From Clueless to Tuned In
Using Yoga and Numerology for Positive Change

Monday, May 14, 2007

The style of yoga that I fell in love with three decades ago is called Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan. It is a rich tradition, full of wonderfully dynamic poses and exercises, enchantingly beautiful music, healthy life skills, like healing foods and hydrotherapy — a whole new world of empowerment and elevation that anyone can help themselves to.

Twenty years ago, I used one of these unique tools of Kundalini yoga to make a dramatic change in my life. The tool I used is called Yogic Numerology.

Kundalini Yoga’s method of numerology is based on the understanding that each of us contains not just one body (the physical), but energetically we are made up of ten bodies. Some — the electro-magnetic energy field (aura), for example — are bodies of light. Each of these bodies relates to a different number and chakra (energy center), and these numbers correspond with each person’s birthdates.

The best way to get a sense of how all this works is by me telling you my story. Twenty-something years ago, when I began studying yogic numerology, I realized that one of the numbers in my birthdate — the number 9 — was a key source of difficulty for me. It is my birth month (September). In the Yogic Numerology system, your birth month is in what is called the karma position. Karma is something that you are challenged by, because it is something you don’t understand, and are trying to learn in this lifetime.

The number 9’s “body” is called the subtle body. When your subtle body is working well, you can walk into a roomful of people and you just “know” what is going on. You find yourself in the right place at the right time. You get a feeling for the general atmosphere of the place you are in. Basically, you are not naïve — you are “in the know”. When your subtle body is working you know the art of communicating gracefully and clearly, even when you are saying something that is hard to take. As a result, your communication is well-received, and things work out for you.

As soon as I read about the subtle body, I realized that I didn’t have a clue how to be subtle. I would naively get myself into situations that got me into trouble — talked into buying something that I didn’t need, blurting out my opinion and offending others, focusing on the one small detail that was wrong when everything else was fine, and on and on… When I had something difficult to convey, I didn’t know how to do it without being blunt (I thought of it as “straightforward”). When people reacted in anger to my attempts at communication, I often felt wronged, misunderstood — a typical reaction for those of us with challenging 9s.

So at some point I realized that I wanted to change these old patterns. Luckily for me, there is a specific set of Kundalini yoga exercises that are for strengthening the subtle body. So I made a commitment to do this yoga set every day.

If you are not familiar with Kundalini yoga, it is good to know that besides postures that are contained in Hatha yoga, Kundalini yoga also contains sets of exercises and postures that are practiced in a given sequence and focus on specific effects. There are yoga sets for releasing inner anger, for adjusting the spine, for strengthening the aura — hundreds of them.

Another aspect of Kundalini yoga is that there are specific time periods to commit to in order to affect changes. The teachings say that you can do a meditation or a yoga set for 40 days to change an old habit, 90 days to confirm the new habit, 120 days to make it who you are, and 1000 days to fully master the new habit.

I decided to go for the big prize. I committed myself to practicing the yoga set for the subtle body for 1000 days. I can tell you first-hand that 1000 days is 2 1/2 years. After the first year, I knew that yoga routine so well I could do it in my sleep, and sometimes (like when it was late at night and I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t done my yoga set) I almost was doing it my sleep!

These 6 or 7 exercises mostly involve holding the body in positions of subtle angles, like leaning forward or back 30 degrees. The yoga set uses a mantra for mental focus, and has an element of turning the head side to side, which works on the thyroid and parathyroid as well as the throat chakra (related to truthful communication).

After some time I found myself in familiar situations, but with new ways of responding. These new ways seemed to come forth effortlessly, so much so that I barely noticed that anything was different. People began telling me that I seemed different, and I could tell they were happy about it!

Thus my life changed for the better, subtly and smoothly and without much thought or excitement. But if it wasn’t for the transformation of those two and a half years, I doubt that I would be the international traveler and teacher that I am today.

So out of gratitude for my own transformation, and the satisfaction that comes from sharing something really beautiful, I have come to teach others how to use this great self-help tool. You can get a taste of it on www.positivemind.com, and you can look at my site, www.shaktakaurkhalsa.com to see where the course is being offered.

