Meditation During Revolution: Inner Conflict Resolver Reflex

The week grind on. Everyone that I know is stressed. Talk of revolution and politics cut into every conversation. As the rush of revolution adrenalin subsides, we are left sorting through a deluge of information.

Stories. Replay. Analysis. Videos. Tweets. Facebook. 
What to believe? Who to believe? Rumours run Rampant!

Years ago, long before Twitter and Facebook, I remember Yogi Bhajan telling us of the coming Age of Aquarius. He warned us that we would be overwhelmed with information. All secrets would be revealed. All lies exposed. Everyone would know everything about everyone. I sit here once again after another wave of millions of people came together outside my front doorstep. I not only hear my teacher's words, but experience his vision. 

The flood of "news" is overwhelming. Media hyped stories with points of view jabbed in from every angle: images challenge images; words reversed; words spewed.
Writers and commenters confuse us with propaganda, changing media strategies, and retelling of events ad nauseam. We take sides. We push. We pull. We argue. We agree. We judge. We stalemate.  

The cacophony holds us in confusion. Emotions get stuck in deadlock.
Maybe you find yourself in anxiety. Maybe you find yourself in hopelessness. Maybe you find yourself fear. Maybe you find yourself in euphoria.

Our inner conflicts block our ability to think and act clearly. We want to find the Truth, but we don't know how to navigate through the depths of information. 

I say, take a break.
Turn off your television. Log out of your internet. 
Take a seat. Pause. Take your breath. 

When you depend on your mind to discern what is true, it will lead you to duality. Our minds are not equipped to handle the flood of information coming at us. The mind is expert in volleying back and forth with arguments for and against. 

When your breath pattern changes it disturbs your prana, your life force. This disturbance puts us into an inner conflict. Our energy gets scattered. Rather than being centered, the energy moves distressed through our being. We are are unable to determine our own course of action. We are unable to discern our Truth. 

Inner Conflict Resolver Reflex 

This meditation resolves many conflicts and is an automatic reflex for survival. The effect is certain, gradual, and simple.

Kundalini Yoga Meditation: Inner Conflict Resolver Reflex

Inner Conflict Resolver Reflex

POSTURE: Sit in an Easy Pose, with a light jalandhar bandh.

EYES: Close the eyes 9/10ths of the way.

MUDRA: Place the hands over the chest, with the palms on the torso at the level of the breasts. The fingers point toward each other across the chest.

BREATH: The key to this meditation is attention to the breath. Inhale deeply and completely for 5 seconds. Exhale completely for 5 seconds. Hold the breath out for15 seconds, by suspending the chest motion as you pull in the Navel Point and abdomen.

TIME: Begin with 11 minutes. Build up to 31 or 62 minutes.

