Invincible Living: Kundalini Technology: Breathwork and Meditation Practices for a Meaningful Life

I got this audiobook after purchasing the Invincible Living book. I find this more accessible as I can listen to it during my commute. I found Kundalini yoga two years ago and have been using Kundlaini yoga breathing techniques to reduce anxiety at work and deal with stress better. I highly recommend this from Guru Jagat.

Lots of great ideas, advice and postures and mantras. The best!

Love!!!

Je pense que j'ai trouvé la méditation parfaite pour moi. Guru Jagat a une voix très positive, facile à écouter et pertinente pour la vie moderne. Mon but était d'encourager un flux d'énergie positive dans tout mon corps, car j'avais beaucoup de petits problèmes de santé. Déjà, je n’ai pas mal aux articulations et la douleur ancien à mon épaule a disparu.

Exquisite. Strengthening. Comforting. DOABLE. This is NOT an audio version of the book but entirely new material. It's a pleasure to listen to Guru Jagat speak. The practices are creative and deep. I cannot recommend these CDs enough. (The book is also extraordinary -- a visual picnic!)

“Invincible Living: Kundalini Yoga Technology” by Guru Jagat is a comprehensive guide to the philosophy, spirituality and practices of Kundalini Yoga. There are four primary components to Kundalini Yoga---Meditations and other forms of mind training, physical exercises, chanting, and other spiritual healing techniques associated with the Kundalini Yoga tradition. She then explores the concept of Kundalini---one of two types of natural energy that exist within all things, the other being Prana, and devotes much of this series to the scientific benefits of doing various forms of yoga and various individual types of Yogic practices (e.g. meditation, breathwork, chanting, etc). Guru Jagat makes it abundantly clear that Yoga is a holistic philosophy whose principles are meant to be applied to every aspect of one’s life---spiritual, mental, physical, emotional, moral---what have you. With a few exceptions, almost every one of these Kundalini Yoga meditations begins with a brief session of chanting, and most of the mantras that are chanted throughout this series come from the Sikh tradition. Regarding the meditations that do NOT involve chanting, those meditations are usually a simple mixture of spoken word and breathwork. While not explicitly described as prayers, as such, Guru Jagat seems to imply that these different mantra, meditations, breathing techniques almost work like prayers in that they supposedly will guarantee that something you want to happen in your life will come to pass. Every CD begins with a little bit of Sikh chanting since, even though Kundalini Yoga---and Yoga in general---predates Sikhism by several thousand years, it seems to be very popular among Sikhs. We learn about how Kundalini Yoga c can benefit one physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Virtually every one of these exercises ends with the Sikh greeting “Sat Nam” (holy prostration). As with many meditation techniques, it can be used as the a form of hypnosis and as with many hypnosis techniques, these techniques can also be used in meditation. The final CD sums up the series.While Yoga is a spiritual tradition, it is, however, OK to some degree to call Yoga a science to some degree because there was a great yogi in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century called Swami Sri Yukteshwar (1855-1936), who wrote a book on Yoga called “The Holy Science,” which is still in print today (I have a copy on my Kindle). Indeed, Guru Jagat’s presentation of Yoga as a spiritual science is actually how not only Swami Sri Yukteshwar, but others in his lineage such as Yukteshwar’s even more famous disciple, Paramhansa Yogananda (1893-1952) presented Yoga in that way---precisely because of their recognition of the shallow, anti-religious and materialistic nature of mainstream Western societies---not to mention the fact that during the era of the British Raj (1857-1947), there was, in fact a concerted effort on the part of the British colonial government to force feed Western culture to the people of India---which is also part of the reason why the great yogi, Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888-1989), despite his own training in traditional yogic disciplines, disguised it as an exercise or stress relief regimen---much in the same way that during the African Slave Trade, African slaves had to disguise their efforts to preserve their native religious traditions by pretending to present it as a form of Christianity. Indeed, the Rishis and Rishikas---the ancient sages of India who were responsible for the development of Hinduism as religion and for the development of Yoga as a spiritual tradition---in addition to being mystics, yogis and religious leaders, were also scientists, mathematicians and scholars. Indeed---and this is something that Guru