Kundalini Yoga

Kundalini Yoga, as the name is so twisted to pronounce in the first go is also known as the Laya Yoga across the world is an institution of Yoga that has been formed after being influenced by Tantra and Shakti schools that follow Hinduism.

Kundalini Yoga revolves around the principle of awakening the energy inside the human body through different Yoga routines.

The energy invoked is called Kundalini Energy, and anyone who regularly practices asanas, pranayama, chanting and meditation will gain the ability to modulate this energy by creating a creative potential inside the human.

Kundalini Yoga on giving a spiritual dimension to a person stays responsible for the honesty, compassion, empathy of the human being.

History:

Recently named as Kundalini Yoga in the running century, Kundalini Yoga has been a tradition and its synthesis for many years that included Hatha Yoga techniques, Kriya Yoga techniques, Meditation Techniques and also few Tantric visualisations.

The practice of Kundalini Yoga involved bandha, bhakti, self-discipline, sams ketas apart from the elements mentioned above that are mainly oriented in awakening the Kundalini energy. Laya Yoga refers to the Yoga techniques and also the absorption effect of the human into cosmic energy.

Name:

Laya Yoga, derived from the Sanskrit word 'Laya' translates into 'absorption', 'dissolution' and 'extinction'. Laya has been the most used term in many ancient yogic scripts including Yoga Tattva Upanishad, the Amaraugha Prabodha, the Yoga Shastra of Dattatreya, the Varaha Upanishad, etc. While the history is hazily blurred with syncretism, Kundalini Yoga is derived from the tantric and hatha manuals like the Shiva Samhita and the Yoga Pradipika.

According to Shiva Samhita, it is mentioned that a Yogi can only practice Kundalini Yoga after excelling at two different Yogas; Hatha Yoga and Mantra Yoga and Laya Yoga being the third followed by Raja Yoga will qualify the Yogi as a legendary.

On the other hand, "Kundalin" stands for "Circular" as an adjective and "Snake" as a noun. Kundalini is often diagrammatically represented as coiled ringlets or coiled snake. Back in 12th Century, Kunda has been found as a noun for the word 'bowl' in Rajatarangini Chronicle as a name given to a "Naga" in "Mahabharata".

In Tantrism, Kundalini is used as the name of the Serpent (in books like Saradatilaka) which later got adopted widely across the world by 15th century.

Kundalini - The Serpent:

The Shakti is a wide term used to represent Kundalini. The wise man should start taking the Kundalini Energy from the naval (starting point) to the eyebrows (the destination), and this particular travel from the naval to the middle of the eyes is called Shakti-Chala.

While practising the Kundalini Yoga, it is important to know the Sarasvati Chalana and the pranayama.

Kundalini Yoga Upanishads:

The Kundalini Upanishad is an amalgamation of a total 108 Upanishads altogether. This canon was fixed back in 1656, and ever since they are known together as Yoga Kundalini Upanishad.

Dating back to the earlier 16th century, there are other tantric yoga texts that treat kundalini as Paduka pancaka or Satcakrna nirupana, etc. When these texts got translated later in 1919 by John Woodroffe; he renamed them to Kundalini (the Serpent Power).

He not only identified the evolution and involution of Laya Yoga but also made a correlation between the texts of both Mantra Yoga and Hatha Yoga.

The Upanishad contains three chapters; Chitta, Shakti-Chala and Kundalini. Chitta, known as consciousness is known to be controlled by Prana (breathing) and moderate food.

Shakti-Chala, known as the determination is controlled by asanas and other postures. Kundalini, the third chapter is controlled by the concept of the human.

Modern interpretation:

Kundalini though developed as parts of Tantra Yoga and Hatha Yoga simultaneously; it was taught as Laya Yoga by Swami Nigamananda back in 1935. He insisted on separating Kundalini Yoga by introducing it to the yoga readers.

He also has brought up the subject in 1935 in his book where he combines the Laya Yoga practices with older scripts to get the modern form of Kundalini Yoga. If you observe, the roots of this yoga form lie in Neo-Hinduism and Revivalism, and later it became popular in Western countries in the 1960s.

Kundalini Yoga - Yogi Bhajan version:

Yogi Bhajan has introduced the concept of Kundalini Yoga to the western countries, and as a result, the modern style is a style that has been customised by him.

After finding the H3O organisation (Healthy, Happy and Holy); he took few yogic techniques and postures of Hatha Yoga and combined them with Tantric poses and Sikh mantras; giving the new Kundalini Yoga form.

If you place Swami Dhirendra Brahmachari's way of Kundalini Yoga besides Maharaj Virsa Singh's teachings; it would be apparent that both are almost the save but the only distinction that one can find is the Sikh mantras and the chanting.

However, Maharaj Virsa Singh also was against Yogi Bajan's Kundalini Yoga saying that it doesn't follow the Gobind Sadan's path of spirituality.

Methodology:

Kundalini, used to entitle the life force is located at the spine's base in the form of a coiled serpent. The Kundalini Yoga is supposed to arouse the Kundalini Shakti from the coiled base by unlocking six different chakras and then pentrating the 7th chakra that is situated at the head.

The energy should travel throuh central (sushumna), the right (pingala) and the left (the ida) channels of the body.

Technical Interpretation of Kundalini Yoga:

Technically explained as the energy that is born due to pranayama and apana; the energy blends when it is at the 3rd chakra after passing through the first and second chakras.

