Powerful Science of Kundalini Yoga Explained
This article will provide a basic overview of what Kundalini Yoga is and how Kundalini Yoga works. At the core of Kundalini Yoga lies Kriyas and the best way to understand the methodology of Kundalini Yoga is to understand Kriyas and their functioning.
Kriyas are a set of exercises done in a particular sequence to work on a specific theme. There are a wide range of Kriyas available, each refined over thousands of years to optimize their effectiveness.
Kriyas utilize all the available Kundalini Yoga mechanisms to work their magic. They employ asans (postures), movement, pranayam (breathing exercises), bandhas (body locks), mantras (sound vibrations), mudras (hand positions), laya yoga (yoga of rhythm and sound), mental focus and meditation to do their work.
Dynamic movement and asans bring expanding and contracting pressure via multiple angles to various areas of the body, this is accompanied with powerful pranayams, the combined effect of which is that the target regions are saturated with highly charged and oxygenated blood. This nutrient rich blood fills the capillaries forcing them to discharge toxins and other harmful elements, which are then eliminated, neutralized or expelled by the body. The health of the region thus improves and the nerves fire more completely, the glands and organs are invigorated and regain their natural voltage and secretion levels are returned to a condition of strength and vitality.
The key above is the removal of blockages (granthis) that is taking place on many levels of the organism, thus facilitating the flow of energy.
There are Kriyas designed for working on almost every part of the human system (Immune, Glandular, Circulatory, Digestive, Nervous, Respiratory, Sexual, etc . . . ), working on our various traits and characteristics (Awareness, Intuition, Willpower, Confidence, Compassion, Charisma, etc . . . ) and also for healing many different types of ailments and diseases. Lets now see how this ties in with the Chakra (energy vortex) system.
There are 7 primary chakras that lie all along the spine from the base to the crown of the head. Associated with each chakra are the primary nerve junctions and organs of that region. Furthermore, each chakra is responsible for certain traits and characteristics that make up our personality.
When we strengthen and rejuvenate the nerves and organs in a particular region, we are in fact activating these energy centers that reside there and are thus working on ourselves not only at a physical level, but also at an emotional and mental level (by affecting our traits and characteristics). Practiced over time, the chakras become charged and come into balance with each other, bringing us into physical, emotional and mental well being.
Again, it should be noted that the work being done is primarily about dissolving granthis (blockages) in these regions which introduce disease and imbalance into the system by preventing the chakras from functioning at their optimum level. Finally, let see how this relates to Kundalini Shakti.
Kundalini is energy. It is the fundamental energy whose flow through the organism allows for all its systems to operate, at all levels of consciousness. It is the energy of awareness, it can be said that where your awareness is, that is where Kundalini is flowing or that where Kundalini is flowing is where your awareness is.
To awaken Kundalini means to dissipate blockages in the gross and subtle systems in your being and allow for greater and greater flow of energy and awareness. As blockages are cleared trapped energy is released and pathways are cleared. Kundalini then is able to flow freely though those regions, healing, nourishing, rejuvenating and balancing them.
The dissipating of blockages can also be thought of as the clearing away of the subconscious mind, the collection of unresolved emotional and physical disturbances, where lies the root of many of our attachments and fears. So overall Kundalini Yoga is a system by which one, through the process of dissolving the past, allows the infinite to shine through into the present.
Anmol Mehta is a Yoga & Zen Meditation expert. For Free Online Yoga & Guided Meditation Classes visit http://www.anmolmehta.com/blog/classes-online hosted on http://www.anmolmehta.com. For help & insights on Meditation, Kundalini Yoga, Chakra, Tantra, Zen & more visit http://www.anmolmehta.com/blog.
Top 10 Profound Health Benefits of Yoga
Yoga is currently taking its final exam. Even though this science dates back many thousands of years, it has only recently come to the West. This is where Yoga is being empirically tested.
The Western mind demands results and evidence, if none are produced, the system does not survive. This is a valuable approach and Yoga is currently being put though the rigors of this process. So far Yoga is passing with flying colors. Don’t get me wrong, its not that the East did not expect that, its just that this approach filters out the fraudulent and frivolous methodologies, which might otherwise survive simply because of superstition and fear, and the East is just as happy that this is being done as the West. This scrutinizing process results in separating the stones from the diamonds and the diamond that is Yoga is starting to shine though bright and clear.
Over the last three to four decades a great deal of research has been done by the medical community and they now, more and more, recognize the health benefits of Yoga. Below, I will highlight the top 10 health benefits that Yoga bestows and I hope it will inspire all of you to take up this wonderful practice is some capacity and reap the rich rewards as well.
