Awakening to your Potential - Lesson 2

• Think about what habits and addictions you may have and how they may or may not be serving you.
• Learn how to break these cycles and choose differently.

• A chat where I cover the topics mentioned above.
• A kundalini warmup routine.
• An 8 minute meditation to heal and break addictions.
• A savasana and a cool down routine.
• A closing Sat Nam mantra to seal in the energy of the practice.

• This is a 60 minute lesson.

Note: this is a transcript of the introductory chat. The full video transcript is available within the video playback settings.

-----------------------------------
Minutes 0 - 13: Introductory chat.
Minutes 13 - 35: Kundalini tune in and warm up sequence.
Minutes 35 - 45: Meditation to heal and break addictions.
Minutes 45 - 52: next
Minutes 52 - 63: Savasana, warm down and Sat Nam mantra, to seal in the energy of the practice.
-----------------------------------

Introductory chat:

So, good morning. My name is Alison Graham. I'm Ali, and I'm gonna do a beautiful kundalini yoga meditation practice with you this morning.

We are working on a whole series of practices called awakening to your potential. And what we're going to do today is huge actually.

This is the second one. The second week. The last one was all about ridding yourself of inner anger, which is quite big in itself. Because lots of frustration and stuff can block us from moving into spaces we really want to be, and actually stop us from, almost like, taking on the challenge and also the delight of the new thing. A new opportunity, a new part of yourself coming to the fore can be quite uncomfortable.

It can bring out all sorts of fears and self worth issues, and yeah, do I really deserve this? And frustration that hasn't happened before. So when new things come into our lives, according to the kundalini teachings, there can be an awful lot of resistance.

Um, so last week was all about resistance, about anger, about frustration, about things that have happened before that we might be bringing up and projecting onto what's happening right now.

Which means we're kinda tinting our reality, or tainting our reality, with something that isn't actually part of that specific reality. So we're kind of clouding it. Like the camera when I tried to start this recording. We're kinda you know, causing lots of extra interference that's not necessary.

So last week was about moving that stuff through, so you can see clearly what is right in front of you. And be aware when you're projecting stuff from your past, that's been upsetting, or frustrating, or angered you. And expecting or predicting, you're almost like manifesting it because it's comfortable. All that kinda interesting stuff can go on.

So, today we're working on something which is equally as powerful, but in a different way. So this meditation. The meditation is called, 'meditation to heal and break addictions.'

So this is addictions to everything really, that do not serve you. Every kind of habit you have, whether it's a certain type of food, or drink, or other stuff. Things we would class as, 'oh, they're toxic stuff. Gotta stay away from that, or not have too much of that.'

It might be those things...but it might also not be those things at all. It could be a certain way of thinking, or operating in the world, or showing up. A way of speaking to yourself and other people. Perhaps you're someone who struggles to complete tasks, and that's a habit that you have, and almost like resign yourself to like, 'oh, that's just how I am,' for example.

Or a habit of being late, or a habit of confusing things, or a habit of making drama out of something that isn't, or yeah, a habit of self-sabotaging. A habit of criticising yourself, to the point where it's really not constructive and helpful.

Or other people.

A habit of bringing up certain situations persistently into your presence. A habit of talking about certain things, and feeling like, is this really serving me? Maybe not, but I'm doing it.

So, habits in all their guises is what we're going to work on - breaking the habit. So that when, or if, that cycle keeps repeating, and if this habit is not serving you well, and you're conscious and aware of it, then it gives you the opportunity to - and when it says break it, it's not like you forget that you did it. It's more a case of you're very conscious that this isn't gonna serve you well, and perhaps you can choose differently.

Basically.

Whether that's before you start saying something, before you purchase something, before you take a certain action, and also maybe as the thought is coming into your mind, being another thought coming, going 'hang on, there's that habit again. No. Not doing it this time! No!'

Yeah, so you kinda bring in almost like a bodyguard, like a security guard, to check, give you an extra kind of barrier before you make a decision or an action, which is going to put you into a cycle again, that you're trying to break.

That you'd like to evolve. I mean this is like, you know, breaking addiction cycles to all sorts of things. It can be from massive stuff, obvious things, like alcohol addiction, drug addiction and this kinda stuff. It's actually used in facilities in America. They use it in hospitals and rehabilitation centres. It's said to be so effective. But it's also used on all sorts of different subtle levels if you like. If you're someone who self-sabotages, or has an expectation about something and then it doesn't happen that way, and then you're like 'no it's not for me.'

Yeah, that might be, it's just a different evolution. A bit like, we were talking about manifesting recently - how, if you're really fixed on what something's going to look like, or what you want it to look like. If you're fixed on the vision, then you might lose sight, literally, of what you want it to feel like. What's the feedback you're looking for? What's the energy and experience you're looking for? And then be open to the flow of how that might present itself in the world.

So the universe always works in mysterious ways, right? So if we expect something to look a certain way, and then if it doesn't quite meet that, we'll go, 'oh no, that isn't it. That isn't it! That can't possibly be it because it doesn't look like it's meant to look like.' And this is another part of an addictive problem, of like having such a strong vision on something, that we're not open to how that might be delivered to us.

Um, so think about that you know, when you're making wishes or dreams about, 'oh, if only this' or 'I'd love this to happen.' Just recognising that if you're seeking the feeling, you'll know the feeling when it comes into your life, and you'll be like 'a ha, yeah, this is it!'

But if you're seeking an aesthetic then that aesthetic is unlikely to come in exactly the same way that you were expecting it, and therefore, if it comes in a different way, you might dismiss it. But actually, it might be exactly what you need!

Right, so it's like an addiction to, almost like an obsession, and needing to control how something comes out.

That's another big thing. An addiction to feeling in control. That's an interesting one. Quite a common one.

So, have a think about what aspects of this meditation might serve you. What stuff is coming up that you'd like to break, and yeah, stop it, and then redirect that energy. Change and transform the energy, the kind of cycle. Whatever it is that you're in a cycle of that you feel like yes, I'd really like to shift that, break that, evolve that. That's what this meditation is for.

From the subtle to the massive. Whether it's to do with like you know, you eat too much cake, for example! That's certainly something I'm working with!

[Ali Laughs!]

That's another thing as well, you know! I mean, I'm laughing because it seems quite funny, but actually, that could have all sorts of problematic effects over a period of time, for sure, right. So um, not only on my bank balance, but everything else too.

So it's just interesting thinking about, from the seemingly not that important, but actually, sustained over a period of time, it totally is. That becomes a cycle of having a cake every day in your life, that's gonna have a side effect, it's gonna have a knock-on effect.

So anyway, I'm kind of digressing, but I hope you know what I mean. So from that, to something that could be really bad, when you wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and tell yourself something really unhelpful about yourself, that's critical and unsupportive. Like some really horrible person would say to you. That's also a really bad habit. Right, so break that.

So think about what it is that you say to yourself, and to other people, that you'd like to break, and you'd like to change. And also any actions or behaviours that you feel that you've got going on that you're ready to change.

So, it's a really powerful meditation.

We are going to do some warmups before we go into that meditation. The meditation itself is 8 minutes. It can seem like a very odd meditation because kundalini does contain some curious, sort of methods, if you like, to achieve the outcome very specifically. It's quite a direct approach, if you like. This is definitely one of those ones! So yeah, just so you've got a heads up about that, what's coming. It's kind of unusual, let's say.

OK, so let's tune in...

[warmup routine starts]