Summer Solstice yoga and meditation
Meditationtime Forum Post
Date: Posted 3 years before Mar 31, 2016
Tobe Terrell 3 years ago
Michael suggested that some other forum members might benefit from a report on my yoga and meditation retreat experience:
Here are a few highlights from the week spent at the Guru Ram Das Purim in the New Mexico mountains above the town of Espanola. The event was the summer solstice celebration, yoga and meditation camp. The place is 7,000 feet above sea level with higher mountain on all sides in the distance. It’s hot and dusty desert country with only scrubby vegetation, skies that redefine the meaning of blue, trails and 1,700 other yoga/meditation celebrants living in tents. The event has been going on for many years, so that some large permanent building exists for group gathering. In addition about a dozen circus-tent-sized temporary structures were erected for the many sessions in which presenters focus on topics of interest to aspirants of higher consciousness.
The land on which the celebration happens was bought by Yogi Bhajan many years ago. If my memory is correct, Michael attended one or more of these sessions in the early 1970s. Yogi Bhajan’s farm is nearby, a wonder in itself.
The day begins with a 2:30 – 3:00 AM wakeup call delivered from Guru Singh the roving guitar player threading through the camps and collecting other singers as he proceeds. Here’s his wakeup song:
Rise Up (Sweet Family Dear) - Guru Singh
The Sadhana session lasts from 3:45 AM to 7:00. It’s a combination of breath infusion and chanting, clearing the channels and preparing for the day. All sessions are conducted while seated on yoga mats. Then throughout the day 2-hour sessions on various aspects of kundalini yoga are conducted by a variety of teachers. Delicious and healthy vegetarian food is served three times a day with watermelon breaks in the afternoon. Most of the time the sessions include chanting while doing kriyas that were suggested by Yogi Bhajan. The chants are led by superb musicians. Most commonly the music consists of the lead singer/chanter who sets the pace and sometimes directs body movements during the chants while playing the harmonium, plus tabla player and combinations of other instruments including guitar, sitar, tamboura, flute and other drums. Often during the sessions we do a breath of fire while is some position directed by the leader. The theme this year was opening the throat chakra. Here’s an example of a part of a session that touches on that subject:
3HO Ether Tattva FULL LENGTH MEDITATION with Nirinjan Kaur
The sessions go on all day and into the evening. It’s a challenge to stick with the program, but diligence pays off in ways that I’m confident will be revealing themselves over time. The biggest benefit that I have found so far is in the opening of the throat chakra. From the first day I found new depth in my singing and in the natural vibrato that suddenly appeared during chanting.
I highly recommend the solstice experience to any who might be interested.
MiBeloved 3 years ago
Like we used to say during the heydays of the Flower Children:
Far Out!
