Manifesting Prosperity by Working with Our Emotions
by Guru Rattana, Ph.D. - Number #65, April 23, 2003
Dear Friends,
New Kundalini Yoga students (myself included years ago) are often surprised at the anger that surfaces when they begin their practice. Don't feel bad, surprised or alone, and don't think this is a one-time occurrence. We are all angry about something! Anger is a natural, primal emotion that will always be present in our psyche. The same is true for fear and sadness. The negative emotions are triggered so that we can learn important lessons in our lives. Our goal is to be able to let our past wounds surface, be identified, and healed, so that our emotions can serve us as a communication mechanism of our soul. Through self-training we can learn how to honor and use anger energy to support and take action for ourselves.
The trick, of course, is how to work with the energies of the emotions, so that we can use them productively. I offer a few suggestions below. Working with your emotions requires spending sacred time with yourself. To gain the maximum benefits you should make sure to keep track of your progress.
Sat Nam,
Guru Rattana ☺
From Sabotage to Satisfaction
The Sun enters Taurus Sunday April 20th, and stays through May 20th. The Taurus New Moon is May 1st. Mercury goes retrograde April 26th at 5:00am PST in Pisces. It goes direct May 20th, just after midnight.
Taurus teaches us how to take care of our basic needs. Taurus is interested in possessions, property and physical, emotional, and sensual well-being. Taurus introduces us to the concepts of prosperity and manifestation. While the Sun is in Taurus it is appropriate to examine how we are taking care of ourselves, both physically and emotionally. At the New Moon in Taurus, we can set our intentions for self-care and self-satisfaction for the coming year.
How do I Take Care of Myself?
There is a special dynamic between our attitude about our needs and our state of prosperity. Of course, we all want to be prosperous. How many of us have asserted that indeed we do deserve prosperity? And then we think about everything that we have done to merit a front of the line position in the lottery queue. But what attitudes are we projecting out to the Universe? If we think we have to affirm that we are deserving, we probably have a program that tells us that we are not. If we think we have to do something to merit what we want, we probably don't know what to do to get what we want. Or we do what we do in a struggle mode and for the wrong reasons. Have you ever noticed that negative motivational techniques don't charge you up for action?
The bottom line is that somewhere, somehow, we acquired the belief that it is not OK to want or to have needs. If it is not OK to want and have needs, it is not possible to ask and intend effectively. If we ask out of neediness, neediness is what we project to the Universe, and nothing is what we get back. We can't receive or attract abundance from a stance of limitation. Our shame stance also negatively impacts the manner in which we carry out action. If we take action in the context of a conflict and struggle paradigm, we are pushing against instead of lining up with universal energy.
Self-Sabotaging Scenario
The self-sabotaging scenario goes like this:
- Manifestation is a function of magnetism.
- Effective magnetism is based on a powerful projection.
- There is no power of projection from neediness.
- There is no ability to claim from shame.
- There is no clarity in a cloudy self-image.
- There is no direct connection in an apologetic stance.
- A victim is not empowered to claim what is his or hers.
Empowered Scenario
So, how can we energetically shift out of shame into a self-empowered stance that projects worthiness? We have to train ourselves to honor our desire body. Our desire body is the faculty of our emotional body that desires, craves, hungers for and yearns after. Our desire body is our idea generator and attraction mechanism. It cannot work for us if it is suppressed, condemned or judged. In fact, it works against us when we have a negative attitude towards it. Desire is a basic instinct, that propels us to find everything from food to God. Hunger and the longing to belong are both desires. From hunger we are motivated to get fed. From longing to belong we learn how to experience and align with the Infinite. When we are attuned to the Infinite, we are really set up to get our needs met. We not only get our survival and physical needs met, we get our emotional and spiritual needs satisfied too. What greater satisfaction than to be at peace and relaxed, feel loved, and to know that the struggle is over.
So let's revisit the above from an empowered stance:
- Our ability to manifest depends on our ability to magnetize.
- Magnetism radiates from an unconditionally loved desire body.
- The power of positive projection increases with deep inner satisfaction.
- Our ability to claim grows in the garden of self-love.
- Clarity shines in front of the mirror of the soul.
- Direct connection is nurtured from a humble, yet confident, stance.
- Owning our responsibility as co-creators allows us to claim what is ours.
Relationship between the Mind and the Emotions
Have you noticed that it is impossible to control the mind by suppressing or stuffing your emotions? To achieve mental stability and peace, we must acknowledge, heal and empower our emotions.
