​Mint and Lemon Balm
Mint is a miracle herb for digestive discomfort. Whenever I have a stomachache, I drink mint tea or just chew some mint and it almost immediately relieves it. Even a peppermint lozenge works wonders for this. Mint is also used to treat IBS, to improve cold symptoms, to reduce pain and to freshen the breath. Lemon balm, which is in the mint family, has many of these same qualities and is a miracle herb for the nervous system, it calms and soothes and helps with sleep. Peppermint and spearmint are among the other variations in the mint family and all can be dried and used in teas and smoothies or just chewed. Invigorating peppermint oil is wonderful in soaps and lotions and a few drops can even be added to a glass drinking water.

Sat Nam!!! Wahe Guru!!

Your Friend,
​Manush

Manush teaches a weekly online Kundalini Yoga class & co-leads monthly Online New Moon Healing Ceremonies with Kimani Divine. 

I've come to yoga... because I'm falling apart. My therapist (a soft-spoken, slender lady whom I've recently begun seeing) believes it might pull me together. I'm doubtful, but what's to lose? I have a wonderful husband, three perfect boys  and a charming little home in a New Jersey suburb. On the outside I appear content and in control, but something tugs violently at my heart each morning: the mistakes I've made, the wrong turns I've taken, the losses that come with middle age, including the deaths of both of my parents. I have yet to find the gains of aging (except at my waist). Might yoga be a path?

I need a path because life has come to a sudden halt, as if I've stubbed my toe at the gate to year fifty, and sit bleeding. I'm afraid to pick myself up and carry on. I'm afraid to move forward, and I can't go back, and in my paralyzed state, I wonder if I'll even be able to figure this yoga thing out at all. In the past, I would have turned to my mother; though she couldn't calm my fears because she had too many of her own, at least we could commiserate. But now she's gone, and there's no one who seems to understand the agitated state of my mind. When I crawl into bed at night, my thoughts take hours to settle, and even when I'm sleeping my worries seem to hum and vibrate beneath my pillow. I'm literally "driving myself crazy," and without my mom in the passenger seat, I know I can't continue to travel through life in this way. 
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I'm afraid of little things, like traffic merges and snapping turtles, but I'm also afraid of sending my fifteen-year-old son off to study in England for a month, afraid of flying, of losing my three nearly grown boys to adulthood and independence, frightened at the thought of them going off to college, afraid of illness, terrified of death -- my own and everyone else's -- and even scared of fully enjoying life because it can so easily slip between one's fingers. I hope -- and if I prayed I'd be praying -- that yoga will make a difference. But I'm not a spiritual woman and I'm certainly not an avid exerciser. I haven't been to church in more than twenty years, and the last time I moved fast enough to break a sweat, I was chasing a toddler around a park. 

Kathy struggled to get comfortable in yoga classes and in yoga poses and with yoga philosophies, but along the way discovered that they nourished her. She leaned on yoga and her practice developed. Then, after two years of practice, Kathy was diagnosed with breast cancer. She  was forced to face perhaps her greatest fear, her own mortality. She brought so much of what she was learning about herself and life in yoga to getting through her surgery, radiation, and nights of worry. Thankfully, she got through and is cancer-free today. 

[My yoga teacher] Jeanine says that Mercury is in retrograde, which supposedly causes some kind of confusion in our lives. I guess I do feel a bit confused; getting to know and love this new person I've become is quite a challenge. I'm a person with seven pinpoint blue tattoos on my breast (used to guide the radiation therapists), a two-inch scar, and a calendar filled with doctor and treatment appointments, a person who had cancer, a person who may still have some cancer cells lurking around that need to be zapped for survival. I'm a woman I never imagined being, as if my past and future selves have just been introduced at a dance neither one of us really wants to attend. "Who is that awkward kid in the plaid dress?" my future self asks. Never mind; just dance with her, show her the steps.

But according to my yoga teachers, this is really not who I am anyway: we are not our thoughts, our words, or our worries. My divine and perfect self is and always has been here, like a cookie in a jar, waiting for a little kid to reach her hand in and pluck it out. I can almost see myself standing in front of that cookie jar, gathering my courage. We need so much courage just to love ourselves. 

Below is a beautiful message from our dear, dear Nicky. She is an MKY Community member,  deep thinker, Truth-teller and so much more.  She shares here about a profound experience in our recent New Moon Healing Ceremony.  
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Sat Nam MKY Community,

Wherever you are in the world (inner or outer), I know this message will find you at the perfect moment, in the perfect space and in the most perfect way possible for you at this time. 

