Kundalini Yoga: A Practice That Changed My Life
written by Lisa Gniady
Twenty-five years ago in a gym in Connecticut, I began taking Integral Yoga. When I think back, I think, wow was that me? I was competitive. I wanted to be the most flexible, I wanted to learn more and more, and I wanted to understand all the secrets that for some unknown reason, I knew were hidden in yoga. Every class I attended, I learned a new posture, a new sequence, a new ideology. For me this was simply a physically-based practice. I wanted to get fit and be able to do the splits. It was about wanting rather than allowing. But even though I didn’t understand the true yoga philosophy, after every class I felt fabulous. I felt inspired. I felt calm, and I felt different. My first teacher, Kathy used to say, “be the silent witness to your thoughts”. I have never forgotten those words.
Fast forward: after exploring Ashtanga, Forrest, Iyengar, Anusara, Bikram, Hatha yoga, Power Yoga, vinyasa flow yoga to name a few I walked into my first Kundalini class at the Midwest Yoga Conference in Bloomingdales, IL. I must say, I didn’t really care for it. It was different and truthfully, I was not ready. Years later I encountered a past student of mine who was offering Kundalini classes in her home. I walked in and there was no turning back. The practice drew me in like the first yoga class I took back in that Gym in Connecticut.
Kundalini yoga is known as the Yoga of Awareness.
It is a practice that opens you on many levels. Each class felt to me like a well orchestrated play, it had a beginning, middle and end. Each class was completely differently, I never knew what to expect. And each Kriya had one exercise that made me laugh. Kriya stands for action, and is a set of postures connected to fulfill a purpose. There were kriyas for stress reduction, kriyas for balance, kriyas for the liver, and for digestion–you name it, there were thousands of Kriyas and they all left me feeling alive! And the mantra, the sound current of the ancient words brought me to such a deep space of ecstasy that I had to know and learn more.
So although I was already a Hatha yoga teacher, I embarked on another journey. Kundalini Yoga teacher training was so different! It took me on a deep inner journey to understanding how the energy body worked, how the nervous and glandular systems were affected by different postures. The power behind the Naad, or sound current, is the mantras that was an integral part of every class.
Kundalini Yoga Classes
Each class begins with mantras to “tune you in to you,” awakening the teacher within. Next, you repeat the mantra of protection, putting a protective bubble around you for your practice. The energy shift from just tuning in, is a practice in and of itself. Each Kriya combines Mantra, Postures, Mudras or energy seals, bandhas or energy locks, Dristi or eye focus, Meditation, and Pranayam or breath practice. After you complete your physical practice, you could be bathed in a Gong Sound Healing. The energetic impact of the combination of all these practices transforms you at a deep cellular level. After the completion of your gong relaxation you arise and end the class singing the “Longtime Sunshine Song”, a positive affirmation elevating and uplifting you. Every class has well-defined beginning, middle and end.
This practice was so different from every other form of yoga I had experienced. It works with polarity, many dynamic postures followed by static meditations. But also meditations, where you challenge yourself physically. Kundalini Yoga taught me about my strength and resolve, as I was able to sustain advanced meditations for long periods of time. The lessons I learned were a metaphor for life. I learned that the more I surrendered, trusted, and stopped resisting –the more the universe carried me through each and every challenge I experienced in life.
Kundalini yoga changed my world. It taught me to trust me. It taught me to let go. It taught me to breathe, and it taught me the power of my own voice, to not be afraid to chant, and to allow the vibration to open and clear away my blocks.
Early morning Sadhana is another part of the Kundalini Practice. You practice during the Amrit Vela before sunrise and complete practice after the sun has risen. These were some magical moments of togetherness when you practice in the early morning silence when most of the world is asleep. The energetic vibration is calmer and quieter, allowing you to go deeper and connect to the pulse of the universe. The one hour of chanting the Aquarian Sadhana mantras, a series of 8 mantras, sets the stage for the whole day. You practice a Kriya and chant Japji, a Sikh prayer called the “Song of the Soul”. Japji houses within it the power to change lives. In it’s 40 pauris or stanzas, it addresses all the challenges that you may need to clear, all the secrets you want to embrace, and the energy to transform. The day I committed to chanting Japji for 40 days, is the day I awoke. The universe gifted all my hard work, cleared the path and allowed me to open to the secrets of universal knowledge. From that day forward, I have truly grown more and more in my connection to the infinite.
Kundalini yoga is a practice that is accessible to everyone. The Kriyas and meditations are for all levels of practitioners and can be modified to practice in a chair.
The key, take the time to sit, listen, and be present.
Whatever yoga path you walk down – is the one you need.
So trust the process and spend time to awaken to you–spiritually, emotionally and physically.
Yoga can change your life.
