Anxiety to Zen
find me here!
  • Home
  • Bio
  • Workshops & Sessions
  • Blog
  • Contact Me

Kundalini Meditation for Emotional Balance and Less Stress 

4/30/2014

0 Comments

 
I wanted to share this kundalini meditation with you to help settle nerves, restore emotional balance and release a little stress.  It's super easy to do and the fact that its beginner friendly makes it a definite keeper for your stress less tool kit!

This meditation focuses on posture, breath and chanting. In kundalini, it's really important to focus on the details of the practice.  Each one is specifically designed to have the most impact it can, so try to practice this exactly as it's suggested. 

Start in a sitting position, in lotus or simply with legs crossed.  You can also do this in a chair (nice to keep in mind if you're stressed at the office or on a long flight!) 

Sit up tall with your spine straight and your chin slightly tucked. Rest your hands, palms up, on your knees. Close your eyes and focus your attention to your third eye center (the space between your eyebrows)

Now you can start the practice:

Chant: 
"SA" while touching your thumbs and index fingers together
"TA" while touching your thumbs and middle fingers together
"NA" while touching your thumbs and ring fingers together
"MA" while touching your thumbs and pinky fingers together

Everytime you chant one of those words, you press your thumb and corresponding finger together on each hand at the same time.  

Once you get the hang of touching your fingers and thumbs together with the syllables, you can begin to visualize the sounds moving from the crown of your head through your third eye space.  


Repeat this chant/practice for 2 minutes. Then whisper the chant and continue touching your fingers along with your whisper for another 2 minutes. Then repeat the chant silently while touching your fingers for 3 minutes. Then bring it back to the whisper chant for 2 minutes and finish with the full chant for a final 2 minutes. Complete the chanting at 11 minutes. 

Once completed, take an inhale and raise your arms overhead.  Shake them out!  This is important for moving and releasing your energy. Exhale and relax for a bit.  
If you're going though an especially challenging and stressful time, practice this 11 minute version everyday.  You can work up to 31 minutes if needed.  

a few things to note

This is considered one of the most important meditations in kundalini yoga and if you only do one, this should be it. so take your time and focus on the practice.

always visualize the energy moving from the crown of your head and out through your third eye center with each syllable.  this is important!  you don't want that energy to become stuck. 

practice for a minimum of 11 minutes.  

what do the syllables actually mean?
SA: the beginning, the infinity, the totality of everything that ever was and will be
TA: life, existence and creativity that manifests from infinity
NA: change and transformation of consciousness
MA: rebirth and regeneration

Ready to try it?

Get comfortable. Close your eyes.  And chant along with this music to help you get started! 
sat nam


xo, b 
0 Comments

Morning musings

4/15/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture

Thoughts during my morning meditation.

Rainy day musings.

Sat nam 🙏

xo, b

0 Comments

holistically hot: Acupuncture

4/11/2014

0 Comments

 
A couple of weeks ago I went in for my very first acupuncture treatment!


Since I didn't know what to expect, I went in with an open mind... and a ton of questions!  My acupuncturist, Tom, was more than generous with sharing his knowledge and I geeked out over everything acupuncture can offer.  I wanted to share my experiences with you and give you some background on this holistically hot healing practice.


When I first entered the mindfulness spa I immediately became relaxed and a bit nervous. I was filled with anticipation. The setting inside though was super peaceful and full of books, brochures and other materials that offered a lot of info on acupunture and theraputic message.  When Tom came out to sit with me he explained the process of acupuncture and began to list a myriad of things people can treat with this practice.  He was super tuned into my energy and right away picked up on some of my nerves.  He offered to run an analysis, called an Acugraph, that would chart out my balances and imbalances and see if I had any energetic blocks.  He explained that the findings would help him plot out the actual acupuncture spots on my body when it came time for my session.  It was a painless process in which he used a little electronic sensor on different meridian points on my hands and feet. 


here are two of my charts:
Picture
Picture
Ok, let's just check this out for a second.  Tom was able to read from my energy, before he even looked at this chart, that I seemed predisposed to anxiety, stress and worry. Then I saw it for myself right in black and white. My PC, pericardium meridian, was high. You can see that the PC influences your blood, heart, mental and emotional states. An imbalance here can cause depression, anxiety, irritability and restlessness. I had way too much energy here!

Here are some more charts of my readings:
Picture
In addition to excess enery in my PC meridian, I was also high in the small intestine meridian and that influences mental clarity with making decisions. 

Picture
I had split energy in my spleen and liver meridians.  Imbalances here create obsessive feelings, over-thinking, worrying and frustration depression and anger, respectively. 

