The Art of Creating Creativity

11 Things You Can Do to Make This the Best Year Yet!

1. Think of what you can do to help others. Doing something good for others with no thought of reward or return is real service. If you help others from your spirit/your soul, it’s always a win-win situation. Make this a daily practice.

2. Consciously BREATHE.  If you can control your breath, you can control your mind. Taking long deep breaths throughout the day can change your mood and your attitude for the better.  You can take notice throughout the day of how many times you are NOT breathing.  We often hold our breath when we are nervous or have to make a decision.  If you have this awareness, try breathing deeply when you are under stress or have an important decision to make and see what happens.

3. Move the body.  Walk, dance, exercise, do yoga, do something.  If you don’t move the body, the energy will get stuck.  When the energy gets stuck, it causes discomfort, disease, and emotional issues.  In fact, if you feel “bad”, the best thing you can do is to move the body.

4. Think positive.  Start to track your thoughts.  Every time you have a negative thought, catch yourself and replace that thought with a positive thought.  It takes some practice but eventually you will find that you just might get happier.

5. Try not to indulge in negative demoting habits.  You can change your habits slowly and surely if you make an effort to indulge in positive promoting habits.

6. An Attitude of Gratitude will get you a lot of bang for your buck.  Try looking at your life from a perspective of being grateful for whatever comes your way.  This is a LIFE CHANGING tool.  There will always be problems, challenges, and obstacles but you can be more effective in how you handle them.  You can become more neutral, less reactive by raising your consciousness, taking a higher perspective, and having an attitude of gratitude. When you start to see whatever comes your way as an opportunity instead of a challenge, you will begin to experience REAL PROSPERITY and HAPPINESS.

7. Nourish your body with healthy food preferably organic and fresh.  If you are not a vegetarian, try to eat less animal products and more plant products. Try to eat to live, not live to eat.  Drink lots of clean water and when you eat, sit, enjoy, and relax.  “So there is no disease. It doesn’t matter if you give medicine; you can give food instead.  It will heal. You can give water. It will heal.  Some spiritual healers take a glass of water, put their hand on it, chant a mantra over it, and hand it to you. You can call it quackery, but it works.” – Yogi Bhajan

8.  Cultivate positive and healthy relationships.  Toxic relationships can literally make you sick.  Enjoy the company of people who bring out the best in you, not the worst.  Laugh, lighten up, enjoy yourself and the magical people in your life.

9. We need goals to have them happen.  Be clear about them.  Be sure of what you want and make sure you’ve got everything covered.  For example if you want a house, make sure the money to keep up the house is included in qualifying your goal.

10. Try injecting MANTRA into your life.  The sound current of a mantra can remove negative thoughts, clean the energy of your living or work space, improve your health, improve and change the dynamic in relationships, reset brain patterns, help to bring awareness and clarity to your life and many other wonderful things.  The mantra elevates consciousness through its meaning, the sound itself, by its rhythm, tone and the reflexology of the tongue.   

A simple mantra you can add to your breath is SAT NAM.  Chanting this mantra awakens the Soul and it means Truth is My Identity.  Try mentally chanting Sat on the inhale and Nam on the exhale when you are going about your day, when you are walking, working, being.   If you would like further information on mantra, please contact me at raghubirkk@gmail.com. You can also play recorded mantras in your home or at work all the time.  A superb recommended practice is to sleep to a recorded mantra throughout the night.  The volume doesn’t need to be loud, just audible.

11.  We are now in the Aquarian Age and we have new energies and frequencies to harmonize with.  In order to live our lives to the fullest we need a healthy body, strong nervous system, a powerful electromagnetic field, and balanced and open chakras.  We need mental and emotional flexibility, intelligent and compassionate detachment, and an open and activated heart center.  We need to be sensitive and intuitive and we need to be strong and clearheaded.  Kundalini Yoga and Meditation produces all of this in a relatively short amount of time.  When you are feeling powerful and in command, you are more capable of uplifting and helping others. 

Have a terrific 2013 and remember that YOU have the birthright to be HAPPY and HEALTHY and PROSPEROUS and that no one can take that away from you.  

LOVE and SAT NAM.

Raghubir Kaur

Let's Get Physical!

