The First Step to Happiness: Commitment   For any type of yoga, the most important indicator of success is the ability to commit to a daily practice. In Kundalini Yoga teacher training, we learn that in life, the first step to happiness is commitment. With...

The Magic Mantra   All mantras are magical. Indeed, some of the earliest uses of mantras were to control the elements, appease the planets, or to awaken latent powers. But there is a mantra in Kundalini Yoga that is sometimes called the “Magic Mantra” because it...

Happiness Is a Warm Sat Nam When was the last time you felt really happy? Hopefully when you just finished reading the last sentence! Because happiness is not a condition we achieve or something we once had. It’s simply an acceptance of our natural state in the...

Heal Yourself, Heal the World: Yogi Bhajan on Winter Solstice   Yogi Bhajan, the master teacher of Kundalini Yoga, often said that the two most important times of the year to meditate are the days surrounding summer and winter solstices. Here is a portion of one...

Ignite Your Fire As the seasons change with an occasional frosty morn, our attention turns to the warm and cozy.  Warm foods, heated yoga classes, and fireplaces become attractive as we bring more fire into our lives with the approaching winter months. Fire is an...

Stay in Bed - Do Yoga Having trouble getting up for your morning practice? Just want to climb into bed instead of doing that evening meditation? My advice: do it in bed. In Kundalini Yoga, there is a short three-part morning exercise that we teach all of our teacher...

Do You Want to Keep the Change? I often joke that as a Yogi, it helps to believe in reincarnation because it seems it must take several lifetimes to discover all that Yoga has to offer. When going to Kundalini Yoga classes on a regular basis, you will discover that...

Be Bright, Wear White, Spread Light Ever wonder why Kundalini Yoga teachers wear white clothing when they teach? I began wearing white clothing in 1994 ago after I returned from a Summer Solstice White Tantric course. Almost 25 years later, I still wear all white...

Kundalini Summer Time Cleanse Yogi Bhajan, the Master of Kundalini Yoga, possessed the royal teaching majesty of a Leo and the healthy diet consciousness of a Virgo. And in those roles, he often gave his yoga students special diets to follow to support them in their...

Kundalini Journey Coming Home Every spiritual path requires the soul to make the journey from individual consciousness to universal consciousness, to realize the infinite in the finite and to experience the atman (individual soul) in the Mahatma (the Great Soul). Yoga...

Tripping Out with Kundalini Yoga: Two Sets to Take with You For many people, summer time brings short and long distance trips that can shake up our routines for the better – less time in front of a computer and more time in the “real” world for example. Yet there is...

Finding Your Meditation Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan has been estimated to consist of over 3,500 meditations and kriyas, more than any human being could likely experience in a lifetime of practice. So which one should you choose for your own practice and...

The Most Powerful Kundalini Yoga Mudra There are hundreds of mudras, or hand positions, used in the practice of yoga and meditation, and Kundalini Yoga uses many of them. Yet there is one Kundalini Yoga mudra that could win the honor of the most powerful one of them...

Meditation: Got a Minute? A Kundalini Yoga class is an ongoing experience of the meditative mind. During the exercises, you focus on your breath, a mantra, a mudra, and often have your eyes closed in order to go deeper within the practice and achieve a natural state...

KUNDALINI NEW YEAR – DRINK UP! New Year’s has always been a modern substitute for the pagan celebration of Saturnalia where the purpose was to drink and orgy your way through the winter months. Old customs die hard, even as the common practice of orgies fade away and...

A Kundalini Solstice Yogi Bhajan often taught special meditations for the Summer and Winter Solstices. He said that these were special days for the human psyche to re-set itself for the seasonal changes. While Winter Solstice is usually December 21st in most parts of...

Give Me Some Skin One of the many distinguishing (unusual!) aspects of Kundalini Yoga is the presence of sheepskins used to practice and meditate upon. While other yoga students are busy buying petroleum based yoga mats and bags, Kundalini students are investigating...

Talking with Your Chakras When is the last time you talked with your chakras? Probably in the last hour or so. Every time we speak, we usually speak from a combination of two chakra energy centers. Every chakra has a specific frequency that informs our energy. From...

Kundalini Yoga: Keeping It Hot I’ve taught Kundalini Yoga in some pretty hot places: Costa Rica, Bali, Mexico, and of course, Austin Texas. Sweat trickling down your back as you do Sat Kriya and giving Breath of Fire a new meaning in 105 degree heat. And some people...

All the Breath You Need: Managing Your Emotional Energy Anxious? Depressed? Low energy? Can’t calm down? Just feeling really off? Maybe you need to take a breath. Or several breaths. After all, one of the most powerful experiences in the practice of Kundalini Yoga...

The Six Secrets of Kundalini Yoga Kundalini Yoga is one of the most powerful yoga practices available to spiritual seekers, primarily because it is taught and practiced in the format of a kriya, or a prescribed sequence of postures, breath, sound, and movement. The...

With Every Breath:  Silent Mantra and Simran In the practice of Kundalini Yoga, students are often instructed to use a silent mantra with the breath as they inhale and exhale, or as they move from left to right or up and down (“Inhale Sat, exhale Nam.”) The silent...

Your Eyes Have Secrets: The Drishtis of Kundalini Yoga   Unlike most styles of yoga, the eyes are usually closed when practicing Kundalini Yoga. More accurately, the eyes are not simply closed but are specifically focused inside the body in a gaze or what is...

Ten Kundalini Yoga Tips for Great Sleep!   If you have been practicing Kundalini yoga for very long, you know that it helps you sleep better at night.  There are dozens of scientific research papers published on the effectiveness of yoga in reducing insomnia and...

The Most Important Stretch in Kundalini Yoga   When we talk about yoga and postures and stretching and flexibility, most people focus on the wrong things – like their hips, their shoulders, or their hamstrings.  And indeed the yoga postures that people work the...