Mul Mantra - benefits, meaning and my personal take on it.

Mul mantra is the first mantra that comes to my mind when I think about connecting with one’s soul. This mantra aligns us with our soul's purpose, our destiny. What’s more, it’s deeply healing and can transform our fate into one of prosperity, happiness, and peace. In short, it gets us closer to our soul and away from our ego.

Here are 5 reasons why I love the Mul Mantra.

1. SOUL CONNECTION

Mul mantra is the beginning of Japji Sahib, which is referred to as a song of the soul. So chanting, reciting, or listening to Mul mantra or Japji will connect you to your soul. The more connected you are to your soul, the more you will cherish and appreciate its qualities such as equality, peace, compassion, love, humility, and creativity. The less you will be guided by the ego. If you feel that your ego is running the show, it’s time to connect with the soul. Mul mantra can do it very well.

2. THE DIVINE WITHIN YOU

Not only will it connect you with your soul, but it will also show you the aspects of the Universe/ Divine/ Cosmos/ God/ Goddess - within you. The more you chant the mantra, the more you will feel the qualities of it in you. Look at the translation of the mantra below. When we practice the mantra, we affirm that we are the truth, we are the doers, fearless, revengeless, undying, unborn, self-illuminating, etc.

3. AWAKENING CONSCIOUSNESS

Mul Mantra awakens our consciousness. It awakens us to the idea that we are not only flesh and bones. It awakens us to realize that we are One with the Universe, that we are part of the cosmos. The more you reflect and meditate on the mantra, the deeper you will know yourself and the universe. This leads to greater awareness, spiritual growth, and self-development.

4. GROUNDING

It’s a root mantra; this is where your spiritual foundation is built. This mantra will strengthen the first chakra and create a strong foundation of security, stability, and grounding. It helps to develop clarity and a focused mind. With such a foundation, peace and tranquility are possible and often present.

5. HEALING QUALITIES

It’s a deeply healing mantra. It can change the trajectory of your life; it’s known as a ‘fate killer’ in the Kundalini Yoga world. It removes us from karma (the world of action and reaction) to dharma (meaning: highest purpose, destiny). Additionally, chanting all the powerful words of the mantra awakens those qualities in us, healing the relationship we have with ourselves. In other words, instead of our usual self-talk (which is often ‘What’s wrong with me?’ ‘I’m so stupid’ ‘I’m lazy’ etc.), we start saying ‘I am truth, I am the doer, I am fearless,’ etc.

MUL MANTRA AND ITS MEANING.  

Ek ong kaar - One Creator.

Sat naam -  Truth is its name.

Karataa purakh - Doer of everything.

Nirbhao - Fearless.

Nirvair - Revengeless.

Akaal moorat - Undying.

Ajoonee - Unborn. 

Saibhang - Self illumined.

Gur prasaad - The Guru’s gift.

Jap! - Meditate!

Aad such - True in the beginning.

Jugaad such - True through all the ages.

Hai bhee such - True even now.

Naanak hosee bhee such - Oh, Nanak it is forever true.

I’m curious to hear from you. Does this mantra appeal? Or what aspects of the mantra do you find interesting? Please let me know in the comments below.

Connect with your soul

The new theme for the next 40 days at High On Yoga is ‘Connect with your soul’. I wanted to start the 2024 connecting with ourselves, but I knew that we had to prepare our body and mind for that connection first. So, for the last 40 days, we have been removing negativity, blockages, and obstacles on our path. Now, it’s time to go deeper. To re-connect with your higher self, with your essence and your true self. And Kundalini Yoga and meditations do it very well. 

When we are connected to our soul we are at peace, we know our purpose and often are in the flow. We are ‘guided’ and able to hear and follow our intuition. Life seems full of creativity, joy and love. Challenges are just opportunities for growth and test of our character, strength and courage. 

When we are disconnected - we feel lost, we are not sure what our purpose is and find it difficult to connect with joy in our hearts. Often we are depressed, anxious and in a rut. We may see life as a struggle, endless hussle and competition. Our head and ego are in charge. We probably find self-love and self-care difficult. 

These are all the reasons I’ve decided to focus on reconnecting for the next 6 weeks at yoga. 

