Need to recharge your battery? This simple yoga exercise will increase your energy

Where can you find the energy to do everything you need and want to do? Kundalini yoga promises to provide this boost. By consistently doing the four U’s, a series of exercises, for 21 days, you can noticeably increase your energy and expand your consciousness. 

Kundalini yoga is creative energy, which according to Hindu philosophy, is asleep in our coccyx as a curled-up snake. The aim of Kundalini yoga is to stimulate this energy so that it can crawl up along the spine, activating the chakras along the way. This allows the energy to flow from the lower to the higher chakras, from our basic needs to values like love and solidarity, and it expands our consciousness.

The four U’s are a series of Kundalini exercises that help you to increase your energy and expand your consciousness.

The first U

Lie on your back on a mat or a blanket, and put your arms and legs straight up. Keep your legs apart by the width of your hips, your arms by the width of your shoulders. Keep stretching your arms and legs (using your abdominal muscles), relax your shoulders and make sure to keep your (lower) back on the floor. Breathe from your abdomen and maintain the position for three to leven minutes. Then lower your arms and legs to the floor and relax for one minute.

The second U

Carefully assume the Flow position. (Google: Halasana). Lie on your back, raise up your legs, put your fingertips squarely on the floor. Then lift your buttocks off the floor. Move your legs backward over your head until they are stretched horizontally. If you can, bring your arms all the way back against your ears. If this position is too difficult, put a chair behind you and let your legs rest on it. Make the best U-shape you can, keeping your back straight and breathing from your abdomen. Keep the position up for three to eleven minutes, then lie back and relax. Roll back and forth on your back with your knees to your chest to ‘massage’ and relax your back muscles.

Want to learn more about the history behind Kundalini yoga and the other two U’s? Read about it in Happinez – New Horizon. Order online or find a store near you. 

Text: Ingrid Melenberg – Photo: Avrielle Suleiman