For a Calm and Open Heart Center - Yoga for Women

(Self-Knowledge, Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan, p. 19.)

Center yourself with three deep inhalations and exhalations (or by chanting Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo).

Sit with a Straight Spine. Stretch your tongue out. Breathe in and out through your mouth powerfully. Breathe very deeply. Open up your lungs. 1 minute.

Still Sitting. Using the tip of the tongue moving rapidly against the upper palate, make the sound, “la, la, la, la, la.” It is like a continuous high-pitched warble and stimulates the brow area. 2 minutes.

In the Middle East, women use this sound to send their men off to war and to welcome them home. Making this sound will relax you.

Still Sitting. Touch the thumb to the mound under the Mercury (little) finger and close your fist around it. With your palms facing down, revolve your fists around each other in outward circles. Keep the revolving fists in front of your heart center. This is a very fast movement. 2 minutes.

This movement is beneficial for the heart.

Extend your arms straight in front of you, parallel to the floor. The palms are facing each other. Keep the elbows straight and move each arm alternately up and down one to two feet. 1 minute.

This motion will adjust the rib cage.

Extend your arms straight in front of you and upward at a sixty degree angle. There is no bend in the elbows and the palms are facing away from you. Rapidly open and close your hands so that the fingers slap the palms, creating a magnetic shock. 2 minutes.

This exercise invigorates the brain.

Still Sitting. Hands on your knees, rotate your torso on your base in a counter-clockwise motion. Grind your spine powerfully, making the body stiff and tough. 2 minutes.

Doing this exercise by itself for 31 minutes a day can maintain your youth.

Support yourself with your hands on either side of your hips. Lift your buttocks off the floor and let them drop back down. Move very quickly. Your entire weight will be supported by your hands. 1 ½ minutes.

Interlock your fingers behind your neck. Keep your spine straight and look at the tip of your nose. Meditate to Nirinjan Kaur’s Rakhe Rakhan Har, listening to the beat at your heart center. 7 minutes.

Keep the fingers interlocked behind the neck. Keep your eyes focused at the tip of your nose. Forcefully pump your navel to the beat of Guru Shabad Singh’s CD of Pavan Pavan for 13 minutes.

This exercise gives you mastery over the pranic shakti, the life force energy, by using the navel to develop your stamina and inner strength.

To Finish: Inhale, hold your breath for 10 seconds and exhale. Repeat this sequence two more times and relax. Raise your hands overhead and shake them.

“As long as the mind is dark

and does not let the light of the soul shine in your life, you will never have the joy and success that is your birthright as a human.”

--Yogi Bhajan