This process of reconnection will look different to everybody. For people who are completely disconnected it will be about coming back to their body, mind and soul. Those of you, who are pretty connected with their soul, will be able to build a deeper relationship with yourself or heal aspects of your being that need it. Everybody will get from this process what they want and need. It will be a beautiful journey within and as a result one will feel more connected, supported, loved, authentic and at peace. 

So if you would like to deepen the relationship with yourself, your higher self, your inner light - join the classes this week. The same theme at yoga and meditation class too. Here are all the details for joining. 

I’m very excited to embark on this journey with you. 

With many blessings, Daria x 

Meditation and relationship with your mind.

Our mind is very powerful. It can do many wonderful things for us or create a lot of chaos in our life too. The relationship with our mind is directly connected to the quality of our life. We nurture and nourish the relationship with our mind through meditation.

Meditation helps us to quiet the mind, control it, and implement some positive energy. This is precisely why I am so passionate about meditation practice and training the mind. Every human being who wants to excel, develop character, and caliber that keeps the values of the soul needs a direct, fundamental relationship with the mind. 

The benefits of meditation are endless… 

• It improves concentration and focus. 

• Helps to increase emotional and mental well-being. 

• Reduces anxiety and stress. 

• Builds resilience and skills to deal with difficulty. 

• Deepens the connection with oneself, others, and the Universe. 

• It allows to create more joy, happiness, and peace. 

The potential of creating a deeper relationship with our mind is limitless. The only difficulty is we need to meditate. I know how hard it is to find time for regular practice and stay consistent, so I have started a weekly meditation class. The idea is to inspire you to meditate regularly, try different kinds of meditations, and see what works for you. Adding a weekly hour of meditation will do wonders for your well-being, will help you become a great meditator, and master of your mind. 

The weekly meditation class is on Sunday evenings at 8 pm GMT on the High On Yoga membership platform. Free for members. The class duration is one hour; we do about 3-4 meditations of various kinds. Join us to strengthen and expand your mind, prepare for the week ahead, and set your energy the right way. 

Join the membership for a weekly meditation class, Kundalini yoga classes, and much more.

The link to the membership is here.

5 reasons to celebrate Winter Solstice

You may be wondering what Winter Solstice actually is? It’s the moment when the North Pole is tilted furthest away from the Sun, therefore we are exposed to the least amount of sunlight and the biggest amount of darkness. This planetary situation has a direct impact on our bodies, minds and general wellbeing, regardless whether we’re aware of it or not.    

1. Connect with the universal flow

Consciously approaching Winter Solstice is little bit like driving a car and being aware of the road signs so we know that soon we have to slow down because we’re coming to a junction. We would be probably ok without the warning but may need to be more careful or break really fast. It’s much easier to navigate our inner landscape with the natural rhythms of nature. When we are approaching Winter Solstice consciously we know that there’s very little light available to us, it’s the time of going inward, slowing down and cultivating our inner light. Naturally, we may be feeling a bit down or sluggish and want to hide under warm blanket with a cup of tea. Having this awareness we can let ourselves do that with much more compassion and self-love. It’s called self-care not laziness. The more I listen to my body and connect with the natural rhythms of nature, the more peaceful, healthy and harmonious my life seems to be. It’s about going with the flow of the Universe not against it.     

2. Hope

Let’s face it, it’s dark, cold and going outside doesn’t appeal but deep inside we know that Spring is on its way and it will be beautiful again soon. Hope keeps us going. Similarly whatever darkness we may be facing in our lives we must accept it for what it is, feel it fully and in the same time pray and hope that things will change and the light will shine again soon. Let’s be grateful for the darkness as it helps us to appreciate the light even more. In the midst of dark, cold Winter we sometimes feel that it will never end but finding hope in our hearts will see us through. This too shall pass…     

3. Slow down

During Winter Solstice energies are low, even animals hibernate, so it’s not time to go out most nights and run around shopping malls. It’s the time to slow down, listen, go within and enjoy the silence. There will be time for making our goals and dreams come true but now it’s time of slowing down and going inwards to generate energy for the new season. Take time off this festive season and enjoy doing nothing, snuggling up, watching movies and resting.    

4. Re-new yourself

The main reason for slowing down is gathering strength and energy for the new phase of the year. We can’t expect different results next year if we start with the same energy we always had. When we stop, nurture our inner space and raise our vibration in this potent time of the Solstice we renew ourselves to start new. It’s the re-birthing of the Sun and we can re-birth ourselves too, it’s our choice and creativity. Nobody can do it for us. Will you take this opportunity?

