From our Host Editor, Karuna As a lifelong mentee of Gurmukh, and Host Editor of Light on Light Magazine, I am so happy to be bringing this piece by her to this wonderful magazine for The International Day of Yoga.
Gurmukh swept into my life just as I was ready for her—”When the student is ready the teacher shows up!” For the first seven years of our relationship she mentored me through Level one Teacher Trainings. The greatest part now is that we are family! I will always look to Gurmukh for advice, and she will always remind me that I have the answer within. We laugh a lot and share a deep understanding of who we are in this world. Gurmukh only had to tell me once that my destiny was to teach Kundalini Yoga; I trusted her word. I am forever grateful and truly very fortunate to have this kind of divine sisterhood in my life!
Reflections— With a Meditation By Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa
I have been a yoga and meditation teacher for 32 years, and I continually witness the incredible power of this ancient science to uplift the spirit and heart, mind and body. Yoga literally means “to yoke”, that is, to join yourself to the Infinite. The essence of yoga is
about relationship…. Yoga is a state of receptivity from which we can begin to learn and make lasting changes. My spiritual teacher, Yogi Bhajan, brought the technology of Kundalini yoga and meditation to the West. For thousands of years, this was a mystical practice
passed in secret from master to student, but Yogi Bhajan lifted the veil of secrecy and made this powerful technology available to everyday people living in communities where once only ascetics knew it. Yoga and You Our bodies are the means by which we come to know and cherish our connection to the Infinite. Our practice is to awaken the Kundalini, the primal energy that rests at the base of our spine, like the coils of a sleeping snake. Kundalini yoga, like the sound of the India flute player raising the cobra from its slumber, moves this energy up our spine by means of asanas (postures), pranayama (breath control), mudra (hand 16