KRIYA YOGA explained
If you have been part of my world & community you must already be aware of my gratitude and dedication to Kundalini Kriya Yoga. But, what exaclty is this ancient practice?
If you’ve tried it, you’ve expereinced its magic, and if you’re curious, i applaud you.
So; KRIYA actually means movement.
Kundalini is the Energy that is being chanelled / moved.
And in this context KRIYA represents a movement of awareness and consciousness.
In contrast to other forms of yoga and meditation you may have tried, they tend to really encourage a kind of curb of mental activity, a one pointed focus, a concentration on a particular reference, Wherein Kriya Yoga, it purposefully creates activity in your consciousness.
For me, when i began consciously dedicating to my spiritual journey around 2010, whenever i was guided to “look inward” to “calm & clear the mind” it was actually incredibly noisy, In order to meditate, we need to be able to concentrate on observing the mind. This felt distracting, triggering becasue i felt lost with my undiagnosed ADHD or just really boring. So i couldn’t relax, let alone concentrate. This is because concentration is only possible if a person is relaxed mentally & physically. I was far from these states. And honestly the demands and commitments of everyday life make this state appear too far away to achieve sometimes. Looking back, i can now see that i had been in a state of high nervous system disregulation since the womb. I was operating from a state of trauma and survival. Hence this deep, longing, pull to achieve a sense of freedom, myself and seeking spiritual & embodied practices.
In the way of KRIYA Yoga, we awaken the dormant, feminine energy that lies at the base of the spine, and your mental faculties are harmonized which creates this wonderful flowering of our fullest potential- certain nerve plexus are stimulated and a co-ordination & culmination between brain, body and our nervous system is achieved.
So, the practice of Kriya Yoga consists of repetitive movements, meditation, chanting, singing and Asana (posture) to awaken the Kundalini energy that lies dormant at the base of the spine. As this Kundalini Energy (see blog post “What is Kundalini Energy?” to understand further) is awakened through Kriya Yoga, it rises from the base of the spine, travelling up, up, up, the spine, by the various movements, chanting, singing asana, contained in the potency of time periods (ill go into why the timing is so important soon). Like, Imagine a snake charmer. The charmer is the Kriya- The asana, the posture, the meditation, the chanting. And the snake, is the energy. The snake (the kundalini energy) is charmed, pulled, hypnotised, channelled, by the music of the Charmer.
Its funny i mention music. Becase KRIYA yoga is also very much like music. There are about 70 KRIYAS all together. The main ones generally known and utulised are around 20. Similarly, music; has a particular number of notes. When you prepare these notes in a particular sequence, wonderful, moving, flowing music is created. Music can heal, move you, release you and balm your emotions. Music is a story, an inner experience, a journey. Now, if you were to create a sequence where the notes were all just chucked in together, you can create quite jarring sounds, that do not move you or lead you to some truth or freedom. It is the same with KRIYA yoga. The sequence of Kriya begin at the end of the previous Kriya. They connect. They are of close relation. They create a wave, a movement, a music of the energy of your spirit. If the sequence is wrong, the system of KRIYA loses its full power. KRIYA yoga awakens the Kundalini and travels up your 7 main energetic centres along your spine. You may have heard of these centres, they are called the Chakras. Basically, they govern the different energetics of the human expereince. Whether you have a background in yoga or not but doesn't matter. The Chakras are spinning wheels of energy, they are epicentres for our emotional spiritual being; sometimes referred to as our spiritual organs. We both take in information and output information into the world through our chakra centres. The 7 main Chakras i am referring to reside from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. (See Chakra blog post to understand more.)
They say, that one year of Kundalini Yoga can equvilent to spiritual awareness that may take 10 years in other forms of Yoga. Yoga is never about the destination, or compariosn, i just love the peculiarity of this point and i also find it poetic that i had to dive into various forms of Yoga for 10 years before i was ready to be exposed and welcomed to Kundalini / Kriya Yoga. I know this is because i would not have been able to harness, understand or channel my energy mindfully 10 years ago, I needed to be initated slowly into the union of my broken spirit.
The disccovernce of these energetic centres predate modern sceince, though remain completley relative. The ancient Yogis didn't have CAT scans or modern medical instruments to look inside the body and see what was there on a physical anatomical level so instead they used their embodiment, curiosity and the power of their own innerstate to explore and refrence their experiences. What they found through the practice of meditation was that the body has these seven main energetic centres existing along the spine as a main energetic, psychic passage of the body.
A psychic passage is a pathway or channel in which your breath awareness, or psychic consciousness can flow or move. There are various different pathways, but here i am referring to the centre of the spinal column, from top to bottom. It is easy to describe the route of the psychic pathway, but you must develop and experience the flow of breath consciousness in the psychic pathway for yourself. One must be aware of the breath and feel the movement of breath in the passage.
There is a good reason why this rotation or movement of consciousness is an integral parrt of Kriya Yoga. These psychic passages pass through various nerve plexuses in the body, particularly those pertaining to the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The mere fact that you are aware of these places has a stimulating influence which awakens nerve impulses, which bring about psychological and biochemical changes in the body. This can be experienced even after a short period of practice in the form of calmness, tranquility and clarity of thought.
The reason for this result is that these plexuses are connected directly to brain centres and endocrinal glands. Of particular significance are the two parasympathetic nerve outflows in the region of the base of the spine and top of the spine. The parasympathetic nervous system tends to reduce nervous tension, in opposition to the sympathetic nervous system, which tries to produce tension and the readiness of the mind and body to withstand external events
A few more subtle details of importance include the timeframe, repeitions and mantra chanting. The roof of our mouth has 84 meridian points, all on the upper palate. Long ago, highly evolved beings began chanting certain sounds that made the tongue hit these meridian points in certain combinations. When the correct combination of tongue to palate patterning happens, we stimulate the hypothalamus, thalamus and pituitary of the brain in such a way we are brought into deeply meditative staes. The benefits meditative states ripple to every essence of our experience. Practising one KRIYA for a forty day cycle will create an improvement in your life. Histroically across many faiths, religions and cultures, 40 days has been a significant time period. Always begin with 3 minutes, increase it to 7 minutes, then 11 and then eventually to 31 minutes. The reasons for the specific length of time has to do with the numerolgical significance of each number in the Kundalini tradition. A repetition of 26 times = 26 vertebraes. Or spirtual numbers 54 & 108. See the numerology blog to understadn the energy of these numbers.
In a felt sense, for me, KRIYA yoga feels like my vessel- my body- is shaken up from the inside until im blended and balanced. Its a incredibly elevating and equalising experience.
I am so enthusiastic about the miracles i have seen happen with yoga & meditation. Learning to meditate will attract all that you are longing to understand.
