Raise Kundalini In Quick Order? Quick Answer

Share on Pinterest Kundalini yoga is a form of yoga that involves chanting, chanting, breathing exercises, and repetitive poses. Its purpose is to activate your Kundalini energy or Shakti. This is a spiritual energy that is said to reside at the base of your spine. Because Kundalini Yoga awakens this energy, it is believed to increase your awareness and help you overcome your ego. The practice is sometimes referred to as the “yoga of awareness.” Read on to learn more about Kundalini Yoga, its potential benefits, and how it differs from other types of yoga.

What is Kundalini Yoga? Although Kundalini Yoga is practiced all over the world, its origin is unknown. The concept of Kundalini energy has been around for centuries, found in ancient Vedic texts from 1,000 B.C. Kundalini Yoga is most associated with Yogi Bhajan, a yoga teacher from Pakistan. He is credited with introducing the practice to Western countries in the 1960s. The term Kundalini comes from the Sanskrit word kundal, which means circular. It also refers to a coiled snake. And according to practitioners, Kundalini energy is like this coiled snake: it sits at the base of your spine, asleep and not aroused. Kundalini Yoga is practiced to activate this energy, allowing it to move up and through the chakras along your spine. In yoga, chakras are the seven energy centers in your body. These include: Root chakra

sacral chakra

Marine or Solar Plexus Chakra

heart chakra

throat chakra

Third eye chakra

Crown Chakra As Kundalini energy rises it is believed to help balance these chakras and contribute to your spiritual wellbeing. With regular practice, Kundalini Yoga is said to lead to spiritual enlightenment. This is called “kundalini awakening”.

How is it different from other types of yoga? Compared to other forms of yoga, Kundalini Yoga is a more spiritual practice. It still involves physical movements, but they are not the main focus. This differs from, for example, hatha or vinyasa yoga, both of which are about postures. Kundalini Yoga is also more precise and repetitive. While other types of yoga flow with your breath, Kundalini Yoga combines chanting, chanting, movement, and breathing in specific patterns.

About Breathing, Mantras, Kriyas and Mudras Kundalini Yoga consists of six main components which are performed in the following order: Opening chant. Each lesson starts with an opening chant, also called tuning in.

Each class begins with an opening chant, also known as tuning in. Pranayama or warm up. You do breathing exercises called pranayama and sometimes movements to stretch your spine. The goal of pranayama is to practice breath control.

You do breathing exercises called pranayama and sometimes movements to stretch your spine. The goal of pranayama is to practice breath control. Kriya. A kriya is a sequence of postures, pranayama, mudras (hand positions), sounds and meditation. The length and intensity of the Kriya depends on your teacher.

A kriya is a sequence of postures, pranayama, mudras (hand positions), sounds and meditation. The length and intensity of the Kriya depends on your teacher. Relaxation. This allows your body and mind to absorb the effects of a kriya.

This allows your body and mind to absorb the effects of a kriya. Meditation. Your teacher will guide you through meditation to cultivate awareness.

Your teacher will guide you through meditation to cultivate awareness. closing song. The lesson ends with a closing song.

What are the advantages? Kundalini Yoga has several scientifically based and anecdotal benefits. Let’s take a closer look at them. Stress and Anxiety Relief Like other forms of yoga, Kundalini Yoga can help relieve stress and anxiety. In a small 2017 study, participants experienced immediate stress relief after doing kundalini yoga. This effect continued after they practiced for another 3 months. Similarly, a 2018 study found that 8 weeks of kundalini yoga reduced participants’ anxiety. Researchers concluded that Kundalini yoga could be an effective treatment option for people with generalized anxiety disorder. Improves cognitive function In a 2017 controlled study, researchers looked at 81 participants with mild cognitive impairment. The participants were randomly divided into two groups. One group practiced Kundalini yoga, while the other group received 12 weeks of memory-improving training. While both groups showed significant improvements in their memory at the end of the study, only the Kundalini group showed short- and long-term improvements in their executive functioning. These include skills such as reasoning, problem solving and cognitive flexibility. In addition to cognitive improvements, the group that practiced Kundalini Yoga also had fewer depressive symptoms at the end of the study. Increases Self-Awareness Another small study from 2017 found that Kundalini Yoga can improve body positivity and self-acceptance. These benefits were observed in nine women diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. According to the researchers, Kundalini Yoga can help treat eating disorders by improving self-awareness and self-esteem. Spiritual Enlightenment It is believed that as your Kundalini energy awakens, you become more spiritually connected to yourself and others. These benefits are not scientifically proven, but are instead backed by anecdotal evidence. The purported benefits may include: more empathy

increased creativity

improved radiance

increased energy

inner peace

Kundalini Poses For Beginners If you’re interested in trying Kundalini yoga, you might want to start with these beginner-friendly poses. Lotus Pose Share on Pinterest Lotus is a basic seated pose. It helps open up your hips, so it can feel difficult if you have tightness in that area. Move slowly and avoid the pose if you have hip problems. Lotus Position: Sit on the floor with your legs stretched out. Maintain a neutral spine. Bend your knees outward and bring your feet to your body as if you are sitting cross-legged. Place your left foot on your right thigh. Then place your right foot on your left thigh. Breathe deeply in and out while in lotus unless your teacher lets you do pranayama. Cobra Pose Share on Pinterest This pose is said to activate your Kundalini energy. Here’s how it works: Lie on your stomach, legs and feet pressed together. Place the tops of your feet on the floor. Plant your palms under your shoulders. Make sure your fingers are pointing forward and your elbows are parallel to each other. Breathe in. Raise your head and torso and press your lower body into the floor. Straighten your arms and lift your chest and abdomen. Bring your shoulders down and back. Hold Cobra for up to 30 seconds and take a deep breath. Exhale and return to the starting position. Archer Pose Archer is designed to make you feel confident, like a warrior. To do this pose: Stand up straight with your feet together. Rotate your right foot outward about 45 degrees. Step back with your right foot and straighten your leg. Bend your left knee, but make sure it doesn’t go past your left foot. Extend your arms at shoulder height. Clench both hands into fists and point thumbs up. Twist your torso to the left. At the same time, bend your right elbow and bring your right fist towards your right armpit. Face ahead and breathe in deeply while holding this position for 2 to 3 minutes. Then switch sides, with left leg back and left arm bent, and hold the position for another 2 to 3 minutes while breathing deeply.

