DAILY PRACTICE, THE FOUNDATIONS
Meditation is referred to as Daily Practice in the Course and is the foundation of both The Course and my personal practice. As a Kundalini Yoga Teacher for almost a decade and a Teacher Trainer, I can not express in words how deeply profound these practices have been in my life. I have tried many different modalities and my Daily Practice is the core, my rock.
Meditation in Kundalini Yoga contains specific, practical tools that carefully and precisely support the mind and guide the body through the use of breath, mantra, mudra, and focus. The range and variety of meditation techniques in the Kundalini Yoga tradition is truly extraordinary. There are hundreds of meditations tailored to specific applications, meditations that reduce stress, work on addictions, increase vitality, clear chakras, for wealth and prosperity, radiance and beauty just to name a few. While there exist many, many styles and approaches to meditation, what sets this approach to meditation apart is its precision, effectiveness, and practicality. It is a technology that adds many layers to a single practice helping further distract the mind and bring about a sense of clarity while strengthening the nervous system. All these aspects and many more help to build resilience in the body and the mind and so is the reason it is a requirement for The Course.⠀
Think of meditation as the vehicle that helps support the eradication of negative thoughts and behaviours. It helps reprogram the subconscious and align you with your innate wisdom while you concentrate on feeling what is happening in the now.
Truth is known only through diving deep within one self and Daily Practice welcomes the clarity in one’s mind that is necessary to discover the true essence of self and to then navigate life from that truth. This is why throughout the course I encourage women to create sacred space in which to complete their daily practice. Daily practice becomes the foundation, the exercise that tests your ability and willingness to show up for yourself everyday.
A question I often get asked is when should I meditate? And only you can answer that question. Before beginning any new practice, I ask women to take inventory of their day: in many cases there are things that are constant, routine, and required, time tables that cannot be moved. Observe those and begin to recognize areas in your day where you can take time for you.
There is no correct time to meditate although I often recommend completing your daily practice in the mornings, before you begin your day, before everyone else in your home wakes up. Completing your Daily Practice in the morning helps set the tone for your day: you begin the day in reverence, honouring you. However, if mornings are too rushed, then evenings, afternoons, work breaks… any time of day that suits you best is equally valid and you will benefit from the same results and momentum within. The secret is consistency and when creating a sacred space through ritual, I recommend showing up every day at a chosen time to build consistency and momentum with valuing yourself.
The purpose of ritual is to wake up the old mind in us, to put it to work. The old ones inside us, the collective unconscious, the many lives, the different eternal parts, the senses and parts of the brain that have been ignored… Through ritual, we allow these to surface in their own time and create a sacred and safe container within ourselves to observe our feelings.
In The Course, we begin by implementing a Daily Practice into our lives as a form of ritual. The meditations are practised for 40 days and there are new meditations every 40 days to strengthen and build on the monthly theme that we are working with. Daily Practice and Ritual is as multi-layered as we are and my hope is for you to experience the unique transformational power of consistent practice and to create a relationship in which you become the observer of your thoughts, clear the subconscious baggage, and begin to experience the various moments in your life with greater clarity.