Kundalini Yoga: Why It Has The Power To Heal + Isn't As Weird As You May Think

Picture yourself in stress or pain, and a healer sits next to you, lightly touching your arm. Then suddenly, that sinister energy just shifts in your body and you are completely relaxed. The healer is relaxed. Later you realize that whatever had been nagging you has shifted as though it were magic ...

The powerful modality known as Sat Nam Rasayan is a healing branch of Kundalini yoga. Translated as the "deep relaxation into the Divine truth," it is often met with a raised eyebrow. Some might even say that it's the weird form of yoga.

But at a recent Wanderlust Festival, a friend of mine mentioned that this "weird yoga" was actually the most packed class at a festival that she'd ever been to. And the most raved about later.

Kundalini — the yoga of awareness — is all about uplifting you. Renowned for bringing this style of yoga to the West, Yogi Bhajan declared that it is in our birthright to be happy, holy and healthy. Sat Nam Rasayan demands of you an entirely new level of trust, in order to attain this virtue. It will leave you feeling wowed, completely relaxed and suspended in stillness.

Its essence lies in Shuniya, which brings your being to a neutral point, or zero. It is from this space that profound healing can occur, allowing for an open channel of energetic communication between healer and patient. Shuniya is not interested in the diagnosis but rather, a deep sensory experience that occurs between two beings.

Everything is suspended in this space — judgment, analysis, knowledge and wisdom. There is no engagement of the mind. It is nothing and of course, as we've learned through study of meditation, within the nothing there is everything. Energy without perception or labeling can be shifted by focusing on where the energetic blockage occurs.

There's no request, no pushing, no intention. Just pure contemplation.

This might sound uncannily simple — like black magic at work that might warrant a burning at the stake.

But during a recent workshop with Guru Dev — the living master of Sat Nam Rasayan — I was equally transfixed and amazed at how this healing modality actually works. No magic required.

This ancient form of healing was traditionally passed from teacher to student, without a word ever being spoken. After several years, the student would be deemed ready to practice, and then after many more years they were ready to teach another. It's not the most efficient way to pass down this knowledge but then again, in those days people were not in such a hurry.

It was Yogi Bhajan who passed down these teachings to Guru Dev, bestowing in him the task of bringing Sat Nam Rasayan to the world.

This was my second experience with Guru Dev and my fourth Sat Nam Rasayan workshop. Each time my understanding and wonder of this modality increases. It is wonderfully subtle, non-invasive and effective. That is not to say it is not disciplined. As anyone who has tried to meditate will attest, achieving Shuniya requires immense discipline and practice.