Until now little known among all the different yogas , the practice of Kundalini yoga has exploded over the past three years in France, and more particularly since the first lockdown of 2020. With the freeze frame that occurred in everyone's lives, the quest for meaning in existence has become a central subject. All while trying to master the unknown, the fears sent by the outside world, amplified by the media, and new obligations.
It turns out that Kundalini yoga actually helps to reduce fears, while increasing self-awareness. It is considered by its followers to be the "original" yoga, even if others prefer to advocate the unity of yoga, ensuring that none of its many branches has any ancestry over another (moreover, the word yoga means union in Sanskrit). All aim to harmonize the body and mind , via breathing, vital energy, postures, inner feeling and regular practice. So what more does Kundalini yoga bring, what is so "special" about it?
Teachings and Benefits of Kundalini Yoga
This approach allows the awakening of self-awareness through, among other things, sequences of postures (or kryas), associated with specific breathing (notably the breathing of fire), recitations of meditative mantras and then deep relaxation at the end of the session. Each krya aims at a specific action (increasing one's vitality, discharging one's anger, etc.).
Mantras are repetitive chants that calm the mind and help connect with oneself. They allow you to change your vibrational frequency, your level of consciousness. This is noticeable from the first lessons, then almost permanently. Making a mantra vibrate inside and outside of yourself is a unique experience. Initially confusing from a mental point of view, it allows you to let go of it (this damn mind!) to experience a feeling of uniqueness, of fullness, to feel moments of peace. Sometimes at the beginning it doesn't work: it all depends on the context and your presence to yourself! Not judging (yourself) and going gradually, at your own pace, are keys to taming kundalini yoga - except for those who fell in love with this practice from the first session!
It is a powerful discipline that helps to feel one's verticality, one's alignment, in connection with the heart line. Kundalini yoga also designates "a primordial energy that would be present in each human being and that would evolve along a main channel located in the spinal column, in the center of the spinal cord, from the sacrum to the top of the head." However, some negative side effects have been reported. It is important to listen to your feelings, your inner voice and to have a trusted teacher, as with any discipline.
When appropriate, this energetic practice provides anchoring and strengthens self-confidence and inner security. It allows you to leave fears outside (especially anxiety-provoking ones, coming from the media) and to feel supported, to connect to the "great whole".
What does it mean to connect to the universe and how does it happen?
Separation is a projection of the mind. We are creators of our reality.
“I am not in separation, I am the whole”: the teachings of Kundalini yoga encourage us to get out of incessant comparison and to become aware that everyone has their own path in life and is guided.
To do this, it is about leaving more room for one's conscience, one's intuitions, not one's mind. To open oneself to receiving synchronicities , happy congruences. To perceive that everything is meaning, that everything has a reason for being, sometimes a hidden meaning and that chance does not exist! (By keeping one's free will). The energy that emerges from oneself is that which will come to oneself. We attract what we emit.
Of course, we can neither touch nor see our emotions nor our thoughts, and yet we are much more than a physical body, much more than matter. There is something sacred in us, a cosmic dimension, and the attraction of the younger generations for planets, crystals, the invisible world demonstrates it. To help anchor and connect to the universe : feel the space, the silence, the air, the density of the magnetic field… Our body, which can also be read in the subtle, is a world in itself, magnificent, capable of experiencing emotional and psychic intensities and of rebuilding itself. What are we going to do today to be at peace with it?
How to find the right Kundalini yoga teacher for you?
The first thing to do is to define your desire: do you prefer a teacher who speaks often or who leaves spaces of silence? Who provides personal development, a lot of spirituality or not? Then, do you want this teaching to be linked to other disciplines, such as astrology, music with instruments? Experiment and feel, in order to define the one who will be most suitable depending on the moment, your stage of your life.
Some Kundalini Yoga Teachers:
- Related to astrology: Catherine Saurat-Pavard. Her daily astral bulletins are great!
- Related to shamanism and dance: Marion Sebih. A journey out of time with gongs, songs, strong spirituality.
- For gentle, deep and authentic teaching: Caroline Wietzel. Her Monday evening yoga nidra class is ultra-relaxing.
- For invigorating, educational and general public classes: Lili Barbery-Coulon. This influencer has worked hard to make kundalini known (her Instagram live sessions during the first lockdown were incredibly fervent and brought together 10,000 people!)
- For lively, explanatory and accessible courses: Cristina Cuturi and Xavière Desmet.
- For a teaching imbued with strong spirituality and moments of silence (and delivered by a man): Adrian Parfène.
The real contribution of Kundalini yoga - complementary to work on oneself - is to be oneself, to be able to access one's truth and therefore one's freedom. It is certainly not the only possible way but kundalini is a vector of a spiritual path . Between the tangible and astral world, it promotes the expansion of consciousness and allows one to be better anchored in the present.
