Kriya Yoga Mega-Thread

[GreenWoods]

TIPS:

- Semen preservation: What differentiates yoga from meditation and self inquiry is that it works with prana. The more prana in your body the better for yoga (and general well-being) (therefore you can also try eating more postive-pranic food). When you ejaculate you lose prana. That would be why some yogis stress celibacy. But from my research: sex, masturbation and (whole-body-) orgasms are all fine as long as you don't ejaculate

- Sushumna Sodhana (lesson 23): The breathless state is probably quite  important if you want to get deeper. How to achieve the breathless state :"When prana gets interiorized in the sushumna, then the breathless state automatically occurs" - lesson 15 yogic wisdom. To me it seems that the sushumna sodhana is by far the best practise to do this. So perhaps consider adding it. 

-deepen the parvastha state: I accidentally found that out: 1. draw prana up and bring it to medulla( or region between medulla and bindu). You can also slightly clench the muscles there and additionally focus on the 3rd eye. 2. feel where you touch the ground. Now imagine that your body is pressing downward (you can actually press downward slightly if you want) while the ground pressing upward. At the same time try to feel/sense/be the space around you. 3. after some minutes/seconds relax. This reliably deepens my parvastha state up to 100%. I don't know whether this works for everyone, but I just somehow found myself doing it and found out that it is quite powerful for me

-breathe slowly: breathe as slowly as possible (while still comfortable). In case this lengthens your routine too much then rather decrease the number of breaths than the duration of breaths

- Mula bandha contractions: Prior to any practice, I usually do a few minutes of perinium and anus contractions (one contraction lasting about 2 seconds), while guiding the prana with the mind through the sushumna. I find this to be most effective in getting the prana up.

- Mula bandha while pranayama (the pranayama of the short books): This noticably increases the amount of prana that reaches the 3rd eye with each breath. I do it only during the first breaths such that I can then fully concentrate on the 3rd eye and exercise one-pointedness

-microcosmic orbit meditation: Doing this prior to yoga already opens the channels a bit, making the yoga techniques more effective as the prana can already move more easily 

-heart chakra: After your routine, you can try out bringing the prana to your anterior heart chakra too itensify your feeling love and surrenderedness.

-too much energy: If there is too much prana in your head or elswhere after yoga (or at anytime) then bring it to your stomache - the storage for prana

- presence: Take it as a challenge to stay present and focused as long as possible during yoga (or anytime) and have as few thoughts as possible. And don't daydream!

- only Now: when you want to end your session prematurely then just remember that there is only this Now, so you actually only have to do it this moment and no longer

- With joy: Doing it with joy and love instead of mechanically makes a big difference for me

- itches: love them uncoditionally and stay focused

- masturbate: If you can't feel energy/prana then you could try masturbating (without ejaculating) prior to your session. That should awaken some of the prana. But I don't know whether this is wise to do long term. Possible downsides: you get addicted, you waste time, you risk ejaculating, you risk getting blue balls (if you are male) and thus risk wet dreams, masturbating could be too gross, meaning that it could diminish some subtle effects of kriya yoga but idk

- Prior to your normal meditation or self-inquiry session, do one or a few rounds of yoni mudra and/or kriya supreme fire 

-Om: Chanting om ( pronounced:aum) aloud (every om as long as possible) (I do it between 1and 9 times) prior to any practice seems to immediately get me into a tiny parvastha state

- Wim hof method: Same effect as chanting om but stronger. Do first wim hof, then chant om and then meditate (perhaps once weekly)

Edited August 15, 2019 by GreenWoods

[Leo Gura]

@GreenWoods I once asked Sadhguru's teachers if it is necessary to stop masturbation for his yoga technique. They said no.

Just an interesting factoid.

Of course I agree that not masturbating should be more powerful. But also, don't torture yourself too much.

[Chi_]

@Leo Gura What is your personal opinion on his yoga technique? Have you tried it? I assume you are referring to Shambhavi Mahamudra from his Inner Engineering Programme?

[GreenWoods]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

@GreenWoods I once asked Sadhguru's teachers if it is necessary to stop masturbation for his yoga technique. They said no.

Just an interesting factoid.

Of course I agree that not masturbating should be more powerful. But also, don't torture yourself too much.

I do masturbate from time to time, but just without ejaculating. but before it gets too intense I will ejaculate:D

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, Chi_ said:

@Leo Gura What is your personal opinion on his yoga technique? Have you tried it? I assume you are referring to Shambhavi Mahamudra from his Inner Engineering Programme?

Yes, I've tried it.

To me Kriya pranayama seems more potent so I do that instead.

