What will you be doing on 11/11/11? Go to: http://www.yoga.com for information on registration, schedule, & travel

Will you be at Spirit Fest this year?
Go to http://wwww.spiritfest.com to register or for more information!

Sat Nam Everyone!
It's me again. I'm taking a little break from talking about my personal adventures with Kundalini Yoga & Meditation to mention 2 upcoming events that you may be interested in in order to give you plenty of time to get information on them, register, & so on. Hope you enjoy the info. Until next time Sat Nam,
Amrita Kaur

Sat Nam everyone!
It's me again with the latest news. As I've said before I'm a "Hinz 57 as far as my spirituality is concerned. I'm a 7th Day Adventist & I practice Kundalini Yoga & Meditation. I've also been wearing a turban 4 the past few weeks & getting used to it. Heck I've even wore it to church & got a lot of positive feedback for it. At first people wondered about it & asked me about it. But when I explained what it was all about they were supportive. So you guys will see me with a different turban I made from some material that my friend Teri let me test out. That's the first pic.
I also have an altar where I do my Sadhana. The first pic is just that. The other 2 pics my 4 year old cat Sunny decided that he wanted 2 be worshiped I guess so he just jumped on top of it & then I took pictures of him while he was up there. I hope that all of you will get a big kick out of it. Until next time Sat Nam,
Dana Morgan AKA Amrita Kaur

My Challenges of Spirituality

Sat Nam Everybody!
Today I want to talk about my spiritual challenges & how my own spiritual practice has evolved & changed over the years.
I was raised in Christian circles as long as I can remember. I was christened Roman Catholic as a baby (although I never actually followed it). Then when I was about 11 O went to a Baptist church for Sunday school for a few years. & then I was in other Christian circles when I got older. Everything from the Evangelical Free church to the Assembly of God churches when I grew up. However, they all seemed to be very rigid in one way or another. I was under the impression that if I did all the "right things" i.e. listened to the right music, read my Bible,, prayed a lot I'd be saved. Give me a break! I'm a very firm believer in the power of prayer. However, I've outgrown the need to do all that extra busywork. I'd rather meditate.
Then several years ago I became curious about the Jewish roots of my faith so I did some research & immersed myself in the music & culture. At about that time I was asking all kinds of questions about the Sabbath & how it got changed to Sunday. Well I had a couple neighbors who lived in back of me who are 7th Day Adventists. They explained that part to me as well as why they don't believe in eating anything that was "unclean" e.g.pork, shellfish,& that's also what my Jewish brothers & sisters believe. So in 2003 I was baptized into the 7th Day Adventist church. However, I still was under the impression that if you did everything "right" you would be saved. At the same time I began studying other religious beliefs i.e. Native American spirituality, Buddhism, & in 2006 I started practicing & studying Kundalini Yoga & Meditation & just heard of Sikhism for the first time. Now I'm studying that to see what I can learn from that culture. So far I've managed to learn many different lessens from every religion I've studied about. For example from the Buddhists I've learned about being mindful & in the here & now. From the Jewish & 7th Day Adventists I've learned about the importance of the weekly Sabbath & not eating anything unclean, From the Native Americans I got what it means to be respectful of nature, & I'm still learning many different things from Kundalini Yoga & Meditation as well as from the Sikhs. So that's still a work in progress.
What are my challenges now? Well the first one is my mom. She's having a hard time understanding why I've chosen to wear a turban. I wonder if she thinks that I'm making fun of other peoples' beliefs (which I'm not. I just want to experiment with it. & she's very firmly stuck in her Bapticostal (between Baptist & Pentecostal) ways. So my main challenge is being respectful to her beliefs while setting my boundries about my own. I'll keep you updated as new developments occur.
Well that's it for now. I'll be back soon with a new post. Until then Sat Nam,
Dana Morgan AKA Amrita Kaur

Why I wear a turban AKA The Turban Story

Sat Nam Everyone!
It's me again Remember when I said yesterday that today I'd tell you the story about how I started wearing a turban? Well here it is:
A couple of years ago I started studying & practicing Kundalini Yoga & Meditation. 2 of the first books that I've read on the subject are The 8 Human Talents & Bountiful, Beautiful, & Blissful by Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa. On the covers I noticed that she was wearing a turban & I was impressed by it. Then I read in another book called The Kundalini Experience that wearing a turban could strengthen the bones in the skull. Well as someone who's prone to having seizures my brain needs all the help it could get. So I started doing some research on it. Then I started asking questions about it. My main one was about would it get too hot with one on? Because getting overheated could cause a seizure. So I went to a website called sikhnet.com & posted questions on this topic to a forum on the Sikh lifestyle. I learned that wearing a turban can actually keep your head cool because of the sweat that's released. Well that sold me on it so now I wear one just about all the time (except when I'm with my mom that would be a different story). As you can see on my picture to the right of the blog post that's one of my formal turbans. Now I'll put a picture of me with a more casual turban. I also wear bandannas as an alternative to a turban when needed. & the picture I uploaded yesterday was a "turbanized photo" from a site called turbanizer.com. So here's a picture of my casual turban. Well that's it for now. Tomorrow I'll tell you more about the challenges of my spiritual path. I briefly mentioned my mom. I'll fill you in more on it tomorrow. Until then Sat Nam,
Dana Morgan AKA Amrita Kaur

My Spiritual Name

For all those who don't yet know me allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dana Poulos (Morgan is my pen name). Well I've been practicing Kundalini yoga & Meditation off & on for the past few years. & while I'm actually a 7th Day Adventist, I've felt drawn to this type of yoga. I love the chanting & meditation & as far as the yoga asnas are concerned I have to modify some of them to meet my special needs.
Well a few months ago I was at 3HO's website & saw something about requesting a spiritual name. So out of curiosity I went ahead & got one. I made a small donation for it & got it within a few days after that. My spiritual name is Amrita Kaur. Amrita means deathless. Well I think that God has a sense of humor when he allowed me to be assigned that name because to me death means REST GLORIOUS REST!! & Kaur is for female Sikhs meaning lioness. Well I feel like a mama cat protecting her baby! My cat Sunny will be 4 years old next Monday & he's the only baby that I'll be having. Well that's it for now I hope this helps to clear up any confusion about me so far. Tomorrow I'll tell you all how & why I started wearing turbans! Until then Sat Nam,
Dana Morgan AKA Amrita Kaur