by Hillary Faye: the yoga of awareness…

Awaken

Kundalini Yoga is a science that opens your heart and expands your awareness of consciousness. Yogi Bhajan brought Kundalini Yoga to the West in 1968. He said that “Kundalini Yoga is the science to unite the finite with Infinity, and that it’s the art to experience Infinity in the finite.”

Kundalini comes from the Sanskrit word Kundal, which means coil or spiral. Kundalini is an energy that exists within every human at the base of the spine, which is often in a dormant state. Many describe Kundalini as the coil of the hair of the Beloved. The Beloved is God, Spirit, the Universe- whatever you want to call it. The Kundalini is that piece of God, Spirit, and the Universal Intelligence within us. Kundalini is more commonly known in Western cultures as Holy Spirit. It is the primal life force that animates all life—the evolutionary force behind all living matter.

Now that we have a better understanding of what Kundalini is, let’s talk about yoga! Yoga means union, and comes from the Sanskrit word, Yog- which means to unite. Yoga is how we unite with all of who we are and with higher consciousness. Yoga is about self-acceptance and is a practice that includes; pranayama(breathing exercises), asana (physical postures or maneuvers), meditation and deep relaxation. Through the practice of Yoga, we begin to calm the fluctuations of the mind, to open the heart and to unite with the ultimate loving power with us.

Kundalini means “the curl of the hair of the beloved” and yoga is union. Kundalini Yoga is therefore uniting and awakening the God, Spirit, or Higher Consciousness within us.

Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan® is known as one of the most comprehensive of yoga traditions, joining meditation, mantra, physical exercises and breathing techniques; It is the Raj or the King Yoga.

In any class Kundalini Yoga classes, you can expect to find six major components:

1. Tuning-in with the Adi Mantra – Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo

2. Pranayama and / or warm-ups (ex. cat/cow, spinal flex)

3. Kriya (yoga set)

4. Deep relaxation or savasana

5. Meditation

6. Close with the blessing song, “May the Long Time Sun Shine Upon You” and a long Sat Nam (which means truth is my identity)

Kundalini Yoga works on the mental, physical, and nervous energies of the body and puts them under the domain of the will, which is the tool of the soul. This technology balances the glandular system, strengthens the nervous system, expands lung capacity, and purifies the blood.

Science tells us that everything is made of energy and it has been known for thousands of years that there are intense energy focal points in the body called Chakras. Kundalini Yoga moves energy up the chakras from the lower triangle 1st, 2nd and 3rd chakras to the highest chakras. When the 4th heart chakra is awakened, we begin to move from “me” to “we” and experience union and shift into the higher triangle, the 5th throat chakra where we communicate our wisdom, the 6th third eye chakra where we access our inner vision, and the 7th crown chakra where we experience the oneness and wisdom of the Creator. Kundalini Yoga is also called the Yoga of Awareness- it opens your heart and gives you a powerful experience of your soul.

Kundalini Yoga gifts you with an experience of your truth, or Sat Nam which begins to permeate into every aspect of your life. “It is not meditation that stops the mind. It is the surrender of the mind to the soul, and the soul to Truth. It is when you prefer the word of Truth to the word of your own intellect.” – Yogi Bhajan

Kundalini Yoga works fast to give you the experience of the fruits of yoga. It is a high science designed to awaken the full potential of human consciousness in each individual and expand that awareness to our unlimited Self. This practice simply changes you from the inside out and makes you want to be a better person and live a more heart centered life.

Source: Yogi Times