Kundalini? What does that mean?

What is Kundalini all about?

Sat Nam and welcome in!

So why call this form of yoga Kundalini Yoga? Because this practice is designed specifically to encourage self-knowledge, self-awareness, and self-inquiry. That intimacy leads to the realization that your real Self is the only thing there truly is to know.

All yoga aims at that same awakening, but this one? It tends to do it fast.

Kundalini is the energy we are all born with — the vital current that defines who we are. To “awaken” the kundalini is not to become someone new, but to remember that the separate self never truly existed at all. All is One. What appears to be reality is Maya — illusion — and you are a co-creator of it.

The idea of a feminine energy, represented as a serpent (knowledge), coiled tightly at the base of the spine and waiting to rise through the chakras to reunite with its Source, is ancient. Versions of this story appear in cultures, religions, philosophies, and psychologies around the world.

Kundalini energy is you — the real you. The part that knows why you’re here, what makes you shine, what challenges you, and the work you came to do in this body, at this time, in this place.

The egoic self — the version built by conditioning, defenses, and habits — isn’t the enemy. It’s just not the whole story.

🌱 The Lower Triangle

The story of kundalini awakening begins at the Root Chakra, the energy center of basic trust, safety, attachment, letting go, fear, anger, peace, and contentment. When the world feels safe and predictable, this chakra is balanced. Almost all of us carry root-chakra wounds.

If that early energy space allows you to survive those first days and months of life, the current moves into the Sacral Chakra, located in the hips. This is where personality begins to unfold. It’s where sensuality, creativity, and personal autonomy are born. If your early environment allowed your unique responses to be seen and accepted, you learn that freedom is a birthright. If not, you learn you have to earn it.

Then the energy moves upward into the Solar Plexus, the third chakra — Manipura. Here lives willpower, fire, and the concept of “I vs. the world.” This is where thoughts of sovereignty transform into action. And we don’t always act wisely, do we? Sometimes this is where we veer into addiction, control, avoidance. Healing here means learning to act from awareness, not just reaction.

These three chakras form the Lower Triangle — the foundation on which the higher energy centers rest.

🕉️ What Kundalini Yoga Does

Kundalini Yoga works on the entire chakra system, but the root and sacral chakras are often the toughest to soothe and heal. Wounds there run deep. This practice uses breath, movement, mantra, and meditation to bring awareness into these spaces, allowing old stories to surface and release.

As you move, you start to hear your own inner voices:

• Do you whine when challenged?

• Push too hard?

• Drift away mentally?

• Compare yourself to others?

• Cheer yourself on — or tear yourself down?

This is the real work of Kundalini Yoga — learning to notice your patterns, not to fix them by force, but to meet them with awareness.

A strong Navel Point — the physical and energetic core — becomes the gateway to the Heart Chakra, where lifelong work deepens. That’s a whole blog of its own.

🌿 What to Expect

Kundalini Yoga isn’t “better” than other forms of yoga. It’s just different. It moves quickly, shakes loose stuck energy, and asks you to face yourself with honesty. It’s not for everyone, and that’s okay.

If you’ve heard whispers that it’s “dangerous,” know this: the energy itself is not dangerous. But moving through deep material without a teacher or safe container can be overwhelming. That’s why practicing with experienced instructors matters, especially at the beginning.

We all carry stories — about trust, shame, guilt, autonomy, pairing and isolating, striving and surrendering, hope and despair. Kundalini Yoga doesn’t erase those stories. It illuminates them, bringing them into consciousness so you can meet them with strength, breath, and love.

That’s what you can expect from Kundalini Yoga.If you’re in… book a class.

Sat Nam and thanks for watching.

Andrea Fiondo