Synchro-Divinity is when unforeseen circumstances line up perfectly and "coincidentally." They are so perfectly and eerily timed that they just have to be guided by an energetic force bigger than our human self. This is what I have been experiencing with MKY and my own healing practice lately. 

Recently, I have been digging deeply into my most intimate relationships (with my father, brother, partner and children). I am finally starting to understand that there are indescribable opportunities for healing within these connections. Every time I discover a new opportunity for healing, it is Synchro-Divinely the intention of the next MKY class I attend. This tells me that I am open and now I have a choice: close back up and avoid the pain or remain open, curious and say "yes". This leads me to the New Moon Healing Ceremony I attended the other night, guided by graceful and radiant souls, Padmani and Manush...

Padmani opened our circle with the most beautiful invocation, inviting us to welcome in our inner child. What is so Synchro-Divine about this? Well, I am reading a book titled How to Do the Work by Dr. Nicole LaPera (The Holistic Psychologist). The chapter I've been focusing on is Chapter 7: Meet Your Inner Child. This chapter has been achingly accurate to things I am realizing about myself, like how my family disregarded my big feelings as a young girl because it made them uncomfortable. As a result, I shut down, closed my heart, and armored up using indifference  and aloofness  to cover up any and every emotion I experienced. (Yes, even joy.) 

My heart ached and jumped for joy when my inner-Nicky came out to play. She was scared and excited at the same time. Scared because she wasn't sure if she would be fully accepted if she showed up as her real self, and joyful because she felt like this was one of the only places where she could fully show up. For a little one, this weird contradiction in feelings can be confusing, but she said "yes" because she trusted us,  our community.

As excited as she was, she contracted again when Manush excitedly announced we would be doing Sat Kriya for 15 minutes, but she trusted him, too and knew he wouldn't lead her astray. She said "yes" again. 

A few minutes into Sat Kriya, when I started to wonder how in all Holy Hell I'd be able to see this through, my (late) mom appeared and started cheering me on from the Ethers. I haven't felt her this strongly in a little while. She was right there with me,  unlike growing up, as she worked two jobs and dismissed so many of my emotions and stories because she was just so exhausted. This was her way of showing up for me. This was her atonement. I accepted it, embraced it, and used it to keep me up. It worked. 

Deep relaxation was pure bliss. Every cell in my body was ignited. My DNA was restructuring itself. I could feel it. Was it the yoga, or was it forgiveness? Was it simply because I said, yes? Was it just because I actually showed up to class?  I will never truly know, and that's more than OK. The "why" is what trips us up more often than not.

The last meditation started off to be so fun. I remembered when my daughter, Devon, let me record her doing it. I could just hear her singing, "I AM happy. I AM good." Then the tears. Tears, tears, tears. My inner, little Nicky realized that she is  good and she is  happy. She knows her parents did the best they could with what they had available to them at the time. It's all OK.

I then started to see how harsh I can sometimes be with my own kids. I cried for them. I cried for me. I cried for us. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. I am doing the best I can, and my best changes from day to day, from moment to moment. 

SO much went down for me the New Moon Healing. It's not because I'm special. It's not because I've been doing this for a "long time". It's not at all  because I am any more "advanced" than anyone else. It's because I said yes. I said yes to allowing a part of me that I thought I lost forever to come out and play in a safe, loving space, even though I knew that this game wouldn't necessarily be the most fun we've ever had. 

This is what MKY is for me. My safe place. Yes, I can find that within myself, sure, but to have a community to support your healing in such an authentic and unconditionally loving way, is priceless. If you have yet to attend class or any of our moon ceremonies for whatever reason, one day, I hope you say yes. I hope to see your glowing gorgeous face in all of its grace, glory, suffering, angst, uncertainty, joy and radiance, because whatever way you show up, I love you anyway. Every ounce of you. 
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May we always remember that there is joy to be found within each and every moment. 
May we remember that we always, always have a choice.
May we learn to love every single ounce of ourselves. Only then can we truly love another. ​

Sat Nam.

 Cynthia Seva is a treasured member of the MKY community. In this blog, she shares her heart's truth about how she  found herself at a low point and picked herself up with a daily spiritual practice. 
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When I started my practice in 2019, my goal was to find peace within and my ultimate goal was to become less reactive. This year I was challenged by emotional distress. My empathetic nature was truly withering my soul. The challenges in our world coupled with my heart mourning loss became unbearable and brought me to my knees on many occasions.

