The kundalini way
Supporting birth with Kundalini Yoga
The ancient art of Kundalini Yoga is one of the most effective ways a woman can prepare herself for a conscious pregnancy, labour and birth. It balances a woman on every level: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. And the practice is empowering. Tuning into her strength in a Kundalini Yoga pregnancy class, a woman can come to know and trust that she is designed for the birthing process and that she has the calibre to deliver her baby and cross the threshold into motherhood.
A Kundalini Yoga pregnancy class incorporates various tools from the Kundalini tradition. Every class begins with chanting the Adi Mantra: “Ong Namo, Guru Dev Namo”. Coming from Gurmukhi, the words mean: “I call upon the infinite creative consciousness, I bow to the divine teacher within.” This mantra enables a woman to access her innermost wisdom, power and divinity.
Yoga and meditation Kundalini
Kundalini Yoga exercise sets strengthen and align a woman’s physical body as it changes to accommodate her growing baby. Postures help to balance the hormones which are the guardians of a healthy childbirth. Chanting mantras, which is a tool that you can use during birth, can open the heart, increase lung capacity, relax the muscles of the jaw (which encourages the muscles of the pelvis to relax), and create a calming sound current. Breathwork is a quick and accessible way to change how you feel in any given moment. During childbirth, the breath can serve as a best friend and source of pain relief.
Kundalini meditations harness the mind and help to release fears, anxieties and negative thoughts that may block a woman’s innate ability to give birth and trust in herself as a new mother. Helping to focus the mind, meditation can open the gateway to higher consciousness. In this heightened state of awareness, a woman can tune into that primal wisdom that has guided countless generations of women before. (Following this article is a meditation that works specifically on strengthening this aspect of consciousness.)
Childbirth is undoubtedly a labour of love and during birth, a woman is stretched beyond her known limits. Kundalini Yoga can prepare a woman to consciously pass through the threshold of childbirth leaving her feeling invincibly empowered. And as her baby is born, she enters the realm of divine motherhood
Meditation to access higher consciousness
Before you begin, tune in with the Adi Mantra, chanting three times: “Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo.”
Posture: Sit on the floor with legs crossed or in a chair with feet flat against the floor. Place your hands in your lap, with your palms facing up. The right hand rests in the left. Your thumb tips may touch.
Close your eyes: As you sit, let go of the tension in your body. Keep your spine long but allow your muscles to relax. Experience a sense of peace within. Feel your radiance.
Focus: Keeping your eyes closed, focus at the brow point, just above the bridge of the nose, between the eyebrows. Sense the flow of energy there.
Mantra: Maintaining silence, mentally vibrate the mantra Wahe Guru. In your mind, feel and hear the sounds in a simple monotone, four distinct syllables: Wah Hay Gu Roo. Wahe Guru is a mantra of ecstasy. Wahe is like “wow!”. Guru means that which brings us from darkness to light. As you mentally recite this mantra, you call on your higher self, empowering yourself to break through self-imposed limitations – conscious and unconscious - that have been holding you back.
Time: continue for 11 to 31 minutes
To finish: take a deep inhale and suspend the breath for a moment. Repeat two more times. Close the practice by chanting the mantra Sat Nam (which means Truth is my identity) three times.
Written by Natalie Dorchester, Sarab Jeewan Kaur and Haridev Kaur. Natalie and Sarab are both KRI-certified Kundalini Yoga teachers and teach pregnancy yoga at JOY Yoga (joy.yoga). Both are doulas. Sarab has more than 15 years experience supporting women through childbirth.
Photos: Leanne Dixon
Om Magazine
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