Grounded in the Higher Self

Welcome, everybody, Sat Naam. My name is Kara Looney. I'm excited to have you here with me on the first class of our season one of Sacred Kundalini. I know that many of you might be familiar with Kundalini and many of you might actually be new to the practice. Either way, this is going to be a wonderful journey for you and I look forward to you joining me. I encourage you to really keep an open mind in this practice. You know, when we're working with Kundalini Yoga, we're working with a practice that's very different from every other style of yoga. So we're not going to be doing, you know, what we're accustomed to asanas, warrior one, warrior two, though it's possible. But most of the work we do, the physical work is intended to promote glandular stimulation, movement of energy, detoxification. We use breath techniques to help facilitate that process and change the wave patterns of the brain. We use sound in mantra. You see a crystal bowl here with me. We'll also be doing some chanting. All of the chanting is not arbitrary. There's a purpose behind the sounds that we make, both for the purpose of creating vibration in the body and for moving energy. So I encourage you all to really keep an open mind and immerse yourself into an innocent beginner's mind, right? The willingness to open yourself up to a new technology because that's really what this is. When we implement this work, it actually serves to create change and transformation with our being. We start our Kundalini practice by tuning in. We sing a sacred or chant, a sacred invocational mantra. We call this the Adi mantra. And you'll see me rubbing my hands together here. I'm doing this to stimulate 72,000 energy channels we have running through the body. We call these nadis. These nadis begin in the naval center and they end in the hands and the feet. So when we rub the hands together or the rub the soles of the feet together, we start to stimulate these energy channels. Let's begin by doing that. And one other thing that I'd like to notify you about is one, we tend to practice Kundalini Yoga with the eyes closed. Open eyes tend to serve as distractions. When we close the eyes with our yogic work, we start to really turn inward and gain insight and intuition. So allow yourself to really surrender in and open the eyes when needed for visual cues and the implementation of the use of the eyes for balance. Okay. But other times you'll see me with my eyes closed. I encourage you to do the same. The other is we're going to be doing some breath work. And those of you ladies who may be pregnant or on the first three days of your menstrual of menstruation, anytime I indicate breath of fire, please instead do a longer, deeper breath. And I'll coach you on the breath of fire after we tune in. Let's bring the hands into the heart center. Thumbs into the sternum. Gently press the palms together and we chant a mantra called the Arimantra. And the sound current is very important. O-N-G. It means I bow to the divine teacher within. We're calling on the high self. We're calling on the spirit. We're moving beyond all the constructs of personality that we build up over time and really diving deep into the essence of our being when we chant this mantra. Okay. So let's close the eyes down. Lengthen the spine. Eyes drawn up to that space between the eyebrows. Let's take a few deep breaths in through the nose. Side out. Releasing tension. Inhaling. On my next inhale, let's tune in with the Arimantra. Om Namo, Guru Dev Namo. Three times through. Here we go. Take a deep inhale. Om Namo, Guru Dev Namo. Om Namo, Guru Dev Namo. Om Namo, Guru Dev Namo. Om Namo, Guru Dev Namo.

Om Namo, Guru Dev Namo. Take a deep breath in through the nose. Suspend the breath. Hold it without anxiety. Just hold the breath like you're a container, a neutral container. And exhale, release. Gently blink the eyes open. Now, I don't know about you, but every time I tune in, afterward I feel heightened sensitivity, a deeper connection to my awareness. And I hope you feel the same. And if you don't feel it the first time, stick with me for a while and see what this technology, what this really sacred practice does for your connection to your awareness, your consciousness, as it were. So before we begin our spinal warmups, there's two things I want to teach you. One of which is a pranayama, a breath technique that we'll be using today called Breath of Fire. This helps cleanse the bloodstream and the organs. It helps us balance out kind of the chaos of the mind and really bring harmony and stability into the being, into the body. And the second thing, we're going to be chanting a mantra today, a very simple mantra called Har, H-A-R, and I'll go through that with you too. So the first, the pranayama technique, Breath of Fire. I want you all to start panting like a dog, right? Extend the tongue. You see how my belly's moving? As I inhale, the belly expands. As I exhale, the belly contracts. Okay, that's one way to do Breath of Fire. The way that we do it mostly in Kundalini is with the mouth closed and pumping the breath through the nose. Now, I'm doing it kind of at a faster pace. If you're newer to it, it's probably easier to do it a little bit slower. Over time, you will begin to have a strength and sensitivity in the muscles, the navel, and the diaphragm to facilitate this process a little bit more if you're finding it challenging, but stick with it. Okay, so that's Breath of Fire. Again, if you're pregnant or on the first three days of menstruation, please instead do a longer, deeper breath. Now, the mantra we'll be chanting, Har, H-A-R. This mantra means, well, it means God. It means divine source energy. It means universal energy. It's that creative, infinite energy, right? When we chant the sound, it actually helps us move energy in the body. The sound, ha, creates sort of a vortex of energy in the lower centers. Har, Har, Har. So when we say the R, it's kind of like a Spanish R that kind of rolls right behind the teeth. Har, Har, Har. So I'd like you to pump the belly and allow that reservoir of energy in the Har, and then move it up through. And what you'll feel is energy moving up through the body, rising up into the higher glands of the brain. Chanting really helps stimulate hypothalamus, pituitary, and pineal glands, all of which are going to produce a wonderful cocktail of hormones of well-being within the body. Okay? Let's start with our warmup. Hands are on the shins. I'm going to inhale forward, exhale back. Eyes are closed.

