Nok Grant Recipient Nathalie Paoli
Traveled March-21st 2005 returned May 22 2005

My deepest gratitude goes to the Nok Foundation for providing me with an opportunity to deepen my meditation practice as part of its intensive course in India. This intensive was to work in the field of Japa Yoga-an intense repetition of mantra with the tongue of thought of God's name that causes one to lose his or her individuality during the act.

The Mantra, the Re Man shabd, was written in a state of enlightenment by the 10th Sikh, Master Guru Gobind Singh. This shabd (the sound current that vibrates in all creation) contains line-by-line instructions intended to bring you into a state of enlightenment. The shabd describes each one of those steps as you are going through them. Our Intensive was to repeat the Re Man Shabd 11,000 times at a fairly rapid pace over the course of 108 hours in 7 days.

The meditation was held in Rishikesh, located at the foothills of the Himalayas on the banks of the fabled Ganga (otherwise known as the Ganges) River. All of Rishikesh is considered to be very sacred as it is believed that meditating there leads to attainment and salvation. This historic city is also famous for its ashrams teaching yoga. During this intensive, we were hosted at Parmath Niketan, the huge beautiful ashram of Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji, AKA Muniji, who is a friend of my late teacher of Kundalini Yoga, Yogi Bhajan.

This was my first trip to India and my first time meeting a swami, and I most fondly recall that the light in his eyes and his very compassionate and hospitable nature were both inspiring and comforting. The Ashram itself sits at the top of 50-foot wide marble steps which lead right down to the river, about 20 yards into which stands a huge Shiva. Every evening at sundown, the steps are covered with red carpet and people from all around gather to participate joyfully in the Aarti, the evening prayers and lamp ceremony. Muniji insisted that we take part in the ceremony every night or as often as possible during our intensive week. The Aarti featured a powerful Kirtan (devotional singing) with Muniji and 40 or 50 young orphan boys in orange and saffron robes singing their hearts out. Taking care of these orphans is just one of several humanitarian acts that Muniji does.

Guru Dev Singh, a compassionate teacher, a master of the ancient healing art of Sat Nam Rasayan®, and the sustainer of a lineage of healers, was asked by Yogi Bhajan to hold and organize this intensive and to hold the space for the group to go through this very intense and transformational experience.

In order to start the meditation there was a bit of organizing to do. We needed to make sure we brought enough mats and cushioning to sit comfortably, a timer and a pen, and paper to keep track of our sittings. There were about 65 of us in a group who showed up from all parts of the world. Each day the program consisted of 15 50-minute sittings followed by a10-minute break in order to try to end the 11,000 repetitions on time. We also had to manage to fit in 3 meals a day of about half an hour as well. So while we had ample time to eat, how much sleep and when we slept was up to us. I averaged about 3-4 hours of sleep per night along with the occasional nap that would sometimes happen while sitting, but we won't mention that!

Since this was the first time I was in India, it took a few days to adjust to the many new surroundings, especially because of the strong sacred vibration, all the insects and cows, and the change of diet and extreme amount of devotional people. I just wanted to walk around a bit and absorb this new environment, but fortunately, even though we went right into the intensive, by the second or third day all the distractions disappeared and the whole group energy settled into a rich, deep, meditative state. I have never felt myself and seen other people look so radiant in my life. I was able to go into a space of neutrality while making sound that was so peaceful and healing, that I wanted to stay there forever. It's not very easy to describe a meditation experience in too much detail, but what I experienced was how everything that I ever learned about the effects of Japa and shabd happened so powerfully over the course of the remaining days - and then persisted once the course had finished.

Japa is also known as food for the soul. The practice alone helps give eternal peace, bliss and immortality. The Re Man shabd is very unique the way every word is pronounced with the tongue. It also teaches that a word's meaning creates a very powerful sound current that produces vitality in the body, awakens intelligence in the mind, and establishes compassion in the heart. What also results from constant repetition is that there winds up being a no more separation between yourself and the mantra or shabd. You wind up becoming what you are chanting in definition and in vibration through your being and external vibration or your aura. Comments for this particular meditation is that when chanting it everyday for just 11 times a day can give one a golden aura like Buddha. Therefore, Yogi Bhajan wanted us to multiply that by 1000. Guru Dev Singh told us when we finished that when you get through all the stages of the re man shabd, or after doing the 11,000 reps, you will never react to situations the same way.

Then the course was over.

Afterwards, some of us remained in Rishikesh and then I decided to stay in India a while longer. I proceeded to have so numerous wonderful experiences such as taking additional yoga classes, sight seeing, staying at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, traveling to Dharmsala, finding an endearing acupuncturist who took wonderful care of my knees after all of that sitting, and meeting an astonishing family who took care of me as if I was their own daughter. The kindness and hospitality in India is so great and is incomparable to anything I've ever seen. Though I wouldn't say it was easy to go to a country where all I get are warnings to be careful with who you meet, what you eat, how to travel around, by just being there and doing such deep work I found myself open during the rest of my journey I was taken care of day after day. Perhaps this is why it is called "Mother India."

Thanks to the Nok Foundation I was able to have the most transformational experience of my life, as peace has come into my life and my teachings have become more neutral and devotional. Though I have been practicing and teaching Kundalini Yoga for several years and have been on many retreats, being in India alone and holding this intensive allows me to clearly understand that I will never be the same.