Kriya Yoga Mega-Thread

[ULFBERHT]

@Viking lol seriously. On one hand I didn't want to spam the thread with my silly story since we're all trying to learn, but ultimately I couldn't resist.

[moon777light]

@ULFBERHT ohhh thats definitely a sign  

[ULFBERHT]

@moon777light I think so, too.

[Viking]

i've been doing kriya for 2 weeks every day, Im currently at om japa in the chakras, didnt start yet but I did read it. I watched some video where a guy said that I should have some experiences before continuing with the lessons. I didnt have any experiences, the practice was dull, my mind kept wandering off during the 5 minute concentration at the end. is it ok to continue with the lessons and just do the practice even though i didnt experience anything?

[InfinitePotential]

On 04/21/2018 at 11:28 PM, ULFBERHT said:

I had an interesting Kriya coincidence this evening.

Since I watched Leo's video, I was impressed by how earnestly he advocated a Kriya practice in combination with everything else that we're doing here, so I started entertaining the idea of getting the book. I read a bunch of reviews on Amazon and it seemed like  it would be worth my time, but a month has since passed and I've delayed getting the book for one reason or another.

I was scrolling through my local craiglist this evening looking for cheap building materials for a landscaping project I'm planning when I got a wild hare up my ass to check the book section on the off-chance someone had put up a listing for it. Funnily enough, someone did. About two weeks ago, and the ad is still up. This just seemed like too weird a coincidence to pass up, so I e-mailed the OP about it and am waiting to hear back from them. I never actually expected to see such an arcane book on such an esoteric subject actually for sale in my area lol.

I know it's not THAT big a coincidence, but it makes my life more entertaining to believe that there's some spooky, spiritual, space-magic at play here, so I'm gonna go ahead and go with that.

Synchronicity is real. I recently had an ego-death experience performing kriya yoga. Several nights later I had a dream (if that is indeed what it was) where I was "walking in nothingness". Suddenly I heard an intense high pitched ringing sound, felt like I was about to die, surrendered, and heard the word "Upanishads" whispered to me.

I had briefly heard the word before but didn't consciously know what it was. It turned out to be group of religious Hindu texts full of insights I had recently had and been thinking about (Atman is Brahman... Or the ground of your self's being is the same ground of all reality).

It seemed really crazy to me, and more and more synchronicities have been occurring sense.

Bottom line, Kriya Yoga gets you woke af (done properly and with good meditation foundation).

[Viking]

1 hour ago, InfinitePotential said:

good meditation foundation

what do you mean by that? because I meditated for about half a year before doing kriya and stopped meditating since started. my meditations were pretty shit.

[DnoReally]

Is the numbness in my limbs, my legs in particular, something I will have to live with or does the body adjust to this after some time?

Im pretty sure its not harmful but very distracting in the concentration part.

[PsiloPutty]

@DnoReally   Numbness from the physical position you're in while doing this? Yeah, if you're not used to sitting while meditating, it takes your body a few weeks to get used to it.    

[moon777light]

1 hour ago, Viking said:

what do you mean by that? because I meditated for about half a year before doing kriya and stopped meditating since started. my meditations were pretty shit.

do you mean your meditating for half a year was bad? if so, then thats probably why kriya feels like it isnt working. What occurs during the meditation, are you distracted too easily/impatient? 

[Viking]

4 hours ago, moon777light said:

do you mean your meditating for half a year was bad? if so, then thats probably why kriya feels like it isnt working. What occurs during the meditation, are you distracted too easily/impatient? 

it was random, a few days good a few bad. i dont really know if i had progress, because its really hard to measure your wokeness.

last time i meditated was some more than 2 months ago so i cant say accurately. i switched for kriya after a long pause from meditation.

[herghly]

I know most you guys are using the book Leo mentioned, but im still curious will you get kriya initiation or continue using the book?

[phoenix666]

do you guys focus on medulla or bindu visarga during the first pranayama?

also I'm also a little confused.. I'm supposed to focus on medulla/bindu visarga, look at Brumadhya, use Ujjayi Pranayama, visualize energy through my spine and chakras and counting. how the hell am I supposed to do all of that? it's very difficult for me. my focus feels diverted, all over the place. turns out I'm extremely bad at multitasking (although I'm a girl) is it just me or is it normal to struggle a lot with that at the beginning? 

Edited April 24, 2018 by phoenix666

[herghly]

@phoenix666 I focus on medulla

 

juat keep consistently doing it, after a week you'll be able to do it 

 

took me 5 days to be able to do it 

[phoenix666]

@herghly I guess I'll begin with with focusing on medulla, since I'm used to that from previous practice. eventually I'll move on to bindu visarga

yeah, it says so in the book as well. I just got extremely unsure and confused because it just felt impossible for me. I'll bite through it, thank you for your reply. <3

wow, 5 days? that's great, I think it will take a little longer for me congrats on your discipline and progress. I will practice Kriya twice a day, maybe that helps with improvement regarding technique  

[Pallero]

I finally got the book about a week ago and started practicing. So far I've been doing only the preparatory exercises. I will report back in a few weeks.

