Yoga is a Great Practice for Dancers

People today turn to yoga, dance, and other physical activities in order to improve their physical wellbeing. Dance, as yoga, helps individuals control their body weight, and improves their well being.

However, from my personal experience as a ballet dancer with 20 years of training, dance can sometimes be painful for the body and actually increase the levels of anxiety. When I turned to yoga, I realized that every dancer, especially those at a professional level should try it.

Yoga Makes You Love Your Body

Dancers can sometimes be convinced that if they do not have the ideally thin body, they can never be successful. So as a result, they refuse to accept their natural body weight and put their health at the risk.

However, yoga teaches practitioners that they do not need to have a particular body shape (thin, flexible, tall, short, etc.) in order to do yoga, because yoga is for everyone! Dancers can learn to love their bodies every single minute of the day through yoga.

Yoga Connects You with Your Body

Dancing and competitive sports can sometimes negatively affect individuals’ body image and body satisfaction and lead them to unhealthy habits and behaviors, such as eating disorders.

Since yoga is not competitive, there is no wrong way to do it. It teaches individuals to listen to their body (heart-rate, feelings, sensations, breathing).

In other words, yoga connects the mind, body, and spirit and can definitely teach dancers how to listen to and respect their bodies and physical needs.

All in all, yoga can definitely benefit dancers and help them increase their performance skills, while keeping up their levels of wellbeing.

love, k 🙂

Three Reasons Why To Attend The Sat Nam Festival 

Here are 3 Top reasons why we are  looking forward to attending the Sat Nam Fest: 

1) MUSIC: World renowned musicians such as Snatam Kaur, Mirabai Ceiba, Simrit, Ajeet Kaur, Aykanna, and Jai-Jagadeesh all encompass the healing power of the sound current Naam. They perform passionate concerts that uplift and inspire. 


2) LIKE-MINDED SOULS: The Kundalini community is one of the strongest yoga communities in the world; practitioners deeply connect with each other through yoga ​practices, sadhana, and seva (selfless service). During the festival chanting the mantras and practicing the kriyas together, personal individual efforts are amplified to create a beautiful and powerful healing group energy. 

3) YOGA: Sat Nam Fest West expects to see more than 1,000 people this year. With 3 stages, there will be opportunity for everyone to jump into the vortex. You’ll see a lot of people wearing white, but there’s no dress code. Wearing white is a part of the technology of Kundalini yoga. It boosts your aura and helps you feel radiant. Spirit Voyage suggests bringing something to cover your head during meditation, but it’s not required. It’s best to wear what brings you joy and elevates you! 

Gurdwara, you will need to cover your head as a part of the tradition. Covering the head helps to raise the Kundalini energy up the spine, makes meditation more effective, keeps you grounded when you’re doing a TON of powerful pranayama and chanting, it makes many of us feel great! Kundalini yoga can be done by beginners and yogis at any level. There are often things that a beginner won’t be able to do…but you just do the best you can. If you can’t get into a pose, don’t worry… just do your best. Kundalini yoga is very non-competitive and is just about your personal, private experience. You definitely will be able to enjoy the yoga in Ramdesh’s relaxation workshop with Ashana. She’ll be doing lots of gentle movement and lie-flat-on-your-back relaxing gentleness. But most of all jump in and have fun no matter which class you opt for! 

Pregnancy and Yoga

The yogis see pregnancy as the gift of giving life. Yogi Bhajan said that marriage is the highest yoga and children are your karmic teachers. The relationship with your partner is your highest spiritual practice and your baby will become the teacher from whom you will learn the lessons you need to move forward on your spiritual path.

“The purest thing in the world is the heart of the mother… It can move the universe. It can cause an effect beyond limitation.” –Yogi Bhajan

Adi Shakti is the woman’s primal energy force. The deep desire to give birth and love is biological and spiritual. Some women do not desire have children and that is fine too. Everyone should have its own opinions, and preferences. I always believe that if you want to be respected, listened, and understood, you have to respect, listen, and understand first. Understand doesn’t mean agree with others opinions, but to see the point in their ideas and thoughts.

For some woman the whole pregnancy is a reminder of their past unresolved traumas, and there are many women who pass through this.

It is not necessary that you should be married, you should be pregnant, or should be this or that. The most important part of a woman is that she should have enough spirit, enough flow of spirit, enough dialogue we call it, that she can maintain her grace and her respect.

– Yogi Bhajan

If you are planning to have a baby to meditate on it. It is good to visualize yourself with the pregnant belly. This will make you more receptive. You can attract it and manifest it.

Meditation is the direct relationship between you (the finite) and the infinite. There are specific yogic exercises, chants, and meditations to stimulate the navel (abdominal area).

There are some women who struggle with the pain of infertility, or difficulty to become pregnant or maintain pregnancy. This can be very painful and traumatic. Definitely you should be in contact with a doctor to discuss all the different alternatives.

Meditation will always keep you more emotionally stable when facing challenging moments.