Shakta Kaur

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Celebration

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Yesterday we celebrated the release of the new children's albums, Cozy and Happy. About 50 people, young and older, came to dance, sing and do yoga moves. We had the original musicians who play on the CDs and everyone was smiling, clapping, and meditating along with the Rockin' Yogis, Fly Like A Butterfly, and the New Age version of the Eensy Weensy Spider who...went up the water spout / to ask all the Universe what is life about? / The stars in the sky said that life is great / so the eensy weensy spider went home to meditate!

I cannot emphasize how important it is to give children materials and tools that speak to their playful nature while reaching into their inner being. For many years it has been my blessing to share what I've learned by offering RCYP course. Lately, my attention has turned to creating materials and tools for children. The Happy and Cozy CDs are the latest offering.

At the party yesterday, parents told me how they are using the CDs with the children. One mother said she was buying another set to meet the need for having them both in the house and car. Another father told me his 4 year old son listens to the song Brave and Bold every night before he goes to sleep. It was obvious that the boy knows what he needs, and he grounds that affirmation within him as he sleeps.

Within the next few months the Moving with Spirit workbook will become available, so teachers and parents will be able to easily use movement, dance and circle games accompanied by Cozy and Happy music.

Shakta Kaur

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Tuesday, January 23, 2007

This past weekend was a glorious exploration into the life of being a woman. My host, Nicole Bookman of Namaste Yoga in Asheville NC, suggested we hold a retreat in which we meditate early in the morning, have yogic foods and drinks throughout the day, and make the weekend as much of a true retreat as possible, leaving the center only to sleep at night.

It was a brilliant idea. I personally felt the room fill with so much love and shared commonality of womanhood by the time of our final circle. There were tears, lots of laughter, expressed tenderness, and strong demonstration of the  Shakti energy--the inherent power that is woman.

Some of the highlights of the weekend that seemed to bring powerful transformation were the heart-centered chanting meditations, the practical teachings to keep our breasts healthy, Deep Listening and insights that followed. These were insights revealing who we are and what we have to offer to another in the quiet space of accepting each other and ourselves as we are. And that is what the weekend was about.

Many asked that we make the women’s winter retreat an annual event. I think it is an idea whose time has come. I am grateful that I will be leading Women’s workshops in other cities around the world. There are quite a few coming up in the spring, an indication that it is time for women to reclaim our power, presence, and nurture ourselves and each other. As Yogi Bhajan has said: "One smile, one touch from a woman can heal the world."

Shakta Kaur

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Thursday, November 16

I’ve been collecting and writing songs for many years. Some of them showed up as I walked in the woods—a tune, a phrase that my Self told me. The tunes and phrases grew into songs. Most of these songs were not specifically meant for children, but their wisdom could be shared by young and old.

Some of the songs came to me during my years as a Montessori teacher in Baltimore MD. The first school I worked in there was Ms. Blanche, a Kodaly music teacher, who taught simple songs and accompanying rhythms. The children loved the songs and I did too. Sometimes I would change the words to the songs to make them more yogic or bring in more spiritual awareness. I did the same with many other songs that I picked up along the way. Seems I’ve always had one ear to the ground for a good song.

Some of these songs bear the wisdom of my teacher, Yogi Bhajan. He had such an amazing way of spontaneously coming out with great truths in simple language that spoke to the innocence in us all. I found it completely natural to share that with children. They “get it” with no need for cerebral involvement.

So there I was for 30 years, collecting and carrying around some wonderful music, some decidedly child-oriented, and others that speak to the universal spirit in us all. Yet decades went by with this project always somewhere in the nebulous future. At some point I became aware of what was stopping me from moving forward with it. It was musical insecurity. It was also clear that for the children’s sake, I had to get over myself, as they say.

The first insecurity I faced was that I was not a professionally trained singer. And yet, from the looks on the faces of children when I sang, I knew it had to be me singing these songs. I couldn’t hire a pro to sing no matter how good she was. Some years ago it dawned on me that I was born with a voice that was created for children’s music—whether gentle and soothing, or lively and playful. An example comes to mind of one of the Radiant Child Yoga training attendees who was a therapist for the Missouri School for the Blind. Her remarkable story of how the Fly Like A Butterfly song was the impetus for one mute child to begin speaking is recounted in the Teacher’s Sharing Page on this site.