Is Kundalini Yoga Safe? Kundalini Yoga, like all yoga, should be practiced with certainty. Take care if you: have breathing problems

have joint pain

have an injury

have balance problems

are pregnant If you are unsure if kundalini is safe for you, talk to your doctor to find out if you should take any precautions or if there is a safer exercise option you can try.

Kundalini awakening is an intense psychophysical experience that is rarely recognized and often confused with psychosis. Duncan Barford, a psychodynamic consultant with a special interest in spiritual crises, identifies their characteristics and explains how psychotherapeutic intervention can help.

In Indian mysticism, Kundalini is a female serpent coiling at the base of the spine. During spiritual awakening, she rises and activates the chakras located in the body at points between the anus and the crown.

This description is likely to be interpreted more literally than it should be, and perhaps dismissed too lightly. While its nature remains unclear, people who undergo kundalini awakening have no doubt about the reality of the experience.

Kundalini awakening is a challenging psychophysical episode that usually arises from prolonged involvement in religious or spiritual practices. These include: meditation, yoga, tantric sex, pranayama, and connected breathwork. But entheogenic drugs, especially LSD, can also be triggers.

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Unfortunately, spiritual practices are too often viewed by therapists as irrelevant or as psychological symptoms in their own right. Given the commonly reported characteristics, current training in psychotherapy and medicine is likely to view kundalini awakening as a psychotic episode.

Common Characteristics of Kundalini Awakening

· Sensations of “energy” moving or being trapped in certain parts of the body, often involving the chakra points. This process can become “visible” in a way to the experiencer.

· The energy feels unbearably strong or painful, often accompanied by tremors, twitching, or spasms.

· Accepting yoga postures or mudras (hand gestures) spontaneously, even though the practitioner may not have practiced them before.

· Sensations of intense cold or heat, but (typically) without sweating.

· Loud noises (such as rumbles or musical harmonies) that no one but the experiencer can hear.

· A feeling of sensory overload: Everything is “too much”.

· Insights into the true nature of reality that may sound strange or disturbing to both the experiencer and others.

· Tongues or other involuntary vocalizations.

· Intense waves of bliss and physical joy.

Distinguishing Between Kundalini Awakening and Psychosis

There seem to be two important differences between kundalini awakening and psychosis. First, Kundalini awakening follows intense spiritual practice (which is not necessarily the case with psychosis). Second, a person in psychosis believes deeply in their altered reality, while a person undergoing a kundalini experience retains a clear sense of their usual state of mind and typically expresses a desperate longing to return there.

How to help someone going through Kundalini Awakening

Avoid metaphysical speculation or discussion, instead focus on encouraging them to take a break from spiritual practice and replace it with “grounding” activities:

· Positive physical experiences, such as eating, rest, simple physical labor, exercise, and orgasm.

· Pay attention to the hands and feet when there are strong sensations in more central areas.

· Hiking in nature. Notice bodily sensations; Making physical contact with trees, fences, the ground, sensing the breeze or warmth of the sun, etc.

· Contact with family members or friends – as long as these relationships stabilize.

· If you have the appropriate experience to modify the experiencer’s usual spiritual practice to cultivate compassion, gratitude or devotion.

These simple interventions can be effective, but are sometimes rejected, especially when the experiencer’s spiritual practice is intertwined with personal issues such as competitiveness, fear of failure, or envy. Also included in an episode is likely the difficulty in accepting one’s physical and mental limitations in the face of a strange, overwhelming experience suddenly triggered in ignorance by one’s familiar spiritual practice.

Here a therapist is on more familiar ground, and this is the way in which kundalini awakening can respond well to psychotherapeutic intervention, although on the surface it appears to be a medical problem or a serious psychotic break.

Working through these issues with a counselor or psychotherapist with knowledge and understanding of Kundalini awakening can help make it more manageable and may enable the experiencer to either continue their spiritual practice or make helpful changes to it.

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Are you ready to discover your purpose in life and activate your full potential? Kundalini Yoga is an ancient practice that will help you channel powerful energy and transform your life. Kundalini means “coiled serpent” in Sanskrit and is believed to have created divine energy at the base of the spine. It is energy we are born with and Kundalini works to “unwind the serpent” and connect us to our divine essence.

Kundalini was originally a study of energy science and spiritual philosophy. In ancient times, kings would sit with Kundalini masters to hear the ancient scientific teachings of Kundalini and spiritual visions. Yogi Bhajan brought Kundalini to our western culture and transformed it into the beautiful practice with ancient knowledge and modern practicality that it is today and made it accessible to all.

Kundalini energy is the ultimate life energy. It is the source of our creative power, spiritual gifts and divine feminine energy. The practice of Kundalini Yoga is used as a tool to expand consciousness and reach a state of ease, joy and boundless love. Kundalini draws the energy dormant at the base of our spine to the crown of our head, creating an upward flow of energy and balancing our chakras and energetic bodies.

Kundalini allows energy to flow freely upward through the chakras, resulting in an expanded state of consciousness – but is it safe?

See also: A Beginner’s Guide to Kundalini

What is a Kundalini Awakening?

According to Tantra, Kundalini energy rests like a coiled snake at the base of the spine. When this dormant energy flows freely up through the seven chakras (energy centers) resulting in an expanded state of consciousness, it is known as Kundalini awakening.

