blessings. I'm going to try to spend at least 5-10 minutes a day to work on these.....and I was wondering who here has done this in the past or present, what were your results, how much time did you spend on them, etc.

Also, I've recently put on 5-6 pounds that I REALLY need to get rid of. Has anyone used KY and had an unexpected weight loss and if so, please do tell of your experience.

thanks in advance...look forward to hearing from everyone.

[ardnas]

My favorite Raviana is their Meditation DVD!
I find meditation a wonderful way to de-stress and gain perspective, no matter how you do it; sitting in quiet focusing on breath, a guided meditation, body scanning, japa mala, Kundalini mantras, etc.
I have meditated in times of fear, stress, sickness, and it always calms me and centers me and the effects seem to last all day. At first it was kinda weird and took some time to be able to sit still and not have my mind wander.
The other day I was watching a travel show and the host asked a Buddhist monk why they meditate and he said something along the lines of it takes away the pain in life.

[sunday]

I agree that Raviana's meditation dvd is lovely. I have not previewed it all, but since getting back into them, I plan to incorporate this DVD. Sandra, is it necessary to always be sitting up while meditating? It seems that it would be hard on the back to sit that long, and lying down would be nice.

Anyone else know the answer/reasoning to this?

[Demeris]

I have the same results with KY with and without the meditations. When I first started KY, I did the meditations incorporated with the workouts. A few months, in, I subbed prayers from my faith tradition in place of the meditations. No change in results, physically, but psychologically and emotionally, the prayers made me feel much more grounded and stronger. YMMV.

[ardnas]

Originally Posted by sunday

is it necessary to always be sitting up while meditating? It seems that it would be hard on the back to sit that long, and lying down would be nice.

I think you should do whatever feels comfortable to you. Some guided meditations, yoga nidra, and body scans have you lie down, as does Savasana. I have done japa mala in Viparita Karani (legs up the wall pose) and feel very comfortable doing so.
IIRC you're traditionally supposed to sit because being on a flat, firm surface supports your spine better allowing you to meditate for longer.
This is my favorite guided meditation cd in which you do lie down!

[bossymurph]

Yes, Yes, Yes, to Ravi and Ana in any form. Meditation is a powerful tool, but their sessions take you there, too.

One thing I found very helpful when I was in a horribly down period was to buy a pretty little blank book and write down at least one good thing that happened that day. I just made the exercise up, but it was an amazing exercise. I started with stuff like, "Had a great cup of coffee in my favorite mug" and in no time at all, I was filling pages and my life changed along with those thoughts.

Good luck. Please know this can be conquered.

[MomOf2Gremlins]

I just recently got into KY after having tried it a while back and found it just 'weird' back then! Now I can definitely tell that it has an impact on my mood and I plan on including it into my daily routine. I often get too stressed out too quickly and need something that helps me keep it all in check. I have the meditation DVD as well, just came in the mail actually, but I haven't had the chance to try it yet.

Best of luck! I hope you'll feel better soon and have luck and positive things coming your way!

[sunday]

Thanks Sandra!

And I agree with the above posters that any Ravi and Ana will get you in a better place. I've been doing an all Raviana bootcamp and have had amazing results, both physical and mental.

[laurajhawk]

A kundalini tradition is to choose one meditation and do it for forty days straight. I have done that twice.

The first time, I chose the Kirtan Kriya, which is the "Sa Ta Na Ma" meditation on Ravi & Ana's Quick Fixes and House Call DVDs. I did it anywhere from six to 30 minutes a day (OK, I only did the 30 minutes once). Usually I did it for twelve minutes. I found it very calming and centering. A weird thing is that I got sort of addicted to it. When the 40 days were up, I still wanted to do it and got irritable when I didn't. After about 45 days I did stop, though, because although I liked the effects of doing the meditation, I didn't like the feeling of being addicted.

More recently (about a year ago), I did a prosperity meditation for 40 days. We did it in a live class but it's also on Mantra Girl's DVD (her first one, not the Warrior one) and on Sat Jivan Khalsa's Peace of Mind in Stressful Times DVD. The mantra is just "har" with a hand movement. I did it 5 to 11 minutes per day. According to my teacher, Yogi Bhajan said it should not be done more than 11 minutes/day because that would be greedy. Anyway, I know this was probably a coincidence but I got a lot of unexpected money during that 40 days! Other than that I didn't feel different than I would doing any other meditation daily.

[eam531]

Originally Posted by lorajc

Needless to say, I want to start adding Kundalini in to handle the extreme stress that I've been encountering. I usually skipped the mediations in the past, but after conversing with Ana a couple of times, she always stressed the importance of the meditations.

This morning I only had time to do about 5 minutes of one, but it was for turning stress into blessings. I'm going to try to spend at least 5-10 minutes a day to work on these.....and I was wondering who here has done this in the past or present, what were your results, how much time did you spend on them, etc.

Also, I've recently put on 5-6 pounds that I REALLY need to get rid of. Has anyone used KY and had an unexpected weight loss and if so, please do tell of your experience.

thanks in advance...look forward to hearing from everyone.

When I started doing kundalini yoga (it was Ravi and Ana's original KY for Beginners and Beyond and one of the Fat Free DVDs), I lost a few pounds without trying and without changing my diet. It could have just been doing something different which helped me break through a plateau ... but KY works on the glandular system, which controls metabolism.

I agree with Ana that meditations are important; I'd go so far as to say that meditation is the most important aspect of yoga--the postures are to prepare you for meditation.

A lot of people have trouble sitting for meditation. Use a chair, a backjack, elevate your hips on a cushion, or meditate with your legs up the wall, as someone else suggested. There is no yoga police who will come and say you're not doing it right or you're not 'yogic' enough if you use a chair. Westerners are simply not used to sitting on the floor with crossed legs, so if a chair or a cushion makes you more comfortable, you are more apt to stick with it.

I'd also recommend seeing which meditation resonates with you and trying it for 40 days. Do it 3 to 7 minutes a day and see what happens. 3 minutes is pretty much the minimum time that I have seen in KY meditation. If you're a beginner, 3 to 7 minutes is really do-able. In my opinion, it is the consistency that will make the difference, not the amount of time in each meditation session. You might well find yourself looking forward to your meditation session, and lots of people report that meditating helps them feel more grounded and less reactive.

There are studies galore on the positive effects meditation has on lowering stress levels and blood pressure. In the KY tradition, there is a whole book about kundalini yoga meditation and its effect on mental health disorders. There is another one on 'kundalini yoga meditation as medicine' with lots of different meditations for various emotional, mental, physical and spiritual maladies. The author of the first book is a medical researcher; the author of the second is a medical doctor who does research on Alzheimers disease. Both are long-time practitioners of KY.

We had to do a couple of 40 day meditations when I was in teacher training, so I chose ones I liked--Ravi's comment that 'if you don't like this, this is what you should be doing' makes sense in a way--sometimes we duck doing things we dislike but are good for us-- but there is something sort of Calvinistic about it that has always bothered me. If you do a meditation you like (you like the mantra or the mudras or how it makes you feel), I think you're more apt to stick with it.

There is a lot of great advice in this thread from others who practice KY. I hope that you find a meditation that you like and that you find it helpful in addressing the concerns in your life now.