Dreaming of Birthdays and Sugarplum Faeries...

Lying under the piano and relaxing as a child, I listened to Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugarplum Faeries" from The Nutcracker Suite, which is sampled in Sat Kartar's version of the Laya Yoga mantra. I love it! It is so soothing. Looping this track 3 times gives me the 31 minutes I need to practice it. I tried this meditation months ago, and many, many obstacles came up to prevent me from completing it. I did not succeed. It was too hard then. We'll see what happens this time. These words are powerful, and like the practice of Morning Sadhana, which is shaky for me, they work on the ego.

The passage below from "The Aquarian Teacher", from which my previous quotes were taken, really stood out to me as a concise explanation of what chanting of any mantra does:

"The greatest challenge is the practitioner's own subconscious. The mind is not trained to base itself in it's relationship to the Infinite. It is based in ego. It is filled with reactive thoughts that try to maintain the attachments of the ego and try to avoid pain. When you repeat the patterns of sound and thought in a Shabd, thos thoughts counter the direction and intensity of the habitual thoughts. The Shabd provokes a release of the stored subconscious patterns of thinking and feeling. If, under the torrential flood of subconscious feelings and thoughts, you persist in repeating the pattern of the Shabd Guru, then the new pattern establishes itself. Your mind clears, and you awaken dormant inner capacities or enhance existing ones." (p. 71)

This has been my experience with chanting mantra since I began with Sanskrit mantra in 2005. It is a powerful practice, that has wrought deep changes in my life. It soothes the savage beast within me, the one that Bound Lotus and other practices are dredging up to be healed. Sometimes I feel a little like Tolkein's Golem, still afraid to trust, but this mantra soothes me.

Underneath the flood, I feel the calmness of the ocean floor, and then momentarily rise above the surface. I love this meditation! I feel like a thousand buzzing bees around a lotus blossom! What an awesome day and and awesome way to have a 43rd birthday! Sat Inder Singh Khalsa's class began my day, I got a free lunch, a cupcake, a chocolate chip cookie and a smile...then my energy waned from the high mold count, and this lovely meditation left me vibrating intensely! Then I had dinner with my fabulous father, and now I am finally home to do Bound Lotus before bed. What a wonderful and beautiful birthday with all the kind wishes from friends on the phone, through e-mail, in person and on facebook!

AWAKENING INTUITION

The science of Naad Yoga is thousands of years old. It is the science of creating essence or rasaa, juice. This 'juice' is the neurotransmission fluid of the brain, the chemical liquids which the brain secretes to transmit messages. The practice of Laya Yoga uses the universal sound current, the Naad, to transform consciousness. Specific sounds and words as mantras "which awaken perception and intuition, are the mantras of Laya Yoga.

There are audible sounds as well as subtle sounds. The audible ashtang mantra of Laya Yoga is this:

Ek Ong Kar Sat Naam Siri Wahe Guru

There is a special way to chant it involving the three key elements to enhance the connection to the sound:

RHYTHM: chanting in a precise rhythm of 8 beats.

PROJECTION: giving energy to the words by projecting from the heart, which balances the higher and lower realms of the universe and psyche. This is done actually by vibrating the mantra with the tip of the tongue against the hard palate, and speaking from the central channel~ the sushmuna ~while vibrating from the Navel Point. The push of energy from the navel causes the words to move into the anahat~ the area of the heart.

PRONUNCIATION:
Ek Ong Kaar -(UH)
Saa Taa Naa Maa -(UH)
Siree Whaa -(UH) Hay Gu-Roo

On 'Ek' the navel is drawn back to the spine. On each 'UH' the diaphragm is lifted up. The 'UH' sound is created through the movement of the diaphragm, not so much as a projection. The navel and abdomen are relaxed on 'Hay Guroo'.

The sound is created also through the inner projection, or visualization, of a spiral in a "3-1/2 cycle rhythm". While chanting, the sound is seen as spiraling up around the spinal cord in a clockwise fashion. This begins at the base of the spine and ends by spiraling into the Cosmos out from the top of the head. With each repetition of the mantra, it begins again.

You are also not to listen to negative or coarse speech from others during the time in which this mantra is practiced. Being mindful of your own choice of words as well creates the environment within which you may increase your creativity.

"This extraordinary Laya Yoga chant brings the soul and destiny present. It suspends you above conflicts attracted by success and the activity of the Positive Mind. It lets your activity serve your purpose. It makes you creative and focused on your real priorities and helps you sacrifice what is needed to accomplish them."

This is to be done for 31 minutes a day for 40-120 days.

I am choosing to begin with 40 days, and using Sat Kartar Kaur's version of the Laya Yoga chant on her CD: "Listen". This version has a riff from Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite: Dance of the Sugarplum Faeries", which my sister and I loved to fall asleep to as children.

I will be doing this practice alongside my ongoing practice of 1'000 Days of Bound Lotus and 1'000 days of Releasing Fear meditation begun last year. This new, 40 day practice of Laya Yoga is part of my KRI Teacher Training homework assignment. It is a practice I have wanted to do for a long time. After finishing a 90-day practice of Maha Shakti mantra yesterday, on the 26th, and three 90-day mantra practices today (i.e., Dharti Hai, the Mangala Charn, and Jai Tegang for 9, 7 and 7 minutes a day respectively), I now have the time and energy to begin this new 40 day practice. It feels a bit daunting, but I am excited!

I feel blessed to have the opportunity to practice this 'technology of elevation' within the supportive environment of a community of seekers and Sikhs. Wahe Guru Ji Kar Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ke Fateh.