Everyone was huddled under the large tent, hoping the rain would hold off for a little while longer. Some couldn't help but wonder if the steel poles supporting this large structure would act as lightning rods and send millions of volts of electricity through us all, or just harmlessly route it to the ground where they were planted.

Kundalini Yoga is a thousands of years old discipline of body, mind and soul and on this special day practitioners congregated in a worldwide meditation to individually and collectively celebrate and harness the energy that the solstice provides, for personal and collective transformation .

Although there were only 10 participants at this gathering, they were joined by tens of thousands of other practitioners of various faiths to ring in the Summer Solstice, including at least 2,000 gathers of Kundalini Yoga at a camp in New Mexico.

The Summer Solstice happens at approximately June 22 in the Northern Hemisphere when the sun is highest in the sky and directly overhead at latitude 23 1/2° N, the Tropic of Cancer.

This year the focus was on the Earth chakra, one of five elements representing the first five chakras of the body and the associated qualities within us . The remaining, Fire, Water, Air and Ether being focused on each year after. And boy, were the effects ever felt as the thunder rumbled and shook the ground beneath us!

Kundalini practitioners use a series of Kriya, or  exercises to strengthen and stimulate the various organs of the body. To concentrate on the Earth chakra, they performed what is called Apana Kriya, or Elimination Exercise. To an uninitiated onlooker, these exercises and the positions they took look strangely enough. But just try them yourself and see if you can keep up! You'd be hard pressed to follow along with the group leader.

Vatskar Kriya 

The first exercise is the Vatskar Kriya, which is a breathing exercise. It is said that this exercise is helpful if you want to quit smoking, and I can see why. First they took a deep breath as if through a straw, then they rotated their upper body, around their stomach while holding the breath. If you can do this twice a day on a daily basis you won't need a reason to inhale smoke.

This exercise also adjusts the acid-base balance in the stomach, but it must be done regularly without missing a single day.

Baby Pose

The second exercise or Kriya ( See I'm getting used to these strange sounding names!) is called the Baby Pose. OK, now that I'm used to the names, they change to plain English. Finally, a language I can barely understand!

You sit on your heels and place your hands behind you with your forehead on the ground. Then you wiggle your hips back and forth as if you had a huge tail extending from them. I'm not going to try the wiggle part for a long time. Heck, I can't even do the head down position! I just sat this one out on a nice dry bench. However, if you want a strong heart, this one is said to help.

Modified Stretch Pose

Not sure what this one is called but it is a real belly buster. This will definitely get rid of your beer belly, if  you can keep up. It also helps to cleanse the gall bladder.

You first point your toes forward and raise your feet three feet in the air and hold them there. Start breathing in deep, long breaths and continue for 3 minutes.

Surprisingly, there were no groans coming from the participants, showing that the dedication they have in their practice of yoga has paid off in better physical conditioning  

Modified Spinal Rock

Then you bring you legs over your head and catch your toes with you hands and roll back and forth from the base of the spine to the neck for 3 minutes. 

This will help to flush the circulation and balance your nerves. Something we all need in this fast paced rush rush world of ours.

Alternate Nostril Breath

Wait, you mean I can only breathe in one nostril?

I use both and I still huff and puff!

Here's how you do it. First sit up in the Easy Pose (finally, something I can do) and calmly bring the right thumb up to the right nostril and close it off.

Inhale through the left nostril and take your small finger and place it on the left nostril and exhale through the right nostril. ( You have to be able to walk and chew bubble gum, at the same time, to do this)

Keep doing this for 3 minutes and you will feel a radiant energy throughout the body giving health and life.......or pass out from a lack of oxygen.

Wait, you're not done yet! There's still 2 more Kriyas to do. The next one is also un-named but only requires you to sit in the Easy Pose and place your hands in the Venus Lock position.

In another words, interlace your fingers together with your palms facing inwards a few inches form your heart center. Inhale while turning your head to the left, then exhale while you turn your head to the right, three times. 

The completion of the Kriya is squeezing the body tight and raising the energy by inhaling and exhaling three times.

This exercise, along with the Alternate Nostril Breath help to distribute the pranic force and stimulate the thyroid and para-thyroid.

Backward wide Arm Circles

Now, from the same sitting position, raise your arms to the side of the body. Then swing your arms in a backwards circular motion similar to swimming a backstroke. Continue for one minute.

Immediately bringing both hands to each shoulder, four fingers in front of shoulders and thumbs to back-elbows out to side and level -inhale hold and squeeze energy upward (expand navel diagphram ) exhale navel back to spine ( 2-3 times) - inhale-exhale relax and feel the energy flow to all parts of your body. These last two help to re magnetize the Aura.

Now you know why they were concerned about the lightning! 

The final exercise is actually not an exercise but a relaxing set called the Corpse Pose. As you can guess, you just lay on your back. But it has an important effect of distributing the energy and promote cellular healing