What is Kundalini Yoga really?

Your body starts moving in circular patterns, like the cobra, and this comes from the base of the spine. Does this mean that we focus on the base of the spine to get it activated? No. You meditate to open the 7th chakra. That brings in heightened awareness and magical energy, that opens the chakras, and awakens the kundalini.

You may begin swaying, as you feel the movement of the kundalini spreading throughout your body. You will feel a fullness that seems like a bubbling in your cells. Your awareness will be expanded, so with the kundalini movement, you will develop neural and physical pathways. The subtle movement that occurs is tantric. I do not separate kundalini from tantric. It is merely a part of the yoga experience.

They say that kundalini and tantric are two different styles of yoga, but I don't see it that way. They say that kundalini is yang and tantric is yin. Your yoga practise can be whatever it is with both these aspects. The two aspects of yoga are separated like a thinly sliced piece of something that you are examining under the microscope but you have to bring them back together where they belong. If you feel like doing yang movements with your awakened kundalini, the tantric experience will be...just different. It will be not expressed in a weaving tapestry of intricate movement, but rather, bolder movements. The kundalini will fuel speed and strength, as well as a creative way of expressing if in yang mode.

Too much, the emphasis on kundalini is getting it activated by building fire. That is an alright approach but that fire can come from simply meditating. However, upon saying that, you do have to have some physical energy to work with. If you are depressed, or your solar plexus chakra is damaged, or you are lacking protein, or something or someone is draining your energy, or you have been in bed convalescing for a few months, you will need to build-up energy to work with. That is what I have seen in kundalini classes is this building of the energy. That can also be achieved with cardio at the gym, or any kind of vigorous exercise actually.

What I emphasis in my kundalini classes is how to recognize prana shakti when it enters, and how to work with the awakened kundalini. I guide just enough to show the possibilities of experience but also emphasis guiding you to develop your own awareness of the many subtle nuances within your movement. You will find that there will be universes of nuance each step of the way. The thing I love is showing people how to shine their unique magnificence by doing it in this magnified way.

Once you are able to do this, you are on your way. It really doesn't take much. When you are in that meditative state as you do your practise, you drop all the mental and physical programming. You don't start your practice the same as you did yesterday however it 'may' start off the same...maybe. Why is this? When you meditate, the mind relaxes so that it allows for the prana to come into you. The mind, if too active, could miss this because this energy is subtle. It is like tuning into the vib of a cat. The mind then finds its rightful place which is to work with higher intelligence and creativity. So when this energy comes into the practitioner, the physical mind works with it in deciding how to proceed.

I mentioned the neural and physical pathways earlier. What this is about is that when prana enters and awakens the kundalini, it brings with it, fresh new possibilities of experience to draw from. This effects the brain. It grows... antennas... to take in the extra data. That data then effects our movement in ways new to us. The kundalini wants to move and wants to explore and so it pushes the boundaries. It is so interesting, and beautiful that we want to move with it. Slowly we open up these different physical pathways and become incredibly enriched.

What is this process of co-creation between the physical mind and the universal intelligence that we become a part of? Well, we draw from a vast array of possibility and then we, as individuals, choose what energies we wish to experience and then we enjoy. It is like ordering up the best plate of delights. These energies and our decisions come from moment to moment. It is unfettered as it is ever in motion even when we seem to be still and silent to our physical senses.

But it isn't just that. This fresh new energy brings many new awareness's so your yoga practise becomes full, the way it was meant to be. You may be working on muscle development for half an hour, but then you become interested in doing dance like moves. Then you get the impulse to fold-up into a cross-legged position to meditate. Then a thought will come by so you contemplate it, and it removes depressive energy from your cells. On and on it goes...and is as good as a blockbuster movie!!!!!

There are three levels of yoga. Level 1. the physical approach which is what Kundalini classes are coming across as like Hatha. Level 2. The gentle and slow mindful approach which is tantric. But when the practise is put all together and done with ‘actual’ awakened kundalini, and in a highly aware state, it is Level 3, the highest state. It is a leap to get to this level but as I mentioned, if a teacher like myself is there, it is much easier for the student to achieve. This is because I know what I am talking about from doing the deep work. So this is not going to be

just a new set of moves that merely mimic those that arise naturally. When Kundalini is awakened, and you are in that heightened state of awareness, which by definition is tantric, you will move in an intelligently natural way . It is not someone, at the pulpit, telling you what to do rather than teaching you how to have your own experience.

Let’s look at the tidbits of definition of Kundalini and Tantric Yoga that I noticed on the net.

The definition of kundalini includes yantra. That is those pictures, something like a Mandela but it is made up of squares, that by fixating on, will most likely become like a Mandela and take on a life of its own. So the kundalini experience is through the eyes in this instance. I wonder if I did that when I was little. I would stare at a picture till it came alive. There was a black and white picture, at home, of children at different stages along a dock, and in the water. After a little bit, the children would come alive. I, not only could see them running along the dock, and taking turns jumping into the water and coming back on the dock, but I heard them laughing and shouting, and could hear their feet running along the dock, them splashing in the water.

One definition of tantric was, “to study the universe through the human microcosm.” This makes perfect sense to me. In my definition, from my own practise, this means that in the heightened and expanded state of conscious awareness, so much more is experienced. I mentioned this earlier, when we do a sitting front bend, for example, the observances multiply like a thousand petal lotus flower. But in each moment along the way there are blossomings of these universes. I have mentioned to people that there is a universe to discover in the head of a drum. Not only is it a physical experience but a psychological and spiritual one, as well. The possibilities of experience expand and the freer we are to work with it, the more this can be expressed. The experience becomes quantum.

This quantum aspect of the experience can be miraculous. I feel energies around me and see them too as spirals or lines of energy made up of tiny lights in different colours. They are alive and moving, and we can work with them because they have meaning. You just understand this meaning and pull what you wish, to you, to work with. You do this as an individual with free will to co-create your physical expression…or psychological experience... as part of the journey. It is super fun and brilliant. These energies can be coming from far out into the universe and from different time lines.