With origins in ancient India and followers worldwide, kundalini yoga has a reputation that precedes itself. But with many hailing the practice’s benefits, L360’s Katie Sipp-Hurley decided to try it for herself.
Rooted in mindfulness, breathwork and low intensity movement, yoga isn’t usually something one would associate with danger — certainly not in the same way as sports or high-intensity cardio (or even reformer Pilates — those machines can be hazardous).
What’s more, kundalini yoga in particular is probably one of the least tactile or dynamic forms of yoga out there. So why are people saying it’s dangerous?
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What is kundalini yoga?
Dating back to ancient Hindu texts as early as 800 BCE, kundalini yoga combines physical postures (asanas), breathwork (pranayama), chanting (mantra) and meditation.
The aim is to awaken ‘kundalini energy’ or ‘shakti’. Symbolically, this energy represents transformation and spiritual growth, channelled through the body’s seven energy centres (chakras) via specific sequences of poses known as kriyas.
Before my class at Bhuti in south west London, a staff member offered a word of warning: “Don’t worry if you get overwhelmed,” they soothed. “Just take your time.” If I wasn’t nervous before, I was now.
How does it work?
Focusing on breathwork, kundalini yoga involves a series of different poses with specific breathing patterns.
One in particular, ‘breath of fire’, involves consciously regulating your breath to encourage the flow of prana (life force energy) through the body’s energy channels.
Controlling your breath in this way can help regulate the nervous system, stimulated through the vagus nerve, which moves the body out of the fight or flight mode with this rhythm. “It lowers cortisol levels and encourages a steady heart rate, which indicates that the body is in rest and repair mode,” explains Dr Maria Knöbel, GP and medical director of Medical Cert UK.
This influences oxygen consumption, and a steady rhythm increases the level of carbon dioxide by a slight level, which “increases the supply of oxygen to the brain tissue that assists in clarity and calmness”, she adds.
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My class, led by Victoria Amore, began with a mantra (a repeated phrase designed to help the mind drop into a meditative state).
Seated cross-legged, we pivoted our torsos and heads from left to right. Inhaling sharply to the left, exhaling to the right, we repeated the cycle for 12 counts (the breath of fire technique).
At first, the rapid, controlled breathing felt unnatural — and when paired with repetitive movement, it did begin to feel more intense than expected.
Is kundalini yoga dangerous?
“The problem is when the process is forced without proper preparation,” says Jayne Ellis, founder of HighTimes Yoga. “That’s why we warm up the spine and follow a set order of kriyas and asanas.”
Victoria adds that in some settings, kundalini is combined with plant medicine — which can cause anxiety or panic. “It’s about finding a good practitioner,” she says. “Someone who knows how to adapt the class to everyone’s level, creating a safe space where you can choose how far to go.”
In short, practised badly, it could cause you to feel light-headed or distresses. Done well, it’s entirely safe.
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Who could benefit from kundalini yoga?
Learning this kind of breathing technique could be extremely helpful for those who struggle with racing thoughts. “Kundalini yoga calms a busy mind by working on multiple levels — body, breath, sound, focus and the glandular system,” Jayne explains. “It helps shift you out of fight-or-flight mode and into a balanced state.”
As someone who tends to experience this, I was surprised to find that I agreed. Halfway through my session with Victoria, we moved through some more challenging postures, one of which involved sitting on our knees, arms raised beside our ears, breathing deeply from the navel.
Though difficult (having to think about ‘where’ your breath is coming from gets confusing), eventually I lost track of whether I was doing it right and, unusually for me, I didn’t feel the need to overthink it. I was fully immersed and, surprisingly, not in my own head.
I’d started the session stressed and preoccupied with thoughts of work and life stressors. By the final kriya — lying on my back as soft chanting music played — I felt light, floaty and calm. It’s the first yoga practice I’ve tried where I’d ‘felt’ something that might be close to meditative.
For trauma survivors, Jayne says this could be pivotal, as the combination of breath, movement and mantra can help “gently release stored tension and create new patterns of safety in the body”.
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Can you practice this yoga at home?
According to Victoria, absolutely — with the right advice. “It can be a fantastic tool for staying regulated,” she says. You don’t need much space or equipment, and it can even be used as a way to physically process strong emotions.
Victoria recommends daily practice for the best benefits: “When you build a daily relationship with it, you see how it supports your healing — and where you might be inconsistent.”
As Dr Knobel explained, regularly practising breathing this way can help “train the nervous system into the habit of being less reactive when resting”.
It’s not about pushing every time, but about creating a practice that can be a reliable anchor for your body or nervous system.
Feature image: Pexels