Jagat does not mention, but which is nonetheless interesting anyway---one thing that many Westerners may not know is that Westerners were actually first introduced to Yoga NOT in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s---which is what most people often assume---but as early as the year 326 BCE when Alexander the Great invaded India because, as pointed out in TWO documentaries---“Yoga Unveiled” (directed by Geeta Desai) and “The Origins of Yoga” (directed by Paula Fouce), he encountered several yogis, and one of them, Swami Kalinath---known to the Greeks as Kalanos and to the Romans as Calanus---actually agreed to take Alexander and some of his men as disciples. Indeed, Swami Kalinath actually accompanied Alexander the Great on his military campaigns through the Persian Empire. Furthermore, while I have not done Kundalini Yoga specifically myself as such, I have, however, done some aspects of it during my weekly sessions of chanting and meditation that I have every Saturday afternoon with my friend Susan Atchison, who is an expert in various forms of spiritual healing from various religions and spiritual traditions (e.g. Breathwork, meditation, chanting, chakra work, etc). Now at least I know what the “Breath of Fire” exercise is now because I first heard a reference to that in a beautiful documentary on Kundalini Yoga, which I also bought on Amazon several years ago which I would also highly recommend---regardless of whether one actually practices Kundalini Yoga or not---called “Kundalini Yoga for Wisdom and Self Mastery” (with Mahan Rishi Singh and Mirabai Ceiba). The promotion of prosperity---whether economically, socially or otherwise---is indeed very yogic because the philosophy of Tantra, which I follow and which---counter to what many Westerners think, is NOT all about sex---is, in fact a comprehensive approach to life which sees all aspects of life as sacred and as legitimate components of one’s spiritual practice---is very much outward directed and believes that one can legitimately be spiritual or religious without renouncing the world. Furthermore, in the Hindu tradition, according to the Vedas, four of the many holy scriptures of Hinduism, the four goals of life are Dharma (religious/social duty), Artha (Wealth/Prosperity), Kama (Pleasure/Love), and Moksha (spiritual liberation); Traditionally, the term “Moksha” refers to liberation from the cycle of reincarnation, but it has different connotations for me since even though my worldview is very much in line with the religions and spiritual traditions of India, I, personally, reject the concept of reincarnation). When she talked about the issues that some people might be dealing with due to overexposure to certain technologies, the irony about this time in which we live is that a lot of those services---ironically---can be done virtually or in a way in which some of our modern technologies might be stressing people out. While I have no problem with modern technology, the irony is that some of the old fuddy-duddies in the world who pine for the so-called “good old days” or the so-called “simpler life” of twenty, thirty, forty or fifty years ago might end up finding that, first of all, that technology is ubiquitous in the twenty-first century and that one generally cannot avoid it (unless, of course, one chooses to become a monk or a nun, or unless one chooses to become an Anabaptist (like the Amish, Mennonites, or Hutterites), or unless one becomes a hermit. It is When Guru Jagat was talking about the role of devotion in a romantic relationship, from not just a general yogic perspective, or even from a general perspective of two people loving one another, she is actually more right than she knows because according to the traditional Hindu legal code based on the Vedas, husbands and wives are, in fact---quite literally---required to see one another as God in human form and to literally worship one another. The way she is talking about relationships from this yogic perspective kind of reminds me of one of the meditations on another excellent CD called “Living With an Open Heart by Ram Giri, which I would highly recommend. I can totally imagine how someone could be on a so-called prosperity or poverty “current” because---let’s face it---there are plenty of economically wealthy societies which, culturally speaking, are, in fact, spiritually impoverished. Most Western societies are like that---especially in the U.S. and Europe, where religion, spirituality, and religious and spiritual people are---more often than not---looked down upon, marginalized, mocked, and even persecuted, by the anti-religious establishment in the West. As Mark Twain said, “The Indians may seem poor to we rich Westerners, but in matters of the spirit, it is we who are the paupers, and it is they who are the millionaires.” I have noticed that---not just through listening to this CD series---but in general---a lot of meditation techniques---with