Ah, 'tis the season to be jolly, and merry, and over-indulge, because by golly you've earned it. 'Tis also the season to rush around like crazy, attending parties and drinks, buying presents and gifts, and squeezing as much fun and leisure into your holiday break as possible. In short, 'tis a time of madness, when long established patterns of well-being - think solid eating habits and regular yoga practice - fall by the wayside like Christmas wrapping paper on Boxing Day. To make it … [Read more...]
Completion of a loving-kindness sadhana, Day 30 to Day 40
This was the easiest sadhana (daily spiritual practice) I've done. Simply sitting cross-legged and repeating four lines (in English no less!) over and over. May I be filled with loving-kindness May I be well My I be peaceful and at ease May I be happy I finished yesterday, with a twenty minute meditation. Yet this morning, getting stuck into work, I couldn't wait to do my meditation. So I did. Day 41. This may just be a daily practice for me until... well who knows? … [Read more...]
Inside the experience of a Loving-Kindness sadhana to day 29
Kundalini, or prana, rising up the spine Meditation is a cumulative experience. That is, the more you do it, the more you get it, the more you want to do it, the more you get out of it... creating this constant feedback loop of encouragement. Unfortunately, it also works the other way. We begin to meditate, never having done it before, likely with many expectations of what meditation is "supposed" to be like. … [Read more...]
Inside the experience of a loving-kindness sadhana to Day 20
This practice was inspired by many things. A conversation with friends after a heart-opening Bhakti practice about the nature of the spiritual path. An understanding that opening the body was all very well, but unless the heart also opened, essentially meaningless. A desire to experience more equinimity, more joy, more bliss, more love. And a book called A Path with Heart. … [Read more...]
How to connect to other people while holding your centre – a new loving-kindness sadhana
Perhaps my biggest discovery this year has been the power of sadhana. I started my new years with a Forty Day Sadhana of Sodarshan Chakra Kriya. It took me a bit longer than forty days to finish it, as I missed a day at day 35 and had to start all over again... but boy was it powerful when I finally finished. I was super excited when I started my next sadhana - all about accessing infinite energy and prosperity. Unfortunately, I had to stop that one at Day 15 because I discovered I was … [Read more...]
What is a Sadhana and Why Do I Need One in My Life?
By Kara-Leah, Regular readers will well remember I started a forty day sadhana (spiritual practice) oh... a few months ago. It was an Infinite Wealth and Prosperity meditation, and I was loving doing it. But then something happened. I found out I was pregnant, and as this particular meditation involved stomach pumps (a no-no for pregnant women), I had to stop. But I couldn't write about it immediately, because I had to wait to tell people I was pregnant. Now I can tell people... so I can … [Read more...]
Day 1 to 15: Forty Day Sadhana of Infinite Energy and Prosperity Meditation
These are interesting times. It's getting harder and harder to ignore the fact that we live on a finite planet, yet continue to promote a consumerist, throw away society that generates money for the few while decimating the planet. These were my thoughts as I sat outside this morning on my deck, eating porridge, watching the sunrise, and enjoying the presence of a handful of sparrows attracted by the stale bread we'd thrown on the lawn. They pecked and chirped, hopped and nibbled. Read … [Read more...]
How to access infinite energy and prosperity using a sadhana
I'm so excited! Today I started a new sadhana. The results from the last sadhana I did, Sodarshan Chakra Kriya were fantastic, and I'd been waiting for another sadhana to make itself known. What's a sadhana? Simply a daily spiritual practice like meditation done for forty consecutive days. On the weekend, while cleaning out my bedroom, I stumbled across a copy of Infinite Energy and Prosperity Meditation, taken from Anmol Mehta's wonderful website. … [Read more...]
Day 40: Completion of my Forty Day Sadhana of Sodarshan Chakra Kriya
by Kara-Leah, I've done it! Yes, on Saturday, 94 days after I made a commitment to complete a forty day sadhana, I did my forty days in a row. After a couple of false starts, I was back into it and truly committed. I'd failed once, and knew this time what it took to complete the sadhana. Every day when I woke up, one of my first thoughts was, "When am I going to do my sadhana?" It became the one concrete action in my day that everything else had to bow down to - and this was good. I looked … [Read more...]
Day 32 to 35: Forty Day Sadhana of Sodarshan Chakra Kriya
It happened on Thursday. It was the end of the week, as here in New Zealand we celebrate Waitangi Day on February 6th which was Friday last week. I finished work and met my partner at his workplace to catch a ride up to his boss's house to get our car. His boss lives on top of a hill with panoramic views of Wellington, and he invited us in for a drink on the patio. A couple of wines and some conversation later, it was back to our house for a much needed meal. And then, pleasantly … [Read more...]