CVKBT

I wanted to share this sweet little insight I had a few weeks ago. It occured during a cold shower. Taking cold showers was inspired by this post: When taking cold showers, I always notice how my mind is going crazy right before taking it and the voices in my head get really loud. When the cold water overflowed my body, I realized that you have two options: either you let your mind scream and complain or you "Go Zen" By "going Zen" I mean surrendering to the present situation (this insight only applies for situations, which are challenging for the Ego). In that case, you would surrender yourself to the cold water. And suddenly the pendulum swings from ego terror, to a concentrated, aware way of being. I found that there's not really a middle ground between those two polarities. From the theory I have learned so far, my best guess for translating this idea to an "ultimate form" would be: Ego vs. Infinite Consciousness. I have no experience in such extremes, thus I won't further dwell there. But I have found that this same principle of surrendering to your current surrounding often applies, when you do something outside of your comfort zone. Some examples: working out studying (when you have to drag yourself to "stuDYING") social anxiety challenging moments during psychedelic trips In every case the result was the same for me: once I drop the crazy monkey mind, the situation I find myself in, actually becomes quite enjoyable. Of course, the degree of terror and contentment differs in every situation, but the common denominator stays the same. And the more conscious you are, the more able you are to "Go Zen" by will. Realizing this may help you conquering challenging situations outside of your comfort zone and create solutions simply by reminding yourself to just "Go Zen".

@inFlow Wow I haven't heard that yet! I always thought that higher attained yogis still used that same Ujjayi Breathing or perhaps the Breathless State. This is really interesting! Do you remember where you saw that? Thanks for the warning! This far, I've only had minor ego backlashes, so we'll see what the future has to offer. I'm always cautious not to fry myself, so always grounding myself is an important part of this whole journey. Nature, creative expression, fitness, cold showers, my career, friends and family all play a role in that hehe. Thank you!

Hello everyone, I've been noticing that if my mind gets really calm in a meditation, one-pointed concentration or kriya yoga session, my breath switches to a really subtle breath. It gets really long and barely noticable, and in fact, I don't even think I'm breathing in a lot of oxygen. It resembles a little bit the 'mock inhalation' (See J.C. Stevens "Kriya Secrets Revealed" P.194): "...perform a mock inhalation by expanding the ribcage as though you were inhaling, but without actually taking a breath." In my case, I pull in and push out my stomach, ribcage & chest, while actually taking in really subtle breaths. I can't describe it closer than this. Remember, not a lot of oxygen inhaling takes place. Now my question is: Can I do this type of breath as my Kriya Pranayama breathing technique? For many months I sticked to the Ujjayi Breathing. I know that my subtle breath pretty much contradicts the Ujjayi Breathing, which is noisy and you try to breathe in as much air as possible. After a long time, I found myself comfortable doing the Ujjayi Breathing Technique. But that subtle breath, which happens automatic, feels way more natural and powerful. I feel it way more and clearer, when visualizing/feeling the energy going up and down the spine. And I get A LOT calmer. But then again, every Kriya Pranayama Technique I've read so far tells me to do the Ujjayi Breathing. What do you think? Thanks for reading this far.

@Esoteric Sweet that's super nice to know, thank you! For your notification problem: You've probably already done it, but you can check your notification preferences and tick whatever notification you want to get.

@Esoteric Just out of curiosity: would the subtle breathing technically still count as a Kriya Pranayama?

@Esoteric You're right, the answer should be pretty obvious. What confused me was the Pranayama part, which greatly focusses on the right breathing technique. I didn't want to mess things up and mix stuff. For example, when abiding in Parvastha, I always switch to the subtle breath. I guess my conscience regarding the Pranayamas needed a second opinion. I'm maybe a bit overcareful about "doing things right". Thank you for answering, this might be a game changer!

Yes, his videos helped me quite a lot when procedure descriptions seemed a little ambiguous. Good guy.

