Kundalini Empowering the Mind, Body, Heart and Soul

Defining Kundalini Kundalini means Snake in the Sanskrit language. The philosophy I learned from my education in yoga is that Kundalini is active in forming us in the womb. After we are formed and when we are born, the Kundalini retires and lies coiled up at the base of our spine and remains dormant until awakened. The energy is female and female energy is considered the energy used for creation or manifesting in the physical dimension. Kundalini is an integral energy of the Chakra system. The Chakras (meaning disc in Sanskrit) structure and energize each layer of the biofield physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. Each of the main Chakras run along the nerve ganglia of the spine. Within the Chakra system, there are three Nadis running up and down the spine. The word Nadi means channel, stream or flow in Sanskrit. They are like highways running the flow of Prana or life force throughout our bodies. There is some argument that Nadis may be part of the meridian system, but that possibility is beyond the scope of our talk. A highly clairvoyant Yogi has diagramed all the Nadis to show us how these energy channels make up our entire energy field or aura, and body. There is an argument on how many lines or Nadis there are. Wikipedia.org gives the amount of Nadis as 350,000, and other sources give 72,000. This information comes to us from Tantra and Yoga and is believed to originate from India around 5,000 years ago. There are three large Nadis that run within the Chakra system: Ida, Pingala and Sushumna. The Sushumna is the largest Nadi running straight up and down from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. The Ida and Pingala Nadis intertwine around the Sushumna like a helix, or infinity symbol, or snake like fashion. There are many pictures of this beautifully drawn but you must always think three- dimensionally when contemplating this structure. The left channel is Ida and the right channel is Pingala. My yoga training has taught me to bring balance to these two channels primarily through alternate nostril breathing. Ida is symbolic for cooling and when stimulated it energizing the left side of the body. Pingala is symbolic for warming and it functions to energizing the right side of the body. This does not have the same meaning as right brain or left brain functioning. For example, if you desire to increase more yin, cooling or feminine energy, try just breathing through your left nostril. If you are feeling cold, or your right arm is fatigued try just breathing through your right nostril for 5 or 10 minutes. Overall, alternate nostril breathing is a wonderful yoga practice that works energetically to bring healing and balance to the mind and body. I encourage you to explore and learn more about this practice. I found many youtube videos on the subject. The central channel, Sushumna Nadi, is said to be the most important Nadi to humans. When this channel is activated and the flow of energy is running smoothly, then we are living life joyfully, powerfully and fully human. It is believed that the Sushumna Nadi is where the female Kundalini energy rises and makes its journey to the crown chakra to meet its male energy counterpart of the Divine. I am not going into the philosophical particulars because it seems that every Tantra and Yoga school has their own teachings on how this all works. However, during my Yoga training in India, I was told that Sri. Krishnamacharya (from the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai, India ran by his son T.K.V. Desikachar) taught it was important to raise Kundalini every day to release impurities and get our Sushumna Nadi running clearly. It was the Tantra Missionaries that traveled to China to bring the Chinese priest this knowledge of our energy body. I learned from my Martial arts training and my medical Qigong training that the roots of Qigong and Kung Fu come from the Tantra missionaries from the Indian Himalayas. Wikipedia.org defines Tantra as an ancient Indian tradition of beliefs, meditation and ritual practices that seek to channel the divine energy of the macrocosm or godhead into the human microcosm. I see Tantra as a system of honoring the Mother-Goddess of all creation. I would like to see the field of energy psychology have a better understanding of this ancient Tantra energy system that is behind energy work itself. My education in psychology has given me the appreciation valuing the history of philosophies. As Energy practioners, we need to know the history behind these powerful forces that have formulated our current theories and psychological techniques. My personal Kundalini awakening I was going through quite a transformational period in my life when I was in my early 30’s. I moved to California from Washington State due to being in a relationship. The relationship did not work out but I continued finishing up my course work at San Jose State University. I was on the honors track in psychology, with a minor in musical theatre while I taught group fitness. In my last couple of years of college, I started teaching yoga. Teaching yoga turned out to be the most positive life changing experience I’ve had. After I graduated I continued with a masters in psychology. In my counseling psychology class I was able to read a book on yoga every week while seeing clients for credit. I would write about how I used yoga philosophy to help my clients achieve their goals and feel better with their body. Overtime, I was pretty well trained and well read in yoga philosophy. It turned out that even though I was published in a couple of psychological journals, I never took the time to finish my master’s thesis because I was too busy seeing clients for private yoga and teaching classes. I learned about the chakra system and for some reason really clicked with it. I was just fascinated with the chakra system and I read and learned as much as I could about it. My first introduction to the chakra system was Caroline Myss’s book called “Anatomy of the Spirit: The seven Stages of Power and Healing”. I just happened to see it outside on sale at a bookstore. When I bought the book, I had no idea it was about the chakra system, and I had no idea what the chakra system was at the time. The book’s title is what caught my eye. I have always perceived myself as a spiritual person. The idea of our spirit having an anatomy to it was quite intriguing. Later down the road I learned about the chakra system and points of the chakras from my energy therapy training. I also participated in yoga trainings taught by instructors that also taught the chakra system and what yoga postures work well to heal and stimulate the chakras. So after some time of research and training, I started giving workshops teaching my own yoga students about the chakra system. There are many books on the chakra system. These books highlight all of the symbols and themes of the chakra system. But these books do not go into the indebt systematic awaking of the chakra system which requires kundalini activation. After taking my workshop and training on Yin yoga about 20 years ago, my teacher Sara Powers highly recommended a book by Hiroshi Motoyama, Ph.D., “Theories of the Chakras: Bridge to Higher Consciousness.” Dr. Motoyama writes about his own journey on how he awakened each chakra. Reading his book was exciting and I loved understand more about how each chakra offers so much power and clairvoyance to our lives when they are activated and awakened. After Dr. Motoyama’s awakening, he focused his research on creating equipment that would see and measure energy the way he could already see it. He also researches his the nadi’s and the meridians regarding their importance to our health and wellbeing. Dr. Motoyama’s equipment will show what systems in your