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"What is sadhana? It’s a committed prayer. It is something which you want to do, have to do, and which is being done by you. … Sadhana is self-enrichment. It is not something which is done to please somebody or to gain something. Sadhana is a personal process in which you bring out your best." ~ Yogi Bhajan
Sadhana or daily spiritual practice is the foundation of all spiritual endeavor. Sadhana is your personal, individual spiritual effort. It is the main tool you use to work on yourself to achieve the purpose of life. It can be done alone or in a group. Sadhana is whatever you do consistently to clear your own consciousness so you can relate to the infinity within you. Before you face the world each day, do yourself a favor and tune up your nervous system and attune yourself to your highest inner self. To cover all your bases, it will include exercise, meditation, and prayer.2
Develop a regular sadhana and you take control of your life. Develop a deep sadhana and you open the doors of experience. Commit to meet your higher Self each morning and your decisions and your life become original; your life will bear the signature of your soul; your radiance will express the meaningful intimacy of the Infinite in each moment. Immerse yourself in the joy of victory that comes from starting each day with a powerful sadhana and every challenge becomes opportunity.4
During what are called the “ambrosial hours” (the two and a half hours just before sunrise), when the sun is at a sixty-degree angle to the earth, the energy you put into your sadhana gets maximum results. Your world is quieter. It’s easier to meditate and concentrate before the hustle and bustle of the day begins.2
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
Where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.
~ Rumi
If you absolutely cannot get up early in the morning to do sadhana, then do it some other time! Doing sadhana at any time of the day or night will benefit you.2
Yogi Bhajan gave us the Aquarian Sadhana in 1992 to take us through the transition into the Aquarian Age in November of 2011. This sadhana prepares our psyches to excel in the new environments in the decades that follow. He envisioned an end to the world as we think of it now – not an end to the world.
The Aquarian Sadhana attunes your gunas, your chakras, and your mind to the change of the Age. We will need intuition, stamina, both physical and mental, self-awareness, and a new depth of spiritual experience that can hold our identity in the face of global changes, relentless competition, information overload, and ecological and environmental challenges.4
The Aquarian Sadhana is practiced by Kundalini Yoga communities across the world. Doing sadhana in a group develops group consciousness. At the beginning of sadhana everyone has a different vibration. Some have traces odd dreams; others are already filled with concerns for the day; and still others come with different expectations about sadhana. The more people there are, the more these individual differences balance out and create a harmony. Then the entire group finds its energy directed by the activity of the sadhana itself.1
We all have an aura and a subtle body. In a group practice, those link and become resonant with each other as we chant the same sounds, move in the same rhythms, and breath is the same pattern. The result is an amplification of the impact of the meditation. Our auras combine to form a “rainbow aura” for the whole group. That meta-aura maintains the frequency and focus that allows each individual to vary in their consciousness while being balanced and compensated by the whole group. Yogi Bhajan said that group meditation multiplied the individual effort not just added to it. For example, with three people its effect is 3 X 2 X 1 not 1+1+1. This powerful multiplicative effect is why even small groups have a large effect.
Any sadhana can be done as a group or individually. The ideal is to join in a group practice AND cultivate your individual practice as well. We each must stand as one and as ONE. That is the grace, the beauty, and the creative flow of Kundalini Yoga as Taught by Yogi Bhajan®. We recognize the self, connect the self and transcend to the Self.
Start your day gently, waking up with a few stretches and pranayam in bed. Then bathe, preferably with a cold shower, purifying your body and preparing it for the day ahead. Wear comfortable clothes that were not slept in and cover your head with any sort of natural cloth scarf or hat. Create a sacred physical space for your daily practice, embellishing it with inspiring images, flowers, crystals, whatever suits you. Have a shawl or sweater handy and sit on a sheepskin or natural-fiber blanket.
3:00 – 3:15 am: Begin wake-up and preparation for sadhana.
3:45 – 4:00 am: Optional recitation of JapJi Sahib.
4:00 – 4:20 am: Tune in with the three repetitions of Adi Mantra, Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo.
4:05 – 4:45 am: Kundalini Yoga Kriya for 25 – 45 minutes.
4:45 – 5:00 am: Deep relaxation.
5:00 – 6:00 am: The Aquarian Sadhana Mantra Meditations for 62 minutes.
6:00 – 6:15 am: Contemplative Moments/Prayer.
6:15 – 6:30 am: Optional Hukam, or reading, from the Siri Guru Granth Sahib which contains a written form of the Shabd Guru.
Entire books or chapters of books are devoted to the benefits and how-to practice of sadhana. You can find these in several online stores, including at the 3HO World Market. Also, be sure to look for a Kundalini Yoga teacher in your area to find out about group sadhana experiences in your community.
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