I have just returned from my Kundalini yoga retreat in Nosara, Costa Rica.

I couldn’t imagine a more beautiful place or wonderful people to go through my first kundalini experience with.

It was a very uncomfortable experience for me.  Not just because I chose to experience the jungle with its glorious sounds, smells and noises, in a cabin without air conditioning or hot water.

I do not profess to be an expertise in kundalini yoga after practicing for a week.

Kundalini yoga is about the flow of energy through our energy centers or chakras combining intense breath-work and stimulation of internal organs and adrenal glands in a way that have almost trippy effects.

My first day of several hours of yoga practice left me feeling irritable, nauseous, exhausted and questioning my reason for being there.  It turns out this is a normal response to stirring up energy and releasing it.

I learned a very powerful exercise which involves forming fists, sitting with a long straight spine and proceeding to forcefully exhale with an ‘o” shape of your lips and backstroking one fist at a time.  I hope my description does this kriya justice; I would be happy to demonstrate for you in one of my yoga classes.

In any case, when performed for 2-3 minutes this kriya is powerful in releasing emotions.

If you recall, I have been working on catharsis exercise to physically release years of buried emotions.  Maybe that is why this exercise affected me the way it did.  I was already primed for a shift. As my teacher told us, it has the power to change our lives.

Before you think I had a miserable yoga retreat, I don’t want to mislead you.  It was uncomfortable yes, AND it was transformative!  I came back tired and cleansed.  Releasing energy blocks has allowed me to think and speak more clearly and act with ease and confidence. It makes me feel lighter and expansive.

I can’t quite explain it, except that as I get older and wiser, I realize that discomfort is not a bad thing since so much good comes out of it.

Glad to be home, yes! And appreciative of the opportunity to experience earth’s energy in synchronicity with my own energy, caring for and maintaining its flow through my body.  Pura Vide (Pure Life)!