Balancing Mental Extremes

Hello. Welcome to Kundalini Rising on Yoga Anytime. My name is Carol Looney. Today we will be working with the three aspects of mind. We have a negative mind, a positive mind, and a neutral mind. And all three of these aspects of mind serve to benefit us when they are in balance and harmony with each other. Our negative mind serves as our risk analyst, that part of ourselves that determines what is risky and what is dangerous and says no to things that may be harmful to us. Our positive mind is our benefit analysis analyst, and that is the part of our minds that says, yes, I think this is exciting. Yes, I believe that this will benefit me. Yes, let's move forward. And then we have the neutral mind, which serves as a balancer between the polarities of the positive and the negative mind, bringing us into a balanced state of understanding.

We're going to bring all three aspects of mind into balance today. So we'll be able to make proper decisions with the negative and the positive mind and be able to move easily into that space of balance of the neutral mind. Okay, let's rub our hands together, stimulate 72,000 energy channels, we call these nadis. And they move throughout our whole body, beginning the navel center and ending in the hands and the feet. So when we charge the hands or charge the soles of the feet together, we're activating all 72,000 energy meridians in the body. Let's bring the thumbs into the sternum and tune in with our sacred invocational mantra, ongnamo, gurudevnamo. I bow to the divine teacher within. We're calling on that high self to step forward and guide us through our practice and lead us through our day. Let's take a deep breath into the nose to begin. Om namo gurudevnamo Om namo gurudevnamo Om namo gurudevnamo Take a deep inhale through the nose, suspend the breath, root lock, third eye, and exhale, release, gently blink the eyes open.

Before we get into our three part kriya that impacts the three aspects of mind, let's start with our spinal warmups to get the energy channels and get the body ready for this powerful practice for the mind. Hands are on the shins, eyes drawn up to third eye center, and let's roll in Sufi circles, inhaling forward, exhaling back, deep breathing in through both nostrils. It's said that a nasal breath is superior to the mouth breath when we're working with energy and we're working with the mind. It's because we have two very powerful energy channels running through both nostrils. Our masculine energy channel runs through the right nostril all the way down through the base of the spine and our feminine energy channel runs through the left nostril all the way down to the base of the spine. Both men and women have these masculine and feminine energy channels and as we breathe through the nostrils nice and evenly, we start to balance out those qualities within our being. Let's take four more Sufi circles in this direction. And inhale, hold center and reverse the direction. Let's take four, three, two, and one. Inhale, spinal flex, forward to inhale, exhale, round tuck the tail. Four, three, two, and one. Inhale, lift high through the crown of the head. Suspend the breath and release. Hands come onto the shoulders. Inhale, twist left. Exhale, twist right. Stay grounded through the hips, eyes at third eye center. Nice and lifted through the chest. And let's draw that energy upward through the heart chakra and up to the third eye center. Four, three, two, and one. Inhale, reach the arms high. Exhale, bow forward at the hips and come on to tabletop. Hands are under shoulders. Knees are under the hips and we begin a powerful cat cow. Inhale, chin and tail rise. Exhale, round tuck and dome. Here we go. Four, three, two, and one. Inhale, chin and tail rise. Suspend the breath. Exhale, round tuck and dome. Come back to neutral spine and please come back to a seated position with the legs extended into straddle. Nice long spine lifted through the chest. If you find yourself kind of dumping through the back and the spine, feel free to put something under your hips like a pillow or a blanket. Feet can be flexed or toes can be pointed. Either way, I'd like you to have the legs nicely engaged in the quads and the hamstrings and the calves. All right, so pick whether you like flex or point. Let's take the arms up overhead. Inhale, exhale, bow to the left. Feel free to bend the knees if that's helpful. Exhale, bow to the right. Inhale, lift. Exhale, bow. Eyes are closed or on the third eye center. Four, three, two, and one. Inhale, lift. Exhale, release the hands down around the side body and please come back into a seated cross leg position. All right, the first quality of mind that we're going to work with today is the negative mind. This is the part of ourselves that says, no, I'm afraid, maybe I should hold back. Maybe I shouldn't do that. Maybe that's not a good idea. And sometimes that part of ourselves is too strong. And so we're saying no to things that really benefit us, preventing ourselves from moving forward in life. And so when we balance this mind, it becomes much more discerning.

Okay, so we're going to chant a very beautiful mantra, wahiguru. And we're going to chant it at a rapid pace 16 times. Wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru. Take a full inhale and the expression of the mantra should be the full length of the exhale. And don't worry if you can't do all 16 rounds. It's okay, just do the best you can. Now the mudra is going to be a reverse prayer position with the hands. My thumbs are going to be pointing downward and my wrists are going to be right in front of the throat, right in front of that sternum area there. Shoulders down away from the ears, eyes are up at third eye center. Make sure you're soft in the shoulders and you're not gripping up toward the ears. Take a nice long neck and find yourself relaxed here. Eyes at third eye. Let's take a nice deep breath in through the nose, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru, wahiguru. I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do particularly Ai, guru, ai, guru, ai, guru, ai, guru.

