Get your creativity flowing and feel stronger and more flexible with kundalini yoga
If you’re facing a mental block, or feeling tired and sluggish, kundalini yoga could be the answer. “Kundalini yoga is considered the original yoga,” says Yoga Alliance kundalini yoga teacher Thimelia Garcia, (chakramamahealing.com). “It is defined as the yoga of self-awareness and it seeks the awakening of the cosmic energy through the performance of yoga postures, breathing techniques, psychic gestures, energy locks, mystical sounds, visualisations and meditation techniques.”
According to the Hindu traditions, the kundalini energy is a cosmic, or spiritual force that lays dormant at the base of the spine in the root chakra (Muladhara). The kundalini energy is often identified as the latent creativity in each individual, which is usually represented as a coiled snake.
When awakening the kundalini energy, this snake rises up the spine and is purified through the different energy centres (chakras) in the body, reaching personal fullness on the physical, mental and spiritual levels.
Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? And the wellbeing benefits make up a list as long as your arm, from strengthening your abdominal muscles, improving spine flexibility and strengthening the immune and nervous systems, to stress and anxiety reduction, improving memory, as well as promoting emotional self-control, making you feel more optimistic and improving creativity. Overall, it revitalises and rejuvenates the body and mind. Phew! How do we get started?
According to Thimela, kundalini yoga classes are usually 60 to 90 minutes long. “A class involves an opening mantra (tuning in), a warm-up routine, the kriya (set of exercises), meditation (mantra, breathing and mudras are usually present) and a closing mantra,” she says. “Practising kundalini yoga regularly will ignite a series of physical, mental and spiritual changes. On a mental level, many resistances appear when kundalini yoga is practised because there is intense work to be done on an energetic level, but it is also very liberating.
Some people feel enlightened, happy, and in a state of bliss after a kundalini yoga class whereas others can feel exhausted and emotional due to the detoxification and purification of the mind and body. Give it a go! Come to a kundalini yoga class and experience it by yourself. Come with an open heart and open mind. Drop the expectations at the door and allow the beauty of this ancient practice to surprise you and take you to a higher level.” Intrigued? Try Thimela’s short sequence (right) for yourself
