Kundalini Awakening

There's been many times when I've experienced an incredible shift during yoga, a sense of weightlessness, and pure presence. I remember describing it to someone once, many years ago as, because I was suddenly visually aware of so many details, of feeling "everywhere, all at once". Today, during Jacqui Bonwell's chakra cleanse, I felt my eyebrows drawn aside to make room for the pleasant surprise of heat. Heat. Actual heat. Even now I can feel it pulsing, and even higher, into Soma Chakra.

It was an incredible workshop, and I certainly needed it. This past week, I was on a juice clease that had me high as a kite, I felt wonderful and free, and alive. And as it ended, I felt... pretty good, but not as liberated as I had on my cleanse. And slightly disappointed that my sweet tooth didn't go away. Then last night and this morning, after receiving some good news, I started to worry. I can hear Brian Tracy mocking me in my head "... and these are the kind of people that the moment things start going their way, they are on the lookout for something to come and mess it up... and sure enough". The worry mounted. It became more absurd, my channels morphing into perverse, creeping and hideous worms vibrating with memories of things gone awry, troubles unsettled, limitations and doubts.... energy draining. Teaching yoga didn't make it go away, taking yoga turned pointless and How Yoga Works just reminded me of painful truths. I wished I was still in New York so that I could walk over to Martin Navarette, and say, "here's my head, would you take it, wash it out, and bring it back?".

So, I got to Jacqui's class ten minutes late. I actually started driving the wrong way to H.Y.P. this morning. Greg Gumucio used to say that it's the person who arrives last to class that needs it the most, which is a pretty compassionate thought, really. So we started out with a chant I hadn't heard before, which ended in "Shum" and I want to ask about. Jacqui asked us to use the inhale to pinch the kundalini, and the exhale to pull it up the spine, an accessible metaphor.

We started off with the Muladhara, the root chakra. The root chakra is the chakra of fear (ahem), worry (uh oh) regarding security (ohh boy). It has to do with money and family (who isn't insecure about these things?), I suppose once could either balance within to find balance outside, or, Jacqui's take, remain balanced within despite external imbalances. Take your philosophical pick. (PS: this wasn't an Iyengar workshop, no one brought notebooks- I had a piece of pen and paper by my side, for accuracy's sake, with Leigh, my manager at Lululemon, in mind). The bija mantra for the root chakra is LAM.

We moved on to Svadhistana Chakra, this is the chakra of water, love and relationships, fertility (in all aspects), creativity and sensuality. All around awesome chakra, not that I'm biased. This is also the chakra of trauma and guilt (also some of my favorite things!). VAN. Jacqui had us hold horse pose, then slide into pidgeon. Hip openers early on have always made a huge difference in a class, and now I understand why.

Moving on to Manipura- I wrote less here, perhaps because I was holding plank- manipura, fire, digestion, insecurity. Bija, RAM.

Then dear Anahata, love, acceptance and forgiveness. I love this chakra as well. Ok, this isn't about having a favorite chakra, I know! I love all chakras equally. Anahata vibrates with YAM. Jacqui had us in bow, imagine someone we detested, couldn't stand, and then to let that person go. I imagined the front of my heart bleeding a brilliant green across my shirt.

Coming to the throat, this was in the reverse order of the hips. I normally stretch the throat either in a short sequence at the beginning of class, or perhaps in fish pose at the end. The throat is the center for self-expression, and how much addiction, and illness, is related to the throat, asked Jacqui. It's true, most pills are swallowed, liquor is drunk, and I for one stuff food down my glut when attempting to quelch my thoughts. HAM.

Between the eyebrows, and this is when that heat began to spread, the third eye, OM, Jacqui said. At the end of class, I couldn't move- moving was an absolutely absurd action. Damn propriety, I would have stayed there forever.