Alanna Kaivalya Live - Bundle 9

Alanna Kaivalya

Free Your Mind
This class centers around the Upanishadic chant (below) that talks about the yogi's journey into reality. Using the teachings from the Matrix as well as the chant and yogic scripture, we weave a journey into understanding the yogi's story: one of going from blindness to real seeing. This class was recorded on the second day of The Kaivalya Yoga Method Teacher Training. It was recorded from a student's device, and so may sound different from the regular podcast recordings. Hang in there with the recording, because the class is fun, the teachings are sound and the music is great. Stay tuned for more from The Kaivalya Yoga Method Teacher Training, and for full access to the podcasts, click on any of the "subscribe" links. Enjoy!

Chant:
Asato ma sad gamaya
Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya
Mrtyor ma amrtam gamaya
Lead me from untruth to truth, from darkness into light and from death to immortality.

The Role of the Guru
Mark Whitwell once told me "The guru should be no more than a friend and no less than a friend." This poignant point stuck with me and has become a pivotal anchor point for all of my teachings from that moment forward. This class, from the recent Kaivalya Yoga Method teacher training, highlights the significance of that teaching, and illustrates the role of a teacher in the lives of yoga students. The dharma talk from this class is also available on YouTube as a video on my MsAlannaK channel! This class includes dharma, mantra, intelligent vinyasa and music. The mantra and translation is below. Enjoy!

Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnur Gurur Devo Maheshvara Guruh Sakshat, Param Brahma Tas Mai Shri Gurave Namaha
Salutations to the teacher
We honor the teacher in all of it’s forms:
The teacher who is our inception, the teacher who is our sustenance, the teacher who is our dissolution, the teacher who is within, and the teacher who is without, we offer all our efforts to realizing the true nature of the Guru. - from the Guru Stotram

Living Free
This class, from The Kaivalya Yoga Method Teacher Training program in April, centers around the liberation mantra, or the "mrtyunjaya mantra" that highlights the yogi's ability to be free and whole. This class includes dharma, mantra, music and intelligently sequenced vinyasa. The mantra and it's translation are below. Enjoy!

Om tryambakam yajamahe Sugandhim pushti vardhanam Urvarukam iva bandhanan Mrtryor mukshiya mamrtat
Liberation Mantra
We worship the supreme light, the Absolute Shiva, who has three eyes, who is fragrant and nourishes all beings. This light is the expression and communication of our life, and it is our physical, mental and spiritual radiation and prosperity. Kindly release us from all calamities, bondage and suffering, just as the cucumber is released from its stalk, without any injury. May our minds be absorbed into Shiva, amrtam (nectar), the ocean of tranquility. - translation by Shri Brahmananda Saraswati

Gayatri Mantra
The Gayatri Mantra is one of the oldest mantras known and it's three-fold significance is not lost on yogis who are looking for a state of balance and integration. This class, recorded at the recent Kaivalya Yoga Method Teacher Training in New York City, outlines how this mantra lays the groundwork for the internal work that we do in a yoga practice. Class includes dharma, mantra, music and vinyasa. Mantra and translation are below. Enjoy!

Om bhur bhuvah svah Tat savitur varenyam Bhargo devasya dimahi Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat
Gayatri Mantra
We meditate on the divine light of the source that shines upon the earth, space and heavens. May we be uplifted by the deity, Savitri, who is our own internal light.

Whole & Complete
Yoga centers around the inherent understanding that we are whole, complete and perfect. The absence of this understanding creates stress, separation and longing in our hearts. When we create the condition for yoga to naturally arise, what we feel is the innate completeness that is within all of us. Good times! This class, recorded at the recent Kaivalya Yoga MethodTeacher Training in New York, outlines the mantra of fullness (mantra and translation below), and includes dharma, intelligent vinyasa and fun music. Enjoy!

Om purnamadah purnamidam Purnat purnam mudacyate Purnasya purnamadayah Purnameva vashishyate
Whole and complete
That is perfect. This is perfect. From the perfect the perfect manifests. From the perfect, even when the perfect is taken away, what remains is perfect. (perfect can also be substituted with whole, complete, empty) - from Isha Upanishad & Yajur Veda

Compassion in Action
This class explores yoga sutra 1.33 that gives us the groundwork for how to act compassionately in our lives and cultivate enlivened (and potentially enlightened) interactions with others. It's often our relationships to others that create so much mental chatter, and inevitable suffering that it is through these very relationships that we can actually quiet the chatter and alleviate the suffering. Through this Kaivalya Yoga Method class, Alanna gives the philosophy behind the technique and weaves it skillfully through an intelligently sequenced vinyasa practice set to great music. Enjoy!

Maitri karuna
Mudito upekshanam
Sukha duhkha punyapunya vishiayanam
Bhavanatash chitta prasadanam - Yoga Sutra I.33

Consciousness settles as one radiates friendliness, compassion, delight, and equanimity toward all things, whether pleasant or painful, good or bad.

“For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.”
- Carl Sagan