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When practicing Kundalini Yoga, we always cover our head with a natural cloth, such as cotton. It can be a bandana, a cap, a wrap, a turban, or any style that covers the hair and head. This is done in reverence for the teachings but it is also a tradition that is rooted deeply in yogic technology.
Through Kundalini Yoga, the practitioner trains to become aware of and master the subtle energies. Yogi Bhajan taught that the hair is alive and has an important energetic function, regulating the sun energy in the body system. By covering the head, the energy generated by the practice is contained within. It stabilizes the energy and allows it to collect in the region of the sixth and seventh chakras.
The sixth chakra is at the third eye point, the point between the eyebrows, which is the seat of intuition. The seventh chakra is at the top of the head, and it is the connection to higher consciousness. By containing the energy generated during practice, it stabilizes the nervous system and opens the intuition.
Here is what Yogi Bhajan said in 1997:
"We are not asking everybody to tie a turban, what we are asking is for teachers to at least cover their heads. In old times, in any spiritual [tradition], Christianity, Judaism, Islam, they covered their heads. God has given the human hair on their heads for a purpose. Hair is a pure protein, a pure, heavy protein. Your gray matter and this pure, heavy protein is connected. This bunch of hair protects the solar centers in your skull. If you don't have any value for it, go and get them cut, it's okay. You shave your head, it's fine; but the caliber of your intuition will change. So what we want, when a person invokes the Divine, is that they should cover their head. Somebody asked, ‘What should I do? I am in a ski place. Can I put on a ski cap?’ I am not telling you to cover your head with a wood block, I am telling you to cover your head with anything available to you that can cover. It is fine with me."
Covering the head provides a sense of containment and focus while doing any practice or work that requires clarity of thought. It literally helps “keep your head” together!
Teacher
KRI is a non-profit organization that holds the teachings of Yogi Bhajan and provides accessible and relevant resources to teachers and students of Kundalini Yoga.
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