Kundalini Yoga
"Kundalini Yoga is the supreme technology to awaken your awareness and take you into your original self. It is a natural unfolding of your own nature"
Kundalini Yoga was taught for over 5000 years in India and Tibet, passed down privately from teacher to student. Yogis, saints and sages developed what they considered a ‘technology’ to allow individuals to experience and express their highest self, to attain and maintain a level of higher consciousness.
Kundalini Yoga (kuṇḍalinī-yoga), also known as laya yoga, is a school of yoga that is influenced by Shaktism and Tantra schools of Hinduism. It derives its name through a focus on awakening kundalini energy through regular practice of meditation, pranayama, chanting mantra and yoga asana. Called by practitioners "the yoga of awareness", it aims "to cultivate the creative spiritual potential of a human to uphold values, speak truth, and focus on the compassion and consciousness needed to serve and heal others.
Coming from the Sanskrit word ‘kundal’, meaning ‘lock of hair of the beloved’ the uncoiling is the awakening of the kundalini – the latent energy force in us which is the catalyst for all forms of self-healing, intuition, creativity and wisdom. This energy is the creative potential that already exists in all of us, but usually lies dormant. The purpose of Kundalini Yoga is to release the energy gradually and gracefully in order to connect you to your true path.
Kundalini Yoga is a yoga for people who have to cope with the daily challenges and stresses of holding jobs, raising families, and managing businesses. Kundalini Yoga is for everyone who wants the skills to cope successfully with the challenges of living in this day and age.
Kundalini Yoga teaches techniques and awareness to be healthy, happy, and holy; to gain a strong immune system, vital glands, a strong nervous system, good circulation, and an awareness of the impacts of our habits. Kundalini combines asana (postures), pranayama (breathing exercises), chanting of mantras, and meditation, to reduce stress, strengthen and relax the body, clear the mind, and uplift the spirit.
In Kundalini Yoga, the emphasis is on the experience- and effects- of the posture, not on perfecting it. Whatever you think your physical limitations are, there is a place for you in Kundalini Yoga. It awakens you to your own potential.
In Kundalini Yoga we use a lot of mantras. Mantra is the use of sound to affect consciousness. Mantras are typically in an ancient Indian language. These mantras contain the vibrations of prosperity, peace of mind, increasing intuition, and many other qualities. There are eighty-four meridian points, or pressure points, in the roof of the mouth. Every time we speak we stimulate them- and their associated glands and organs- with the tongue. Every time we chant a mantra, we are tapping our a particular sequence- rhythm and position- that initiates a chemical reaction in the brain and body. Punch in the right code on the upper palate and you gain entry to the brain and the inner chambers of higher consciousness! As a vibration, a mood, a state of being that results from chanting, mantra is compatible with all belief systems.
An essential part of practising Kundalini Yoga is the breath. This is the first and last thing we do in this physical lifetime, we inhale, and we exhale. Along with oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide, the breath contains prana, the vital force that energizes the mind, body, and consciousness.
Learning to breathe deeply and completely is one of the most effective tools for increasing health, vitality, and connectedness in one’s life.
Meditations in Kundalini Yoga contain specific, practical tools that carefully and precisely support the mind and guide the body though the use of breath, mantra, mudra, and focus. The range and variety of meditation techniques in the Kundalini Yoga tradition are truly extraordinary. There are meditations that reduce stress, work on addictions, increase vitality, and clear chakras.
Meditation is a cleansing process. It can be blissful and very cosy, but it can also be downright miserable. The mind generates thousands of thoughts per second. When you sit quietly and turn the focus inwards, you become very aware of what is going on in the background of your mind. Just keep going back to the mantra or other points of focus. You may find yourself observing some very unpleasant, ugly thoughts while you are meditating. The mantras and meditation are doing their job, the important thing is to keep up! Do not evaluate or react to the thoughts. Let them be processed. Have patience with yourself. You are cleaning up and getting rid of negativity that has been covering up the divine light in you.
Meditations in Kundalini Yoga contain specific, practical tools that carefully and precisely support the mind and guide the body though the use of breath, mantra, mudra, and focus. The range and variety of meditation techniques in the Kundalini Yoga tradition are truly extraordinary. There are meditations that reduce stress, work on addictions, increase vitality, and clear chakras.
Meditation is a cleansing process. It can be blissful and very cosy, but it can also be downright miserable. The mind generates thousands of thoughts per second. When you sit quietly and turn the focus inwards, you become very aware of what is going on in the background of your mind. Just keep going back to the mantra or other points of focus. You may find yourself observing some very unpleasant, ugly thoughts while you are meditating. The mantras and meditation are doing their job, the important thing is to keep up! Do not evaluate or react to the thoughts. Let them be processed. Have patience with yourself. You are cleaning up and getting rid of negativity that has been covering up the divine light in you.