Kundalini Teacher Harmanjot on Compassionate Motherhood

This month, we welcome seasoned Kundalini yoga teacher, Harmanjot, to Mothersphere. Harmanjot has been highly trained in this line of yoga by elite masters in the lineage but her true magic is the way she can modernize these ancient practices and technologies — something we also deeply aspire to do! She is also the founder of Infinity MA, a full spectrum motherhood training course that ranges from fertility to fourth trimester. As a working mom, she has definitely walked the walk and has firsthand experience applying the wisdom of these teachings to the reality of balancing family, career, and self-care in today’s world. Read on for Hamonjot’s special blend of yogic wisdom, personal experience, and compassionate intention.

Q: Firstly, can you share with us a little bit about your family? How many members in your tribe? What are their ages and names?

A: I’m the mother of a tribe of warriors. My husband, Ram Dharam, is my rock. My daughter, Dass Piara, is a four-year-old dreamboat and power-player in the making. My son, Teg Vedjeet, is 1.5-years-old, has a voice like a lion, and loves to snuggle and read books untill the sun comes up.

Q: Did you know you always wanted to be a mother?

A: I was aware of a desire to be a mother from the age of 15. It is actually how I got started in Kundalini yoga. I felt like this yoga was so effective at building self confidence and esteem, activating creativity, and allowing me the plasticity to change and develop better habits. It was a place to be spiritual in an organic, authentic way. It felt like such a beautiful way to cultivate myself so that I could show others, including those souls I help bring in, how to cultivate their most fulfilled lives as well.

Q: Did you consciously conceive or was it an unexpected blessing?

A: I have had both experiences! Alchemical fertility and conscious conception is a big part of the Kundalini motherhood teachings. In my mothers program, Infinity MA, I teach about how to call in a soul who has done a lot of spiritual work in their past lives. These kinds of souls have a lot of electro-magnetic momentum, can make family life easier, and attain their destiny faster — which is fun! My second child came as a surprise, but even without “special preparation,” he has really shown up as a powerful being. This goes to show that there is no need to be ultra-precious about conscious conception. You, your baby, and your family are intrinsically sacred.

Q: We’d love to learn about your pregnancy. How was your experience carrying? What were some of the exciting moments and some of the challenges?

A: I am an extremely mind over matter individual. So while I had some morning queasiness at times, I had an all around blissful pregnancy. Was it the Kundalini? Was I just not mentally participating in the normal drama of pregnancy? I don’t know! I’ll say that time is funny in pregnancy. At six months, I felt like I was just getting into it, and that I didn’t want my prenatal time to end. Then, towards my due range when I felt like my belly could stretch no farther, I wondered if I would ever give birth.

Q: Did you feel any major shifts during this period of your life — whether they were physical, social, or spiritual?

A: I felt major shifts physically, socially, and spiritually.

When you witness your body doing the most incredible act, literally bringing new life onto the planet, it gives you an enormous love and reverence for your physical self.

There is also an instant value and priority shift after you give birth. It puts everything into immediate perspective.

Q: What supportive practices and tools did you use to nourish yourself and your growing baby during pregnancy?

A: I am majorly into nutrition. Here are the essential nutrients I think every mother needs:

• Zinc to reduce pain in childbirth and prevent tongue ties. Do not supplement with inorganic zinc. Get your zinc from sprouted lentils, hemp seeds, squash, pumpkin and sesame seeds, cashews, milk, cheese, and oysters.
• Folate (B9) to help form the baby neural tubes and help prevent major birth defects of the baby’s brain (anencephaly) and spine (spina bifida). Take 400 micrograms (mcg) of folate or get from sprouted kidney beans, peas, lentils, asparagus, leafy greens, citrus, wheat germ, bananas, avocados, and eggs.
• Iodine for the production of maternal and fetal thyroid hormones that regulate the development of the fetal brain and nervous system, important for baby IQ. For iodine, do not supplement. Get your iodine from food-based sources such as cottage cheese, grass-fed yogurt, prunes, and sprouted lima beans.
• Selenium to help prevent miscarriages, protect DNA, detox mercury and other heavy metals and prevent cystic fibrosis. Take 1 cap of selenoexcell a day and you can use any brand. Selenoexcell is food based, bioavailable, and pregnancy safe.

