Kriya Yoga Mega-Thread

[BuddhaTree]

@Viking As Leo says, read gamana's books. You will understand why and everything else that the other known big kriya book mentioned here (the one you are taking your practices from) fails to address or even explain.

[Mart]

@AMS would be hard to do, cause what the hell does that stuff actually look like ? As far as i know: where the conciousness goes, there goes the energy. So directing your focus should be enough, or is at least a good start. J.C. Stevens says you should imagine there is cold energy going up and warm energy going down. Imagining you are feeling this might help to focus better within the spine. 

[okulele]

Today I met with a realized master. She could tell I practice Kriya just by looking and me, and I have been practicing for only a month.

Keep going, guys. It's working even if you don't know it.

[Greenbirch]

Spiral dynamics and kriya yoga: do you think your spiral dynamics stage matters when starting kriya yoga? For example, can an orange materialist start kriya yoga, or would it be like trying to listen to music before developing the ability to hear? 

[Mart]

@Greenbirch if you’re fully orange you probably wouldn’t even consider this practice. Just get started. Even if it does‘t work right away, it’s a great concentration practice and pranayama works very calming.  

[Greenbirch]

8 hours ago, Mart said:

@Greenbirch if you’re fully orange you probably wouldn’t even consider this practice. Just get started. Even if it does‘t work right away, it’s a great concentration practice and pranayama works very calming.  

Great, thanks for the encouragement!

[Hello from Russia]

Guys is someone familliar with isha kriya by sadhguru? is it good?

Also, is it possible to awaken kundalini energy via physical style yoga? I've seen playlists related to chakras with videos like this:

So, it looks like conventional hatha yoga but with like 10x emphasis on mindfulness and chakras. Can it be called kriya yoga?

How do you define kriya yoga? Is any practice that tries to elevate chakras = kundalini practice = kriya yoga?

Edited July 16, 2018 by Hello from Russia

[YogiLogan]

@Hello from Russia  Isha kriya is a good practice ,ideally you want to be initiated by Sadhguru into Shambavi Mahamudra , thats where progress is made.

Kriya means internal action toward god , Karma means external action. 

Hatha yoga is a legitamate path to enlightenment but the genuine techniques are seldom given out online and never for free. Ishas advanced programs are supposed to be where Hatha yoga gets real

Have you started doing Kriya ? 

[Hello from Russia]

On 17.07.2018 at 9:58 AM, YogiLogan said:

 

Have you started doing Kriya ? 

@YogiLogan Well, I'm kinda taking my yoga journey slow at the moment, not rushing with ton of different techniques. My main goals with yoga right now is to raise my body awareness, awareness in general and mind-body connection, results are pretty good so far.
From what I understand kriya yoga is a more "sit and do stuff with your breath" kind of yoga. I've read a santa gamana book Leo suggested but I'm not sure how to do his kriya exercises correctly, I just don't feel very much from them and they are kinda scary to me (all these breath-stopping techniques). Not so much explanation is given in a book regarding exercises, just bunch of non-dualistic thoughts about enlightenment. 
Maybe I need to read this 400 pages book on kriya, i don't know. For now I focus on a more physical style of yoga, you can call it hatha I guess. Also reading zen-body book meanwhile which emphasizes body awareness too. I just figured the more I feel mindfulness in my body and in the present moment - the more consciousness I have and it helps me with my realisations in life.

Edited July 18, 2018 by Hello from Russia

[YogiLogan]

Gamanas book is a supplement to the large kriya course book and is vague. You dont have to do kriya to do real yoga. Sadhguru has some great spiritual hatha courses or maybe you could try kundalini.

If your not serious about enlightenment its best not to start kriya so make sure your ready and commited.

Most hatha yoga is simple stretching and has little spiritual affiliation.

[BuddhaTree]

4 hours ago, YogiLogan said:

Gamanas book is a supplement to the large kriya course book and is vague. You dont have to do kriya to do real yoga. Sadhguru has some great spiritual hatha courses or maybe you could try kundalini.

If your not serious about enlightenment its best not to start kriya so make sure your ready and commited.

Most hatha yoga is simple stretching and has little spiritual affiliation.

 

The KSR book is great if you have never practiced any form of meditation, but it lacks real depth and talks about too many practices while forgetting the real practice of 'being'. I used it during the past 18 months, it taught me basic kriya and helped me have a meditation routine, but boy, do I see its limitations now... it trapped me into techniques and complexity.

I notice that beginners (like I used to do) give a lots of importance to the many complex kriya practices, and after some years of practicing them, they either give up or go search for other types of practices, never truly realising that the missing component was looking at 'I' and realising it is a mere movement of psychological time in empty consciousness. Don't expect kriya to do this for you though, you need self inquiry, and some even need self inquiry with psychedelics.

Prior to KSR book I was following Satyananda's systematic course in yoga and kriya book. It was good, like KSR, but now I see its limitations as well. Gamana's books opened a new world in spirituality for me. But they are more advanced than both these two.

If you are serious about enlightenment you will practice kriya and self inquiry and study non duality (and perhaps some 5meo). 

I agree with what you say about Sadhguru. I like his practices, but he never talks about non duality, and they are too superficial. They are good for those masses following him, but not for serious seekers.

Edited July 18, 2018 by BuddhaTree

[Mirror of Confusion]

The overflow of practices and techniques that are availible out there confuse my mind.

I first started with Osho meditations (mainly Kundalini Meditation) which I first learned in a 10 day retreat and practiced for like 2 months quite regulary. Then Leo posted his Kriya Yoga video which conviced me to swich and start practicing it until today. In addition I read all the recommended Kriya books. Now I'm considering the inner engineering course by Sadhguru because I heard many positive things about it.

