By Nikita Mehta

One of my students asked me last week if I could incorporate more Kundalini into my classes. “I don’t teach Kundalini,” I told her, “But, I’d be happy to find you a Kundalini teacher in the area.”

“No, it’s a little to intimidating. I am comfortable with you. Maybe you could just incorporate it into your classes.”

I smiled and nodded and told her I would do some research. But, I realized in that moment that maybe I felt the same way. Kundalini did seem a little intimidating. I had taken Gurmukh’s classes at Wanderlust, but that’s at festival, when you are up for anything. Last month I got a massage in Santa Monica, and underneath the spa there was a Kundalini studio. The women looked mystical in their white flowing clothing and their tight head scarves. They looked so clean and pristine. I remember thinking that there was no way that I could keep an outfit that white for more than 10 minutes. I’ll be honest, I was intimidated by their radiant faces.

But I am a yoga teacher, and a seeker, and willing to deal with a few stains on white to find moksha. So when Seva Simran Singh Khalsa held a Kundalini workshop called, Healing for the Self, last week at Yoga Tree Potrero, I signed up. Here are a few things that I learned that might help you break down your fears and get into a Kundalini class:

1 There are no barriers to entry.
Seva: “Kundalini is meant for everybody. It’s not confined to any group. It’s for humanity to help us live more smooth, elevated lives. It’s really, fun, we have a good time and it can help you enjoy life more.”

2 Kundalini is a direct line to an ancient tradition.
Seva: “There is a popular yoga culture. Like anything that we see from the past. People who are making it consumable for the modern consumer, or the Western consumer. A lot of times they will change things or modify them and they will lose sight of what the core practice is. We should keep those root practices in mind that gave way for so much of what we do these days. Like Ayurveda, Chinese medicine and yoga, the roots are there for a reason, and the practice is there for a reason. Because it was refined over thousands of years. So I think often we lose sight of, or become distracted by pop culture and then we lose the essence of a practice and that’s where we get into trouble. If we look at Kundalini yoga, we are very blessed because we had a great solid master teacher with a lot of discipline that gave really solid teachings. So we have this really potent teacher that gave teachings and a strong container to hold them. And over time, we can even look at so many masters, who gave teachings and those teachings were probably adhered to closely in the beginning and then over time, the message gets diluted. So I think that is happening quite a bit with yoga these days. But at the same time, it’s a way for people without any relationship or any concept of what the depth of teachings are to engage in the practice and maybe take the benefits of the practice.”

3 This is the perfect practice for our 21st century lives.
Seva: “Kundalini, clears our stress really fast, and that’s such a crucial aspect in our lives these days. How can we be not so bombarded with stress and information and the business of life that we get off balance? So on a very practical level, Kundalini is great at clearing stress. If you want to take it one step further as a regular practice or maybe even a small daily practice, it can be quite transformative, people have very transformative experiences in Kundalini yoga all the time. I don’t think that’s a challenge with the Kundalini practice, I think it’s just what happens. You put a little bit of effort in, breathe a particular way, focus the eyes, repeat a mantra and things start clearing away and we can clear away those stress patterns. We become less reactive, we feel refreshed, new, brand new, and sometimes it happens in 75 minutes, it just unlocks us from our patterned behavior, which is so easy to have. And I think because of the speed and pressure we are experiencing on the planet on the planet as humanity, Kundalini just works fast, because everyone seems to have less time. So we need something that is going to work quickly for us, just to keep up with the pace of life. And then we need something potent that’s going to clear and balance our nervous system because we are under so much more pressure. If we are clearing stress and people can live a little bit happier and less reactive than that’s such a huge lesson these days. We need to have something help us clear it and keep our minds straight. We just had this shooting in Las Vegas, and a couple months ago there was a shooting at UPS just down the road, and these things are happening more and more and more. It’s just like stress overload. I think that yoga, meditation, qigong, tai chi, they are crucial for the mental wellness of humanity as a whole, we all need something, And however people get to it I think its fantastic."

4 The white clothing is a meditation in and of itself.
We all know that colors effect our mood, and the same applies to the color of our clothing. Yogi Bhajan, a master of Kundalini Yoga, stated that wearing white clothing calls us to reflect “what is outside and go within yourself.” He also states that white clothing amplifies our natural radiance and filters out negative influences. Finally, he acknowledges how difficult it is to keep an all-white outfit clean. You have to be constantly mindful of your actions and your surroundings. Being mindful in all of our actions is an active meditation.

5 If you want a wonderful and gentle introduction to Kundalini Yoga, Seva is the best!
The workshop with Seva was the best in depth introduction to Kundalini I could have asked for. The room was packed with long time Kundalini practitioners and those attending their first Kundalini yoga class, and Seva made sure that we all left feeling filled with light and love. Some of the Kundalini meditations were hard (did you catch the Instagram story last Saturday?) but Seva kept encouraging us to break through our own barriers. The last practice that we did had us staring into another person’s eyes for 10 minutes while chanting a mantra. I’ve done this practice before, but without someone holding the space in the room, this can be very uncomfortable. Seva held the room so that we all felt open to experiencing everything that the practice had to offer.

Catch Seva at one of his yoga classes at Yoga Tree Potero or keep an eye out on our Facebook and Instagram page for his upcoming workshops!

You can learn more about Seva Simran Singh Khalsa at gotkundalini.com.