A Kundalini awakening is a remarkably powerful spiritual experience that yogis and practitioners spend years preparing for. The experience can happen intentionally through practices such as meditation, pranayama, yoga and prayer, or it can happen without warning. This type of awakening is considered fairly common in the spiritual world, but in our western society Kundalini awakenings are considered rare.

How do you awaken Kundalini?

There are different opinions and advice on how to awaken kundalini. Kundalini can be awakened in several ways. For some it can mean many hard years of dedicated practice, and for others it can be spontaneous. The process is very individual and often unpredictable.

Kundalini awakening is achieved through a variety of sacred practices rooted in Hinduism. Traditionally, yogis in India cleanse and prepare for many years to safely experience a Kundalini awakening.

It is said that you have no control over when and if your kundalini energy awakens, but there are some practices that can facilitate your awakening and support you on your journey:

Shake your body and practice dancing

Practice tantra

energy work

Practice breath control and practice pranayama

Meditate regularly

Practice gratitude and live with an open heart

Benefits of a Kundalini Awakening

A Kundalini awakening can be an amazing tool for healing, self-improvement, and facilitating long-term positive change. It is said that once your Kundalini awakens, life will never be the same. Your entire system, mind, body and spirit is undergoing a massive energetic upgrade that will cause you to move through life in a very different way. Some of the benefits of a Kundalini awakening can include:

feelings of bliss

Enhanced psychic abilities

More compassion and empathy

Increased Creativity

Increased spiritual connection

The benefits of a Kundalini awakening are not limited to this list. Many report a desire to change their diet, job, relationships, and entire life to accommodate their new way of being after awakening.

Signs and Symptoms of an Awakening

There can be many different signs that your Kundalini is awakening. When we experience kundalini “symptoms,” this energy knocks on the door to get our attention and awareness so we can make the changes our soul desires. When that happens, we can become who we are meant to be and live our highest calling. Some of these symptoms are:

Experience a heightened awareness of intuition

A deep sense of purpose and purpose

The urge to change life

Physical and emotional changes such as trouble sleeping, anxiety, bursts of energy and tremors

Whatever symptoms you are experiencing, try not to get too fixated on whether or not it is kundalini and why it is there. Instead, focus on allowing the energy to move through you and work to heal any uncomfortable symptoms that are occurring on a holistic level. The less you resist these feelings, the faster they will pass.

Is it safe?

There is much talk in the spiritual community about whether Kundalini awakening is safe. Many hesitate to practice Kundalini for fear they will experience this intense type of awakening. Everyone’s experience is very different and is entirely individual based on their past experiences and current lifestyle.

For some, the experience can be blissful and filled with feelings of love and a sense of the connectedness of all things. For others, it can feel more like a bad drug trip or even a psychotic break where practitioners go through altered sleep cycles, identity changes, or depression. This discrepancy has caused many Westerners to fear the coiled serpent resting in their spine, ready to strike.

Meditation teacher Sally Kempton had such an awakening in her late 20s, and while she acknowledges that the experience can be daunting for those who don’t have an experienced teacher to guide them, she believes the awakening is a gift from the universe. “In our tradition, we honor and respect Kundalini,” she says. “Your energy is trying to awaken you, expand you, and get you in touch with your own deep energy, which is a fundamentally benign process.”

See also Profile of Yoga Style: Kundalini Yoga

However, according to Kempton and Stuart Sovatsky, a psychotherapist specializing in spiritual work, kundalini awakening is rare in Western students because hatha yoga is practiced less spontaneously. “People try to hold the poses in a specific way, as opposed to poses that release body-specific energy blocks,” Sovatsky says.

However, many teachers caution against trying to induce awakening through intense pranayama or other methods. Instead, it should occur spontaneously when the body is ready. In Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy, yoga scholar Georg Feuerstein explains why: “Unless you first open the central channels of the nervous system, it is not only impossible to increase serpentine power along the axial path, but also very dangerous to attempt for instead of entering the central channel (sushumna nadi), it will likely crowd into the ida or pingala nadi on either side of the central channel, causing immense devastation to the body and mind.

Kundalini reminds us that consciousness is far greater than most of us ever imagined, which can seem overwhelming and confusing. But Sovatsky says that people who have a psychotic break from an awakening usually come from difficult family backgrounds, experience high levels of stress and lack enough emotional support. Still, both Sovatsky and Kempton recommend that anyone experiencing anxiety in the midst of such an awakening should seek support from a therapist (e.g., a transpersonal psychologist) or teacher who has experienced it themselves.

See also: 8 Detoxifying Poses + Kundalini Kriyas

The answer to which type of yoga is the hardest depends on who you ask. Some strains will challenge you physically and leave your muscles sore. Other species challenge your ability to surrender to stillness and stillness. Depending on your personality and physical condition, your toughest yoga may be different than your best friend’s.

Ashtanga and Power Yoga Ashtanga Yoga consists of six sequences of increasing difficulty, but many students never progress beyond the primary series. The poses flow into each other, which means you’ll have to constantly move through tricep push-ups, backbends, and downward dogs to get from one pose to the next. Power Yoga is based on Ashtanga but is not a set sequence of movements. According to devotee Ashtanga practitioner Karmela Lejarde, some of the most difficult things about the practice are lots of arm balances, including some to jump into, a long opening chant, and the fact that it’s traditionally done before six in the morning.

Bikram Yoga Many yoga students consider Bikram Yoga to be the hardest type. The 26 poses, trademark of founder Bikram Choudhury, are performed in a set order in a room heated to 105 degrees, then the sequence is repeated. Most of the poses are standard yoga poses and not particularly difficult. But the heat increases the challenge exponentially. Bikram-certified yoga teacher Jennifer Bradshaw says that Bikram is about overcoming ailments and learning to meditate no matter what the circumstances. “Bikram yoga is about pushing your buttons: it’s hot, you’re sweating profusely, the teacher is always talking, you’re tired, thirsty and so on — but you’re practicing finding peace in it all,” she said. “Once you do that, there are few things you can upset for the rest of your life.”

