The Case for Kundalini: A 5-Part Blog Series

INTRODUCTION

Kundalini Yoga engages me: the breath work opens me up; the mantras inspire me; the movement enlivens and challenges me; the meditations shift me; the internal, silent repetition of Sat Nam (I am Truth) brings me back to who I am again and again. The engagement is what makes it such a doable practice. If I'm not fully engaged, I'm distracted. If I'm distracted, my thoughts take over -- and that is not what I want in my spiritual practice. 

In this series, I explain 5 of the elements that make Kundalini Yoga an all-consuming, enjoyable, beautiful and healing practice. Each ingredient is, on its own, good for you. And together, they are a recipe for physical, mental, spiritual health and happiness. 

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PART ONE: BENEFICIAL BREATH OF FIRE

Breath of fire is a breath practice that is used throughout Kundalini Yoga. The three things I love most about it are: 1) how practicing it interrupts my churning mind, 2) how I feel a little buzzy and wonderful after a round of it, and 3) how it helps me through challenging postures. 

It's an activating, fueling, fast (about the speed of a panting dog), belly-moving, and audible breath, usually done through the nose. With all that going on, it's actually difficult to let the mind wander.  You're in it. You're present. 

In addition to how it brings presence, breath of fire offers MANY tangible benefits, including:

• detoxification 
• expansion of lung capacity
• strengthening of nervous system
• activating the navel chakra
• increasing stamina 
• reducing addictive impulses
• boosting the immune system

In her book A Woman's Book of Yoga,  my teacher Hari Kaur Khalsa, describes breath of fire as "a super energizer and a stress buster," and I couldn't agree more. 

Like everything in this practice, it's in the experience of it. So, try it (unless you are menstruating, pregnant, or fewer than three months post-partum, in which cases breath of fire is contraindicated). Here are two ways to learn or continue to move toward mastery of this awesome breath:

1. Lie down on your back with your hand on your lower belly. Inhale through the nose as you let the belly fill up like a balloon. Exhale through the nose as you feel the belly move in toward the spine. Begin as slowly as you need to in order to get the coordination of the breath and the belly. Speed up when you're able to. Move toward 2-3 cycles of breath per second. 
2. Another way to learn is to sit tall with a straight spine, open your mouth, stick out your tongue and pant like a dog. Feel the speed of that and then notice the belly movement, which is hopefully moving in on the exhale and out on the exhale. After you've done that for a minute or two, close the mouth and try to replicate the pace through the nose. 

If you feel dizzy at any point, stop and take some deep breaths. If you feel you may be reversing the belly action, stop and start again. The most important thing is to be patient. You'll get it; it will become automatic.

And you'll love it! You'll love doing it. You'll love the benefits. You'll love how it brings you in the moment. And, if you're like me, it'll help you fall in love with the practice of Kundalini Yoga. 

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PART TWO: BEAUTIFUL MANTRAS

When I first began my Kundalini journey, the mantras (sacred sounds) were a strange and confusing element to me. My first teacher used to shout out Sat Nam Sat Nam Sat Nam Sat Nam Sat Nam Sat Nam Wahe Guru with no explanation. Back then, I regarded mantras as an inaccessible aspect of a powerful practice that I could just choose to tune out, and in so doing, not embrace the full “weirdness” of it all.

Little did I know that mantras would enter my heart and remain there ever-available for my healing, for my soothing, for my transformation. In fact, much to my surprise, mantras became the most accessible aspect of my practice. Over the more than two decades I’ve practiced, my body and mind have been in different states. I’ve experienced minor injuries, fluctuating strength and flexibility and my mind has moved all over the spectrum from chaotic to peaceful. At times, I’ve had to pull back from a robust physical practice. At times, the mere suggestion of sitting in silent meditation will send me running away from the mat. But mantras — Sat Nam Sat Nam Sat Nam Sat Nam Sat Nam Sat Nam Wahe Guru — are always there in my consciousness, rising to the surface when needed, redirecting my distracted mind, reminding me that I am a spiritual being, and bringing a feel-good aliveness to every cell.

The word mantra means mind projection, and that definition tells so much of the story. In Kundalini Yoga, we repeat sacred sounds to bring our attention to beautiful and uplifting messages and to give our bodies the experience of a higher vibration than our everyday thoughts and language achieve. We draw on an extensive cannon of mantras, which come mostly from sacred Sikh texts. Although they come from a religious tradition, these mantras are for people of all faiths. They access something deeper — heart and soul — than tenets.

The above beautiful mantras, along with many others, are another tool in the toolbox of things that make Kundalini Yoga, oh-so-engaging and therefore oh-so-doable. There are three ways to work with mantras in a Kundalini Yoga practice.