I get the sense that Sadhguru doesn't share his most potent techniques because his program is designed to be extremely mainstream and he doesn't want to freak out poor grannies with epic existential mindfuckery.

To me, the most important aspect of yoga is the pranayama spinal breathing. Without that, it feels like weak sauce to me and I don't want to waste my time with weak sauce. I want something that will rival 5-MeO-DMT.

When I do pranayama to me it feels powerful. So that's what I focus on most.

But I'm no expert at yoga. I just follow my intuition.

[SunnyNewDay]

On 8/14/2019 at 1:51 PM, Leo Gura said:

It's a powerful kundalini activator for some people. The energy it activates can get stuck in various ways and lead to all sorts of spiritual emergencies. Not to mention that any kind of technique which rapidly builds up mindfulness and elevates consciousness can cause people to freak out. The ego-mind tends to resist such efforts in many different kinds of sneaky ways. It can trigger sleepless, anxiety, anger, restlessness, tension, cravings, visions, hallucinations, paranormal phenomena, etc.

You should read up on the dangers of activating kundalini before you start yoga. I have some books on my book list about it. You don't want to be caught unawares.

Basically all the stuff I talked about in my The Dark Side Of Meditation video, but even worse.

To be clear, it's not guaranteed that bad stuff will happen. It's just a possibility.

It also depends on how deep you go with it. If it takes you all the way to enlightenment you can certainly expect all the freakiness that comes with awakening, including the Dark Night of The Soul. Awakening is not all rainbows and daffodils. Some egos have serious freak outs.

What to do if going through a dark night or spiritual emergency?

[ahmad ibdah]

@Leo Gura

Can you share your yoga routine with us ? 

[Leo Gura]

32 minutes ago, SunnyNewDay said:

What to do if going through a dark night or spiritual emergency?

Keep calm and carry on.

8 minutes ago, ahmad ibdah said:

@Leo Gura

Can you share your yoga routine with us ? 

I already did. Earlier in this long ass thread. Good luck finding it.

[ahmad ibdah]

@Leo Gura Oh boy...

[tedens]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

I already did. Earlier in this long ass thread. Good luck finding it.

Maybe You could shot some video about kriya.

[herghly]

Has anyone had experiences with siddhis?

[moon777light]

3 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

I already did. Earlier in this long ass thread. Good luck finding it.

do you still do kriya daily? I remember in one of your recent blogpost videos you mentioned that all the techniques that you used to do arent good enough for the deep awakening experiences you have now, does that include kriya?

 

also @the person who asked about the scary demons, yea it can get intense but its only scary from your egos point of view, what your ego views as threatening. And dont underestimate this stuff, thats why its best to go slowly with JC stevens method, (first doing om yapa for a few weeks then pranayama). I did pranayama after a short period of om japa and had crazy hallucinations that looked so real it spooked me out for a good few days (of sages and animals) Upon reflecting, there was nothing particularly scary about the images, but its how your ego intreprets anything new=possible danger=fear=protective reactions like anxiety, insomnia, paranoia, etc

[Pernani]

On 8/14/2019 at 10:28 AM, GreenWoods said:

8 months progress report:

I've been doing kriya yoga daily but at the beginning I often skipped some rounds and did it only once a day so I guess the average daily time spent was about 32 minutes. Beside Kriya I did self-inquiry, meditation and some sexual kungfu practises (semen preservation, microcosmic orbit meditation, big draw)

-mystical experiences: none. But I was several times right at the brink. I got slight panic attatacks  (my heart was racing quickly and I felt fear...), but I haven't managed to push through yet

- Impact on meditations: After about 5 months I managed to get into the parvastha state within a few seconds after sitting down and closing my eyes (without doing yoga beforehand!). That means yoga had a huge impact on my meditations. They are significantly deeper now. To achieve this solely through meditation would probably have taken me at least 2 years.

- Thoughts: During the day thoughts became less. When meditating or in the after-Kriya  state, with some tiny effort I manage to have about 85% less thoughts. 

-mood: my overall wellbeing increased. I feel more peace and joy throughout the day

-ckakras: Several times the 3rd eye and the root chakra suddenly got very hot.