maybe an extremely small number of exceptions---can be used---and very well may have been used as forms of hypnosis as well---not just the Kundalini Yoga health exercise, but---as I have learned from doing many sessions of chanting and meditation with my friend Susan Atchison, who is a spiritual healer adept at various forms of spiritual healing from various religions and spiritual traditions. They also kind of remind me of the meditations done by this one Australian meditation teacher called Jason Stephenson who has a really great YouTube channel. It was interesting when she talked about cleansing one’s aura because I engage in cleansing my aura when I meditate and chant every Saturday afternoon with my friend Susan Atchison, who is an expert in various forms of spiritual healing from various religions and spiritual traditions. Indeed, the incense that I often burn during our sessions together is, in fact aura cleansing incense.As a yogi myself, as a scholar of religion, and as a spiritual person, I was initially heartened and excited to see that---up until my review---there had been all five star reviews. While the series is generally good, there are many claims that she makes---and some of which she, I suspect, falsely, attributes to Yogi Bhajan, with which I take issue. To be clear, the reason why I make a distinction between Kundalini and Prana is because, as I had learned on another six-CD series of talks called “The Yoga Matrix” by Richard Freeman---which you can also get on Amazon, and which I highly recommend---that Kundalini and Prana are, in fact, separate energies within our body. I thought it was kind of weird that she incorporated English so-called “mantras” into this CD. That is dumb. I mean, if Guru Jagat were some kind of motivational speaker or if she were in fact Jewish, Christian, or even generically spiritual in the abstract then English mantras would make sense, but this is supposed to be a yoga CD. Again---there is such a thing as Christian Meditation---It was pioneered in the mid-twentieth century by the Benedictine monks Father John Main (1926-1982), Father Bede Griffiths (1906-1993) and the Benedictine Monk-turned-Hindu-Monk Henri Le Saux, AKA Abhishiktashwarananda (1910-1973), which does use mantras in the native languages of its practitioners, but I just found the use of English mantras to be kind of out of place for any Yoga practice. Guru Jagat’s encouraging of listeners to secularize their experience defeats the purpose of---really---any kind of yoga. The word Yoga in Sanskrit means ‘Union”---specifically, union of one’s body, mind and spirit with whatever one’s concept of the divine might be. The very secularization of Yoga is exactly the PROBLEM with Westerners’ approach to Yoga. Yoga means ‘Union’ or ‘Integration’---Union or Integration of one’s body, mind, and spirit with whatever one’s concept of the Divine might be. Furthermore, given this woman’s training in a legitimately authentic spiritual tradition of yoga, I was disappointed and---yet, not entirely surprised---by her explicit eschewing, avoiding, or delegitimizing of some of the spiritual aspects of Yoga---especially given the fact that as with many practitioners of Kundalini Yoga, she has, in fact embraced the Sikh religion, a monotheistic religion founded in India by Guru Nanak (1469-1539) in the 1500’s. Technically, the Mulabandha---as the name itself implies---is associated with the FIRST chakra, the chakra of survival instincts. The sex organs, the urinary tract, and pretty much everything from the hips to the knees, is associated with the SECOND chakra, not the first. Counter to what Guru Jagat claims, the idea of viewing the effort to improve society or being socially or politically active as a form of yoga is really not all that “modern,” “New,” or “revolutionary”---far from it. Yogi Bhajan did NOT “invent” that. In the yoga tradition, there is a whole approach to life known as Karma Yoga---the Yoga of Action or the Yoga of Selfless Service---in which improving society is, in fact seen as a spiritual practice. Again---counter to what Guru Jagat claims, social activism as a form of yoga is really nothing new. All it is is using one’s religious teachings to improve life on Earth. So while Yogi Bhajan did in fact do these things, counter to what Guru Jagat claims, this is no less modern or innovative than it would be for Jewish, Christian or Muslim organizations to offer social services to the communities where they operate. This next criticism is---for lack of a better word---a technical one. Unlike other CDs I have bought, in which one can select which tracks one wishes to download, for whatever reason, this CD series has been set up in such a way that it FORCES one to download the entire CD and forces one to go back and delete the tracks that one does not want to download---and that is incredibly tedious, especially given the fact that there are four CDs in this series. While