Shuniya Yoga

Shuniya |shoo-nee-yuh| means ‘zero’, ‘nothing’, and describes a state of awareness in which the mind is brought to complete stillness, perfect harmony, neutrality, peaceful calm. It is a state of emptiness, where no positive or negative is assigned to things: there is no good or bad, there is no trying, no searching, no desire, no wanting. There is nothing. From the state of shuniya things can simply unfold, without you having to ‘try’ or ‘do’ anything. You just create the required empty space and then watch how things happen and unfold.

This is the state we try to reach through Kundalini Yoga and Meditation (closely linked to Mindfulness). Learning to develop this internal quiet offers numerous and profound benefits, such as awakening the body’s innate self-healing potential and facilitating self-knowledge and self-transformation. Shuniya Kundalini Yoga is dedicated to help you uncoil your own potential, so you can experience for yourself that nothing has to come from the outside: all is in you, you are the storehouse of your totality.

The Sanskrit word yoga comes from the word ‘to yoke’, which means ‘to join together’, ‘to unite’, ‘to unify’. Yoga is the union of the individual’s consciousness with the infinite consciousness. Viewing yoga only as a physical exercise system for vitality and health does not do it justice, and neither does seeing it solely as a psychological system that develops the potential of the psyche. Essentially, yoga is a relationship, a union, of body, mind and soul; of self (the individual consciousness) and Self (the Universal Consciousness). It is not a religion, it is a spiritual discipline of self-actualisation and self-realisation, of awareness unfolding. Apart from bringing many physical and mental benefits, it also takes you on a journey of finding your inner self. It is you relating to your spirit, your essence, your higher self, in the most personal inner relationship. In Kundalini Yoga this is called ‘Sat Nam’: ‘Truth is my Identity.’

Yoga makes you aware of what is Ego – all the attachments you have and which you think create your self – and what is your True Self, your Essence. And that essence is just this: that you are. Not who you are, but THAT you are. Through experiencing your breath, your body and your mind, you become aware that you are in this moment in time. Nothing more, nothing less. As Yogi Bhajan, Master of Kundalini Yoga, put it so wonderfully: ‘We are all spiritual beings experiencing a human existence.’ Once you relate to yourself in this way, you will start relating to everyone around you in the same way: you will no longer relate to their ego, but to their essence, and you will realise that it is the same Essence as yours. ‘If you cannot see God in all, you cannot see God at all.’ (Yogi Bhajan)

Shuniya Kundalini Yoga offers weekly classes in Leicester, as well as yoga workshops and retreats hosted by Japjeet Kaur in the UK and in other European countries such as Belgium, France, Spain, etc. Our teacher Japjeet Kaur also offers private one-to-one classes and private consults (in the studio or via skype) on health, nutrition, stress-management, yogic numerology, life-coaching and spiritual counselling. Our goal is to assist you in improving your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being and health, enhancing your self-esteem and self-confidence and enabling you to develop healthy and fulfilling relationships with yourself, others, nature and the transcendental.

The teacher:
Japjeet Kaur Khalsa is a KRI (Kundalini Research Institute) and IKYTA (International Kundalini Yoga Teachers Association) – certified Kundalini Yoga teacher (‘Aquarian Teacher Level I’). She is currently doing her Level II training. She is also a certified children and teenagers yoga teacher (Radiant Child Yoga Program RCYP Level 1 & 2) and has been a certified Facilitator for the Kundalini Yoga Women’s Programme Excel & Celebrate – The Radiance of Woman since 2009. From 2008 until 2011 Japjeet taught KY in Belgium; since January 2012 she has been teaching KY in the UK and running retreats in the UK, Spain and Belgium. Over the past years she has specialised in KY for stress management, depression and burn-out, and women’s programmes. Japjeet is also a nutrition & health advisor, life-coach and spiritual counsellor.

Kundalini Yoga: how does it work and what are the benefits?

Kundalini Yoga is a very potent and effective system of self-transformation and personal development that uses and combines the following techniques: pranayam (breathing techniques), asanas (body postures / movements), mudras (hand-postures), mantras (sound currents or mentally produced sounds), bhandas (body locks / muscle contractions) and dhristi (mental and eye focus).

KY is mainly characterised by quite dynamic, repetitive exercises, a strong attention to the breath which helps intensify the effects of the poses with the purpose of freeing energy in the lower body and allowing it to move upwards, and the use of mantra’s. The exercises help you to become more aware of your physical, mental and emotional condition and to subsequently influence them in a positive way – hence KY is also called ‘The Yoga of Awareness’. The overall result of a regular KY practice is the balancing of the chakras (energy wheels or centers along the spine) and the alignment of our ten spiritual Bodies (these are: the soul body, negative mind, positive mind, neutral mind, the physical body, arc line, auric body, pranic body, subtle body and radiant body). This in turn awakens us to who we really are: spiritual beings having a human experience.

KY has an extremely wide range of benefits. It keeps you healthy, reduces stress, increases vitality and productivity, helps to prevent burnout, and enhances your general feeling of well-being. A regular practice of KY strengthens the muscles, joints and spine, removes toxins from the body, and enhances the functioning of organs, glands, blood circulation, nervous system and immune system. The yoga and meditations develop and balance both brain hemispheres and give you a stronger focus in your daily activities and at work. This increases your efficiency and will make you excel in your endeavours in all areas of your life. KY helps you to understand your emotions and discern their origin in certain thoughts, and teaches you how to handle these emotions and change them by changing your thoughts. A KY practice will also motivate you to adopt a more healthy lifestyle. KY has proved to be very effective in helping people deal with many diseases of this age: stress and burnout, chronic pain, migraines, trauma, all kinds of illnesses, cancer, …
Apart from all this, it also deepens a spiritual awareness and sense of oneness (Ek) with everything around you, and it stimulates you to live a life of righteousness, compassion, truth, consciousness, and service.

Who can practice Kundalini Yoga?

KY can be practiced by anyone – regardless of age, gender, physical condition, flexibility (the presupposition that one has to be flexible to practice yoga certainly does not apply to KY), and/or physical impediment – , provided that the given instructions are followed.

If you have any physical impediment, alternative instructions will be provided for all exercises; even if you cannot sit comfortably on the floor, you can practice sitting on a chair as an alternative.

Because KY is so effective and quick in its results, it is a yoga form that works specifically well for active people who combine working or studying with a busy family and social life.