Kundalini Yoga

Kundalini Yoga (kuṇḍalinī-yoga), also known as laya yoga, is a school of yoga that is influenced by Shaktism and Tantra schools of Hinduism. It derives its name through a focus on awakening kundalini energy through regular practice of meditation, pranayama, chanting mantra and yoga asana. Called by practitioners "the yoga of awareness", it aims "to cultivate the creative spiritual potential of a human to uphold values, speak truth, and focus on the compassion and consciousness needed to serve and heal others."

What has become known as "Kundalini yoga" in the 20th century, after a technical term peculiar to this tradition, is actually a synthesis of many traditions which may include haṭha yoga techniques (such as bandha, pranayama, and asana), Patañjali's kriya yoga (consisting of self-discipline, self-study, and devotion to god), tantric visualization and meditation techniques of laya yoga (known as samsketas), and other techniques oriented towards the 'awakening of kundalini'. Laya may refer both to techniques of yoga, and (like Raja Yoga) its effect of "absorption" of the individual into the cosmic. Laya Yoga, from the Sanskrit term laya meaning "dissolution", "extinction", or "absorption", is almost always described in the context of other Yogas such as in the Yoga-Tattva-Upanishad, the Varaha Upanishad, the Goraksha Paddhati, the Amaraugha-Prabodha, and the Yoga-Shastra of Dattatreya. The exact distinctions between traditional yoga schools is often hazy due to a long history of syncretism, hence many of our oldest sources on Kundalini come through manuals of the tantric and haṭha traditions such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and the Shiva Samhita. The Shiva Samhita describes the qualified yogi as practicing 'the four yogas' to achieve kundalini awakening while lesser students may resort solely to one technique or another: "Mantra Yoga and Hatha Yoga. Laya Yoga is the third. The fourth is Raja Yoga. It is free from duality."

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