Lakulish Yoga Sequence
What is the Lakulish Yoga posture flow like? How does a Lakulish Yoga class differ from a Yoga class you may have taken at the gym or any other Yoga studio?
The Lakulish Yoga posture sequence taught by Jennifer through Lakulish School of Yoga is one that is performed primarily seated on the Yoga mat. The idea is to start low and start slow. There may be a few standing postures incorporated into the group class setting. The entire practice is designed around building digestive fire, purifying the 72,000 nadis (energy channels) in the body, and increasing prana in the navel center, manipura chakra (the third chakra, solar plexus). When the inward moving energy of the upper energy centers in the body (prana) moves down into the navel center and the outward moving energy from the lower energy centers in the body (apana) moves up into the navel center, a spark is created, a fire, a pulse. This energy is the digestive fire, one of the first fires of Yoga that we need to build in the body to begin purification of the body, according to the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, Puranas, and Vedas, the main textbooks of Yoga.
The Bhagavad Gita, Jnaneshwar’s version, states the following in Chapter 15:
ahaḿ vaiśvānaro bhūtvā
prānināḿ deham āśritah
prānāpāna-samāyuktah
pacāmy annaḿ catur-vidham
Having become the abdominal fire, I live in the bodies of all creatures; and united with the inward and outward breaths, I digest the four kinds of food.
The Lakulish Yoga postures, as they are taught by Jennifer, and as they have been taught to her by her Bapuji, employ repetition of postures and retention of the breath. In yoga centers taught around the globe, many students are instructed to breathe deeply through a posture. In the Lakulish Yoga posture series, you do not breathe through a posture. In some postures, you will exhale and hold the breath out. In other postures, you will inhale and hold the breath in. Doing so builds tremendous amounts of energy, light, and heat in the body to create the digestive fire. You will then be instructed to transmute this energy by offering this energy into the space of Love and Light. The postures are repeated up to 10 times each, depending on the class time and Jennifer’s assessment of your body’s needs. Some more challenging postures may only be repeated a few times until you are able to work your way up to more repetitions.
Lakulish Yoga is a process of internal alchemy. We transmute energy into a higher vibrating, purer form of energy. Lakulish Yoga postures are about building Love and Light in the body.
The postures as they are taught by Lakulish Yoga instructors most definitely build internal heat, increase metabolism, purify the body, and provide you with energy. Do not let the postures being performed mostly in a seated position fool you. You will get quite a cardiovascular workout and will shed excess body fat in the process through these postures if that is what is needed for your body! Your body, mind, and energy will become fit, steady, stable, comfortable, and flexible through these postures.