Kriya Yoga Mega-Thread

[pointessa]

37 minutes ago, Pouya said:

I see so many people try kriya yoga and claim it's so powerful and useful.

I know about chakras (actually they led me to start meditating) but it's been a long time that I avoid spiritual concepts like chakras and astral realms. Because I think them as just ideas and can't take them seriously.

And also I don't like chanting mantras.

I do all this because it makes me feel like getting into another ideology.I  mean my current ideologies are hard enough to deal with

Is there any reason to start kriya yoga instead of or with contemplation and inquiry?

What is it that it's very powerful?

One of the wonderful things about Kriya is that it does not come with a specific  ideology. Don't get me wrong, if you want to get the best benefits from it one must be willing to be transformed and live in a cooperative state with your surroundings.  What is it that is so powerful about it? I don't honestly know, but what I do know is that it is powerful and transforming. The concept of the practice is channeling prana towards the upper chakras. Never underestimate the wisdom of the ages.

[OmniYoga]

little background about me - I meditate 4 years (doing nothing, sitting and trying not think, sometimes focusing on the breathing but not always), 20 minutes everyday - didn't have any mistical experience so far - reality is the same as always was
if anything changes then me internal - extranal is the same as before,
im very blasé to the world - hardly ever I feel something, if it doesn't come from me(ego), sometimes I wonder is that an apathy
anyway I am able to quiet my mind and be aware of falling in thinking loops, and cut that off - but that's pretty much it,

due to those poor result I would like to add yoga techniqe & pranayama
which would be the most potent for me ? I would like to spent 5-30 minutes on it each day - maybe extent to an hour during the weekend,
i'm usually very tried, and sleepy (I sleep a lot) overall low energy person (maybe yoga can help raise my vitality, meditation didn't, rather otherwise)
I'd like to be it simple and straightforward (i'm not interested in theory and intellectualize about it) just doing the technique

I've tried Kriya Bow once, Do I really need to chanting OM in my mind and thing about chakras? that seems cheesy af...
and I've also tried extanding my breath but I can barly hold it for a minute, there is wrote in the book that it should be 2,
I'm not sure about continous this
to be honest I had unpleasant feelings after that , like the pressures in some part of my brain raised up,
is it possible to get brain stroke from it? I hope not
maybe I should do something different for the beginning?

I alos tried holotropic/shamaning breathing last weekend for 20 minutes, cuz Leo scared me out with side effects, but nothing happned as usuall, beside tingling sensation in hands and feet (also never had side effects of meditation, like Leo clamis). I want to extand that to every weekend by adding 10 minutes
can I swallow and mouister the toung and throut while doing it from time to time - it's very difficult not to
I hope that does not interfere with meditation or yoga?

Hope Leo to answer
@Leo Gura

Edited February 16, 2019 by OmniYoga

[Cocolove]

On 2/13/2019 at 1:04 PM, MM1988 said:

@pointessa can do you a full maha mudra with the leg stretched and reaching the big toe completely?

Do you know any exercises to get there faster? Right now I cant even touch my toes when im standing and feet are stretched.

just start going down the legs until you can get to toes. It took my about two months of doing it daily to go from unable to touch toes to almost able to get my elbows to the toes, forearm past them.

 

10 hours ago, Peanut said:

Wich book are you guys using?? <3

kriya secrets revealed mixed with gamana's kundali exposed and secret power of kriya yoga.

@Pouya  absolutely nothing wrong with mantras, it's just concentration meditation, speaking of concentration,

the buddha talked about two types of meditation, concentration and insight. It's best to be good at both, although you could get completely enlightened without ever concentrating. Kriya is a more concentration type practice, it helps quiet the mind and get you focused. My self inquiry practice would be shit without kriya compared to what it is with kriya.

@OmniYoga kriya bow is meant to build you up to two minutes, it'll take time to get there. I'm doing it right now and am a little under 1 minute. yes do the chakras and chanting, that's the exercise. If you don't like chakras then think of them as parts of your body, and think of chanting om as just a form of concentration. Also I reach for water like every 10 minutes during shamanic breathing, works fine for me. get some daily pranayama's going

[kerk]

On 2/12/2019 at 7:28 PM, herghly said:

What exactly do you mean by throat restrictions?

This is simply Ujjayi breathing. It's easy and it becomes automatic when doing any part of Kriya. There are plenty of videos on how to do it, here's a good one. And here's Manoj demonstrating it; his material is Kriya oriented.

Edited February 15, 2019 by kerk

[kerk]

On 2/13/2019 at 2:04 PM, MM1988 said:

@pointessa can do you a full maha mudra with the leg stretched and reaching the big toe completely?

Do you know any exercises to get there faster? Right now I cant even touch my toes when im standing and feet are stretched.

