“If you can meet with triumph and disaster, treat those two imposters the same.”

From the poem “If,” by Rudyard Kipling

Kundalini and really all yoga and meditation was created to tame the fluctuations of the mind, transforming them into a vast landscape that can hold the space of opposites without being pulled in either direction. Non-duality is the description the Yogis give such a minds cape. One that conquers what they consider to be a guiding principle of the Cosmos: Polarity.

When I first started practicing a Buddhist form of meditation in my 20s, the group I was part of would meet every month to talk about the teachings and our practice. Every meeting, a new person would start crying. They were anxious that just sitting and breathing meant they didn’t care about the wrongs in the world. It was always the same issue. How can you sit here and breathe when there are so many horrific things happening in the world? Well-intentioned anxiety and hysteria for sure, but this question is indicative of a mindscape that hasn’t conquered Polarity or experienced the neutrality that comes with regular meditation.

Neutrality is not ignoring the world. It is being vast enough to allow all of the opposites – darkness and light, suffering and joy, pain and pleasure – to pulsate through us. Pausing before we act instead of reacting and slingshotting between opposites. Neutrality is not about accepting injustices with apathy, but about integrating a mindset of faith. It is a yogic recipe that if we breathe and pause, space is created. Our existence can reveal itself as a cog in the Divine system of light and love. This allows the right action to organically blossom from within our consciousness. These revelations are never loud. They begin as a very quiet thought, which is why we meditate, so that we can hear them.

The other benefit that comes from a neutral mind, is a different and deeper flavor of JOY. When joy flows from a vast and neutral mental state, it is longer-lasting. That is why many paintings depict saints and sages with that Mona Lisa smile. All-knowing, handling the incredible beauty with the accompanying shadow and misery of every moment all at once. Maybe not knowing the entire reason for suffering and joy in the world, but secure in knowing that the plan is being perfectly executed. The journey towards a neutral mind is really the journey from fear to faith. Each time we pause instead of react, we take a step up the spiral staircase out of the Realm of Karma (action/reaction) towards the Realm of Dharma (where actions do not create Karma, they bring us back to the Divine).

Try so start to notice fearful thinking, actively and intentionally turning those thoughts into faith. Everything is conspiring for your and everyone’s greatest good. Even if it’s a placebo practice it will work and transform your life to make JOY flow!

I leave you with the words of Yogi Bhajan, the man that brought Kundalini to the West, on Duality and these times, aka the Age of Aquarius:

“When you have duality, you have a very beautiful split. It creates a gorge in which you, your future and your destiny shall fall. For those who play games in the Age of Aquarius, I have a word of advice for them. Play no games. Let the hand of God play the game. If you play games, then even with all the wealth and achievement you can attain, you will be nothing but pure misery…So please give God a chance. Let God guide you, and see how it goes.”

Sat nam.

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