Serpent Yoga:
Try the 'Sufi grind' kriya
Kundalini is a Sanskrit term translated as “having a coil.” Certain kriyas (sets of practices or actions to achieve a certain outcome) are designed to awaken this coiled serpent energy at the base of the spine.
Waking snakes are slightly anxiety producing, but I take inspiration from the serpents themselves. I have been honored, on multiple early spring days, to watch as dozens of eastern ratsnakes emerged from their winter hibernaculum located in a culvert under a gravel road. I installed “brake for snakes” signs so drivers would yield to awakening serpents. When they rouse, they are beautiful and mysterious and you want to watch them move, to see what they are capable of; but, you are careful too. Respectfully cautious. You yield to rattles and rumblings of what is inappropriate for your own body and mind. Every fall the snakes retreat underground again.
Try the “sufi grind”
Sit on the ground in a comfortable cross-legged position or in a chair. Move your torso in a clockwise circle, imagining that the movement originates from your hips. Let your hands be loose on your knees, as if you don’t need them. Let your chin hinge gently forward as you move forward and as you move backward. Inhale forward, exhale back. Unite movement and breath. The speed at which you move is up to you. Don’t overthink it. Be serpentine. Rotate this way for a minute or two, and then reverse directions for an equal amount of time. Treat it like a dance or a trance, a simple warm-up for the spine, or an acknowledgment of the snake within.
When your body stills, sit for a silent moment and observe the effect of the kriya on your body and mind. A Tamil proverb says, “Only a snake knows the leg of another snake.” There is only one way to know what it’s like to be a snake: you must become a snake. We needn’t fear returning to the state of our original coiling. It is where we have infinite potential.
(Excerpt from page 82 of Wild Asana: Animals, Yoga, and Connecting Our Practice to the Natural World by Alison Zak; published by North Atlantic Books in 2023)