3 Kundalini Yoga Tips for Monday Mornings
Here you are, walking into work after a fantastic weekend. Hiked and biked for two days. Cleaned the yard to seasonal perfection. Finally moved all that stuff out and into the garage. Partied out of town with your best friends, overeating and over-shopping. Partied IN town, overeating and over-shopping. In essence, you had so much FUN doing something out of the ordinary, you just can’t quite get to the idea of ‘WORK’ on Monday morning.
Admit it, no matter how good you look, you are in the “Monday Morning Blahs”.
Here are 3 simple yogic things you can do to change your energy around work on Monday morning.
1. Bless and drink at least a pint of water. Then, go to the bathroom and release whatever is in your bladder.
Wash your hands and then switch to cold. Rinse from your fingertips to as high up to your elbows as you can.
Rub the cold water in for a moment. Let it flow on your wrists for a bit longer than you want.
If you can, rinse your face in cold water at least 3 times.
Dry your arms and face and run the wet towel over your neck and throat.
See if you are in the same space you were a few minutes ago.
2. Take 2-4 minutes to re-center:
Sit with your spine straight and hold ‘Bear Grip’ at the heart center. The left hand is in front of the heart, palm out. Right palm faces the heart. Curl the fingers in to grasp each other in a fist. Close your eyes and focus at the third eye point.
Ideally, inhale, pull on the hands and begin Breath of Fire. Pull on the hands and do Breath of Fire for at least 1 minute.
If you can’t do Breath of Fire, just pull and deepen your breath. Continue up to 3 minutes.
Do 3 good inhales and exhales at the end. Continue to pull. Pull hard!
At the end, sit for one more minute, hands comfortable in your lap. Center and slow your breath.
One last deep inhale. Stretch up as high as you can and hold.
As you exhale, shake your hands rapidly, moving them back down to your lap.
Open your eyes and look at Monday feeling refreshed, with the courage of a Bear.
3. You don’t need a lot of room for this one, but you may need a quiet place, unless your coworkers know you’re a yogi.
Stand up and bend forward, grasping the ankles tight.
Walk!
Walk all over.
If you have little room, walk in place.
Keep changing direction and walk.
This is, “Elephant Walk”. Your blood is totally circulating to the head and back, pumped by your movement.
Continue for 1 – 3 minutes.
Breathe!
Elephant Walk back to your starting place.
When you inhale up, be slow and deliberate. Don’t lose your focus.
Continue to stretch above your head, until your stretching fingers pull you up on your toes. Stretch straight up and inhale and exhale 3 times, in the stretch.
Relax the arms down.
Still standing, shake your arms and legs rapidly. Shake off the negative effects of the weekend!
One last inhale.
Center.
Exhale, and see if you aren’t ready to start the day!
Try one or all 3 of these suggestions to help you break out of those Monday Morning Blahs.
In a few minutes you can be fresh and ready to go.
~ SAT NAM ~ 
Kundalini Yoga at Summer Solstice
- This is a drug and alcohol free environment
- Everything is strictly vegetarian
- Vitamin B15 will help you to oxygenate at altitude, the site in the Jemez Mountains is over 7,000 feet.
- Bring organic skin and bug protection
- Drink at least 80 ounces of water a day
- Bring an attitude of gratitude and you can’t miss!
The Kundalini Yoga Experience
“The kundalini experience does not mean you have gone into a deep breathless trance and are beyond this world…It integrates you more fully with reality and gives you a broader vision and sensitivity so that you can act more efficiently.” –Yogi Bhajan, Ph.D.
If we could only recommend one book about the art and science of Kundalini Yoga, it would be “Kundalini Yoga the Flow of Eternal Power,” by Shakti Parwha Kaur Khalsa. Her simple “back to basics” approach is well referenced and loaded with resources.
The book is comprehensive, easy to follow and well organized. Instructions range from beginners to more advanced levels. It covers Mantra, the breath, women’s teachings, and deep insights about the relationship to a Spiritual Teacher.
Shakti Parwha Kaur was Yogi Bhajan’s first student and taught the Saturday morning beginners yoga class for decades. A Master of the Path in her own right, her insights are priceless.
I had the pleasure of working directly under her in an office setting. Her clarity and devotion caused me to hold great respect for her.
This book is her first of three, and was written in 1998. It’s not just another yoga manual! It’s a wonderful guide for life, loaded with pictures, charts, recipes and practical instructions.