I am strong because I’ve been weak and this year I allowed myself to be vulnerable. But then, I could not find a way out.  It’s ok not to be ok, but it’s not ok to stay in that place. This is where depression and mental instability can take over. I found myself there.

So, I reached out to my MKY family for support and decided to embark on a 40 day practice with Cate as my Kundalini Coach. Cate and I co-created a beautiful, nurturing meditative routine for me to do every day for 40 days in a row - every moment, every sound, every breath had a purpose. My 40 day Sadhana....
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Day 1 my heart was heavy and my emotions heightened. Day 8 came around and I was able to function past moments of anxiety. Unexpectedly, I realized I no longer depended on coffee (true story). And I had a new love in my life, ME! Now I was open to life and new experiences.

By day 15, I was dancing around palm trees in Puerto Rico where I was vacationing. By day 20, I realized I was opening space for myself to fill and with that came a sense of expansion and growth.

I live by a lake in New Jersey, and I often did my practice outside by the water. On my 40th day of practice, I opened my eyes and there were swans floating by just in front of me. Coincidence? I think not.

The rest is history. Here I am after 40 days, loving myself like I’ve never loved me before. I'd become so accustomed to filling everyone else’s cup first that I'd forgotten to fill my own.

For the first time in my life, I am single for months and loving my own companionship and open to what comes along my path. To know my worth means nobody ever gets to decide it for me. You cannot come to know yourself as grand until you've known yourself as small. Thank you to everyone that has entered and exited. Blessings! Cynthia Seva

This is our dear student and friend, Erik Maietta, a bright light in our MKY community. The other day after class he shared  a beautiful example of how Kundalini Yoga impacted his real life in a very real way. We asked if he'd be willing to share on the blog, and he graciously agreed. Here is his story. 
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A few days before Christmas, I became terribly upset by a friend who gave holiday gifts to everyone in our group… except me!  Although there was no intention to hurt me, I took this situation VERY personally and worked myself up into a state of rage and resentment. The next day, I decided my best course of action was to take a MKY class which did help me settle down and recenter for sure.  However, that afternoon, I was still struggling with my wounded feelings.  I knew that if I could just hold out long enough the feelings would eventually pass like the clouds.  However, my ego was firmly in control and finally wore me down and convinced me I had to confront her at work and spit my venom! 

Once in my car, I was still wrestling with this urge and if it was really the best thing for me to do (maybe this is a big spiritual test, and I MIGHT be overreacting??).  Something urged me to drive through a park on the way, and my feelings softened a little more.  As I neared the driveway of my friend’s store, I saw her parked car (along with many other cars of customers).  I thought that she must be so busy and overworked right before Christmas.   My heart was suddenly flooded with compassion, and I found myself wishing her well!  I continued driving right past her store as any remaining feelings of resentment and anger instantly vanished.  Then a few seconds later as I pulled up to a red light, my entire body quivered with a MASSIVE tingling sensation exploding all over my crown chakra and heart/chest area.  I could feel an energy rise from my bowels and float up above my head, causing me to instantly feel amazing peace and bliss.  My body felt soothed and relaxed all over as if I just finished an intense gym workout (thankfully I was stopped at the light when all this happened!!).   

As I drove back home, I knew something amazing just happened… a MIRACLE for sure!  Something major shifted inside that cannot be undone now.  I was happy and filled with love for the rest of the week, and I am still feeling the energetic change in my being.  It was no coincidence that I have been attending more MKY sessions recently, and I am so grateful that I attended class that morning (as well as our amazing solstice celebration later that same day!).  Each experience brings me more and more inner clarity and a healthy release of stale/old energies.  As an empath, I realize how important my spiritual health is, and I cannot thank MKY and the entire staff enough for all the love and support as I continue my journey.
 
Thank you all so much, and Happy New Age of Aquarius!! Sat nam!  

Beloved Community,
This past week, on Tuesday, we crossed the threshold of the Autumnal Equinox. And with the season of harvest and abundance now upon us, it is with much gratitude that I write to you all now in celebration.
 
Over the past three-and-a-half years, I have had the pleasure of getting to know so many of you. Being together– in class and at the various gong events I’ve hosted– has allowed us to create in ways that I know have helped meet our deepest needs: To understand with certainty that we are not alone, and to experience a sacred love beyond words.
 
