Kundalini Yoga: Experiencing the Yoga of Awareness

My 6-year old came into the den when I was attempting my first Kundalini yoga practice and became concerned. "Mom, maybe you should slow down a little." I had to explain to him that I was breathing like that on purpose; that it's called the "breath of fire". Though, thinking back I'm sure I didn't have the breathing method right and it must have been quite a sight.

In Sanskrit, the literal translation of the word Kundalini means to be "coiled like a serpent" or "that which is coiled". Visually, tradition depicts the coiling beginning at the root Chakra of a person's spine and twisting up around the sacrum. The ultimate goal and essence of Kundalini yoga is to awaken the life force within us, to unlock and energize the amazing potential that exists in each of us. This is achieved through a series of fluid yoga poses, breathing styles, meditations, and relaxation techniques.

A typical Kundalini yoga session will begin with a breathing exercise. As mentioned earlier, breath of fire is often practiced. When starting with the breath of fire, you'll generally be seated cross-legged on the floor or your yoga mat as you breath quite quickly by using abdominal contractions. Air is easily inhaled and exhaled through the nose at a fast pace while keeping your chest and shoulder muscles relaxed throughout the process. This breath exercise is quite exhilarating as it both cleanses and energizes your body and mind.

The Kundalini yoga workout will continue with fluid poses and stretches that focus on straightening and lengthening the spine as well as clearing out body toxins with a series of movements and breathing exercises that also focus on deep gland work. Breathing exercises continue through the various poses. After each workout, rather than being tired, you'll find yourself peaceful and energized.

There is also a fair amount of time spent on clearing the chakras through experiencing calming meditations, and clearing out our mind chatter, negative thoughts and energies. As you move through a Kundalini yoga session, you're learning how to strengthen your will power and control impulses and moods. Done regularly this practice can make a tremendous difference in your day-to-day life.

For myself, I have found myself calmer and more balanced emotionally the more I do Kundalini yoga. I've also noticed a significant increase in my stamina, which I attribute to the breathing exercises. My current Kundalini yoga DVD is from the Ravi Singh and Ana Brett series and I love it. I do plan to add more Kundalini yoga DVD's from this series soon as Ravi and Ana have created numerous workout DVD's that have tremendous customer reviews on Amazon. My son even joins me sometimes, though I'm not sure if it's for the yoga or because he enjoys watching the beautiful and talented Ana.