A Special Meditation for Health Recovery
A portion of this article was originally published in Green Fire Times, Dec. 2018.
A special meditation for health recovery!
Meditation as Medicine
In the early 1970s, Yogi Bhajan purposefully chose the beauty of sacred Northern New Mexico as his home. Part of his legacy was Kundalini Yoga Therapy; how Kundalini Yoga and meditation can be used therapeutically as health interventions. Look to the New Mexico based and global non-profit The Guru Ram Das Center for Medicine and Humanology for info on their world wide courses in Kundalini Yoga Therapy.
Dr. Shanti Shanti Kaur Phd is the founder of the Guru Ram Das Center, and Yogi Bhajan trained her specifically how to deliver Kundalini Yoga as a health intervention. One of the interventions he taught her is Pauri Kriya; she researched this particular meditation on adults living with HIV disease. There is a valuable result from doing Pauri Kriya regularly; research revealed higher scores of self efficacy. We are our habits and self promoting habits bring us health. Self efficacy instills the powerful belief that what we do makes a difference. Empowered by this belief, a person can develop and maintain new health behaviors that can lead to health recovery.
How to do this simple practice: Pauri Kriya
Sit comfortably with your hands on your knees, palms facing up, with elbows straight. Close your eyes.
Inhale by dividing the breath into eight equal, separate parts, like sniffs. On the first segment of the eight parts, silently repeat the sound SA, on the second silently repeat TA, on the third repeat NA, on the fourth repeat MA. Silently repeat SA on the fifth, TA on the sixth, NA on the seventh, and MA on the eighth part of the eight-part inhalation.
While you breathe and silently repeat the sounds, move the fingers of each hand in the following sequence: On SA press the tips of the index finger and thumb firmly together, on TA press the middle finger and thumb, on NA press the ring finger and thumb tips, and on MA press the little finger and thumb tips together.
To exhale the breath, recite aloud, SA TA NA MA, SA TA NA MA, in a monotone. Coordinate the pressing of the thumb tips to the fingers with the corresponding sounds, just as you did during the silent eight part inhalation.
Start with a few minutes a day, then try it for regular intervals. 3 minutes, 7 minutes or 11 minutes.
If you notice your mind wandering, simply return your attention to the breath, sound and finger sequence of the meditation.
At the end of the meditation, inhale in one long breath, retain your breath briefly, and exhale in one long breath. Relax your posture and open your eyes
Copyright Teachings of Yogi Bhajan, KRI, Santa Cruz, NM.
Source; S.S.Khalsa. The Effects of Two Types of Meditation Techniques on Self- Efficacy Beliefs in Persons in CDC Stages II and III of HIV Disease 1994.
Source; The Yogi Bhajan Library of Teachings