Restorative and Yin Type A personalities find quiet yoga practices like Restorative or Yin particularly difficult. In restorative yoga, you use cushions, blankets, and other tools to support yourself in gentle, restorative poses. Yin is similar but with intense stretches held for about five minutes. Yoga teacher Ginny Kauffman says some of her students find yin challenging because of the difficulty in quieting the mind, keeping the breath deep and controlled, and holding the body in one position for several minutes. It is much easier for them to move quickly from pose to pose.

Considerations Sometimes people who are athletic and already exercise regularly assume that yoga will be easy, so they skip the beginner class and go straight to advanced. According to Kauffman, this is a big mistake. She warns against starting with a course labeled “intermediate” or “level three.” Yoga is a different discipline from other physical activities, and starting in the toughest class can lead to injury. Instead, start at level one and get the teacher’s opinion when you think you’re ready to make progress.

Definitely not! While some students wear white, most wear the same yoga gear you’ll see at any other type of yoga class—leggings and a vest or t-shirt of any color, or other comfortable clothing that allows for freedom of movement. Kundalini Yoga teachers and some students wear white because it is believed to expand auric radiation – and a strong aura provides strong projection and filters out all negative influences. Wearing white is also an awareness exercise, as it takes more awareness and care to keep white clothing clean.

How Kundalini Yoga is transforming your life – from empowering your willpower and creativity to making smarter decisions.

by Sandra Shama Kaur

I often tell students that once you practice Kundalini Yoga, you will never be the same. The very nature of what we do is to awaken the energy of consciousness. Practice makes us aware of our self-limiting beliefs and habitual patterns inherited from the past. It invites us to process and release painful memories stored in our subconscious. It awakens our ability to become intuitive and sensitive, to understand a person or situation even when no words are spoken, and to know the consequences of actions before they happen.

I love athletics and many types of rigorous yoga like Vinyassa and Ashtanga. I see these practices as adventurous and challenging. With consistency, I see improvements in my speed and performance. It gives me a sense of accomplishment when I can do handstands and headstands. Even a little pride.

My Kundalini practice is a place of transformation. The kriyas and meditations are fairly structured practices, but rather than focusing on physical alignment, the kriyas are a specific set of practices that create energy, organize that energy, and move you into a specific energetic state – specifically greater awareness. Even within the practice there are built in moments of stillness where we sit still and awaken to ourselves. The breathwork within the Kriyas is so powerful that it begins to shed the layers that cloak our consciousness and in the sweet moments between poses we can feel the fullness of who we are.

I have noticed many subtle benefits of practicing Kundalini Yoga over the years such as:

1. Nervous system

Kundalini Yoga strengthens your nervous system. So if you’re in the push-up or plank pose for a full three minutes and your whole body is shaking, fear not! Your nervous system will be tightened. And the stronger your nerves, the calmer and more composed you will be in any situation, whether it’s a car crash, a big presentation, or family drama.

2. Willpower

Kundalini Yoga awakens your inner willpower right in the center of your solar plexus (third chakra) at the navel point. This means you build up intense heat in this region, which helps digest not only food, but past memories and self-doubt. We become much better able to process and digest events and immediately take the necessary action to weed out things, people or situations that do us more harm than good.

3. Brain power

Kundalini Yoga clears the fog of the mind. When the mind is clouded by multiple thoughts, it feels a little like a spider web has formed of thoughts that are difficult to untangle, and with a few minutes of quick fire breath or a minute breath, the mind becomes crystal clear, we feel more alert, focused, focused, with a better memory and ability to make informed decisions.

4. Creativity

Alternating breathing through the nostrils balances the left and right hemispheres of the brain. We usually act, analyze and do far more often than we feel, visualize and imagine. And that’s because the right side of the brain is usually understimulated. Kundalini Yoga awakens our inner creativity by releasing our worries about the little things and opening us to the infinite possibilities that life has to offer.

5. Hug everyone

Kundalini Yoga opens the heart center (fourth chakra). Poses like tree pose give us security in the root chakra, making us feel like strong, stable trees firmly planted on the earth, and if our needs aren’t met, we don’t feel like this is the end of the world. We remain open and trust that the higher power (God) will provide us with what we need when the time is right. So the world doesn’t fall apart if we don’t get that job, fail that exam, or suffer a breakup or family death. Whatever it is, we gain an attitude of acceptance. To understand that everything is fine. Everything is good. We are open to everything life has to offer.

6. Compassionate Communication

In Kundalini Yoga, poses like Shoulderstand open the throat center (fifth chakra). Add this to an open heart and we become forgiving, compassionate and non-judgmental and our lips can bless everyone around us, expressing gratitude and kindness. So don’t be surprised if you start addressing your boss, cousins ​​or neighbors with “love, dearest, sweetheart, my love” and so on. More than that, if something bothers you, you will find the best way to express yourself, to make you say the absolute truth with all the softness and tenderness. 7. Awakened intuition

We spend so much time stuck in our heads analyzing the pros and cons of every decision when in reality the answer is always within us. We always have gut feelings, but we tend to ignore them. Yoga gives us the opportunity to stop and listen to the message behind that gut feeling. It allows us to quiet the mind enough that our thoughts become still and we can feel what our hearts are longing for, something that will do us good.

8. Wise decisions

All forms of yoga make us more conscious people. So don’t be surprised if you start behaving like a wise guy and refrain from behaviors that harm you and the environment, such as smoking, drinking, drugs, meat and dairy products, and wasting water and electricity. Instead, you choose to consume fresh vegetables and fruits, whole foods, protect animals and the environment, serve others through charitable donations, and engage in activities like singing, dancing, and art that distance you from the company of people and the environment no longer bring out the best in you.