Week #1 Let's Get Physical with the Fifth Body

It is such a blessing that we are in a physical body. Many of us take it for granted, but it is a real gift on so many different levels. Each of our physical bodies is different and teaches us the lessons we have to learn. It's a vehicle for our spiritual growth and it enables us to do good deeds to uplift humanity. That being said, why do so many of us abuse our physical bodies and ignore them as if they didn't matter?

Just ask anyone who has had a grave illness and has survived, how precious is the human body. Many individuals who have endured physical hardship and pain know the true gift of the human spirit and even more so, the blessing of the physical body.

According to Yogi Bhajan, (the yogic point of view) to get here in this physical form, you have had to have had at least 8.4 million incarnations. Imagine....8.4 million incarnations equals one light year and in order to be a physical body capable of self-realization, you would have had to travel 100,000 light years. That's a long, long time.

So from a purely practical point of view, its a big deal to be here in the physical body. The physical body is the TEMPLE where all the other bodies play out their parts. One of the big jobs of the physical body is the POWER TO SACRIFICE. Another big job is that it give you the POWER TO TEACH, to uplift. It enables you to take esoteric abstract concepts and break them down for others so that they are understood. Having the POWER TO SACRIFICE means that you use this body in this lifetime to work out your incarnation as well as serving those around you. To sacrifice is also to teach because when you sacrifice, you are going outside of yourself to assist others.

Work out this incarnation....what does this mean? Well, here we have to discuss Karma and Dharma...because the gift of the Fifth Body is that you have the strength and discipline to choose Dharma over Karma.

"In Kundalini Yoga we don't worry about the effect, we worry about the cause, because cause has an effect. Effect can never happen without cause; consequences shall never happen without sequence.  If a person can be aware enough to know the trend of the sequences, he can control the consequences".- Yogi Bhajan

Karma is almost a household word yet not everybody knows what it means. The Law of Karma means that every action has a reaction and this is an absolute rule of nature. (It is Newton's third law of motion "Every action has a reaction, equal and opposite"). It does not mean "fate".

The idea is not to perform tasks that have a negative effect or backlash. Everything we do or say is a seed planted for the future. Sometimes we inherit the karmic energy of the past and we have to work it out in our incarnation so we can be liberated. If we are slaves to the ego attachments to objects, feelings, and thoughts, then we are biased toward certain behavior. We aim to balance these tendencies through the practice of Kundalini Yoga and the karmas are the conditions required in order to complete these tendencies.

Dharma is the path of life ABOVE the wheel of karma. It is a life aligned with our souls and destiny. It is a life of action without reaction because all actions are aimed toward the Infinate. If Karma is having a balance that you owe, Dharma is having the account cleared. WHEN YOU LIVE A DHARMIC LIFE, YOU ARE POSITIVE AND GRACEFUL AND YOU UPLIFT ALL THOSE AROUND YOU.

Your physical body can teach you a lot. If you experience an emotional stress, maybe you're the kind of person who tightens up your neck. And every time you have a similar emotional stress, even if its just a "hint" of the issue, your neck does the same thing. Your body is signaling you to pay attention to the source of the emotional pain so that you can resolve those issues. Your body is what it is today because it's a representation of all that you are; all your experiences and everything stored in your muscles and nervous system. What you did in the past not only has shaped who you are now but it informs where you are going in the future.

If you find that you are greedy, angry, jealous, competitive, or ungrateful or that you have trouble expressing yourself verbally, then balancing the physical body is your key to happiness and free expression. 

If you want to create a healthy environment in which your spirit can dwell, then working on the physical body can give you an advantage. If you want to serve humanity, teach and uplift others, then developing the FIFTH BODY will give you the strength and endurance to SACRIFICE and to mentor others.

Sat Nam! 

ACCESSING YOUR CREATIVE FLOW

MOVE THE ENERGY IN THE BODY

REGULATE AND CONTROL THE BREATH

DISCIPLINE THE MIND

OPEN THE HEART

Being creative is allowing your soul to speak through you and to live by your heart.  A creative person has a conviction that they have something unique to offer the world...a person with a certain faculty that he/she is destined to use for the service of others. 

