How can Kriya Yoga help you awaken your Kundalini
and how can you benefit from it!
Kriya yoga is an ancient system of yoga that consists of several sets of pranayama (breathing techniques), mantra (sacred utterances), and mudra (symbolic gestures and poses) that are intended to bring about spiritual development.
Traditionally, Kriya yoga has remained a yogic art passed from the Guru to the disciple through a secret ceremony.
This article throws light on the many benefits of Kriya yoga, its different branches if it awakens the kundalini, how hard or dangerous it is, and what you can expect if you become a regular practitioner.
Let’s start with the benefits of Kriya yoga.
Does Kriya yoga awaken kundalini?
Kriya yoga practices directly impact the energy that lies dormant at the base of the spine, which is known as kundalini. It cleanses the energy pathways, activates the energy centers or chakras, and enables energy movement from the base of the spine upwards. Through this process, Kriya yoga helps in awakening the kundalini.
Kriya yoga facilitates this energy movement through its various practices that involve asana, pranayama, mudra, and mantra.
Is Kriya yoga the same as kundalini?
Kriya yoga and Kundalini yoga help stimulate the chakras, clear the flow of energy, and help it move upwards along the spine.
However, Kriya yoga and Kundalini yoga are not the same and have fundamental differences in their technique, process, method of practice, origin, and objective.
Here is an insightful article on the apparent differences between Kriya yoga and kundalini yoga.
What are the benefits of Kriya yoga?
Kriya yoga has short-term and long-term benefits, including the simultaneous development of body, mind, and spirit.
Here are ways in which Kriya yoga facilitates wellbeing.
1. Helps calm and control the mind
The practice of Kriya yoga helps calm and quiet the mind, creating a relatively thoughtless state of mind.
It helps increase concentration and create a mental field where you can see thoughts for what they are, making it possible to understand and straightforwardly process our ideas.
2. Helps change negative emotions into positive
Kriya yoga works on our thought patterns.
Helping us attain clarity of mind and feeling creates a fertile ground for processing emotions, making it easier to change negative emotions into positive ones.
3. Creates spiritual upliftment
Kriya yoga is considered to be a spiritual practice and helps evolve the spiritual body.
There is a coming together and aligning of the physical body with our spiritual side.
4. Helps us become kinder
Kriya yoga creates awareness, and through this increased awareness, it enables us to be more compassionate, expanding the understanding of ourselves and others.
So while we can help others and be more empathetic, it also creates space for self-love and self-compassion.
5. Helps cleanse the chakras
Kriya yoga cleanses the energy pathways and energy centers (chakras) in the body.
Kriya yoga helps address several physical and mental health issues by clearing out any energy blockages, some of them being tiredness, lack of focus, increased blood pressure, depression, and fatigue.
6. Helps eradicate negative habits
Kriya yoga helps eradicate negative habits and replace them with positive ones.
The meditation part of Kriya Yoga’s practice helps change the mind’s patterning and loosen our negative habits’ grip.
Each time a person practices meditation, it helps establish a positive change in the brain, ultimately leading to the development of positive habits.
With all the benefits of Kriya yoga, does it mean that it is the same as Kundalini yoga?
The five branches of Kriya Yoga
As revived by Mahavatar Babaji and taught by his disciple Lahiri Mahasaya, Kriya yoga has five branches.
Kriya Hatha Yoga
This is the physical practice of Kriya yoga and consists of 18 postures that are taught in pairs and stages.
Besides these 18 predominant postures, there are also other asanas (physical postures), bandhas (muscular locks), and mudras (symbolic gestures).
This branch of Kriya yoga is to take care of the physical body and bring about greater health, happiness, and peace.
Kriya Kundalini Pranayama
This pranayama or breathing technique awakens the latent energy and moves it upwards from the spine’s base to the head’s crown.
This helps awaken the potentials that lie dormant within us and raise our consciousness.
Kriya Dhyana Yoga
These are a set of sequential meditation techniques.
They help build concentration, cleanse the subconscious mind, bring mental clarity, awaken the intellect, and master the mind, ultimately leading to the state of Samadhi or communion with the Higher Reality.
Kriya Mantra Yoga
Mantras are sacred utterances.
This branch of Kriya yoga involves silently repeating mantras that help awaken intuition, intellect, and the chakras.
Kriya Bhakti Yoga
It involves carrying out devotional activities to achieve spiritual bliss and awaken unconditional love for the Divine.
These activities and services involve chanting, singing, sacred ceremonies, pilgrimage, and worship.
Wanna know more? 👉 In this article discover what is the purpose of chanting in yoga.
The six types of Kriyas
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika talks about six kriyas, also known as Shatkriyas, a set of practices for purification of the body to prepare it for yoga’s ultimate goal, moksha or liberation.
The six kriyas are Neti, Dhauti, Nauli, Basti, Kapalabhati, and Trataka.
Let us look at each of these in detail.
1. Neti (Upper Nasal Tract)
This practice is for the purification of the nostrils and the nasal passages.
A gentle saline solution consisting of purified water and non-iodized salt is administered in each nostril using a neti pot.