Got Energy?
We’re excited to review a Kundalini Yoga flipchart made by Gurutej. The easy to use flipbook includes Breath of Fire, Sitali Breath, Thymus Thump, plus 13 other life enhancing and stress reduction programs.
The exercises take no more than three minutes and can re-charge your day and improve your mental focus. Many of these exercises can be done in a work environment when necessary.
The above picture shows Breath of Fire. This Kundalini Yoga exercise is excellent for rejuvenating and energizing. The basic breath is combined with many other exercises in the science of Kundalini Yoga.
Spinal Flex, which can be done seated at a desk, takes one to two minutes to relieve lower back tension and enhance the flow of spinal fluid to the brain.
Gurutej has been a life-long student of Yogi Bhajan and Kundalini Yoga. Her intuitive insight give her a unique advantage. She has presented what we all need, the key to having more energy. You can contact this senior level instructor at The Energy Gurus or call 310.734.6776.
We would also suggest following a gluten free vegetarian diet for more energy and getting some great Vitamin D from the Sun.
Second 40 Days
My!
That actually went quick. Cold weather moves things right along.
So, I think Nabhi Kriya is good.
I don’t have a 6 pack.
I have lost weight…!
My digestion is awesome! I don’t find myself wanting to eat very late, because of rising so early. So, by the time I’m into the WC in the morning, everything is ready to leave the system. This is most unusual for this body.
I keep wanting to hold my navel in. I think this will become natural as time goes on.
Those muscles are learning a lot. Having a tendency to push my stomach out is probably from those questionable “Badge of Authority” days of earlier life, when a Man “needed” to display his “wealth”. Well, we jokingly called it, “Survival Food Storage”. Shoot! I can even do Plow Pose without choking on my “Badge”.
About the statement, “Kundalini Yoga, the Yoga of Awareness”…
2 weeks ago, I discovered, through the lovely messenger, pain, that I’ve been clenching my teeth during much of the yoga and meditation. I thought I was squeezing my jaws together. More like pushing my lower teeth forward into the backs of the uppers. My right jaw joint started to hurt like a fever. Hence, the discovery that even during chanting, the jaw can be clenched too. Stick the tongue in there and relax the jaw. How easily we mask our pains, eh?
So, I appear to be sleeping between 4-6 hr a night. Oh, I must caution, if you plan on a strenuous sadhana like this, you will find yourself sleeping at some odd times as your energy starts to shift. Some mornings feel like a complete nervous system blow out. I find myself crashed for up to 2 hours. This may be due to the convenience of some weekends…
Still, this is something else to add to the mix. Your nervous system will not rebuild in just 40 days. It will get a good start!
Lovely Laya Yoga.
Very interesting as the motion smooths and “mellows”. Yes…it will turn from mechanical and shrill and pumped wrong and eyes no where near the 3rd eye point and that neck lock just not responding…to…well, the shrillness gets under control.
The rhythm is much better. Even the action is smoother. The navel pull is still to the rear center. I can’t always tell if the other 2 chakras are keeping in line. The navel movement is really good to get that mind back to center.
Another little “key” for a moving meditation such as this one is to keep the fingers straight and the palms turned out. As soon as the palms lock in this “ideal” position, the elbows tend to straighten and are easier to lock. This helps bring that ribcage back up so it floats, instead of hangs. The movement tightens to more of a navel grind than a “big”grind. Feels really CORRECT. Um, that seems to last about 4 rounds.
Focus is still totally quantifiable. Easiest way to see if I’m focused is to see if my eyes are looking at the 3rd Eye or gazing over that vast Viewscreen just below, conversing with what/whomever is available. Nothing new here, though there is a definite distinction that certain thoughts come from “below” and when focused on the 3rd Eye for that scant moment of presence, the thoughts tend to be more “evaluative” of the meditative process than the recitation of the volumes of drama that come from that “below”.
No matter what, 31 minutes shows up and there is the matter of 3 breaths with Mulhbandh and Mahabandh.
That FIRST inhale and hold! We both tend to forget. Then, the held out exhale and Mahabandh. Seconds are eternity or sheer essence. Then we do it 2 more times. The quiet meditation right after is becoming very sweet (on weekends).
We’re off for a good Indian Meal. Need to give our new-found abdominals some nourishment!
Blessings.
~ SAT NAM ~
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