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The Studio Journal
Reflections from the practice



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The Holy Hidden in Plain Sight
Two songs that reveal the sacred in everyday life Some songs talk about God the way institutions do — large, distant, doctrinal. The songs I’m exploring today do something else entirely. They place the sacred in the middle of ordinary life , where most of us aren’t conditioned to look. The two songs that carry this theme most clearly, for me, are “God Is In” and “The Bus,” both by Billy Jonas. Neither one sounds like church music. Neither one tries to explain theology. Inst
2 days ago3 min read


How We Teach Kundalini Yoga Now (and Why That Matters)
Light comes into the studio I wrote this as an experimental collaboration with ChatGPT. You’ll see its input in the margin notes. At Kundalini Yoga in Detroit, we teach Kundalini Yoga in the KYATBYB* lineage—and we teach it like it’s 2026, with 15 years of practice and a lot of earned discernment behind us. Meaning: we keep what’s real and coherent… and we drop the parts that confuse intensity with wisdom. This page is here for the people who want to know what kind of room th
Feb 235 min read


Finlandia, and the Way Love of Home Grows Up
https://youtu.be/fE0RbPsC9uE?si=-cT938HOCzqobmgd 👆🏼This is the symphony version, with choral at the end...it's 8 minutes long There’s a kind of music that doesn’t ask your opinion. It enters the room like weather. Sibelius’s Finlandia is that kind of piece. Even if you don’t know the history—Finland under pressure, a people trying to keep their spine—you can hear it. There are no words in this first iteration. It’s instrumental. First the dark weight, the grinding insis
Feb 143 min read


“The God of Loss,” and the Work of Ethical Adulthood
Thoughts on Darlingside’s song, "The God of Loss", 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28KduHrvCxM There is a quiet layer inside ourselves that rarely gets named. It doesn't always look like grief. It doesn't always feel like sadness. Often it exists so imperceptibly that we do not even notice it's there at all. Yet it is always there: the steady accumulation of losses that accompany us through life. A friendship fades. Work shifts. The body changes. A dream that once felt
Feb 136 min read


“Fought & Lost” and “We Are the Champions”: Yoga Looks at Winning and Losing
There is something nobody teaches you in school: you can do everything “right” and still lose. You can show up, try hard, care deeply, be brave — and life can still go, “Cool story. But not you; not this time.” And then what? That part — the part after the loss — is where people either grow up or get a little sideways for a while. Because winning is easy to metabolize. Losing is where you find out who you really are. We are trained for victory like it is the only storyline th
Feb 125 min read


Kundalini Yoga in Detroit Newsletter 2/2026
Sat Nam, and Welcome in! Before we get into what’s changing at KYD, a quick note about a special offering: Snow Moon/Full Moon Gong Immersion • Sunday February 1, 2026 • 7:00–8:30 pm We’ll be holding a full-length gong immersion under the Snow Moon—an evening of deep rest, nervous-system settling, and effortless meditation. This is not an astrology-based event, and no belief system is required. The name simply marks the season we’re in. You’ll lie down on padded cots with bla
Jan 305 min read


Deep Rest Is Not a Luxury: An Introduction to Yoga Nidra
Sat Nam, and Welcome in, Most of us are tired in a very specific way. Not “I need a nap” tired. More like, tired-but-wired. Overstimulated. Unable to fully shut down, even when we finally stop moving. And for many people, meditation doesn’t help — not because they’re doing it wrong, but because sitting upright with an active mind can feel like just one more thing to manage. That’s where Yoga Nidra comes in. Yoga Nidra is a guided practice of deep rest. You lie down, get co
Jan 272 min read


Devotion without Delusion: A Final Word on Yogi Bhajan and other Gurus
Sat Nam, and Welcome in... Yogi Bhajan's story just keeps getting told. And retold. And retold again. The rise. The robes. The empire. The fall. The abuses. The denials. The reckonings. And the exhausted practitioners trying to hold paradox and practice in the same breath. But at some point, we have to ask: **When will we see this as a pattern in ourselves?** The Pattern We find someone who brings light. We let the light blind us. We ignore the shadows-ours and theirs. We bui
Jan 123 min read


