Below are helpful links, guides and recipes to support your practice.
- The Yoga Alliance
- Yoga Teacher registration and certifications.
- Kundalini Research Institute (KRI)
- The KRI, is a non-profit corporation, safeguards the purity, integrity, and accuracy of the Teachings of Yogi Bhajan.
- 3HO
- Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization | founded in 1969 by Kundalini Yoga Master Yogi Bhajan.
- IKYTA
- The International Kundalini Yoga Teachers Association.
- Yoga Directory Canada
- Canada’s online directory for Yoga Centres, Teachers and Training programs.
- Devinder Kaur
- Devinder Kaur’s website for healing and uplifting Yoga Classes, Workshops and Gong Meditations. Available at this site are Gong recordings such as Devinder Kaur’s debut album “Echo”.
Guides
- Kundalini Yoga 101
- What is a Gong Meditation?
- Power of Chanting
- Japji English Transliteration
- Kirtan Kriya Helper By Shelley Lambert
Recipes
Yogi Tea
Yogi Tea comprises a specific combination of spices, milk and black tea. Health-promoting, delicious, soothing and a great coffee substitute. Yogi Tea is easy to make from scratch. You can make a big pot full (without the milk), store it in the refrigerator. To make a cup of tea, just fill your cup to 3/4 with tea, add milk and pop in the microwave for a few minutes (or heat in a saucepan).
In the science of yogic food preparation, the spices are said to have the following properties: Black pepper: blood purifier; Cardamom: digestive aid; Cloves: nervous system and generate heat in the body; Cinnamon: bones; Gingerroot: for colds, flue, physical weakness, digestion, increased potency. The milk helps in the easy assimilation of the spices and coats the stomach lining to avoid irritation there. A pinch of black tea gives just a touch of “pick up”.
2 quarts water
15 whole cloves
20 green cardamom pods
20 black peppercorns
3 sticks cinnamon
8 slices ginger root
½ teaspoon black tea
3 cups milk (dairy or non-dairy)
Bring water to a boil in a 3-4 quart pot. Add cloves and boil for 1 minute. Add cardamom pods (to better release the flavour, crush or split the pods), pepper corns, cinnamon sticks and gingerroot. Cover and boil gently for 20-30 minutes. Add black tea.
At this point you can let the tea cool, strain it and refrigerate. Or add the milk, return to boil, and immediately remove from heat. Add honey to taste. Enjoy! From the cookbook From Vegetables with Love by Siri Ved Kaur Khalsa
Sunday Morning Yoga Class Dried Fruit Muffins
1¾ cups sifted amaranth flour
¼ cup arrowroot flour
2½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon vitamin C crystals
½ cup chopped nuts (optional)
2/3 cup water
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 egg (optional or use egg substitute)
1 teaspoon pure Vanilla
1 cup dried fruit (dates work well)
Sift flour, arrowroot, baking soda, cinnamon, and vitamin C crystals into a large bowl stir in chopped nuts and dried fruit. In a separate bowl, whisk egg, water, honey, oil and vanilla and pour into the dry mix and mix gently. Divide batter into 12 muffin cups bake at 375°F for 18-20 minutes.
Note: You can replace the Vitamin C crystals with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar, but reduce the water by 2 tablespoons. If you use smaller muffin pans reduce the time for baking to about 10 minutes. This recipe comes to us via Arvind Singh. Thank you Arvind!
Chewy Coconut Cookies
These ones are a huge hit after our Gong Meditations! Enjoy!
1¼ cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter (or ghee)
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup light natural sugar
1 egg (or egg substitute)
½teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1 1/3 cup flaked coconut
Preheat oven to 350°F. Cream butter and sugar add egg, add extracts. Gradually blend in dry ingredients. Lastly mix in the coconut. Drop dough by teaspoons on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake cookies for 8 – 10 minutes until lightly toasted. Cool on wire rack.
Triple Chocolate Vegan Brownie Cookies
If you’re looking for a truly decadent chocolate cookie then this is it!
