Kundalini Yoga

by Kim Holton, Kundalini Yoga teacher at Sanctuary

All forms of yoga are working towards the same goal--living a healthy, happy, and spiritually aware life through stimulation and regulation of the human energy that is the essence of consciousness. Through time, yogis have chosen to focus on different aspects of the total yogic system leading to the development of 22 different schools. Kundalini Yoga is one of these schools and focuses on the power of awareness.

Just as all rivers end up in the ocean, all yoga ends up raising the Kundalini.
What is the Kundalini? It is the creative potential of the human being. -Yogi Bhajan

Yogi Bhajan brought this yoga from India to the West in the late 60s. Kundalini Yoga is known as the householder's yoga, designed to allow ordinary people to live in this world in a healthy, conscious way better serving both themselves and humanity as a whole.

Kundalini Yoga is a technology designed to expand awareness and deepen the connection with your true self. Using set sequences, it builds the energies of the body so that you can learn to manage this energy instead of it managing you! This science is a powerful tool in improving your overall health and in helping you consciously choose your responses in life rather than merely reacting. The practice of Kundalini Yoga uses posture, breathing technique, mudra, mantra, and meditation. It is dynamic and focuses on rhythm, breath, and release of tension.

• Rhythm is very powerful in balancing and calming the entire human system. We all intuitively know this. What does a parent do to calm a crying baby? Rock, bounce, or pat the baby with a steady rhythm. Even as adults, we find swinging, rocking, or lounging by the rhythmic waves of the ocean an easy way to relax and soothe ourselves.



• Without breath, there is no life. How we breathe has a direct effect on our physical, mental, and emotional states. The mere act of breathing consciously and fully can literally breathe life back into our experience.



• Releasing tension from the body allows for a physical sense of well-being and, perhaps more importantly, a relaxation throughout all aspects of our lives.

The most basic commitment any human can make is the commitment to being fully alive. Kundalini Yoga gives you one of the greatest tools available to live fully-awareness.

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