1. Play them in the background of a physical practice and allow for a gorgeous undercurrent of support. Just playing the music begins to uplift the environment.
2. Repeat the mantras silently and internally to focus the mind. Regardless of how busy the mind is, you can bring your focus to a sacred sound to redirect.
3. Chant them aloud, either in a monotone or along with a musical track. This is my favorite! It is joy! It is expression of Truth, of that which I cannot even understand with the limited mind but that is all about the magic of life.

Bringing mantra in in these ways has an impact. Like everything in this blog series, they add to the mix a way of staying in the moment.

In addition to bringing us into presence, each mantra carries with it a specific benefit.
Sat Nam, which I will discuss more in depth in Part 5 of this blog series, brings us into alignment with our authentic self.
Gobinday Mukunday lists qualities of divine energy and works to cleanse the subconscious mind and break through deep-seated blocks.
Chattr Chakkr Vartee speaks of divine support and helps to release fear.
Pavan Guru reminds us of our life force and the nourishment of the breath. It is said to increase energy.
Sat Narayan is about the sustaining force in the Universe and it serves to protect the heart and allow us to go with the flow.

You can sample my favorite musical versions of each of the above mantras here. Enjoy them. Enjoy the beauty. Enjoy the effects. Enjoy that they are available to us, to make our Kundalini practice that much more meaningful, real, and high.

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PART 3: TARGETED SEQUENCES

When we teach Kundalini Yoga, we teach from manuals and books. We don’t wing it or decide what posture we want to do when. We use prescribed sequences, called kriyas. Almost everything is delineated — how to breathe, how to arrange the body, the hands, the fingers, where to focus the eyes, and how long to do all of it.

Why do we do this? Because each kriya is a special alchemy. A kriya is a series of exercises that lead to a specific effect. My teacher, Hari Kaur Khalsa, called them “divine recipes.” Each of these recipes yields a defined result. The outcomes can be physical, energetic, mental, psychological, or spiritual. Some examples of Kriyas are:

• Kriya for the Kidneys
• Kriya for the Frontal Lobe
• Kriya for Disease Resistance
• Kriya for the Throat Chakra & Thyroid
• Kriya for the Keep Up Spirit
• Kriya for the Negative Mind
• Kriya for Oneness

Knowing the potential benefit of a kriya adds to my engagement with my practice. When I know what I’m working toward, I’m more committed. So, this is part of my case for Kundalini. It’s another piece of the puzzle, another motivation, another point of focus, another way to go within.

I don’t know how many kriyas have been recorded, but I do know that after more than 20 years of practice and 11 years of teaching, I still discover new ones.

Here’s an example of a short sequence, Kriya to Experience the Original You.

1. Sitting in easy pose, interlace your fingers. Invert your palms and extend your arms straight out from the heart center. (Arms will be parallel to the ground.) Keep the elbows as straight as possible. Bring the eyes down and in so that they are focused on the tip of the nose. Begin to breathe slowly, one breath per minute. Inhale to a count of 20, hold the breath for a count of 20, and exhale for a count of 20, or come as close as you can to this timing. Continue for 3 minutes.
2. Remain in the position and begin a new breath pattern. Inhale through the nose and powerfully exhale through the mouth. Continue for 3 minutes.
3. Continue holding the arms. Inhale, hold the breath, and pump your navel. When you can no longer hold the breath, exhale. Inhale again and pump the navel. Continue like this for 3 minutes.
4. To finish: Inhale, hold the breath, and exhale through the mouth like cannon fire. Repeat this two more times.
5. ​Release the posture. To circulate the energy, extend your pointer fingers straight up and lock down the other three fingers with your thumbs. Circle your forearms in outward circles as fast as possible. This movement has to be so vigorous that the entire spine moves. Continue for 2 ½ minutes. Inhale and relax.

To experience the original you. This kriya, in particular, motivates me. To experience the original me is one of my priorities in life. Who am I? How can I discard the junk, the baggage, the conditioning that doesn’t fit? How can I be the most confident in my most authentic self?

I believe that this series of exercises would help me answer those questions. I believe it because I’ve experienced that these kriyas work, that Kundalini Yoga works. To get the full benefits of any kriya, it must be practiced every day for 40 days. It’s said that if you practice  Kriya to Experience the Original You for 120 days, “you will gain great vitality, personal excellence and a new concept of who you are.”

It’s about pouring yourself in, your whole self into the kriya, and trusting that this particular sequence will bring the healing it promises. Let Kundalini Yoga kriyas be a vessel for your healing.

