MC Yogi grew up painting graffiti & listening to hip hop. Inspired by artists like The Beastie Boys & Run DMC, he began writing raps and freestyling for friends at house parties. spending most of high school in a group home for at-risk youth hip hop culture provided both a soundtrack and a creative outlet. Then at age eighteen, he discovered yoga. Visit his website http://mcyogi.com.
A mysterious and powerful instrument of awareness lies hidden within us: the mind. Over the past several issues, we’ve been exploring the nature of the mind in meditation. It is said to have four principle functions: manas, buddhi, chitta, and ahamkara. For a brief recap of the first three, see “Anatomy of the Mind”. Here we’ll explore the last function: ahamkara—the individual self, or ego. To begin, let’s examine what we mean by self-identity, and then look closer at how it is influenced by meditation.
Dharma Mittra’s Master Yoga Chart of 908 Postures has inspired students for almost 25 years. It hangs in homes and studios all over the world. The poster doesn’t picture one of Dharma’s favorite postures: seated in front of a computer. “I love computers,” Dharma says. “If I could, I would just be in front of the computer all day, working with Photoshop.”
Yogi Bhajan gave thousands of different meditations for people to use. Whichever meditations you choose to work with there are two strategies for building momentum in your Kundalini Yoga practice: meditate more often, and deepen the quality of that meditation. Meditating more can involve formal sits, yoga sets, and using various techniques to extend your concentration and awareness throughout the day.
Kundalini is a subtle energy and consciousness that is said (in Yogic and Tantric scriptures) to be coiled at the base of the spine 31/2 times, holding our system in stasis during our lives. If it uncoils and awakens, either through spiritual practices, breathing practices, near-death experiences or by other means,
