Jamila StarwaterJamila Starwater
  • About
  • Events
  • Contact
  • About
  • Events
  • Contact
YOGA
Vital Warrior: Healing PTSD w/ Kundalini Yoga
  • Posted By Jamila Starwater
  • on February 7,2014

I just watched this video of our friend Mikal Vega accepting a humanitarian award for his work in creating Vital Warrior – a non profit program for veterans. Vital Warrior’s mission is to educate and facilitate the healing of PTSD through non pharmaceutical methods. We first met Mikal a year and a half ago, just a few months after he retired from a 22 year career as a Navy Seal and Chief petty officer. He had gone to my husband Jai Gopal’s Kundalini Yoga class at Yoga West, and they had a lot in common (my husband is a West Point grad and former Army officer). I met Mikal a few months later in Grass Valley, CA at the Conscious Communication level two Kundalini Yoga course. He had jumped into the deep end of the Kundalini pool with that one. That course blew all our heads off.. in a very very good way. Anyhow, we all ended up staying at this uber cute house in the woods filled with teddy bears (for example : random detail – me and my husband’s room had a cartoon skunk and daisy theme) and would come back after doing the most intense self induced energetic surgery (only way I can think to describe it..) to make dinners and eat together. Mikal told us his story over the course of those meals that week. As the granddaughter of a career Navy officer (my dad’s dad) and CIA operative (my mom’s dad) , and my husband being a former military officer himself, it was refreshing for me to see Kundalini yoga and this intense training we were doing through his eyes a little bit.  I feel like yoga as a whole is so diluted and mis understood, so when I see it being appreciated and utilized by the kind of folks that REALLY need it – our veterans – it is so exciting and inspiring. Plus Mikal is a genuinely nice person with a wonderful and noble vision that he is actively manifesting. Mikal went on to complete the Level 1 Kundalini training with Harijiwan and Tej in Santa Monica last year. He now regularly teaches Kundalini yoga to fellow veterans while also fulfilling his life long acting dream here in Los Angeles, which in turn supports his work with Vital Warrior.

Visit the  Vital Warriors website (and facebook page!) for all the details on the 8 modalities used in the healing of post traumatic stress syndrome. Also check out Mikal’s IMDB and facebook page to be inspired and in touch with him.

/////////////////////////

Follow my blog with Bloglovin


YOGA
What is Bana : Dressing for Energy
  • Posted By Jamila Starwater
  • on September 15,2013

historical fashion

Bana is a form of dress. Any kind of outfit is technically a bana. Your clothing is a reflection of your consciousness and what you wear is amplifying your energy.

These were my notes from the last Kundalini yoga teacher training I did earlier this year. I loved that my teachers went over this in some detail. I have always loved clothes and even spent my freshman year as a fashion major.. and I almost dropped out because I realized pretty fast that the fashion business is full of shit not for me. Don’t get me wrong – I know some wonderful people who are in the business but overall I feel like it’s really.. misguided. And I think a part of that is because clothing is actually a very powerful container for our energy and so there are systems in place to manipulate this basic human need. But more on that later.. What I am really excited to talk about is how we can shift our understanding of clothing now.

Clothes are a basic human need. What you wear tells the world about who you are long before you even say a word. The color, shape, and materials that make up your clothes all effect you on a conscious and subconscious level. When you dress in a way that expresses who you are inside – and who you want to be- then you are working with your own power in a very productive, practical way. There is a saying in the corporate world ,”dress for the job you want, not the one you have” . They got that right and it is true on many levels.

If you hang around kundalini yogi’s and / or Sikh people long enough you will hear the term bana being thrown around. I believe the word and the concept of bana was invented by the 10th Sikh guru – Guru Gobind Singh. He gave the Sikh people a specific way to dress that helped shape their energy to give them access to a specific, very high frequency. Sikh bana involves a system called the 5 K’s , which basically outline the way baptized Sikhs (Khalsa’s) are to dress. When you look at someone dressed in what they call “full bana”,  it is really easy to be fooled into thinking that this is a dogmatic religious ritual kind of situation. The reality is that each of the “rules” of Khalsa dressing are actually creating specific energetic outcomes. It’s actually a very advanced way of dressing and it’s perfect because it has a built in bullshit shield – close minded bigot types naturally stay away! My husband is a Khalsa Sikh and dresses in full bana a lot so I have gotten a chance to observe the effectiveness of this first hand.

My teachers made it a point to say that the most important thing about choosing your bana is this – BE YOU! Dress however is appropriate for YOU. We don’t have to follow trends anymore. The flock mentality is so over and so boring. Wear what makes you feel good. I look forward to going into much more depth about this topic in future posts. In the mean time watch this excellent 9 min video on this subject.

mens fashion


Categories
  • DESIGN
  • FOOD
  • HEALTH
  • YOGA
Tags
alternative health therapies art artist aura Bana chakras clothing collage color cooking creativity delicious design detox Energy family Fashion findaspring food geometry harijiwan healing health health food inspiration inspiring interview series kundalini Kundalini yoga love mantra meditation music painting probiotics sikh sound superfood teacher training technology Vibrational Dressing voltage water yoga Yogi Bhajan
Copyright Brand Exponents 2014. All Rights Reserved