Get to know your Self
Kriya: Meditation on the Self
A guided and projected imagination is a fundamental power and a gift of mankind. In this simple series, you raise the kundalini energy enough to purify and calm the mind. Then you direct the mind in meditation to become aware of your identity and how you have guided it. You use the mind for self-observation, not just fantasy. Besides being excellent training for the mind, this kriya helps improve poor digestion and channels over-abundant sexual energy.
The mind is given to you to use in self-expansion. But you do not channel it or capture it; it runs wild on old thought patterns and habits. If you cannot have the mind when you need it, it is useless. The function of mind is not just to spew out random thoughts! It is to fashion etheric elements into forms of energy that manifest through the earthly elements.
This is one of the beauties of Kundalini Yoga: instead of dealing with thoughts only with other thoughts, it uses exercises that automatically bring the mind into a more agreeable state. This saves years of time in meditation. The body is your finite identity. The mind is a bridge to your infinite identity which is even beyond the soul. But the mind alone has a difficult time because it lacks the clarity of identity given by the body. When you manipulate the body identity by exercises, then a clear message of guidance is given to the mind.
It is not the mind that runs the body. It is actually you. The mind is another part of you. Using these two to communicate with and integrate your many parts is the science of kriya and a foundation of Kundalini Yoga.
Meditation into Being
This mantra connects the finite and Infinite identities. The first "I Am" emphasizes the "I" and is the personal and finite sense of self. The second "I Am" emphasizes slightly the "Am" and is the impersonal and transcendent sense of the Self.
All real mantras blend this polarity of the Infinite and finite in their internal structure and design. If you only say the first "I Am", the mind will automatically try to answer, "I am what?" This sends the mind on a search through all the categories and roles that hold the finite identities.
If you immediately say the second part of the mantra, "I Am," the thought becomes "I Am what I Am." To be what you are is the essence of truth and will lead you to the nature of Reality.
The hand and the breath move in rhythm and strengthen your ability to maintain a sense of self as your awareness expands.