5. Enjoy your inner light

Realistically there’s a certain amount of light available to us this time of the year. So trying to chase more light is pointless. This is when we turn inward and cherish the light we have inside. And the more we nurture our sacred space and more it nurtures us. It’s not available only to some special people, it’s available for everybody. All we have to do is to connect with our inner light and cultivate this relationship.

So there you have it, a small guide into Winter Solstice. If you would like to celebrate Winter Solstice with like-minded people and really feel its power come and join us on the 21st of December online or on the 22nd of December in Manchester.

I’m wishing you lots of awareness, self-compassion and gentleness during this festive time.  

Sadhana - daily spiritual practice in Kundalini Yoga.

What is sadhana?

Sadhana is an important part of Kundalini Yoga. In this blog, I will explain what sadhana is, its purpose and effects. We will look at traditional sadhana and how to create your own personal sadhana.  

Sadhana means daily spiritual practice. It’s a self-discipline that allows one to express the Infinite within one’s self. Discipline of the mind and body to serve the soul. 

The main purpose of sadhana is to reconnect with ourselves. In order to do that, sometimes we need to move our physical body and shift the stuck energy there, free our body and mind of obstacles, create more space and peace in our being. Other times we need to sit still and listen to the inner voice, cleanse our mind, transform our limitations, heal and expand. 

It’s a continuous process that requires constant awareness and presence. 

3 steps of sadhana

There are 3 steps of the daily spiritual practice. They are called sadhana, aradhana and prabhupati. Sadhana is a daily practice, aradhana – walking in our daily practice, prabhupati – mastery, eloquence, and excellence that we are if we are doing our daily practice. 

Sadhana is our discipline, this is where we create and maintain positive habits. At this point, we may skip the practice, try to bargain and ego may stop us from committing fully. As we stick with the regular practice, we feel its effects and the benefits of the practice go deeper. This inspires us even more to be consistent and committed. 

Aradhana is when the spiritual practice becomes second nature. We don’t need to negotiate with ourselves anymore, we know exactly why we are doing it and the effects of the practice are visible not only in our practice but also in daily life. The practice becomes deeper, we are cleansing the subconscious mind profoundly, letting go of many limitations, obstacles etc. And with consistent practice we can enter the third phase… prabhupati. 

Prabhupati is the mastery of the Universe. All our hard work is paying off now. The conscious mind has merged with the subconscious mind, complete integration. This is where we rest in neutrality, and harmony. We go beyond the polarities of time and space. We still feel the polarities but they don’t affect us. This is a neutral space of mind, with a lot of harmony, balance and peace. Our presence is strong and it's working for us, we radiate peace, stability and grace. 

So this is why we turn up on the mat! To daily chip away at what doesn’t serve us and reconnect with our Selves. It’s a long and continuous process, but luckily, we experience small positive effects of it daily, not only at the end of the process. 

Now let’s get practical, what does sadhana look like? In general, there is a traditional Aquarian Sadhana and sadhana that one can create for themselves.    

Traditional sadhana

Traditional Aquarian Sadhana as recommended by Yogi Bhajan is 2 and a half hours long, consists of 

1. Reading spiritual text called Japji Sahib. 30 mins 

2. Yoga practice (kriya). 6o mins 

3. Chanting aquarian mantras. 60 mins

Your own sadhana.

Alternatively, we can create our own sadhana and consider how much time we have daily, and what are our needs and goals. Not everybody can commit to 2.5 hours of daily practice so this is a great solution. Your sadhana can be 15 minutes or 2 hours long. It can be as short as 3 minutes, consistency is more important than quantity. Equally, you can choose what you would like to practice. Whether it’s a yoga set, or a few postures, meditation, mantra, breathing or even a lifestyle intervention. As long as the sadhana is serving its purpose which is balancing body and mind to serve the soul, all methods are fine.   

I’m curious to know what are your thoughts about sadhana? Does it sound inspiring and motivating or difficult? Would you like to create your own or attend the traditional sadhana? Drop your comments below.   

Link to attend

I’m thinking of re-starting the group sadhana, it will take place online so everybody can attend from the comfort of their own house. More details and the link to book is here. Who is coming?