"You feel happy when you can give something.  When you give yourself discipline and your discipline gives hope to somebody, therein lies real happiness" - Yogi Bhajan

On October 13 at 2 pm, I'm coming to RISD to teach a workshop on Accessing Your Creative Flow. Your creative flow is YOU being YOU.  Consciously communicating, consciously being, and consciously receiving. When you tame your inner anger and eliminate fear, you create a healthy and welcome environment for creative self-expression.  When you remove energetic blocks by moving the body in a specific way, you create an open channel for the cosmic flow.  When you regulate and the control the breath, you open the heart and control the mind. And when you discipline the mind, you can do anything. 

Yoga and Creativity are my two passions and when you put them together, it's like an atomic explosion! The fact that I have been invited to come to my alma mater as a yogi to conduct a workshop on creativity is a dream come true. My goal is to teach EVERYONE, not just artists or creatives, that a creative, HAPPY, self-realized life is within reach.   Learning how to manage your energy so you can maintain focus, sustain endurance, and channel the infinite flow of energy through you is what will make you have the extraordinary life you've always dreamed of.  No matter what you do, whether you think you are creative or not,  Kundalini Yoga and Meditation makes EVERYTHING you do better.

LIVING THE LIFE CREATIVE - AFTER THE FACT

THANK YOU ALL for participating in the Living the Life Creative Workshop at Golden Bridge on Sunday.  It was great to share the teachings with you.... and to guide you through a journey of accessing your creative flow and linking it with the cosmic flow so that you can experience the CREATIVE and expanded YOU.

As promised I am posting some of the meditations and kriyas that we did so that you can practice these teachings on your own. 

Before you do any Kundalini yoga or these meditations/kriyas, it is essential that you tune in with the Adi Mantra: "Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo". This will provide you with a protective link between you and the consciousness of the divine teacher, the Master of Kundalini Yoga, Yogi Bhajan as well as all the teachers before him. ONG is the infinite creative energy (which we chanted in the workshop) experienced in action.  NAMO implies reverent greetings...so together ONG NAMO means "I call on the infinite creative consciousness". This opens you up to the cosmic flow which guides all action. GURU is the embodiment of the wisdom you are seeking..the one who takes us from darkness to the light. DEV means divine or the subtle realms.  NAMO repeated again infers reverence of the student to the teacher.   So in total, it means "I bow to the teacher within", or "I call on the great divine wisdom as I humbly bow".

The Kundalini Energy is your creative potential. The creative flow is the expression of your SOUL.  It is the cosmic flow that unites your finite selves with the infinite, the great beyond.  The creative flow is the purpose of life. Anyone can be creative, but only individuals who apply self-discipline will take it the extra mile.  Self Discipline creates extraordinary individuals out of ordinary ones.  It builds character, excellence, and humility.  Great rewards come from consistent, ernest, and regular practice.  This is true in all fields as well as in your yoga practice. A daily sadhana is essential the key ingredient in achieving mastery.

A creative person has a conviction that they have something unique to offer the world...a person with a certain faculty that he/she is destined to use for the service of others.

"You feel happy when you can give something. When you give yourself discipline and your discipline gives hope to somebody, therein lies real happiness". - Yogi Bhajan

Your mind is here to serve your SOUL. So...If you want to access your creative flow, the key ingredient is CONTROLLING THE MIND.  When the mind and the soul are in alignment, you are able to create a fulfilling life for yourself and bring creativity into EVERY SINGLE ASPECT of your life....and share the flow of this beautiful universal life force with all.

If you would like additional information, you can email me at raghubirkk@gmail.com or comment in the box below.  The FOR CREATIVITY set is from Physical Wisdom, illustrated and compiled by Harijot Kaur Khalsa and published by KRI http://www.kundalink.com/product_p/k-614.htm and the TWO MEDITATIONS are from THE MIND, by Yogi Bhajan, published by KRI. http://www.spiritvoyage.com/yoga/The-Mind---Its-Projections-and-Multiple-Facets/Yogi-Bhajan/BKS-009015.aspx

Sat Nam,

Raghubir

Living the Life Creative

You don’t have to be an artist to have a creative life. 

When I got out of art school, I thought life was divided into two parts: the working life to pay the bills, and the artistic life to feed the soul.  At that time, I didn’t have a clue about how one’s attitude and “altitude” could allow you to be completely creative in and out of studio and how every second of every day could feed your soul.

