Release Stuck Energy + Awaken Your Senses With Kundalini Dance

According to many authors and scientists, our hearts and our physical bodies may actually be more intelligent than our brains. One study we recently came across said: “We have neurological functioning in our heart, our gut and in our brain. Our heart-brain is sixty times more powerful, electromagnetically, than the head-brain. More energy flows from the heart to the brain than vice versa.*

If you take this as a call to live more from the heart and in the body, we’re with you. But in a world that’s swarming with distractions, to live in alignment with a more sensory, felt experience requires focus, practice and reprogramming.

Through Head + Heart, we’re constantly reminded that there are so many beautiful practices that can support the movement into a more spacious, sensory existence – such as yoga, shamanic breathwork, music meditation, and (drumroll please) Kundalini Dance.

Dr. Joe Dispenza says that 90% of what we think about today is exactly the same as yesterday. If you want to create a space for something different, like, perhaps, dancing, enjoy this Q&A with Martine Kleissen, who’s been practising and teaching Kundalini Dance for over a decade.

H+H: What exactly is Kundalini Dance?

MK: Kundalini Dance is a process of grounding ourselves into the core of the earth’s energy- connecting our womb to the earth’s womb- and then rising that energy up through all the chakras, one by one, to ignite the energy within us.  We all store a lot of stuck energy and emotion in our bodies and we need to release it. The actual dancing together in a group is a practice, a ceremony, of releasing those stuck energies.

H+H: How exactly does Kundalini Dance support healing?

MK: Dance itself is so potent, but adding in the intention of accessing kundalini energy from within is a powerful way to connect to our divine energy source. In Kundalini Dance, we’re not telling anyone to abandon their anger, sadness or pain. Rather, we are embracing the fact that we are a full spectrum of humanity and human emotions, thoughts and experiences. In the practice of Kundalini Dance, we are holding ourselves through that spectrum of humanness, and rising up what needs to rise up, harmonize and heal with love. As the kundalini energy rises into the heart – that’s when the healing happens and when people experience feeling a return to wholeness and oneness. This practice is also a beautiful way to get out of your head and into your body and heart- to bypass the mind and let your body guide the meditation and show you the way to harmonize.

A little history on this practice:

In looking into the practice and meaning of Kundalini energy and how it works, here’s what we discovered:

The term ‘kundalini’ is an ancient Hindu term used to refer to the vital force or energy that we all hold within us, believed in yogic traditions to be stored at the base of the spine.  As kundalini energy rises up through the spine, it moves through each chakra, with the potential of energizing, or lighting up, each chakra, which is what the Kundalini Dance is all about.

The phrase “kundalini awakening” essentially refers to the discovery and “awakening” of inner knowledge through this energetic movement. You’ll find kundalini meditation and yoga practiced since ancient times, while Kundalini Dance came about in 1989, when the founder Leyolah Antara (24years old) was visiting an Aboriginal sacred site in the Western desert of Australia. During her visit, and personal ceremony, she received a vision from the Divine Feminine, to develop a dance practice to serve the collective awakening.

The practice of Kundalini Dance, while not quite mainstream, is coming to more and more towns across North America, so you’ll likely be able to find it near you soon.

To learn more about Martine Kleissen’s work and upcoming classes and online sessions, visit her website. If you’re looking for other practices to support greater embodiment and joy, you’ll find many, many options near you over on our calendar. Let us know if you need any tips or recommendations.

*This study is by Childre and Martin, 2000, cited from Will Pye’s The Gratitdue Prescription.