Esra Banguoglu - Kundalini Yoga

For the last 4 years due to a problem in my brain (a bio electrical imbalance) I used heavy duty medication and was in therapy because of psychological problems. After 4 years I could see that the side effects were more than the positive effects and in a leap of faith I decided to stop using the medication. It was a very risky and my doctor was against this decision but I was determined. The next day I saw the news about Gurmukh's workshop in Istanbul and what I read affected me and you being her student I decided to try Kundalini yoga and hence started attending your classes.

I don't know how to prove it scientifically but I know within myself that the fact I cut the medication off and had no withdrawal symptoms and that I have been fine for the last 5 months has a lot do do with practicing Kundalini yoga constantly in May and June. Also I think that once one experiences Kundalini yoga and the energy opens up, the effects last for a very long period of time. Practicing Kundalini yoga has reminded me what it means to be and feel happy once again. I had forgotten this. Just remembering this alone has given me the courage to never give up on happiness again. I am only 27 years old and the idea of having to take medication for the rest of my life was a nightmare, I hope that the only thing I will have to do for the rest of my life will be Kundalini yoga. I also do not want to pass the effectiveness of you teaching....regarding therapy what you talk about in class has been more convincing for me than my therapist.

was born in Sivas in 1967. For the last 20 years of my life I have studied the martial arts, especially Kung Fu –and Wushu. I work for the National Football team. I am a coach and a referee. Also I am very familiar with Tai –Chi and I have taught it extensively. My first practice took place with Esra Banguoglu after I saw her on a TV program covering Kundalini Yoga. Without any exaggeration I can say that meeting her and then beginning to practice Kundalini Yoga has changed my life. I have never met anything that so quickly and directly effects the human mind and emotion. It is really beautiful to activate all emotions that are humane, see them flower and bring them to everyday living. This is what I lived through Kundalini Yoga. This is called the yoga of awarness. As a person that has constructed his life around sports, I can very easily say that yoga is a must practice for anyone at any age. It is an absolute necessity for everyone to have a healthy life, even if you already do sports. Through my own experience I have seen that Kundalini Yoga and Meditation balances all the chakras and besides its physical values, matures one both spiritually and psychically. Kundalini Yoga Meditations and Mantras are very scientific, meaning that one gains exactly the outcomes that the Mantra and Meditations promise.

In these lines I would like to thank Esra whom I always receive help from whenever I asked for it. It has touched my heart that she invited me to the Kundalini Yoga seminar that took place in Istanbul in 2005. I had the opportunity to meet her teacher Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, a world expert on Kundalini Yoga. Their dedication to the Kundalini teachings and to each other, combined with the openness of heart and compassion one experienced there, was nothing less than a miraculous experience.

I strongly recommend practice with Esra Banguoglu and believe from my heart that she can carry you to your physical and spiritual light!

I went to Kundalini yoga once but something magical happened, something unbelievable took place. I make the connection of this happening with Kundalini Yoga as I do not believe in coincidences. I am guessing that what was holding me back or clogging me up until that day, lifted, dissolved. My energy level increased. I want to go back. Long live Kundalini yoga!!!!!

After trying Kundalini Yoga, I went to all the yoga centers there are in Istanbul and there is no other yoga like Kundalini Yoga. I am so glad you are back and bring the teachings to Istanbul again, this city needs you and what you have to teach.

I started my first practice not believing anything about yoga but after my very first Kundalini yoga class I thought to myself “Dear Lord, why have I delayed this experience”. From my very first practice I actually felt how easy it is to really enjoy life. I realized that my anger is not me, it is just a psychological state and it is tiresome. In a short time I grasped how much I can add to my life by choosing to approach it more beautifully.

I had never been in a spiritual work of any kind before. Being very suspicious about such kind of work, I can easily say that I kept my distance from such events and classes. For the last 10 years I have been under antidepressant and anxiolytic medication due to my depression and panic attacks. By chance I read about Kundalini Yoga and Gurmukh on the newpaper when she was in Istanbul. It caught my attention and I decided to go to her student, Esra Banguoglu’s class. That was that. I could not believe how I felt already from the first class. What the medications could not do for me in 10 years, a Kundalini yoga class did in 1 session. My life began to change from then on. So…I carried on. Unfortunately we do not get to have Kundalini Yoga all the time in Turkey. I want Kundalini Yoga to be in my life at all times! I really lived incredible changes through it. I know I have a lot more to learn from life. I pray to God in gratitude that I met Kundalini Yoga. Thank you, Esra. Thank you, Gurmukh and thank you so very much Yogi Bhajan!!!

I had never heard of Kundalini yoga until I walked into Esra's class one morning. I had been under a lot of stress and decided a yoga class, any yoga class, would help me calm down and re-center myself.

