Notes From the Road

Sat Nam everyone. I just taught about the Shabads (sacred songs) from our new album, Divine Birth, to The Conscious Pregnancy Course held in our home town of Espanola. You can find out more about our new album, Divine Birth, by visiting www.spiritvoyage.com.

Here is a picture of Jap Preet Kaur and I with the lovely ladies taking the course.



Congratulations to those ladies for dedicating themselves to learning such amazing and life changing technology as the Siri Singh Sahib's teachings on pregnancy. This is a wonderful course taught by Tarn Taran Kaur, and you can find out more about it or other courses related to women by visiting her website at www.kundaliniwomen.org. Also there is another wonderful teacher who facilitates a great pregnancy teacher training course, and who has put together great videos for pregnancy, along with an incredible book called "Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful". Her name is Gurumukh Kaur, and you can find out more about her by visiting www.goldenbridgeyoga.com.

Recently I was interviewed about our new Divine Birth album and my experience with pregnancy. The interviewer, Laurence Turner, gave us permission to post it in this blog. I hope you enjoy it! To find out more about her, please visit www.pregnancy-yoga.net. Here is the interview:

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Laurence: Snatam, it is a honor to be speaking with you. I am a Pregnancy Yoga teacher here in the UK near London and expecting my second child. I would like to also represent here my pregnancy Yoga Students. Please tell us about your personal experience in pregnancy and birth. What is the yogic practice that you found the most useful
- to help with pregnancy ailments
- for labour preparation

Snatam: I really enjoyed my pregnancy for the most part. It felt so amazing to have this being growing inside of me. It was something that my husband and I had been praying for. So with the grace of God and my Guru, we were able to really focus our intentions and prayer to create a Divine space for our baby to come into. We did this through Kundalini Yoga and the teachings of Yogi Bhajan, which really encompasses the practice of yoga, meditation and chanting. It was through chanting track two, Jamiaa Poot, that is on our Divine Birth album, that I was able to release many fears about the experience of pregnancy and the preparation for birth. You can take a look at the meaning of these sacred words composed by the fifth Sikh Guru and see that they are simply positive affirmations that the experience of pregnancy and birth is celebrated and held sacred in Divine energy. The power of a mother's mental projection can create or destroy a sacred space for the being growing inside of you. This sacred recitation not only helped me to create good energy every day inside me but to also maintain it and grow it for the coming days of birth and motherhood.

There are so many incredible Kundalini yoga sets for pregnant ladies. I will tell you about just a few to illustrate the grace and beauty that is available in this science. Ladies, you will know what I am talking about! When you are pregnant and constipated because all of your internal organs have moved with your growing womb, there is nothing more beautiful then doing a simple 45 minute kriya for a week and be totally healed. Through the practice of Kundalini Yoga every day I also believe that my daughter was positioned in the womb correctly for the birth. Finally, my hips were saved by yogic walking, or Charn Jap. The list goes on, and I am sure there are other mothers out there with even more transformational experiences.

Laurence: I feel I know little about the Sikh tradition and the associated Mantras and Kirtans. Is it necessary to have some knowledge to gain full benefit from the practice?
- should the students listen or also recite the Mantra as a meditation?
- how does the sound vibration work on the mother/baby?

Snatam: Our spiritual teacher incorporated many sacred recitations from the Sikh way of life into the science of Kundalini yoga. Some of the most avid practitioners are not Sikhs. It's just that these sacred recitations work, and I believe that it was his spirit of service that opened things up for him to share in this way. I grew up as a Sikh and have some natural experience with these recitations. Because the effectiveness of the recitations is due to specific meridian stimulation as the tongue touches the roof of the mouth, it is important to have some training. We designed our cd, Divine Birth, as a kind of training tool. Each of the sacred recitations is recorded without music and slow enough so that the beginner can grasp on to the words. In fact this is what I did every day of my pregnancy. I recited the first track (Poota Maataa Kee Asees) eleven times a day to create the sacred energy of love and prayer between my daughter and I. Then I also recited the second track (Jammia Poot) eleven times per day, which according to the teachings of Yogi Bhajan, is to be recited before the 120th day of pregnancy to bring the soul of a saint. In Kundalini Yoga it is taught that a soul enters the body on the 120th day of pregnancy. I certainly felt a major shift on that day and opted to keep reciting Jammiaa Poot throughout my whole pregnancy because I was simply enjoying the energy of it so much.

It is hard to describe the feeling that is created between mother and baby after doing these recitations. In fact my husband also did these recitations so I will include him as well. There is this unspoken serenity and bliss in our family. Granted we have out hard days too. But there is a feeling of quiet peace that is just there that gives us a bit of flexibility to go with the ebb and flow, that gives us an internal sweetness and nectar when times are hard, and an internal compass to bring the sacred back into our lives. These sacred recitations come from the Divine light of the Sikh Gurus which lives in the sound current each time the words are recited. Whatever your faith may be this energy is available to you.

Laurence: Could you tell us more about the importance of sound currents ?

Snatam: The very first words of the Bible are... "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God." The first words of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred scriptures of the Sikhs is... "The Creator of all is the One God and truth is God's Name."

In many traditions it is understood that the flow of creation comes from the sound current of the Divine which manifests itself through God's Name. When we chant God's Name we tap into our own purity that is naturally within each of us. The more you can tap into this space the more your thoughts,vibration, actions, and words will reflect this space. Chanting God's Name is simply a way to make the space of internal purity a reality on this earth plane. It brings the heavens to the earth. In the words of Yogi Bhajan, "We are not humans here to experience the spirit, we are spirit here to experience being human."

Sacred sound current creates a home and sanctuary for your spirit on this great journey of life. It makes life Divine, and brings great joy and spiritual pleasure in the face of anything... pain, emotion, turmoil, and life! But to really experience it you have got to immerse yourself into it in your daily life. I encourage you to start chanting with your family and friends on a regular basis. I encourage you to have a regular personal practice, and watch the miracles that will unfold.

Laurence: Could you tell us more about your personal experience of how the energy of these sacred words can have a very real, positive effect?

Snatam: While in labor I chanted with so much focus because of the pain, that I have never felt so close to God and Guru as that time. It was such a beautiful blessing. Throughout our days now, as our daughter is now 20 months old we start each day together by chanting. It doesn't matter what the day has to bring, I know that if we chant our Grace will be covered. May you have this blessed experience as well.

Sat Nam.