6 Practical Tips When You Are New to Kundalini Yoga
SuperHealth Immersion experience, 2019
I was brand new to this world of Kundalini Yoga, meditation, and addiction recovery all at the same time. There was so much to take in!!! Can you relate? Here are 6 ways to help you make this new practice practical:
Show Up:
A significant part of what makes this practice so potent is the simple power of commitment. Something happens inside us over time when we show up on the yoga mat day after day—whether we “feel like it” or not. Make that solid commitment to yourself and keep it!
2. Choose a Practice that Works for You
Most of us didn’t start with 31 minutes of daily meditation. I tell my yoga students to start with 3 minutes a day…and when that is too much, 1 minute a day (or even less if that is what they know they can do). Pick something that you can commit to, and gradually build up your practice over time.
3. Try Something Else
Kundalini Yoga can offer us such a rich meditation experience. Explore until you find what works best for you. For example, I’ve learned over the years that a meditation with a mantra, words spoken out loud or mentally focused on during the practice, slices through my busy mind better than anything else. What do you notice as you try different meditations or kriyas? What works for one person won’t necessarily work the same for you, so play with it!
4. Your Personal Best Changes Daily
We will discuss this further in the next post; however, learning to be aware of ourselves on the yoga mat is another significant part that makes this practice so potent. As we notice ourselves on our mats, we can learn to take that same awareness with us off the mat as we continue to consciously respond throughout the rest of our day. Sometimes I’ve noticed that one day I can easily do a challenging posture with textbook accuracy, yet the next day, I can’t. One day I can stay perfectly still for the entire meditation time, yet one week later, I can’t. Sometimes my mind is totally in “the zone,” while other days it keeps wandering off, is full of angry or fearful thoughts, or is even planning things like my grocery shopping list! Because we change from day to day, our practice will, too. Our time on our yoga mat is a reflection of not only our physical state (what we recently ate, tiredness, physical limitations, etc.), but also our mental/emotional, and spiritual states—which are fluid. We can learn to notice that subtly, listen to the information it’s offering to us, and respond with self-compassion. Which brings us to number 5.
5. Hold Yourself with Compassion
I wish I had understood this 9 years ago when I began daily yoga, so I share it as often as I can with those who are new to the practice. From my experience, this has been at the heart of the practice: learning to hold myself with compassion both on and off the yoga mat. I’ve learned there is a difference between giving up easily and making a conscious choice to not over-extend myself. And that choice is available to me because I’m aware of what is happening inside my body and my mind. It’s okay to start with a 30 second practice each day. It’s okay to put my arms down and visualize myself continuing. It’s okay to open my eyes if it’s too much today. It’s okay to lean as far as I can into a shape, even if it isn’t as far as someone else or as far as I was able to lean yesterday. Kundalini Yoga is called the yoga of awareness. Since beginning my personal practice, awareness of myself is the biggest shift I’ve had in my expanded awareness.
6. Set & stick with Your Intention
And why is self compassion so critical? At SuperHealth®, we believe that a person cannot change a behavioral or addictive habit and sustain the change until they’ve had an experience of a higher state of consciousness. We set the intention to exalt the Self and raise the level of conscious awareness. We come back to that intention throughout our time on the yoga mat so that it is translated into our daily efforts off the mat to overcome habits or addictions.
SuperHealth® offers a unique system and methodology that you cannot find anywhere else. This system is based on the teachings of Kundalini Yoga. It combines the ancient yogic wisdom of the East with the innovative technology of Western psychology and medicine. Kundalini Yoga, meditation, chanting and mantra specifically enhance this process of exalting the self by recalibrating the imprinting of addictive patterning on the brain. But that isn’t all! Another key focus unique to the SuperHealth® system is nutrition. Cleansing toxic overload of the body and rebuilding the depleted system helps to reenergize, balance, and enable greater vitality from within. At SuperHealth®, we guide you to look at the cause of habits and addictive behaviors and replace it with healthy and promoting habits specific to the substance or behavioral habit or addiction.
We invite you to take your practice even deeper by joining us by registering for one of our upcoming training & events. My personal favorite is the highly specialized SuperHealth® Immersion Program. We invite you to set your intention to join us for the next SHI in 2022!
What about YOU? What would you suggest that didn’t make this list? How do YOU make this practice practical? What wisdom might you share with someone who is new to Kundalini Yoga?
Please share these thoughts as well as any questions in the comments!!!
Siri Dharma Kaur
lives in Northern Utah with her husband and their 4 energetic children. She spends most of her time as a homeschooling mamma. She is certified in over 1000 hours of Yoga Teacher Trainings including: Kundalini, SuperHealth, Hatha Yoga, Yin Yoga, Karma Kids Yoga, and Khalsa Way Prenatal Yoga. She loves reading, anything in nature that includes bodies of water, and good music.