I have been practicing yoga for over a decade (primarily vinyasa) and I have developed a consistent meditation practice and dabbled in some breath work. THEN I tried Kundalini yoga. Wow! My first experience was intimidating and well, confusing. (I shared this experience with you in a previous blog which you can read again if you would like.) I had intense tingling vibrations in my body and throat which I believed helped release stagnant energy in those areas. Since then I have practiced Kundalini in various yoga studios and at home using YogaDoctors.tv, an on-line library of yoga, meditation and breathing videos.
Being able to practice Kundalini at home allows me to do it more frequently plus I am able to pick from a variety of kriyas depending on what I feel I need at the time. A kriya is a set of exercises, which can include any combination of movement, breath work and/or mantras. Each kriya has a specific intention to help improve different areas of your life. For example, I’m currently working with a kriya focused on detoxification. It works to detoxify foods, thoughts and energies that get stored in the body and mind that can lead to feeling physically and mentally heavy and stagnant. All things that hold us back. It takes about 40 days to realize the full benefits and break any negative habits.
When I started doing this kriya I assumed it would help me detoxify my body. While I eat healthy most of the time, I do like my wine! But the results I received were totally unexpected---in wonderful ways.
Here are 3 benefits I received from this kriya:
Release of Past Anger – I had some irrational anger towards a friend that had been in my affecting our friendship for a few years. This person did nothing wrong to make me feel this way. I was simply projecting my own fears and insecurities on to this person, creating this story that this person didn’t approve of my decision to leave commercial real estate and start a yoga apparel company. This was really me questioning myself. After my first experience with this detoxification kriya this person immediately popped into my head and my feelings softened and my anger was released. I reached out to this person and we have scheduled a time to see each other. But the best part is I feel lighter and happier with this anger gone.
Improved Communication Skills – So, confession time, I’m not the best communicator. Thank goodness I married a man who is! Typically when we have a misunderstanding he is the one to initiate a conversation to work through it. Sometimes he has to work pretty hard to get me to open up. We recently had a little misunderstanding and I was the one to bring it up to talk it through. I’m pretty sure that was a first!
Stopped Emotional Eating – Right at the beginning of my Kundalini journey I noticed that I wasn’t as hungry as normal. I believe that because of the release of negative energies within me, my cravings to eat have subsided.
These are significant changes that are so liberating! While it is recommended to do one kriya for at least 40 days to realize the full benefits, I’ve only done this detoxification kriya for 2 weeks and am already happy with the results. I highly recommend trying it yourself. YogaDoctors.tv is offering a 14-day trial for only $1 if you are interested!
Written by OM Matters Founder, Tambra Wayne
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