Wa, guru, ai, guru, ai, guru. Ai, guru, ai, guru, ai, guru. Wai gRUai gRUai gRUai Wai gRUai gRUai gRUai gRUai Guro wai gRUai Guro wai gRUai Guro wai gRUai Guro wai gRUai Guro wai gRUai Guro wai gRUai Guro wai gRUai nnnn Wai gRUai gRUai Guro wai gRUai Guro wai gRUai Guro wai gRUai Guro wai gRUai Guro wai gRUai I grew I grew I grew I grew I grew I grew I grew, I grew I grew, I grew, I grew, I grew, I grew, I grew, I grew, I grew, I grew, I grew I grew, last time. why grew I grew I grew I grew I grew I grew I grew I grew I grew I grew I grew I grew I grew I grew inhale suspend the breath with lock third eye and exhale release the hands palms face up on the knees and gently blink the eyes open next part of this Kriya set it's a beautiful meditation that helps us balance out our positive mind now the positive mind when out of balance can be put us in a position where we're easily fooled with that we're a little bit put in a position where we say yes to things that maybe we otherwise should not right maybe we're saying you know well if you jumped off the cliff well then I will too you know not taking into consideration self-care balance sustainability and our safety when we're in that positive forward-thinking mind right so when we balance out the positive mind again we become more discerning on what is beneficial to us as we move forward in a conscious aware perspective I'm gonna take my left hand and I'm gonna close my fingers over my thumb my hands gonna be right at my chest and take my right hand and close the fingers over that fist and put my right thumb on top of my left thumb okay elbows are soft to the side we're gonna chant the mantra Hari had alright Hari had and the tongue and flex a little bit of pressure on the roof of the mouth as you chant this and that's affecting a meridian point in the roof of the mouth that connects to hypothalamus pituitary pineal glands in the brain so be sure to really make use of the tongue in this mantra eyes are up at third eye center long spine shoulders away from the ears here we go Hari had Hari had Hari had Hari had Hari had Hari had Hari had Hari had Hari had Hari had Hari had Hari had Hari had Hari had Hari Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar. Harihar, Harihar, Harihar Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Harihar, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari Har, Hari Har, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari Har, Hari Har.

Four more, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, Ya l Pearl Suspend the breath, root lock, third eye, squeeze those fists. And exhale, relax and release. Palms face up on the knees, Gyan mudra, and we've just brought balance to the negative mind to the positive mind. Now let's transition onto rock pose, sitting on the heels so we can address the neutral mind. Leaning forward slightly, tucking the shins under the hips, rest the hips onto the heels, long in the spine.

Now the neutral mind is the mind that we endeavor to perceive from on a regular basis, right? This is the balance point between the polarities of the negative mind and the positive mind. This is the place of balance, of clarity, of awareness, and of consciousness. We're going to take the arms up over the head and press the palms together. Now if it's relatively easy for you to hold the hands together without interlacing the fingers, I encourage you to do so.

If you have very tight shoulders or a lot of muscle mass in the shoulders, it may require you to interlace the last three fingers. Keep the index finger extended to the sky, and feel free to cross right or left thumb over the other, it's fine. Now this can get to a point where it brings up a lot of resistance, maybe some tension, maybe some mental friction, and we want to be able to bring ourselves beyond the point of mental friction in this posture with long deep breathing. So my palms are pressed together without the interlace of the fingers, feel free to employ that modification. Take a long neck, shoulders down away from the ears, eyes at third eye center, and you may experience some discomfort, and this is the experience we want to gain awareness around in this meditation.

This brings us into a space of neutrality when we can move beyond some of the discomfort of the mind and the body. Just take some long deep breaths, eyes at third eye center, inhaling through the nose, exhaling through the nose, inflating the belly on inhale, contracting the belly on exhale. Stay with me in this long deep breath. Bringing witness to some of the friction that comes up, breathing through it, tapping into your witness. Okay, here we go.

Now take a full breath and suspend, inhale through the nose. Reach up through the hands, press the palms, eyes at third eyes, suspend. And exhale, hands come down slowly through the energy field. Ground the fingertips, rest the hands on the thighs for a moment. When you're ready, please gently come laying down onto your back.

Feet and thighs turned out naturally. Hands face up next to the hips, shoulders are down away from the ears. Fingers fall back, eyes sink back, and have a gentle awareness, the crown of your head. Keep doing that. You You You You 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 on to one side in defeat position Taking a breath in Sighing it out Gently bring yourself up to seated cross-like position Let's close out with our closing blessing May the longtime sunshine upon you all love surround you in the pure light within you guide your way on And then three long vibrational sat-nams declaring truth is our identity. Let's take a deep breath in through the nose to begin May the Long time sunshine upon you all love surround you And a pure light within you guide your way on Guide your way on Guide your way on Sat-nam Sat-nam Sat-nam Sat-nam Take a deep inhale through the nose Suspending the breath bringing folded hands to third eye center blessing that you'll be guided by intuition and have a wisdom Encourage to follow it exhale bowing forward Sat-nam namaste Rising up. Thank you so much. Have a beautiful day. Sat-nam