Practice Pages: Meditation
We are at a crucial transition period on our planet Earth. We have grown in numbers, technology and interconnectedness. The result is that we affect each other. We affect each other more than we can even imagine; just as we affect the environment that has sustained us for millennia.
The news is full of evidence of our impact on the environment, both positive and negative. Wolves, condors and many other species have been pulled back from the edge of extinction by extensive human effort and intervention. At the same time, the great cloud of toxic pollution is growing in Asia and elsewhere, chemically-induced illnesses and problems such as asthma are rising rapidly, and there is speculation that the recent earthquakes in southern China were initiated in part because of the weight of water in the newly constructed dam nearby. We’ve experienced our own crises in the United States with two recent coal sludge spills and the continued push for resources, even in fragile and pristine landscapes like Utah and Alaska. Caring for our environment is not only essential for health, security and energy but is also a simple act of consciousness.
Julia and Jay Moton
All evidence points to the need for increased awareness of our impact and a long-term vision of how our increasing interconnectedness can alter our environment for the good of all. The old ways of identifying ourselves, by village or country, are less useful when just one individual, corporation or government, can help restore or damage the environmental heritage we all rely on. We each need to do what we can; but every action is accompanied by a level of awareness.
Therefore, we need a contemplative dimension to our efforts. We need to awaken our sensitivity to the Earth and to our impact through time. Our tendency, especially under stress, is to move toward short-term solutions. We need to have the intuitive capacity to look ahead decades, even centuries. Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan® is a cornucopia of meditative technologies; but there is one that stands out. We often do not see what is directly in front of us. This meditation opens our vision, connects us to the environment, ourselves, and to the blessings of our spirit together. Cultivating this awareness is powerful and effective and ultimately, healing.
The meditation consists of a beautiful mantra and visualization. Both are coordinated with a measured breath. The mantra has three parts. The first evokes the element of earth – prithvi. You visualize an earthy grey and connect your own subtle mind to all that is the Earth, within and without. The second evokes the expansive sense of the akasha (space or ether). You visualize the blue of a clear unlimited sky, connecting Earth to the heavens. This opens the space for co-creativity between you, in your limited form, and you as infinite spirit – your vast, formless self. It breaks old limiting patterns, perspectives and beliefs about what is possible. The third part calls on healing energy from the heart chakra as you spiral out a brilliant white light, integrating the Earth and heavens to form a new synergy and generate creative action through compassion.
In the global 3HO community, we practiced this for an entire year to open the way for change and new perspectives as we steward the gift of this globe into the future.
Isht Sodhana Mantra Kriya
Kundalini Yoga As Taught By Yogi Bhajan®
Isht Sodhana Mantra Kriya
A perfect mantra for Earth energy is the Isht Sodhana Mantra:
Dhartee Hai, Akasha Hai, Guru Ram Das Hai
It connects the Earth with the vastness of the ether and projects it from the heart. It makes you present, calls on your highest spirit, keeps you humble and effective on your new ventures, and attracts opportunities for prosperity.
Posture: Sit in easy pose (legs crossed), hands in gyan mudra (tips of the thumb and index finger touch, see above). Sit on a cushion as needed to keep the spine long.
Eyes: Open just 1/10th or closed.
Visualization: As you chant Dhartee Hai, visualize a gray earthy tone from the navel point, expanding on both sides and down to the whole Earth and hold. As you chant Akasha Hai, visualize from the eye brows, brow point and up to a vast blue sky, expanding into the ethers and hold. As you chant Guru Ram Das Hai visualize from the heart center a circle of bright white light expanding out in all directions, encompassing everything in this light.
Time: Chant this mantra for eleven or thirty-one minutes. A musical version of this meditation is available as an MP3 download from kundaliniresearchinstitute.org
Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, PhD is a psychotherapist, teacher and writer who is an authority on the mind and the applied psychology of meditation and peak performance. He is the Director of Training at the Kundalini Research Institute in New Mexico where Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan® is disseminated. Dr Khalsa has been doing a lot of research on current events and the impact of Yogi Bhajan’s teachings.
He will be teaching at the Kundalini Research Insitute’s International Teacher Training Level Two – Transformation: Vitality and Stress Summer, 2009. Kundaliniresearchinstitute.org
© The teachings of Yogi Bhajan. Used with Permission
By Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, Phd
