Balanced In The Neutral Mind: Yoga’s 4th Body

The neutral mind is one of the least-valued assets we have as yogis in this crazy modern world.

If you’re thinking oh yeah…like beginner’s mind! 

🙃 Not exactly 

We’re talking about the 10 bodies today, yogis! According to the Kundalini tradition, we don’t simply have one body – we actually have 10 bodies. Within the mind alone, we have three spiritual bodies (cue rising excitement)! When we cultivate our neutral mind, we learn to live beyond the surface level of “good and bad” in any given situation. We are able to become more discerning, and we can remain fluid to changes in our own life.

Through regular practice and meditation, strengthening the neutral mind is a powerful way to create peace and understanding in our life. We’ll look at how exactly in this article. 

What is the Neutral Mind in Yoga?

The neutral mind is the innate ability to see both sides in everything and act in a calm, intuitive manner. Like… the opposite of your vegan friend who literally flips out when dairy products are within sniffing distance. Neutral mind means we turn down freak out mode and quieten paralyzing self-talk. When someone has a strong neutral mind, they are able to adequately weigh both the negative and positive in order to see the big picture. When we act from the neutral mind we are able to stay present and access our higher consciousness. This helps us to respect our feelings, but also develop reactions that bring us closer to our higher selves.

The neutral mind is just one of the mental bodies. We also have a negative mind and a positive mind.

• The Negative Mind (Second Body): The negative mind governs your ability to set boundaries, discern danger, and protect yourself. Without the negative mind to balance it out, the positive mind can sometimes make foolish choices and be overly optimistic to the point of delusion. Likewise, the neutral mind needs to draw information from the negative mind in order to make decisions.
• The Positive Mind (Third Body): When looking through this positive, expansive mind, you feel open to all the possibilities of life. Not only that, but you’re able to welcome them into your life with grace and humility. Through this strong 3rd body, you feel naturally playful and optimistic. And with this natural charisma, your communication is strong and direct. Without the positive mind, the negative mind would be overly pessimistic and scared into complacency. When all three mental bodies work together, we can find balance and harmony.

The 10 Bodies of Yoga

As we’ve mentioned, the neutral mind is actually just one of the ten bodies in Kundalini yoga.

The ten bodies of yoga are broken down into three categories: the physical body, three mental bodies, and six energy bodies.

1. Soul Body: connecting to your inner wisdom
2. Negative Mind: learning to protect yourself
3. Positive Mind: having a playful & optimistic view
4. Neutral Mind: accessing your intuitive senses & compassion
5. Physical Body: creating a connection between heaven and earth
6. Arcline: tapping into your third eye to focus & meditate
7. Aura: the electromagnetic field of energy surrounding your fifth body
8. Pranic Body: the breath that energizes the physical and the soul body
9. Subtle Body: seeing beyond external reality into the nuances of life
10. Radiant Body: the union of your soul body and your radiance

As you can see, the neutral mind is just one piece of a vastly complex and magical system of energies that makes up who you are as a human being!

The Neutral Mind and the Fourth Chakra

Characteristics of the Neutral Mind

Affirmation: I am guided by the divine wisdom of my spirit.

Qualities: In general, a person who is familiar and well practiced with their neutral mind will have a calm and compassionate perception of the world. This can manifest as:

• A deep connection with their intuition
• Low levels of stress and fear in their lives
• The ability to healthfully disengage from arguments
• A general sense of peace and wellbeing
• The desire to live from a place of service

When a person is deeply connected to their neutral mind, they aren’t usually heavily swayed by their emotions. Instead, they are able to maintain a peaceful heart center and a tranquil state of being. It’s important to note, this doesn’t mean that they suddenly turn into emotionally-unavailable robots. Instead, they’ve learned how to discern their emotional reactions to a situation in a way that helps them to avoid being triggered and reactive.

Someone with a strong and engaged neutral mind knows how they want to utilize their energy in the world, and aims to bring happiness through acts of service and compassion. If you believe in an infinite power or higher consciousness, this is where you strengthen your connection to that matter.

Cultivating the Neutral Mind

Finding harmony within the fourth body is all about creating a foundation of spiritual living and mindfulness. When we are disconnected from our neutral mind, Yogi Bhajan says we are “a beast instead of a human.” He goes on to say “you never know what is right and what is wrong, and you lack the clarity and certainty of your soul.”

How to Strengthen the Neutral Mind 

Vipassana – Heart Centered Meditation

This is a great meditation to connect to your heart chakra and open yourself up to access more compassion. Take a seat, and pay attention to the rise and fall of your chest as you breathe. Allow yourself to focus on the rhythm.

Invite a person who is close to you into your thoughts. Send them empathy and as much loving kindness as you can muster. Meditate on the warmth of pink or green energy flowing between your heart center and theirs. Repeat this with a total of three people, allowing energy to swell heartily around your heart chakra.

Stop Arguing and Start Affirming

LOL, if only it was easy!! This will obviously take some time, practice and compassion. If you have the mindset that arguing = winning, try to shift your focus instead to affirming the energy within you that you wish to spread. Begin to notice whenever you feel yourself getting overly defensive or stuck in what you believe is “the right way.” Replace these habits with calm perception by taking a few deep breaths before you react.

Even a super simple exercise like taking a few deep breaths in the middle of an argument can make a huge difference. Give it a try, and just watch what happens.

Try the Siri Gaitri Mantra

Taught by Yogi Bhajan and the Kundalini tradition, this mantra is believed to fine-tune your spirit to the rhythm of the Universe and get you in touch with a powerful healing vibration. The Siri Gaitri mantra holds within it eight sounds that stimulate this vibration – Ra, Ma, Da, Sa, Sa, Say, So, and Hung.

To practice this mantra, sit down on a yoga mat with legs crossed and a straight spine. Chant the mantra for 10 to 30 minutes. Focus on the sounds and how they make you feel. To wrap up the meditation, inhale deeply and hold your breath as you offer a healing prayer to the universe.