From Resentment To Radiance: The Power Of Forgiveness

As a Kundalini yoga instructor, I’ve come to understand forgiveness as much more than just an act of kindness or compassion. It is a sacred healing practice — an essential release and transmutation of toxic energy held within the subtle body.

My work as a Reiki healer and psychic reader has deepened my understanding of this concept. I’ve witnessed firsthand how unresolved emotional pain, bitterness and resentment can create stagnation in our energetic pathways, dimming our vitality and obstructing our intuitive abilities.

In both healing sessions and psychic readings, I’ve seen forgiveness spark remarkable shifts in people’s physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.

In the Kundalini Yoga tradition, forgiveness is not merely a moral ideal. It is a profound energetic cleanse. When we cling to resentment, anger, or betrayal, we create dense energy imprints, or emotional residue, in our aura and chakras, especially around the heart center (Anahata). These blockages disrupt pranic flow, dull intuitive perception, and limit our capacity to experience divine love.

My yoga teacher, Yogi Bhajan, often reminded us that the fastest route to healing and happiness is to forgive completely and limitlessly. He taught that true forgiveness requires releasing the subconscious “recordings” and emotional patterns etched into both hemispheres of the brain — patterns that replay pain and perpetuate karmic loops. “Forgive, release, learn, love, and excel,” he would say.

To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness ~ Robert Muller

The Sanskrit term kṣamā, meaning “forgiveness,” is revered across many yogic lineages as a foundational virtue. In Kundalini yoga, forgiveness is more than a moral yama; it is a daily discipline that invites patience, compassion, and release toward oneself and others.

In Kundalini Yoga, forgiveness is also a form of karmic purification. It frees us from vasanas and samskaras—the latent tendencies and karmic imprints of past experiences that shape our behavior and perception. Specific exercises, such as the “unloading the subconscious,” are designed to surface and clear these buried impressions. The goal is to cleanse the psyche, reawaken the heart, and elevate the soul toward spiritual realization.

Forgiveness Is Necessary For Healing

This is why forgiveness is practiced through intention, mantra, pranayama, kriya, and meditation. Yogi Bhajan emphasized its necessity for true healing in his teachings. Without forgiveness, the Kundalini energy cannot rise freely through the central channel (sushumna). The heart remains contracted, the mind restless, and the soul burdened.

Many Kundalini teachers guide students through forgiveness meditations that focus on posture, breath, and sound, often using the mantra Sat Nam to anchor the practice. These meditations act as energetic resets, returning us to the heart every time resentment resurfaces.

Through decades of working with students and clients, I’ve seen how forgiveness softens the heart, calms the mind, and opens the energetic body to deeper awakening. It invites the Kundalini to rise unobstructed and luminous.

However, I have also learned that true forgiveness cannot be forced. It blooms when we are ready to look beyond our wounds and recognize the soul’s truth: We are all here to learn, grow, and evolve through one another’s reflections.

In Reiki sessions, unresolved trauma and grievances often manifest as dark, heavy stagnation around the heart and solar plexus chakras. However, when the intention to forgive is consciously held, I witness that energy begin to lift, lighten, and disperse.

Similarly, unhealed resentment can manifest as fractured timelines or shadowed aspects of the inner child in psychic readings, calling out for reintegration. Time and again, these insights affirm the beautiful teachings of Kundalini Yoga: forgiveness is not passive. Rather, it is a conscious and courageous act of energetic healing and self-liberation.

When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free ~ Catherine Ponder

The Bridge Of Light: A Forgiveness Meditation

A powerful tool in forgiveness work is visualized meditation. I developed a forgiveness meditation for my classes that integrates Kundalini Yoga teachings with visualization and heart-based intention.

After doing this meditation, my students often report feeling as though a weight has lifted or that they can suddenly approach formerly difficult people with more tolerance, compassion, or even love. The following is a refined version of this meditation, enriched by years of feedback and practice:

Sit in easy pose: Sit in a comfortable cross-legged position with your spine tall and shoulders relaxed.

Begin eyebrow gazing. Gently close your eyes and roll them upward toward your third eye, which is located between your eyebrows. Direct your gaze inward and slightly upward. This action stimulates the pituitary gland and enhances intuitive awareness.

Activate healing energy in your hands. Rub your hands together briskly to generate heat and activate prana, or life force energy. Then, place your left hand over your heart center and rest your right hand gently over your left.

Begin taking long, deep breaths. Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose, filling your lungs completely. Exhale with intention to release tension and stagnant energy from your body.

Visualize a happy, healing place. Picture yourself sitting beside a peaceful, small creek in a serene and beautiful natural setting. Listen to the soft bubbling of the water and the birds singing. Feel the warm sunlight and gentle breeze on your skin.

Witness the wrongdoers. Across the peaceful, sparkling creek, see everyone who has ever harmed you — those who have lied to you, betrayed you, hurt you, or abandoned you. Do not rush. Simply observe their presence with detached compassion.

Extend a healing bridge of light. Now, visualize a radiant bridge of healing light extending across the creek. Rise in your inner vision and take your place at the entrance of the bridge on your side.

Receive their soul apology. One by one, allow each person to walk across the bridge. Hear them offer a heartfelt and sincere apology from their higher self.

Forgive and release them. Accept their apology and recognize its soul-level truth. Embrace them with compassion. Then, gently release them and allow them to continue on their journey. Feel your energy lighten with each release.

Rebalance your heart center. Once everyone has left, bring your awareness back to your heart. Visualize a vibrant emerald green light, the healing color of the heart chakra, filling and expanding within your chest. Let it radiate with each breath.

Affirm your freedom. Softly affirm, “I forgive. I release. I am free.” Let each phrase anchor your emotional liberation and energetic clarity.

Integrate and complete. Remain in quiet stillness for a few moments to allow your energy field to harmonize. When you feel ready, gently open your eyes and return to the present moment, feeling grounded and light.

You can practice this meditation as often as needed. Each time you do it, another layer of resistance will peel back and another karmic thread will be unbound. Over time, your emotional energy field will become clearer, your heart will open more, and your intuition will become more attuned.

Remember always that forgiveness is not a gift for others. It is the sacred act of reclaiming your own energy, joy and well-being. By choosing forgiveness, you align with your highest self and allow the divine to flow through you with ease and grace.

May your path be luminous, your heart unburdened, and your soul empowered in peace, acceptance and divine truth.