By Deva Kaur Khalsa
“Our hair fashions might be just a trend, but if we investigate, we may find that we have been depriving ourselves of one of the most valuable sources of energy for human vitality.” Yogi Bhajan
Consider the possibility that the hair on your head is there to do more than just look good. Man is the only creature who grows longer hair on his head as he grows into adulthood. Left uncut, your hair will grow to a particular length and then stop all by itself at the correct length for you. From a yogic perspective, hair is an amazing gift of nature that can actually help raise the Kundalini energy (creative life force), which increases vitality, intuition, and tranquility.
Cut Hair
Long ago people in many cultures didn’t cut their hair, because it was a part of who they were. There were no salons. Often, when people were conquered or enslaved, their hair was cut as a recognized sign of slavery. It was also understood that this would serve as punishment and decrease the power of those enslaved.
The bones in the forehead are porous and function to transmit light to the pineal gland, which affects brain activity, as well as thyroid and sexual hormones. Cutting bangs which cover the forehead impedes this process. When Genghis Khan conquered China, he considered the Chinese to be a very wise, intelligent people who would not allow themselves to be subjugated. He therefore required all women in the country to cut their hair and wear bangs, because he knew this would serve to keep them timid and more easily controlled.
As whole tribes or societies were conquered, cut hair became so prevalent that the importance of hair was lost after a few generations, and hairstyles and fashion grew to be the focus.
The science of hair was one of the first technologies given by Yogi Bhajan when he came to America. “When the hair on your head is allowed to attain its full, mature length, then phosphorous, calcium, and vitamin D are all produced, and enter the lymphatic fluid, and eventually the spinal fluid through the two ducts on the top of the brain. This ionic change creates more efficient memory and leads to greater physical energy, improved stamina, and patience.” Yogi Bhajan explained that if you choose to cut your hair, you not only lose this extra energy and nourishment, but your body must then provide a great amount of vital energy and nutrients to continually re-grow the missing hair.
In addition, hairs are the antennas that gather and channel the sun energy or prana to the frontal lobes, the part of the brain you use for meditation and visualization. These antennas act as conduits to bring you greater quantities of subtle, cosmic energy. It takes approximately three years from the last time your hair was cut for new antennas to form at the tips of the hair.
Kundalini Hair Care
In India, a Rishi is known as a wise one who coils his or her hair up on the crown of the head during the day to energize the brain cells, and then combs it down at night. A ‘rishi knot’ energizes your magnetic field (aura) and stimulates the pineal gland in the center of your brain. “This activation of your pineal results in a secretion that is central to the development of higher intellectual functioning, as well as higher spiritual perception” (Yogi Bhajan). During the day, the hair absorbs solar energy, but at night it absorbs lunar energy. Keeping the hair up during the day and down at night aids in this process. Braiding your hair down at night will help your electromagnetic field balance out from the day.
Split Ends
Loose scattered hair can develop split ends. Instead of trimming them and losing your antennas, Yogi Bhajan recommends applying a small amount of almond oil to your hair overnight so that it can be absorbed before you wash it the next morning. Keeping your hair coiled on your crown and protected with a head covering during the day will help your antennas heal. If you have long hair, see if your experience is different when it is clean and coiled at your crown, or down and loose.
Wet Hair
One year after Winter Solstice, when Yogi Bhajan was sitting in our living room with wet hair, he explained that he was drying it before putting it up in order to avoid a headache. When you put your hair up wet, it will tend to shrink and tighten a bit and even break as it dries. A better idea is to occasionally take the time to sit in the sun and allow your clean, wet hair to dry naturally and absorb some extra vitamin D. Yogis recommend shampooing the hair every 72 hours (or more frequently if the scalp sweats a great deal). It can also be beneficial to wash your hair after being upset to help process emotions.
Wooden Comb
Yogis also recommend using a wooden comb or brush for combing your hair as it gives a lot of circulation and stimulation to the scalp, and the wood does not create static electricity, which causes a loss of the hair’s energy to the brain. You will find that, if you comb your hair and scalp front to back, back to front, and then to the right and left several times, it will refresh you, no matter how long your hair is. All the tiredness of your day will be gone. For women, it is said that using this technique to comb your hair twice a day can help maintain youth, a healthy menstrual cycle, and good eyesight.
If you are bald or balding, the lack of hair energy can be counteracted with more meditation. If you are finding some silver strands in your hair, be aware that the silver or white color increases the vitamins and energy flow to compensate for aging. For better brain health as you age, try to keep your hair as natural and healthy as you can.
Tagore’s Hair
Yogi Bhajan told us this story about hair many years ago at Women’s Camp in New Mexico: Recognize how beautiful and powerful your hair is—that when you keep it, you live a life of fulfillment in this world. When Rabindranath Tagore, the great poet who found God within himself, tried to meet a friend on a steamer ship, the friend didn’t recognize him and so wrote him a letter. “We were on the same steamer, but I didn’t find you.” Tagore said, “I was there.” His friend said, “I understand you are now a God-realized man, and I would like to know what your first action was when you became aware of the Oneness in all?” Tagore said, “When I realized the Oneness of all, I threw my shaving kit into the ocean. I gave up my ego and surrendered to nature. I wanted to live in the form that my Creator has given me.”
