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A principle in life to remember is to travel light.
You are traveling all the time.
Travel light, live light, spread the light, be the light.
– Yogi Bhajan
Memoirs
by Sardar Singh, Oslo/Norway, 2006
(It was written as the introduction to the book on KY for Yoga X-Press)
I began to learn Kundalini Yoga as a teenager, and am to this day, 34 years later, still an eager practicioner of the discipline. I wouldn't even think of stopping - mainly because the challenge, experience and immediate results are just as immediate as in the first year, as well as the excitement of discovering ever new depths of the inner self and its mysterious connections with the universe around.
On a good day, when doing Kundalini Yoga, it can be like entering a parallel world where the immediate surroundings on a early winter morning in Norway dissolve into a fresh wave of rhythm, harmony, and tone, something like entering the world of a favourite symphony. Yoga talks of 10 bodies, including the physical, mental , magnetic and subtle, and they are all along on this ride. When this early hour of yoga is done, the daily routine of 'normal' life continues, but now permeated with the after-effects of the morning practice. These early morning hours are referred to in yogic language as amrit vela, the sweet nectar time before sunrise.
Each day with Kundalini Yoga is most definitely a day going in the right direction. The short-term effects are obvious enough - better health, good skin, better habits, brighter eyes, better focus, better sleep, calmer moods… Even more compelling are the long-term developments - an undramatic, barely noticeable cleaning away of various inner stresses and strains and an emergence and flowering of latent abilities.
The master who taught this set of exercises, philosophy and consciousness which comprises Kundalini Yoga, was a policeman, a customs officer, an economist and an able hockey player. His nickname was Yogi Bhajan, and he was a tall, charismatic personality who automatically commanded attention merely by entering a room. Still, any beginnings of mass or individual adulation were quickly dizzolved by a wave of his hand or a few joking words.
That was the personality of Yogi Bhajan and he was always himself, always knew every second who he was. He was a natural hero, tall and commanding with strong features, even in old age, and ever ready with a hilarious remark or a correspondingly sobering rejoinder. For years, whenever circumstances permitted, I would try to be in the company of this man who had mastered Kundalini Yoga, to see how he advised people, how he acted in crowds, barraged by camera flashes, how he acted with children, teens and parents, how he acted with celebrities, how he dealt with lunatics. In any given situation, he unfailingly had an answer, a right action to meet the demand, defuse the situation, enhance it, or whatever needed doing.
And he never changed - he always looked the same, talked the same way, showed himself as the same person, even while he might yell at one person, whisper to a second one and pull faces with a third. I learned a long time ago that it was no good imitating him. Still, being around a wise person, wisdom does rub off, to gradually be fit into my own framework and enhance my own strengths and temper my weaknesses. A Ford can't become a Mercedes, but a Ford can become a cleaner, brighter, better-working Ford!
Being around Yogi Bhajan showed me one thing - that it works. Here is a teacher who without reservation promotes Kundalini Yoga, who is solid through and through, just like what he is teaching. No tricks, no double-standards, but straight and simple, delivering what he promises, asking nothing from those he teaches except that they live to their own highest potential, which of course is asking quite a bit!
Now that Yogi Bhajan is no longer with us physically, he is nevertheless with me each time I do or even think of doing Kundalini Yoga.
I even imagine him talking to me, and saying things like, 'Sadhana (daily spiritual practice) is the foundation of your life',
'Every day with sadhana is a day worth living' or 'When discipline wins over ego and emotions, that is a true victory',
though not in so many words of course, but through a certain look or nod.
A nice thing about Kun-dalini Yoga, it is a group thing. Definitely it lets you be self-sufficient and all it takes to enter into the wonderful world of Kunda-lini Yoga is you, yourself and you. Still, when others are around, whe-ther family, friends or community, the good at-mosphere takes on a new dimension. There is no-thing like sitting in a group, exercising and chanting in one rhythm and one voice, going on the same road of challenge together.
Some of my favourite moments have been at the European Yoga Festival in morning yoga, and particularly the meditations with our own live musicians, family and friends huddled together in blankets with the sun rising above the mist of the lake.
When my first child entered the world, morning meditation got shifted from the traditional amrit vela (4-7 am) to the baby vela (midnight - 2 am), and chanting was done in 'walking' kriya, a curious little face peaking out over my shoulder. Years later I could watch the satisfaction in my children's eyes as they stretched up in cobra or gleefully bounced in frogs. One of these little ones, now a teen, tries futily to get her papa to do 3 minutes of stretch pose and ever harder yoga sets. Even so, the reward is real when the whole family does yoga together and lively voices join together in the meditations. We're doing something completely good, and we're doing it together!
The first time I walked into a 3HO community house, I was struck by the peaceful atmosphere of the place. People here did Kundalini Yoga every day, probably at night as well. In fact, everything they did was yogic. Their food was yogic, and they chanted a meditation before taking a bite. Their clothes were even yogic, their words yogic, and from the cold shower they took at 4 am to the evening meditation before sleep at night, Kundalini Yoga was involved. Their faces looked bright and calm, at least to this teen. Their talk was alternately earnest and casual, often spattered with self-irony and down-to-earth observations. These were obviously quite normal people, in fact more normal under scrutiny than most 'mainstream' people I had met. And yet they definitely had something, were doing something that was more powerful than their personalities.
Beyond doing Kundalini Yoga, there is a further satisfaction of sharing your experience with interested groups of people who look to this new-found knowledge, and to you as its channel, with newly awakened hope. I can think of no better feeling than the fulfilment after completing a class or workshop and knowing that the time spent went to helping others have a better day.
Many areas of human experience interest me, such as the music of Beethoven, the history of the world wars, lines on the palm, programming spreadsheets, running a meeting, taking a speedy turn on a ski slope. Enhancing focus and lending perspective and balance to all these interests, is the practice of Kundalini Yoga.
I have never found any separation between life and Kundalini Yoga - no conflict, no area of irresolution between the many facets of human life and experience, and the experience of Kundalini Yoga. The first enriches the second and the second enriches the first. So if you do Kundalini Yoga, know enough to do Kundalini Yoga, are considering learning about Kundalini Yoga, then count yourself as fortunate!
If you do choose to read this book and practice Kundalini Yoga, then enjoy the book and especially enjoy doing Kundalini Yoga - that is imperative! And, if time and happenstance allow us to meet in the same time and space, please introduce yourself and let us talk together about your experience - that is a conversation I would look forward to!
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