Yoga: The Power of Transformation

By Karuna

First of all, let’s take a look at this mandate: There should be no place where your love light doesn’t shine. Even when the clouds are there. You can make the sunshine. Let love shine your way. Let it shine from day to day. Sing your happy song and let your love just flow along. You can make the sun shine. Any old time. Easy!

My master teacher, Yogi Bhajan, said that “Happiness is your birthright.” So what I just said above is quite a declaration! Let’s take a look at it, first at the personal and then at the global level. Can we ask the hard questions when it may seem like our lives are far-far away from that ideal expressed above? And further, what is the role of Yoga here?

For me, and this is true for all of us in this practice, Yoga has been the Transformer. I think every yogi and yogini aptly says that. The lofty declarations made above were not where we started. Far from it! And yet it’s true. Ken Wilber calls Yoga an “escalator.” By that he means it lifts you up; it gets you where you want to go. Wilber has also said that spirituality in general is the escalator for global transformation. As a spiritual technology, Yoga is different than religion in that way. A downside of religion can be that it may be about “right belief” or “right dogma” and, therein, a cause of conflict. But spirituality itself is always about “right being” and “right action” — the kind of world all of us want for ourselves.

So let’s start with you and me. Yoga is where I first experienced my willingness to transform. I think I had always had the desire, but I needed a path, one that could prove itself to me step by step — an escalator! When I began yogic practice, whether I knew it or not, I was actually taking the whole of myself, the best and the worst, and putting it in a little nutshell “on the mat.” I remember my teachers asking me, “What do you find at the end of the experience that is different from where you began?” and “Do you are realize that you are only competing with yourself?” and, “Whether the sky is the limit is up to you!” As Yogi Bhajan said: “Nobody can initiate you. You have to initiate yourself.”

So Yoga is not only about transformation, it also gives you the step-by-step courage to transform, and a sense of what that is. Like wise teachers say, “Only if you know something about where you want to end up, can you make the steps to get there!” There is a wonderful tribute to Yogi Bhajan by a student who later became a prominent teacher; he said “By dressing us up and making us feel important, he give us the taste of our Divine Value.” Yogi Bhajan himself described this connection between our practice and transformation process this way: “A specific landscape is required for you to live your values.” But this is not to say it is always easy. The very process of change is one of give and take. The challenge itself is important. As Yogi Bhajan declared, “None flies high without the opposing winds.”

I practice Yoga for reasons that tell me it is my “go to” experience that will actually change my internal challenges, make me more accepting, and move me forward. When I move the body physically and stretch through any apparent discomfort, it is showing me that I myself hold the keys to transform my existence and find the solutions I need. Each asana, kriya, or meditation has a certainty to it, and this kind of certainty gives you direction. Of that, Yogi Bhajan said, “Every limb… every movement of your limbs is attached to Divinity,” and “Give them a discipline that will be true, that will work.”

I have seen transformation in students overnight, as the light comes in, and I then I’ve seen it continue, and grow and grow. It reminds of how we all naturally grew up, from baby steps to walking and running. All these are great truths at the personal level. Let’s now take a look at the global level of transformation.

I recently co-created a program for VoiceAmerica and an issue of Light on Light magazine with the United Nations NGO Committee for the International Day of Yoga.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General, recently said “There are moments in history when our humanity fills us with hope and courage, when we discover our common spirituality and values, and build a shared vision of where the future must lead. We are at such a moment today — and we must seize it.”

There is no greater time than now to reach out for a higher wisdom needed to face the magnitude of the challenges now facing our world. We are being called to preserve and transmit the wisdom and the love in our own heritages, while also serving as forces for change toward a world that is one community, interconnected and interdependent. Fundamentally, it is shared ethical and spiritual values that will create the transition to a way of life that works for everyone.

How lucky we are to have a transformative technology like Yoga which not only can perfect us at the individual level but point us toward a peaceful world that provides the pursuit of happiness and fulfillment we all desire — and is our birthright!
 

Karuna is the founder of Light On Kundalini, an online resource for all things Kundalini.

Karuna was mentored in her discovery of Kundalini Yoga by Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa. She was captivated by this amazing technology — unlike any other yoga she had experienced — in which posture, breath, mantra, and meditation blend into a rich whole. Karuna shares Yogi Bhajan’s treasured teachings with students all over the world. True to her spiritual name, which means “compassion,” Karuna likens herself to a coach, helping her students push beyond self-imposed limits. Her classes are filled with humor, music, and the spirit of transformation. She brings her own unique brand of compassion, enthusiasm, and pure joy to every Kundalini Yoga practice.

Karuna teaches daily group yoga classes and private lessons in Boulder, Colorado, leads weekend intensives on varying themes, and facilitates retreats internationally. In addition, Karuna offers guided health cleanses, and organizes special events featuring world-renowned Kundalini Yoga teachers, artists, and musicians.

Since 2014, Karuna has also been traveling internationally, sharing lifestyle, happiness, and wellbeing related programs associated with the global Happiness Initiative, the UN NGO Forum 21 Institute, and the emerging Interspiritual Movement.