TO END: Inhale deeply and stretch the arms up over the head. Relax the breath and shake the arms and hands for 15-30 seconds. Relax.

~~~~~~~~~~~

This breath pattern holds the breath out three times as long as it is held in. So, the body senses a lack of prana in vital areas of functioning and asks how it can quickly and optimally reorganize itself to respond to this survival threat. The fibers of the Pranic Body extend and re-channel the prana to form a new pattern filled with clarity and action potential. 

Your built-in computer can calculate your total resources and the level of challenge, then design a strategy to prepare and use the mind and body effectively.
Be honest with the breath timing, and the meditation will be honest with you.  

- Yogi Bhajan

~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Meditation during Revolution: Meditation for a Calm Heart

The last few nights have been challenging to keep a focused mind and focused breath. Military helicopters flying overhead. The energy pulsing from Tahrir. Constant checking Twitter to find out where gun fire is coming from. I can't settle into sleep. Nervous. Anxious.
 During the day, we can see the people in the streets. At night, we can only hear gun fire and shouting. A battle is being waged, but I don't want my fear to play into the scene. I am in the middle of this war zone. But, I chose to be calm for those that are not calm.
Rather then fret, I practiced a meditation that I frequently teach in class. I practice it when I find it hard to be calm and find center.

Meditation for a Calm Heart 

POSTURE: Sit in an Easy Pose, with a light jalandhar bandh. 

EYES: Either close the eyes or look straight ahead with the eyes 1/10th open.

MUDRA: Place the left hand on the center of the chest at the Heart Center. The palm is flat against the chest, and the fingers are parallel to the ground, pointing to the right. 

With the right hand, make Gyan Mudra (touch the tip of the index (Jupiter) finger with the tip of the thumb). Raise the right hand up to the right side as if giving a pledge. The palm faces forward, the three fingers not in Gyan Mudra point up. 

The elbow is relaxed near the side with the forearm perpendicular to the ground. 

BREATH: Concentrate on the flow of the breath. Regulate each bit of the breath consciously.
Inhale slowly and deeply through both nostrils.
Then suspend the breath in and raise the chest. Retain it as long as possible.
Then exhale smoothly, gradually, and completely. When the breath is totally out, lock the breath out for as long as possible. 

TIME: Continue this pattern of long, deep breathing for 3-31 minutes.
To End: Inhale and exhale strongly 3 times. Relax.

When you hold the breath in or out for "as long as possible," you should not gasp or be under strain when you let the breath move again.

Social Workout Yoga Revolution Rocks

Yoga Journal's 21 Day Yoga Challenge Final Results for Yoga Revolution: Cairo's Rockin' Yogis


 Yoga Revolution: team members were from Breathing Room Studio in Maadi
We placed 24 out of 128 teams!

Yoga Revolution in Yoga Journal's 21 Day Yoga Challenge

Rank 15 is my Individual placement out 6397 people participating on Social Workout. I practiced every day. It was actually eye opening to me of how slack I had become in my daily practice. Participating in such an event and recording my daily practice online made me much more aware of my practice. What's this 192 percent? Because many of the days, I would meditate 31 minutes with Kirtan Kriya.

Darla Hueske Yoga Journal's 21 Day Yoga Challenge

This was such an amazing challenge. Yoga Journal provided wonderful videos for each day's practice. Also, a nice vegetarian recipe and words of encouragement.
It was a great way to kick-start 2012.

Related posts:
1) Social Workout Spotlight Features Yoga in Cairo
2) team Yoga Revolution takes on 21 Day Yoga Challenge
3) 21-Day Challenge - Yoga Journal

Social Workout Spotlight Features Yoga in Cairo

Here is an interview that was part of

Social Workout FEATURE

Challenge Spotlight: Our Yogi in Cairo

Oliver R. posted to Yoga Journal 21 Day Yoga Challenge

When we launched the Yoga Journal 21-Day Challenge, we figured we’d allow for the creation of teams. We knew some yoga studios might want to join the challenge as groups, but we had no idea that we’d end up with 128 teams (with so many wonderful team names!) from all over. We were certainly not expecting a yoga teacher living a few minutes from Tahrir Square in Cairo to set up team Yoga Revolution. Naturally, we were curious, and we struck up an email exchange, plying our yogi with questions. What came back was the following beautiful tale of one woman’s unlikely path from pumping iron in Phoenix, AZ to teaching yoga and meditation in Cairo, Egypt. Introducing Darla H. of team Yoga Revolution...

I started practicing yoga in 1993. I was living in Phoenix, and I was a buff body builder and hot-shot extreme mountain climber. My friend told me, hey Miss Fit, I’ve got a class that will kick your ass. He took me to a kundalini yoga class taught by a skinny little man. By the end of the class, my ass was officially whooped, and so began my practice of yoga. I studied many styles, but in 2000, found myself at the feet of Yogi Bhajan in Espanola, New Mexico. I lived in the Espanola ashram from 2000 to 2007. All in all, I had ten years of the ashram life, and I am now in recovery. Smile. But that's another story. 