The health benefits have been divided into 3 categories. The Physical Health Benefits of Yoga, Emotional Health Benefits of Yoga and the Mental Health Benefits of Yoga. A short explanation is given along with each benefit to help you understand better the mechanisms that Yoga employs to bestow it.
Physical Health Benefits of Yoga:
1. Energy: Yoga exercises, breath control training (pranayama) and use of yoga body locks (bandhas) all work to activate and balance your energy pathways, giving you the vitality and power you need to maximize your potential.
2. Strength: By strength here we don’t just mean physical muscular strength, although that will benefit greatly as well due to the steady holding of yoga poses and the exercises that yoga incorporates, but also the strength of your internal physiological systems. Strength of your immune system, nervous system, digestive system, respiratory system, circulatory system, reproductive system, etc.
3. Healing: The power of Yoga to heal ailments and cure diseases is becoming more and more an integral part of mainstream medical practice and treatment methods. This ability of Yoga to heal also promotes longevity.
4. Flexibility: Yoga postures (asanas) are perhaps the best type of exercises you can do to improve flexibility. Flexibility is essential for avoiding injuries as well as for the health of the joints, tendons and muscles.
Emotional Health Benefits of Yoga:
5. Peace: Yoga meditations and practice methodology promotes a greater awareness and appreciation of the present moment, which calms the mind and allows the peace deep within to surface.
6. Joy: With the maturing of a Yoga practice, the beauty and depth of life become more apparent and the spontaneous joy of existence emerges.
7. Compassion: Yoga values and philosophy, along with the practice of yoga meditations, dissolves one’s ego-centric reality, thus developing other mindedness, thoughtfulness, generosity and compassion.
Mental Health Benefits of Yoga:
8. Brain Development: Yoga breathing exercises and yoga meditations develop parts of the brain that are normally dormant. Once these parts are activated the power of intuition, as well as other latent powers are unleashed. In addition as the brain develops so does your intelligence and clarity of thoughts.
9. Concentration: The requirement of many Yoga meditations to keep the mind focused on a single object or mantra (sound vibrations), helps to dramatically increase your power of concentration and focused attention.
10. Awareness: Yoga can simply be called the Science of Awareness. This is its primary purpose. To refine and increase awareness so that you can penetrate the veil of the ordinary dualistic mind and encounter your Divine Nature within.
Anmol Mehta is a Yoga & Zen expert. For Free Yoga sets visit http://anmolmehta.com/blog/2007/11/19/free-online-kundalini-yoga-kriyas-e-book hosted on http://www.anmolmehta.com. For more insights & discussions on Meditation, Yoga & Zen visit http://www.anmolmehta.com/blog.
Questions Frequently Asked About Yoga
Many people still think that Yoga is a religion. Others believe it to be a kind of magic. Some associate Yoga with the rope trick, with snake-charming, fire-eating or sitting on nail-beds, lying on broken glass, walking on sharp swords, etc. Sometimes it is even linked to fortune telling, spiritualism, hypnotism and other “isms.” In reality, Yoga is a method, a system of physical, mental and spiritual development.
Q): What is the meaning of the word “Yoga”?
A: The word Yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root “yuj,” which means join, or union. The purpose of all Yoga is to unite man, the finite, with the Infinite, with Cosmic Consciousness, Truth, God, Light or whatever other name one chooses to call the Ultimate Reality. Yoga, as they say in India, is a marriage of spirit and matter.
Q: Is there only one Yoga?
A: Yoga has several branches or divisions, but the goal, the aim of all of them is the same – the achievement of a union with the Supreme Consciousness. Raja Yoga (Royal Yoga) is the Yoga of consciousness, the highest form of Yoga. Its practice usually starts with Hatha Yoga which gives the body the necessary health and strength to endure the hardships of the more advanced stages of training.
Hatha Yoga is the Yoga of physical well-being. It consists of several steps and is preceded by the Yama-Niyama, the ten rules of the Yoga code of morality. The first stage is called Asana, or posture; the second is Pranayama, or breath control; the third is Pratyahara or nerve control; the fourth is Dharana, or mind control; the fifth is Dhyiana, or meditation; and finally there is Samadhi, the state of ultimate bliss and spiritual enlightenment. Strictly speaking the last four stages of Hat ha Yoga already merge into the realm of Raja Yoga.
Q: What does “Hatha” mean?