-Prana: I can clearly feel prana 

-lights: yesterday, I put may palms on my closed eyes after pranayama and saw a beautiful blue light

Currently I'm so fascinated by yoga that I expanded my routine to about 65 minutes twice a day. My current routine is:

nadi sodhana (1min), chanting om aloud (1-3 min), maha mudra (1-3 rounds), kriya supreme fire (1-3 rounds), Kp1 ( 24 rounds ), Sushumna Sodhana (ca. 6rounds), Kp2 (24 rounds), Mental Kriya (2-5 min), Kriya pranayama (72 rounds), yoni mudra (1round), parvastha state

you do 110 rounds of kriya pranayama in one sit ? The ones where you draw energy up or where you chant oms in the third eye? that's kinda crazy, I would struggle with just doing 12 rounds of kp1 (drawing up energy) lol

[The Blind Sage]

18 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

I get the sense that Sadhguru doesn't share his most potent techniques because his program is designed to be extremely mainstream and he doesn't want to freak out poor grannies with epic existential mindfuckery.

You've once mentioned that you interviewed one of sadhguru's 'advanced students' and that he didn't even know what enlightenment was which was a huge red flag.

After a little research I found that although they are a linear progression his 'advanced courses' vary greatly. SG mentions several times that the first of his 3 advanced courses are for people who want to enhance their wellbeing (Bhava Spandana). Only the last course (Samyama) is meant for a seeker aka the real deal.

Did the interviewee complete Samyama? Or only some of the earlier advanced courses?

And how about you? Have you completed Samyama or know anyone who has? If so, how do you find it?

Edited August 16, 2019 by The Blind Sage
improved clarity

[GreenWoods]

13 hours ago, Pernani said:

you do 110 rounds of kriya pranayama in one sit ? The ones where you draw energy up or where you chant oms in the third eye? that's kinda crazy, I would struggle with just doing 12 rounds of kp1 (drawing up energy) lol

I do about 24 of spinal breathing (kp1) and then about another 24 kp2 and then about 72 breaths chanting om into the third eye. That makes 120 pranayamas.

What do you mean by "struggle"? In the sense that it is too intense (for the system)?

What is your routine?

[GreenWoods]

20 hours ago, ahmad ibdah said:

@Leo Gura

Can you share your yoga routine with us ? 

 

On 1/21/2019 at 8:45 AM, Leo Gura said:

I do 3 sets of Mahamudra, 3 sets of pranayama (36 total pranayama), and 3 breaths of fire. This takes me about 1h 20m

Keep it this simple. Don't over-complicate things. Over time just increase the potency with which you feel and visualize the pranayamas. They are the key to this whole thing. So do them with real intent and feeling. Each breath upwards should feel like it's filling your skull with enlightenment. Suck that prana up your spine and into your skull like it's an actual fluid in your body.

 

[GreenWoods]

Do you think kriya supreme fire could make navi kriya unnecessary? Navi kriya is done to loosen the knot at manipura. When you focus on the navel region and chant om there during kriya supreme fire, do you think this could loosen the knot too?

 

[Leo Gura]

3 hours ago, The Blind Sage said:

You've once mentioned that you interviewed one of sadhguru's 'advanced students' and that he didn't even know what enlightenment was which was a huge red flag.

After a little research I found that although they are a linear progression his 'advanced courses' vary greatly. SG mentions several times that the first of his 3 advanced courses are for people who want to enhance their wellbeing (Bhava Spandana). Only the last course (Samyama) is meant for a seeker aka the real deal.

Did the interviewee complete Samyama? Or only some of the earlier advanced courses?

I don't remember what he completed.

I'm sure Sadhguru has some very advanced students who are deeply enlightened. But that's probably pretty rare given how mainstream Isha has become. Most people doing it are dabblers who don't even know what enlightenment means. They are doing it for personal health benefits or whatever.

Overall I don't have any problem with Sadhguru's teachings. I'm just not the type who will ever follow a single guru.

Quote

And how about you? Have you completed Samyama or know anyone who has? If so, how do you find it?

No

[Pernani]

1 hour ago, GreenWoods said:

I do about 24 of spinal breathing (kp1) and then about another 24 kp2 and then about 72 breaths chanting om into the third eye. That makes 120 pranayamas.

What do you mean by "struggle"? In the sense that it is too intense (for the system)?

What is your routine?

I used to struggle with spinal breathing bec it was too intense (body shaking, on the verge of orgasming.. Things like that) and used to take a lot of focus to do it, now I just do the one with om chanting for 20mins ( I cant count and focus :/) with maha mudra, yoni mudra, and some stretching b4 all of it ( for abt 20mins)

[GreenWoods]

1 hour ago, Pernani said:

I used to struggle with spinal breathing bec it was too intense (body shaking, on the verge of orgasming..

right, you mentioned that some time ago. So this is still the case? It hasn't changed or improved?

Did you experiment to find out what exactly causes it? Bec it's strange that this happens after a few spinal breaths and not at all after 20 min of a different pranayama. Does it also happen with om japa? with kp2? with sushumna sodhana?

Edited August 16, 2019 by GreenWoods