Perfecting the body and clearing the mind through the practices of Hatha yoga, which includes asanas and pranayama, the sincere practitioner, who follows a regimen of hatha-raja yoga combination, experiences the beginning of the process of
pratyahar—the fifth stage of yoga.

The body is perfectly aligned and the breath moves fluidly in the body when this reversal process starts.

The sense organs that were striving outwards towards sense objects now turn around inwards. All the energy that goes into acquiring objects of desire for sense gratification is now ready to be channelled into the realisation of one’s own divinity.

Energy starts to flow up the spine from the muladhar back to the adnya chakra piercing each chakra and awakening it.

This happens with the guidance of a true realised yoga master who is perfect. At this point, it is important for the lay yoga practitioner to know the lineage of the teacher who is guiding them.

For from here, starts the serious practice of Kundalini yoga which is a process of accessing an immense source of energy that yogis believe is inherent in each human being.

It is described as a snake coiled three and half times and placed in the lowest chakra—the Muladhar. Kundalini, unless activated, is a dormant energy and it is the realised master who decides whether the student is properly prepared for the inflow of this spiritual energy.

As this energy is guided up the spine, it transforms the practitioner at every level as it awakens each chakra. In the muladhar, it enhances psychic activity such as astral levitation and clairvoyance.

In the swadhishtan, the student becomes aware of the other worlds existing simultaneously in this plane and is open to communication with beings inhabiting them.

In the Manipur, it enables one to move prana — the universal life force energy— at will and thus it is that the power generated here is attempted to be used in all martial arts tactics and moves.

Wish fulfilment is one of the sign when the anahat chakra is awakened by the arousal of this energy. In the vishuddhi, the practitioner becomes non-attached and master of self. In the adnya chakra the practicing yogi loses all duality and in the shasrar the yogi becomes a manifestation of the divine.