Take the fundamentals of Kundalini Yoga--the breath patterns, the mantras, the mudras, the meditation-- and combine those with the ordinary exercise of walking. What do you get? Breathwalking, a great way of supercharging the beneficial effects of walking, which has transformed the lives of those who practice it regularly!
Breathwalking has the capability of producing an overall "signature of wellness" within the body by changing the rhythms at the systemic and the cellular levels, thereby affecting our heart rhythm, visual focus, muscle balance, brain activity patterns, and moods. There are four main areas of benefit in Breathwalking: (1) it provides us with a greater level of energy and awareness; (2) it nutures elevated, positive moods; (3) it refines our mental quality--mental clarity without conflict, greater intuitive capacity, a focused, neutral state of mind, and enhanced learning and creativity; and (4) it provides with a greater state of connectedness with our true selves, with nature, with humanity, with all that exists.
A typical Breathwalking session is as follows: first, during the Awakener Exercise phase, we prime the breath and perform Kundalini exercises, such as spinal flex and hip rotations; secondly, we begin the Alignment phase, beginning to walk by slowly pacing up to speed, while scanning the body for balance and alignment, finally relaxing into a smooth, regular, and joyful rhythm; thirdly, we arrive at the heart of the Breathwalk session by beginning a series of Vitality Intervals--a combination of various breath patterns combined with our established walking rhythm; fourthly, we begin to pace down, shift our mental focus from narrow to wide, as we enter the Balancing phase; and lastly, we do an Innerwalk, a meditation which consolidates all that we have done previously, and helps us to carry all the benefits our Breathwalk into our daily life.
Practitioners of Breathwalking have reported many positive changes, including weight loss, diminished back pain and muscular discomfort, relief from a wide variety of emotional and psychological disorders, improved circulation and immune system response, less fatigue, greater stamina and energy, and reduction from hypertension.
For thousands of years, walking has been used by spiritual guides from many cultures to express our spirituality and our soul. As we cross into a new age where we can be easily overwhelmed with rapid, frequent change, a barrage of information, and the influx of new ideas and challenges, we need to fortify the spirit and connect with our soul; to enable ourselves to radiate with that vitality which others in our enviroment will be attracted to, and in so doing, guide us as individuals along the path of fulfillment, health, and joy. Breathwalking holds that promise for us as we journey onward in life.
Breathwalking was developed by Yogi Bhajan and Gurucharan Singh Khalsa over the past three decades as a practical and accessible technique for personal growth and healing. Here, modern science has been combined with ancient yogic concepts and wisdom. Please see the resource page for recommended reading material.
Jim Deneff, Kundalini Yoga teacher in Sacramento CA, teaches Breathwalking as an integral part of his yoga classes. If you would like to have a Breathwalking program in your organization, either as a separate entity, or integrated into a general Kundalini yoga program, please give Jim a call. Note that a designated classroom space is not strictly necessary, since the Breathwalking usually occurs outdoors, weather permitting.
