Dear Soul Arcanum:
I have always associated yoga with spirituality, and I am keenly interested in developing my psychic abilities, so recently I took my first yoga class. While I really liked it, I was surprised to find it basically just a gentle form of exercise. Do you think yoga can enhance our spiritual paths and help us develop psychically?
– Kelly
Dear Kelly:
When I speak here of yoga, I am not referring to the physical practices designed to increase strength and flexibility that most Westerners associate with the term. Yoga is far more than this. Traditionally, yoga (which means “yoke”) is a spiritual discipline designed to lead aspirants to unite their individual soul with God or the Universal soul.
This is achieved through the study and practice of moral and ethical principles, spiritual teachings, meditation, and special bodily and breathing exercises. Where its focus is physical, it aims to purify and transform the body into a vehicle ripe for enlightenment. It also aims to improve our physical health and well-being; after all, it’s hard to focus on spiritual growth when our bodies are causing us pain or discomfort.
Many of the yoga classes available in the United States have been stripped of their more spiritual elements. Yoga has many branches, however, and some are far more spiritually focused than others.
In the yogic tradition, psychic powers are known as “siddhis,” which literally means “perfections.” Accomplished yogis have been known to not only develop telepathy, clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, and mediumship abilities, but also amazing gifts such as the ability to levitate, bilocate, instantly heal others and materialize physical objects.
As a rule, however, one does not practice yoga in order to develop siddhis; instead, they are viewed as natural “by-products” of general spiritual development. I agree that focusing primarily on spiritual development is wise, for a strong spiritual foundation ensures a safe, sane, positive experience with psychic phenomena.
Further, yoga is a discipline, and discipline is essential to a strong spiritual foundation. If someone has the desire and discipline to practice yoga on a regular basis, then they must be sincere in their desire for spiritual development. People who explore psychic matters who are mentally or emotionally unstable, morally weak, or lacking in character and discipline may have “paranormal” experiences of an unattractive nature, or even experience mental breakdown. Practices like yoga thus ensure a natural and healthy psychic progression, and also offer the immeasurable benefit of a wise teacher.
Many yogis are warned not to get caught up in siddhis because they may just distract them from their higher spiritual aims or ensnare their egos. Others believe that siddhis are blessings that allow us to better know and understand the nature of the divine. Certainly the development of psychic powers generally indicates a higher spiritual vibration, which is at least a sign that one is making spiritual progress.
Though initially I was as enthralled with psychic phenomena as anyone, over time I have come to see that the development of psychic abilities is not an ultimate spiritual goal. While such phenomena may enchant us for a while, in time we will evolve beyond this fascination; we’ll eventually lose interest in such matters and the desire to use the psychic abilities we’ve attained.
The ultimate goal of a yogi is liberation from the cycle of rebirth via enlightenment. Essential to this process is the integration of body, mind and spirit. This is where yoga can be a very special tool for spiritual growth. Unlike practices that focus entirely on our so-called “inner worlds,” yoga incorporates the body as an important aspect of our beings. By opening our chakras, balancing our prana, and raising kundalini, we can both support the spiritual progress we attain through other methods and initiate greater awakening.
A key element of yoga is the practice of focus or concentration. In this way, it is a form of active meditation. Further, as a physical discipline it is so much more than most other forms of sport and exercise, for in addition to what we might call “striving,” it emphasizes to an equal degree surrender or letting go. In this way it mirrors the experience of life itself, which is a practice in learning how to simultaneously create what we desire and accept all as it is.
As I mentioned above, there are many different types of yoga and I don’t have space to go into them here, but if your aim is the development of psychic abilities, then kundalini yoga would be of particular interest to you. Kundalini yoga’s main focus is the raising of kundalini and the opening of the higher chakra centers. Kundalini is a powerful reserve of life force energy that sleeps at the base of our spines, in our root chakras. By awakening kundalini, we expand our awareness and begin to tap more of our spiritual potential.
We each have a habit of viewing life through one of our chakras more than the others; this is the chakra that is dominant for us at that time. Ordinary consciousness is generally perception of reality from one of the lower chakra centers. As we open and move our awareness into the higher chakras, we view life through a more spiritual lens. We also tend to have mystical experiences and gain new spiritual abilities.
Our chakras correspond to our glandular system, and by working on the body (glands) and the spirit (chakras) at the same time, we can harmonize and integrate the two. This leads to higher awareness and the wisdom and freedom to choose from that enhanced perspective. It also generally leads to the blossoming of psychic abilities.
Kundalini is a very powerful force and it must be respected. Many people have awakened kundalini unintentionally through drug use, physical accidents, and casual dabbling in esoteric practices, and had very negative experiences. In order for kundalini to rise through us with ease, our inner energetic channels must be open and clear. If we awaken kundalini before the body is prepared for this level of intense energy, we may have a very uncomfortable experience physically, emotionally, and/or mentally.
Rest assured, however, that we are all flowing a degree of kundalini all the time. This is the force that keeps us “alive.” We are all also evolving spiritually, and the more we evolve, the more kundalini we tap into. Our aim should be a gradual, gentle awakening, one that we are prepared to handle. Yoga is a valuable tool in this regard.
There are some great kundalini yoga DVDs you can start with at home. I recommend DVDs by Ravi Singh/Ana Brett and Gurmukh. There are a number of them available at amazon.com. If you find this practice as enriching as I did, however, then I highly recommend you find a local class that feels right to you, because having a teacher is a great blessing, and you will meet some of the most amazing people on this path.
– Soul Arcanum
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