Glandular Activation

Welcome to Kundalini Rising on Yoga Anytime. I'm Karolini. Today we will be focusing on activating glands in the brain to help relieve a depressive perspective, right? Kind of lift us out of some of those depressive funks that we find ourselves in from time to time. So I look forward to you participating in this journey with me. Let's bring our hands together at the heart center, rubbing the palms together vigorously activating 72,000 energy channels. And we tune in with our sacred invocational mantra, Aung Namo Guru Dev Namo. We chant this mantra three times through. It translates to, I bow to the divine teacher within. We're calling on that highest aspect of ourselves to step forward and guide us through the practice. Let's bring the thumbs into the sternum, shoulders are down away from the ears, root lock engages and eyes draw up to third eye center. Let's take a deep breath in through the nose to begin Aung Namo. Guru Dev Namo. Aung Namo. Aung Namo. Guru Dev Namo. Aung Namo. Aung Namo. Guru Dev Namo. Take a deep inhale through the nose, suspend the breath and exhale release. Welcome everybody. Thank you for joining me today. Today's set impacts our neurochemistry in a very positive way, lifting us out of some of these depressive tendencies or some of these kind of lower moods we may find ourselves in right when we can activate certain glands in the brain, we can create a neurochemistry that lifts us up and brings us into an elevated experience, right? Without drugs, just with yoga. So let's start with our warmups. Hands come on the shins. Let's start inhaling, rolling forward, exhaling, rolling back and Sufi circles. Doesn't matter how you start, you can go counterclockwise, you can begin clockwise and just feel your way through the opening up the central channel of the spine. Feeling the shoulders move, feeling the neck move, inhaling and exhaling.

These spinal warmups are a very important part of the practice. It primes our energy channels to begin the practice. Let's take four more in this direction. Inhale, hold center and reverse the direction. Deepening the breath. Let's go for four, three, two, and one. Inhale, hold center and let's lift through the spine. Exhale, round and tuck the tail. Opening the chest, opening the space between the shoulder blades, eyes are at third eye center, directing the flow of energy. Four, three, two, and one. Inhale, lift high through the crown of the head. And exhale, release. Blinking the eyes open, hands come onto the shoulders, shoulders are down away from the ears, elbows are widespread. Inhale, twist left, exhale, twist right. Think of yourself as priming the spirit, priming the soul, priming the energy channels as you move here. And distributing pranic life force energy throughout the whole body. Let's take four, three, two, and one. Inhale, hold center and let's lift those arms up to the sky and start sweeping through the auric field, charging energy in the palms, reaching through the fingers. Inhale and exhale. Feeling this beautiful lateral flexion in the spine, opening up through the intercostal muscles of the ribs, charging the energy around the heart and the auric field itself. Let's take four, three, two, and last time. Inhale, reach both arms nice and high. Exhale, hinge and bow forward and let's come on to tabletop. Hands are under the shoulders, knees are under the hips. And I'm going to take a modified cow here, which involves the movement of both of my legs. I'm going to exhale, tuck my nose to my knee. Inhale, lift my left leg behind me. Let's go for ten off each side. Here we go. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Hold the extension on the ten. Take a nice inhale and exhale, release. Let's do the same thing on the other side. Start in that tucking position. Inhale, lift one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and hold the extension on the ten. Take a nice inhale and exhale. Let's come back seated, cross leg position. Alright, now today's set as I mentioned is a powerful set to activate glands in the brain. So what's really important today is that you pay a great deal of focus on your third eye space. So our eyes are going to be closed and we employ what's called a drishti, which is an eye focus, drawing those eyes right up to the space between the eyebrows. And this pressure, this activation serves to stimulate glands in the brain. So does chanting mantra, right? We have all these meridian points on the roof of the mouth that when we hit those meridian points repetitively when we chant it activates glands in the brain. So everything we do in Kundalini Yoga has a very powerful scientific purpose and benefit. Now today we're going to start with breath of fire and our breath of fire we're going to do both through the nose and through the mouth today. And it's worth just reminding you what's involved with breath of fire. It's a rhythmic pumping of the diaphragm. I'm going to take a deep inhale through my nose. Okay, that's how we do it through the nose. We're going to do it through the mouth today as well. Since we're going to be doing a lot of breath of fire, it's worth mentioning that if you are pregnant or on the first three days of your menstruation, it may be worth your while to slow the breath down into a longer, deeper breath. Breath of fire tends to activate what we call our eponic energy, our releasing energy. And so when you're pregnant, you don't necessarily want to mess around with that eponic energy. And when you're menstruating, your eponic energy is already in full effect. All right, let's begin with our first part of this creoset. I'm going to take my pinky finger and put it right on the space between my eyebrows right at the top of the bridge of my nose. And then I'm going to line the rest of my fingers up through the center of my forehead. Thumb extends to the sky. My right arm extends out with the palm facing down. I have my shoulders down away from my ears. My chin is gently tucked to my chest. Eyes are strong at the third eye center and you're pressing those fingers up around that line of that third eye space. Let's begin a breath of fire through the nose. Eyes and third eye. Here we go. Now go at a pace that works for you. My pace may be a little too rapid. Feel free to slow it down, something that's a little bit more sustainable perhaps. Keeping that third eye focused, pressing those fingers to the center of the forehead. Stay with me. Stay in it. Sometimes it takes a little, a little discomfort to move into a transition of a new experience.