2 ½ cups of maple syrup
1 cup canola oil
1 ½ cups organic dark chocolate chips
2 ½ cups organic dark cocoa powder
A handful of raw cacao nibs
5 cups of flour (either spelt or whole wheat flour)
¼ tsp sea salt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Combine the syrup, oil and chocolate chips in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the cocoa powder, cacao nibs and
flour. Combine the 2 mixtures in a large bowl. Slowly add the remaining ingredients.
Using a teaspoon, scoop the batter in portions (a rounded teaspoon) onto a waxed cookie sheet. You might need to have a glass of hot water handy to wipe off the spoon from time to time.
Slightly flatten each ball of dough with the back of the spoon. Bake for 15 minutes at 350F. Remove from heat even if the
cookies are still a bit soft. They will harden as they cool. This recipe comes to us from Yoga Teacher, Kym Kerr. Thank you Kym!
Sunday Morning Yoga Class Butter Fingers (Square)
Heat 2 tablespoons of butter or ghee in an 8×8 pan in a 350°F oven. In a mixing bowl whisk the following together:
1 cup brown sugar (or a natural sugar of your choice)
1 egg (or egg substitute)
To this mixture add:
5 tablespoons flour (your choice of type)
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup of fine coconut
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup finely chopped walnuts (or your choice of type)
Mix well and pour mixture over the melted butter.
Bake for approximately 25 minutes.
Golden Milk
Golden Milk is a delicious drink, featuring turmeric as its active ingredient. Turmeric is known in the Ayurvedic system of medicine as a lubricant for the joints.
1 cup milk (or milk substitute)
1 cup water
½ – 1 teaspoon Turmeric
1 teaspoon almond oil or ghee & some sweetener
Cook the turmeric for 8 minutes in the water — you may wish to make a batch that stays fresh for up to one month in the refrigerator.
Add milk, and bring to boiling point.
Remove from heat, add oil and sweetener.
Mung Beans and Rice
Mung beans are high in natural vegetable protein, rich in important minerals, and very easy to digest. They are an excellent staple that you can use as a healing mono diet or fall back on when you need to regain balance in your life. With the addition of brown basmati rice, steamed vegetables, garlic, onion, ginger, and turmeric, along with a dollop of low-fat yogurt, you have a very nutritious and filling meal.
This recipe is very good for anyone who is recovering from an illness; someone who is fatigued; and for people with digestive problems. It is also good for general cleansing-detox at the change of seasons. Makes 8 servings.
1 cup mung beans
1 cup basmati rice
9 cups of water
6-7 cups chopped assorted vegetables (carrots, celery, zucchini, broccoli, etc.)
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/3 ginger root, minced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 heaping teaspoon turmeric
1 heaping teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon crushed red chillies
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
Seeds of 5 cardamom pods
1-2 tablespoon Sea salt
Wash beans and rinse at least 3 times. Look carefully for any little rocks, and take out.
Clean and cut vegetables. Heat oil in large frying pan. Add onions, ginger, and garlic, spices and salt. Sauté over medium-high flame until brown. Add this mixture to the pot with beans and water.
Add all ingredients BUT RICE and let boil over medium-high heat. When the beans have boiled into a gravy-looking liquid (about 60 to 90 minutes), add rice, lower heat to simmer, and let cook for another 20 minutes.
This dish is easy to digested, and is excellent for the sick, the elderly, and young children, but in those cases make it less spicy. Kombu seaweed enriches this recipe with minerals and helps make the beans more easily digestible.
Humus
Rinse and soak 1 cup garbanzo beans for 12 hours, pouring off soaking water, and adding fresh to cook.
Cook beans, bringing them to a boil and then simmering until soft (over an hour). Drain, leaving a little water.
In food processor blend: the cooked beans, 1/2 cup sesame tahini, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, Tamari or Braggs, juice of 2-3 limes, 1-2 cloves garlic, 1 small handful of parsley (optional or as garnish).
Serve with whole-grain sprouted bread in sandwiches or as a dip with wholesome chips or veggies.
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