Knowra Kundalini yoga Kundalini yoga Kundalini yoga is a modern yoga style combining postures, breathing techniques, mantra, and meditation. It frames these practices as ways to awaken kundalini, a latent spiritual energy described in South Asian traditions.
Kriya (yoga) : A structured set of yogic practices performed in a prescribed sequence, often combining movement, breath, and meditation. Kundalini yoga classes commonly organize exercises into kriyas, each intended to produce a particular effect.
Tantra : A diverse body of South Asian religious traditions and practices involving ritual, mantra, and esoteric methods. Kundalini concepts and subtle-body practices developed within several tantric traditions.
Kundalini yoga (traditional) : A range of traditional South Asian practices and doctrines concerning kundalini and the subtle body. These diverse traditions differ from the standardized modern system associated with Yogi Bhajan.
Yoga as exercise : The use of yoga postures and related practices to support physical fitness and well-being. Kundalini yoga is practiced both for spiritual aims and for physical or mental well-being.
Pranayama : Yogic practices for regulating and directing the breath. Breath techniques such as Breath of Fire are prominent in many Kundalini yoga sequences.
Hatha yoga : A family of yoga traditions that use physical techniques, including postures and breath control, to transform body and mind. Modern Kundalini yoga shares physical and breath practices with the wider hatha yoga heritage.
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga : A fixed-sequence style of yoga linking postures through breath-synchronized movement. Its emphasis on flowing posture sequences contrasts with Kundalini yoga's varied kriyas and mantra.
Yoga and mental health : Research and practice concerning yoga's effects on psychological well-being and mental disorders. Studies of yoga's mental-health effects provide context, though they do not establish benefits unique to this style.
Mantra : A word, phrase, or sound repeated in spiritual or contemplative practice. Repetition of mantras supplies Kundalini yoga with a vocal and attentional practice.
Yogi Bhajan : An Indian-born teacher who introduced a form of Kundalini yoga to North America in the late 1960s. He established the teaching system and organizations most associated with contemporary Kundalini yoga.
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