And I want you to draw the eyes up to third eye center, please. Is it space between the eyebrows? We stimulate glands in the brain that help us expand our awareness, connect into feelings of expansion, heightened awareness, gratitude. All right? So let's deepen that breath as we roll in these clockwise Sufi circles. Inhale. I think of yourself as grounding the lowest energy center, the first chakra, the foundation through which all our energy work is balanced from. Let's go for four more in this direction, keeping the eyes closed and connecting to your inward awareness. Three, two, and one. Now inhale, hold center, and exhale, reverse the direction. Eyes are closed, drawn up to third eye center, deepening that breath. Let the breath be your music here. All of these warmups that we're going to do are going to open up what's called the central channel of the spine. We have this very strong energy channel that runs from the base of the spine up to the crown of the head, and we're opening up that energy channel. Let's go for four, three, two, and one. Now hold center, lift through the heart. Inhale. Exhale, round tuck and dome. Let's go for spinal flex. Inhale forward, exhale back. Eyes are at third eye center, stimulating glands in the brain. And we're opening up our energy channels in the body, distributing prana, distributing consciousness, seeing if you can move beyond sort of that general state of breathing that you apply all day long and move into a more conscious, deeper, more dramatic breath. Let's go for four, three, two, and one. Inhale, lift high. Suspend the breath. And exhale, release. Alright, just a few more spinal warmups here. Hands come onto the shoulders, shoulders are down away from the ears. We're going to inhale, twist left, exhale, twist right. Again, my eyes are up at third eye center, spine is long, and this is going to feel really nice for you, I imagine. Releasing some of that chronic tension that we hold in the low back, head is following the same direction as the twisting of the spine, realigning the vertebrae, and energetically we're inviting the energy up from the low three chakras into the heart center, up into that fourth chakra center of connection and compassion. Inhaling left, exhaling right. Let's go for four, three, two, and one. Good. Alright, inhale, reach arms high. And I want you guys with that breath held and the arms reaching up, sense the energy field around the body. And I'd like you to move through that energy field. Inhale, lift and exhale, sweep. So science tells us anything that holds charge emits a field. Our heart holds charge, our brain holds a charge, every single one of our cells holds a charge. And so we're emitting this very powerful invisible field of energy around the body that we work with in Kundalini Yoga. And here, we're starting to sweep through that field, just charge it up, use the breath. Go at a pace that feels right for you. Let's go for four, three, two, and one. Inhale, arms rise high. Exhale, hinge and bow forward stretching through the low back. And let's rise up onto hands and knees, tabletop position. I'd like you to take the hands under the shoulders, knees under the hips. We're going to begin some cat cow moves, moving pranic energy through the whole body. So I'm inhaling, lifting my chin and tail. I'm exhaling, rounding and tucking the tail. Please close your eyes, powerfully move through with the breath. Good. Think of yourself as distributing life force energy through the whole body, right? Dramatically, let us feel good. Let's go for four, three, two, and one. Inhale, lift through chin and tail. Exhale, round tuck and dome. And for a moment, I'd like you to just sit back to the heels, take your forehead to the ground and connect that third eye center to the floor, that connection of our intuition connected to the earth.