Hello everyone, I ask kindly for your assistance to my current situation. I'm not a native speaker, so please apologize any mistakes. First let me lay out the facts: - I've been meditating (every day without mistake; meditation from the no BS meditation guide) for about 10 months before I stumbled over Kriya Yoga (first JC Steven's book, since 2 weeks I've included Santata Gamanas book) - Since February 2019 I'm doing Kriya Yoga - Ever since, i've made some very big progress in my personal development (becoming more conscious of my problems and successfully solving alot of them; unsolved problems already have the "solution-lay out" - so these are problems I'm already working on and need time, in order to get solved ) - Through daily practice and heavy engagement and interest I have answered many questions regarding my practice - A week ago, I added some additional exercises from JC as well as Kriya Bow from Santata to my practice Hindrances I have come across regarding my Kriya Yoga practice: - My physiology: sitting without back assistance hurts my back, I'm unflexible (thus I can't do Maha Mudra or Navi Kriya properly) and Due to my body not being fit, I also have a low breath capacity and bad skills in controlling my breath My nasal septum is crooked - often times I couldn't do Nadi Sodhana with one of my two nostrils (surgery incoming) - My concentration I can only fully concentrate for 2 minutes on my breath, before my mind begins wandering off - but in those 2 minutes, not a single thought disrupts my concentration Even if it's only for 2 minutes, I get in a deep peaceful state after concentrating (I assume this comes from my previous meditative practice and Kriya Yoga) If I have moments of full concentration in a Kriya Yoga session, I immediately notice the big difference it makes What I did to fix the hindrances: - Regarding my physiology: Establish a workout routine for my unfit body Having physical assistance Going to a very helpful Hatha Yoga class (I learn many things about my body by doing the given exercises and my body awareness rises) Stretching exercises -> I'm doing that since a month now and I feel more alive than ever thanks to the physiological exercises - and as a result my Kriya Yoga practice got better too! - Regarding my concentration: Doing what Leo says in his Concentration vs. Meditation video Why pause Kriya Yoga? Today I saw Leo's Blog Post about not half assing Yoga. Leo pointed out, that you need to do the exercises with full attention - which I cannot do, due to a lack of concentration. My mind tends to wander off many times during that hour of practice. I have come to the conclusion, that I need to develop my concentration first, in order to really get the fruits out of the Kriya Yoga exercises and to not do something wrong. BUT the act of balancing energies has made a huge impact on my life. I feel way better through Kriya Yoga. I do it every morning, directly after waking up - this always gives me a fresh start in the day. A start, I was always in search for. I'm infinitely grateful to what I could already learn from Kriya Yoga - and at the same time, I'm really sad, that I may have to give up my energy balancing exercise for a while.. Especially since I've learned about non-dual Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga. Parvastha was something, I could really enjoy and melt in. At least for a few minutes. And god, I love Kriya Yoga. What could be my future routine? Besides exercises regarding my physiology, I will work on my concentration. But I want and need something to balance my energies (Hatha Yoga twice a week is not enough for me). So I thought I'd still implement elements of Kriya Yoga to my morning routine, which would look like this: stretching with full body awareness concentration on breath with a timer Kriya Bow and Talabya Kriya (adding one day KP1) Ending with concentration upon Bhrumadhya and Medulla If my concentration one day hits the 15 minutes mark I will pick up again on the Kriya Yoga routine, as given as in JC Steven's book. This would also kind of be against what Leo says..you can't just rip apart the given Kriya Yoga instructions. But cleansing my energies has become something of major importance in my life. How can I establish this in my routine, without doing something wrong? Thanks in advance for reading this and every answer coming in! I'm very glad that actualized.org exists with such a great community.

Yeah but it's sometimes really hard to find that "perfect" contraction of the throat, to let the air flow calm but steady. I don't have problems with the focal points per se, but rather the duration of the concentration. Generally I find, that a big part of perfecting one's Kriya is through tiny, incremental improvements and adjustments you make session after session. Be careful with the top of the head though, as I found that to be a bit too heavy for me. My fear using that specific point was, that I build up too much energy too fast at that point, thus exhausting my overall body-energy. As if like doing a huge skateboard trick, breaking a leg and then afterwards the need to start again from the beginning.

@TrynaBeTurquoise Thanks for clearing this up dude. I really appreciate it! Much love.

@TrynaBeTurquoise I don't want to hold Leo's words like the bible, but he clearly stated that you need FULL attention - which I simply cannot deliver. But if it's a normal struggle of concentrating, this would be a huge relief.

Before any techniques come, the book informs you about the most important (in that case also the weird) and dangerous aspects about the kundalini, so I'm well informed about that. I wouldn't say that it's hurting me in any way, since I actually do feel the loving energy, coming out of anahata. I'm also meditating since about a year and I still do - the chakra and kundalini work was later on added. Thanks for the advice! Alright, then I guess I'll go with the feeling "only", which is more than fulfilling. Not just during the meditation, but also what it has been attracting since the last 2 months of my life. For now, I'll surrender, but someday I will try the beej name method out! Thank you both for the help, I had little doubts whether I did the technique quite right and was on the right path. Now I can approach the chakras in a more poised manner, thanks!

Good evening, so I'm reading the book "Enlightenment Throught the Path of Kundalini" by Tara Springett (from Leo's booklist). One of the exercises to cleanse the chakras is visualizing the chakra and visualizing the love you send to it as an expanding, beautiful light. Devotion, love and relaxation is key here and that works pretty well for me. I also can visualize the chakra, so the problem is not directly the visualization part. My problem is, that when I visualize the chakra, I kind of interrrupt the love and devotion to it, because in that instant I am the one, trying to control things by visualizing. When I surrender myself to the chakra without visualizing, the "promised effects" appear. As soon as I visualize the feeling which is coming up, the feeling disappears. Then again, if I let go of control and visualizing, the chakra blossoms again. I also tried to visualize while surrendering, kind of combining both, but that didn't help either. So my question would be: Shall I skip the visualization part? (Tara Springett talks, that visualization is a very important part) Or should I just try to further visualize the chakra and the love as best as I can, while still devoting myself? Has anyone had the same experience? Thanks in advance for the help Kind regards