Going forward, as I officially join the teaching staff at MKY, it is my great honor to offer what I can to guide you even deeper into your being.
 
I don’t pretend to have special knowledge, or answers to the questions that pulse in your hearts like ancient drums in the distance, but... I do have some things. I have the love of Awareness itself that I will bring to each class I teach. I have deep honor for your souls, whose journeys have, through some miracle, crossed paths with mine. I have unshakable trust in the power of our intentions to heal and guide us through the abyss of the unknown. And I have the joy I’ve discovered in walking a spiritual path and in forging my destiny alongside you all with courage, love, and peace.
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Every Tuesday, at 6:30pm, I will offer what I can to help you fulfill your God-given potential and grow in awareness daily. 
 
Please reach out to me with any questions: manushbaldr@gmail.com
 
I look forward to our journeys of awareness and discoveries of the truth within.
And I hope to see you in class. Sat Naam.
 
Yours,
Manush

We are embarking on an experiment, and you are invited to join.  Inspired by our dear friend and student Joanne, we are doing a 40 Day practice of the 5 Tibetan Rites.

Also known as the Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation, this practice consists of just 5 exercises, each repeated 21 times (or as many as you can up to 21). It takes mere minutes to do and the benefits are remarkable. They include: 
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• improved strength and coordination
• better circulation
• reduced anxiety
• better sleep
• improved energy
• a youthful appearance
• relief from joint pain and stiffness

For these reasons, the Tibetan 5 are known as "the Fountain of Youth." The benefits are said to come about by getting the chakras (energy centers or vortexes) spinning. According to Peter Kelder's book on this subject, "In a healthy body, each of these vortexes revolves at a great speed, permitting vital life energy... to flow upward through the endocrine system. But if one or more of these vortexes begins to slow down the vital energy is inhibited or blocked, well, that's just another name for aging and ill health." 

Savitri and I have known this practice for awhile and practiced it here and there. During the pandemic, we began offering a FREE online class on the Tibetan 5 twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays at 10:30am. So lately, we'd been practicing twice a week -- until Joanne spurred us to take it on for 40 days, every single day. (I'm on DAY 5 and already feeling benefits.)

Please read her story below and see if you want to join the experiment. To learn the exercises from us, you can join us for class on a Monday or a Wednesday at 10:30am EST. It's fun to practice together, and it's FREE. Or you can read up on them in Kelder's The Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth.

​From Joanne: 

The Fountain of Youth entices many people, particularly as we start to get “a little” older.  Wouldn’t it be great to feel energized? To regain the vitality of youth? After a class practicing the Five Tibetans, and hearing about the purported results (Fountain of Youth!!) of doing it regularly, I decided to go for it. A daily practice for as along as I could, maybe for 40 days. 

​As with many people in the midst of this upheaval of our lives, my mental state had not been good.  To put it bluntly, I had little to no interest in anything, and little to no interest in doing anything about it.  Perhaps, I thought, if the Five Tibetans really is magical, I could regain my “normal” self.  So I  started whirling! After 2 days (no kidding) I felt better, more connected.  I realize there are many reasons for change.  Making a decision to DO something may have started it. Maybe it was just time. Maybe, maybe.  Persisting, I am now on DAY 10 (as of this writing). The exercises have become easier, although my form still lacks precision.  My overall mental/emotional state is much improved. Not perfect, but improved.  I’m interested and getting involved with new things.  I’ll keep going and see what happens.  You don’t know until you try!  Fountain of Youth, here I come!!

We thank Joanne so much for  sharing her story and inspiring us to dive in. Are these 5 exercises that can be done in under 15 minutes really the Fountain of Youth? Let's find out together. If you're joining the experiment, share a comment below and keep us posted about your experience. 

The Eight Brocades is a real blessing for millions of people all over the world. The movements are beautifully silken, like intricate brocade. After practicing, it feels as if you are wearing a robe of rich, soft, silk fabric: This is the Qi(Chi) or Prana that flows through the subtle channels in and around the body, brightening and strengthening the radiant body, which in turn strengthens, protects, heals and sustains the physical body. 

Eight Brocade Qigong is one of the most common forms of Qigong in the world and is probably the simplest Qigong one can learn. It is focused on opening the muscles and tendons and healing and awakening the internal organ systems of the physical body. 
 
