Spiritual Names & Kundalini Yoga
In my years of practicing kundalini yoga, I met many people with spiritual names. The idea is that the meaning and vibration of a spiritual name is like a link to your spiritual destiny and brings insight into the identity of your inner being or soul.
Back in the day, you would send a $20 check to a specific address with your current name and birthday and some appointed person would use numerology to assign you a name in Sanskrit or Gurmukhi (written spiritual language of the Sikhs). With a name like Ruby Crystal, I couldn't imagine a spiritual name more special than that. I also think I was uncomfortable with the method and afraid I'd end up with what I might consider a "weird" name. Though all the names given have beautiful meanings, they all don't sound lovely to my Western ear😁.
How I Got My Spiritual Name
This is just one of many examples of why, when I hesitate about something, there's usually a good reason. Back in 2009, I ended up doing a work trade with a Kundalini Yoga teacher who went by Yogi Devi and had a really strong personality. My hope was that it'd be like a mentorship to learn more about the style of yoga we both practiced since I hadn't officially done my Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training yet. In the end, it didn't go as I had planned, and I never saw her again. But the silver lining was that I ended up unexpectedly getting my spiritual name.
Before I go further, I want to emphasize right now that I really never cared for the founder of Kundalini Yoga, Yogi Bhajan who had died in 2004. I had never met him, but from the exposure I'd had of him, I'd found him rather off putting and I resonated much more with my dear teachers who were his early students. However, when Yogi Devi told me that he'd said my spiritual name to her, I was all ears. She said that the spirit of Yogi Bhajan would normally visit her on a particular side and on that day, he visited her on the opposite side. He said, "Ruby's spiritual name is Shakti Devi". That name basically means powerful Goddess. One of the reasons I knew she wasn't making it up is that she'd earlier shared with me her disdain for her own spiritual name and admitted she was a bit jealous of an acquaintance of hers with Shakti in her name.
What Shakti Devi Represents for My Destiny
Though I have obviously kept Ruby as my main name, it's been fun to go by Shakti Devi at Kundalini Yoga trainings and events. It is fun to look back though, and see how this name has in fact been guiding me over the years. When I was in my mid twenties, much before I ever thought of being a yoga teacher, I had a numerology reading from my Kundalini Yoga teacher at the time, Sangeet Kaur, who said I wasn't going to be saving the whales in this lifetime, but that I'd be doing powerful work with women and children. Besides having my own child, I'm not sure if the working with with children part has been fulfilled yet, but I've been creating offerings specifically for women for over a decade now and it's some of my most heartfelt work.
In the last few years, it's become very clear that the divine feminine energy is needed more than ever on our planet and though it sometimes doesn't seem like it, divine feminine power is indeed increasing. I got this book to the right, "Awakening Shakti" at least 5 years ago, but it wasn't until about a year ago that I decided I wanted to incorporate it into the work I do.
The book goes in depth into what Shakti energy is and into 11 of the main Indian Goddesses who express this energy in different ways. I dabbled with bringing one or two of the Goddesses into my classes, but the timing just wasn't feeling right to offer a full on series. But just a month ago, I got a strong feeling to incorporate the wisdom and practices of this book into my monthly full moon circles which I'm now going to call Full Moon Shakti Circles. The first one will be this Sunday at Presence studio and be an intro into Shakti energy. Then each month after, will cover all eleven Goddesses, starting with Durga. I will most likely be weaving some of this content into my online full moon circles as well. The next one is Tuesday, Oct. 11.
Like so many of us post pandemic, this is a time to get more clear on our path and what really resonates for us. I recognize that my work involves a handful of niches, but the area that I'd say most meshes with the name Shakti Devi is the work that emphasizes the divine feminine and that brings women and spiritually minded people wanting to tap into their inner feminine power together. It's kind of cool that while I've wanted more clarity and direction in my business for awhile now, the answer was in my spiritual name all along. This name that means powerful Goddess is showing me that that not only really is who I am, but that a big part of what I'm here to do is to guide others in tapping into that powerful divine feminine energy within.
Thanks so much for reading💜.
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