Right NOW -- this weekend -- is a great time to make a positive change. It will be the New Moon in Taurus. As we learn in the teachings of Kundalini Yoga, the New Moon is always a powerful time to set a new intention. With this New Moon, the energy of Taurus  supports lasting change. You can think of yourself as the bull -- determined and grounded in strength and confidence. 

Are you thinking of making a change? Do you want to eat better? Move more? Wake earlier? Drop a bad habit?  Shed a self-limiting or hurtful thought? Then, let's start NOW. If you've been considering a positive lifestyle change, start NOW. Give yourself every advantage. 

I've put together a list of 10 tips (which includes seizing the opportunity of the New Moon in Taurus) for giving yourself the advantage and anticipating and helping yourself through some of  the challenges of change because change can be tricky. Before I get to the tips, let's look at why it isn't always easy to step into new good habits.

No matter how much we want to step into a positive future full of good habits, our old patterning may threaten to overpower our positive intentions. Old patterning gets in the way in the form of discomfort. For example, you can imagine that you may feel off if... 

• ...you're used to plowing through a sleeve of cookies when stressed but instead you try to focus on your breath. 
• ...you're used to falling asleep in front of the TV but instead you lie in bed, scan the body for tension to release, and then wait for sleep to come. 
• ...you're used to hitting snooze a bunch of times and crawling to the kitchen for coffee but instead you try to get right out of bed, splash cold water on your face and sit in meditation. 

We are wired to relieve discomfort, not ride it out. This doesn't mean we are bad or unable to create a new habit. It just means we're human, and we need to help ourselves in our human tendencies. If we anticipate these tendencies and use helpful practices to deal with them, we can indeed get to other side of discomfort.  Tips for that are coming.
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In addition to the old patterns, we also have the constant chatter in our minds that can knock us off course. At times, many of us are flooded with unhelpful and distracting thoughts. Our minds can throw us off track. For example... 

• In the midst of a 40-day practice, you might think, "Well, I've gone for 22 days. That's a lot. That's got to be enough. What do they want from me?"  
• If we're endeavoring to eat more whole foods and less processed junk, you might think, "This isn't fair. Other people get to eat junk. I deserve treats too."
• A reminder goes off on your phone that it's time to go to yoga class. You might think, "But there are bills and dishes piling up. That's more important. Yoga is a luxury." 

We have to deal with our chatty, chatty, chatty minds who may get even chattier when we have made a decision to do things differently. We can observe these thoughts and not be upset. We can say to ourselves. "That's just the mind doing it's thing. I don't have to listen." Again it's about anticipating and using tools to support ourselves through the storms of the mind, with those lightning streaks of sabotage. 

Kundalini Yoga has a plethora of techniques for overcoming the tricks of the mind and the entrenchment in old patterns. I've put together a list of them below with a couple other things thrown in. Pick the tips that appeal to you; pick the ones that you feel will nourish you and carry you through. But, for goodness' sake, support yourself. Spoil yourself with support! You deserve it! 

 Don't know who Syd is? Well, he's this super chipper Buddha who believes in you, believes in your vision and your ability to change. You can tell that he's saying, "You've got this. I love you." At MKY, we have a special connection to Syd because his creator is our dear friend and student, Ellen Atkins, aka the Suburban Monk. We are a proud Suburban Monk affiliate. You can click here to see all 14 colors of Little Syd, meet Big Syd, find out a little bit of how he came to be, and purchase a Syd for yourself and for your change.  

I hope these ideas serve you as you move closer and closer to a vision of your life that is the most expansive and joyful and aligned. Happy New Moon! Happy Change! 

If you sleep well and arise refreshed, then you don't need this routine or this blog. If you struggle with falling asleep, getting quality sleep, staying asleep, or feeling rested when you wake up in the morning, then try it. It works! You really can access deep restorative sleep.

The routine consists of a 15 minute meditation, a quick body scan, and a trick for beginning to fall asleep.

If I lost you at "15 minute meditation" because you don't like to "be with your thoughts," please know that in this meditation you are NOT with your thoughts. You are with mantra and a breath pattern. You don't give your thoughts the microphone. You give mantra the mic and the thoughts recede like muzak at the grocery store. 

