What is Kundalini Yoga? a powerful yoga
Kalyan Jot, Kundalini teacher, enlightens us!
In this article, Kalyan Jot, Kundalini teacher, explains what Kundalini is, what its origins are and how to practice it. Find out who the famous Yogi Bhajan is and what this discipline can do for you! Yogom explains you at the end with which material of yoga to practice it and why wool is the material to privilege.
A yoga like no other
Kundalini Yoga is a little different from other types of Yoga. It is a true technology that uses movement, breath and sound. Brought from India by Yogi Bhajan in 1968, Kundalini yoga is extremely popular in the United States and has been emerging strongly in France for the past two years.
A true philosophy of life, Kundalini Yoga is a path towards the acceptance of one’s true identity and full potential. Together let’s discover a little more about this beautiful practice.
To discover all the other styles of yoga read our practical guide which presents more than 10 styles of yoga!
Discover the Yogom Gentle Range: ideal for practicing Kundalini!
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Bolster Yoga Wool
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Who is Yogi Bhajan?
Harbhajan Singh Puri, known as Yogi Bhajan, was born on August 26 in the small village of Kot Harkarn, then located in India but now in Pakistan. He is the first son of a family that desired and prayed for 25 years for the birth of a son. He came from a wealthy family, who on each of their son’s birthdays, distributed to the poor of the village, the equivalent of 7 times the weight of Yogi Bhajan in gold. Yogi Bhajan was quickly made aware of the need to help the poor.
He studied Kundalini Yoga, Tantric Yoga and Gong Meditation under the guidance of Kundalini Yoga master Sant Hazara Singh, who challenged him throughout his training.
At the age of 16 he became a Kundalini Yoga master. He also studied Hatha Yoga and received a doctorate in psychology. He got married in 1953 and raised three children with his wife. He worked for several years in the Indian government, and during his government service, he was assigned to manage the city of Amritsar where the golden temple of Guru Ram Das is located. For four and a half years he cleaned the steps of this temple every day. This created a very strong bond between Guru Ram Das and Yogi Bhajan. Yogi Bhajan used to say that he became who he was because of cleaning those steps, not because of his studies and degrees.
One day, a Canadian academic offered him a position at the University of Toronto to teach yoga, which he accepted. Unfortunately, when he arrived in Canada, this person had passed away, so he no longer had a job. But brave as he was, he soon found another one in a publishing house and started teaching yoga in a local ashram.
In December 1968 he moved to Los Angeles to join an old friend of his. There he trained hundreds of teachers and created a real community around Kundalini Yoga that he continued to grow, first in the United States, then gradually around the world. He passed away on October 6, 2004 at the age of 75 in his Ashram in New Mexico.
What are the benefits of Kundalini yoga?
The practice of Kundalini Yoga has multiple beneficial effects.
- It works on the seven chakras and also on the aura and the bow line (which is the eighth chakra in Kundalini Yoga).
- Kundalini Yoga exercises work on the overall energy of the body.
- The practice of kundalini strengthens the nervous system, the immune system and the lymphatic system,
- A Kundalini Yoga session keeps the body in good physical and mental health.
- Kundalini Yoga is the fastest practice for establishing an aligned relationship between body, mind and soul
- and thus achieve personal fulfillment. Stress, generated by work and life’s trials, can be alleviated or even disappear with kundalini exercises, a session allows for great relaxation.
The practice of Kundalini yoga allows us to become aware of all that surrounds us, it connects us to our intuition and opens our heart .
Finally, the practice of Kundalini Yoga engages a a real dialogue between our soul, our body and our mindconfronting us with our light and shadow sides, teaching us to control our emotions in order to transform into a constructive energy. We become aware of our body and our psychological state.
Life is made of ups and downs, Kundalini yoga teaches us to ride the waves of life with grace and beauty.
What is Kundalini?
Kundalini is a vital, creative and divine energy, symbolized by a snake that is coiled three and a half times at the base of the spine.
By awakening it, you awaken your creative potential, you allow this energy to flow through and harmonize the seven chakras.
In this way, you give yourself access to your full potential, allowing you to be truly yourself, happy, fulfilled and prosperous. However, the objective of a Kundalini course is not the “ascent” of Kundalini, Kundalini Yoga is a path, where the ego, the performance have no place.
Is it accessible to all?
Kundalini Yoga is of course a practice accessible to all, regardless of age, level or physical condition. The kundalini postures are simple to perform and do not require extreme flexibility.
We do warm-up exercises, postures requiring an intense effort and postures requiring a less sustained effort, which works the heart. Then we practice postures working the different parts of the body, with eyes closed, followed by a pause allowing relaxation. To finish a session, a posture of return to calm is realized.
Moreover, during a Kundalini Yoga session, we use more the movements and the angles of the body, than the “classic” postures of Hatha Yoga, even if we can find some of them during a class.
During a Kundalini Yoga session, each person does his or her best, without trying to compare him or herself to others and to their level. This is one of the reasons why we practice Kundalini with our eyes almost always closed.
You come to a Kundalini Yoga class for yourself, not to wow your friends and Instagram community.
In Kundalini Yoga, there are no postures on the head, because Yogi Bhajan said that you can have exactly the same effects on the body and mind through other types of postures, without taking the risk of injuring your neck and neck muscles during a session.
In short, why make it complicated when you can make it so simple.
Some inspirational quotes from Yogi Bhajan
“You can’t make your life a constant reaction to others, you have to make your life, your own life.”
“Go inside yourself, take out all the happiness and smiles, and spread them freely, like a princess of radiance.”
“If you don’t love yourself, you will never love love as a reality.”
I would like to end this article by saying that if you don’t know Kundalini Yoga, you should definitely give it a try. Kundalini Yoga may be a revelation for you as it was for me, you may not like it or you may practice a kundalini session just once in a while.
In the end, it doesn’t matter, the main thing is to keep your childlike soul that pushes you to discover and to be curious without judgement and without particular expectations. And since a kundalini class always ends with a blessing, here is mine for you today, “may this day bring you joy, love and inner peace, may this day show you how extraordinary you are, may this day enlighten you in your moments of shadow, of doubt and help you become who you really are, deep in your heart, deep in your soul.
Sat Nam.”
With which material to practice?
This yoga includes a lot of breathing and meditation exercises as well as kryas for which you will be sitting cross-legged or sitting buttocks against heels. You don’t necessarily need a large yoga mat for all your sessions. A small meditation mat could do the trick! Ideally, you should have both: a large wool yoga mat to practice comfortably at home, and the small mat when you travel or go to a class. It is also advisable to equip yourself with a meditation cushion and a blanket . It is highly recommended for the practice of Kundalini to choose yoga mats and accessories for yoga and meditation in wool. Find out why. Yogom has developed a range of products made of Oekotex certified wool and manufactured in Europe. Beyond the spiritual choice, wool has many interesting virtues for the practice of yoga and meditation.
KUNDALINI YOGA: THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE
My name is Kalyan Jot and I am a teacher of Kundalini Yoga, as taught by Yogi Bhajan, and also of Women’s Yoga.
A few years ago, Kundalini yoga came into my life and turned it upside down.
Since then, I have not stopped practicing it, it has especially allowed me to find fulfillment, joy and to finally be myself. So much so that I decided to teach it and make it my life mission.
Find Kalyan on Instagram: Girls do yoga.
