Sahaja Yoga was founded by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi in India and is a method of meditation based on an experience of self-realization produced by Kundalini awakening, according to shrimataji.org.

Graduate student Ruikai Li taught Sahaja Yoga classes for more than two years in China and started teaching them when he arrived at MSU last semester. He teaches a weekly class on Wednesdays in the Main Library or by appointment.

Li said Sahaja Yoga is different from other yogas because it’s not like physical yoga — it’s strictly meditation.

“I would say 90 percent knowledge and skills we teach is from meditation — we don’t teach a lot of physical yoga,” Li said. “(Students) come here and feel like Sahaja Yoga is easy to get into the real meditation, which means thoughtless awareness (when) there is no thought in your mind.”

Thoughtless awareness is the first stage of mediation, when the participant is fully alert but without any thoughts in a state of pure and peaceful consciousness, according to Sahaja Yoga.

His classes begin with basic information about the class, then they proceed with the start of meditation.

“We have a special way to do meditation for the people who never did it before or who are beginners … in the first 20 minutes, we call it first meditation or self-realization for the (students') first try,” Li said.

After the first 20 minutes he asks all the students how they're feeling, including whether or not they feel relaxed, can feel the thoughtless awareness or feel very peaceful.

“Most people can feel really good and if some students really make the meditation happen and it’s really deep, that means their meditation is stable and they can feel a cool breeze above their head,” he said.

If one can feel the cool breeze after meditation, this means they successfully experienced self-realization. The experience is meant to be the awakening of the Kundalini, or their spiritual energy.

It’s OK if beginners don’t experience this cool breeze on their first try, as they are new to this type of mediation, Li said.

Human biology junior Anuja Nikam attended her first Sahaja yoga workshop, but has done simple meditation and breathing before with her parents.

“I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to feel at the beginning because I tried it before,” Nikam said. “Sometimes I just fall asleep, but as we kept going ... I felt really calm and peaceful, not really drawing on any thoughts."

She said she plans to attend the weekly classes and will try practicing it at home for 10 minutes before bed to become better at it.

Human biology sophomore Rakhi Shah also participated in Sahaja Yoga meditation for the first time. She said although she did not feel the cool breeze, the meditation made her feel really happy and relaxed.

“I felt very relaxed after doing it, I think the only thing for me was that I didn’t get much sleep last night, so I think it was more of a relax, but so relaxed to the point where I got kind of tired,” she said. “This just kind of made me feel happy ... it fit right into what I was looking for on how to improve, so that was very helpful.”

Shah said she enjoyed it enough to start her own mediation sessions at home or come back to the weekly classes.

“I’m hoping to start tonight if I can, I’ve been trying to do breathing at night, but this is more like specific so I really like it,” Shah said.