According to the philosophy of Yoga, the soul of the child enters the body of the fetus at 120 days. It is highly recommended that the mother practice meditation and take excellent care from the 120 days since conception.

Everything inside and outside of the mother will affect the baby. The state of mind that she is in, her thoughts, the situations, the spoken words, the foods she eats, everything!

Once the baby is born the mom will become the first role model of the child.

“A mother freely teaches values and virtues to every child for their prosperity, peace of mind, and consciousness. Let us honor our mother for our own integrity and happiness. May we learn to serve and protect our Mother Earth with an open heart.”—Yogi Bhajan

Yoga and meditation can help to prevent conditions related to stressful situations. The practice of Yoga decreases the body’s oxygen needs and slows down breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure for those moms suffering from high blood pressure.

The repetition of mantras can get rid of negative mental states and uplift you. The different yogic breathing techniques can help you in labor. They can also balance your hormones in a time when you need it the most.

Always, always, always!! Before you engage in any exercise program, consult your doctor.

If you have always been very athletic, you should plan to lower the intensity and with time as your body grows plan to modify your exercises for the pregnancy ones.

Walking is one of the most recommended exercises for pregnant women. It massages the internal organs. Ideally it is recommended that you walk 2 to 5 miles every day.

You can also add the mantra SA TA NA MA. Chant a word per step. Chanting mantras is like touching divine universal cords. You bring the benefits of that mantra while balancing the glandular system. It also takes care of erase those negative thoughts.

You can also join a pregnancy Yoga class where you know the exercises will be exactly what you need for your pregnancy. There is a saying that says that no one will understand you better during your pregnancy than another pregnant woman. They also hold women workshops, pregnancy teacher trainings, and other wonderful and interesting things.

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Water is another element essential for you during this special time. Make sure you drink lots.

Other good exercises during pregnancy are inside the pool or the ocean:

  • Walk backward and forward inside of a pool or the ocean.
  • Slow bicycling is also very helpful. Try this by placing your back against the wall of the pool, place the arms at each side outside of the pool, and relax the head on the side of the pool. Then start bicycling slowly.

These water exercises feel great because they relieve the weight of gravity off the joints.

As the time passes, the baby grows and the body starts changing. Good posture is key to relieving future pains. The perfect posture is to open the legs at hip distance so that the belly is centered and the weight is shared. Lower the tale bone, lengthen the spine, open the chest, and relax the shoulders down.

It is very important to stay relaxed while pregnant.

love, k<3

a guide to your Pregnancy

Prenatal Yoga: Poses to Use Daily

Prenatal Yoga is a great practice for supporting physical fitness, easing discomforts, and encouraging mental and emotional balance during pregnancy. It can help mothers-to-be connect with their bodies and their babies and also provides movements, relaxation, and awareness.

Practice loving compassion for yourself and your baby. Here are some suggested yoga poses to use daily

 

Butterfly: Open the Hips
Butterfly pose (baddha konasana) is a wonderful stretch for the hips and groin muscles. For many women who feel aching in the hips, this can be a comfortable position to sit in even when not doing yoga.

Cat-Cow: Keep the Back Happy
Cat-cow strengthens and relaxes the lower back, improves circulation, and provides a nice release for the belly. It also encourages optimal fetal positioning when used regularly in the later weeks of pregnancy. Mothers to be like using this pose in Prenatal Yoga.

One caution in the “cow” posture: be careful not to over-arch the back, which is common in pregnancy and can sometimes be exaggerated in this posture.

Squatting: Strength & Birth Preparation
While it has been lost in many birth settings in Western culture, squatting has actually been used by birthing women since the beginning of time. Squatting opens the pelvic area by as much as 25 percent, utilizes gravity, and often provides an ideal angle for the baby’s descent. Even if it is not used in birth, squatting is wonderful for building strength and stretching the muscles of the back and hips.

Arm Swings: For Endurance
There are numerous variations of arm swings that can be used to build stamina and endurance, and develop the mind’s capacity to “keep up.”

Prenatal yoga is one of the best things that you can do for yourself, as well as your growing baby.  A prenatal yoga practice allows us to slow down and focus attention on what is going on within our bodies. Through working with our breath and doing each pose, you become more aware of what is going on within.

 

love, k ❤

 

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Rainbow Energy Healing

Align your energy to feel grounded and balanced.

Kundalini Yoga class this Memorial Day weekend is a journey through the Chakras, and includes meditation, breathwork, and chanting/mantra, all while Rainbow Energy is flowing!

Rainbow Energy is a Universal Healing Energy that clears and supports the Chakras (Energy Centres), and the entire Energy Body – Meridians, Auric Field, Soul Connection Grid, and Higher Chakras.

It’s not limited to one set frequency, and includes a vast spectrum of healing vibrations, each with it’s own healing property and an associated color.

The Energy is intuitive, so each person in the class experiences different shades of colored healing light, based on the unique needs of their body, mind and soul.