Kundalini Yoga is not to be taken lightly. It’s like an express train shaking and waking you up. Some kriyas will get you high and totally happy. Other kriyas will really provoke and confront you. The important thing is to stay present and accept joy and pain as part of the same journey to health and balance. Our ego naturally tends towards pleasure and comfort. It takes concerted effort and discipline to begin to break the ego’s grip on our consciousness. This effort is the work required to begin to access the truth of who we are, to create a strong connection to our soul and therefore to our soul work on this planet. Here we begin to take great strides toward living as an enlightened being.

I sincerely encourage you to experience Kundalini Yoga for yourself. It will add depth to your existing practice and life. We offer a range of Kundalini Yoga classes at YallaYoga. Try a class and when you find a set that appeals to you, stick with it for 40 days so you can reap the full benefits of Kriya.

Sandra Shama Kaur is a Kundalini Yoga teacher and the founder of Yalla Yoga.

Although many “trends” in the fields have ancient histories and backgrounds, new practices and ways of working with our mind, body and spirit often help us find what works for us and keep us curious, deeper to dive in One of these more recent phenomena is KAP, where Kundalini energy (the ultimate life force in every living being) takes the spotlight.

Although this relatively new type of energy work is described by KAP presenter Julia Bergh as “difficult to explain and to experience”, an attempt to put it into words is “a transformational journey about removing limitations , releasing stagnant energy and feelings, as well as finding a deeper connection with our highest self, spiritual growth and a deeper awareness,” says Bergh when we ask her.

KAP stands for Kundalini Activation Process and is a direct energy transmission that activates the awakening of Kundalini in the body. It is a gentle way to awaken the Kundalini energy, also described as our ultimate life force, inner fire and the source of creative power, spiritual gifts and divine feminine power. The concept of Kundalini is found in ancient Vedic Sanskrit texts of Hindu philosophy in the 9th to 7th centuries BC. Mentioned and often depicted and described as a serpent – coiled at the base of the spine waiting to be released, and symbolically the energy moves like a serpent in the body. When the energy begins to move and awakening occurs, sensations of physical and emotional release often occur in the body. There’s both a passive approach, which is simply surrendering and letting the energy awaken when it’s ready, and an active approach, where common methods like yoga, pranayama (breath work), and meditation are ways to actively engage your kundalini awaken And another way to experience this is of course a KAP session.

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Are you ready to discover your purpose in life and activate your full potential? Kundalini Yoga is an ancient practice that will help you channel powerful energy and transform your life. And now there’s an accessible, easy way to learn how to incorporate these practices into your practice and life. Yoga Journal’s 6-week online course, Kundalini 101: Create the Life You Want, gives you mantras, mudras, meditations, and kriyas you’ll want to practice every day. Join Now!

In this excerpt from her new book, Original Light: The Morning Practice of Kundalini Yoga, Snatnam Kaur invites you to make mantras a part of your morning ritual and let positive energy set the tone for your day. Start here and use your audio recording as a guide.

The sweetness of Aquarius sādhanā – the daily practice of Kundalini Yoga – lies in the experience of chanting. As a musician, I admit to being biased. My mother told me that as a young child I slept through the whole sādhanā (spiritual practice), but when the singing started I would often show up and join in. Now as an adult, I love every aspect of this practice very much, but I have traveled most deeply into chanting.

Taking a cold shower and doing yoga prepares you for a blissful chanting experience. I think there is almost no way that your kundalini energy isn’t rising! When you have come this far and chant these words, the energy of your chakra system and all of your ten bodies will be present and engaged. For this phase just enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! The music and the energy of the chants will take you out of your everyday mind – this is the merging of the lover and the beloved. It’s your time with God. Each chant’s energy, order and timing create a healing sonic formula. From the beginning of the chants to the end one embarks on a journey of self-awakening and discovery.

See also Releasing Stress: A Kundalini Meditation with Sitali Pranayama

Music is indeed an incredible gift. Perhaps, as I often do, you experience the hypnotic quality that supporting music brings to meditation. As the chanting begins, the music helps me to lose my thoughts and merge with the One in a place of loving meditation. This is why I have included the Light of Naam with Long Ek Ong Kar CD in my new book Original Light: The Morning Practice of Kundalini Yoga to support your practice. I encourage you to use it as long as it works for you. I also welcome you to find other artists in this community who have recorded wonderful Sādhanā CDs, or even make your own music!

4 tips to support your singing practice

Make yourself comfortable.

Prepare to sit for the duration of the chants, making sure to hydrate and empty your bladder as needed. Cover up with something warm and make sure you’re sitting on something comfortable that supports your hips. Sit in Easy Pose, a seated cross-legged position that promotes a straight spine and allows one to experience meditative ease and stillness. Gently lengthen the nape of the neck and slightly tuck the chin with Neck Lock to create a straight line from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. In giān mudra, bring the tip of your jupiter or index finger to the tip of your thumb; this opens the door to the energy of Jupiter, which represents expansion and journey beyond the known into the unknown. Once you have learned the mantras, closing your eyes will help direct your energies inward. Concentrate the eyes on the third eye point to further calm the mind. It is especially important to cover your spine and head for this exercise; it encourages Kundalini energy to rise and creates inner stability. This is the attitude given to us for the first chant of the morning called Long Ek Ong Kār.

Chant with the breath.

Yogic chanting is a particularly conscious form of breathing or prānayam. After chanting, we feel uplifted because we are literally raising our energy. Experiencing this, however, means that many factors must come together: the grace of the divine, the grace of the gurū, the mercy of the beloved, and – most of them under our control – the extent to which we devote ourselves to the breath and to our singing. To fully experience the uplifting energy of the mantra, we must engage our breath fully and focus on the sacred sounds. When composing melodies for any type of singing, I try to stay aware of the breath. Between recitations we fill our lungs and that lets us fall fully into our being. By the breath we live! To truly enjoy the chanting experience, I encourage you to take deep, deep breaths as you chant. Then you can really hear your voice and fall in love with it. When your own voice embodies words of inspiration, words of the divine, it becomes the agent that reveals you and transforms you into the beautiful being that you are.

