What is Shuniya?
All yoga is a method to access shuniya. Shuniya is a term that refers to the space of deep silence beyond thought and sensation.
It is a vast state of consciousness where everything falls away except for awareness itself. In this dimension, there is no “me” and no “you.” Subject and object are totally merged and utterly indifferentiated. Here, we feel our intrinsic oneness with all of life and start to understand the subtle ways we affect each other as one consciousness.
This expansive consciousness is our natural state of being – it is how we come into this world – with an open heart and an unconditioned mind. It explains why babies are so easy to love! When we’re born, we are the closest we’ll ever be to this pure, unmoulded awareness.
But because we live on Earth, we all experience the conditioning and patterning of our minds. As we grow, our resting in shuniya becomes disrupted by a harsh world. Parents, peers, environments, and generational karma all begin to shape our experience and perception into something very different from the silently equanimous state of shuniya. We start to identify with the things that happen to us and the way they make us feel. We develop an ego so we can function as a personality in society. We start to rely on our minds to the exclusion of our intuition. The “energetic lint” of the world gets stuck inside our bodies and coded in the subconscious programs that we operate from. Before we know it, life is full of distractions, reactions, dramas, phobias, attachments, and pains – the opposite of the peacefully empty awareness we were born with.
But we haven’t done anything wrong! It’s normal for all of us to forget our natural state of being. If we didn’t, we probably wouldn’t be in Earth school! Or perhaps, we’d be here as a saint to bless humanity like Christ or Buddha. So it’s by design that we forget who we are because it provides us with an enormous opportunity to remember.
The beauty of yoga is that it is a method for not only remembering who you are, but for stabilizing your awareness so you can rest in that pure experience as much as possible. What makes Kundalini Yoga so popular is the speed at which it deconditions the mind and unwinds what’s stuck in the body. In doing so, it helps us re-access that space of silent loving awareness that we were born with, and as we do, we naturally heal.
When we practice, we train our mind to become neutral. As our reactivity relaxes, our awareness is able to peel its focus away from the density of bodily discomfort, mental anguish, and emotional pain. Here we become able to contemplate the subtle layers of our sensations until their hold on us empties. This opens the door to merging with the infinite nature of our true selves.
As our awareness broadens, so our heart naturally opens in compassion for the suffering we experience and the suffering we see in others. Instead of inflicting more pain on ourselves and others, our projective meditative mind becomes a tool through which we can heal others and ourselves.
Remember, the journey back to shuniya is not a race but a gentle unfolding. Each moment spent in practice brings you closer to the peaceful awareness you were born with. Embrace this journey with compassion for yourself and others, knowing that every step you take is a step towards healing and wholeness. Trust in the process, and let the light of your true self shine through.
”When you become calm and still, the universe starts moving for you.”
- Guru Dev Singh