And set your intention, not for today's class, maybe for this eight week series of diving deeper into our spiritual self, our energetic self, areas where we might need healing or rebalancing. And seal that intention with a deep inhale. And exhale, release it out. And so it is. Let's rise up and let's begin our practice. So today's class is focused specifically on the root chakra, grounding ourselves, connecting ourselves to the material world, which is where we live, right? And oftentimes materialism can get out of hand, right? So we want to balance ourselves in the material world, ground ourselves to then allow ourselves to rise up into our spiritual centers. So today's class is a foundational practice for the rest of the classes through the series. Now I'd like you to take your legs out at a kind of straddle position. Okay. Now, if you find yourself rounding through the back or kind of tight in the low back of the hamstrings, you can take a pillow or a bolster and put it under your hips. You can also bend the knees. That's very helpful. Flexing through the feet. I'm going to take my arms and interlace them behind the back. And the reason for this is it's going to draw energy up into the heart. Okay. So all these postures have purpose and I'm going to chant the mantra as I bow forward, inhale, lift, exhale, bow forward. So it's going to look like this. Okay. Welcome to Kundalini yoga, my friends. It gets weird and it gets amazing. Eyes are up at third eye center, hands interlaced behind the back and you can use a strap if you need it. Here we go. And I'd like you to really chant powerfully. Let go of that self-consciousness and move into self-awareness. Here we go. Har, har, har, har, har, har, har, har, har, har, har, har, har. Stay with me.

Keep chanting, keep the engagement in the hands and the openness in the chest. Har, har, har, har, har, har, har, har. Eyes are closed and drawn up to third eye center. Stay with me. Let's go for 30 more seconds. Har, har, har, har, har, har, har, har, har, har, last four, three, two, and one. Inhale. Now engage those bathroom muscles. We call this a root lock. Suspend the breath and draw the eyes up to third eye center. And exhale. Maybe release the hands if you like. Shake it out. These, this set and the next two or three exercises we're going to do is really going to create a stirring in the energy center of the heart. Okay, let's interlace the hands behind the back again. Feel free to bend the knees and also feel free to put something under the hips if you need that extra support. And again, the sound har, I'm going to bow forward and lift. Okay, so it looks like this. Har, har, har, har, har, har. Stay with it, guys. Let it be weird, right? It seems a little out of the ordinary, but this is energy work. So sound, vibration, and movement all together create a formula for elevation, for transformation. Let's keep going. Har, har, har, har, har, har. Feel that heat generating in the heart. Har, har, har, har, har. Let's go for four, three, two, and one. Inhale, lift. Suspend breath, root lock third eye. And exhale, release. And just rest for a moment. Periods of stillness are very key in Kundalini Yoga because we allow the energy that we've just moved to assimilate into the energy centers. This is our time to bear witness to the stillness. Long, deep breathing. Eyes are at third eye center. Beautiful. All right, keeping in this straddle position, raising the arms up overhead, and I'm going to interlace my last three fingers and allow my index finger. In Kundalini Yoga, we call this our Jupiter finger. All the fingers, except for the thumb, have energy of a particular planet. Okay, so index fingers, the Jupiter finger, it's going to be extended to the sky. We're going to loosen up tension in the rib cage in the lower back. Shoulders are down away from the ears. I'm going to inhale, just gently twist to the left, and then gently twist to the right. Okay, it's going to be a tiny little twist. And it's going to look like this. Eyes are at third eye center. Keep those arms extended up above the head.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, eight, nine, eight, nine, eight, nine, eight, Now with Kundalini Yoga, there's going to be a point where you start to feel a lot of resistance where you're like, Oh my God, how much longer is this going to be? And when is it over? This is a very special point. This is where energy transformations take place. If with a self loving discipline, you can move your way through the uncomfortableness of the mind, maybe some of the discomfort in the body and just move through it.

There's so much energetic education in this type of consistency. Inhaling left, exhaling right and staying with me. Make sure it's self loving. If you find yourself in pain, always refrain, inhale, exhale. Let's go for 30 more seconds.

See if you can stay with me. I know it gets uncomfortable, but this is where the medicine is. Good, 10, nine, eight, seven, keep going, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Inhale center, suspend the breath, reach those arms up to the sky, energize the whole body, and exhale. Hands come down through the energy field, nice and slow.

Create a relationship with that energy field. So much of the modern world doesn't pay attention to that. It does exist. Be proven and you create a relationship with it, you become more aware of it and it can serve you. This is our last set with the legs and straddle.

