Recommending The Sadhana Experience

by Love Mariposa

I am Love Mariposa.  I am an intern on the Resource Committee, which is planning to periodically release community newsletters.  I am sharing my perspective on how being a regular participant in Sadhana at Guru Nanak Dwara Ashram has affected my life.

“Sadhana means a practice of self-discipline that allows one to express the Infinite within one’s self.  It is a time each day to notice the patterns that lead away from higher consciousness and to transcend those patterns.” (The Aquarian Teacher, KRI International Teacher Training in Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan)

Sadhana can be done alone. However, when practiced with others in the ambrosial hours (before sunrise) it develops group consciousness.  Although everyone may have a different vibration at the start of Sadhana, the energy created merges into a group aura.

“This auric transformation aids the practitioner in making the step beyond ego-centeredness.”

(The Aquarian Teacher KRI International Teacher Training in Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan)

“Getting up in the morning to do your sadhana does not mean you will become God.  No, getting up in the morning, you will become you!!” Yogi Bhajan 6.27.93

I started attending Sadhana at Guru Nanak Dwara Ashram in May 2014.  I am grateful to a friend who invited me during a transitional time of my life - I had just been released from my job.  Sadhana was nothing like I expected. I imagined the Ashram filled with Yogis who have been doing Kundalini Yoga for many years. I thought participants had to stay the entire time from the beginning to the very end. In reality, there is a different leader each day of the week, usually there is several participants, however the amount varies. People come and go as they please. Sunday seems to draw a different turnout due to its later start and live-music meditations.

I prefer to do Sadhana at the Ashram rather than at home alone for several reasons.  One, it takes self-discipline and commitment to get up and get ready to be at the Ashram at 3:40am.  Two, I find it beneficial to have a teacher guide me through a kriya (yoga set), especially one I’ve never experienced before.  Three, doing Sadhana in the vibration of the Ashram and the group energy is motivating, powerful, and harmonious.

The results of attending Sadhana regularly have been tremendous! The self-discipline and commitment I’ve developed have rippled out into different areas of my life. I have experienced an expansion of consciousness. I continue to meet many beautiful souls in the community, and people tell me I have a genuine radiance which, of course, is not available in a makeup bottle. Also I have had the honor of leading Sadhana which was initially extremely healing and continues to be a beautiful blessing. 

“When a person gets up in the morning and does the Sadhana, you know what accompanies that person? All the angels, all saints and sages come to listen. Their souls fly to those places to listen where God is chanted.” Yogi Bhajan 10.4.77

Sadhana is scheduled from 3:40-6:15am Monday through Saturday, 4:30-6:40am on Sundays, and begins with the recitation of Japji (20-minute prayer), then a half-hour or so of Kundalini Yoga, and 62 minutes of the Aquarian Mantra Meditations. At 5:45 daily (except Sundays), a short gurdwara service (kirtan, prayers, daily blessing) completes the program.

Please contact me, Love Mariposa, with any questions, feedback or suggestions for future newsletter topics at love3mariposa@gmail.com  Thank you! 

In Love & Gratitude,

Miss Love ♥ Mariposa

Live Sadhana on Sunday

"Your body is the temple of God, and your soul is the Divine Guru within. So, you get up in the morning, meditate, chant the mantras, do the exercises, call on your spirit, regulate the breath, and you get together in group consciousness. In that way you help each other. Group consciousness in morning sadhana is to help each other. If I am trying to sleep, another is not sleeping. If, in this whole group, one person opens up to God just once, we will all be blessed in his openness. That is what matters. If one has walked into sadhana with heart and soul in a prayerful mind, we will all benefit. That is the power of the group sadhana." - Yogi Bhajan 

Starting this Sunday, March 23, 2014, 3HO AZ will be sponsoring Live Sadhana on Sunday!

Location: Ashram Building at 2302 N. 9^th St.   1 block east of  Yoga Phoenix.

Begins at 4:30am with Japji, then yoga set around 4:50am and chanting around 5:35am. Afterwards we will hold a short community Gurdwara service. 

This Sunday (3/23/14), Livtar Singh will lead the live chanting. 

Livtar Singh will lead the chanting on Sunday, March 23, 2014

The group energy is exponential & supports growth and clearing for all,  5 attend -- energy of 25, 10 attend – energy of 100, etc.

Come join us for Sadhana, celebrate life, be part of community, and immerse yourself in the sacred energy!  

Morning Sadhana

by Soul Singh 

 

Morning sadhana is made up of three of the most potent elements in the planet - the early morning hours, kundalini yoga and chanting, and lastly, group consciousness.  Let's take them one by one.

