Kriya Yoga Mega-Thread

[Paan]

@Sadhak_David Thank you so much for reaching out and answer my conserns! 

As you say it can be my breathing that I need to practise more on. I might look up if there is a teacher for me who can look out for me.

I might cut down on the repetitons for a while and see what happens, maybe I do to many reps in a wrong matter. Right now i do KP1 24reps KP2 15reps. Before that I do nadi sodhana and maha mudra. 

Ive recently ordered a bunch of yoga books from leos booklist so i can read and understand more what this yoga and kundalini is about.

How was it for you? why did you have to stop yoga for 3 months? 

[Rahul yadav]

@Leo Gura i am on this topic mental kriya, in the book, it says it is Superior to om japa in chakras and dharna ( concentration meditation ) and you are much likely to acheive breathless state on mental kriya, what do you think should i skip concentration on bregma or do mental kriya along with concentration?

 

[pfletcha]

@Leo Gura @see_on_see also , it feels like whenever i inhale i'm relaxing , and when i exhale is when i tense up . any experience with this "paradoxical" breathing? or am i just a freak

[Sadhak_David]

11 hours ago, Paan said:

@Sadhak_David ... .. .

As you say it can be my breathing that I need to practise more on. I might look up if there is a teacher for me who can look out for me.

I might cut down on the repetitons for a while and see what happens, maybe I do to many reps in a wrong matter. Right now i do KP1 24reps KP2 15reps. Before that I do nadi sodhana and maha mudra. 

Ive recently ordered a bunch of yoga books from leos booklist so i can read and understand more what this yoga and kundalini is about.

How was it for you? why did you have to stop yoga for 3 months? 

>> Thank you so much for reaching out and answer my conserns! 

You are very welcome.

>> Ive recently ordered a bunch of yoga books from leos booklist so i can read and understand more what this yoga and kundalini is about.

Yep, hope more 'knowledge' helps. But also pay attention to & listen to your body. Especially subtle sensations. Never ignore them as fleeting and ordinary. In my view upon 11 years of practice and limited success - there is no book that can teach anything after a certain point. life and your own body are true teachers.

The heart in you that can transmit intuitive understanding clearly is of greatest asset. these terms are real, more real as printed text on a piece of paper. These are your assets. seek them, pursue them, and they will lead you well.

 

>> How was it for you?

Oh my journey has been weird and long, and do not want to bore you here with extra long text. in brief, in 2007 after making some preliminary mistakes, joined yogananda's and then was a happy proud practitioner. only to realize they were baby steps to teach the alphabets. Then was doing some practice and voracious reader I was.

Was part of groups, similar to here, talking everything by the mind, using todays language and science to explain things. Talking about pranayams in terms of breath, breathless, inhale, exhale, etc. Talking off oxygen, pulling tongue every day. at one point even thought i will do what many in kriya have done. slit the tongue under slowly , applying tumeric & blacksalt, along with talabya to make tongue long.

finally got my tongue long enough and in the right place, only to realise there is no elixir, and neither my grey hairs turned black, nor i entered any trance what so ever. got me agitated and screwed my digestion... But deep inside the heart that always guided me right, said i was doing major screw up.

I would be able to hold breath for over 4 mins by then on intake and around 2 to 2.5 mins on out. I thought this was breathless. Little did i know, i was exercising physical tissues, putting pressure on diaphram and holding breath by locking muscles like 99.99% of sadhaks do. big mistake again.

In 2009 while no miracle occurred , but things sure did start screwing up. Digestion faded. Got some shine on face, but with hyper activity. artificial alteration of breath imbalanced my breathing, which initially was mere nuisance but later realized its lasting and larger impacts on mind and body itself. 

heart started growing weak. sleep got fickle...  eyebrows inside , due to pushing tongue hurt me... i was feeling, i have screwed big time... I was very concerned, and deeply scared. Finally visited doctors, and went for check up .... they told my heart beat was high, unusual blood pressure symptoms, and blood for some reason was thinner.... they were as confused and wanted to 'try' things on me... lol .. then ran away from there...

