Gurmukh @Kundalini Yoga München

  

Gurmukh teaching at KYoga in Munich

Having attending my first Kundalini workshop this week, I am slowly coming to realize that I do want to join the teacher training I have been thinking about lately. Gurmukh, the founder of Golden Bridge Yoga, based in LA and NYC, came to Munich after having taught a teacher training in Russia and she told us that being a teacher first requires you to take the decision to teach yourself. Her workshop was called 'All the answers lie within yourself' - and in fact she triggered something within me that I had been ignoring or rather neglecting so far - the desire to learn more about how kundalini works and how to integrate some of those techniques into my teaching. The logistics of the teacher training here in Munich are a little inconvenient for me - the training takes place on weekends and is outside of the city, about an hour train ride away. Yet, I was talking to one of the teachers today and at times, it may really be worth getting out of the city and your regular routine to be able to focus on learning new things... So yes, I think I might try signing up after all.

But back to the workshop with Gurmukh - after a short intro, she started a kriya that was more intense than any of the ones I have done so far in different kundalini classes. Some of the exercises must have lasted more than 10 minutes and because the room was so crowded, it heated up quickly. Yet, she found a good balance and had us do a long childs pose and meditation in between different sets. I found the energy particularly intense during that time - felt really freeing and like I was shedding some weight.

Another highlight of her set was a few exercises that you had to do with a random partner - just someone you happened to sit next to. First we sat back to back and started bringing our forehead to the floor or as close to it as possible and then we turned around, faced each other and did some hip circling while hugging each other. A really nice gesture showing that you are not just practicing with random strangers but other human beings. Just when I thought we were slowing down, she had us back doing some interesting dynamic poses such as rolling into plow pose and forward to include some core work. But really, the most powerful thing she did was the end of the practice - a visualization during which we had turned into eagles and just spread our wings and took off. Such a great relaxed way of ending the class... I can see why the classroom was as crowded as it was. Another thing I found inspiring was that she was talking about loving all kinds of yoga and encouraged everyone to try different things. She also doesn't seem to just say it as she taught at the Jivamukti studio the night afterwards and apparently is good friends with yogis from other traditions.