My friend is soon to embark on a journey into plant medicine in Peru. She chose to prepare for it with kundalini yoga, and what better preparation than a daily practice of Kirtan Kriya – the Sa Ta Na Ma meditation. 

With an earnest intention of deep healing, a preparatory 40-day practice will influence how my friend enters her experience of Ayahuasca, and therefore how she is able to assimilate and heal through it. She wants to be super-ready in the best way possible, and I decided to support her process by practising the 40 days with her, with a 2.5-hour kirtan kria meditation at the beginning and end of those 40 days.

Kirtan Kriya is hailed as one of the original jewels of kundalini yoga. It does so many things, and significantly for women, it weakens the influence of the auric imprints from old relationships, allowing us to connect with our true identity.

Despite the actual 31-minute practice of Kirtan Kriya itself being deliciously blissful – seriously, this is one gorgeous meditation – I found my life experience during the 40 days to be quite confronting and uncomfortable. In an almost textbook reference to the above, exes would pop up unbidden and not always welcome – I dreamt of one’s death, another ghoulishly popped up on Messenger, others would loom up out of the blue into my mind or my inbox.

This aside, I’d find myself in unusual life situations that triggered me to the max, urging me to assess my sense of self-worth. Much of it was supremely uncomfortable but, of course, very healing to recognise and address. Different difficult scenarios presented similar themes throughout the 40 days.

So, in summary, 40 days of 31 minutes of Sa Ta Na Ma was confrontational and uncomfortable, but I really connected with and appreciated the cleansing and purifying aspect of it. Talk about clearing karma – ouch! And I feel that it’s not quite done with me yet, so I’ll be continuing with it a little longer. Watch this space…

(Click here for the 120-day update)