Kundalini Yoga - Quiz 2

corresp. area of body: hhlam, nettm, 3pb, cp, em
tattva (element): air, ether
color: green, blue, indigo, violet, white
related to sense of: touch, hearing
talent: kindness/compassion, truth, intuition, boundlessness, protection & projection ktibp
shadow: fear, denial, confusion/depression, fear death/separation/isolation, absorb negativity/sponge/insecure feeling
fdcds

Qualities of foods: RST

• Sattvic: pure essence (fruits, vegetables, sun foods and ground foods); good for living quiet contemplative life
• Rajasic: energy to accomplish, achieve or create; good if you want to maintain a meditative mind but must live or work in the world (stimulating herbs and spices, earth foods)
• Tamasic: regressive property of inertia and decay, indulgence, laziness (meat, fish, poultry, eggs, alcohol, intoxicating drugs); this kind of food is best avoided
• Diet of sattvic foods with some rajasic foods is best (need some rajasic food to do Kundalini yoga)

Yoga Diet is one the 5 Principles of Yoga.

In the unmanifested universe, energy has 3 qualities:

1. Gunas, that exist together in equilibrium
2. Sattva (purity); Rajas (activity, passion, the process of change)
3. Tamas (darkness, inertia).

Once energy takes form, one quality of the three predominates. Thus on an apple tree, some fruits are ripe (sattvic), some are ripening (rajastic) and some are overripe (tamastic). But no matter what quality prevails, an element of each of the other two will always be present as well - parts of the apple will be in all the different stages. The Three Gunas encompass all existence, all actions.

Sattvic Food

• purest diet
• most suitable one for any serious student of Yoga.
• nourishes body and maintains it in a peaceful state.
• calms and purifies the mind, enabling it to function at its maximum potential.
• leads to true health; a peaceful mind in control of a fit body, with a balanced flow of energy b/t them.

Sattvic foods include:

• cereals
• wholemeal bread
• fresh fruit and vegetables
• pure fruit juices
• milk
• butter and cheese
• legumes
• nuts
• seeds
• sprouted seeds
• honey and herb teas

Rajastic Food

• very hot, bitter, sour, dry or salty food
• destroys mind-body equilibrium, feeding body at the expense of the mind
• too much Rajastic food will over-stimulate the body and excite the passions, making the mind restless and uncontrollable
• eating in a hurry is also considered rajastic

Rajastic foods include:

• hot substances, such as sharp spices or strong herbs
• stimulants such as coffee and teas
• fish
• eggs
• salt and chocolate

Tamastic Food

• A Tamastic Diet benefits neither the mind nor the body.
• Prana, or energy is withdrawn, powers of reasoning become clouded and a sense of inertia sets in.
• Body's resistance to disease is destroyed and mind filled with dark emotions, such as anger and greed.
• Overeating is also considered tamastic.

Tamastic food includes:

• meat
• alchohol
• tobacco
• onions
• garlic
• fermented foods such as vinegar
• stale overripe substances

The 5 stages of spiritual development are really the stages of wisdom that come as you move through your spiritual practice. Saram Pad (the novice) – When you are introduced to a spiritual path. You may be called to do, learn or explore something new. It is the honeymoon phase when we are happy and everything seems fresh and new. Karam Pad (the apprentice) – The daily practice you are to do on the spiritual path. It is all about the action, doing, and practice. It is a time of redefinition and development and experience. Aligning with deeper practice. We work on ourselves. Rub up against discomfort. Each piece is assigned by a mentor. Shakti Pad (the craftsman or practitioner) – This is where you confront your ego. You experience wonderful things and work through neurosis or head into hard to bare realms. This is where you either decide to keep going, stay at an apprentice level, or quite altogether. This is where you choose to follow your own desires or the higher values of the path you are studying. Sahej Pad (the expert) – You become infinite and aligned with your destiny. You are in flow. It is a stage of ease, balance, and grace when everything fits together. The expert learns by teaching. Sat Pad (the master) – Gone through the process of purification. Living a life of service. When the observer dissolves. There is no separation…just transcendence.

~A daily spiritual practice; a self-discipline that allows one to express the infinite within oneself. Discipline of mind/body to serve the soul.

