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[Pascal]

Hello!

First sorry my very bad English. 
My problem is how to choose a correct yoga practices among billion of practices on the Internet or finding a good yoga school. I'm lost a little.
I am Frenchman living in France now. I like spirituality since young. I like meditation too.I like Sri Ramana Maharishi, Arunachala mountain. I lived in south India around 10 years. Mantak Chia books influenced me also.

2 years ago, during a trance, I awakened Kundalini (Before any serious yoga classes or courses) I make two years to recovering from this heavy experiment because of 'blocking' and impurities inside of me. I was alone also..

My vocabulary is poor but I want say that I just prepared my body to received this Divine gift, and God given to me, it's not me, as ego, who have the 'power' to awakened , to control, this 'energy'.

It was a very challenging experiment for me but I don't regret it now because it has little changed me, I feel now a lot of compassion or love, and I feel more 'alive' than before with this particular 'energy' inside me.

I try to ground me, which is recommended with kind of energy, but on the same time, 2 years after that experiment, I 'd like making a true spiritual practice to allow this energy to go until the Coronal Chakra (As Shivananda prescribed ) or to develop simply.

So I began to learn yogi Bahjan's Kundalini yoga (3ho). I felt better but it is necessary to admit it, with this kind of 'energy' inside me, any yogas works. And I'm not sure that 'Kundalini yoga' is for people who has already awakened Kundalini

Recently, I get the idea to take lessons to become a '3ho 1st degree teacher' from yogi Bahjan's Kundalini yoga in France.
But with the researches I made on Internet in English about3ho and yogi Bahjan(even if I don't understand very well English, I confess), some people said that is a cult, a money business $$$, a corrupted gourou..

I'm just a beginner now but I don't want wasting my time.

I like making Kriyas or pranayama before meditation so..

Have you got any Kriya or meditation for developing Kundalini to advise me?

Have you got a 'honest' school of Yoga, or Kundalini yoga school to advise me? ( Even in India or others countries) Or any honest school?

Thanks in advance for your help
Thank you   
Pascal

[Gustaf]

Dear Pascal

According to my understanding of the role of Kundalini in yoga, it is twofold; The first is to prepare for and make the awakening possible (it always seems to happen spontaneously), the second is to sustain and nourish the awakening.   The practice of yoga before and after awakening tends to be different, at least, this is how it has been in my case.

It's a never-ending process that begins. What is important is that you find something that resonates with you, a set of practices that are a good match for your nature.

Essentially, the only thing you need is surrender!  But if surrender, and a deep feeling in your heart leads you to new yoga practices, there is nothing wrong with that. In fact it may be exactly what you need. "Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water... "

Also note, that "Kundalini Yoga" is a very general term, pointing at possibly hundreds of different systems and traditions. Yogi Bhajan as you mentioned, is one.  I have learned (still learn) yoga from the Satyananda lineage. I've found this to be a very sincere and earnest tradition. If it wasn't, the Goddess within me would not encourage me to practice 1-2 hours daily and experience wonderful benefits  from it! (For years) I have had to take longer breaks a couple of times, to reassess my practice, and it has been new and different each time this happened.

Also, what you may look into, is an integral approach to yoga. Practicing only Kundalini practices and kriyas will sort of make you crazy, and might point at an addition to the energy rushes. Why not look at a balanced approach between Karma yoga (consectrated work), Bhakti yoga (devotion), Hatha yoga (for your physical health),  and a dose of Kundalini yoga to help manage your process.   The thing is, you don't need to control anything. Just focus on releasing blockages and attachments!   Also if you are inclined towards sounds and vibrations, you may enjoy Mantra yoga as well.

There's a wonderful book that gives you a 2-3 year program that takes you through all the different kinds of yoga practices, from simple breathing and pawanmuktasan practices, to the full series of kundalini kriyas. I have done the practices from this book myself, and find them absolutely wonderful. Some practices stick out as particularily beneficial, so I adjust the program accordingly. Others don't resonate as much, and they fall away. It includes hatha yoga, jnana yoga, mantra yoga, nada yoga and so on, even the cleansing practices for your body.

http://www.vedicbooks.net/a-systematic-course-in-the-ancient-tantric-techniques-of-yoga-and-kriya-p-902.html

It seems temporarily out of print in most bookshops at the moment, but keep looking!

Ramana Maharishi is wonderful btw, I've read a lot of his material!

I have no suggestions for any specific practice for you, but I would recommend you include karma yoga in some form in your daily life. In fact, some say that all you -really- need after awakening is karma yoga.. Chop wood, carry water.

Good luck in your quest to find the right practices!  Don't take my suggestions too literally, listen to your own gut first.

Namaste!
Gustaf

[Gustaf]

I'd also like to add, that I mention the Satyananda tradition because it is what I am familiar with. I have no judgement for or against Yogi Bhajan's tradition.  Remember to follow your own guidance!

[Mystress]

  A few reasons to avoid 3h0 Kundalini Yoga:

  1.) Yogi Bahan trademarked the term "Kundalini Yoga" so nobody else can use it to apply to any other yoga of Kundalini without being sued.  Once it was a general term, now it is not.

   2.)  I have gotten a number of emails from people whose 3H0 Kundalini Yoga teacher had no clue about how to support them when their Kundalini awakened, especially as the teacher was not awakened!

   3.) all the cult stuff.


   Gustaf is in a better place to advise you about the traditional stuff.

  I've never done pranayama, mantras, or almost any traditional Yoga techniques except the hatha yoga kriyas I get naturally.  I've never had a Guru and most of the stuff you read on this site is a result of my direct experience.  That stuff all seemed quite un-necessary.
I have read some of the traditional texts (Ramamna Maharishi is wonderful!)

  My own advice is to practice grounding.
http://kundalini-teacher.com/meditations.php

  It is a path all by itself!  I also created an online Kundalini school,
http://kundalini-teacher.com/lessons/fst.php  and a few of your countrymen are students at the moment.  Take a look and see if that path feels right to you.