A: “Ha” stands for the sun and “tha” for the moon. The correct translation of Hatha Yoga would be solar and lunar Yoga, since it deals with the solar and lunar qualities of breath and Prana.
Q: What is “Prana”?
A: Prana is a subtle life energy existing in the air in fluid form. Everything living, from men to amoebae, from plants to animals, is charged with Prana. Without Prana there is no life.
Q: What religion does a yogi profess?
A: A yogi can belong to any religion or to none at all. In this case, he usually forms his own relationship with the Ultimate Reality once he has come closer to It.
Q: Can a Catholic take up Yoga?
A: Certainly, since Yoga is not a religion. In fact, a Catholic association has been recently formed in Bangalore, India, in order to introduce the Yoga Asanas to the Catholic young men there, and to integrate them into the Catholic way of life.
Q: If the goal of Yoga is a spiritual illumination, why then is so much attention given to the care of the body?
A: The yogis regard the human body as a temple of the Living Spirit and believe that as such it should be brought to the highest state of perfection. Also, the advanced practices of Yoga require great power of endurance. The body might not be able to stand the strain witho0ut special preparation.
Q: What is the origin of Yoga?
A: Yoga was originated in India several thousand years ago. According to the German Professor Max Mueller, Yoga is about 6,000 years old, but other sources suggest it is much older than that.
Q: Who originated Yoga?
A: This is not known. Patanjali, who lived about 200 B.C., is called the Father of Yoga because he was the first to put into writing what had until that time been handed down only verbally from master, or guru, to pupil, or chela.
There is more to know about yoga, but this information will put you on the right path.
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Yoga and Breathing The Good the Bad and the Ugly
Yoga, being one of the most effective self help approaches to life and living, invites me to help ensure that it is being integrated with maximum wisdom related to breathing. This page is about supporting and educating the Yoga community in its quest for superior knowledge and effectiveness about proper breathing. It is our responsibility to alert everyone about this as there are probably millions of students and teachers with an unclear or distorted idea of
healthy breathing.
Nowadays, you can take weekend courses and call yourself a teacher. Many teachers are then first to defend their breathing development proficiency but alas, last to prove it. One needs to experience good breathing to teach it.
From a Breathing Times subscriber:
Breath is the unifying principal of the three systems – mechanics, metabolism and mentality. It is the psychopharmacological link between conscious and unconscious states. Each of the three mechanical aspects of breath has specific neurotransmission function. Any technique(s) that emphasize(s) one aspect of the mechanism exclusively will shift neurometabolism accordingly. Yoga practices are designed for this purpose, stimulating a specific aspect or relationship of aspects. I realize that contemporary yogis don’t always explain it this way,and I think that also leads to misuse and abuse. Right knowledge is yoga or union. That union is from bringing together all aspects, and applying iscernment.
- Jim Nettles
A few words from Else Middendorf
“All the yoga ways of breathing come from the male way. The Eastern way of thinking is to find God in one direction, in a male way. ‘The way is directed. I go there and I have to go; I must go’. This male way of being needs will. When this is the basis, the breathing is under the law of the will.”
Mike adds: “This can also transform conscious breathing into “self-conscious” breathing. It gets out of balance.”
Pranayama
Just as lions, elephants and tigers are gradually controlled; so the prana is controlled through right practice. Otherwise the practitioner is destroyed. Verse 15 of Chapter 2 of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika
The word Prana translates as something akin to “life force”. The second part of the word is “Ayama”, meaning “non-restraint”. The practice of Pranayama is meant to free the life force, not restrain it or over energize it. The techniques are meant to open up the inner life force… which may not feel like a “deep” breath. I think there’s a big misunderstanding about these techniques.
They are intended for the more experienced practitioner, and are intended for deeper states of meditation (they often work with increasing the body’s capacity to tolerate CO2 – which enhances meditation). According to a former colleague and psychotherapist, who also teaches yoga, “Pranayama is meant to be a spiritual practice, and is not meant as a way to take deeper breaths. The body needs to be well-prepared, through the Hatha yoga practices, before the Pranamayakosha, or energy body, can work with the Pranayama practices appropriately.”
In my opinion most Pranayama is not appropriate because it does not allow first to learn about healthy natural breathing that is NOT controlled. Lung and breathing mechanics problems manifest in varied ways from this forced way of addressing the breath. Pranayama, toning and chanting, while being potentially quite beneficial, often constricts the lung volume and hinders breathing sequencing and balance and invite throat blockages.
From a newsletter reader:
Dear Mike, I do Pranayama but I want to know what I can do to make my breathing better. How can I make each breath longer?
