For some reason, I have been feeling a pull to do more Hatha style yoga in my daily practice.  This started as adding a sun salutation before I tuned in and has evolved to today, where I am doing close to a full Hatha set before starting my Kriyas.

I appreciate the increased stretch and space and openess that hatha brings.  I also noticed that I bring a different awareness to my Hatha practice now that I’ve been practicing Kundalini for a couple of years.  A few specific areas where I’ve noticed this change:

1. My consciousness is more able to simultaneously be present in different places throughout my body
2. I chant during poses
3. In general I tend to hold poses longer – this is because I either loose myself in chanting or because my breathes are much longer and deeper now
4. When this is not the case, I notice that my flow is tied to a much more powerful breath
5. I am aware of more space within my body and energy field
6. I will often pause for brief meditations between asanas
7. I can feel the sun and moon energies much more distinctly

Although I love my Hatha practice, I also recognize that Kundalini is more effective in some areas.  One specific example is with side twists.  There are a number of really great side twists in Hatha and I used to practice several of them daily.  However, now I do the kriya where you place your hands on your shoulders and breath in left then twist and breath out right.  When I start to do Hatha twists now, I sort of laugh at myself and say “3 minutes of kriya twisting will do you better.”

My teacher, Elizabeth Gurumukh, would often say that she has kept a Hatha practice along with her Kundalini one.  I suppose that after a few years of intense Kundalini practice, I am beginning to find this balance as well.

I must express gratitude to BKS Iyengar for his teachings and lineage, which was my practice for many many years, because when I practice now, the anatomical alignment is so natural that I get to focus on the deeper elements of the asanas.