Lastly, I was high in my kidney meridian and low in stomach meridian. 

After this reading, I had my session and we focused on these specific energy centers to balance them out and bust through blockages.  I left feeling pretty amazing!  I'm excited to go for my next treatment.  Tom told me it takes a few sessions to open up those blocks and imbalances. I'm down- let's do it!  

So if you were ever curious about acupuncture, there's a little background.  I don't know if every office offers that graph reading, but most acupuncturists will ask you about your health, background and intentions for the session to determine how to proceed. I loved knowing exactly why he placed a needle where he did, I enjoyed understanding how these points internally connect and influence my mental wellbeing and overall health.  I definitely believe our bodies and minds are connected. You know that saying "worry yourself sick?" Well, I believe there's total truth to that.  And if our minds can influence how our bodies feel, why can't the reverse be true? I'm eager to see after a few more sessions how my chart looks and how I feel once I'm balanced out on the inside! 

Have you ever tried acupuncture?  Have you wanted to?  Would love to hear your experiences. 


sat nam xo, b
0 Comments

a month for meditating 

4/2/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture

OM shanti y'all!

I spent the month of march focusing on meditation. i journaled a lot.  i created a new vision board (on pinterest!).  i refocused.  and after all of this time spent moving inward, i feel like i am more than ready to move outward with my intentions and goals!  it's kind of cool that this external awakening happened alongside the blossoming of spring.  stars in alignment and all that... love when that happens!

every now and again i come back to this practice.  i shut everything else off and just focus on my feelings and experiences.  through my meditation i allow myself to be open to all possibilities. i let this be a time for stillness and through that stillness i listen.  

some takeaways for me this time around:

-have goals with soul
this is an expression i learned while reading 'the desire map' by danielle laporte.  i am in love with this concept. anyone that knows me, knows i love to set goals! but it wasn't until i read this book that i realized a lot of my goals are focused on external stimuli and how i think they'll make me feel. i've since re-worked many of my goals to be intentions and created each one based on my basic, intrinsic desires. man, they feel good!

-one small step 
each day i look at my basic desired feelings and try to do one small thing to bring me in that direction. the things i do each day are more driven by how i want to feel, rather than what i think i need to do.

-service
i am seeking more ways to be of service. whether volunteering, subbing a class for someone or lending an ear i'm dedicated to being helpful. karma yoga is a form of practice too and it's one i'd like to connect with more deeply. 

-accomplish one thing that scares the shit outta me this year
back in 2011 i set a goal to run a half marathon.  a little background on me- i'm not a runner.  in fact, if you looked up 'runner' in the dictionary, i'd be listed under antonyms. i set this goal to scare myself. i set it to prove something to myself. anyway, 6 weeks before the race i fell ill and my training was impacted significantly. i still did the half marathon.  i finished it, but i was unable to actually run the whole thing.  i walked a lot more than i wanted to and always had this nagging desire to try it again and really give it my all! mentally i quit this half marathon half-way through.  i don't know if another half is the goal i'll set - with the desired feeling of accomplishment being why i set it! - but i'm craving something to get me uncomfortable and out of my comfort zone. 

i loved focusing on how i want to feel during these meditations. i get caught up a lot in the 'shoulds' of life. i tend to overthink... a lot.  that leads to me running on autopilot and settling in cruise control. it was pretty powerful to just come back to the nuts and bolts of what i want and why i want it. 

here are some of my core desired feelings that i connected with through my meditations:

independence/strength/love/loyalty/companionship/
spiritually awakened/present/FREE/adventurous/accomplished/mentally stimulated/guided

these are just a few of the things my meditations brought into my awareness.  i'm going to continue focusing on operating from my desired feelings and trust the path in front of me.  
have you ever thought about what your core desires are?  

sat nam
xo,b 


0 Comments
    Picture

    Author

    I'm a formerly anxious chick that found my zen on the mat. I used yoga, pranayama and yogic philosophies to alleviate my debilitating anxiety and get my life back on track. Now, I spend my time teaching yoga, coaching others and helping people find a more peaceful path in life. 

    * The opinions expressed on this blog are solely my own and what personally worked for me. Always consult a physician before starting any new yoga or workout routine. 

    Archives

    August 2016
    July 2016
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Acupuncture
    Anxiety To Zen
    Asana
    Diet
    Eft
    Gratitude
    Kundalini
    Mantra
    Meditation Monday
    Meditations
    Mindfulness
    Pranayama
    Releasing Fear
    Santosha
    Stress
    Stress Relief Techniques
    Workshops
    Yoga
    Yoga Faqs
    Yogic Philosophy

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.