When humans allow their hair to grow, they are welcoming the maturity, the responsibility of being fully-grown, and fully powerful. That is why you will find grace and calmness in a person with uncut hair from birth, if it is kept well. The Creator has a definite reason for giving you hair.
It is said that when you allow your hair to grow to its full length and coil it on the crown of the head, the sun energy, pranic life force, is drawn down the spine. To counteract that downward movement, the Kundalini life energy rises to create balance. In Yogi Bhajan’s words, “Your hair is not there by mistake. It has a definite purpose, which saints will discover and other men will laugh at.”
Deva Kaur Khalsa trains Kundalini Yoga Teachers and teaches Kundalini Yoga in South Florida. She was a student of Yogi Bhajan for over 39 years. She is co-owner of Yoga Source in Coral Springs, Florida, and can be reached at www.MyYogaSource.com
Click here for more information on yogic hair care.
I think I already know the answer to this.. but can someone write a bit about hair dying/processing? Are there options which are slightly more gentle and will not do harm to the hair while still allowing someone to experiment with or enhance their natural colors, or must one leave it entirely natural?
Hi, i started writing you a note ( then hit the wrong button and i guess i sent it by mistake). i’ve grown my hair for 1 1/2 years- haven’t noticed too much change in my sensitivity from it – but then again , i’m not a very sensitive person. i’m 50 years old – have a young face but feel my long hair makes me look older. been doing k yoga for 3 1/2 years and have been a level I instructor for 1 year. i hate my hair at times , and roll it in a low bun at the back of my neck to get it out of the way quick- it is just functional now. i also have split ends. some of my yogic friends have said ” cut it – bless it – then start over growing it w/ love”. but i didn’t know it would take 3 years to recover from a haircut. what do you think? thanks, giandev kaur
What about dreadlocks? The hair is uncut and unprocessed, is this acceptable?
I am surprised at the commend that Bald men should meditate more to compensate for the loss of hair. God should give us the amount of hair we need. I am still puzzled then why men loose their hair in that case.
Sat Nam Satpreet,
Hair loss can have any number of causes: genetic, high stress levels, thyroid problems, and even lack of minerals, protein and nutrition can affect your hair, etc.. So whatever the cause might be, being bald does create more of a mundane vibration that can be totally counteracted by increased dedication to meditation. Baldness also often coincides with the later years in life, a time when yogis say that it is best to spend more time meditating anyway (in the last 25% of your life).
Deva Kaur
Sat Nam Mairi,
The way the yogis look at dreadlocks, is that because the hairs are antennae, they need to either be running parallel to each other in a coil/rishi knot, or parallel to each other in a braid. For me, and many who have a lot of hair, Yogi Bhajan recommended that we create one braid at our crown and then coil the braid on our crown, which I find very energizing, and slightly more containing of my mind’s energy, than just coiling the hair without braiding. When multiple braids are made to create dreadlocks, they are fine at first, but once they become tangled, the energetic flow can get pinched. But then again, so can much of what we do in our western hair styles. Comes down to experimenting with your lifestyle and your habits, to see what gives you the most noticeable benefits.
-Deva Kaur
Sat Nam Eva,
The health of your hair affects the health of your brain, and your electromagnetic field. Dying and blow drying your hair can both affect its health, but as with everything, we each have different genes and different lifestyles, so you need to decide what actually works best for you. There are some hair dyes that are less toxic than others, and that would be good to check into, since you also absorb more than 50% of whatever touches your skin or scalp. Please note that creating a bun at the back of the neck does not give the kind of increased sensitivity, as coiling your hair on your crown, and covering it. You might find that you get more noticeable benefit –when you are doing yoga/meditation– if you coil your hair on your crown, and you cover your hair, than you do from not trimming it. I have found that yogic lifestyle is more of a never-ending experiment within its science, than it is a set of unbendable laws.
One of the things that yogis recommend you do for your hair, besides good nutrition–including minerals and natural, uncooked oils–is to apply almond or sesame oil to your hair for some period of time before you wash it–for a few hours, or overnight. Your hair will absorb much of the oil, and your shampoo will wash out the rest. You can put aromatherapy oils in your hail oil, to make it more luxurious. Yogi Bhajan also recommended applying yogurt to your hair before you wash it to increase it’s health. All these things help to nourish the hair, but to avoid split ends, you also want to avoid blow drying as much as you can, avoid letting the hair be beat up by the wind (as in a convertible), and use only wood combs or natural bristle brushes on your hair once it is fully dry. Combing or brushing wet hair tends to cause it to stretch and break. The last thing that the yogis do to protect their hair, and most westerners do not, is to coil their long hair, and cover it, which they have found helps you to better command your mind. The bottom line is to be aware of what works for you and what does not. Because yoga, and yogic lifestyle is a science, it is best to experiment and decide what really makes a difference for you in your life, and then leave the rest of the yogic technology until you are ready to experiment again.
-Deva Kaur