Kundalini Yoga with Diana Bergen

      The practice of Kundalini Yoga allows one to achieve a balance by utilizing a spectrum of yoga modalities including asanas meditation, breathing, chanting and mantras.

      You can incorporate these practices into your own lifestyle right here on UCSD’s campus. From beginners to expert yoga practitioners, all students willing to embrace the methods of Kundalini will experience its benefits.

      Diana Bergen, a UCSD Kundalini instructor, encourages students and staff to prepare for the day through morning exercise.

      “The study and practice [of Kundalini Yoga] is to get up in the morning, right when the sun is coming up, because there is this magical power,”

Bergen said.

      Bergen, who is a Landscape Architect on campus, has been practicing yoga since her third year in college. Just three years ago, Bergen signed up for her first Kundalini Yoga class in an effort to build good lifestyle habits.

      “I’ve been taking yoga since I was 22, and I had never experienced yoga like this,” Bergen said.

      This class inspired Bergen to become a certified Kundalini Yoga Instructor.

      “My job is to pass on what’s already been documented by Yogi Bhajan. How else do we learn, but from others?”

      The teachings of Yogi Bhajan emphasize awareness and consciousness of oneself and one’s surroundings. According to Bergen, “Kundalini is very effective. You do certain movements for a specific outcome.” Kundalini Yoga involves the practice of pranayama, which are breathing methods, mudras, which are hand positions, asanas, which are postures, mantras, which are chanting techniques and meditation, which is the practice of visualization.  Such techniques are used to awaken and rejuvenate our central nervous system.

      “There are a lot of people who gravitate towards Kundalini Yoga because it’s the yoga of healing. It’s the yoga of awareness,” Bergen said.

      UCSD FitLife will be offering two Kundalini classes during the upcoming Spring Quarter. One will take place on Thursdays at 7am with Diana Bergen, and the other class with take place on Fridays at 8am with Sasha Briskin. For more information please visit http://recreation.ucsd.edu/fitlife or call (858)822-2313.