cultivating healthy relationships is certainly important, it bugs me that Guru Jagat spends so much time---way too much, I feel---blathering on about relationship issues. What the Hell does that have to do with Yoga? Again---there ARE moral dimensions to Yoga---known as the Yamas, or abstentions and the Niyamas, or observances, which include Saucha (purity), Santosha (contentment), Tapas/Tapasya (austerities), Svadhyaya (self-study or inner exploration), and finally, Ishwara Pranidhana (surrender to the will of God). The Yamas, or abstentions, include Ahimsa (nonviolence/pacifism), Satya (truth), Asteya (not stealing), Brahmacharya (celibacy/sexual restraint), Aparigraha (non-possessiveness, lit. ‘Non-Grasping’)---but this really belongs NOT on a yoga CD, but on a series of talks SPECIFICALLY about psychology or relationship issues. If she were a relationship counselor or a psychologist, then I could see her talking about things like this, but the fact is---as far as I know---she is not. Now, this is not a huge deal or anything, and I still enjoyed all of these teachings, meditations and chants overall, but it would have been nice if Guru Jagat had used some sort of calming background music to allow listeners to more seamlessly transition between times where she was---for example, transitioning from some of the more “practical” or “instructional” aspects of these CDs into the more calming, more meditative aspects of the CDs, because she doesn’t seem to change how she speaks between when she is rattling off the more “practical” and less spiritual aspects of Kundalini Yoga vs. when she is actually guiding listeners through a meditation, a chant, a breathing exercise, or what have you. Technically, we know now that the chakras, the energy channels, and other parts of what is often termed the “Subtle Body,” do, in fact exist, and they are not just metaphorical or symbolic. The problem I have with the self-hypnosis is that I am not sure why, first of all, in the real world, someone would randomly hypnotize someone, and so therefore why you would need to protect yourself from being hypnotized---especially since actual traditional hypnotherapy done by a professional is often for someone’s benefit, and not to harm them. Except for in some sort of weird sci-fi movies, I cannot imagine why you would feel the need to guard against that since traditional hypnotherapy is, in fact very beneficial to many people. Not only that but hypnotherapy can, in fact be a very calming, spiritual experience. In my own sessions of meditation and chanting, I have, in fact noticed that many different meditation techniques can be---and are---used in hypnosis (e.g. Breathwork, induction, visualization, etc). Furthermore, it is very shallow, unfair, and---frankly---objectively ridiculous---on the part of Guru Jagat to reduce all successes or all significant contributions to history to someone’s supposed innate ability to hypnotize themselves. GIVE ME A BREAK! Am I supposed to believe that Jesus hypnotized himself to believe he was the Messiah? Am I supposed to believe that the prophet Muhammad hypnotized himself into believing he was a prophet? Am I supposed to believe that Thomas Jefferson hypnotized himself into writing the Declaration of Independence? Am I supposed to believe that Michelangelo hypnotized himself into being a great painter, sculptor, architect, engineer and poet? COME ON, NOW! This has NOTHING to do with Yoga. Why the Hell is it on this CD? I also have a hard time believing---or if true, accepting---the idea that an otherwise traditional, legitimate yogi like Yogi Bhajan would instruct his followers in SECULAR practices combined with ENGLISH mantras. I find that hard to believe. My gut tells me that Guru Jagat made them up herself---or probably got them from SECULAR therapists but ATTRIBUTED then to Yogi Bhajan to give them some semblance of legitimacy because---frankly---my gut tells me that a lot of the secular ones that sound more psychological than spiritual. Those so-called mantras sound more like positive affirmation exercises that any secular psychologist would do than actual yogic practices. This, by the way, is why, when I was downloading this series of meditations onto my iPod, I made sure to listen to each one very carefully to determine which tracks I liked, and which tracks I did not like---which tracks whose teachings I felt---from my own position as both a yogi and a scholar of religion---were legitimately rooted in the Yoga tradition---and therefore whose attribution to Yogi Bhajan made sense---and which ones were totally secular and which---I suspect---Guru Jagat probably culled from secular sources (e.g. psychology journals, newspaper articles, interviews with celebrities, mental health professionals, motivational speakers, etc). That is also why I was very selective in which ones I ended up downloading onto my iPod.Overall, however, it was still a very good series of CDs.