Finally giving up on books, forms, fancy chat groups and all intellectual means, now helpless, made a big step to run to Calcutta . through delhi (by the way horrible city ) - then searched hard in Calcutta and varnasi, so many fake houses and gurus.  By now i was very demanding, and not arrogantly, but because it meant life to me. literally - no room for more screwups.

 

my overconfidence had backfired. I also completely stopped sharing or giving advice to anybody at all, knowing what consequences of UN-enlightened advice can bring first hand. Pls don't take me wrong, all knowledge is grace, but my personal story in truth is as i am saying it.

 

again cutting very long story short, strange things happened, special days when i gave up .... final Thursday in Calcutta me somehow off my western craziness on cleanliness and worries etc, managed to dare to drink 'chai' on Calcutta road side.... special day... knew it since very morning... was a spiritual refugee ... sat by road corner near a sewer .... strange nothing bothered, not even the sewer smell .. and things started to change.. for the first time, visions, miraculous series of events... again long story short, had to come back to new york empty handed.

but strange it did not feel empty. some clues... and finally what i truly needed right here on the continent in Canada somewhere... which is another strange tale for some other fortunate day.

But i did not find my guide. I failed. But guidance found me. and kriya flourished after I failed. it is only 2+ years back i finally realized what kechari is. It has nothing to do with the tongue at all. ridiculous...

 

>> why did you have to stop yoga for 3 months? 

Yes when I finally found a teacher, the little boy broke my arrogance. cooked for me. when i entered his door, the same chai i had in Calcutta awaited me on his table. strange emotions overpowered me. tears rolled... and in a matter of 24 hours, I slept, i woke up, full moon shined through the window.... Sat facing a young lad, and when he breath, i was breathing. by effort but not of me. his thumb on my forhead, i saw three kinds of light. he said some day you should achieve this by your own effort.

But initially to come back to normalcy , I was given special diet, a tea recipe with saffron & cardamom, some other special medicines, a very strict food , space between food, and strict instructions on things to avoid ( for mind and body both )

after 3 months i felt like it was 2007 again. as if time had reversed. breath was normal, evenings i did not get depression cycles. Things stopped driving me mad. heart knew i was redeemed. but also lost a few things in life ... including my partner. but got back everything ... again including my partner.

then Started with mere 12 pranayams... 2 times on 2 twilights every day.... was also given naabi, was given a separate om ritual, was given preparation for kechari, but nothing physical. was also given two asanas specific to my construct.

now after so many years... when you type your issues, they sound as if its me talking all those years ago. hence you see me responding to you with interest and care.

Om dear friend. As i said, books, forums, this very message i am writing, people like myself are all secondary. Mental understanding is not even tertiary.. after a point, it is the biggest hurdle .. please be warned. lesser contants in the mind the better in so many ways after a certain point.

heart is surely your friend. those holy moments in a day when you feel specially auspicious... use them well & never waste them. during those special times, listen to what your inner mind / heart says ... get clues.... practice for very good reasons... and yoga will find you. there is no kriya .. there is no gnana, bakthi, there is nothing. there is just one yoga...

 

Here some verses that has shaken my heart immensely and purified me. My small gifts for you :

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

haTa Yoga Pradipika, Chapter two , Verse 76

हटम विना राजयोगो राजयोगं विना हठ |
न सिद्यस्थि ततो युग्म्मानिष्तेः समभ्ह्यासेथ् |

haTa yoga (practice) without the rAja ( presence/Superior witness/self) , rAja (Superior witness / self / presence ) without practice/discipline
never avails anything. both go hand in hand, in lock steps ! else there is certainly no success.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

यो पवथि सक्तिः विना , सक्थिर प्रज्ञय प्रतमहर्ह निर्जिता -- Trailanga Swami Varnasi.

Who tried to raise without Saktih ( without the grace of the 'force' - without being able to detect and primarily work with 'force' ) ... <implied by naunce.. - its a lifetime of waste.. >... by great good fortune one achieves direct sense of 'force' and from there every possibility...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

haTa yoga pradipika chapter two, verse 16

Correct pranayama will weaken every disease, but improper practice of yoga will strengthen all misery(diseases - both body and mind).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Good luck. I will check from time to time, out of affection and interest, to see your updates.

