Pranayama 

Human body is physical manifestation of one’s consciousness and in that, primarily, Central Nervous System (brain and spinal cord) is densely concentrated with abundant consciousness.

So, all the yoga practices always revolve around CNS with an intention being to grow ones awareness towards consciousness. These practices focus on getting the vivid awareness of main

three Nadis (Ida, Pingala & Sushumna) and seven Chakras (Mooladhara, Swadhistana, Manipura, Anahata, Vishudhi, Ajna & Sahasrara) and opening them for the free flow of Prana. From practioner to practioner one can find some variations in the techniques. But, all have the

same goal "to get the realization of the self".

There are many techniques to the yoga sadhana and Kriya Yoga practice is a small subset of it. One has to practice few techniques at a time for sometime and get mastery in it before moving

onto next techniques. Do not attempt to master everything in one day, remember, Rome was not built in a day.

Preparation

Sit in a comfortable position, without having external support for back. Let the spine stay in natural S curve. Take a few slow and deep breaths and relax.

During the entire course of Pranayama, let your breath follow natural rhythm. Do not force to hold the breath or struggle to keep the breath slow.

During the entire course of Pranayama, if for any reason you lost control of your awareness then do not worry or struggle to forcibly bring the awareness back to from where it left from the

practice. Instead, let go of the situation, and easily start all over again without worrying that something happened.

Always do abdominal breathing (breath using diaphragm). Abdominal breathing relaxes and calms the mind. This is the natural way of breathing. Observe how baby breaths! Contrary to that,

breathing using upper chest will create anxiety and high blood pressure.

Curl up your tongue to form Kechari Mudra (Khechari Mudra). After few thousand hours of practice, tongue will naturally enter the nasal pharynx and into the nasal septum. This is king of mudras. Kechari Mudra will bring mental stillness, mind will naturally calm down. One should be

in Kechari Mudra throughout the practice.

 

1.  Mental Pranayama

Mentally move your awareness from Mooladhara Chakra to Sahasrara slowly, mentally touching each chakra in the upward path. Stay a while for a comfortable duration at Sahasrara and then slowly move your awareness from Sahasrara to Mooladhara Chakra while mentally

touching each chakra in the downward path.This completes one mental Pranayama.

Repeat this Pranayama few times daily for some days till you are comfortable in tracing and visualizing the paths up and down. After getting complete mastery over this, move onto the Kriya

Pranayama.

Variations to Mental Pranayama

1.1Visualize a narrow hollow white tube running from Mooladhara to Sahasrara. Visualize all the

seven Chakras on it (Mooladhara – Red four petal lotus, Swadhistana – Orange six petal lotus, Manipura – Yellow ten petal lotus, Anahata – Green twelve petal lotus, Vishudhi – Blue sixteen petal lotus, Ajna – Indigo two petal lotus and Sahasrara – Violet & White thousand petal lotus).

Do the mental Pranayama along with these visualizations tracing the path up and down the white tube while mentally touching all the Chakras in the path.

1.2While doing Pranayama, mentally chant OM (AUM) at each Chakra in the path. You can as well

use the Bija mantras of the chakras or mantras of deities.

1.3Visualize the smooth candle flame (about an inch in length) going up and down the white tube

while mentally tracing the path.

1.4Visualize the smooth & bright Sun (soothing white Sun) going up and down the white tube while

mentally tracing the path.

   

2.  Kriya PranayamaInhale, and while inhaling move your awareness from Mooladhara Chakra to Sahasrara,

mentally touching each chakra with mantra in the upward path. Stay a while for a comfortable duration at Sahasrara while chanting the mantra and then exhale slowly. While exhaling, move your awareness from Sahasrara to Mooladhara Chakra mentally touching each chakra with

mantra in the downward path. Mantra can be OM (AUM), Bija mantra or name of your beloved Deity.

While exhaling, contract the lower throat/glottis so as to create the resistance to the outgoing breath. This will make the duration of exhale lengthier compared to inhale and help in opening the

spiritual (third) eye.

This completes one Pranayama.

Do this Pranayama regularly.

Variations to Kriya Pranayama

2.1Visualize Sushumna nadi as narrow hollow white tube running from Mooladhara to Sahasrara.

Visualize all the seven Chakras in Sushumna nadi (Mooladhara – Red four petal lotus, Swadhistana – Orange six petal lotus, Manipura – Yellow ten petal lotus, Anahata – Green twelve

petal lotus, Vishudhi – Blue sixteen petal lotus, Ajna – Indigo two petal lotus and Sahasrara – Violet & White thousand petal lotus). Do the Kriya Pranayama along with these visualizations.

2.2Visualize the smooth candle flame (about an inch in length) going up and down the Sushumna

nadi while doing Kriya Pranayama.

2.3Visualize the smooth white ball (about an inch in diameter). While inhaling and going up the

Sushumna, white ball increases its size gradually. While exhaling and coming down the Sushumna, white ball decreases its size gradually.

