I took my first yoga class at Equinox my freshman year of college, and I have been a regular practitioner since 2004 (ok, with a pretty long gap in the middle somewhere). There are few things I feel that I absolutely need as part of my daily and weekly routine. The only three I can really think of are coffee, yoga, and writing. Meditation is in there somewhere, but I can definitely fall off of that sometimes. Unless the long bouts of catatonic staring at the wall count.

Kundalini is a unique form of yoga, known as the yoga of awareness.

“The primary objective [of Kundalini] is to awaken the full potential of human awareness in each individual; that is, recognize our awareness, refine that awareness, and expand that awareness to our unlimited Self. Clear any inner duality, create the power to deeply listen, cultivate inner stillness, and prosper and deliver excellence in all that we do.” –Kundalini Research Institute

I’ve now done Kundalini yoga twice. The first time was at Golden Bridge in NYC, where the group practiced several “kriyas” to open up certain energy centers of the body. The second time was yesterday at Evolve Wellness Center in London, where the asanas (i.e., poses), mudras (i.e., hand gestures), and exercises were crafted around letting go of fear and giving the adrenal system a rest.

Imagine long sessions with music in the background and repeating “sat nam” in your head when you feel your mind wandering while repeating poses with your eyes closed. Some of them involved bowing. Others involved jerky hand movements in and out from your body while breathing out with force from your throat. Most poses took a few minutes. Each of these sequences is called a kriya, and it focuses on a certain chakra or part of your body or several in tandem.

The immense clearing and sense of wellbeing you get from these sessions is incredible. Yoga is interesting in that way because it melds the physical and spiritual so perfectly. Some days and with some forms of yoga, the practice can be very physical. Other days and other practices cultivate the mind. The beauty is that one is not really better than the other – so much has to do with what is resonating with you at the moment and even just the mood of the day collectively. The energy of the other people in the room and the instructor is key to feeling in alignment and connected.

In Kundalini, sometimes you end the practice with a gong bath. My first experience was incredible and luscious in that way. Sound can be a powerful tool for healing and has been used by many cultures. The premise is that we all fall out of balance energetically, emotionally, and sound provides a stable frequency that our brainwaves can attune to. Through this process of entrainment, we can synchronize our fluctuating brain waves. This can help us down shift our brainwaves and overall state of consciousness. Our state of mind is so crucial to how we live and perceive the world. So much of life and pretty much all of the meaning we derive from it resides in the mind.

The brain apparently has five frequencies – beta, alpha, theta, delta, and gamma.

1. Beta (14-40Hz): This is normal waking consciousness. It is associated with reason and alertness. It is how we operate day-to-day in the world. Too much beta can also lead to anxiety and stress.
2. Alpha (7.5-14Hz): These waves are present during deep relaxation like daydreaming, closed eye state, and light meditation and sit at the base of our consciousness. This is where creative visualization and intuition can take root, and it is a good state to be in to program your mind for more positive thinking and manifestation. I used to listen to hypnosis tracks through various iPhone apps when I was going through very stressful times, and they helped me a lot.
3. Theta (4-7.5Hz): These waves exist during deep meditation and light sleep. This is the REM state where there is some degree of conscious awareness, but it is mixed with dreamy subconscious insights. I feel that I am rarely in this state. I never remember my dreams. Once I start remembering my dreams, I will feel more confident that I’m heading in the right direction with my life and will hopefully have more concrete and creative insights.
4. Delta (0.5-4Hz): This is the zone of deep, dreamless sleep, where awareness is detached, the realm of the unconscious mind. This is important for deep healing and regeneration. I need to focus on building up strength in this area.
5. Gamma (above 40Hz): This has been detected rarely, but it is called the insight wave and is associated with bursts of insight and high-level information processing.

My takeaway here is to do more relaxation and more of nothing to get my brain out of beta as much as possible. Meditation and yoga, through the use of breath, facilitate shifts in our brainwave state. Sound healing through gong baths can also be an agent.

 

I was browsing the London Craigslist art community section this morning, and one epic posting entitled The Lighthouse, the Bird, and the Poem on the Shore pointed me to an excerpt created for those dealing with healing from loss and death. I am not dealing with physical death, but I do feel that this summer has been about mourning the death of my past life and self. A few tears. The post linked to this YouTube composition matching photos, some words, and Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor.