“If people are scared of snakes, they are scared of their own spirituality.” That may seem like a bold, or even harsh statement, but it forms the basis of Kumara Serpent Healing, a snakey relative of Kundalini yoga. The founder of this system of “snake yoga” is Hari Bhajan Kaur aka Kwali Kumara. She has described herself as a “mad snake lady,” and incorporates tamed snakes into her yoga classes and workshops in order to help people “face fears and deepen [their] connection to spirit and the natural world.” So, where did “snake yoga” come from and what does it involve?
Kwali Kumara, originally trained as a Kundalini yoga teacher, has a passion for snakes. She works with “Snakey Sue's Serpent Sanctuary” to rescue and find homes for snakes that are no longer wanted by their owners. She decided to merge Kundalini yoga practices and handling snakes because “having the snakes involved connects people to what is going on inside.” She feels that each snake is a unique being with its own wisdom to share, and hopes that her students can shed some of their fears by interacting with her snakes.
A Serpent Healing class with Kwali and her snakes involves some aspects that look pretty familiar to many Kundalini yoga practitioners: kriyas, chanting, and meditation pertaining to different chakras for example. After going through some intense poses, there is a time of relaxation and meditation before the snakes are brought out. According to her website, Kwali has different sizes and breeds of snakes available “to suit each individual yogi’s needs and confidence with the serpents.” Students can hold and interact with the snakes for up to one hour, and will also have time to “analyze the anxiety and stress related to snakes by studying their incredible journey throughout history.” Kwali Kumara maintains liability insurance to cover any potential mishaps, but is confident in the peaceful nature of the snakes she shares in each class.
While using live snakes in a yoga class may seem strange, it makes sense in the context of Kundalini yoga. "Kundalini" is considered to be the latent, feminine energy residing at the base of the spine. It is conceived of as a coiled, sleeping serpent. Kundalini yoga practices seek to awaken the sleeping, or dormant, energy and project it upward through each chakra until it meets the masculine, universal energy and emerges through the crown of the head. By incorporating actual snakes, Kwali is trying to help people overcome fears and anxieties which could be blocking their chakras.
What do you think about “Snake Yoga?”
For more information on the chakras and how to balance them, try the Kundalini Yoga Chakra Kit!
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I can see how it could be helpful to people to connect with these wonderful animals – we’re all too disconnected these days; and I can see the usefulness of the serpent as metaphor for kundalini. Also, too, there is a connection between serpents and spirituality that goes back to prehistory – snake priests and priestesses are found everywhere.
Still, I’m not comfortable with the use of animals to serve humans. I just honestly don’t know how I feel about it beyond, “The poor snakes!”
Being a Shiavite, I’ve always seen in my mind’s eye and dreams lots of snakes since I was a child. And yes, I was afraid of my spiritual gifts. It took me many years to find my guru and to finally know what was going on. So, in a way I admire and agree with Kwali Kumara about the reason why people are afraid of snakes. Also, for those who were raised as Catholics, snakes are the embodiment of sin and betrayal. Imagine my shock and guilt when I found out that every depiction of Mother Mary has her crushing a snake under her foot. And what about Adam and Eve’s myth? Those things can really mess you up inside.
Sat Nam.
For those who love actual snakes, snake yoga is a nice way to re-connect with the actual animals and get some peace of mind. A snake is a snake as much a dog is a dog. What a relief to “see” that!
However, I would never go to a snake yoga class. I’m not that strong, sorry.
I wish Kwali all the best, as she is doing some serious rescue work of innocent animals and educating people.
About Karen’s comment, my thoughts at first were with here, but then I realized that
nowadays, everyone has to earn their place and space, even animals.
So it’s no surprise that snakes have to work a little too, to earn some long due respect, as do horses, for example.
Not nice, I know. But that’s the way it is now.
Thank you Ramdesh for the interesting article.
Karen,
Kwali talks a bit about her thoughts on using the snakes in classes on her website. I don’t have the link handy at the moment, but she feels that they are not serving people as much as actively sharing their gifts and earning their keep. I don’t know how many snakes she keeps, but I imagine it’s quite expensive. If she’s able to keep them happy and in a good home by using them, maybe it’s a good thing?
Thanks for your thoughts!
Liz
@Liz – I’m just conflicted on this, as I can’t see where the line lies between justification of exploitation by the argument that animals are “earning their keep” and a mutually respectful working relationship.
It’s an uncomfortable area, as no-one wants to think of themselves as exploiting animals (including other humans), and we can tie ourselves in knots justifying our use of animals, because we do have meaningful emotional relationships with them; and because we live in cultures which have such radically abusive relationships with animals (for food, for skins, for medicine, for domestic work, for pets), it is really difficult to disentangle our emotions, cultural assumptions, and deep motives.
That’s why I think it’s such a wonderful area for cultivating compassion, for ourselves and for those with “opposing” views. We all think of ourselves as champions for the vulnerable, as compassionate people, and yet when it comes to animal welfare and animal rights, it’s easy to shut down and dig into what looks like irreconcilably opposing positions. There can appear to be a chasm between positions, and that tells me that the area between is in fact a very fertile space for growth through sitting with different views, examining our own, working together to come to respectful understanding if not agreement.
So I continue to sit with it. Given that I can’t unlearn that humans are complex and compassion is the best way to approach any situation, no matter how annoying it is to me that the world isn’t going to just become the way I think I want it to be right NOW (oh, my aching ego!), forcing myself to sit in that uncomfortable place in the hopes of seeing signs of greater understanding in myself really is the only option I have (sometimes, I am even gracious about it!).
@Agnidevi-
I look at Mother Mary stepping on a snake as symbolic of Mary, as the Adi Shakti, being able to control the Kundalini energy. Similar to how Shiva sits on a tiger skin, showing he has conquered his animal nature (and yogis on sheep skins!)
I think this lady should be able to do what she wants, I just wish it wasn’t associated with kundalini yoga.