When I saw the glow in Esra's face and heard the warmth in her voice, I knew her class would be special. We started the set, and at one point Esra instructed us to bow down to our inner divinity. I lay my forehead on the floor, stretching my arms in front of me, and felt immediately humbled and grateful. I realized that I had never, in 24 years of living with myself, taken the time to say thank you to myself.

After that first class, I had no doubt that this was the yoga I was destined to practice. I spent the rest of the day feeling light and peaceful. More importantly, I felt connected to my body for the first time in my life.

I went to all of Esra's classes after that. I never had to motivate myself to go to class, so obvious was it that I needed Kundalini yoga. Nonetheless, especially in the first few months, some of the sets were far from easy for me. Many times, at the beginning of a set, I would grumble to myself: why in the world do I put myself through this torture? But inevitably, by the end of the set, I would feel so peaceful and elated that all my grumbles would dissolve.

After a few weeks of classes, I felt myself starting to change, and I got scared. I became conscious of how little compassion I had for myself and how harshly I criticized myself. But I was reluctant to change that, because that was how I had always been. I asked Esra: "If I get rid of my inner demon, who will I be?" With her golden voice, she answered: "More than you could ever imagine," and hugged me. With that, I decided I would welcome the changes when they came, all the while promising myself that if I didn't like the "new me", then I would go back to my old ways...

So I kept going to Kundalini class three times a week, and also did an 11-minute "heart healing" meditation (almost) every day. About two months after I started Kundalini, I was already amazed at how it had changed me for the better.

I have always challenged myself, whether mentally or physically. I previously thought that the fact that I was very harsh and critical towards myself was what allowed me to push myself as much as I do. I was afraid that if I developed compassion for myself, then I would become lazy and satisfied with being mediocre. Fortunately, I was wrong. Practicing Kundalini yoga trains the mind to "keep up" even if it gets difficult, and to never give up before you've given it your all. Kundalini also teaches you to listen to your mind and body without letting them control you. This has come in handy for me while running long distances for example, when my body is tired and my mind is trying to convince me to stop; I acknowledge their chatter and just "keep up."

Another misconception I had was that practicing Kundalini would lead me to become mentally lazy. I love to write, but I didn't want to start writing about how wonderful everything is, about sunshine and flowers and la-di-da. I wanted to keep my critical edge. I was relieved to discover that Kundalini, while it does make me happy, doesn't take away my critical thinking skills. I'm still the same writer, except that instead of writing out of anger towards the world, I use compassion and humor.

Kundalini yoga has also been beneficial for me physically. After about 6 weeks of practice, I suddenly became very conscious of how I was fueling my body, and started getting nauseous at the thought of eating meat or dairy products. So overnight, I became a vegan, and my body thanked me for it. Kundalini also allowed me to gain considerable strength and flexibility.

But by far the biggest and best improvement brought to me by practicing Kundalini is that the anxiety I had been carrying around in the pit of my stomach for most of my life is 90% gone. I have never felt so relaxed, peaceful, so deeply calm. I feel much more open to life and to people. In fact, my friends and family have noticed the change. And when a feeling of anxiety starts to creep up in me, I take a few conscious breaths and it disappears within seconds.

I still have a long way to go, and there are definitely periods of time where I get discouraged that my progress is stalling. But they are always followed by periods where I realize how much I benefit from practicing Kundalini. I am astounded by how Kundalini has changed me after just a few months of going to class 3 to 5 times a week and meditating daily. And I am excited to find out what other changes are in store for me in the future..

1. I bought Gurmukh's book " Human Eight Talents", when I was taking care of
my four legged-furried daughter, who was suffering from dilated
cardiomyopathy, in 2002. I had no time to start reading it, till I lost her
after 4 months one night after a heart attack. Then I started reading the
book, and at the same time doing yoga by myself at home. It was the only
thing which brought me back to life.

2. I was hypothyroid. After doing yoga, my thyroid hormone levels returned
to normal, and I stopped taking my thyroid hormone pills. Since then I'm not
taking them, and they are normal.

3. I was having a lot of tension,frustration, and pain, before my
mensturations, they are gone also.

4. My energy levels improved. I have never been a morning person all through
out my life, but I started waking up early without any alarms. My tendency
to sleep comes back, when I don't practice yoga though.

5. When I asked for a 40-day meditation this summer from Gurmukh,and
finished it, I saw that I'm not eating my cuticles anymore. I was eating
them since 1978, and no matter how much I wanted to stop, I had failed in
doing so.

6. And I did a second 40-day meditation, and improved my relationship with
my husband.

7. And I've become a much more heart-centered person.