The practice of meditation channels your energy and focuses attention on your breath, increasing your awareness and inducing a state of calmness. Meditation is an integral part of a yoga practice, including the kundalini style of yoga. This style of raja yoga, introduced to the West in the late 1960s, emphasizes tapping into the dormant store of energy known as the kundalini. Some practitioners say the kundalini approach may be an ideal introduction to meditation for beginners.
Theories/Speculation
The kundalini refers to the store of creative, cosmic energy that lies dormant at the base of the spine. Visual depictions of the kundalini use the image of a coiled serpent. Kundalini meditation, which combines meditation and other yoga elements in sets known as kriyas, uncoils this store of energy, enabling it to rise through the spine and through the chakras, the body's major energy centers.
Features
Kundalini meditation as taught by Yogi Bhajan, who brought the practice of kundalini yoga to the West in the 1960s, includes physical exercises, chanted mantras and hand positions. According to the website of Yogi Bhajan, a typical kundalini yoga class includes between 11 and 31 minutes of meditation, usually following warm-ups and kriya.
Benefits
Most forms of meditation involve extended periods of silence and stillness, which can be challenging for many newcomers to the practice. Kundalini meditation, in contrast, incorporates physical movements with hand gestures and chanted mantras. In a Yoga Journal article, Kathy Wyer writes that these elements may make kundalini meditation the most accessible approach. Yogi Bhajan's website calls kundalini meditation a beginner's practice, noting that its use of chanted mantras supports beginners who find lengthy periods of silence and stillness challenging.
Types
The Kundalini Research Institute, affiliated with Yogi Bhajan, offers a wide range of meditations, each addressing a different need or purpose. These include meditations for strengthening the immune system, for healing and for calming the heart. There are meditations for conflict resolution, stress reduction, prosperity and numerous other purposes.
Expert Insight
Other kundalini meditation teachers, from traditions different from that of Yogi Bhajan, offer their own insights into meditation. Charles Cannon, also known as Swami Vivekananda, advocates accompanying your meditation with music that fosters a meditative state of mind. Cannon's Synchronicity Foundation produces CDs of music to accompany kundalini meditation. Another teacher, Swami Shankarananda of Australia, advises practitioners to question themselves during the meditation practice, asking for example whether you are relaxed or tense, or whether you are experiencing pleasant feelings.
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