I hope you're feeling okay in this position. Always feel free to shake loose and interlace my hands right at the center of my chest. I'm going to inhale to the left, exhale to the right. Now, this is a place where I'd like you guys to really tap into any repressed anger that may be living in your body, right? We hold our issues and our tissues, so engage root lock, connect into the navel center, and see if you can release some of the anger that you may be holding in your body, okay?

Here we go. Use that to fuel this. This is how we release emotional blocks in Kundalini Yoga through channeling those repressions into the Kriya set. Let it rise up, channel it into the breath and into the movement. Maybe you start to feel some stuff opening up, some liberations, yes, good stuff.

Keep going. 30 more seconds. See what you can unearth within yourself. Last 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1, hold center. Reach all parts of the body, root lock, third eyes to spend the breath, and exhale, release.

And just be for a moment, maybe bring yourself into a cross-legged position if that feels okay. I'd like you to sit in a gentle meditation for just about two minutes here. Sometimes emotions arise in Kundalini Yoga, tears, grief, laughter. Don't suppress it if it comes up. Allow it to come up, that's a healing process.

We're here to heal, we're here to feel. This whole process is medication, it's medicine, spiritual medicine. Take about four more deep breaths, eyes at third eye center. Breathing on this final breath, take a deep inhale and suspend it, and sigh it out. All right, just a few more parts to this Kriya set.

I'd like you to, I'm gonna come a little bit at an angle so you can see the position of my legs, which are not a full straddle, it's kind of smaller angle. And I'm going to, and before I come laying down onto my back, we're gonna be employing a breath of fire today, right here. So again, those who are pregnant or on the first three days of your menstruation, please instead do a longer, deeper breath. And I can explain at the end of class why we do that, okay? So come laying down onto the back, reaching the arms forward.

And I'd like you to keep the chest and the head lifted. Those of you who may have tender necks, feel free to use one hand to support the back of the head. Otherwise, both hands are pressed onto the navel gently, okay? We're flexing through the feet, so we want all of this energy in the low body. Root lock, extension through the legs, flexion through the feet and the hamstrings, navel pressed down with hands.

We begin a breath of fire through the mouth, okay? So even on the inhale, even on the exhale, the belly is pumping and it's moving through the mouth, eyes are closed, drawn up to third eye center. Allow yourself to really envision clearing out energy in the low three chakras, clearing out feelings of insecurity and stability, feelings of creative blocks, maybe power and identity blocks. Take a break if you need to, but if you feel energized, stay with it. Let's go for 20 more seconds, okay?

That's 10. Now inhale through the nose, suspend the breath, engage all the muscles of the body, eyes at third eye center, and relax onto the back and take some long deep breaths. Cast an awareness over the body, likely there's an effervescent feeling in the being, all the cells are oxygenated, all the energy channels are alive and awake. We've employed a very powerful detoxing process in the body, so I encourage you to drink some water or green juice after class today and just allow, these periods of rest are very important. We're re-educating the nervous system on how to go into the rest and relax, oftentimes we're compulsively stuck in the fight or flight, in the do or die, we have to remind the nervous system how to relax, how to soften, how to just be.

Where can you sink more deeply into the being and not the doing? Maybe releasing the thoughts, disengaging the muscles, lengthening the breath. We're here for about three more breaths. Great, please draw your knees into your chest. Hands come under the hinges of the knees, gently lift the chin and rock it up.

Now we're going to do a really interesting and very hallmark part of Kundalini Yoga, we call these frogs. This is a really powerful way to tune up all the organs, to really get any blocked energy free flowing within the body. I'll show you the full expression and then I'll show you a modification. So we're going to start coming onto the hands and knees, and I'm going to curl my toes under and let my heels touch and let the balls of my feet support me on the floor. My knees are kind of splayed out wide.

My fingertips are strongly pressing on the ground. The fingers and the fingertips play a huge role in Kundalini Yoga. There is energetic connection between the four fingers, index, middle, ring and pinky, to the lobes of the brain. So when we stimulate them with mudras and when we press on them into the ground like we're going to do in this posture, we're stimulating all four lobes of the brain while we're doing all this energetic clearing. So I'm going to lift my hips and drop my head, then I'm going to drop my hips and lift my head.

