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Kundalini

achin70achin70 Raw Newbie

I took a Kundalini class a couple years ago, but I don’t run this powerful energy very consistently. I’ve heard that running kundalini can help you to stay motivated in taking care of your body.

I’m interested in hearing what experiences any of you have had with running your kundalini. Has running kundalini helped you with your raw food diet and lifestyle, or vice versa?

Comments

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    I have done and do kundalini yoga on and off over the last 5 years. I usually do it every day for a couple of months and then let it go for a while. It is incredible to me the effect of so little work. Some of the kriyas I do are only a few minutes but wow! The effect is like a 90 minutes Bikrams class. I used it every day for about 2-3 hours during the first 6 months of my transitioning to 100%raw. Yes it really, really helped. I just use a couple of books, I really love it. It is total magic.

  • greeniegreenie Raw Newbie

    Zoe, which books do you use? I’m really interested in this.

  • rachel_akikorachel_akiko Raw Newbie

    lol, we’re allowed to bump on topics??? COOL! I haven’t bumped since Gaia Online

  • deborahanndeborahann Raw Newbie

    achin70, What do you mean by running your kundalini energy? I have a couple of DVD’s, the hardest being Warrior workout with Ravi Singh & Ana Brett. I find breath of fire really difficult at this point to maintain and I really have to concentrate and make sure I am doing it properly. I am sure in time it will come easier. The spinal work is freeing although I am really tight right now. It is a nice mix of poses, cardio and breathing exercises.

  • achin70achin70 Raw Newbie

    deborahann: By “running” my kundalini, I just turn it on and run it through my energy channels (either side of the spine) for at least twenty minutes. I do it while I’m meditating in a seated position. I guess different classes teach different ways of turning on and running the energy :)

  • Raw_ChocoholicRaw_Chocoholic Raw Newbie

    I did a day of kundalini yoga with Gurmukh a couple years ago, and then followed her DVD a couple times. It gave me a very peaceful feeling and I even spoke softer for the next couple of hours. I highly recommend it – and I really should keep it up also.

  • I got certified to teach kundalini yoga a year ago, and in my personal practice I do kundalini yoga as well as hatha yoga. If there are live classes in your area, I recommend going, because you get guidance from the teacher, and energy from the other students.

    I’ve never had any uncontrolled ‘kundalini rising’ that I’m aware of; just positive energy and a feeling of well-being.

    There are many, many books with kundalini yoga sets (called kriyas). Check out www.yogatech.com or www.spiritvoyage.com (both sites also sell fabulous kundalini yoga chants and mantras set to music). I also recommend the DVDs by Ravi Singh and Ana Brett, and Gurmukh’s DVD, and there are DVDs by a wonderful, mellow teacher named Nirvair Singh Khalsa (they are for sale on the Yogatech site).

    Kundalini yoga is a very nice mix of physical postures, breathwork, and meditation.

    One benefit I find in practicing kundalini yoga is that it helps to regulate my appetite, and I have heard this from other people as well. YMMV, of course.

  • greeniegreenie Raw Newbie

    Rawlibrarian,

    Hmmm there are so many to chose from. I wish there were little samples to view.

    So I

  • Greenie,

    Unfortunately, there are not clips of the kundalini yoga DVDs that I mentioned. I checked several sites.

    If you want to try DVDs. one that I recommend starting with is Ravi and Ana’s ‘Kundalini Yoga for Beginners and Beyond’. It has two practices on it—a series of exercises for the spine (they call it Rise and Spine, and it is straight out of my kundalini yoga teacher’s manual), and then the ‘5 Tibetan Rites’, which are not kundalini yoga exercises, but a set of 5 hatha yoga exercises that are repeated 21 times each. It’s the first kundalini yoga DVD I tried, and I loved it. Another one I like a lot is ‘Yoga beauty body’, also by Ravi and Ana. It is a very well-balanced set of exercises. Ana has very good form, and the instruction on all their DVDs is done in voice-over by Ravi (and Ana as well). The cuing is excellent.

    Gurmukh’s DVD is vigorous, set outside, with neat music. Gurmukh is sort of a’kundalini yoga teacher to the stars’; she has a studio in LA and one in NYC. Very inspiring teacher.

    One thing I would definitely recommend is to go at your own pace. If you are new to kundalini yoga (and even if you aren’t), you can injure yourself by moving through the exercises as quickly as Ana does, or the people on Gurmukh’s DVD.

    A book that I recommend to people who are new to kundalini yoga is ‘Kundalini Yoga’ by Shakta Kaur Khalsa (http://www.amazon.com/Kundalini-Yoga-Shakta-Kau…). It has terrific color photos and excellent clear instructions on the exercises. It is one of the very best overviews to kundalini yoga. Another good one is “A woman’s book of yoga” by Dr. Machelle Seibel and Hari Kaur Khalsa (http://www.amazon.com/Womans-Book-Yoga-Machelle…=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208179870&sr=1-3) It also has great photos (sepia rather than color) and the tone is very warm and encouraging.

    Hope this helps.

  • greeniegreenie Raw Newbie

    rawlibrarian,

    thank you so much for the detailed reviews and suggestions. I will check these out.

  • ZemphiraZemphira Raw Newbie

    I know this topic is a little dated, but I just tried out the DVD Kundalini Yoga with Gurmukh last night for the first time.

    It's a lot different than what I'm used to and although, for the most part I felt good about the workout ...I'm afraid with all the swinging around I ended up getting a lot of vertigo during some of the exercises. I'm more prone to motion sickness than the average person and I'm curious as to if this will subside in time or is this just a workout that's not appropriate for me.

    Any thoughts?

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