Adding One Little Thing to Your Life, Could Change it Forever!

Now I like to think that I am a healthy person.

I went vegan not long back (no don’t worry, I don’t care if you eat meat), am gluten-free, dairy-free and corn-free for health reasons and eat mostly organic fruits and vegetables. I do yoga at my lowest once a week if not every day and I meditate multiple times a day.

Yet, I still struggle with one thing. One seemly little thing....

Drinking water.

You see I have never been good about drinking water and it is not even that I have a problem with the taste.

I just do not even think to drink it most days.

I have tried everything, adding fruit, lemon juice, carrying around a big bottle, carrying around a small bottle, even writing reminders, but nothing sticks.

Now on a seemingly side note I also have asthma and GI problems, on top of other pesky issues (I'll get back to this in a moment).

You maybe wondering why is she bringing this up?

What does that really have to do with water?

Or maybe you’re saying well duh you don't drink water so of course these are problems.

But if you think about it... if you didn't feel thirsty would you be drinking water all the time?

Thirst is not actually a reliable indicator of dehydration for many people and this has been an ingrained problem for me.

I am not thirsty so I don't need to drink water....

But did you know "the Institute of Medicine determined that an adequate intake (AI) for men is roughly about 13 cups (3 liters) of total beverages a day and for women it is about 9 cups (2.2 liters) of total beverages a day." (from the Mayo Clinic)

I'm lucky if I'm consuming 2 cups a day some days...

Water is a basic building block of life right? Along with air and food, humans need this to function and even survive.  We take in this life force every moment of the day often not even stopping to think about where it came from or how important it is to our survival.

Do you know I discovered recently that dehydration directly affects histamine and mucus production? Both being connected to asthmatic systems? Hmm. So now my lack of water is connected to my breathing and allergies.

We also know that water is a main element in your body's elimination system. So a lack of water leads to the buildup of toxins and can lead to autoimmune disorders and general GI issues.

But this still didn't explain why I couldn't get myself to stick to drinking water. I knew it was good for me. I tried everything, but seemed to always self-sabotage.

What is interesting though, is as I began looking at things from a yogic stand I saw some connections I never saw before...

So lets take a look at the intake of water and such from a yogic stand.

In the east they call this life force many different names: one is prana. The classical "definition" of prana is: the energy of the universe. Yogi Bhajan once said "Praana is the most powerful and most creative thing God ever created, because out of praana came life."

Now let us take this a little further. In Kundalini Yoga, we look at the body as not just one physical body but 10 interconnected physical and energetic bodies.

You have the soul body, the negative mind, positive mind, neutral mind, physical body, arc line, auric body, pranic body, subtle body and radiant body.

The topic of the 10 Bodies can be a little hard to understand when first looking at them. I am working on a beginner course and future blog posts that will actually go through them all so don't worry and stayed tuned!

Today though I want to look just at the 8th body, the Pranic body.

This is the body that deals with your prana and is closely connected to your physic body. In eastern numerology if you are born in August on the 8th, 17th or 26th of a month you may have a weak pranic body.

I personally was born on October 8th, so this applies to me!

Two areas are closely tied to a weak pranic body: Fear and being open to illness.

If you think about this just from a personal experience stand (which I always encourage you to do) how does your breath react when you are scared?

If you are truly scared your breath goes all haywire, often times becoming rapid and shallow.

Now think about when you felt ill last. Were you taking calm, deep breaths?

Now lets put these two concepts together.

Water, food and air are all prana.

When I began my yogic practice, I did not think twice that many of the pranayam exercises were difficult for me. Aren't they for everyone?

What opened my eyes was my pranayam Module Weekend for my Teacher Training program.

Each weekend focuses on a different topic with intensive practices relating to the specific topic and with a month long practice leading up to the weekend.

For the pranayam weekend we were asked to do a combination of 30 minutes of pranayam exercises each day (not all together and many quite simple to while doing daily tasks) on top of stopping and take slow deep breaths as often as we were able.

I got through maybe a week of doing any of the practices, which is very unlike me. I tend to only miss at the most a few days of our daily practice, if any at all. This month I almost didn't even do the practice. And to top it off I started experiencing physical asthmatic discomfort as I worked to bring prana into my body.

I even could not, emotionally, get through more than one minute of our one minute breath practice without sobbing...

I was so relieved to just make it through the weekend, that I pushed aside any thought of pranic work and went on to the next month. Fast forward to a month or two later as I felt safe enough to begin looking into my experiences from that weekend.

I know I am a giver.