It is believed to relieve the facial muscles of tension, make the nose resistant to irritants, help with clearing mental congestion, and balance the nervous system.
2. Dhauti (Cleansing the intestine)
This practice helps to cleanse the upper intestinal tract up to the stomach by either drinking saltwater and throwing it up or using a piece of cloth or a rubber tube.
It helps with digestive issues like gastric troubles, constipation, and acidity; it also helps with asthma and anything related to phlegm.
3. Nauli (Abdominal muscle and Viscera)
Nauli is a massage of the entire abdomen and stomach to purify and strengthen the internal organs.
It is a self-practice to rotate the body’s core internally by contracting and rolling the abdominal muscles alternating between a clockwise and an anti-clockwise direction.
Nauli helps reduce obesity, helps with any digestive issues, increases appetite, and activates the functions of the digestive organs.
Those suffering from a hernia, high blood pressure, or active ulcers should not practice Nauli.
4. Basti (Cleaning of the rectum)
This practice is a cleansing and purification of the lower abdomen, including the pelvis and bladder.
Also referred to as ‘yogic enema,’ Basti cleanses the colon by removing any impurities.
It is practiced early in the morning on an empty stomach.
Basti makes the body light and cool; it also helps cure diseases like urinary disorders, irregular bowels, and bile.
5. Kapalabhati (Cleansing breath)
Literally, skull shining breath, Kapalabhati is a breathing technique that cleanses the skull and purifies the brain’s frontal region.
It also energizes and balances the energy channels in the body called nadis and the energy centers called chakras.
It helps the body’s cells absorb a large amount of oxygen and release impurities present in the blood.
6. Trataka (Eye exercises)
The practice of Trataka uses the fixing or gazing of the eyes at a fixed point to steady the mind.
The most common object for practicing Trataka is the flame of a candle, but any object can be used, such as a black spot, a flower, or even the moon.
It helps improve eyesight, promotes concentration and memory, and develops intuition.
Wondering if Kriya yoga is complicated or dangerous? We will talk about this next.
Is Kriya yoga hard?
The practices of Kriya yoga are not complicated. Paramhansa Yogananda describes Kriya yoga in his book ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ as a “simple, psycho-physiological method.”
However, while Kriya yoga practices are progressive and straightforward, which means that one starts with learning the simpler techniques and moves on to the ‘higher’ methods, it takes immense discipline to practice Kriya yoga correctly.
In this sense, Kriya yoga is a demanding practice. It needs a strict routine and an exactness of process.
It also needs a lot of trust in the Guru because this practice is very teacher-centered.
Is Kriya yoga dangerous?
Kriya yoga is considered to be a safe practice and not dangerous. However, it does require you to learn under the guidance of a Guru because its methods are precise and need to be carried out correctly.
Kriya yoga is a sequential practice, which means that a practitioner starts with preparation, goes on to the initial courses, and progresses to the advanced techniques.
It can take any amount of time to come to a stage where the advanced practices are considered ‘safe’ to be practiced.
Not following this discipline of practice and directly moving to the advanced techniques can create an imbalance of energy, which can harm the practitioner.
This is why learning from a guru is crucial when it comes to Kriya yoga, as the guru can assess and decide how prepared a practitioner is for a particular kriya yoga practice.
Patience is the key in Kriya yoga.
What can you expect after consistently practicing Kriya Yoga?
Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, the guru of Paramahansa Yogananda, who popularized Kriya yoga, has said about the practice that it “is an instrument through which human evolution can be quickened.” It is believed that half a minute of Kriya yoga is equivalent to one year of natural spiritual development.
By the same logic, if one thousand kriyas are practiced in eight and a half hours, it gives the yogi the equivalent of a thousand years of natural evolution in one day.
In three years, a Kriya yogi can achieve the same evolution that nature would take a million years to create.
It is believed that a regular practice of Kriya yoga can make the yogi’s body so spiritualized that he cannot feel the ground and the body levitates.
Where can you find a guru to learn Kriya yoga?
It was incredibly hard in olden times to find a guru to learn Kriya yoga.
With the internet, the search has become much easier as institutions offer training in Kriya yoga.
Some organizations to learn Kriya yoga from are Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, Kriya Yoga International, Ananda Sangha, and Babaji’s Kriya yoga.
Things to take into account when finding a Kriya yoga teacher
‘When the disciple is ready, the Master appears’ is what yogic texts believe in when it comes to finding a Guru.
They talk about how a guru finds the right disciple rather than the other way round.
Some tips are to let go of your ego – preparing oneself to surrender to the teachings of a Guru can be incredibly hard.
Give up expectations of how a guru should be or what they can help you achieve; surrender to the belief that you are being led to the right path.
Trust that you will find your guru when you are ready – prepare yourself for the moment physically, mentally, and spiritually by continuing on your path of practice.
In closing
Kriya yoga is a powerful practice that helps awaken the kundalini and other transformative benefits.
It needs a daily commitment to practice and sometimes years of preparation before the actual kriyas are taught, but the path to Kriya yoga is worth all the effort.
For those of us who will not meet some of the legendary gurus of Kriya yoga, this is an excellent video of Guru Paramahamsa Hariharanandaji talking about Kriya yoga.