See also Chanting 101: 6 things to know if you don’t “get” kirtan.

Don’t worry about the thoughts that arise.

Don’t worry about thoughts popping up while singing; it is natural. Chanting purifies and clears our subconscious, and the mantra creates a vortex that draws out subconscious energy that is no longer useful. It breeds sadness; it triggers despair; it draws out anger. You will be aware of some of this process in your conscious mind, but most of it you will not really be aware of – the only clue will be a stream of thoughts, all designed at some level to prevent the deep work of clearing the subconscious. Why? Because we are comfortable in habitual energy patterns; without them we have to do the work to change.

Take the time to think about the impact and importance of singing.

The language of this chant comes from Gurmukhī (a sacred language developed in India in the 16th century), so the words are meant to convey healing and awareness. Every word contributes to this experience, whether we know the meaning or not. These chants are poems – expressive, sacred songs. They offer rich connotations, vivid descriptions, and vivid metaphors for life. To better understand the art form and experience its impact, let’s look at the meaning of each word – a practice taught to me by my mother, Prabhu Nam Kaur. I am so grateful to her for guiding me through this process and helping me with the meaning of many of these words. I encourage you to look at each word in a relaxed space and gradually learn the meaning; even a little understanding will aid your meditation.

See also 13 Essential Yoga Mantras to Memorize

The Ādī Shaktī: Long Ek Ont Kār

ek ong kār, sat nām sirī, wāhegurū.

The Creator and all creation are one, that is our true identity,

the ecstasy of wisdom is indescribably great.

listen now

The breakdown by tone

ek: the one vibration in all of us

ong: manifest vibration of the divine; the Sound Current from which all creation proceeds

kār: to do, to make; that which does, makes or creates

sat: the vibration of truth

nām: identity; the name of God vibrating through all beings and creating us; the creative vibration that is within; I am I am

sirī: great; god is great

wāhegurū: ecstatic is the experience of the gurū, the one who guides us from darkness to light

Kundalini Yoga has a set of eight-sound mantras. These create a rhythm that stimulates and nourishes each chakra. This first mantra vibrates up the entire spine, from the base to the top of the head. Practicing it helps us initiate, experience and celebrate the divine resonance of Kundalini energy within us. I first connected to this mantra as a teenager at a yoga camp in the scenic Arizona mountains. Every morning before sunrise, the leader of the camp got up, climbed onto the roof of our hut and chanted this mantra at the top of his lungs for two and a half hours. Soon the sun would sparkle gold and silver through his graying beard, each note punctuated by the movement of his navel in passionate strokes. He was so purely connected to God through this practice and everyone felt it. He never tried to inspire or directly ask any of us to join him, but we did so happily, like bees drawn to the scent of a sacred flower. We sang together with him and dived into an inner space of love that I would never forget. As the sun rose higher in the sky, I remember feeling plentiful, full and utterly content in my heart, having everything my soul ever wanted in those rich moments of union with the Divine.

How to chant the mantra

The Long Ek Ong Kār Mantra is performed with a cycle of two and a half breaths. You take a long deep breath and chant “ek ong kār”, inhale again and chant “sat nām, sirī”, then take half a breath and chant “wāhegurū”. We do not use musical accompaniment here, although what occurs in the body is a fully orchestral celebration as this mantra vibrates through the spine, stimulating the chakra system and awakening the kundalini.

Throughout the recitation, apply the root lock (or Mūlbandh) by drawing the rectum, genitals, and center of the navel up and toward the spine. You can also engage Neck Lock (Jalandhar Bandh) by tucking your chin in slightly to create a straight line from the base of your spine

the top of the head. Now, as you chant “ek,” pull the center of your navel up. When you sing “ong,” let the sound resonate in your skull and in the bridge of your nose. With “kār” the sound resonates from the navel and heart center and creates an open feeling. Take a deep breath, then pull the navel back in on “sat” and expand on “nām,” using up most of the breath. At the end of the breath, chant “sirī” and pull in the uddiyana bandh or diaphragm lock. Pause on “sirī” while contracting your diaphragm. Take a short breath and draw in your navel to emit the short, powerful sound of “wāh” completed with “he-gurū.” Each time you pull the navel on “ek”, “sat” and “wāh”, also do it at a time to strengthen your Mūlbandh by pulling on the rectum, genitals and navel. After chanting “gurū,” consciously draw in the mūlbandh at the very end to focus the energy and prepare to begin the cycle of the mantra again.

See also Gabrielle Bernstein’s Meditation to Make Anger Productive

Chant the Aquarius Sadhana Mantras with the Light of Naam with Long Ek Ong Kar CD included in Original Light (there are 6 additional chants after Long Ek Ong Kār) when you get up in the morning, cook breakfast, go for a walk , jog , drive to work or do your usual activities throughout the morning. You can even make up your own tunes and sing without music. By incorporating these chants at the start of your day, you will fill yourself and those around you with positive energy.

Adapted from Original Light: The Morning Practice of Kundalini Yoga by Snatam Kaur. Copyright © 2016 by Snatam Kaur Khalsa. To be released by Sounds True in April 2016.

About the author

Snatam Kaur is a teacher and musician in the tradition of Kundalini Yoga and is known for her many bestselling kirtan albums. She lives in Wilton, New Hampshire and leads workshops and meetings across the United States. Visit snatamkaur.com for more information.

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Are you ready to discover your purpose in life and activate your full potential? Kundalini Yoga is an ancient practice that will help you channel powerful energy and transform your life. Kundalini means “coiled serpent” in Sanskrit and is believed to have created divine energy at the base of the spine. It is energy we are born with and Kundalini works to “unwind the serpent” and connect us to our divine essence.

