Kundalini Yoga’s Holistic Approach to Tackling Stress

By Ben Gutman

Activate your neutral mind and stress-proof your life 

There are two ways of living in this world—the way of worry and the way of relaxation. –Yogi Bhajan 

Before I began practicing Kundalini Yoga, I fell in the first category. My thought process was a constant to-do list. I put all my energy into analyzing and worrying about what “needed” to be done. Ironically, this calculated attempt to clarify ideas and produce results backfired. My thoughts became a jumble of erratic worries about unproductivity, giving way to a full-fledged river of stress, frustration, and eventually depression.

We’ve all experienced a stress state. Our expectations pull us from the beauty of the moment. We think so much that we lose touch with our heart’s desires. Instead of developing beneficial self-growth practices, our emotional traumas and subconscious programming hook us to artificial stimulation. And the cycle continues. My cycle ended when I recognized and addressed the root cause behind my stress state:

All efforts to control physical reality to feel secure and avoid change only lead to tension.

Kundalini Yoga helped me accept my difficulties as blessings in disguise, compassionately detach from my former thinking, and trust in something bigger than myself. It’s a holistic healing guide that accompanied me through a stressful time. And if you’re searching for a spiritual practice to ground you, it can do the same for you.

Transcending Mental Tension

In modern society, we constantly use our analytical minds. After all, we evaluate our options and pick and choose to accomplish our goals, right? The tension appears when this way of thinking becomes the only way. When we solely seek to control and manipulate our destiny, we lose sight of the fact that our destiny already flows within us. 

We become absorbed by the illusion of duality—the ego-centric separation of the “I” and what we believe is good for the “I” from everything else. We seek “pleasure” and avoid “pain.” We highlight “happiness” but hide the “sadness.” It’s a mental trap we release onto ourselves.

It’s impossible to separate opposing forces because they are interconnected. It’s an emotional rollercoaster if you try. This universal truth is known as polarity. The positive needs the negative to balance the equation. That’s why a mindful state of neutral observation and appreciation of all thoughts, emotions, and experiences is so beneficial. It removes you from duality’s stress cycle.

Once aware of this fact, we can transcend mental tension with a meditative practice that sustains neutral observation and reminds us that we are all divinely connected. This practice gives us moments of peace to accept ourselves, trust in the universe, and the ability to absorb all that life has given us, the “good” and the “bad.”

Cultivating the Neutral Mind

Kundalini Yoga synthesizes our mind into three basic facets:

• Our negative mind sees life as a series of problems to be solved.
• Our positive mind sees life as a series of opportunities to be gained.
• Our neutral mind sees life as a miracle.

The neutral mind is the sweet spot. It doesn’t monitor for threats or seek out desires. It leaves behind the insecurities and expectations of the individual personality or ego identity. Instead, it sees life as a play and observes with curiosity and constant amazement.  

Acting as our heart’s partner instead of adversary, the neutral mind pays attention to our intuitive connection with universal consciousness. Through complete surrender and relaxation in neutral mode, we are liberated from the stress of a tense mind. Only then can we attract our true path in life.

Stress-Proofing Life

Our desire to control and exploit while confronting change may be the root cause of stress, but it creates a ripple effect, giving birth to more obvious signs. We disconnect from our intuition. Our emotional traumas influence our mindset. We look for artificial stimulation and adopt unhealthy habits. 

Transformation always begins with a shift in mindset. First, we must accept our present position with love and compassion. If we can’t appreciate ourselves now, what makes us think we’ll be able to when we achieve our goals? Meditation and relaxation, both core elements of a Kundalini Yoga practice, help us accept ourselves as we are to realize our “soul priorities” in life. 

After acceptance, we must support a peaceful state of mind with physical vitality. An active body eliminates stress by increasing blood flow, boosting our immune system, and strengthening our nerves and adrenals. Kundalini Yoga movements focus on the nervous and glandular systems to cleanse the body’s energy channels. The benefits are clear. Stress reduction is inevitable when the body and mind work together through movement and meditation. 

The all-inclusive stress framework 

On the physical level, constant stress overloads our adrenal glands, forcing them to secrete the fight-or-flight hormones cortisol and adrenaline around the clock. The body soon goes into overdrive, raising blood pressure, depleting the kidneys, and weakening our nervous system. Psychological problems result from the chemical imbalance, and stress-producing habits begin to dominate.

Kundalini Yoga reverses this process by producing specific healing effects in the physical, mental, and energetic bodies. Its unique focus on spinal flexibility and alignment is the backbone behind the fluid integration of all three realms. By stimulating all 26 vertebrae, the seamless circulation of spinal fluid energizes the chakras and boosts mental clarity. 

The inclusion of pranayama techniques in every Kundalini Yoga set energizes and relaxes. When used with a mental vibration or mantra during meditation, the Kundalini energy found at the base of the spine vibrates at a higher frequency, making it possible to access higher states of consciousness. 

We can’t change what we’re not aware of 

Self-observation is essential. Damaging beliefs, negative self-talk, and out-of-control emotional reactions all lead to stress. We can change these processes, but first, we must know that a change is necessary for our well-being. As the Hindu mystic Osho said, “Truth is always realized in silence.”

• Pay attention to the need for external stimulation. 
• Find specific triggers that cause emotional reactions.
• Feel how certain behaviors lower energy. 
• Observe how we may try to control situations or people.
• Pinpoint thoughts that motivate and ones that deflate. 

Engaging with this process daily brings us into a state of auto-observation. The result is a mindful lifestyle with drastically reduced stress levels. 

The toughest part is to let go and accept change

Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity. –Hippocrates

Healing isn’t a result. It’s a process that lasts lifetimes and never really ends. We’re never going to feel stress-free all the time. But we can take advantage of existing practices that serve as guides. 

Kundalini Yoga is one of many spiritual technologies that opens the door to a new way of seeing things. A way of acceptance and trust in the universe. After all, the universe tends to hand out blessings to those of us who aren’t so darned stressed all the time. 

Photo by Yogabelloso on Pixabay

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