We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Karuna. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Karuna below.

Karuna, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
Somebody asked me as a teacher to offer the teachings through my unique platform. Two gentlemen from Los Angeles who were in the wellness industry working with yoga teachers building websites and branding approached me and with their track record, knowledge of the industry, I found funding to move ahead. SO from going to idea to execution, it meant building a website, building an app, finding a name, finding the funding, many meetings of introduction to the practice and how it was relevant to the times were in now. The idea got me most excited because it was Kundalini Yoga and Kundalini Yoga and Meditation works. I have practice all types of yoga from asana to hatha to meditations, all types of yoga, which led me to understand that we needed a part of science in our practice to elevate the subconscious becoming more and more awakened and aware of our humanity and our situation with all levels of this yoga, the yoga of awareness was paramount for our times. That got me super excited because I was spiritual mentally physically feeling a change. it wasn’t just a linear practice for me anymore, it was a maturity practice. it brought forth great leaders and other projects such as Light on Light Magazine, Light on Light press. It made my yoga world more vast. My internship and my apprenticeship was seven years with master yogi of kundalini yoga. I traveled 7 years to India, consecutively. I built my stamina to keep up with this sophisticated science and practice. And then in turn I see other people change and grow and feel happy and healthy. So it’s reciprocity 1000% this practice.

Karuna, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I understand the sensitivity of my own self and I know what that is. It took time to understand and introduce a practice and find a practice that could meet me at that place of sensitivity. Raised in a very competitive atmosphere (both brothers, NFL football coaches, father football coach). I was different. Soft, sensitive, in the sense of easily taking things personally and emotionally destroyed by my reactions, which in turn weren’t serving me. I had to come up with a way when I entered my first profession which was highly competitive, to find my unique who I was, and in your late teens and early twenties, this isn’t often approach in your psyche in this way. its more about running from your emotions than sitting with them. at that time we don’t have as much information as we do now to live healthier and happier. and living in a city in New York, not necessarily conducive to finding contemplative community. so I really had to find it on my own. luckily my location was near the integral yoga center and I had experienced loss while I was developing a career. and this was loss of a sibling, a huge loss. It took me to a place where I had to do something about my anxiousness, fear and doubt. I had no choice but to find community. The integral center helped me do that. This was a journey of a couple decades for me to find my destiny. And my destiny was an opening to lead my into a direction of wellness. and being in the world of beauty and acting brought me to understand how I needed to keep myself healthier and look and feel good. which in turn took me to doing a teacher training program in kundalini yoga, continuing my education, learning, and eventually teaching. and once my truth, my unique approach, as a non-conventional authentic voice was coming through, this was when I was approached to become an entity, called Light on Kundalini.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
In the beginning I was a model. 99% told me there was no way. I went to Paris on a one way ticket from a French agent. I was not the height, the weight, or the look, they wanted when I arrived, yet they saw something, because they gave me the ticket to stay, so I went. My smile, my glee, my joy, was what brought me to my “look”. It was unique, unconventional. And it was sought after by Eileen Ford who brought me to New York, home to the USA. Somebody has to believe in you, and it has to be a support system where all of us are in alignment with our purpose. It doesn’t need to be developed, it just needs to be trusted. From modeling, to acting, to these teachings, the journey, has taught me and illustrates, to this day, in my, my resilience towards intuitive instincts. The ones that aren’t necessarily financially supportive, yet are creatively supportive, which built Light on Kundalini (LOK). Because it makes each one of us at LOK, get and go much deeper, search much harder, without the bankroll. At LOK, we communicate telepathically, we have understanding, we introduce each other to new ideas, without destroying inspiration. We trust in the journey where it began, i.e. modeling, acting. And we integrate, through travel, the truth in the teachings so we participate as the devotee, the student of any religion or path. Yet, we all have patterns, subconscious patterns, not necessarily ones that are supportive, either. As we have to love both body and mind, equally in order to understand experience with resilience. Who are we? What are we? And where do we want to go? Why do we want to do it? A hint would be opening up to new courage, stopping the monkey mind, becoming aimless, not looking for a sign. This is challenging for our patterns. Because all that stuff makes us not believe in miracles, and miracles happen, businesses grow, people show up in service. LOK has had exceptional leadership in bringing forth creative people who want to work in service for others. I mean, loving, compassionate, devoted community offering time, energy, and spaciousness to grow. We started in 2007 and we are open. All of it in development is practice. We have a capacity to help each other off the ground, a smile will do. We have a wonderful opportunity to speak to each other, in these times of absolute distress, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. says “Our lives begin to end the same day we become silent about things that matter.” LOK says to practice, meditate, through long deep breathing, walking meditation, to experience your gift. One of the unlearned lessons would be to hesitate and forget. Go back to an old pattern that never served you in the beginning, yet we did it because we were desperate, so we implore you, all of us, to always meditate, and to sit with a “tall” seat. To establish 40 day meditations to work specifically on one of these habits so they no longer bring you there. Community is paramount. Nurturing your lifestyle, you are your greatest investment. Yeah it takes a long time, so let’s talk about where we are going, and what we need. Good karma. put in good karma, karma isn’t only negative. Good karma brings you happiness, because serving others brings you happiness. And it also is important to sleep well. And when you’ve truly served and donated your time, it’s good. And when someone asks how are you, you can say I’m good, and it’s enough. “I am good.” Sat Nam So Grateful, Karuna

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
The lesson is that not everyone is here to stay in your relationship to your company and to unlearn that where I am such a loyal person, was very difficult to understand that opportunity came to start a business, build a company, thinking that everybody who began with LOK was going to stick with LOK, and it being “spiritual” that truth and dignity would prevail and that was the trust I had, period. What I had to learn was I needed to persevere my destiny and passion, come what may and understand we are all human and we are all in this learning curve together and other people move on and it’s awesome to watch everyone grow in their own authentic way. So there are no guarantees of success, monetarily or spiritually. The last thing is I needed to follow my heart and not get involved with spiritual organizational yoga but create something that is available for everyone on every walk of life, no religion or dogma, and no one is going to do it better than you. And your team members will show up at the right time, just when the teacher shows up when the student is ready. No expectation. No unnecessary projection. Adding the nine second rule, if you don’t have the answer in nine seconds, wait 24 hours.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lightonkundalini.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightonkundalini/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lightonkundalini
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/light-on-kundalini
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/LOKundalini
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHPYY2oyX4SECUj3tjPfXaA

Image Credits
Cary Jobe