Abyhāsa

During the next two weeks our meditation practice will be centred around Sahasrāra (crown) c̣akra.

💜 Sahasrāra is a seventh c̣akra located at the crown of the head where the skull meets the spine.

💜 It is a place of union, oneness, and integration. It connects us to spirituality, the supreme consciousness, unity, and spiritual awakening.

💜 It cultivates sense of freedom, unity, lightness, and joy.

💜 It is called a Thousand-petalled”. Where each petal represents a different aspect of our being, such as emotions, thoughts, and actions. The complete opening of all the petals causes a universal balance of the body, mind, and spirit. It acts as a bridge between our physical selves and the spiritual world.

💜 Sahasrāra c̣akra is associated with the endocrine system, which includes the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and pineal gland in the brain. The pineal gland is responsible for producing and regulating the hormone melatonin which is linked to sleep and wake cycles. It is also responsible for regulating the body’s circadian rhythm, or internal clock. The pineal gland is believed to play an active role in spiritual experiences, helping us access higher states of consciousness.

💜 Sahasrāra c̣akra is represented by a thousand petal lotus flower. This c̣akra is associated with the element of “Consciousness” which is the highest level of awareness and ultraviolet colour, representing spirituality and enlightenment.

💜 The seed sound (Bīja) for the Sahasrāra c̣akra is Oṁ.

⚖ With balanced Sahasrāra C̣akra, one experience improved sleep patterns, mental balance, a positive outlook on life, a greater sense of purpose, visible changes in attitude, and emotions such as gratitude, compassion, and acceptance, one becomes their true Self.

🌪 When imbalanced, one can experience, a lack of purpose, confusion and indecisiveness, difficulty being open to other ideas, thoughts, or knowledge, dissociation from the body, feeling ungrounded, insomnia and fatigue.

Join our practice this week 👉🏽 https://shorturl.at/IK1wm

Sources:
- "Ayurveda, the Science of Self-Healing : - A Practical Guide" by Vasant Lad
- "Mudras for Awakening Your Energy Body" by Alison Denicola
- Arhanta Yoga
- Radical Darshan YTT

How can the Jñāna Mudrā support your meditation practice? 🌟✨

🔷 Jñāna Mudrā is one of the most recognised mudrā. Even if you have never practiced it, you’ve certainly seen it held somewhere at some point in your life or in movies. :) Jñāna translates to “wisdom” or “knowledge.”

Let’s start with the basics. Here’s how you can assume the mudrā:

- Physically or in your mind's eye place your hands on your thighs, knees, or anywhere that feels comfortable, with palms facing upwards
- Bring your index fingers and thumbs to touch on both hands, forming a circle
- Extend all remaining fingers
- Soften your shoulders

Here’s how the Jñāna Mudrā can support you:

🌿 It helps to balance the left and right sides of the brain, cultivating mental balance

🌿 Improves focus and concentration

🌿 Calms the mind

🌿 Brings clarity to thoughts and improves communication

🌿 Redirects the flow of prāṇa, helping to prevent the leak of panic energy

🌿 Awakens higher wisdom

✨ Give it a try!��Just like with any mudrā, if you are practicing physically, take a minute to warm up your wrists, fingers, and hands. Start with shorter durations and gradually increase the time.��

❗ Practice at your own risk; be cautious if you experience thyroid conditions.If you are pregnant, please consult with a doctor before engaging in any mudrā practice.

Sources:
- "Ayurveda, the Science of Self-Healing : - A Practical Guide" by Vasant Lad
- "Mudras for Awakening Your Energy Body" by Alison Denicola
- Siddhi Yoga
- Radical Darshan YTT

One more sitting position to explore for your meditation practice: 🧘🏽

✨ Come to a sitting position on any chair or sofa

✨ If you feel that you have the core strength to sit up without leaning against the back of the chair or sofa, then you are invited to sit slightly forward in the chair with your feet fat on the floor directly under or placed in front of your knees

✨ If your feet don’t easily reach the floor, you can use bricks, blocks, folded blankets, or anything else you have at home under your feet. Place them in a way that allows your knees to rest just below or be level with your hips, inviting your chin to be parallel to the floor

✨ Your arms can be placed on armrests, palms facing up or down, as long as they don’t elevate your shoulders, and allow them to rest comfortably

✨ Alternatively, your hands can be placed, palms facing up or down, on your lap or thighs

✨ If you need support to hold you up in a seated position, you are invited to sit back in the chair or couch. As you lean back, try to feel your spine lengthening upward

✨ If you feel that you might fall out of the chair or feel unsteady, you can bring your feet farther forward or place a strap around your waist and the back of the chair as a seatbelt

Sources

Heyman, J., 2019. Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body, Illustrated edition. ed.
Shambhala Publications Inc, Boulder.

