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Kundalini yoga is an ancient spiritual practice that uses sequences of physical poses, chanting, and special breathing techniques, called Kriyas, to help the spiritual energy at the base of the spine rise and create an energetic alignment.
This focus on rising energy is one way to talk about Kundalini yoga, apart from Hatha and Vinyasa yoga, which are popular types of yoga that mostly focus on body positions and breathing.
A typical Kundalini yoga class starts with a warm-up or tuning-in, followed by breathing exercises, Sanskrit chanting, and physical Asanas (poses) that get the energy moving up and through the chakras.
Kundalini Yoga Poses and Exercises for Beginners
Check out these five Kundalini yoga poses and exercises for beginners:
1) Breath of Fire
This is a powerful and cleansing Kundalini yoga technique that involves breathing in and out through the nose. This yoga heats up your body and cleans it of toxins, gives your blood more oxygen, and strengthens your Solar Plexus Chakra. The Solar Plexus Chakra is where our willpower and determination live. This gives us the strength and power to keep going with the set practice or goal of the Kriya, which can be very hard at times.
Here's how you can do it:
- As you breathe in, gently push your stomach outward as you inhale.
- On your exhale, pull your stomach up and into your spine and let your breath out with the same gentle, purposeful force.
Due to the breath's ability to cleanse the body and the chemical changes in the body, you may feel dizzy. If this happens, focus your eyes just behind your eyebrows and drink a glass of water.
2) Archer Pose
This pose is great for building willpower, determination, and a clear sense of what you want. Your hips, quadriceps, shoulders, and core will also get stronger when you adopt this yoga in your daily routine.
Here's how you can do it:
- Begin in Mountain Pose (Tadasana).
- Step back with your left foot, making sure that both feet are flat on the floor.
- Put both hands in front of you and press your palms together to make a fist.
- Keeping your left shoulder and elbow high, pull your left arm back (like you're drawing back a bow).
- Look at your right thumb, which is in front of you.
- Ground down through the legs and feel strong and brave like a warrior
- Try it with both Breath of Fire and keep taking long, deep breaths.
- Change sides and repeat.
3) Sat Kriya
This pose is a basic, fundamental Kundalini yoga exercise that you should try every day for at least three minutes.
Here's how you can do it:
- First, sit on your heels with your knees together in rock pose.
- Keep your elbows straight as you stretch your arms above your head.
- All your fingers should be intertwined, except for your index finger, which should remain straight.
- Close your eyes and look up and in toward the point of your brow where your third eye is.
- To start, breathe in and push your belly out.
- As you let your breath out, say "Sat" and pull your belly button toward your spine.
- Say "Nam" as you breathe in, which will make your belly grow again.
- Keep saying "Sat" when you breathe out and "Nam" when you breathe in.
- To end, take a deep breath in and pull the navel back.
- Exhale and keep squeezing.
- Repeat again, then take a deep breath, and calm down.
- Rest in corpse pose (Savasana) for at least twice as long as you did the Kriya.
4) Ego Eradicator
This activity wakes up the brain and makes it more alert. Here's how you can do this Kundalini yoga exercise:
- Sit in either easy pose or rock pose.
- Raise the arms to an angle of 60 degrees.
- Don't bend the elbows and keep the shoulders back and down.
- Reach your thumbs up toward the sky as if you were plugging them in.
- Fold the fingers over the bumps at the base of the fingers, spread the palms wide, and pull the knuckles back.
- Close your eyes and think about what is above your head.
- Breathe fire (quick, forceful inhales and exhales) for up to three minutes while keeping the arms up in the Mudra (hand gesture) shown above.
- To finish, touch the tips of your thumbs together above your head, open your fingers, and bring your arms down as you breathe out.
5) Shoulder Rolls
This Kundalini yoga pose can get rid of tiredness and stress, open your lungs, give your organs more energy, and help you sleep better.
Here's how you can do this exercise:
- Sit in easy pose or on a chair with your back straight.
- As you roll your shoulders forward and up, take a deep breath in.
- Roll your shoulders back and down as you let your breath out.
- Deeply breathe in through your nose as you keep rolling your shoulders backwards in circles.
- Breathe in forward and up and out back and down to get your breath in sync.
- With each exhalation, let go of anything you want to let go of from the back of your shoulders.
Wrapping Up
Kundalini practice can help you get more life force (prana) and energy, and it can also make room for a spiritual or Kundalini awakening. The advice here is to try the yoga poses out and feel the difference for yourself! Try these Kriyas and poses for yourself. Get in touch with your body, pay attention to how you feel, and then let us know how it goes in the comments below.