Why Kundalini Yoga Needs Music (And Why Your Nervous System Already Knows This)
There’s a truth I’ve been circling for years, and I’m finally just going to say it: Kundalini Yoga without music is hard. Not enlightening-hard. Not transformative-hard. Just… unnecessarily hard. And there’s a reason for this that has nothing to do with personal preference or teaching style. It’s structural. It's neurological. And it's deeply tied to the framework Yogi Bhajan set up for his students, and what he believed intensity would achieve in his students. Kundalini Yog
Dec 11, 20255 min read


Why you should try Kundalini Yoga this Month (Even if you're Brand New)
If you've been feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or just ready for something that actually shifts your energy instead of adding more to your to-do list, this is your sign: try Kundalini Yoga. Not someday. Not when life gets quieter. This month. Kundalini Yoga is often called the "yoga of awareness," but here's what that really means for someone walking into class for the first time: you don't have to know what you're doing. The practice meets you exactly where you are. Every post
Dec 3, 20252 min read


🌿 3 MINUTE YOGA
Make a tiny bookmark of the state you’re in right now. Just notice: here you are, reading these words… eyes open, breathing happening on its own, mind doing its thing. Already in motion. Put your hands in your lap, across your belly, or by your sides. Now, inhale — really take it in. Pause. Exhale. Next breath, slow it down a notch:let the belly rise like warm bread, let the ribs widen, let the air lift all the way up to the throat. Suspend the breath — just a soft hold — a
Nov 19, 20253 min read


Yin Yoga: The Art of Slowing Down
Sat Nam, and Welcome in, In a culture that praises speed, productivity, and doing more, Yin Yoga is a quiet revolution. It invites you to slow down, listen deeply, and let time do its work. If you’ve ever felt exhausted, overstimulated, or simply hungry for a softer kind of space — this practice was made for you. What Is Yin Yoga? Yin Yoga is a slow, meditative style of yoga where postures are held for longer periods — usually three to five minutes or more. Unlike more active
Oct 14, 20254 min read


🕊️ Doing, Not Doing: The Art of Meditation
A reflection on the paradox at the heart of true meditation — the stillness that moves, the action that requires no effort. At the beginning of each class, we take a moment or two to meditate. There are countless ways to meditate—dozens of postures, focal points, and techniques—but there is also what the master calls Doing, Not Doing. It’s not doing nothing . It's doing nothing. I suggest no posture, only some comfortable position of stillness. No breathwork, no drishti (ey
Oct 7, 20253 min read


Part III: A Description of classes at KYD; a five part blog: GONG IMMERSIONS!
The famous Chinese Wind Gong hanging out in the studio Sat Nam, and Welcome in, This blog piece is all about our gong immersions. If...
Oct 7, 20252 min read


Part II: A Description of classes at KYD; a five (was three!) part blog: TEACHING OURSELVES TO AWAKEN
Sat nam, Welcome in! Monday evenings, KYD holds a special sort of class. From 5 pm until 6 pm, we gather to talk about becoming aware of...
Aug 3, 20252 min read


Part I: A Description of Classes at Kundalini Yoga in Detroit; a five (was three!) part blog
Those wild and wonderful energy centers called Chakras with EK ONG KAR at the 7th chakra Class: Kundalini Yoga Kundalini—What is that? Kundalini refers to the potential energy which resides within all conscious beings, which, if you understand Consciousness, or Awareness (here used as a synonym) as the Ground of the Existence of Everything, then kundalini energy is in Everything. But we Humans are a complicated species. Or, the mind actually complicates our experience. An
Jun 2, 20254 min read


KYD is Protesting! Join us!
Sat nam, and welcome in, Kundalini Yoga in Detroit is not in alignment with the current state of affairs. So what are we going to do...
Apr 17, 20251 min read


It's SPRING! New hours and offerings at KYD
Sat nam, welcome in! Spring has finally come to Detroit, and we are ready to get outside and do some good work! Some of us have yards,...
Apr 11, 20253 min read


Why are We So Depressed?
Sat Naam everybody, Each of us is tasked with being Someone. There is no avoiding this. We are caught here in a reality that is...
Aug 8, 20245 min read


Stress-busting evening sound therapy just $20!
Sat naam, and Welcome In! Mike has been playing the gongs almost every night this month, in part because of the news cycle. It seems to...
Jul 18, 20241 min read
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