Where it all began

I started my meditation journey when I was 21 in Albuquerque, NM. I was over stressed in a high pressure sales job, lost my ass in real estate investing and inches from a nervous break down. I was walking down central ave and saw an introduction to Kundalini yoga. I had never heard of this and had no idea what it was but it talked about reducing stress and I was desperate to try anything.

I walked in, asked a few questions, and signed up. My first class was the next day and I can't tell you how incredible the experience was. It felt like I took a few Valium. I had not been that relaxed in years.

Kundalini works with the flow of energy in your body through a series of physical and breathing exercises. The theory is that your body develops blocks that restrict the flow of energy or weakens the energy. By doing the exercises and even some chants you begin to remove the blocks and strengthen the weak areas.

Warning: Kundalini is not for the faint of heart and is also a little esoteric. I practiced this form of movement and meditation for a year and found that my views and perceptions of the world were turned upside down. My sales tanked and I lost my drive to focus just on money. By the time I quit this practice I had to make a decision to either stay on this path and let what happens happen or turn away and reintroduce myself back into the real world. I chose the latter because I was scared of what would of happened if I continued on this path. I returned to Kundalini yoga 15 years later with a form that had a less radical shift in my life.

More about that in my next post.

Here is a link that does a good job of describing what Kundalini is and what it is not:
http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~keutzer/kundalini/kundalini-faq.html