About

I have been preparing for this moment my whole life. I realized this during my first yoga experience. In that moment following Savasana, the shift inside of me was palpable, like the lights had been turned up very bright. A feeling inside my body was present that had never been there, and in my heart and head, a very clear understanding, without words, was obvious.  My spiritual journey began at 15 with a near death experience and intensified at 17 when my family chose to venture into a religion that involved a lifetime commitment of them, and I chose not to join them. A radical experience that set in motion a lifetime of seeking love, tolerance, compassion and acceptance.

Approaching my late 30′s, I realized that what I had been living was not authentic, and it was painful. I began to seriously seek a way to myself. A dozen years of continuous devotion, learning and teaching, I now understand and am at peace.  I found the root of the cause of my suffering, which has given me compassion for myself and others.

Yoga means to yoke or create union, and that union is the experience of realization of our True Nature, that we are not separate from that which is. Practicing on my mat, meditating, chanting and opening a fearful heart has revealed that union to me. I am not in it every minute but enough that a strong knowingness is present within me. I remember years ago, having a thought that it is not enough to practice yoga but if I am to live yoga, then it has to be carried into my daily life, in every thought, word and deed.  I began to notice where there would be a discrepancy between me “on the mat” and me “off the mat”, and slowly I was able to root out those divisions, each time I saw a part of my personality that had to project itself out, I could weave it back into my heart.

This was a very gradual process, sometimes my inner judge was very harsh and I would feel small and bad about something about myself, but back on the mat, that feeling would be released. My realizations revealed that that judge was not in my heart but a voice that had guided, protected and kept me “safe”.  I began to allow a deeper voice inside to be the guide, and to trust that feeling in my heart, which sometimes went exactly opposite my head or the judge.  Kundalini Yoga made the biggest difference, because that practice did not allow me to hide or run away from any of this within myself.  After completing the advanced Kundalini Yoga Level II courses, my realizations were clear and sometimes what I saw about myself and my ego attachments were difficult but again, was that not my ego judge telling me that?  I had to learn to trust my heart/Soul voice which became my “work” because that judge/ego/head voice had done such a “good” job for so long. Essentially, with a lot of self love and giving and serving others, which was much easier than I had ever imagined it to be, that division between the ego/head/judge and my Heart/Soul began to merge and I suddenly realized one day, wow, now this is Yoga! I am in union and I am able to live it off the mat. It was pretty cool.  Not that I don’t fall into the delusion still sometimes but it only takes a moment to catch myself and re-unite.

I realized that the more “work” I do, the more there is to be done, but it has never felt like “work”, it has been a wild, joyful, painful, phenomenal experience that fills me with enormous gratitude, love and patience.  My life experiences that could be labeled tragic or terrible have been my greatest teachers, every moment is a teacher, a guru for me and when something comes along that in the past, I would have called a bad experience, now I am glad for it, because it is a teacher for me, it is an opportunity to test my heart.

I love to learn and  call myself an eternal student, and I am fortunate to study with some of the best teachers in America, South America and India.  The real teacher is the Divine, Life and our experiences. My trainings and certifications include Level I and II of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan and as an E-RYT 500 in Hatha Yoga.  Specifically I have studied with the Jivamukti clan, Integral Yoga, the Yoga Institute of Miami and Unity Woods Iyengar Yoga, as well as continuous workshops with a myriad of excellent teachers like Gurmukh, Shiva Rea, Angela Farmer, Barbara Benaugh, Natasha Rizapoulos, Johnny Kest and Kino Macgregor.  Currently I am working towards a Master’s degree in Ayurveda with the Sai Ayurvedic College in Miami, Florida, which is an incredible avenue to deeper healing and wholeness. I hold a B.A. in Economics and Behavioral Sociology from Salem College.

I hope for you a joyous, heartfelt and emboldened journey to reconnecting to who you really are, and if we meet along the way, I am grateful for your light and love.

In gratitude and love

Denise Kirpal Kaur