Stay strong. 30 more seconds. Now take a deep inhale. Suspend the breath, root lock, third eye. Keep the posture, exhale. Again inhale. Exhale. Last time in through the nose. Root lock, third eye, suspend without anxiety. Be a container for the breath. And exhale, release the hands gently, palms face up on the knees. And take a few long deep breaths. Gyan mudra, index finger and thumb join. Maybe you're already noticing a shifting in your perspective, in your awareness, a feeling of lightness. Gently blink the eyes open. Let's move on to the second part of this Kriya. My arms are extended in front of my chest and I can have a gentle bend in my elbows. It's kind of like I'm opening myself up to receive. My palms are slightly cupped and I'm going to tip my head back gently just so you have a little bit of a bend in the back of the neck. Eyes are drawn up to third eye center and we begin a breath of fire through the mouth, through an open mouth. Tongue is relaxed. Here we go. Keep that belly pumping, releasing grief from the lungs. Going at a pace that works for you. The Stay in and move through a little discomfort here. 30 more seconds, pumping that belly with breath of fire.

30 more seconds, pumping that belly with breath of fire. Exhale through the nose. Suspend the breath, root lock, third eye, keep the posture. And exhale, release. Chin is to the chest, release the hands down on the knees, ghee on mudra.

Take a few cleansing breaths, maybe noticing a smile easily comes to your face. It only takes a few minutes for this technology to really take hold and create powerful changes in your experience, and gently open the eyes. Now the last part of this kriya involves what's called an antar kumbhaka, which is a complicated way of saying we're going to be holding our breath on the inhale. So an antar kumbhaka, holding the breath on the inhale, can sometimes raise your blood pressure. So if you already have high blood pressure, maybe consider not holding the breath or holding it for a little less time than you otherwise might, if high blood pressure is a concern for you.

All right, so we're going to take the arms out to the side with the elbows bent. I'm going to take a nice full inhale, and you can see all my fingers are joined together. My hands are in a nice kind of sleek posture. I'm going to take a full inhale through the nose. I'm going to suspend that breath, and as I hold the breath, I'm going to rapidly cross my arms, alternating in front of my chest on the held breath.

And you're going to hold the breath until it feels just a little bit uncomfortable. And then you're going to exhale and release, come back into that beginning posture. So it's going to look like this. All right. We're going to do that time and time again for a few minutes, all right?

Take a deep breath in through the nose, and remember what I said about that held breath and blood pressure. Take a deep inhale. Eyes at third eye. Here we go. All right.

Ahh. Ahh. Ahh. Ahh. Ahh.

Ahh. Ahh. Ahh. Ahh. Let's go for four more.

Ahh. Last two. Last one. Hold those arms open wide, inhale. Suspend the breath, root lock, third eye.

And exhale, release. Hands in Gyan mudra. Take some cleansing breaths. Bear witness to some of the shifts that take place. That last part of the Kriya not only changes some of the glandular secretions in the brain, but it also affects that electromagnetic field around the heart and around the brain.

We have this beautiful field around the body. We call it the auric field. And anything that holds a charge, science tells us, emits a field. Every single one of our cells is holding a charge, and thus everything around us is emitting a field in our physical body. And we can change the energy of that field.

We can strengthen and expand that field. All right, I'd like you to come gently laying down onto your back. Feet and thighs turn out naturally. Palms face up next to the hips. Shoulders are down away from the ears.

Kriya softens, tongue relaxes in the mouth, ears fall back, eyes sink back, and have a gentle awareness at the crown of your head. Breathing. Breathing. Breathing. Breathing.

Breathing. Breathing. Breathing. Breathing. Breathing.

Breathing. Gently wiggling your fingers and your toes. Draw your knees into your chest, wrapping your forearms around your shins and rock from side to side. Rolling onto one side into fetal position. While you're down there, take a full breath in through the nose.

Inside out through the mouth. Using the top hand, depress yourself up seated. Cross-like position. Hands come to the heart center and let's tune out with the long-time sun. May the long-time sun shine upon you.

All love surround you, and the pure light within you guide your way on. And three powerful Sat-Nams declaring truth is our identity. Let's take a deep breath to begin. May the long-time sun shine upon you. All love surround you, and the pure light within you guide your way on.

Guide your way on. Guide your way on. Sat-Nam Sat-Nam Take a deep breath in through the nose. Bringing folded hands to third eye center. Blessing that you'll be guided by intuition and have the wisdom and courage to follow it.

Exhale bowing forward. Sat-Nam. Namaste. Rising up. Thank you so much everyone. Sat-Nam.