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About Kundalini Yoga
Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan® is
considered the most comprehensive of yoga
traditions, combining meditation, mantra,
physical exercises and breathing techniques; it
is a Raj Yog, encompassing the eight limbs of
yoga into a singular practice of excellence and
ecstasy. “Kundalini” literally means “the curl
of the lock of hair of the beloved.” This poetic
metaphor alludes to the flow of energy and
consciousness that exists within each of us, and
enables us to merge with – or “yoke” – the
universal Self. Fusing individual and universal
consciousness creates a divine union, called
“yoga.” The Upanishads, dating back to the fifth
century B.C., describe the kundalini, although
the oral tradition reaches back even further
into history. For thousands of years, this
sacred science and technology was veiled in
secrecy, passed along verbally from master to
chosen disciple.
Kundalini Yoga as taught by
Yogi Bhajan® is also known as the Yoga of
Awareness; its focus is on self-awareness
and delivering an experience of your highest
consciousness. The technology of Kundalini
Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan® is a science
of the mind and body, to elevate the spirit,
which has no boundaries, no discrimination.
Therefore it is for everyone, universal and
nondenominational.
In the ancient tradition that
is yoga, Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi
Bhajan® is a householder path; that is, it
has always been practiced by those with
families and jobs as opposed to a
renunciate’s path of celibacy and removal
from society, which was the usual path of a
yogi.
The primary objective is to
awaken the full potential of human awareness
in each individual; that is, recognize our
awareness, refine that awareness, and expand
that awareness to our unlimited Self. Clear
any inner duality, create the power to
deeply listen, cultivate inner stillness,
and prosper and deliver excellence in all
that we do.
The focus of Kundalini Yoga
as taught by Yogi Bhajan® is on one’s
personal experience and awareness through
the practice of kriya and naad. We awaken
the kundalini in order to be able to call
upon the full potential of the nervous and
glandular systems and to balance the subtle
system of chakras and meridians within the
body. “Kriya” is an orchestrated pattern of
movements, sound, pranayam, mudras,
concentration and meditation that
automatically guide the energies of the body
and the mind to a specific result or change
of consciousness.
Kundalini Yoga as taught by
Yogi Bhajan® does not rely on any one of
these techniques per se, although we use
many. Instead, it is the unique and tested
syntax, within the structure of each kriya
as shared by Yogi Bhajan, which provides
steady, predictable progress and which
leverages these basic functions of the body
and the mind to create rapid, sustainable,
personal growth and healing. In this
tradition, meditation is not considered
separate from asana or yoga; it is integral
to the practice. The exercises in the kriya
bring the body and mind to a state where
deep meditation is easily achieved.
Our fundamental objective is to awaken the
power of the individual to excel—to
experience their Infinity and fulfill their
personal destiny.
Yogi Bhajan (aka Siri Singh
Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa
Yogiji) came to the United States in 1969
and founded the 3HO nonprofit that same
year. In 1970 he completed his first
teacher’s training and the Kundalini
Research Institute was formed in 1971 and
went on to formalize the certification and
training of teachers internationally.
Kundalini Yoga as a practice
is a Raj Yoga and combines all the
traditional eight limbs of Yoga. Yogi Bhajan
was the student of two Masters. Sant Hazare
Singh declared Yogi Bhajan a Master of
Kundalini Yoga at the age of 16 ½. Guru Ram
Das, the Fourth Sikh Master, gave Yogi
Bhajan his own Gur Mantra many years later,
in the early years of his teaching in the
West.
Kundalini Yoga was taught
from Master to student for hundreds, perhaps
thousands, of years and intersects with the
lineage of the Sikh Masters such as Guru
Nanak, Guru Ram Das and Guru Gobind Singh
for the past 500 years. Its sources include
many other yoga Masters of the Northern
Punjab region of India as well as the unique
contributions of the Gurus in the use of
naad and Shabd Guru. Guru Nanak started the
Udasi line through his son Baba Siri Chand,
a Master who served and taught for more than
100 years. He taught to all existing
lineages of that time and educated several
of the Sikh Gurus in their youth. Yogi
Bhajan was the first to openly teach
Kundalini Yoga in the East or the West. The
lineage is now held in legacy through the
technology of the Golden Chain—a connection
to the Masters through the subtle body.
Kundalini Yoga as taught by
Yogi Bhajan® is probably the most formalized
style of yoga currently taught throughout
the world. In any class, anywhere in the
world, you can expect it to include six
major components: 1) tuning-in with the Adi
Mantra, 2) pranayam or warm-up, 3) kriya, 4)
relaxation, 5) meditation and 6) close with
the blessing song, “May the Long Time Sun
Shine Upon You”.
Kriyas are complete sets of
exercises that are performed in the
sequences given by the Master, Yogi Bhajan.
They can be simple short sequences or they
may involve vigorous, even strenuous
exercises, and strong breath techniques such
as Breath of Fire, which challenge and
strengthen the nervous and endocrine systems
and test the will of the practitioner beyond
the limitations of their ego.
The typical class is 60-90
minutes: 5-10 minute warm-up, 30-45 minute
kriya, 5-15 minute layout, 11-31 minutes of
meditation.
Kundalini Yoga as taught by
Yogi Bhajan® typically includes pranayam and
meditation. Pranayam practices range from
One Minute Breath, Breath of Fire, alternate
nostril breathing, Dog Breath, Sitali
Pranayam, and suspended breath techniques,
to name a few. Meditations often involve
movement or mantra, and generally have an
eye focus (drishti) in addition to mudra
(hand position) and asana (body posture).