Kundalini was originally a study of energy science and spiritual philosophy. In ancient times, kings would sit with Kundalini masters to hear the ancient scientific teachings of Kundalini and spiritual visions. Yogi Bhajan brought Kundalini to our western culture and transformed it into the beautiful practice with ancient knowledge and modern practicality that it is today and made it accessible to all.

Kundalini energy is the ultimate life energy. It is the source of our creative power, spiritual gifts and divine feminine energy. The practice of Kundalini Yoga is used as a tool to expand consciousness and reach a state of ease, joy and boundless love. Kundalini draws the energy dormant at the base of our spine to the crown of our head, creating an upward flow of energy and balancing our chakras and energetic bodies.

Kundalini allows energy to flow freely upward through the chakras, resulting in an expanded state of consciousness – but is it safe?

See also: A Beginner’s Guide to Kundalini

What is a Kundalini Awakening?

According to Tantra, Kundalini energy rests like a coiled snake at the base of the spine. When this dormant energy flows freely up through the seven chakras (energy centers) resulting in an expanded state of consciousness, it is known as Kundalini awakening.

A Kundalini awakening is a remarkably powerful spiritual experience that yogis and practitioners spend years preparing for. The experience can happen intentionally through practices such as meditation, pranayama, yoga and prayer, or it can happen without warning. This type of awakening is considered fairly common in the spiritual world, but in our western society Kundalini awakenings are considered rare.

How do you awaken Kundalini?

There are different opinions and advice on how to awaken kundalini. Kundalini can be awakened in several ways. For some it can mean many hard years of dedicated practice, and for others it can be spontaneous. The process is very individual and often unpredictable.

Kundalini awakening is achieved through a variety of sacred practices rooted in Hinduism. Traditionally, yogis in India cleanse and prepare for many years to safely experience a Kundalini awakening.

It is said that you have no control over when and if your kundalini energy awakens, but there are some practices that can facilitate your awakening and support you on your journey:

Shake your body and practice dancing

Practice tantra

energy work

Practice breath control and practice pranayama

Meditate regularly

Practice gratitude and live with an open heart

Benefits of a Kundalini Awakening

A Kundalini awakening can be an amazing tool for healing, self-improvement, and facilitating long-term positive change. It is said that once your Kundalini awakens, life will never be the same. Your entire system, mind, body and spirit is undergoing a massive energetic upgrade that will cause you to move through life in a very different way. Some of the benefits of a Kundalini awakening can include:

feelings of bliss

Enhanced psychic abilities

More compassion and empathy

Increased Creativity

Increased spiritual connection

The benefits of a Kundalini awakening are not limited to this list. Many report a desire to change their diet, job, relationships, and entire life to accommodate their new way of being after awakening.

Signs and Symptoms of an Awakening

There can be many different signs that your Kundalini is awakening. When we experience kundalini “symptoms,” this energy knocks on the door to get our attention and awareness so we can make the changes our soul desires. When that happens, we can become who we are meant to be and live our highest calling. Some of these symptoms are:

Experience a heightened awareness of intuition

A deep sense of purpose and purpose

The urge to change life

Physical and emotional changes such as trouble sleeping, anxiety, bursts of energy and tremors

Whatever symptoms you are experiencing, try not to get too fixated on whether or not it is kundalini and why it is there. Instead, focus on allowing the energy to move through you and work to heal any uncomfortable symptoms that are occurring on a holistic level. The less you resist these feelings, the faster they will pass.

Is it safe?

There is much talk in the spiritual community about whether Kundalini awakening is safe. Many hesitate to practice Kundalini for fear they will experience this intense type of awakening. Everyone’s experience is very different and is entirely individual based on their past experiences and current lifestyle.

For some, the experience can be blissful and filled with feelings of love and a sense of the connectedness of all things. For others, it can feel more like a bad drug trip or even a psychotic break where practitioners go through altered sleep cycles, identity changes, or depression. This discrepancy has caused many Westerners to fear the coiled serpent resting in their spine, ready to strike.

Meditation teacher Sally Kempton had such an awakening in her late 20s, and while she acknowledges that the experience can be daunting for those who don’t have an experienced teacher to guide them, she believes the awakening is a gift from the universe. “In our tradition, we honor and respect Kundalini,” she says. “Your energy is trying to awaken you, expand you, and get you in touch with your own deep energy, which is a fundamentally benign process.”

See also Profile of Yoga Style: Kundalini Yoga

However, according to Kempton and Stuart Sovatsky, a psychotherapist specializing in spiritual work, kundalini awakening is rare in Western students because hatha yoga is practiced less spontaneously. “People try to hold the poses in a specific way, as opposed to poses that release body-specific energy blocks,” Sovatsky says.

However, many teachers caution against trying to induce awakening through intense pranayama or other methods. Instead, it should occur spontaneously when the body is ready. In Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy, yoga scholar Georg Feuerstein explains why: “Unless you first open the central channels of the nervous system, it is not only impossible to increase serpentine power along the axial path, but also very dangerous to attempt for instead of entering the central channel (sushumna nadi), it will likely crowd into the ida or pingala nadi on either side of the central channel, causing immense devastation to the body and mind.

Kundalini reminds us that consciousness is far greater than most of us ever imagined, which can seem overwhelming and confusing. But Sovatsky says that people who have a psychotic break from an awakening usually come from difficult family backgrounds, experience high levels of stress and lack enough emotional support. Still, both Sovatsky and Kempton recommend that anyone experiencing anxiety in the midst of such an awakening should seek support from a therapist (e.g., a transpersonal psychologist) or teacher who has experienced it themselves.

See also: 8 Detoxifying Poses + Kundalini Kriyas

Edited by Cassie

How does a society stuck in patriarchy find balance? The answer is within you. The answer lies in one person at a time increasing their Shakti energy.