From Mike: Work with our fundamentals program.
From a newsletter subscriber:
I had started Alternate Nostril Breathing Pranayama (with no retention) and I was doing it everyday for 25 days. Initially I felt very light and nice. But lately I started to feel pressure with pain in my head as soon as I start Pranayama. My face and eyes, too, look a little swollen. Do you know why this is happening? I have stopped the practice. Please reply, as doctor could not diagnose the problem.” MP
From Mike: If you are going to experiment in Pranayama, please first develop a strong balanced, healthy, natural breath so your nervous system knows where to return to after the altered state experience. Practice makes permanent, not necessarily perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.
Measured Breathing Exercises
The 7 count inhale, 4 count hold and 8 count exhale is often cited. But if you are stressed out, you breathe too quickly and over-stimulate your nervous system and or invite carbon dioxide issues. Slowing down the breathing rate will prove beneficial. But to reach and
maintain inner balance, breathing mechanics must be developed to expand and contract in without force or resistance, even during sleep. Learn more of this from Dennis Lewis’ Free Your Breath and Free Your Life.
Beware of long term breath following exercises
They can be helpful for some if they slow down and even out the breathing pattern but harmful for others whose breathing mechanics will not allow for that. I use a scientifically proven biofeedback device to measure blood carbon dioxide saturation and heart rate variability and learn that even the slightest attention to breathing can sometimes cause the inhale to develop a subtle and almost undetectable gasp or erratic breathing sequencing during the exercise which can develop into permanent what I call Unbalanced Deep Breathing or Undetected Dysfunctional Breathing aka UDB. If you’ve tried breath following and felt they did not work for you, you may have UDB. The point is that success is not a given. In another example an individual, although a proclaimed expert in good breathing tradition, was unable to escape hypocapnea except when practicing yoga, which he had practiced daily for more than ten years. His learning about breathing, unfortunately, had been state specific, and had not generalized to the rest of his life.
Stretching
According to Michael White yoga – the stretching aspect of it – is generally quite good for the human body. It is just not breathing specific. Many of the Yoga developed bodies are better integrated and very responsive to Optimal Breathing Work. Distorted internal breathing balance sets in with restricted and inappropriate muscular development resulting in various forms of energy/emotional/volitional blocks that only worsens with time. More about this in our article The Breathwave and The Speed Bump of Life at our website.
In support of professional counseling
Do we suggest that because someone says they can teach pranayama to the Western mindset that they are qualified to assist in another’s deepest process? I think not. I believe that pranayama falls within the category of Transformational Breathwork. I recommend that the really deep work be done with seasoned professional facilitators such as Denis Ouellette, Thom Goode or Joy Manne or a licensed or church certified and accountable psychotherapist or health professional.
Breath Holding
When you hold your breath you often cause excessive physical restrictions. A few need to slow the breathing and make it more from the belly to help regain CO2 balance. There are but two ways for them to be certain they are back in proper balance. One is having that confirmed in real time by an experienced teacher getting feedback from the while working with their breathing and the other is measured by a particular biofeedback device called a capnometer. Breath holding, taken too far can lead to issues such as anxiety, snoring and sleep apnea. Long inhalations often energize and also can over-stimulate and cause or worsen anxiety.
From a client of one of our students:
In my own yoga practice, good breathing has always been confusing. Sometimes it is assumed that if one can perform the asanas well, then pranayama will come easily. This is not my experience. Firstly, the seated pranayama techniques can be difficult for people who are not used to sitting for a long time on the floor. In my own experience, sitting cross legged was not a good idea, because I had a Psoas imbalance that caused lots of tension in the breath. Kneeling with support was much more preferable, but I still did not feel very relaxed. From this I conclude that it is better to begin with the supine position. There needs to be no tension whatsoever, this can be assisted by a teacher who is calm and accepting of all students, adapting to their needs.
Now in my second week of Optimal Breathing practice I can honestly say I am amazed with my improvement. The asanas have a flow, and ease about them. My jaw is relaxed, I am much more aware of my body. Meditation comes easier, especially when preceded by the Optimal Breathing work. Overall I have felt much more balanced in my practice, even in a class environment.
Let’s get the physiology right. Learn to breath optimally, THEN experiment with whatever you wish. First prepare your home base so when you soar into the cosmos you know where it is you need to land.
Michael White is a health educator, author, breathing development specialist, public speaker, vocalist, and CEO of Breathing.com and the Optimal Breathing School. He has helped thousands transform their lives through correct breathing and nutrition. Visit http://www.Breathing.com