On the way to the centre between the eyebrows, the brain has to activate the golden cord that connects the pineal and pituitary glands while the serpent penetrates the 7th chakra.

As mentioned earlier, Kundalini Yoga can only be understood and practiced as the three-fold approach where Bhakti Yoga is done for increasing devotion, Shakti Yoga is done to achieve power and the advanced Raja Yoga to be conscious and in control.

After practicing asanas, kriyas, pranayama and sadhana; one can evoke the Kundalini Energy and attain a creative potential to know the Dharma of life.

Practice:

The practice of meditation and kriyas in this particular Yoga form are indeed designed to increase the awareness of a person by stimulating the nervous system.

The mind will get strong and can handle the energy that is born. All the poses in Kundalini Yoga revolve around navel, spine and pressurisation of selective meridians and body postures.

The three yogic locks and pranayama aid to birth, release, growth, direction and control of the Kundalini Energy from low energy centres to high energy centres.

Why should we practice Kundalini Yoga?

Along with all the techniques, the nostril breathing technique is taught mainly in Kundalini Yoga as a major method to cleanse the channels, blood vessels and also the pathways that help in the awakening of the Kundalini Energy.

In 1998, Sovatsky developed a new perspective that Kundalini Yoga also acts as a catalyst for maturation and psychological growth of a person.

Effective Kundalini Yoga Poses:

1. Alternate Lifting of Legs: Lie on your back on the ground. As you inhale, pull the belly in especially on the lower side and then start lifting the left leg upright.
   
   Point the toes towards the ceiling while you make a right angle. Hold it for few seconds and then lower the leg while you exhale. If you find lifting the leg hard, try placing your hand right under the hips to gain additional support.
   
   Now repeat the same pose with other leg while it sparks energy at the navel point.
   
   
2. Cross Crawl: Lie down to start the pose by placing the legs in front of you in the air and the arms placed beside on the ground.
   
   Start inhaling and bend the left knee deep into the chest while you bring the right arm to the top of the head. Hold the pose for few seconds.
   
   Straighten the left leg while you exhale and lower both the arm and leg back to the floor. Making sure that you are taking deeper breaths, continue with the alternation for around 3 minutes.
   
   This pose will build energy after the first two chakras.
   
   
3. Cobra Pose: As most of the poses are around the navel, start lying down on the belly. Place the hands under the shoulders while you spread the fingers of your arms wide.
   
   Now start grounding the weight down at the pelvis and the feet tops while you keep your legs rigid. Start reaching for the tailbone while moving it towards the heals and keep inhaling while you lift the chest.
   
   Make sure that there's the slightest bend in the elbow when you relax the shoulders and keep your chest open.
   
   Try to hold the pose for at least two minutes and take deep breath cycles. This pose helps in opening the chest area for the energy flow.
   
   
4. Crunches: Lie on your back and start bending the knees. Place the feet with a hip distance on the floor and start interlacing the arms by keeping the elbows wide behind your head.
   
   Exhale while you form a crunch and then start pulling the lower part of the belly inside. Inhale as you slowly drop the crunch. Repeat the crunches for 3-5 minutes in order to build the willpower and energy.
5. Stretch: Extend the legs in the front while the arms are resting at your sides. Lengthen the neck by making it straight.
   
   Lift the arms, chest and head directly off the ground and draw the chin inside. Direct the gaze and also your fingers towards the toes.
   
   Make sure that your back is on the ground while you make a 6-inch lift on the floor with pointed toes. Use the breath of fire by inhaling to relax the abdominal muscles and allowing the air filling inside the lungs.
   
   Hold it for two minutes and then exhale while you draw the plexus and navel point upwards to the spine while you break out. Repeat the same for 2-3 cycles as you rejuvenate to build self-esteem.
   
   
6. Piston: Stay on the ground with your back pressed against it. Start with bringing both the knees close to the chest and then pull the arms alongside the torso by placing the palms down facing the ground.
   
   You can also try placing the hands beneath the sitting bones to achieve additional support. Inhale and thrust the leg out to few inches above the floor.
   
   Hold for two minutes and then start exhaling by bringing the knee back to chest.
   
   Continue the leg switching to make a piston movement as you balance the chakra energies.
   
   
7. Crown: Start with sitting on the heels on the ground. Stretch both the arms above your head while keeping the elbows straight and as the elbows hug the ears, you have to interlace your fingers other than the index finger while you extend.
   
   Men should cross the right over the left thumb and women should cross the left over the right thumb to release the seventh chakra. Start chanting "Sat Nam" in a constant rhythm while you pull the navel inside and outside with an interval between the two chants.
   
   Concentrate on drawing the energy in the upper direction by closing your eyes.

Wrapping up, the Sat Kriya workout with seven different poses for seven different chakras is the most adopted and effective Kundalini Yoga routine in the recent times. It is powerful where one can witness all the mudras and asanas.

You can do Sat Kriya for a total 40 different days to notice a profound functioning of chakras and the awakening of Kundalini Energy inside you.

A thing to consider in Kundalini Yoga is that none of the chakras is individualistic and chakra system on the whole is weaved in a complex way that all of them together makes it holistic.

Therefore, you can't just start working on a single chakra or even the lower and upper triangles or the heart chakra. Therefore, practice the entire Kundalini Yoga on a whole and get your creativity levels touch the sky.