I’m sure you’ve heard the term “Shakti” before, but do you know how to tap into this creative life force that is the embodiment of feminine energy? I will share with you what this term means, but more importantly how you can increase your own Shakti to help our world find balance. First, let’s dive a little deeper into what and who Shakti is.

What is Shakti

Shakti is life, death, rebirth, destruction and creation. Shakti energy is the divine feminine power that flows through the cosmos and all aspects of our reality. She is the ultimate goddess and the creative energy behind all goddesses. Although Shakti is a divine feminine force, she is present in all life forms, male and female, although in some she can be suppressed. The balancing force for Shakti is Shiva or masculine energy.

Who is Shakti?

Shakti is referred to as “mother goddess” in Hinduism. She is the goddess who guides all other goddesses. Shakti is represented in the Hindu goddesses Durga, Parvati and Kali. Each goddess uses the Shakti energy differently and can be invoked for different purposes.

Kundalini Shakti

If you are familiar with Kundalini energy then you have probably heard the term Shakti used here. Kundalini Shakti refers to the idea that every being has Shakti energy coiled at the base of their spine, waiting to be awakened. You may have already had a Kundalini awakening and didn’t even know about it! That’s another blog post for another day though!

Here are ten easy ways to increase your Shakti. Warning! Shakti energy is INTENSE. Keep this in mind as you apply the following suggestions. Allow some time to ground yourself after doing any of these exercises, and if it feels like too much, take a few days off.

10 ways to increase your Shakti energy

1. Activate your sacral chakra

Your sacral chakra is your center of creativity and feminine energy. This chakra is located below your belly button and above your pubic bone. Imagine it glowing orange with every inhale and exhale to wake it up. Learn more about activating your Sacral Chakra in this blog post.

Sacral Chakra card from The Ritual Deck.

2. Tap on the water element

The water element represents femininity, so it is the element to focus on to increase your Shakti energy. Let the element of water literally wash over you by taking a soothing bath. Learn more about yoga poses for the water element and ways to represent the water element here.

3. Meditate, meditate, meditate

Meditation in and of itself will help increase your Shakti energy (check out guided meditations here), but here’s a technique to give it an extra boost. Visualize your Shakti energy coiled like a snake at the base of your spine. With each breath, visualize this serpentine energy uncoiling and moving through each chakra, illuminating and purifying on its way. Continue until you reach the crown chakra. This meditation can be very intense and stimulating, so allow enough time afterwards to calm down and ground yourself.

4. Invoke Kali, Durga or Parvati

Do you remember the three Hindu goddesses I mentioned above? Kali, Durga and Parvati represent Shakti in Hinduism, each of them can bring some more Shakti into your life. Each goddess will bring a different type of energy. Parvati is a goddess of love, Durga is a warrior goddess, and Kali is the destroyer who ultimately brings balance. Learn more about connecting with Kali here.

Goddess cards are from The Goddess Oracle.

5. Follow the moon

The moon has long been associated with divine goddess energy as it correlates with our menstrual cycles and the triple goddess. Try charting your cycle or journaling with the moon to connect with this lunar energy. Learn more about the Triple Goddess symbol here and more about rituals for each phase of the moon here.

6. Grab some moonstone

Moonstone carries the energy of the moon and can serve as a powerful reminder of her goddess’ energy. Wear it, carry it with you, or place a moonstone on your altar as a glowing reminder of the moon and Shakti energy.

7. Get in touch with your shadow side

The imbalance of Shakti in our society is a direct reflection of our own imbalances. We so often only focus on our light, while just beneath the surface our shadow side seethes. Take time to explore your light and dark to find balance within yourself. Learn more about shadow work here.

8. Practice Shakti Mudra

Guess what? There is a mudra dedicated to Shakti! Try using this mudra during meditation or your yoga practice to increase your shakti. Take a deep breath and focus on how Shakti rises from the base of your spine.

9. Yoga Asana Practice

Let’s jump straight to the obvious here, the goddess pose. Remember when I said Kundalini aka Shakti energy is coiled at the base of your spine? Any pose that helps activate the base of your spine can help get your shakti flowing, and goddess pose certainly does! Try incorporating different variations of this pose into your yoga practice or other postures that activate the sacral and root chakras.

10. Take a deep breath

Prana, your breath or life force, is Shakti. Any focused breathing can help increase your prana and therefore your shakti energy. If you are unfamiliar with pranayama techniques, start with a three-part breath. Inhale, filling your lower abdomen with air first, then your midsection, and finally your chest. Exhale in reverse order. Practice this three-part breath 5-10 times and notice how it makes you feel. Once you are familiar with various pranayama techniques, try to incorporate one into your practice daily. Learn more about breathwork here.

You may find that you already practice some of these things on a regular basis. If not, don’t stress! You don’t have to start implementing immediately, in fact I wouldn’t recommend it. Start small and start with the tips that sound most appealing to you. Learn about your chakra system, the phases of the moon and more in The Goddess Discovery Book here.

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Categorized in: Breathwork, Cassie Uhl, Chakras, Divination, Goddess, Instructions, Meditation, Mudras, Rituals, Symbolism

About Cassie

Cassie Uhl is a published author, artist, intuitive and founder of Zenned Out. She founded Zenned Out in 2012 with a mission to build a brand that normalizes spirituality. In 2018 she self-published her popular and interactive Goddess Discovery Book series. In 2020, her writing and art became more popular with Understanding Auras, Understanding Crystals and Understanding Chakras released by The Quarto Group. Her writing style and art combine to combine accessibility with deep spiritual themes. Her goal is to help others understand and live spiritual practices that can transform the world. Inspired by her open-minded grandmother, Cassie has been meditating and working with her energy since she was a teenager. She received her 200 hour YTT in 2012 with an emphasis on breathwork. Now her work focuses on energy work, travel, mediumship, midwifery for death and healing through traditional Celtic shamanic practices.