Sahaja Yoga

I noticed a small, calm group of people sitting upright in chairs with their shoes off and their hands opened towards a makeshift shrine. Behind each seated figure were people whom appeared to be waving their hands around in a rather methodic and deliberate way. As i gazed across the vast circus that was the recent Yoga Show at Kensington Olympia, wandering towards the scene, I caught the eye of one of the practitioners and as I approached the area, I was kindly invited by a friendly looking lady to take a seat. 'Would you like to try?' she asked me. 'Try what?' I though to myself. As i looked around the partition walls of the workshop area I assumed that this was some kind of energy channeling system like reiki which I am already a practicioner of. I saw familiar images of yogic symbols, chakra points and lots of channels and arrows presumably indicating energy channels within the subtle body.
I was invited by the man who was to be treating me to take off my shoes and sit with my hands open towards a photograph that held pride of place on shrine that was to the front of the workshop area.
I closed my eyes, trying to place the face from the picture. I had seen it many times before, presumable during my time in India where she is a well know and much loved guru. Her teaching is Sahaja Yoga. A meditation practice which involves the raising of the Kundalini to the crown chakra thereby attaining self-realisation. Her name is Sri Mataji Nirmala Devi.

So I sat with my eyes closed whilst the man treating me moved his hands around, above and beside me. I could often sense where his hands were and other times i felt a gentle stroke as his hands brushed lightly over the crown of my head or side of my arm. I sank into a deeply relaxed state and concentrated on the energies flying around inside my body. I had a strong vibration at the base of my spine and i could feel that I had a cold swirling energy trapped in the lowest section of my back. I knew it was pushing to move up my spine but it was blocked, trapped there. I performed Moolabandha a few times by tensing one of the muscles in the pelvic floor area and visualised the kundalini snaking its way up my spine. The sensation was sublime. The cool tingle enveloped my spinal column and sent shivers over my skin and up the back of my neck and head to my crown. After some time he asked me to place my hand above my crown chakra and to my amazement I could feel a gentle flow of cold air being release which he later told me was my kundalini freely flowing through my subtle body. Most treatments lasted around fifteen minutes by all accounts. I was there around forty minutes, basking in the energy that flowed so freely through me.

Since that time i have read a little about Sahaja Yoga and have been struggling with it's concepts. At first i felt that it went against the teachings i had taken regarding the kundalini. The awakening of kundalini as i understand from books i have read from Satyananda Yoga involves clearing the subtle body by detoxifying the physical body and the mind through hatha yoga, then awakening the Sushumna Nadi through fairly in depth kundalini tantra. Then it is necessary to awaken each chakra individually starting with the third eye chakra then working up from the root chakra to the crown chakra. By all accounts, this can take years, if not lifetimes so when i am told in one day that i have my kundalini flowing out the top of my head I really felt i had to do some reserch on this. For one thing the blissful experiences described by saints and yogis over the years far exceeds the sensations i experienced during my treatment though there was definitely something pleasant flowing within me.

It seems from my reading that the awakened kundalini that is spoken of in yoga is something that once experienced in its full force leaves no doubt in ones mind. It is a powerful and life changing experience that few yogis attain. One explanation is that the sensation i felt is the release of kundalini yet because i have not yet completed the cleaning of my mind and body, the sensations are less intense and very short lived in comparison to full awakenings reached by those whom awaken kundalini through this and other forms of sadhana having first fully cleansed themselves. So for me, i think the kundalini raised with a weak intensity and then lay dormant again and looking back through my life, i have had other experiences similar to this where i have felt energy moving up my spine then seeming to disappear.

Since this experience i have been attending weekly Sahaja Yoga classes in my home town of Bristol. The classes are given freely and are held in many major cities around the world. I may start to practice this alongside my hatha yoga routine as i feel they are absolutely complementary and are working towards the same awakening.

with pranams.