How should I know which practice is suited best for me? Should I stick to one practice and forget about the others? Or is it ok to mix the practices - like one day Osho meditation, the next day Kriya and the next day inner engineering? Or even mix them in one day?

What do you think are the up- and downsides of these different techniques? Something like that:

Osho meditations:

• Most easy to learn (just watch one video or read one guide and do it)
• Many activities
• For free

Kriya:

• Most complex and biggest potential of confusion
• Probably the most advanced techniques?
• For free (but you need the books)

Inner engineering:

• Step by step Online guide
• possible initiation by Sadhguru if you want to continue after the online course
• Expensive

@Shanmugam I saw that you are experienced in this topic. It would be a pleasure to see your opinion.

Greetings from my neurotic ego

 

[Mirror of Confusion]

@BuddhaTree LOL somehow it's funny that you posted this just one minute before my post. Some questions are answered.

[Shanmugam]

4 minutes ago, Mirror of Confusion said:

The overflow of practices and techniques that are availible out there confuse my mind.

I first started with Osho meditations (mainly Kundalini Meditation) which I first learned in a 10 day retreat and practiced for like 2 months quite regulary. Then Leo posted his Kriya Yoga video which conviced me to swich and start practicing it until today. In addition I read all the recommended Kriya books. Now I'm considering the inner engineering course by Sadhguru because I heard many positive things about it.

How should I know which practice is suited best for me? Should I stick to one practice and forget about the others? Or is it ok to mix the practices - like one day Osho meditation, the next day Kriya and the next day inner engineering? Or even mix them in one day?

What do you think are the up- and downsides of these different techniques? Something like that:

Osho meditations:

• Most easy to learn (just watch one video or read one guide and do it)
• Many activities
• For free

Kriya:

• Most complex and biggest potential of confusion
• Probably the most advanced techniques?
• For free (but you need the books)

Inner engineering:

• Step by step Online guide
• possible initiation by Sadhguru if you want to continue after the online course
• Expensive

@Shanmugam I saw that you are experienced in this topic. It would be a pleasure to see your opinion.

Greetings from my neurotic ego

 

There is no harm in practicing the Osho meditations with Kriya yoga you are already practicing... Regarding Inner engineering, check with the teacher himself if you can do all these together. The practices they give you in Isha has to be done twice daily in empty stomach and continuously for 60 days...  But only if you do 'inner engineering' practice alone for 60 days, you will know how it works when compared to other practices...  .. At the end of the day, it is all up to you.. If you feel one practice seems to suit you better, choose that... 

Shambhavi Mahamudra taught in Isha is a very good practice and it has some powerful practices put together. But you need to be skeptical about the load of information that is given to you along with those practices.  I recently made a post regarding that here: http://bit.ly/ishacult

 

[Paan]

Those who practise kriya yoga, how many times per day do you sit down and practise ?

[Mirror of Confusion]

@Shanmugam Thank you for the reply. I guess I'll stick to Osho and Kriya till the end of the year. After that I will try inner engineering.

And yeah, It's good to be skeptic about all the stuff that ist circulating in this field. I'm not a fan of Sadhguru as a person but his Kriya Yoga could have big potential to calm the mind.

[N8N]

It's been four months now since I started and I'm starting to get reluctant to do Kriya. I'm seeing no benefits. My social anxiety has worsened, messing up my life. My practices are way too sketchy and I'm unable to concentrate every time. I have much less concentration in Kriya than in meditation or even daily life. Right from the beginning these practices started to get on my nerves making me mad. I continued, hoping this would go away, because I saw on this thread others were experiencing this too. Now it hasn't improved a bit. Kriya makes me pissed off and more unconscious afterwards. It doesn't help if my leg falls asleep almost every time. Now I don't like to do it anymore and I start longing to finish and distract myself every time and it's getting worse.

I'm thinking of doing another branch of yoga. I tried to persist but it's getting clear this yoga isn't doing anything good for me.
I'm looking for a style of yoga that is going to help with social anxiety. Enlightenment isn't my primary goal. I gave that up since I realized wanting to get enlightened was only getting in the way, and I only wanted to get enlightened because I wanted to get rid of social anxiety. That, and the benefits listed in the book are my primary goal. Do you guys have a suggestion?

[YogiLogan]

@N8N Dont feel bad , the yoga is working. 4 months isnt long enough. Give it a year and assess it then . You can try different styles but youll have to start from point 0 . If enlightenment isnt your primary goal try some of the western hatha yoga or Sadhgurus Yoga course.

@Paan At least once , The book recommends one long morning routine (40mins-1hr) and a short (15min) bedtime routine.

You can do up to 3 sessions a day . Except if you are on spiritual retreat.

 

[Mart]

@Paan i do a one hour routine every morning. The book i read recommended a practice before bed also, but i rather use that time for mindfulness meditation. I'm sticking with once a day for the next two months and based on how things are going i might decide to do a second one. How about you ? Do you have a practice rolling ?  

[Salvijus]

@N8N Inner engineering program. 

Very highly focused kriya on dealing with social anxiety and deppresion. Increases your normal capabilities, reduces stress and brings balance.

From personal experience I can say it is doing wonders for me. Loving that practice a lot. Never missed a single sit. 

I think as an alternative method all meditations will help you except advanced super kriya yoga like kundalini or smth. That stuff will only mess you up even more. Before you go for such strong kriyas balance is needed on all levels. 

Sadhguru says even if the most wonderful thing happens to you, like, for example, you open your third eye or you activate kundalini, if you're not ready for it, it will be a disaster.

Edited July 19, 2018 by Salvijus