Kundalini Yoga Poses And Their Amazing Benefits

Kundalini yoga is more than rhythmic and repetitive movements that promise flexibility, strength, and good health. The kundalini yoga poses help activate the body’s energy lying dormant at the base of the spine. This awakening of energy enhances awareness and helps you connect with your higher consciousness and go past your ego. The human ego is solely responsible for almost all negative human traits. Read through to know more about kundalini yoga poses and the kundalini mudra benefits on the human body.

How Does Kundalini Yoga Work?

Kundalini yoga involves deep breathing exercises and repetitive physical movements carried along with chanting and singing. It contributes to spiritual well-being by helping balance the seven chakras of energy – root, sacral, navel, heart, throat, third eye, and crown. Regular practice of kundalini yoga leads to spiritual enlightenment, also called the kundalini awakening.

Benefits of Kundalini Yoga

Kundalini yoga can be life’s game-changer. Besides being a potent exercise, the different kundalini yoga poses are touted for other benefits too. The benefits of kundalini yoga practice include:

1. Relief from Stress and Anxiety

Kundalini yoga helps create a powerful ripple effect through its constant chanting and singing. It boosts the circulation of good energy, thereby cutting anxiety levels. Furthermore, the breathing exercises with repetitive and rhythmic movements work as a natural stress-buster.

2. Better Cognitive Function

Scientific studies have revealed that the brain changes after meditation. Kundalini yoga does just that. It works upon the brain areas that are responsible for creating awareness, increasing attention, and monitoring self-related thinking. This enhances problem solving skills while improving memory and cognitive function.

3. Improved Self Perception

Kundalini yoga is believed to heal the inner body and soul by removing the negative vices. This increases positivity and self-acceptance with better self-esteem. 

4. Spiritual Awakening

Kundalini yoga stimulates the body’s dormant energy. Thus, a person practising Kundalini yoga is found to be more empathic and have increased creativity as well as charisma. This increased energy leads to greater inner peace; all contributing to the well-being of the body and mind.

Basic Kundalini Yoga Poses

Kundalini yoga poses help strengthen the body and mind. Carried out through deep breathing, mantras, asanas, and mudras, all interwoven together, it helps us enjoy the kundalini awakening benefits. Some energising kundalini yoga poses to try are:

1. Agni Pran (Breath of Fire)

This kundalini yoga pose is a fast and forceful movement of breath in the body. It engages the nostrils and abdominal muscles and puts pressure on the lungs. It is also referred to as detoxifying pranayama which heats the entire body through inhaling and exhaling. 

How to do:

Sit down comfortably with your back straight. Inhale a deep breath by pushing your stomach outward. As you exhale, pull your stomach inwards into your spine, releasing the breath with an intentional force. Repeat for at least 3-5 minutes.

2. Ego Eradicator

True to its name, the ego eradicator kriya opens the lungs and consolidates the magnetic field, bringing the two brain hemispheres to a state of alertness sans all negative vibes and helps balance all kundalini chakras.

How to do:

Cross your legs and sit down comfortably. Keep your spine straight. Gently close your hands, letting your fingertips rest on your palms. Let the thumb point outwards. Gently lift your arms upwards, above your head to form a 160-degree angle between the two arms (the 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock positions). Make sure the thumbs are stretched outwards, pointing towards the sky. With the eyes focusing on the centre of the forehead, slowly start the Agni Pran.

3. Spinal Flexes (Camel Ride)

Spinal flex is a great exercise that helps release abdominal stress and gives an immediate boost to energy levels. It helps balance the lower organs of the body and activates and channelizes the energy up the spine. Amongst the kundalini yoga poses, this pose especially targets the lower spine and the lumbar region.

How to do:

To do a spine flex, you can either sit on crossed legs (Easy Pose) or on your heels (Rock Pose). As you inhale, push the chest forward and up. On exhalation, round your lower back and push your pelvis back. Repeat the motions continuously for a few minutes.

4. Sufi Grind Pose (Seated Torso Circles)

A simple pose of rotating the upper body, or the torso, in clockwise and anticlockwise directions with coordinated breathing helps activate the kundalini energy lying dormant at the base of the spine. The rhythmic movement helps move the energy upwards. The pose especially targets the thoracic spine or the middle spine.

How to do:

Sit down with your legs crossed and your hands resting on your knees. Starting from the base of the spine, move the abdomen and thoracic spine clockwise. Inhale as you circle forward and exhale as you circle back. Switch directions to move anti-clockwise. Repeat the motions continuously for a few minutes.

5. Shoulder Twist

The shoulder twist pose is a perfect remedy for problems related to poor posture. The rhythmic movements of the shoulders help realign the spine. As the pose allows the muscles of the shoulders and upper back to relax, it opens up the chest and the heart. In totality, it confers a combination of mental well-being and physical wellness with a greater feeling of connection and empathy.

How to do:

Sit with your legs crossed. Gently lift your arms and place the fingertips on the shoulders. Keep the elbows in line with the shoulders and parallel to the floor. Now, gently begin to twist your torso from left to right. Inhale as you twist left and exhale as you twist right. Repeat the motions continuously for a few minutes.

Now, staying in the same position with your torso facing forward, begin to twist your shoulders without moving the body. As you inhale, lift and bring your elbows forward. As you exhale, move your arms backwards with your wrists touching the back of your head. Repeat the motions continuously for 2-3 minutes.

6. Mandukasana (Frog Pose)

An excellent pose to tone, shape, and strengthen the lower body, the frog pose stimulates the energy in the second chakra and pushes it to the higher chakras. A potent cardiovascular workout, it is also recommended to build up sexual potency by balancing the sexual energies.

How to do:

Stand on your feet with your back bent and hands placed on the floor in front of the toes. Slowly lift your heels off the floor, bend your knees and push your hips down. Keep your head straight and balance your body weight on your toes and fingertips. Your position will resemble that of a frog. 

Now, slowly lower your head, straighten your knees, and take the hips up. Rest your hands on the floor and let your heels touch the ground. Repeat the motions rapidly for 2-3 minutes.

Conclusion

Kundalini yoga is a powerful way to stimulate the body’s energy. The different kundalini yoga poses work differently to activate the seven chakras of the human body, leading the body and soul to the path of wellness and enlightenment. Chanting the kundalini mantra ‘ek onkar, sat nam siri, Waheguru’ slowly with conscious breathing will lift your energy. As you chant, imagine the energy spiralling from the base of the spine to the top of your head; the apex Kundalini awakening benefits, an experience beyond words.

Like all yoga poses, ensure that you follow the right form. Also consider consulting a professional yoga instructor to avoid any chance of injuries.