 

1 THE EARLY MORNING HOURS

The early morning hours, 3 - 6am, are different from any other time of the day. You don't need to exert yourself to enter into spiritual territory. You already there! The potency of those hours spiritually   are many, many times that of the rest of the day. Yogi Bhajan talks about the angle of the earth to the sun. That's beyond my pay grade. All I know is that of all the magnificent teachings that  he has brought to us, morning sadhana, for me has been the best.

2 Kundalini Yoga and Chanting

Kundalini yoga you're already sold on. So, let's move on to the last feature.

3 Group Consciousness!

The Aquarian Era is the Age of Group Consciousness. In the Piscean Era you could go up into the mountains(the yogis), go down to the river(Sidhartha) and truly be so alone with yourself that you could liberate yourself. That is not the blueprint for this Era. 

When we come together in the early morning hours, we do a few things simultaneously. One, is we multiply the effect of our practice. Yogi Bhajan used to say that when  three people are meditating together, it is not 1 plus 1 plus 1. It  is 3x - three times the power! The other aspect is a thing of consciousness. In group practice, we have to merge with the group energy. That is a great lesson for the first thing of your day - Be part of the  group magnetic field, with all its challenges and with all its benefits.

If have you any questions or concerns about morning sadhana, please give me a call 602 253-2584. We'd love to have you a part of this unique institution that Yogi Bhajan created for the benefit of humanity. 

Soul Singh

You can join our daily sadhana at: 

2302 N. 9^th St, Phoenix AZ 85006
Monday - Saturday: 3:40-6:15am
Sundays, sleep in a bit! 4:30-6:40am 

It is free and takes place everyday throughout the whole year! 

Celebrating Yogi Bhajan's Birthday

Yogi Bhajan left his physical body in 2004, but to many of us he is always inside our hearts, guiding and inspiring us. Every year on Yogi Bhajan's birthday, we get together for a special morning sadhana. We chant  2 1/2 hours of Long Ek Ong Kar (Morning Call Chant) to honor Yogi Bhajan, who has done so much for all of us.
Please join us on Monday, August 26, 2013, in celebrating Yogi Bhajan's birthday and to vibrate the Cosmos. 

The following are the details for Monday's morning sadhana: 

Time: 2:40am

Location: 2302 N 9^th St, Phoenix AZ 85006

Sadhana Schedule^:

            2:40   Jap-ji                                      Gurukirn Kaur

            3:00   Guru Ram Das Chant            Guru Gian Singh

            3:12   Yoga Warm up Exercises       Adi Singh Khalsa

            3:30   2 ½  hour Morning Call Chanting Schedule:

                        3:30  Adi Singh 

                        4:00  Guru Gian Singh

                        4:30  Hari Simran Kaur

                        5:00  Dev Suroop Singh 

                        5:30  Mandeep Kaur

            6:00   Gurdwara

            6:30    Potluck Breakfast..   Yogi Tea will be provided by Yoga Phoenix      

Lastly, here is a video of Krishna Kaur explaining how to chant Long Ek Ong Kar.

 

The Crocodile and the Priest: A Story About Sadhana

Today I found this wonderful story about Sadhana for children from SikhNet. I think both children and adults will enjoy it. Most of all, it totally brings home the concept of Sadhana, and the reason why Sadhana is important to us all. 

Visit SikhNet, and enjoy the story!

Live Sadhana, July 13, 2013

Live Sadhana ~ this Saturday ~ July 13

At the Ashram

2302 N 9^th Street

(PLEASE WATCH YOUR STEP as you carefully go around the construction fencing to the usual 9^th Street entrance)

3:40am Japji ~ Poetic and uplifting sound current of Guru Nanak’s  pre-dawn prayer (Please wear a head-cover)

4:00 Yoga to Elevate Your Day ~ with Adi Singh

4:35 Live-Music Meditations ~ with Rajbir Singh! (Read more below*)

5:45 Gurdwara Service ~ (Please wear a head-cover)

 

PLUS… Come one, come all – Kundalini Yoga Teachers and Longtime students:

6:45-7:45 Blissfully and carefully wander over to 2308 N. Richland for a Patio Potluck Breakfast

7:45-9:00 All-Teachers semi-annual meeting - Meditation, Sharing, Gong

Also Same Day:  Chakra workshop with Adi Singh, 6 hrs $60, with breaks and snacks.

*New Teacher Training Graduate, Rajbir Singh, will render his first (of many, we hope) presentation of live-music sadhana meditations.

More about Rajbir Singh -- 

Rajbir Singh's goal is to consciously breathe, dance and sing with the song of creation, the vibration of every piece of the universe seen and unseen ~ humbly combining the instruments of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan, with guitar and voice. He is elated to have been given access to the profundity of learning and living Kundalini Yoga, and with devotion teaches to continue and expand the ecstasy of discovering the manifestation of the cosmos hidden within.                        

~Level 1 Kundalini Yoga certified                              ~Reiki I & II certified