1. Meditation for Deep Sleep. Just before bedtime, sit in any comfortable posture with the spine straight. Place the hands in the lap, palms up with the right hand over the left. The thumbs are together and point forward.  Focus the eyes on the tip of the nose with the eyelids just a teeny tiny bit open, letting in a sliver of light. The eyes are 9/10 closed.  Inhale in 4 equal parts, silently  repeating to yourself the mantra Sa-Ta-Na-Ma. (Sa means Infinity, Ta means Life, Na means Transformation, and Ma means Rebirth.) At the top of the inhale, hold the breath, silently repeating the mantra 4 times (Sa-Ta-Na-Ma, Sa-Ta-Na-Ma., Sa-Ta-Na-Ma, Sa-Ta-Na-Ma) for a total of 16 beats. Then, exhale in 2 equal strokes silently repeating  Wahe Guru (Wahe Guru means Great is the Infinite wisdom). Continue for 15 to 62 minutes. Those of you who go past 15 minutes, kudos. But you only need 15 minutes to get the benefits. I can't emphasize enough how well this meditation works. You can wake up feeling better. With consistent practice, you can reset your circadian rhythm. 
2. ​Release Body Tension: Get into bed and lie on your back. Consciously, relax. Tell your limbs, your muscles, your organs, and all your cells to soften. Remind yourself that it's okay to let go. Feel into a relaxed state of being. Remain in awareness as you begin at the head and scan the body for residual tension. Be curious and detailed. Feel into every nook and cranny and command each part of you to relax. Scan from head to toe. For example, relax your temples, your jaw, your eyes. Moving down the body: soften the neck, the shoulders, the arms, the fingers. Let go of tension in all the muscles around the spine, the lungs, the diaphragm, the belly, the hips, the buttocks, the thighs, the knees, the ankles, and the feet.  (If you have trouble accessing a feeling of relaxation and release, try tensing parts of the body and then relaxing them. In other words, squeeze the muscles of the face and relax, pull the shoulders up toward the ears and relax, makes fists of the hands and relax, etc.)
3. Turn onto your right side.  Use your right pointer finger to block the right nostril and take 10 deep breaths in and out of the left nostril only. The left side is our relaxing side, our moon side and we want it to be dominant to access drowsiness and sleep. (Throughout our day, which nostril is dominant changes. See if you can tune into that and notice that at times.) After 10 breaths, remove your right finger and let go of conscious breathing. Adjust to your desired sleeping position and sweet dreams. 

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Will you give this a try? If you have any questions, please leave a comment below and I will respond as soon as possible. I'd also LOVE to have you come back and leave a comment when you're experiencing the results... because you will. 

Over 10 years ago, I faced a devastating diagnosis: Breast Cancer. My disease forced me to undergo surgery and radiation; it also forced me to confront deep fear. That’s when I learned the Kundalini mantra Sa Ta Na Ma.

At the time, I had never heard of Kundalini Yoga, but I was practicing Vinyasa at a studio near my home, and I found that yoga was helping immensely with my ability to face this challenging and frightening time in my life. 

Out of the goodness of her heart, the owner of the studio, came to my house the day before my breast cancer surgery to lead me through a visual imagery meditation in preparation for my operation. But just before she left that day she turned to me at the door and took my hand. “Say these sounds--Sa Ta Na Ma -- pressing your fingers like so,” she instructed, “every time you are afraid. This will help to calm you.” As luck would have it, she had recently been introduced to the mantra at a Radiant Child Yoga training (Kundalini Yoga for Kids), and she showed me how to press thumbs and forefingers as I said Sa, thumbs and middle fingers as I said Ta, thumbs and ring fingers as I said Na, and thumbs and pinkies as I said Ma. 

This was a moment of grace because the mantra became my refuge. Although I didn’t know what the sounds meant yet, I took her at her word. As I lay on an examining table awaiting my surgery, I pressed my fingers together and silently chanted. As I went for radiation treatments, firmly secured in an immobilization device called a “mold,” unable to move even a fraction of an inch, I silently chanted the mantra. As I waited for test results, as I tried to fall asleep at night, as I woke up in the morning filled with fear for my future, I chanted the mantra. Somehow, I got through it all—thankfully, with the mantra Sa Ta Na Ma as my comforting guide. 

The mantra Sa Ta Na Ma represents the creation cycle: Infinity, Life, Transformation, Rebirth. Some of you may know it from Kirtan Kriya, a popular Kundalini meditation which balances the hemispheres of the brain, and has been studied by scientists for its role in guarding against Alzheimer’s Disease. Sa Ta Na Ma can also be chanted to bring a sense of calm and peace. In fact, that’s exactly what it did for me.

Many years have passed since my diagnosis and I’m now cancer-free. I’m also a Kundalini Yoga teacher, and Sa Ta Na Ma is still my go-to mantra. I use it when I am worried about my sons, when I’m traveling, when the future looks dim or hopeless. I use it when the news is bad, when I can’t see the light, when everything seems topsy-turvy, whether in my personal life, or in the universe. I use it whenever I feel unbalanced or afraid—not just in dire circumstances, such as facing down cancer-- but to bring ease to the everyday challenges of living in these times. 

Touching the tips of the fingers to the thumbs while chanting is said to light up and balance parts of the the brain, but I’ve also found that it balances the heart and restores a sense of trust. 

Before I found yoga, I was a skeptic, a doubter, and chanting mantra was something I never even considered doing. Back then, life seemed random, unpredictable, and often quite scary. I questioned everything, including my own beliefs. But cancer led me to search more deeply, and yoga helped me to find my center. 

“To believe,” my very first yoga teacher told me, “all you have to do is look up at the sky.” Whenever I doubted, her advice was the same: “Trust. Believe.”

Whatever else it may do or mean, for me, Sa Ta Na Ma will always be a mantra of trust. There is a cycle of life we can count on, and all is as it should be: Infinity, Life, Transformation, Rebirth. Sa Ta Na Ma brings balance to my brain, my heart, and my life. 

 Trust. Believe. Look up at the sky. And chant Sa Ta Na Ma.