A simple search online describes people with physical problems, especially related to the lower body, who have had amazing benefits within 6-8 months of practicing this form. People who had difficulty with instability, who were prone to falling or unable to climb stairs or even walk a few steps were able to build up their energy body and physical body with the Eight Brocades to the point where they could walk several flights of stairs with relative ease. Even people with Parkinson’s disease have reported increased stability in the body, with pain and rigidity eased up by 50% or more.
 
The Eight Brocades follow the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine and are one of the most gentle and effective ways of working with the body. They calm the nervous system, improve circulation, build great strength and heal body, mind, and spirit. They correct physical and energetic imbalances of all kinds and optimally direct Qi throughout the body, removing blockages without the use of needles, herbs or massage.  In fact, it is one of the best ways to strengthen the body and improve circulation. It also helps in balancing the vital functions and drives stagnant energy and toxins out of the system.

The Eight Brocades also happens to be one of the oldest Qigong systems in Chinese history.  It is first mentioned by name in the 12th century Stories Heard by Yijian, a collection of supernatural tales from the Song dynasty.  Descriptions of the physical movements of the Eight Brocades, as well as their related medical applications, also show up in the Daoist encyclopedia, Pivot of the Way, also from the 12th century. 

But even earlier, these precise movements were described in the sixth century, in Cultivating Spirit and Extending Vitality Record, written by one of the great grandfathers of Daoism, Tao Hongjing, who lived between 456–536 BCE.  Going back even further, thanks to recent archeological discoveries in China, we can see that the Eight Brocade exercises, though probably called by a different name, were being practiced as far back as the second century BCE as shown by some of the characters from the Diagram of Leading and Pulling, from 168 BCE.

The Eight Brocades seem to have grown in popularity during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), appearing in a fairly standardized way in numerous books, such as the 14th century Essentials of Attaining Longevity, written by the painter, musician, and Daoist hermit Leng Qian in the 12th century, as well as in the 16th century Eight Treasuries on Nurturing Life, written by the Daoist playwright Gao Lian.  In both contexts it is praised as an essential practice for balancing the energies of the body.   

The famous, undefeated martial artist and general Yue Fei, who was also a calligrapher and poet, held off China’s enemies single-handedly in the 10th century, for an entire generation. The Eight Brocades was said to be the secret of his incredible strength. 

In one of the narratives about the Eight Brocades, Zhong Li Quan, one of the famous Eight Daoist Immortals, formalized the Eight Brocades in the 14th century. Then it further caught on in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). 

The French Jesuit missionary Pierre-Martial Cibot came to the court of the Qing Emperor in the 1700s and published an essay in 1779, Instructions on the Kung Fu of Daoist Monks, which includes a number of drawings of Daoist monks performing what are clearly exercises from the Eight Brocades.  Cibot’s article included a rundown of Daoist anatomy and the function of these movements, i.e. the restoration of proper circulation of energy.  He even mentions that these exercises are performed to prepare the body for the alchemical process. The paper was widely circulated in Europe, and has come to be regarded as a source document on the Eight Brocades in the history of physiotherapy for the West, due to its influence on Pehr Henrik Ling (1766-1839), the father of Swedish Gymnastics.

From there, the Eight Brocades seeped into Modern European physical culture and was practiced by the military of many different countries, including the British army stationed in India, who practiced it alongside yoga. 

Today it is practiced as a modern, transnational, therapeutic form of moving meditation for health, healing, strength and well-being. The Chinese Communist Party tried to curb the global explosion of QiGong toward the end of the 1990s, delegitimizing many forms of Qigong, famously imprisoning and even executing practitioners of Falon Gong and other forms QiGong. I have seen many human rights protests in Times Square led by Falon Gong and Falon Dafa practitioners within the last few years while working in New York.  

The Eight Brocades, luckily, were approved by the Chinese Communist Party and is often a first resort for healing the body, prescribed before sending a patient to a doctor or hospital in China. It is perhaps the most common form of Qigong practiced all around the world.  
 
The Eight Brocades, when practiced regularly, improve wellness, fitness, vitality, healing, and longevity. It can be practiced by everyone; young and elderly, people who are fit and also those looking to get fit. The standing sets of the Eight Brocades can be learned by anyone who can stand, and can establish health in as little as 15 minutes a day. 
 
I have been practicing the Eight Brocades daily for many years now and can attest to their efficacy. I very much look forward to sharing them with you. 

Join Savitri online on Fridays at 1pm for Chi-Gung & the Eight Brocades. 
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