Kundalini yoga came to the United States in the 1960s, but has a history spanning thousands of years. It uses sequences of exercises that incorporate chanting, meditation and breathing techniques to tap into a dormant store of energy known as the kundalini. Many teachers and practitioners of kundalini yoga claim its benefits come much faster than other forms of yoga and may be the most accessible form of meditation, as well.
Function
Yoga Technology's kundaliniyoga.org website states that kundalini yoga emphasizes accessing and raising the kundalini, the dormant store of cosmic energy that resides within you. The word kundalini comes from the Sanskrit word "kunda," meaning coil. Visual representations of the kundalini depict a coiled serpent at the base of the spine. The practice of kundalini yoga uncoils this dormant serpent, causing it to rise up the spine and through the body's seven major energy centers, known as chakras.
Features
Kundalini yoga contains many elements found in other forms of yoga. It includes physical exercises and postures known as asanas; ritual hand gestures, or mudras; chanted mantras; meditation techniques; and breathing techniques, or pranayama. Breathing techniques in kundalini yoga emphasize breathing in and out through the nostrils. Kundalini practitioners combine these yoga components in sequences known as kriyas. Teachers and practitioners of kundalini yoga claim what sets their style apart from other types of yoga is that their approach achieves physical and spiritual benefits much faster. In addition, kundalini yoga does not rely on difficult poses that must be held for a length of time. For this reason, kundalini yoga is safe for beginners to practice alone.
Benefits
Teachers and practitioners of kundalini yoga claim it confers a range of physical benefits, including heightened energy, a stronger nervous system and even an improved sex life. Yoga Journal writer Kathy Wyer writes that kundalini yoga may be the most accessible style of meditation. In contrast to most forms of meditation, with their emphasis on extended periods of silence and stillness that many beginners find difficult, kundalini yoga meditation includes physical postures, hand positions and chanted mantras.
Expert Insight
Alternative medicine researcher David Shannahoff-Khalsa, a kundalini yoga practitioner since the 1970s, conducted studies, published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine in 2004, that found that the meditation techniques of kundalini yoga help reduce anxiety and compulsive behaviors in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD.
History
The New Mexico-based 3HO Foundation, or Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization, states on its website that kundalini yoga has a history spanning thousands of years in India. Oral tradition preserved the style as masters passed the knowledge on to disciples. Yogi Bhajan (born Harbhajan Singh) studied kundalini yoga in his native India before bringing the knowledge to the West in the 1960s. He founded the 3HO Foundation and helped popularize kundalini yoga in the United States.
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