Having trouble accessing that coiled serpent at the base of your spine? Try using a snake! A real one! Duh. It’s called Kumara Serpent Healing, and it’s an offshoot of Kundalini Yoga. As if folks needed another reason to be scared of “kundalooniness” But self-confessed ‘mad snake lady’ and fearless teacher Kwali Kumara asks “what are you afraid of?” According to her, snakes unlock the chakras! With a mix of Kundalini Kriyas and taunting lines like, ‘If people are scared of snakes, they are scared of their own spirituality,’ Kwali draws a crowd to her classes in the UK. ‘Having the snakes involved connects people to what is going on inside,’ explains medusa.
Thank goodness we get a firsthand account of reptilian yoga encounter via Daily Mail UK:
We sit in a circle, and Kwali warns us that when we next open our eyes, she will have a snake around her neck. Sneaking a look around the group, I spy a mixture of grimaces and smiles.
We are asked to open our eyes and there the snake is. In all, there are 11 snakes in the basket — three boas, four royal pythons and four small corn snakes.
We make ‘chhh’ and ‘sssss’ sounds as the snakes are brought out, to make them feel more comfortable.
I take hold of a Brazilian Rainbow boa. At first I hold the snake away from me, but I soon realise that he is as intrigued by me as I am him.
Intrigued isn’t the word! We just hope those babies have had all their shots.
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Earlier…
I’m calling PETA.
Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?
Seems pretty awesome. I’d do it!
As long as they are nice snakes then maybe they would like yoga too. Haha.. yea I think I will try dog yoga before I try snake yoga.
Awesome! And after snake yoga, you can go for a Kundalini extraction session…:) http://yogadawg.blogspot.com/2008/04/yoga-news-new-yoga-service-kundalini.html
I’m totally okay with being scared of my spirituality if it means not wanting a snake around my neck during yoga (or ever).
I heart snakes!
But, the lady’s last name…here in NZ that’s a kind of sweet potato, and so I laughed pretty hard. I want to know if it comes from some tradition she’s part of? Kundalini + sweet potatoes = ?
Love her cheery eyeshadow and headpiece. Glad to see I’m not the only yoga teacher to pretty up sometimes…
That’s really freaky. I am shocked to know snakes involved in yoga. I am really afraid of snakes and how could someone learn if he/she is afraid too.
It’s all fun and games ’til someone gets choked out (those are boa constricters, by the way). It never ends, does it? 🙂
As a yogini and snake owner, I find this ridiculous. Kundalini practice involves working with subtle energies in the body, and there’s no explanation given why holding a snake would help with this. If anything, being concerned with a live animal sounds like a distraction. Also snakes are shy and sensitive animals, and learn to recognize familiar humans by scent. Handing out baby snakes for a group of nervous strangers to play with would be distressing for them. Plus it’s relatively easy to injure or kill baby snakes (especially corn snakes) through improper handling, since their vertebrae are loosely connected near the skull.
We should respect the beauty and spiritual energy of snakes without using them as gimmicks for human practices.