Kundalini Yoga - Tuning In and Grounding
How to Prepare For and Conclude a Kundalini Yoga Session
To Begin
Sit quietly and be with your breath. Consciously slow down the breath and breathe from the belly. Be with the sensations in your body. Tune into your own rhythm. Allow a few minutes to calm down, center yourself and create your own space.
Tuning In
Before beginning Kundalini Yoga practice, always "tune in" by chanting the ADI MANTRA as follows: Sit in easy pose, or any meditation posture that you find most comfortable, with a straight spine and center yourself with long, deep breathing. Then place the palms together in Prayer Mudra at the Heart Center, fingers pointed up at 60ยบ, base of thumbs pressing against the sternum.
Inhale, focusing at the 3rd Eye Point and the heart and chant, "ONG NA MO" ("I call on Infinite Creative Consciousness") while exhaling. The Ong is vibrated in the back of the throat, the cranium and nasal passages. Properly done, it stimulates the pituitary and pineal glands which automatically tunes us into higher consciousness. Ooooooong is long,(o as in oh) Na is short, Moooo (o as in oh) is extended.
This mantra is chanted either on one deep breath, or if you need to you can take a sip of air from the mouth, but do not breathe through the nose between the two parts of the mantra.
"GURU DEV NA MO" ("I call on Divine Wisdom") Gu and Ru are short. Deeeeeev is extended. Na is short. And Mooo finishes up the breath.
Inhale deeply through the nose before you repeat the mantra. Repeat 2 or more times. The purpose of this mantra is "to tune in." So chant it as many times as you feel you need to get connected. This chant protects and connects us with our higher selves. It also links us with the "Golden Chain" of teachers who brought Kundalini yoga to the world. In other words, our teachers are with us in subtle body guiding and helping us.
Ong means Creator, Namo means to call upon, or to greet, Guru is the Teacher or the energy that brings light and dispells the darkness. Dev means transparent or nonphysical.
Concluding a Set
After a long relaxation, particularly one that follows a series of exercises, you will find that doing the concluding exercises below helps to ground you and bring you back to reality:
1) On your back, begin rotating your feet and bands In small circles. Continue in one direction for 30 seconds, then in the other direction for another 30 seconds.
2) Cat Stretch: Keeping both shoulders and the left leg flat on the ground, bring the right arm back behind the head and the right knee over the left leg till it touches the floor on the far side of the body. Switch legs and arms and repeat the exercise.
3) Still on your back, bring the knees up and to the sides, and rub the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands together briskly, creating a sensation of heat. Continue for 1 minute.
4) Clasping knees to chest with both hands, begin rolling on the spine. Roll all the way back till the feet touch the ground behind the head, and all the way forward till you're sitting up. Do this 3 or 4 times at least.
(5) Sit up in easy pose, palms together in prayer mudra at the heart center. Eyes are closed. Inhale completely and say a prayer of thanks. Exhale and let the thought go.
(6) A happy conclusion is to sing this song: "May the long time sun shine upon you, all love surround you, and the pure light within you, guide your way on". Repeat.
Repeat if you wish. Then chant 3 long Sat Nam's. Saaaaaaaaaat is long and Nam is short.