So this past summer I gathered my courage, and moved forward. The second challenge was that I had 30 plus songs, mostly without any musical notation or chord progression. I have a discriminating ear for music, but do not read, write, or play any instruments, save the autoharp which plays chords at the push of a button!

The Universal Intelligence that runs things gave me the big thumbs up, though, when I was fortunate enough to meet just the right guitar players, Mark Slattery and Gurutrang Singh. They helped me to get the basic arrangements set down. They each offered wonderfully creative suggestions that enhanced the songs, and in some cases—totally made the difference between an ordinary song and an exceptional song. Add in Rob Sukol on bass guitar (how much depth and expression it adds!) and sweet or jazzy piano with Lydia Kriso, and we ended up with music that ROCKS!

So many others added their gifts to this project. One vital addition to this project has been Alima Clarke. I have full evidence that my intuition works because while I was teaching in Australia this past May, I really tuned into Alima (whose spiritual name is Dyal Kaur). She is now a Radiant Child Yoga trainer in Australia, along with several other amazing women. Knowing her natural, deep understanding of children, her spiritual gifts and musical talent, I invited her to come to the United States in September and sing with me. She not only sang (and thanks be—our voices merge beautifully), but she showed me another side of herself that I hadn’t seen. She was Organization Personified, creating charts for which songs needed what instruments, helping me set priorities on lists, lists, and more lists of things to be done. In the three short weeks she was here, she dedicated herself body and soul to this project.

We had an almost impossible timetable—31 songs (chords, arrangements, musicians, recordings) in about 2 months time. It was her first time in the USA, and I felt badly that she saw little more than my kitchen, office, and the recording studio. But she didn’t seem to mind. It was a magical three weeks, almost bursting with creativity, and surprisingly little need for sleep.

Getting over the dread and fear of singing in a recording studio was a milestone for me (and Alima too). Mercifully it was a separate small dark room--no one scrutinizing you from behind a glass window. Krishan Prakash proved to be the perfect production/audio engineer for me to work with. I personally learned so much from his ability to make each person feel at ease, and genuinely so. His calm, easy-going manner left no room for self-criticism to take hold. If a take didn’t sound as good as it could, he would just say, “Do you want to try that again?” No judgment, just kindness and cool. And to think that I babysat him when he was growing up….awesome!!

As you can probably tell, I am very jazzed about this project, and I hope you can tell I am extremely grateful for how it turned out. I know you will love these songs and your children will too. But be warned: These songs get stuck in your brain and you will find yourself humming them continuously, until your spouse or friends tell you to stop. Oh well, if that is the worse thing you have to deal with, consider yourself fortunate!

Shakta Kaur

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Friday, November 10, 2006

Why do I do this work? Why does it call me from above and from deep within my core? Because it is clear to me that the future of our lives and the balance of our planet rests with the youth, from the twenties on down to the infants, and those yet to come. I believe this—yes, but it is a gut feeling more than a belief. It comes from my whole self, not the head.

Something inside—a fire that burns upward from my solar plexus and chest—spontaneously ignites and fans into a blaze of passionate love and protection that moves out from within me to these young ones. I feel it for the young adults, the teens, young ones, toddlers, babies—still with their fresh eyes and hearts, and their simple and true understandings of the world and the way it works.

I want to protect that innocence, joy, that beginner’s mind and heart that bears such love and understanding. I want to protect it and learn from it so we can grow a new world, the one we have dreamed of—where we live in the reality that we are one people, one spirit in a myriad of diverse forms, living unfettered by the pushes and pulls of “grown up” living that distract from what is real and important.

This is what brings me the greatest joy—to be a champion for the child’s spirit, a guardian of their simple and profound perspective, a fierce warrior for their natural right to live in safety, innocence, and joy.

This is why I do this work. Through this effort, small as it may be on a world scale, I am blessed a billion times over every time I am in their company. Sometimes our meeting results in an outpouring of love and sometimes it is a lesson in staying present with something we both might want to run away from. But I find that as long as I let them in, these authentic humans that we call children have the capacity to keep me truthful. Just one look, one smile, or one simple sentence from them and I know I am in the right place.

Shakta Kaur

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