Yet what does ‘new’ and ‘old’ really mean? No matter the label given to the point in time, ‘how you are’ and ‘who you are’ are choices you make each moment.
Choose to be well.
These reflections on ‘well-being’ are offered by Yasodhara Yoga teachers: Karen Squires, Kerstin Gafvels, Frances Becker, Sheila Thomsen, Guenevere and Joy Ong, graduates of the 2016 Kundalini Yoga and Dream Yoga class.
Yoga brings us to wholeness. The benefit of coming into health and wholeness through self-awareness is that we stop being just a body – needy, grasping, selfish – and become a living being in the process of gaining wisdom and compassion.
(Living the Practice, Swami Radhananda, p 125)
1) The foundation: what is well-being?
Prepare to reflect on the meaning of ‘well-being’ by chanting Hari Om.
- What does ‘well-being’ mean to you?
- Reflect on keywords: well, being, well-being
Do a Divine Light Invocation and place your body with kindness in the Light.
Reflect on the following:
- How is the body essential to spiritual evolution?
- What does it mean to treat your body with kindness, care, acceptance, consideration, Light?
2) The Light of Well-being
Swami Radhananda writes that Light is a powerful symbol to send positive feelings into the world and that when you do everything in your power to keep your focus on the Light…then you are being responsible for your inner health.
To connect with the Light, Swami Radhananda offers this visualization (Living the Practice, p 125):
- Visualize your heart centre
- Imagine a blue flame on an altar there.
Keeping this sense of the Light within, reflect on:
- How is well-being present in my life?
3) Bringing the Mantra to Well-being
By chanting mantra or praying with single-pointedness of mind, by reinforcing that concentration with action, by directing the will, healing will take place naturally within ourselves. Mantras can have a healing effect by releasing the emotions and bringing about a state of calmness and deep relaxation both in the chanter and in anyone listening. With the mind relaxed, the source of the disease and the hidden roots of conflict will come to the surface where they can be dealt with.
(The Yoga of Healing, Swami Radha, p 49)
The Divine Light Mantra
The Divine Light Invocation aims at activating healing forces latent within every one of us. It brings Light to all levels of consciousness, emphasizing the positive side of our nature and taking energy away from the negative—the resentments, complaints and self-pity we hang onto and identify with. Sort out the positive and the negative within yourself.
(The Yoga of Healing, Swami Radha, p 37)
- Repeat the Divine Light Mantra.
- Make a list of positive and negative sides of your nature.
- Identify one of your characteristics that you would like to change.
- Have a conversation with it (write this down).
- Do the Light Invocation and put this aspect in the Light. Be still afterwards and see if any insights come forward.
- Practice the Corpse pose and repeat the Divine Light Mantra silently.
- Reflect on the following:
In the quietness of meditation, with eyes closed to shut off impulses, I open myself to the inner forces that give me renewed strength and inspiration on the Path.
(Hatha Yoga: the Hidden Language, Swami Radha, p 223)
Likhita
This repetitive writing brings peace, poise and strength within. . .
(Mantra: Words of Power, Swami Radha, p 29)
- Set aside some time each day for a week or more to practice likhita. You can simply write it in lines like sentences or be creative – making shapes or forms or filling in an outline of a drawing or image to which you are drawn.
4) What is Wholeness?
Ask yourself, what kind of person do I want to be? Make a list of the ideals you want to live by. How can you keep these ideals in mind in your daily life activities? Make a plan.
(The Devi of Speech, Swami Radha, p 105)
- What is your understanding of ‘well-being’ following the reflections above?
- What is the relationship between ‘wholeness’ (as described in the opening quote from Swami Radhananda) and ‘well-being’?
Practice “Functioning from my centre”.
- What is your understanding now of the kind of person you want to be?
- How is this related to your ‘well-being?