When I told a friend I’d been practicing Kundalini Yoga she told me that she knew someone who had heard that it is possible to suffer psychotic episodes due to a premature Kundalini awakening. Is Kundalini dangerous?Kundalini is life aspiring, the energy of super-abundant creativity. It’s what motivates us to transcend the limitations of biology, inertia, and one-dimensionality. An Indian scholar named Gopi Krishna wrote a book in the 70’s about his experiences with what he called Kundalini. He had experienced many forms of extreme phenomena as a consequence of doing a self-styled meditative practice. While well intentioned, his book has contributed to the misconception that Kundalini energy is dangerous. Kundalini is an energy that’s in all of us, whether we do yoga or not. All form of yoga, meditation, and healing are directed towards accessing this energy of energies.Regarding Kundalini Yoga. We often tell people that it is more dangerous not to do it. Kundalini Yoga is designed to strengthen our nervous systems and bring balance to our lives. It prepares us to access the flow of spirit, the catalyst for our inner greatness, which is our birthright as humans. If people are experiencing something negative, then it is not Kundalini but the extent to which one’s energy flows are blocked. We have seen that many people mistakenly use the concept of Kundalini to explain away many pre-existing problems ranging from bipolar disorder to candida and chronic fatigue. It is true that when one does any discipline which moves energy in the body, certain guidelines need to be respected, especially misuse of recreational drugs. Kundalini Yoga brings people along in a graceful and systematic manner and helps us to reconfigure ourselves along more powerful and subtle lines. According to many contemporary Masters this is a pre-requisite for successful living as we move into the new millennium. Picasso said, in effect, that the genius is the person who can do the average thing when everyone else is going crazy. In order to be a “genius” in our own lives, we need strong nerves, a balanced glandular system, and the ability to bring our minds under conscious control. We hope that you will be inspired to continue your Kundalini Yoga practice and shine on. Most Yoga books tells us that there are seven chakras but I recently saw a diagram in which an eighth chakra as indicated. What does the eighth chakra relate to?There are actually hundreds of chakras, or locuses of energy in the body. In Kundalini Yoga we concentrate on the eight major centers. The eighth chakra, our aura, represents the working balance of all the chakras. When energy is flowing freely throughout these centers, our aura expands and we heal, uplift and inspire by our very presence. When the aura is strong, we are also more apt to be in the right place at the right time and attract positive people and opportunities.The True Measure of a Man (or Woman) Most people’s (and animals) auras extend 1-3 feet from the body. A healthy human aura is actually 9 ft. or more. It is said that various villages in India knew that Buddha was in the neighborhood because his radiance preceded him by almost a mile! There are many things one can do to expand our auras. This may sound like magical thinking but auras are real: All energy emanations from the body: heat, sound, light, emotion’s and thoughts, as well as the general health of the body, cause fluctuations in one’s energy field.Stand Up Straight and Look GreatSimply standing or sitting up straight is a great aura exercise. When the spine is in line the glands can secrete in an optimum manner. The lymph system can cleanse itself. Pressure is taken off the organs so they can regenerate, and the nerves are soothed. The body takes on less stress when it does not have to work so hard to hold itself up! Gravity becomes its ally. All this adds up to shining glowing health and radiance! Thinking Makes It SoWe take on the qualities of the poses we assume, not only on our yoga mats, but in life. The very act of standing straight and tall is often a self-fulfilling prophecy. We all go through times when we feel like shrinking violets. The irony is that when we feel the most undeserving and could use some extra consideration, people actually defer to us less. When we look confident we project that out into the world and suddenly everyone wants to know us. In Yoga we say Fake it and you’ll make it. We may not feel noble or notable, majestic or fabulous, but if we can try to look the part, we will soon be living the part.Shine Like the Star You AreProper alignment is an indispensable prerequisite for “star power.” It is a habit that those who wish to be in the limelight consciously adapt. In fact most actors/actresses and others who cannot afford to be overlooked and anonymous hire coaches to teach them how to stand and how to move to improve their charisma and presence. In this sense, luck is not luck, but our ability to project, through the force of our radiance, one step ahead of time and space.We also carry our karma, or the residue of our past actions, in the space around us. This has a bearing on how others perceive us and is a template for the perpetuation of our past patterns. Both the exercises below and the meditation of the month will help to purify our energy fields so the soul can shine through.Aura SetWe need to learn to stand tall, make space in our bodies, and inhabit that space regally. The way we carry ourselves is the way we make an impact. This is our charisma!

In the following aura set imagine the space around you expanding to at least nine feet in every direction (this is a tried and true charisma trick that many people in the public eye practice). Let yourself feel safe and secure in “your space”. Feel you own that space. Inhabit it. Make it your home. These exercises are great to do before you even walk out the door, before an important audition, or even a date. Do these as a gift to yourself and for everyone you’ll have occasion to inspire by your presence.1. Stand with your legs a little wider then hip width apart. Raise your arms to the sides, parallel to the ground, palms down, and twist. Inhale left. Exhale right. Go at a moderate pace. Feel most of the twist happening at your navel. This exercise works all the glands and organs of the body as well as the nerves and magnetic field. It also stimulates the navel point to help us access energy. End by inhaling center. Hold the breath scan your body and send healing energy to where you feel you need it most. 1-3 minutes. Immediately go on to the next exercise.2. Maintaining your feet a little wider then hip width. Arms straight out to the sides at shoulder level. Turn the left palm up. Right palm is down. Feel like a starfish stretched out on the beach, the sun beaming into your navel and out through your extremities. Radiate in all directions. Normal breath. 1 – 3 minutes. Immediately go to exercise 3.3. Extend your arms to a 60 degree angle. Stretch across the sternum area. Fingertips are curled into the mounds Thumbs straight up. Breath of Fire. Feel Bright and Beautiful. Imagine all the colors of your chakras: red, orange, yellow, green, sky-blue and violet pulsing and blending to form a brilliant white light. Imagine that light spilling out into the space around your body. You may also visualize a beautiful rainbow of color from thumb tip to thumb tip getting brighter as you breathe. Smile into the space around your body. After 1-3 min. Inhale as you stretch and draw the thumb tips towards one another. When they meet exhale and lower the arms to the sides describing a rainbow of radiance around you. Meditate for a moment as you stand. Feel bright and beautiful! MEDITATION TO MAKE BIG PROBLEMS LOOK SMALLYour hands meeting along the lengths of the little fingers, palms facing up, sternum level. Your fingers are spread. Raise the middle fingers so that they meet at the inner edges of the tips. Your elbows are lightly contacting the base of the ribs. Your eyes are 1/10 open so that you can barely see your hands in the downward field of your gaze. Inhale in 8 parts through your nose and exhale with a whistle through puckered lips. Practice this for 3 – 11 min. As you inhale in 8 parts think Sa-Ta-Na-Ma twice, and as you exhale, tune into the transcendent sound of the whistle.This technique works on the parasympathetic nervous system to give us our overview back. From this elevated vantage we can put our life in perspective and remember Infinity, rather than let mundane concerns overly engage us. Techniques such as this are not meant to be an escape from our problems, but can serve as tools to help us deal more effectively with the exigencies of life as we know it. This technique can also be used an s an effective preparation for any kind of meditative or devotional practice you’re involved in. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time afterwards to ground yourself.

Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training w/Ravi & AnaWe have received many e-mails and calls from people who are interested in more Teacher Training events in the continental US. We are requesting that all who are interested send us your contact info (including where you’re located) and we will start organizing. E-mail us at ravianayoga@aol.com

All Best to You, Ravi Singh & Ana Brettwww.raviana.com