~ discipline mastery of the universe

~In the early morning hours the angle of the sun to the earth is good for meditation - calling your soul home - there is much prana in these hours and body rhythms are more set to support physical cleansing

~why is practice of sadhana essesntial to a kundalini yoga teacher? to maintain and improve his/her radiance and impact have to have a daily discipline to keep inspiring others

~benefits of group sadhana - creates harmony and balance; develops group consciousness; if one person opens up to god, the whole beneftis; one person balances another, creates a group aura

• Three types of food:
  • Sun foods: grow more than 3 feet above ground; absorb maximum energy from sun and the least from earth; they elevate consciousness and have a quickening, lightening effect on body and nervous system (fruits, nuts, avocados, dates, coconuts)
  • Ground foods: grow within 3 feet of ground; have more energy from the earth, less from sun and are high in nutrients and are a great cleanser (beans, rice, breads, green vegetables)
  • Earth foods: grow below ground; have great energy from earth, and sun indirectly; have healing properties and great energy for business/hard work (potatoes, turnips, beets, garlic, ginger, onions)

• Guidelines for healthful digestion and elimination:
  • Eat to live, don’t live to eat
  • Avoid snacking b/t meals
  • Eat only when hungry
  • Chew well
  • Stop eating when you are ¾ full
  • Rest after every meal
  • Don’t eat after sunset
  • Eat only what you can eliminate within 24 hours
  • Once a week, give your digestive system a rest
  • If you can’t digest it and eliminate it, don’t eat it

• What about eating meat?
  • Yogi Bhajan: “Vegetarians don’t eat anything that had a mother”
  • Meats are concentrated animal protein; when animal dies its proteins begin to break down and decay, releasing toxins
  • When you eat meat, it can’t be completely broken down in upper digestive tract so process of decay and toxin release continues in colon (autoputrefaction)
  • Toxins can be absorbed by liver in beginning, but then it can’t handle them so body becomes polluted
  • Vegetable proteins don’t do this; this residue is cellulose
  • Meat produces acid; leaves uric acid in blood; this can lead to cancer; uric acid also is a toxin that makes it harder to reach higher meditative state
  • Meat is also one of greatest sources of cholesterol, contributes to heart disease (animals are fed chemicals and proteins)
  • Meat takes 3 days to pass thru human system
  • For optimum health, men need to digest food within 18 hours (women 12 hours)

• Guidelines for preparing food:
  • Prepare food with love and care
  • Eat only in a pleasant, relaxing setting
  • Serve food gracefully
  • Take a minute to reflect upon your gratitude for the gift of food
  • Take the time to eat consciously

Garlic - antibacterial
Ginger - nurtures nervous system and digestive sys
Onion - purifies blood

Ten bodies Physical body = Densest body made of the earth elements
Positive Mind = Finds the possibility
Soul Body = Your timeless divine light that travels through the
lifetimes
Neutral Mind = Perceptive window of truth
Radiant Body = Non-local body - radiance beyond time and place
Aura = 3-9 feet body that encompasses and protects your
radiance
Pranic Body = energy body
Subtle Body = Body that holds the soul and your sensitivity
Negative Mind = makes protective assessments
Arc Line = your destiny is written in this body


ppsn raps na

Aspects of the mind:
negative mind
positive mind
neutral mind
chitta
ahangkar
atman
buddhi
Manas
Samskaras -projects sees the danger
-sees opportunity , possibility takes risks
-meditative mind
-the universal mind
-the ego sense
-the essential Self, pure consciousness
-discriminates reality, perceives reality
-receives impressions from the senses, records
-tendencies in the subconscious and unconscious mind

Buddhi part of mind (reflects sattva guna) – perceives reality, assesses neutrally, makes judgments from perspective of infinite identity

• • Chitta is divided into 3 major functions reflecting 3 gunas
  • Buddhi part of mind (reflects sattva guna) – perceives reality, assesses neutrally, makes judgments from perspective of infinite identity
  • Ahangkar part of mind (reflects rajas guna)—gives sense of ego, boundary
  • Manas (reflects tamas) – stores images, sounds, feelings and smells of all senses and their combinations and includes subconscious reactions