 

Hari hara om ! Gurubyo Namah ! Om namah Shivaya ! Om ...

Edited August 8, 2018 by Sadhak_David

[Leo Gura]

4 hours ago, pfletcha said:

@Leo Gura @see_on_see also , it feels like whenever i inhale i'm relaxing , and when i exhale is when i tense up . any experience with this "paradoxical" breathing? or am i just a freak

Just practice relaxing. Practice makes perfect.

[luismatos]

@Leo Gura Leo please tell us what to expect from months of Kriya Yoga. My book is arriving on Friday and I can't wait to get started.

But would be nice to have some external induced motivation  What has kriya yoga showed you so far?

[Archen]

@see_on_see what book are you using?

[Paan]

Do you use the three locks, mula, jalandhara and uddiyana duriing pranayama? Or are they separate Hathayoga practises?

 

[YogiLogan]

@Paan use them during yoni mudra , Mahamudra and Kriya Supreme Fire for a more powerful practice.

[Jordan94]

When I do baby kechari my mounth and throat gets quite dry after 1/2minutes already, am I the only one who has this or is it common ?

[Paan]

@YogiLogan Do you use all three bandas during Maha mudra?

[Hello from Russia]

Do you guys keep your meditation practice while practicing kriya yoga or you focus on yoga alone? 

[John Iverson]

On 8/13/2018 at 11:58 PM, Jordan94 said:

When I do baby kechari my mounth and throat gets quite dry after 1/2minutes already, am I the only one who has this or is it common ?

Me tooo

[Leo Gura]

6 hours ago, Hello from Russia said:

Do you guys keep your meditation practice while practicing kriya yoga or you focus on yoga alone? 

I stopped conventional meditation. I just do Kriya instead + I randomly just sit and look around the room whenever I feel like it.

After a few months of Kriya your mind should naturally start to calm down and you should start to feel like you're naturally meditating whenever you take a moment to just sit and be quiet. Meditation also becomes much more enjoyable.

After Kriya, my meditation has become much more organic, less forced and artificial. I meditate when I'm taking a piss, etc.

Because the yoga rewires the brain stem. It's more of a hardware fix than a software fix. It's more like a psychedelic in this regard.

[Jedd]

@Leo Gura 1. What time of the day do you practice Kriya?

2. What is a good practice time to start with and work towards in your experience?

[Leo Gura]

2 hours ago, Jedd said:

@Leo Gura 1. What time of the day do you practice Kriya?

2. What is a good practice time to start with and work towards in your experience?

I do it late at night. But that's probably not ideal for most people. I can't do it in the morning because my nose gets clogged in the morning.

Time is not the the issue, it's about doing the various sets, however long that takes. Earlier in this thread I gave you a few routine stacks, from newbie to advanced. They usually take 30m to 1h 20m, depending on how many sets you're doing.

[Salvijus]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

I do it late at night. But that's probably not ideal for most people. I can't do it in the morning because my nose gets clogged in the morning. 

put a drop of ghee in each nostril before you go to sleep for a few days. 

learned this from ayurveda teacher

That will take care of it.

Edited August 16, 2018 by Salvijus

[MrBabar]

 

In your opinion, what is the most powerful kriya pranayama exercise?

-Kp1 + kp2 + kp3?

-Sushmna pranayama (in kundalini book by Santata) 

-crown shakra pranayama where your eyed are semi open and looking at the ceiling (by Santata) 

-or a combination of any of the above exercises.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2018 by MrBabar
Already answered: what ever work best for you ;)

[YogiLogan]

On 8/15/2018 at 6:32 PM, Paan said:

@YogiLogan Do you use all three bandas during Maha mudra?

Yes , but if you find it hard don't do them. In Kundalini Exposed Gamana says to practice the bandas 50 times each every day until they are easy.

[Rigel]

I started kryia 3 days ago now and it struck me how flimsy and weak my determination was with these practices. I'm still on the first preparatory lesson in the book of the book list and it baffles me how much just learning to sit properly demands discipline. I kinda got hit by the enormity of the task were up with here. It motivates me a lot and I look foreword to digging deeper into Kryia.