[Paan]

Ive been doing these Kriya practices for a month now and I can feel alot of emotions coming up and ego backlash. I get hit with moments of anxiety, loneliness and depression. can this be considered as a progress in the right direction? And what should I do about it, just ride it out? Will this eventually pass or will I just accept it?

[who chit]

On 4/19/2018 at 9:05 AM, Viking said:

ooooh, holy shit, i never did something like that

InfinitePotential:like a yawn, only you breathe through the nose
This is correct. If you notice when doing the "yawn" like maneuver as normal,with an open mouth, the belly expands first and then up into the chest,but in practice is one fluid motion. It's the same maneuver when breathing through the nose.

Edited April 24, 2018 by who chit

[who chit]

My first couple of years of practice,I breathed from muladhara (root) to Kutastha (brow),visualizing  a small thread within the spine,with no special attention or visualizing the chakras. They were considered "under the hood" and too much visualizing took attention off of the main practice,which was simply following the path from root to brow and back down. This worked fine,but I found it caused "energetic overload" when combined with mantra meditation.

Later I adopted placing "Om" at the chakra locations along the spine.
1.6 going up the spine. Starting "Om" at the root (muladhara), and placing the last "Om" at the end of inhalation on Kutastha (third eye), pausing for a couple of seconds."Om" again at Kutastha
2.then back down with last "Om" at the root,pausing a couple of seconds, and starting from step 1.
3. Then repeat this for 10-15 minutes. I never visualized the chakra's, just the location on the spine.

Each chakra get's "Om" twice. This too worked,and with less overload. The spinal route, from root to brow, was also easier to follow with this method. IMO, too much visualizing causes a problem,distracting from the main practice. The chakras, and the spinal nerve (sushumna), will become more noticeable on their own with time and practice.




However after finding a new, and imo , better method a couple of months ago, I found it just as, if not more effective, than all the previous ones I listed above. And much less complicated. It also verified my opinion (through experimenting with different methods), that excess visualizing isn't necessary. What's "under the hood" takes care of itself. If you're interested in taking a look, I'll paste the link below (in pdf format). Through practicing Kriya a couple of years now,I can verify that this  method does work just as well, and imo, much less complicated.

http://www.kriyayogainfo.net/files/English III.pdf

Edited April 24, 2018 by who chit

[who chit]

 A couple of important notes with regard to the "pdf". The document is extensive, and I've only been practicing the main Kriya, labeled

FIRST LESSON:Technique of Kriya Pranayama as it was explained
by Sri Mukherjee

I have not began practicing the quite extensive "preparatory " techniques he discusses along with it. That is of course aside from the Nadi Shodana, Yoni Mudra Kambhaka, and Maha Mudra that is a natural part of doing Kriya. YMK and Maha Mudra are powerful,so it's best to proceed with caution. My practice (if interested) is:

1. 5-10 minute preliminary asana set.  Two Maha Mudra's, as part of the set.
2.Nadi Shodana for 8-12 rounds.
3. Main technique of Kriya (described in PDF). Usually 15-20 minutes or so, or until "profound peace and stillness" or "the peace and the bliss originating from the practice of Kriya" manifests.

4. One YMK, after doing the main Kriya.

5.Awareness japa meditation for 25-40 minutes.
The effortless awareness meditation is probably,and just imo, the best stand alone meditation technique I've practiced,outside of doing Kriya. After trying various meditation techniques for years,including mindfulness,breath and "object" based "hard" concentration techniques, It has been, from my experience, the most powerful stand alone meditation technique I've done. Kriya works on the "ecstatic energy/kudalini"  as well as producing the stillness. The awareness japa meditation continues to carry one from that stillness, deep into different samahdi states, Kevalya samahdi being where awakening or "self realization" happens. Sahaja samahdi, is the permanent abiding of that self realized natural state.

It needs to be said,at least in my experience,that the samahdi states  don't necessarily happen only during meditation. I awakened, Kevalya samadhi, when I was wide awake. While grocery shopping no less, lol.  I never quite understood the bible verse "the lord will come like a thief in the night" until this,then it was perfectly understood. And from talking to many others who have awakened/self realized, it came upon them suddenly as well. This is of course  through doing months or even years of doing spiritual work ,and not the use of psychedelics. I've never tried psychedelics,so I'm not sure how effectively abiding, the awakening shift is on the nervous system.


 

Edited April 25, 2018 by who chit

[giglio]

I emailed JC Stevens, the author of the book a few days ago to clarify many of the questions I have and he has not responded. If you have the book his Gmail address is in the very last page so you may want to email him. If enough people email him maybe he will get on here and clarify some things or respond. In Maha mudra, does anyone know if you inhale and exhale through the nose or mouth? I tried inhaling and exhaling through the nose and it's pretty hard when you're doing the exercise. But I've seen videos where people are inhaling and exhaling through the mouth. In the book he doesn't clarify. I did it through the nose because pretty much all the exercises up into this point he specifically says to inhale and exhale through the nose.