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Key Benefits
Although its roots go back to ancient India, once again yoga has become the latest rage. If you are not already practicing yoga yourself, chances are you know someone who is. It is not very difficult to explain yoga’s growing popularity. It makes you feel great and dramatically improves the quality of your life.
That being said, I’m going to do my best to share with you the style I
have practiced and taught for almost 25 years: Kundalini
Yoga.
You need to know three things about Kundalini Yoga.
You will be able to do almost anything thrown at you right from the first
class; sincere effort being the only thing asked of you.
You will experience the powerful benefits of the practice very quickly. And should you connect to the practice in your heart, you
will experience the depth of your soul. For
these reasons, I believe Kundalini Yoga to be the “crème de la crème” of
yoga practices for this fast-paced, efficiency-oriented modern world in which we
live. There is an important distinction between Kundalini Yoga and the more widely known forms of Hatha Yoga. Basically, Hatha Yoga was a spiritual practice developed by ascetics to escape the trappings and pains of the material world. Unfortunately, those original Hatha Yoga teachings are now often presented merely as a means of physical exercise and health promotion, with the spiritual aspects of the practice devalued or removed completely. Kundalini Yoga on the other hand, was specifically designed for householders, that is, people with families, working in the community and very much involved in the hub-bub of everyday life. It was also practiced by warriors before entering the field of battle. The ideal was not to escape the world. The ideal was to build a healthy, happy and God-conscious being who brought his or her radiance and wisdom into the flow of the world in which he or she lived. It is this spiritual technology that Yogi Bhajan brought to the West from India for the first time in 1969. As with any other form of yoga, Kundalini Yoga will bring to the dedicated student improved health, as well as a sense of well-being and inner peace. However, from the practice of Kundalini Yoga we can also expect to become dynamic, magnetic, emotionally strong and intelligently sharp. And here, character definitely counts. In Kundalini Yoga, this combination of virtues represents the ultimate fulfillment of spiritual life that we all seek deep down inside. Any Kundalini Yoga class that you attend will, to one extent or other, contain three aspects. First, there is breath control exercises, or “pranayam.” We practice long, deep breathing which calms the mind and relaxes the body. We also practice rapid, powerful breathing (breath of fire) which cleanses and energizes. Secondly, there are any number of exercise sets, or “kriyas,” each specifically working on a particular aspect of our being (physical, emotional or spiritual). Like in traditional Hatha Yoga, there are poses we stretch into and hold for prolonged periods of time. However, in general, we integrate a lot of movement and breathing into our yogic postures. All these sets, which improve both flexibility and strength, are designed to be within the ability level of any person, regardless of age or physical condition.
By this time, you might be asking: what in the world is “Kundalini” (koon-da-lee-nee)? Through their study of the human being and their own spiritual practice, the ancient seers discovered a source of largely untapped, yet infinite energy that sat at the base of the spine. They called this Kundalini energy. Recent scientific studies have validated the existence of this human energy system. Any kind of creativity, be it expressed in the arts, in the world of business, in social kindness, in human sexuality, is a manifestation of Kundalini energy. These same seers developed a technology to raise this largely dormant energy up the spine and into the higher centers of the heart, throat and head, upon which a person could experience a profound sense of love, truth and wisdom. Ultimately, this energy is brought to the very top of the head, at which time there is a feeling of oneness with the Creator. This energy then drips down into every atom of the human being. At this exalted point, higher consciousness is experienced in every moment and one's mere presence uplifts all of humanity. This technology is called Kundalini Yoga. Well, that’s the ultimate goal. You are probably not going to experience the mountain top in your very first class! But I do think you can expect to experience something quite unique and wonderful right from the start. And as we say to end every class, “Sat Nam.” (God is Truth).
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Lastly, we integrate meditation, or “simran,” into our classes.