The energy yoga where you look absolutely insane, but creates ultimate healing for the mind, body, spirit and soul
As a world traveller, I suppose it was only a matter of time before I lived to Bali. Throughout my time there, one of the most beautiful gifts I could have ever received was taking a class with Samten Kriya (at that point known as PeeWee) for Himalayan Kriya Yoga.
Radiantly Alive had just opened their Canggu location, situated right on top of a beautiful co-working space, and during their grand opening, they had a week of classes for free for everyone to come be a part of.
It was the last free class offered on a late Friday afternoon, and there were heaps of people in attendance. Upwards of 40. So, you could imagine how intense it was, having around 45 people holding hands together, connecting to the collective energy, and doing intense breathing techniques paired with mudras (gestures).
It was powerful.
It made me feel.
It allowed things to come up that I didn't know I needed to purge.
Witnessing the power that Samten had was beautiful. She made me connect to Mama Bali (as we call the healing island) in such a way that words can't express.
After the class, I had a night in, and then the next day, I started cramping, waking up with a headache, feeling nauseous and my body was aching.
At first, I thought it was food poisoning, or Bali belly or something, but it wasn't. I called my dad, a double-board certified Family Medicine and Functional Medicine doctor, and he said that I was presenting classic detox symptoms.
I thought to myself: "After 1 singular class, without any supplements or any special juices, my body went into detox mode??"
Wild.
So I knew, there and then, from confirmation of my own body's experience, that this special kind of Kriya yoga works, even if you don't fully understand what's happening. Even if, you don't fully believe in it.
I had attended a few more Kriya classes when I lived in Bali, and wanted to do the Yoga Teacher Training, but my schedule just didn't align with it. So I left Indonesia, knowing that I would come back to this practice, at some point in time.
When I was traveling in Europe in the autumn of 2022, I visited my host family in the Highlands of Scotland. I remember one evening, curled up in a bean bag plopped by the fireplace, scrolling through social media, I came across a post from Samten. She was hosting her first ever Mystic Caves of India, Himalayan Kriya Yoga Retreat.
Without missing a beat, I messaged her straight away, and signed up.
I trusted her, I trusted the practice, and moreover, I just left this natural pull to going to this retreat, which, to the logical mind, didn't make a whole lot of sense.
For the next several months, I was meant to be traveling only in Europe, but I would learn that this trip to India would crack open the globe like a pomegranate, exposing the hidden jewels within. I had never visited India before, but I had a divine push to do it, and so I did.
It is said that Rishikesh, India is a sacred place. Arguably, the most holy city in the world. It is home to the River Ganges or the Ganga which is a holy river that flows from the glaciers atop of the Himalayas through the city. This river water is holy, and it works to purify anything or anyone that comes into contact with it, making for a very auspicious encounter. If someone is meant to visit Rishikesh, they will end up there. However, if for some reason your energetic footprint does not resonate with this holy city, then you will not make the journey.
You will have troubles with visas, flights will get cancelled, something back home will keep you from traveling, etc... But in my case, even last-minute visa applications didn't stop the city from taking me in.
During this retreat, I would meet people that became a part of my soul family from all parts of the world. I learned, and was immersed in so much sacred knowledge and wisdom, all whilst purging what needed to be released on the energetic level.
I learned that this was necessary to raise my vibration, in order to absorb all of the beautiful, mystical frequencies of the caves we meditated in, and the ashrams/temples we visited.
I had incredible out of body experiences in India. One of them was especially important due to its location. The experience I had indicated that Himalayan Kriya Yoga wasn't only something I had practiced in a previous life, but that Himalayan Kriya Yoga would become a big part of my life's purpose in this life. (I'm getting so many chills writing this right now...)
In the spring of 2023, I was traveling in Cuba when Samten announced the first online Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) of the new year for Level 1. As much as I had wanted this to work, the internet was too poor in Cuba, even to watch the recordings. So, again, the aligned timing wasn't there.
Fast forward to autumn 2023. I just moved to San Francisco, California, and I knew that when I got back from the One Young World Summit in Ireland, that this was it. This was my time to finally become initiated as a Yoga Teacher. And it happened!
Through this process of practicing Himalayan Kriya Yoga for 2 1/2 hours at a time, follow by in-depth lectures including yogic philosophy, and the study of our energy body, my world and understanding of the body, mind, spirit and soul, expanded to awe-inspiring depths.
Through this YTT, I was able to connect back to my purpose. Himalayan Kriya Yoga was to play a big role in my life purpose, but I didn't know what that would look like exactly. Now I do. Now I know the root causes of Premenstrual Disorders. Now I know that parts of the body it is linked to, which emotions are stored where, and how to release them effectively with Himalayan Kriya Yoga.
This beautiful practice released me from the stories of my suffering. It liberated me on all levels, and continues to do so... Samten once told me that the she was not able to predict what role Himalayan Kriya Yoga would play in my life. I would be the one to discover that meaning for myself. And through my own personal exploration, and from the help of the universe, I did. My heart's desires of helping others to heal, to overcome their PMDD, to find the power they've always had inside of themselves, all became realized, with Himalayan Kriya Yoga.
Sometimes, you just have to let go of what other people think, how other people believe you're meant to heal, and instead, you focus on listening to your intuition, and where it wants to lead you.
Your intuition will never lead you astray, and I promise you, that if you have made it all the way through this article, that your spirit guides are letting you know that this sacred practice of Kriya Yoga, brought out of the caves, and into the world, is for you.
It's for you to try, to be liberated by, and to make that inner light of yours shine that much bigger and brighter.