We project from both our emotional body and from our mind. The mind and the emotions are dynamically linked and interactive. To be able to control our mind, we have to be able to control our emotions. Actually we don't control our emotions, we embrace them. We embrace them by totally accepting them. We accept them by giving them attention and allowing them, not by force or coercion. Our mind cannot serve us when we exist in a state of shame, or act from a position of repression, or denial of our emotions. Repressed anger, sadness and fear feed the negative mind. The negative mind gets possessed by these negative emotions. Then our suppressed emotions, instead of our good intentions (and all those positive affirmations), control our mind, define our projection and determine our reality.
While the Sun is in Taurus and Mercury is in retrograde is a fertile time to investigate the relationship between our thoughts and our emotions, and to heal the shame that enslaves us. To do so we must cultivate a non-verbal, loving relationship with our emotions. Our emotions are stored in our body. The best places to feel them are in the solar plexus, the belly, and any other places we store stress.
Our emotions are a basic source of our power. Emotions are energy that moves. Emotions are the communication mechanism or sensory system of our soul. They are the pure energy that we use for creation and manifestation. We cannot expect to be prosperous if our emotional body is ensnarled and dark. We can't be entangled in our own web of wounds and expect to move forward gracefully in life. On the other hand, the more we allow ourselves to feel the waves of emotional energy in our body, the more we connect with our own flow and rhythm. The more we experience the subtle desire energy of the emotions and honor the thirst, hunger and yearnings, the more we attract circumstances that bring us obvious and subtle satisfaction.
Practice Process - From Shame to Satisfaction
Working with the emotions requires turning our senses inward. We have to shift our attention from outside ourselves, and pay attention to the feelings and sensations in our body. We cultivate sensitivity by being gently aware, and willing to be present to our feelings. Mindfulness is an art. It takes daily and moment-to-moment practice.
Pick one area of focus, probably your abdomen or solar plexus. Practice being with the ebb and crests of your emotional energy. Remember, emotional energy always changes. Our goal is to stay connected so we can experience the changes as a flow. The pieces of the process include the following:
Mental
- pay attention and focus
- observe, monitor
- investigate and explore
- gently and non-judgmentally be with
Feeling
- willingly feel
- lovingly allow
- allow the breath to expand and relax the area
- let go and relax
Attentively watch for mental evaluations and judgments. Notice how they block the flow of energy in your body. Experience the relationship between your critical thoughts and how your body feels. Notice what thoughts actually have a restrictive, and punishing, effect on your emotions and desire body. Identify the sabotaging tactics of the mind, and train yourself not to do that to yourself.
Also notice how your body reacts to comforting thoughts. Then try on neutrality and monitor how that feels. Our goal is to be neutrally and totally accepting. Real love is unconditional.
The trick is to give yourself permission to feel your negative emotions - anger, fear and sadness. If you don't give yourself permission, you are essentially in a negative control and shame mode. Practice feeling angry, afraid and sad. Let yourself feel the energies of these emotions when they come up. Be OK to feel anger in your belly. Be Ok to feel sadness in your solar plexus. Let it be OK to feel fear wherever you feel it.
Permission and Attention are the Magical Keys
Something magical happens when you truly and honestly give yourself permission to feel angry, sad or afraid. Practice really letting it be OK to feel, and get in touch with, what happens to the energy in your body. Pay attention to the interaction between mental acknowledgment and permission, and the stress or agitation in your belly. Notice what happens to your "out of control" desires when you simply give them attention. Permission and attention are basic to self-love, and tools for cultivating deep emotional peace and satisfaction.
Another magical thing happens when you follow this interactive sequence between the mind and the emotions:
- Notice your negative conversation loop when it clicks in.
- Identify the emotion behind it, i.e. anger, fear or sadness.
- Give yourself permission to feel angry, afraid or sad.
- Move your attention from your head to your body, where you feel the emotion or blocked desire.
- Feel and allow the feelings of the emotion and desire in your belly, abdomen or solar plexus.
- What happens to the negative talk?
- Does attention to your body, feelings, emotions, and desire energy dissipate the negative chatter?
- When you are more in your feeling awareness, are you less in the stories in your head?
As you continue to explore the relationship between your thoughts and feelings, you will discover how intricately they work together. As you cultivate a conscious relationship between your mind and your emotions, you will move from self-sabotage into internal synergy. As you train your mind to serve your emotions and honor your desires, you will experience a sweet satisfaction inside yourself. Your ability to take care of yourself internally and externally will shift. You will begin to blossom in the garden of your soul.
Kundalini Yoga - Mantras to Soothe the Emotional Body
A gentle background of healing mantras can facilitate the above inner process, and help you calm your mind and heal and nurture your emotions. You will find a vast selection of mantras in MP3 format on Sikhnet.
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