I feel fulfilled when I serve others and give of myself (often without thinking of my own energy limits). But when it comes to receiving I become uncomfortable. I assure people I am fine on my own, that they do not need to trouble themselves. I will make full healthy lunches for others while I personally skip meals, or just grab a shake.

I have also been controlled by fear of my own potential for most of my life. Falling into a more supportive role for everyone around me.

When I stopped and thought about it, I realized I struggle accepting prana in any form into my life.

Let us say that again.

I struggle accepting life force, for my own well-being, into my life.

WOW.

That is pretty intense.

But knowing the root concern allows us to fix the issue not the symptoms. It is not that I don't like to drink water, I personally struggle to allow any prana into my body that is not vitally necessary.

So what do I do now, you ask? What do you do now, if you are in the same place as me?

It is a big thing to handle partially because a lack of prana leads to physical and emotional imbalances. Including a strong feeling of fear when dealing with life...

Well my friend, now we work to heal ourselves.

We work to allow bits of prana into our life every day. It may start as a trickle, but as we work to unblock the faucet, the flow of prana will grows to a strong stream.

I spoke about your breath and gave a few simple pranayam here to get you started that can help.

Also try the Ra Ma Da Sa meditation for 11-31 minutes a day:

Here is just a simple track I recorded of the Ra Ma Da Sa meditation mantra. There is just around a minute of the melody vocals to get you started and then up to 31 min of just a simple relaxing backing track to chant with. So you can listen to your own voice while chanting.

Posture: Sit in Easy Pose (sitting on the floor, with legs crossed) or in a chair with feet planted firmly on the ground, with the spine straight, and a light Neck Lock applied (chin pulled back slightly).

Mudra: The mudra (hand position) is most important. The elbows are bent down by the sides, and are tucked comfortably but firmly against the ribs. The forearms are almost perpendicular to the floor, with the hands extended out at a 45 degree angle from the center of the body. Most importantly, the palms are perfectly flat, facing up, hands bent back at the wrists. You should feel a pull in the lowest part of your forearm as you almost hyper-extend your wrist to make the palms flat. (This tends to be the most challenging part of the meditation so it is important not to let the hands relax out of the position.) The fingers are kept side by side, except that the thumb is spread from the other four fingers.

Eyes: Eyes are closed.

Mantra: This mantra consists of 8 basic sounds:

Ra Ma Da Sa, Sa Say So Hung

Translation:

Ra - Sun

Ma - Moon

Daa - Earth

Saa - Impersonal Infinity

Saa Say - Totality of Infinity

So - Personal sense of merger and identity

Hung - The infinite, vibrating and real.

This mantra taps into the energies of the sun, moon, earth, and the Infinite Spirit to bring deep healing. It is important to pull the navel point powerfully on the words So and Hung. Note that the word Hung is not long and drawn out. Rather, it is clipped off forcefully as you pull in the navel. Chant one complete cycle of the entire mantra with each breath. Then deeply inhale and repeat. Remember to move the mouth precisely with each sound. Try to feel the resonance in the mouth and in the sinus area.

Mental Focus: You can choose to mentally visualize the person or persons that you are wanting to heal, as you send this energy to them for their well­-being.

Time: Continue chanting for 11 to 31 minutes.

To End: To end the meditation, inhale deeply and hold the breath, as you offer a healing prayer. Visualize the person you wish to heal as being totally healthy, radiant, and strong. See the person completely engulfed in a healing white light and completely healed. Then exhale and inhale deeply again, hold the breath, and offer the same prayer again. Exhale, inhale, and hold, repeat the prayer, and exhale.

To complete, inhale deeply, stretch your arms up high, and vigorously shake out your hands and fingers for several seconds. Keep the arms up and hands shaking as you exhale. Repeat two more times and relax.

If you are a visual person here is a video explaining the meditation:

Most importantly with any healing process:

Don't judge yourself if you "fall off" or don't do as well as you hoped one day. It happens, life happens.

Just take a deep breath and pick up where you left off.

I also find that a support system of any kind can be a great help as well.

So let us start TODAY! I know I am recommitting with all of you today. Right here right now to let the Life force of the universe nourish my body.

So let’s see if we can add at least one extra deep breath, a moment of letting someone help us and yes, an extra glass/ bottle of water a day.

We can do this! We will open ourselves to the prana of the universe and maybe even start drinking those glasses of water ;)

Bright Blessings,

Param Sevak Kaur

*Please share your thoughts and progress in the comments. I'd love to hear about your journey!