I’ve been living in Cairo since 2007. Following yogic traditions, I rise before dawn to practice yoga and meditation. I also teach yoga across the city, holding classes in studios and private homes. Yoga is becoming very popular in Egypt. I know of four studios that have opened since I moved here. I started teaching here in 2008 at a Middle East modeling school and agency. Oddly enough, very few of the students were models. 

It often seems like I have just as many men as women attending my classes, but probably the ratio is more like two to one, with more women. My husband is Egyptian, so his friends have introduced me to places that are suitable to teach yoga. Most of the students who attend my classes are Egyptian nationals, but it’s also very international. For instance, in one class, there was a young woman with punked out hair from Iraq, a man from Beirut, a 72-year-old man from Italy, two women from France, as well as several from Egypt.
As I learn Arabic, I try to instruct in Arabic. Sometimes it can be very funny if I mis-pronounce a word. Many of the women in my classes are veiled. Many of the Muslims, men or women, who attend my classes tell me that the meditation practice has intensified their prayers, as Muslims pray five times a day. 

About two years ago, I began teaching at a yoga studio in an expat area of Cairo. Most of the students who attend the studio are western expats. (Shout out to the Breathing Room in Maadi and my fellow Yoga Revolution my team members!) 

There are certain perceptions about life here after the revolution. My friends in the States think that when there is violence, we are all caught up in the street fighting . For sure, when we went through the Arab Spring in January, the entire country was gripped by the news. Everyone stayed home. We were all in shock and had no idea what would happen. As this year progressed, the protests continued, becoming violent at times, but the city kept moving and breathing. We carry on to our jobs and shopping. We deal with crazy traffic from rerouted streets. 

In November, my friend wrote to me in panic when protests turned violent. He wanted to know if I was in Tahrir and if I was okay. “Yes. I’m just fine,” I wrote back. “I wasn’t in Tahrir because I was a few streets over buying fabric for my curtains." (Not to be flippant, but it's not like we have our twitter feeds running constantly to get posted on what's happening in the streets.)

There was no yoga in Tahrir Square. I was in Tahrir during and after the revolution, so I guess I brought the spirit of a yogi. But the environment was not conducive to any kind of yoga or meditation. Even though my husband is Egyptian, I am a westerner, so I am merely an onlooker to the revolution. I live about half kilometer from Tahrir, so we walk there. 

Things have certainly changed over this last year. The one year anniversary is in 11 days. Many of my friends are the intellectuals and revolutionaries of the revolution. I’ve created yogic warrior workshops that I will be starting in Cairo and at the Red Sea. I had always wanted to do such workshops, but was very timid to start. I think going through a national political revolution, I’ve cast aside all shyness and realize the time to start is now. My message is the revolution inward. Time will tell. We’re only on the first revolution.

Go to story on Social Workout.

team Yoga Revolution takes on 21 Day Yoga Challenge

It's Day 2 of Yoga Journal's "21 Day Yoga Challenge." Team Yoga Revolution on SocialWorkout.com is holding at #2 spot.

It's not too late to join our team. Team Yoga Revolution: The inward revolution to balance and peace. If you're practicing yoga in Egypt and the Middle East, then join team Yoga Revolution.

What's the challenge?

21-Day daily practice of 15 minutes of meditation, 1 yoga practice and 1 vegetarian meal.

Step 1: sign up at Yoga Journal:
Beginner: http://www.yogajournal.com/21daychallenge/beginner
Intermediate: http://www.yogajournal.com/21daychallenge/intermediate
Each track includes a daily video, weekly meditations, and daily newsletters with practice tips and recipes.

Step 2: sign up at www.SocialWorkout.com and join our Middle East yoga team.
On Social workout the link to the Challenge http://socialworkout.com/challenge/showRunning/18210
Here is the link to team Yoga Revolution http://socialworkout.com/team/show/299

You can click the "Join" button and it will direct you to a sign up page. From there, enter your information and you're all done.

Step 3: Do the challenge! After you signed up at Social Workout, you log your daily activity and it gets recorded into our team efforts. It's a fun way to stay motivated, set goals and track your progress.

A short meditation break every day can make a huge difference in your life. As the wise man said, if you don't have time for 15 minutes, you need an hour. Your goal: just 15 minutes, once a day. Count it!




 ! yallabina !

21-Day Challenge - Yoga Journal

Oh admit it, habits and routines get boring. We all need a little jump start to get us going again. I found this fun challenge from Yoga Journal online.

It is a great way to introduce yourself into a healthy routine. And on those days when your struggling to keep up, you can tap into a network of support, like me, for instance.

To make things interesting, I created team Yoga Revolution on SocialWorkout.com. I invite all yogis practicing in Egypt and the middle east to join the team and join the Yoga Journal 21-day challange. Follow the link from the Yoga Journal link and sign up! Then follow the link to www.SocialWorkout.com to link to team Yoga Revolution on the Social Workout.

Check it out. 21-Day Challenge - Yoga Journal