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PART 4: ACTIVE MEDITATIONS

If all you know of meditation is the stereotype of “close your eyes and empty your mind,” it could feel impossible. The Kundalini approach to meditation is quite different, and in my opinion much less intimidating than other forms. Each Kundalini meditation (and there are many) has, like a kriya, a specific intention or outcome. In order to achieve the outcome, there is a combination of tools, which can include an eye focus, a breath pattern, a hand position, an arm movement, and/or a mantra. Having those tools what makes the meditations easier. The tools hold us every step of the way and keep us from straying into a torrent of thoughts. 
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This is so key for me. See, I didn’t go into this yoga in order to meditate. I wasn’t interested in meditation or convinced of the benefits of it. I wanted to move and feel good. But as I’ve experienced these meditations and trained, I’ve become more and more interested and more and more convinced -- to the point that Kundalini Meditations have become an imperative in my life and more than that, they’ve become a reminder of magic. But I can only get to the magic by doing and I’m only willing to do what feels doable and stuff only feels doable when I know I’ll feel engaged. (This is why reorganizing my bathroom cabinets hasn’t gotten done. Not so engaging for me.)

Here are some Kundalini Meditations to try that draw on tools to engage you. 
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Meditation to Conquer Self-Animosity
Draws on an eye focus, a breath pattern, and a hand position.
This meditation is particularly helpful in dealing with self-sabotage. Here how: ​​

1. Sit tall with the chin pulled in toward the throat. 
2. Relax the arms at the sides , bring the hands into fists and point the thumbs start up to the sky;  press the fists together so that the knuckles and the sides of the thumbs are touching; hold the hands just below the chest.
3. Direct the eyes down and in at the tip of the nose.
4. Inhale through the nose and  exhale through the mouth; then inhale through the mouth and exhale through the nose. 
5. Continue with this pattern for 3 minutes.

Meditation to Experience & Project the Original Self
Draws on an arm position and a mantra.
Practice this meditation in order to  return to your True Self. 

1. Sit tall. Place your left arm up parallel to the ground with the elbow bent, hand in front of your heart center with your palm facing down. Place your right arm out to the side with the elbow bent, palm facing forward, and hand in gyan mudra (thumb and pointer finger meeting). 
2. Close your eyes and chant Ram Ram Hari Ram, Ram Ram Hari Hari. (I love Snatam Kaur’s version. Sample it here. Continue for 11-31 minutes. 
3. To finish, inhale and hold the breath and the posture for 20-30 seconds if you can. Exhale, maintaining the arm position. Inhale and hold the breath and the posture again. Exhale, relax, and sit in silence.

Meditation to Open the Heart
Draws on an eye focus, a mantra, and an arm movement.
This  meditation is for those times when you feel your heart has closed and you need to re-initiate the flow of love.

1. Sit talls with the eyes closed and focused up and in at the brow point. 
2. Chant the mantra Sat Kartar as you move the arms. As you chant sat, place the hands in prayer at the heart center. As you chant kar, extend the hands out from the shoulders with the elbows bent, halfway to the final position. As you chant tar, stretch the arms straight out from the shoulders, with the palms flexed (fingers pointing up). ​I love this version of the mantra. 
3. Continue in this manner for up to 11 minutes. 

May this meditations engage you. May they woe you. May they treat you to magic! 

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Part 5: FOCUS ON YOUR TRUTH

In Kundalini Yoga, we often focus on the mantra Sat Nam (Truth is my identity). We silently repeat it to ourselves; we chant it aloud powerfully while pulsing the navel; we stretch the sound out as we close class. In my opinion, knowing one’s Sat Nam, one’s Truth is paramount in practice and in life — more important than any other benefit we gain from coming to the mat.


Knowing our Truths is the only way we will live authentic lives and fulfill our purposes. I’m sure there are folks who had their Truths affirmed throughout their childhoods, and as they separated from their parents had the inner resources to stay with it. But I think what’s much more common is parents and society projecting onto their kids and then kids growing up not trusting their own senses of who they are. So we have Kundalini Yoga to come back to it.


We have Kundalini Yoga to train our minds to not be pulled off center by our thoughts…


We have Kundalini Yoga to open our hearts so that we can love who we are…


We have Kundalini Yoga to get our energy flowing so that we have the energy to fuel our Truth…


We have Kundalini Yoga to challenge ourselves physically and as we do, we shift; and as we shift the layers of untruth fall away…


We have Kundalini Yoga & Sat Nam to reorient to our Truths.


The focus on Truth is for me the most profound aspect of practicing and teaching Kundalini Yoga. It’s not just a workout. It’s not just stress relief. It’s not just increasing flexibility. It’s not just energizing. It’s the authentic trajectory of our lives. Sat Nam.