Heather’s Kundalini Yoga Blog Kundalini yoga, passion, joy, fulfillment - sharing lessons I’ve learned

     I recall 12 years ago walking around New York City searching for a good yoga class.  Being a professional dancer I went from studio to studio, but was not  impressed or inspired by what I experienced.  It was shocking to see a yoga teacher standing outside smoking and talking about others. Hm. I thought yoga was about the state of mind as well as a philosophy of behaviour? I didn’t need to work on my physical body being a dancer.  I was much more concerned with my emotional and mental state at the time.  I started out not being a big fan of Yoga.  Then one day while teaching at New York University I heard  of “Kundalini Yoga East”  which was  in walking distance and provided a more complex variation of breath and meditation work.

          I walked into Kundalini Yoga East a bit nervous and at first I thought I entered into a cult. All the students wore white clothing with a white turban on their head.  I found a spot in the back of the room and found the energy to be very healing.  I left feeling a bit high and decided to give it another try.  In a matter of one month I was going to class 4 times a week and loving it.  The teachers were so clear about what work we would accomplish for the day and why we were doing it.  In fact, in all my years of training I felt these teachers knew more about the body then anything I experienced in my past dance education.  Twelve years later I sit as a teacher watching my students walk into class with the same inner fears and thoughts.

           I am disappointed by all the fitness centers using the word yoga in all the class titles.  It drives me crazy to hear someone say I don’t like yoga.  Then I ask them well was the breathing beneficial to you? What breathing.  Hm. Do you know in Pittsburgh some yoga classes people lift weights? Yes, wow have we really destroyed the 5,000 year old science just to appeal to our fast pace culture.  Many fads and misconceptions due to people not qualified in teaching it.  I wish people would research credentials more and not depend on companies to feed them everything.  I am finding in order to be authentic and come from a genuine place you have to create your own. This is why I gave half my furniture away to create an intimate yoga studio in my home.

           My last thought for today is pay attention to how much the word “wellness” is being used to sell drugs now.  I never imagined wellness would be wrapped around an allergy pill. I thought wellness was taking yoga for 3 months and being able to delete medication from being used.  We must take ownership of our bodies and minds and I hope if nothing else if you stumble across a bad yoga class-you will remember my story and keep trying until you find the “real deal!”