When we combine Chakra-based Kundalini Yoga, with Rainbow Energy Healing, it’s a powerful self-healing experience that clears and recharges our entire energy body!

love, k💓

Meditation For The Positive Mind

Our minds are incredibly powerful tools – even more so than we may realize. Just by thinking something, we can make it more likely to occur. That is a powerful, but dangerous ability. If your thoughts are positive and uplifting, you will increase the likelihood of seeing those dreams through to fruition. If they are negative, however, you can have just the opposite effect. Obviously it is our best interests to keep our minds thinking positively throughout the day, and this meditation will help you do just that.

Meditation For Positive Mind

love, k ♡

Shakti Fest 2018 Yoga and Sacred Music Festival

Joshua Tree, CA –May 10, 2018 – Shakti Fest returns for its eighth season, this year on Mother’s Day weekend – May 10 – 14 at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center, in Joshua Tree, CA. Organized by Bhakti Fest, a leader in conscious festival events, Shakti Fest is a unique springtime celebration of the divine feminine spirit, described in Eastern philosophy as the ‘dynamic force which moves the universe’. The sacred yoga and music festival features world-famous yoga teachers, Kirtan music stars, wisdom workshops, sound baths, and a healing sanctuary.

 

 

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It’s divine timing that this yoga and sacred music festival is able to honor the spirit of the universal feminine to align with Mother’s Day. Shakti Fest 2018 music lineup inspires attendees to sing, dance and open their hearts. This year’s music line up inspires attendees to dance, sing, open their hearts, and includes the best Kirtan (a.k.a. mantra chanting) artists on the conscious music scene; Jai Uttal, Donna De Lory, Larissa Stowe, Govind Das & Radha, MC Yogi, Girish, Jaya Lakshmi, Prajna Vieira & the Mukti Kirtan Ensemble, Gina Sala, Vaiyasaki Das, David Newman, Fannah Fi Allah, and many more!

The entire Kirtan line-up is available at shaktifest.bhaktifest.com/kirtan/

It truly is a beautiful time to practice yoga indoors and out. With three yoga halls offering an abundance of classes over a three day period, there really is something for everyone! 2018 Shakti Fest teachers include; Shiva Rea, Mark Whitwell, Mas Vidal, Kia Miller, Georgina Meister, Cheryl Slader, Leeza Villagomez, Carmen Curtis, Hemalayaa Behl, Oleg Flow, Jennica Mills, Allison Prince and Katie Allen, Lisa Gniady, and Kristin Olson. Everyone can find their inner Shakti through energy inspiring sessions in a wide variety of yoga styles.

View the full yoga lineup at shaktifest.bhaktifest.com/yoga/

Shakti Fest Workshops cover a plethora of conscious and wellness topics including Ayurveda, breathwork, spiritual nutrition, tantric energy, Vedic astrology, Sanskrit, conscious relationships, women’s sexuality, bhakti art, and hoop dance, with internationally known speakers such as Michael Brian Baker, Mirabai Devi, Renee Baribeau, Dawn Cartwright, Zoë Kors, Jeffrey Armstrong and Dharma Devi.

For workshop details see shaktifest.bhaktifest.com/workshops/

Shakti Fest Sound Healing Experience is a must. Yogis can immerse themselves in the powerful healing energy of sound baths with practitioners of this popular sonic meditation including Eric Sedorovitz, Gabriel Logan Braun, Lynda Arnold, Shane Thunder, David West & Enrique Pedrosa, Michelle Berc, and more.

For more information on the sound healing offerings visit shaktifest.bhaktifest.com/sounddome/

There is no place like the high desert to embrace and immerse yourself in a powerful conscious experience. The historic Joshua Tree Retreat Center is the oldest and largest retreat center in the Western U.S., located on a sacred vortex site with a walking labyrinth. This setting allows for serene inner reflection and uplifting spiritual renewal. Accommodation options include cottages, retreat center spaces, camping, and RV parking, all on site. There are also great hotels within a few miles of the retreat center. Shakti Fest Eco Artisan Village offers vegetarian and vegan food vendors, yoga clothing accessories, and gear, jewelry, art and unique collectibles. The organizers have set the event on running a green event, offering free water and mindful recycling practices.

For travel information visit shaktifest.bhaktifest.com/travel-info/Shakti Fest is a vehicle for the evolution of human consciousness through heart-centered revolution dedicated to the divine feminine that dwells within all of us.

Shakti Fest is a vehicle for the evolution of human consciousness through a heart-centered revolution dedicated to the divine feminine that dwells within all of us.

See you there!

love, k

 

shaktifest

Intuitive Affirmation of the Day

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Sat Nam Fest West 2018

Sat Nam Fest Joshua Tree is finally here! And it is an opportunity to immerse yourself in the happiness, rejuvenation, and transformation of Kundalini Yoga, mantra music, and creativity as you re-discover your authentic self.

Every year Sat Nam Fest presents a variety of sacred music performances, teachers, workshops, Kundalini Yoga classes, and much more.

See you there!

love, k 🙂

 

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