Many Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi
Bhajan® kriyas and meditations include
mantra and chanting. One of the first signs
of the awakening of the kundalini is a new
awareness of the power of our words. You
begin to meditate on and develop inner
sounds using mantra and naad. Kundalini Yoga
was often mistaken for Mantra Yoga because
of its frequent integration of sound in its
kriyas and meditations. The use of mantra
throughout the practice of Kundalini Yoga as
taught by Yogi Bhajan® is very effective in
attaining two particular goals of the
practice—expansion of the Self and elevation
of the spirit. Mantra also supports those
new to meditation, who find silence and
absolutely stillness very challenging. In
this way it is a ‘beginner’s practice’ and
can be used by anyone to attain clarity,
balance and equanimity. In addition, there
are many meditations that are silent,
practiced in a profoundly transformative
stillness called shuniya.
Kundalini Yoga as taught by
Yogi Bhajan® is an international school and
there are senior-level teachers and trainers
across the globe. Major international
centers include: Munich, London, Madrid,
Lisbon, Vancouver, Toronto, Singapore,
Bangkok, Shanghai, Mexico City, Guadalajara,
Belo Horizonte, La Paz, Cape Town, Togo; and
in the United States there are major schools
in Los Angeles, New York, Austin, Miami,
Boston, Washington, DC, San Francisco,
Atlanta, and Phoenix.
Española, New Mexico, where
Yogi Bhajan resided for many years, is the
home of the Kundalini Research Institute
(KRI) and the KRI International Training
Center. The Director of Training at KRI is
Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, PhD, who studied
with Yogi Bhajan from 1969 on, and
co-founded KRI in 1971; the CEO of KRI is
Nirvair Singh Khalsa, who taught for 30
years at the University of Alaska and
worldwide; the head of the Aquarian Training
Academy is Tarn Taran Singh Khalsa who
developed European programs and continues to
train internationally; and Hari Charn Kaur
Khalsa, who directs the Reach Out-Teach Out
program, providing scholarships and training
opportunities to underserved populations
around the globe. These are KRIs Core
Training team and they support the
international trainers and teachers
throughout the world.
As an example of some of our
lead trainers around the globe: Satya Singh
and Simran Kaur Khalsa (Germany), Shiv
Charan Singh Khalsa (Great Britain and
Portugal), Karta Singh Khalsa (France and
Russia), Guru Raj Kaur Khalsa (Vancouver,
BC), Sunder Singh Khalsa (Asia), Pritam Pal
Singh Khalsa (Mexico), Guru Sangat Kaur
Khalsa (Brazil), Nam Nidhan Kaur Khalsa
(Chile), Krishna Kaur Khalsa (Togo and Los
Angeles, CA), Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa (Los
Angeles, CA and Boulder, CO), Guru Singh
Khalsa (Los Angeles, CA), Sat Jiwan Singh
and Kaur Khalsa (New York), Sangeet Kaur
Khalsa (Arizona), and Deva Kaur Khalsa
(Florida). Go to
www.kundaliniresearchinstitute.org for a
full listing of international trainers. See
also
www.ikyta.org for more information about
local instructors in your area.
The Kundalini Research
Institute licenses international training
programs around the world and certifies
Level One, Two and Three Kundalini Yoga
Instructors, Practitioners and Teachers,
respectively—this program is called the
Aquarian Teacher and is affiliated with Yoga
Alliance here in the United States. We also
have a training program for trainers known
as the Aquarian Training Academy, which
licenses Lead, Professional, Associate and
Intern Level Trainers.
Certification as a Level One Instructor is a
250-hour program which includes
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Postures, Kriyas &
Meditation.
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Role of a Kundalini Yoga
Teacher.
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Yogic Philosophy & the
Origin of Kundalini Yoga.
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Yogic & Western Anatomy.
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Humanology & 3HO Yogic
Lifestyle.
Certification as a Level Two
Practitioner is a 250-hour program which
includes five separate modules:
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Conscious Communication
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Authentic Relationships
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Lifestyles & Lifecycles
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Mind & Meditation
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Vitality & Stress
Certification as a Level
Three Teacher combines an experiential,
10-day program, plus an individualized
community-building service project and
peer-review for certification.
It’s efficiency and
effectiveness—its power. Kundalini Yoga is
quick. Because it’s a system built for the
householder, the changes you want to affect
in your life happen much more quickly with
Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan®
than many other styles of yoga. It’s variety
of techniques and meditations is enormous,
allowing the instructor to tailor programs
that support the individual and her goals.
It’s a safe way to stimulate the body’s
natural resources and become healthy, happy,
and holy—in body, mind and spirit. It’s a
proven path to the Self and the Soul—to an
experience of your highest destiny.
Beyond kriya and the
traditional structure of a Kundalini Yoga as
taught by Yogi Bhajan® yoga class, the
Teachings of Yogi Bhajan comprise a vast
array of topics, which he called humanology:
philosophy and Sikh Dharma, lifestyle
teachings, communication, relationships and
marriage, nutrition, hygiene, child-rearing,
women’s and men’s teachings, meditation and
mudra, Naad Yoga and mantra, numerology and
much more. In this way, Kundalini Yoga as
taught by Yogi Bhajan® is known as a Raj
Yoga because it incorporates aspects of all
paths of yoga: service, devotion, posture,
breath, sound, concentration, wisdom and so
on.
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