Yogis consider Kundalini to be the yoga of awareness. Although most yoga styles incorporate spirituality into classes at some level, Kundalini strives to make connection to a higher nature or divinity its goal. Yogi Bhajan popularized Kundalini and started the 3HO or Happy, Healthy, Holy Organization in the 1960s for seekers of deeper knowledge and self-awareness, according to the Yogi Bhajan website. The word "kundalini" represents a spiritually-based, coiled serpent, who through yoga techniques, can uncoil and bring awareness of the universe and spirituality to the practitioner.
Spiritual Growth
Yoga styles vary, with some focusing slightly more on creating strong bodies and others more on a creating harmony in the mind and body. In Kundalini, the purpose of strengthening the body is to build a stronger bond with the mind and spirit. The Kundalini Yoga website claims that the practice of Kundalini creates spiritual awareness faster than other forms of hatha yoga, or the yoga of physical poses. Kriyas are combinations of yoga poses, meditation, hand positions or mudras, bandhas or contractions of specific areas of the body, mantras and breathing. Through kriyas, yogis are supposed to be able to unlock spiritual, mental or emotional blocks that keep them from truly understanding the nature of the self.
Physical Fitness
Kundalini can increase strength, flexibility, balance and endurance, although the Kundalini Yoga site mentions that most of its poses are not as physically challenging as those taught in other forms of yoga. When practiced properly and under the guidance of a certified Kundalini instructor, poses should stimulate glands, and cleanse and tone the body. Poses such as the kundalini leg lifts, tree, wheel and shoulder stand may also increase core strength.
Improved Well-being
Through improved physical health and spiritual growth, many kundalini yogis report feeling happier and more peaceful with their lives. On the 3HO website, SS Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa, Creative Director for Sikh Dharma International, reports feeling an understanding of life's underlying purpose. Yogi Bhajan emphasizes that Kundalini should integrate yogis more deeply with reality. Through this increased awareness of reality, yogis are supposed to exist more efficiently, with an understanding of their abilities, thereby developing confidence in their purpose and life goals.
Clearer Thinking
Organizations such as the Mayo Clinic highlight that yoga techniques can reduce anxiety, stress, fatigue and depression. Kundalini incorporates many breathing techniques such as breath of fire and alternate nostril breathing that calm the mind, allowing for mental clarity. Kundalini kriyas, which may lead to a greater knowledge of the self, can reduce a yogi's attachment to many worries, allowing for healthier thoughts. Kundalini may also help people reduce their attachment to unhealthy habits that limit clear thinking, such as drug and alcohol abuse.
Member Comments
Gursant June 21
I am an American Sikh who studied with Yogi Bhajan for 30 years. I want to introduce you to a free e-book ?Sikhism and Tantric Yoga?; a rare and out of print book by a Sikh scholar and historian which takes a critical look at Yogi Bhajan's kundalini and tatric yoga systems. I discovered this book during my two years in India.?Sikhism and Tantric Yoga? has been a real eye-opener for me and makes complete sense when I think about the last thirty years of my life with Yogi Bhajan. Written by the esteemed Dr. Trilochan Singh, author of over twenty books on Sikh history and philosophy and lecturer at sixteen Universities, ?Sikhism and Tantric Yoga?, describes the Sikh mystical path and is critical of Yogi Bhajan's Tantra and Kundalini Yoga.
I have included here a sample of one chapter and the entire book can be downloaded for free at: Gurmukhyoga.com
What I learned in India about the Sikh Mystic Path
By Guru's grace, while being detained by authorities in India, I lived for almost one year at the Golden Temple. After visiting Guru Sahib at the Harmandir Sahib everyday, singing the divine Gurbani Kirtan and contemplating God's Name, the Guru showed me, how all the Yogic asanas I performed over the last 30 years were a complete waste of time and cannot match to 1 percent of the devotional contemplation on the Name of God.
?In contrast to Patanjali's Yoga, and other schools of Hindu Yoga (Hatha, Tantric, Laya, Kundalini, etc.), the Sikh Gurus call Sikh mystic path, Brahm Yoga (the Yoga which does not use any yogic technique but concentrates on God and achieves Him through devotion and contemplation). It is also called Gurmukh Yoga (Yoga of the Enlightened), Sahajya Yoga (Natural Yoga based on spontaneous devotion and contemplation). The word Yoga is used just to mean union with God.? Dr. Trilochan Singh.