Q: Birth is incredibly individual. Each mother’s journey will be unique. However, sharing our stories can provide universal insights for other mothers to be. What is one thing you loved about your experience and one thing you’d do differently?

A: I had both of my babies at home under the care and supervision of midwife, Catherine Williams of Home Birth Service of Los Angeles. I think a mother should choose where she feels safest and most secure. If this is a hospital or a birthing center, this is still sacred. The point is for the mother to feel supported.In hindsight, giving birth is ecstatic and euphoric. In the moment, however, you are hot, sweaty, and intensely uncomfortable. Both times I thought I would be blissful and focused on chanting mantras, but it was just my husband chanting and me sweating it out trying not to puke. Both times I pleaded with the Universe to turn back the clock and try me on another day. Both times I was on the verge of “giving up,” but realized that by the time my midwife rolled me into the car and gently drove me over to my back up hospital, that I would have already given birth and that I needed to just get through the next 45 minutes and I would be fine. Both times I looked back and thought about what a cool ride birth was! It’s funny like that.

Above all, it’s important for the birth to be private. You don’t need a lot of people there. Just you and your birth support partner and the medical professional. 

Q: Over the first 40 days of your little one being earthside, how did you feel? Did you have a supportive network around you or did you remain fairly private?

A: In Kundalini yoga, we suggest the mother and baby stay home, inside, for 40 days in order to let the infant aura regulate on planet earth without a lot of outside stimulus. It is said that the baby who stays at home with their mother for 40 days after birth, and is never more than nine feet away from the mother, that baby will never have insecurity. This time is also to let the mother’s body heal.I had to jump through some hoops to get someone to hold the baby nine feet near me while using the bathroom or showering, but I really enjoyed simply resting at home with my baby, cooking, nourishing, and taking the occasional visitor. I did not miss the outside world at all. Both my kids are confident.

Q: Since becoming a mother how has your self care changed?

A: Self care becomes absolutely essential once you are a mother. You are nourishing an additional life. How can you do this if you are coming from a depleted well? Self care also becomes a challenge when you are a mother, because the babies always want you. If I did everything my children wanted, I wouldn’t even get to brush my hair. So I look for easy ways to take care of myself. Eating decadently and taking the occasional spa day works for me.

Q: What are some of the resources — be they books, nutrition, practitioners, or rituals that you’d recommend to other expecting moms or mothers in the parenting years?

A: My Infinity MA program on RA MA TV is full-spectrum fertility, prenatal, birth, and motherhood program that includes Kundalini yoga, nutrition, lifestyle, and more. I cover everything from yogic diets and lifestyle practices for creating peak fertility and meditations to accelerate the child while in the womb, to labor positioning and natural neurochemistry for postpartum blues. I want to prepare a woman to take on the role of Mother as Queen, with a cosmic psyche, royal position, and clear and compassionate reign.

Q: What rituals or routines do you implement to foster a deeper connection with your little ones? If you are a mom of multiples, do you set time aside to be with each of them individually?

A: As a working mother, I am not around as much as I would like to be. So whenever I am with my kids, I respond to calls of affection immediately. I feel like a protege of Amma, the “Hugging Saint,” because I am always in an embrace. I also make sure to listen deeply and look into their eyes. I want them to know they are heard and received and how happy I am to have them.

Q: Motherhood often means finding peace within the chaos. We are big believers in managing our mood in order to show up consistently as the mother we know we are and want to be. What are your favorite products from THE FULLEST Shop that support your mood and help you stay centered?

A: I LOVE the Warm Feelings™ saffron latte. Saffron is a royal yogic food and great for keeping the skin supple, young, and beautiful. You can use the latte mix and blend it with sprouted almonds as a menstrual support mono-diet. Per another yogic recipe, you can also use the mix and boil it with pistachios and milk to relieve the symptoms of a chest cold. So many healthy and delicious ways to use this mix!Photo credit Ram Dharam Walker.Harmanjot is the founder of Infinity MA, a founding teacher at RA MA Institute for Applied Yogic Science and Technology, and the founder of SMOOCH & the Realm of the 10th Gate: a Kundalini yoga brand aimed at empowering the every-woman, expanding magic in the world, and living with irreverence. Follow along her journey @harmanjotkaur.