So this is my inhale, this is my exhale. Now those who want a modification, you can ground your feet completely. Hands are on the thighs, it's a bow forward and a rise up, a bow forward and a rise up. Here we go, we're going to go for 26. Feel free to follow me, follow my indication, follow my pace or go to pace that is more suitable for you.

Okay, here we go. We got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Stay with me, 7, 8, 9, 20, last 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Hang in a forward fold, ground those feet, take a few breaths. You grab on to opposite forearm and rock from side to side.

Those frogs are a wonderful way to clear any blocks, any stagnancies in the low energy centers. First, second, and third chakra. Okay, lifting up to a flat spine, inhale, and then exhale, please come down into a seated cross leg position. This is the last part of our kriya before we come into meditation. Okay, hands are in gyan mudra, index finger and thumb.

The index finger, the Jupiter finger is connected to intuition, connected to wisdom and intelligence, and expansive awareness. I'd like you to take a long spine, chin gently tucks toward the chest, eyes are at third eye center, and I'm going to guide you through some long deep breaths. Just with that focus on the third eye center, I want you to be aware of your third eye, pineal gland. This is connected to our sixth chakra, connected to our intuition, our knowingness, our sixth sense, and you'll find when you practice kundalini yoga over time, this sense really heightens, deepens, becomes one of your main tools that you use in your navigation of the material world. Let's take a deep breath into that third eye center, exhale out from the third eye center, enjoying an ujjayi sounding breath, oceanic rolling in the back of the throat.

If thoughts arise, which they usually do, allow them to pass like clouds in the sky. Don't pull them down to earth, just let them pass, and extend, instead marinate yourself in the awareness of the space around your body. Be conscious of all that empty space. We're going to meditate here for about four minutes, allow yourself to really settle in. And keeping an awareness of the third eye, an awareness of the heart, the center of our being, tapping into a heightened emotion, gratitude, love, and every breath you take allow that feeling to grow.

Let's do that. Feeling that emotion spreading through every cell of your body, you become gratitude, you become love, it vibrates throughout your whole being. Let's take four more full deep breaths. And on this last inhale, please fully suspend the breath, big belly, big chest, engaging root lock and drawing those eyes up to third eye center, being a neutral container for the breath, directing that energy upward. And then exhale.

When you're ready, please come laying down onto the back. Now your feet and thighs to turn out naturally and tailbone turns down toward the heels, palms face up next to the hips, shoulders are down away from the ears and chin is to the chest. Now yourself to feel supported by the ground, muscles soften, joints soften, tongue relaxes in the mouth, ears fall back and eyes sink back. Sound goal is tuned to the key of C, which helps balance out the root chakra, the lowest energy center. Allow the sound of the chakra, allow the sound of the chakra, allow the sound of the chakra, allow the sound of the chakra, allow the sound of the chakra, allow the sound of the chakra, allow the sound of the chakra, allow the sound of the chakra, allow the sound of the chakra, allow the sound of the chakra, allow the sound of the chakra, allow the sound of the chakra, allow the sound of the chakra, allow the sound of the chakra, allow the sound of the chakra, gently wiggling your fingers and your toes, draw your knees into your chest, wrap your forearms around your shins, rocking from side to side, and please roll onto one side in a fetal position, using the top hand, press yourself up seated, cross leg position, hands come to the heart center.

Just in the same way that we tune in with the mantra in Kundalini Yoga, we tune out with a blessing, we call this the long time sun. This started coming into the practice of Kundalini Yoga background 1969. Feel free to sing along with me if you know it. If not, just listen to the blessing. May the long time sun shine upon you, all love surround you, and the pure light within you guide your way on.

I'll sing that one time through. And then we all close out together with a powerful expression of the mantra Sat Nam. Sat means truth, Nam means my identity. We're vibrating this expression that truth is my name, truth is my identity, to the degree that we currently know it, and to the degree that we're endeavoring to connect to it. It's an expression, it's a prayer.

Okay. Bring your hands to the heart center and join along with me or just listen as a blessing. May the long time sun shine upon you, all love surround you, and the pure light within you guide your way on, guide your way on, guide your way on. Sat Nam. Sat Nam.

Sat Nam. Sat Nam. Sat Nam. Sat Nam. Taking a deep inhale through the nose, suspend the breath.

Bringing the folded hands to third eye center. Blessing that you'll be guided by intuition and have the wisdom and courage to follow it. Exhale bowing forward, Sat Nam, Namaste.