Everyone WANTS to live up to their potential...or at least they say they do.  We walk around with so many fears and imagined limitations, inner anger, and old non-productive stories; some of which we aren’t even aware.  These get in the way of our excellence and our creative flow.  Many of us have a negative mantra or two looped in our heads... “I’m not good enough”, ”I can’t”, or “why bother?” are some examples that just keep us stuck in a rut. What are YOU saying to yourself that’s keeping you from being the best you can be? NOW IS THE TIME TO STOP THE SELF-SABOTAGE.  And to make matters worse, we even seek the company of others who, through endless commiseration, keep us from improving our situations.

As Kundalini yogis, we are encouraged to UPLIFT AND ELEVATE others...not sit around and wallow in our stories.   That’s because we have the technology to rise above these misfortunes and obstacles through mantra, meditation, and yoga.  Our self-discipline keeps us out of trouble and gives us the strength to help others.

When you write, count beans, study, play music, think, make “art”, meditate, cook, garden, do sports, heal, teach, or whatever it is that you do....you are there to practice your craft.  You might have an argument with yourself about it beforehand, but you will eventually show up and practice. How do you get to Carnegie Hall?  Practice, practice, practice.  That’s right...the secret to YOUR success in anything you do is PRACTICE.  

Through practice, or self-discipline as we’ll now call it, you can take yourself from average to sensational in a relatively short amount of time. Since I’m a yogi, I have experienced the effect of that discipline on one’s well-being and how it gives you strength and power, self confidence, and projection.  Meditation and a regular spiritual practice can give you the grace and altitude you need to navigate the challenges of the world today.  And it connects you to your higher self, your cosmic flow; your SAT NAM so that everything you do is infused with the creative flow that is the Kundalini energy itself.

When you live your life with the creative flow activated in you, it doesn’t matter WHAT you do, you are living a conscious life. You can have a more positive effect on others by flipping greasy hamburgers in higher consciousness than if you feed beautiful vegetarian food to others with a bitter and angry heart.  You can be a creative accountant, lawyer, stockbroker in the same way you can be a creative artist or musician.  WHAT you do is just a vehicle for the cosmic flow.

I noticed that when I taught Kundalini yoga, I had the same feeling as when I made art.  This was a a big AH-HA moment.

The cosmic flow will come through you as a result of discipline and consistency.  In much the same way that a violinist will become a more proficient and talented musician through practice and rehearsal,  you can become a more balanced, energized, focused, and compassionate person through yoga and meditation.  In the same way a top athlete can transform themself into a champion through effective coaching and practice, you can become a saint through the guidance of your teacher and the discipline of a daily sadhana.

Sat Nam,

Raghubir

Summer Solstice 2012 - photos by ET

I just returned from Summer Solstice in Ram Das Puri...in the hot, arid and profoundly powerful mountains above Espanola, New Mexico. This year, along with 2000+ like minded souls, we meditated, did yoga, hung out, did three days of White Tantric Yoga, broke through obstacles, explored new territory, dispelled fears, conquered demons, and had a really good time together.  New friends, old friends, true friends. These photographs were all taken by Elena Tchoujtchenko.  She took many more as well as video footage, but these photographs include me, a portion of me, or Kundalink and so I wanted to share them with you on Blogalini.

 Kundalini Yoga is about angles and triangles. 

 Truly beautiful .  This is Tantric Hill where I pitched my tent.

 Early morning after sadhana, Gurdwara and Yogi Tea. Facing East, the sun on my eyelids.

 Jai Gopal invited me to sit on the stage and teach with him.  That was so much fun!!

 And here I am teaching my own class at 7am ...one of my favorite sets, Coordinating Mind, Body, and Soul.  

And the Gong relaxation afterwards...

Infinite Goddess Haridass Kaur's husband, Siri Karta Singh and I at our centrally located and shared uber table...and  I was completely color coordinated unbeknownst to me. 

after the 2 1/2 hour blind walk, Nampreet and I give the VICTORY SIGN

There was no room but to do cobra in mid air with Elena

Harnek wearing a Guru Nanak tee shirt during Harijiwan's class on the last day...

Elena, filmmaker extraordinaire, great friend, tantric partner, and the very best driver in the universe.

Jasdeep 

Jaijot - great and luminous friend enjoys her first Summer Solstice!!!!!!

Navjot leading the warriors

Gisela and I

Beautiful Kewal Kaur

Nirbhao 

Getting ready to teach