Ājñā is the sixth c̣akra, located ten centimetres (four inches) behind the center of the eyebrows, corresponding to the spinal cord at the center of the brain.

💜 It is the place of wisdom, insight, and higher vision. It is the most prominent center of our consciousness, intuition, and perception.

💜 Ājñā c̣akra governs sight, senses, eyes, ears, nose, nervous system, hypothalamus, and the pituitary gland.

💜 It is the center of spiritual sight, holding the power to connect us with our intuition, heighten our perception, and illuminate our destined path in life. It is believed to be the seat of the soul and the gateway to higher consciousness.

💜 Ājñā c̣akra is associated with the pituitary gland, the "master gland." Located at the base of the brain, below the hypothalamus, it is responsible for producing and releasing hormones that regulate various body functions such as growth, metabolism, reproduction, water balance, and blood pressure.

While the two physical eyes see the past and the present, the third eye reveals insight into the future. It establishes a connection with the external world through inner vision, and focusing on this energy center motivates us to move beyond worldly desires and distractions.

💜 Ājñā c̣akra is associated with the element “Avyakata,” meaning “cannot be described because it is without a form." Some also associate light with this element. Light represents clarity, understanding, and spiritual insight. It is represented by the indigo color, which symbolizes intuition, insight, and spiritual awareness.

💜 It is represented by two indigo lotus petals and a downward triangle. The two petals represent the dualities of your ego, such as your likes and dislikes, and the lotus flower represents your inner consciousness and its ability to surpass these dualities.

💜 The seed sound (Bīja) for the Ājñā c̣akra is Oṁ.

⚖ With a balanced Ājñā c̣akra, one can experience improved physical health due to optimal hormone production and release, enhanced intuition, greater mental clarity and focus, emotional well-being, increased creativity, greater self-awareness, a deeper spiritual connection, and reduced anxiety and stress.

🌪 When imbalanced, one can experience a lack of clarity and focus, anxiety and depression, disconnection from one’s intuition, and difficulty accessing creativity or imagination.

Join our practice this week 👉🏽 https://shorturl.at/IK1wm

Sources:

- "Ayurveda, the Science of Self-Healing : - A Practical Guide" by Vasant Lad

- "Mudras for Awakening Your Energy Body" by Alison Denicola

- Arhanta Yoga

- Radical Darshan YTT

How can the Kālī mudrā support you in releasing obstacles and aligning with your true nature?🌟✨

🔸Kālī is the deity of death, destruction, and creation. Kālī represents the energy of transformation, the power of change, and impermanence. This deity symbolizes the destruction of forces that no longer serve us so that we can create possibilities for new things to arise. Kālī embodies the hidden power within all of us and the courage to confront and overcome any difficulties that come our way.

Let’s start with the basics. Here’s how you can assume the mudrā:

- Bring your hands together in front of the center of your heart.
- Interlace your fingers with the right thumb over the left thumb.
- Extend your index fingers upward, allowing their pads to fully touch.
- When working with the Viśuddha c̣akra, you may point the extended index fingers towards the center of your throat.

Here’s how the Kālī mudrā can support you:

🌿 It helps to let go of stress, anxiety, difficult feelings, and emotions. As Divyansh Sharma expressed, Kālī mudrā can help “to destroy the darkness that you experience within your mind and illuminate a brighter light. You feel more active and less burdened. So, if your mind has a bad habit of keeping negative thoughts within itself, this mudrā will help you get rid of all such thoughts.”

When we shed what no longer serves us, we create space to become aligned with our true nature!

🌿 It helps to clear our internal organs and systems and release muscular tension in the shoulders, neck, and the center of the throat.

🌿 It increases the energy flow within our bodies by energising the thyroid gland and metabolism

🌿 Kālī mudrā cultivates a sense of inner strength, courage, and empowerment, especially in challenging situations

✨ Give it a try!

Just like with any mudrā, if you are practicing physically, take a minute to warm up your wrists, fingers, and hands. Start with shorter durations and gradually increase the time.

❗ Practice at your own risk; be cautious if you experience thyroid conditions.If you are pregnant, please consult with a doctor before engaging in any mudrā practice.

Sources:
"Mudras for Awakening Your Energy Body" by Alison Denicola
"Siddhu Yoga"

💙 In the current political, social, and economic climate, it can be very difficult to feel positive about ourselves, the state of the world, and people in general.

💙 It is natural for strong emotions such as anger and hatred to arise in response. Anger can be a powerful force that drives profound change, but it can also become destructive. When unchecked, it can intoxicate our minds and bodies, turning into a harmful force.