Some Kriya instructions are to hold the hands on the ankle if you can't reach the foot. Other instructions are to bend the knee and grasp the toes. In my opinion bending the knee is much better. Mahamudra is about the spine, not the leg. You can get an excellent spine stretch with the knee bent.

J.C. Stevens wrote, "If you cannot reach the toes, simply allow the leg to bend at the knee, just enough so that you can reach the toes." (Lesson 9). Amen to that.

[SriBhagwanYogi]

Can i start some basic kriya yoga by watching yt videos for ex. ManojTheYogi

[Sahil Pandit]

@SriBhagwanYogi start 

[OmniYoga]

@Cocolove "get some daily pranayama's going"
where I can find some high quality tutorial
a lot confusion around it

[archi]

On 2/13/2019 at 6:30 AM, onacloudynight said:

@herghly  Basically I'm wondering if I need to do ujjayi breathing while bringing the energy up to the head during maha mudra.

Preferably yes.

[archi]

On 2/15/2019 at 1:45 AM, kerk said:

Some Kriya instructions are to hold the hands on the ankle if you can't reach the foot. Other instructions are to bend the knee and grasp the toes. In my opinion bending the knee is much better. Mahamudra is about the spine, not the leg. You can get an excellent spine stretch with the knee bent.

J.C. Stevens wrote, "If you cannot reach the toes, simply allow the leg to bend at the knee, just enough so that you can reach the toes." (Lesson 9). Amen to that.

Important are bandhas rather than flexibility, flexibility comes with practice so bend it, no problem.

[Widdle Puppy]

So I go J.C. Stevens book and I'm a little confused. How many lessons am I suppose to do at a time during the week? What's recommended? Should I just read one a day for the preparation exercises then once I reach the first Kriya start integrating new lessons at my own pace?

Edited February 17, 2019 by Widdle Puppy

[Esoteric]

25 minutes ago, Widdle Puppy said:

So I go J.C. Stevens book and I'm a little confused. How many lessons am I suppose to do at a time during the week? What's recommended? Should I just read one a day for the preparation exercises then once I reach the first Kriya start integrating new lessons at my own pace?

Just learn mahamudra as fast as you can and go directly the first kriya pranayama is my advice. It also says in the book how long it is recommended to do each lesson. His book has an overwhelming amount of lessons though. So check out SantataGamanas books as well.

Also I find Ennio Nimis free book to be far superior to Stevens book. So as far as a "pick and choose techniques that resonates with you" book (which is how I view them), I'd highly recommend checking Ennio's out as a complement to Gamana's books.

[luckieluuke]

Im just a month in and at the first kriya initiation lesson - kriya pranayama.
Im just wondering if it might be ok for me to skip the Talaba kriya practice, the one where you stretch the tongue and instead do it during the day, like when I take a walk.... It seems it´s purpose is to make you move the tongue better for future lessons so Im thinking it would be ok. The reason I want to skip it is that it gets me out of the medative state.
Also, I stretch until I feel a slight pain, is that how you should do it?

[Cocolove]

@luckieluuke I do it earlier before my routine and it seems to work fine. That is how you should do it, eventually it wont hurt to stretch it all the way

[Sahil Pandit]

"Your task is to practice physical relaxation, allowing yourself to feel pleasure while breathing. This may bring up anxiety, “unacceptable” feelings or impulses. The key is to relax and inhale slowly and steadily, gently stretching the diaphragm and rib cage. Then let go as you exhale, without pushing or holding back. If you experience anxiety, try to spread the energy and sensation around the body. Or switch to slow breathing in the belly."

[Hello from Russia]

How crucial is to do "tongue" exercises and mudras ? It is the thing that repels me very much

[billiesimon]

Hey guys. I'm new to this topic and I'm very interested in starting Kriya to boost my spiritual practices (very poor results with meditation).

In my city there are no teacher of Kriya, so is it ok to just study on the book?

What is the best book in your experiences?

[herghly]

@billiesimon the books om Leos booklist. You don't need a teacher

[Jordan94]

@billiesimon check ennio nimis book it's free on PDF and great for practice

http://www.kriyayogainfo.net/Eng_Downloads1.html

First part is his history kind of (no need to read if you're not interested)

Second part is the description of the techniques

Third part is how you should go about it and a good practice routine

[billiesimon]

2 hours ago, Jordan94 said:

@billiesimon check ennio nimis book it's free on PDF and great for practice

http://www.kriyayogainfo.net/Eng_Downloads1.html

First part is his history kind of (no need to read if you're not interested)

Second part is the description of the techniques

Third part is how you should go about it and a good practice routine

I'm checking it out!

What is the best one, Leo's reccommendation, or this one?