From today, 13 December, I will celebrate a second birthday.
I’m in Rishikesh, India, training to become a Kundalini teacher.
I have been initiated into the Himalayan tradition of Kundalini Yoga. Guru Vishnu gave me Shaktipat, a personal mantra and a spiritual name.
The initiation symbolises a new birth: leaving old mistakes behind, taking another step on the spiritual path and going deeper into personal practice. It also carries a blessing to pass this knowledge on.
My second name is now Vidya. In Sanskrit, it means “divine wisdom.”
I’m getting used to it. I taste the name on my tongue and breathe it through my heart.
An addition from 14 January 2024
I feel grounded. I notice it first in my confidence: in myself, my strength and my experience.
I travelled a long way to reach this point. Yes, I still slip back sometimes. Yet diplomas seem to have a power of their own. After a month in an Indian ashram, where I studied Kundalini and Tantra intensively, the support I felt inside gained an outer foundation.
Perhaps the formal initiation into the Himalayan tradition played a part. Perhaps it was the Shaktipat from my guru, or my new spiritual name, which feels deeply Tantric.
The exact reason is hard to name, but I can feel the result.
I have lost interest in arguing with anyone about what Tantra really means. I know what it is because the knowledge lives inside me as fully as anything can.
I still have many questions. Some of them now have answers.
