Kundalini Techniques

Kundalini yoga combines various yoga techniques in sequences known as kriyas. These kriyas, which include exercises, deep breathing, meditation and other techniques, help practitioners access the dormant store of energy at the base of the spine known as the kundalini. The word kundalini means "coil," and this dormant creative energy is often depicted as a coiled serpent. The techniques in the kriyas uncoil this energy, allowing the serpent to rise through the spine and into the body's major energy centers, known as chakras. In addition to these traditional yoga techniques, an alternative approach awakens the kundalini under the guidance of a guru.

Exercises and Postures

The kriyas in kundalini yoga include vigorous physical exercises and postures, or asanas, that stimulate various nerves and organs to access and uncoil the kundalini. These postures and exercises can be found in other forms of yoga, but kundalini differs by not relying on poses that the practitioner must hold for a period of time. For this reason, kundalini yoga is safe for beginners to practice at home, according to the kundalini yoga website operated by Yoga Technology.

Breathing Techniques

Also known as pranayama, the breathing techniques in kundalini yoga emphasize long, deep breathing that engages the diaphragm. Kundalini practitioner and teacher Susan Boles points out that most people do not learn how to breathe properly, taking shallow breaths instead of slow, deep ones. Kundalini breathing techniques emphasize breathing in and out of the nostrils. A popular breathing technique, known as the Breath of Fire, requires you to take a deep breath, then force the air out with the diaphragm before quickly drawing the air back inside.

Meditation

Kundalini meditation techniques combine postures, movements, chanted mantras and ritualistic hand gestures, as opposed to the extended periods of silence and stillness associated with most forms of meditation. For this reason, Yoga Journal reports that the kundalini approach to meditation may be the most accessible style for newcomers, who may find more conventional forms of meditation difficult.

Other Yoga Techniques

In addition to physical exercises, breathing and meditation techniques, kundalini yoga kriyas include other techniques, such as hand gestures, or mudras, and muscular contractions or body locks, designed to channel spiritual energy. Kundalini yoga incorporates these traditional yoga techniques into the kriyas for the purpose of accessing the kundalini.

Shaktipat Technique

In contrast to the traditional yoga techniques in the previous sections, which strive to awaken the kundalini, the shaktipat approach requires the guidance of a guru. The word "shaktipat" means "descent of shakti." In Hindu thought, Shakti is the embodiment of divine feminine creative energy. This approach is also known as Siddha Mahayoga. There are various approaches to awakening the kundalini under this method, but they all involve a guru's intervention. According to a Siddha Mahayoga FAQ website, a guru can convey shaktipat by mantra, touch or intention.