Dr. Annette Fornos, physician, The Osher Center for Integrative Health
As years seem to go by faster than ever, and 2024 begins to wrap up, the Osher Center for Integrative Health wants to share a message of community and love.
What does it mean to be alive today amidst everything that is taking place in the world? Many around the world are experiencing hardship, war, insecurity, and despair; what is our role as individual members of a universal community at this precise moment in history?
The holidays are, for many, a time of celebration, gathering, and sharing material gifts. For others, they are a time of loneliness and longing. Yet for those facing war, illness, and famine, they are just another time of struggling for survival. As different as our personal life experiences may seem, I wonder: why are we sharing this planet precisely at this moment in time? What is the connection, the meaning, the purpose of being here today? Are we meant to leave a legacy? Will we? Will I?
According to the teachings of Kundalini yoga, we are living in the early years of the Aquarian Era. Information is readily available, nothing is hidden, and we are called to live in authenticity. “BE TO BE” is the motto of the Aquarian age. But what does BEING mean? It is questions like this that inspire me to practice self-awareness. Am I living in alignment with my highest self?
It is in authentic small acts of kindness that I find our humanity most genuinely expressed. Simple everyday practices such as smiling, saying hello, yielding in traffic, or sending a loving thought to someone in need, increase the projection and impact of our life energy and the energy of the world we live in.
During these holidays, in spite of the commotion and compulsion to shop and celebrate, let us pause, reflect, and send a loving thought to another person, known or unknown, and then a special “I love you” to ourselves. Let us reach out to one another in the silent, powerful energy of a loving thought. After all, it is from a thought that a feeling is created, gives rise to an action that leads to an effect, and unleashes the power of manifestation. In the Kundalini yoga tradition, truth is our identity.
🥣 Suggested Yogi Recipe: Golden Milk
Adapted from Kundalini Yoga, the Flow of Eternal Power, by Shakti Parwha Kaur Khalsa
Ingredients
- 1/8 teaspoon turmeric
- 3 cardamom pods (optional)
- 1/4 cup of water
Instructions
- Simmer for 5-7 minutes, then add:
- 1 cup of milk (can be almond milk)
- 2 tablespoons of almond oil (cold pressed)
- Bring up the heat just before boiling. If desired, add a sweetener such as honey or maple syrup, to taste. Can be made frothy in the blender (use the lowest setting).
- Enjoy! It is great for sleep.
🧘 Suggested Meditation: Balancing the Nervous Energies
Take a gentle breath meditation break that balances the nervous and glandular systems. Practice for 3-5 minutes.
Suggested Mantra: Every Heartbeat by Snatam Kaur
| Posture & Mudra: Sit in easy pose with a straight spine. With the elbows bent, raise the hands up and in until they meet at the level of the heart a few inches from the body, palms facing the chest. Place the palm of the right hand against the back of the left hand. Hold the hands and forearms parallel to the ground so that the fingers of the right hand point toward the left side and the fingers of the left hand point toward the right side. Press the thumb tips together. |
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Eyes: The eyes are nine-tenths closed.
Breath: Inhale deeply through the nose and calmly hold the breath in for 15-20 seconds. Exhale completely through the nose and calmly hold the breath out for 15-20 seconds. Concentrate on the breath.
Wishing you healthy, happy, and holy (3HO) holidays!
SAT NAM*
[*SAT NAM is a mantra in Kundalini yoga that means "the truth is my identity". It is a salutation in the practice.]
Source: 3HO.com
Click here to read the full Mind and Matter Holiday Edition.