💙 As we navigate through a world marked by oppression, discrimination, capitalism, and injustice, one of the greatest radical gifts we can give ourselves is the cultivation of compassion, kindness, and love within our hearts and minds.

💙 By doing so, we can transform our anger into a source of strength rather than a force of destruction. Practicing love and kindness meditation, also known as metta, is a beautiful way to cultivate unconditional kindness.

💙 As Ruth King said "We all have ways of protecting ourselves from racial harm. We may strike out, walk out, numb out, depending on the situation. Yet underneath all of our actions, despite appearances, is a shared and deep desire for kindness - to both offer it and receive it. We all wish to be able to stand in the center of racial ignorance and distress without parking our hearts at the door."

"Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out" by

Here's another sitting position you can explore for your meditation practice 🧘🏽:

✨ Stack blocks, bricks, bolster or anything equivalent on the
floor, carpet, or another surface

✨ Come onto your knees. Straddle the stack of blocks, bricks, or bolster, then
sit back on them towards your heels. You may place a blanket under your legs with your toes coming off the edge of the blanket

✨ Ground your sitting bones and lengthen your spine. Move your shoulders back and away from the ears

✨ Allow your chin to level with the floor and soften your face and shoulders

Enjoy your practice 💙

During the next two weeks, our meditation practice will be centered around Viśuddha (throat) c̣akra.

💙 Viśuddha is the fifth c̣akra located at the base of the throat, at the center of the larynx.

💙 It is the place of clear expression, clearing, and expansion.

It relates to the ability to speak, listen, and express oneself as a higher form of communication.

💙 Viśuddha c̣akra governs our throat, neck, endocrine system, and thyroid.

It is translated as “especially clear.”

💙 It signifies the clearing process of our thoughts, words, and actions, enabling us to embrace our true selves and communicate with clarity, honesty, and compassion.

💙 Viśuddha c̣akra it regulates metabolism, growth, and development. It also influences energy levels, body temperature, and overall well-being.

💙 Viśuddha c̣akra is associated with the element of space and a sky blue color.

💙 It is represented by a 16-petal sky blue lotus, a downward triangle, and a circle.

💙 The seed sound (Bīja) for the Viśuddha c̣akra is Haṁ.

⚖ With a balanced Viśuddha c̣akra, one can express oneself freely and with confidence, think creatively, communicate without fear, and be empowered to be genuine and honest in interactions with others, expressing authentic thoughts and feelings.

🌪 When imbalanced, one can find it difficult to speak their mind, be imaginative, and connect on a deeper level. One can experience amplified fear of judgment, criticism, or rejection. This fear can manifest as self-doubt, anxiety, or a constant need for external validation.

Join our practice this week 👉🏽 https://shorturl.at/IK1wm

Sources:

- "Ayurveda, the Science of Self-Healing : - A Practical Guide" by Vasant Lad

- "Mudras for Awakening Your Energy Body" by Alison Denicola

- Arhanta Yoga

- Radical Darshan YTT

How can the Vajrapradama mudrā support you in times when you feel lost, doubtful, confused, questioning yourself, hopeless, and lacking self-love? 🌟✨

🔸Vajrapradama mudrā is known as the mudrā of unshakable trust and self-confidence. Before exploring its qualities, let's start with the basics. Here’s how you can assume this mudrā:

- Bring your hands together in front of the center of your heart, either physically or in your mind's eye.

- Interlace your fingers, with the pinky fingers at the bottom, in a way that feels comfortable.

- Allow your palms to face towards your heart.

- Extend your thumbs and index fingers upward, allowing the tips of the index fingers to touch.

🌿 Vajrapradama mudrā helps cultivate enthusiasm and carries energizing qualities. It supports the respiratory system and assists in releasing tightness in the chest, ribs, and back (DeNicola).

🌿 This mudrā enhances confidence, inner strength, and self-trust. "It releases reasons that cause mistrust. With more trust in yourself comes more confidence. With more confidence, you perform better in your life" (Siddhi Yoga). As Siddhi Yoga shares, it also enhances the flow of breath, releases feelings of hopelessness, and removes insecurities from the mind.

This week, we've been practicing this mudrā during our meditation sessions. However, you can practice this or any other mudrā anywhere and anytime.

✨ Give it a try!

Just like with any mudrā, if you are practicing physically, take a minute to warm up your wrists, fingers, and hands. Start with shorter durations and gradually increase the time.

❗ Practice at your own risk; if you are pregnant, please consult with a doctor before engaging in any mudrā practice.

Sources:

"Mudras for Awakening Your Energy Body" by Alison Denicola

"Siddhu Yoga"

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