2.4While inhaling and going up, trace the dorsal side of the Sushumna nadi. While exhaling and

coming down, trace the ventral side of the Sushumna nadi. (Dorsal side is towards the back side of the body and ventral side is towards front).

2.5Visualize two narrow hollow white tubes running on left and right of the Sushumna nadi. One on

the left is Ida nadi and the one on the right is Pingala nadi. Inhale and move awareness from Mooladhara to Sahasrara thru Ida nadi. After reaching Sahasrara, keep awareness there as long

as possible to keep comfortably. Exhale and move awareness from Sahasrara to Mooladhara thru Pingala nadi.

2.6While inhaling, imagine cool air is entering your body, gradually filling your body from Mooladhara

to Sahasrara. While exhaling, imagine hot air is going out gradually from Sahasrara to Mooladhara.

2.7With repeated practice, one will gain mastery over breath and mind. Exhale will take more time than inhale and, each breath will span over a minute. Mind will rest in peace. This is the time to

move on to next step.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Make yourself comfortable, sitting upright, with a straight spine. With your eyes closed, look at the point midway between the eyebrows on your forehead.

Inhale slowly, counting to eight. Hold the breath for the same eight counts while concentrating your attention at the point between the eyebrows. Now exhale slowly to the same count of eight. Repeat three to six times.

After inhaling and exhaling completely, as the next breath comes in, mentally say Hong (rhymes with song). Then, as you exhale, mentally say Sau (rhymes with saw). Hong-Sau means "I am He" or "I am Spirit". Make no attempt to control your breathing, just let its flow be completely natural. Try to feel that your breath itself is silently making the sounds of Hong and Sau. Initially try to feel the breath at the point where it enters the nostrils.

Be as attentive as possible. If you have difficulty feeling the breath, you can concentrate for awhile on the breathing process itself, feeling your diaphragm and chest expanding and contracting.

Gradually as you become more calm, try to feel the breath higher and higher in the nose. Be sure that your gaze is kept steady at the point between the eyebrows throughout your practice. Don't

allow your eyes to follow the movement of the breath. If you find that your mind has wandered, simply bring it back to an awareness of the breath and the mantra.

As you become calmer, be more aware of the breath itself, higher and higher in the nose. Be sure to keep your gaze steady at the point between the eyebrows throughout your practice. Don't allow your eyes to follow the movement of the breath. If you find that your mind has wandered, simply bring it back to an awareness of the breath and the mantra.

By concentration on the breath, the breath actually diminishes; its gradual refinement leads naturally to an interiorized meditative state.

Practice this technique as long as you feel to. As a boy, Paramhansa Yogananda used to practice it for hours at a time, withdrawing ever more deeply into the spine until he found himself without breath altogether. He had ascended into soul-consciousness…and a higher reality took over…

Some Tips to Help Your Meditation

Controlling Your Breath. At no time during the practice of this technique should you make any effort to control the breath. Let it flow naturally. Gradually, you may notice that the pauses between the inhalation and exhalation are becoming longer. Enjoy these pauses, for they are a glimpse of the deep peace state of advanced meditation. As you grow very calm you may notice that the breath is becoming so shallow (or the pauses so prolonged) that it hardly seems necessary to breathe at all.

How Long to Practice. The amount of time you practice is entirely up to you, but end your practice of the technique by taking a deep breath, and exhaling three times. Then, keeping your mind focused and your energy completely internalized, try to feel peace, love and joy within your self. Sit for at least five minutes enjoying the deeply relaxed state you are in.

Where to Meditate. If possible, set aside an area that is used only to meditate. This will create a meditative mood. A small room or closet is ideal as long as it can be well ventilated. Your area can be kept very simple-all you really need is a chair or small cushion to sit on.

Posture for Meditation. There are many ways of sitting that are equally good. You can sit either in a straight-backed chair or on the floor in any of several poses. Two things, however, are essential: Your spine must be straight, and you must be able to relax completely.

Eye Position. Focus your attention at the point between the eyebrows. This area, called "the spiritual eye", is a center of great spiritual energy. Your eyes should be closed and held steady, and looking slightly upwards, as if looking at a point about an arm's length away and level with the top of your head.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Kriya Yoga

The Meaning of Kriya

The word Kriya is composed of two syllables, kri and yâ. In Sanskrit, kri means karma

dhatu - action of the elements, and yâ means Soul or Atma. The word Kriya indicates action of the Soul or prâna karma. The first and most important action of the Soul is breath.

The word yoga comes from Sanskrit yuj which means union. The union of the individual soul with Spirit.

Kriya Yoga is a method to attain the union of breath and Soul in each inhalation and exhalation. Expressed in other words: the union of the individual soul with Spirit is called Kriya Yoga. This is true karma.

The practice of Kriya Yoga is based on breath, the brain and the spinal cord. Breath is the mediator between Soul and mind. The brain is the mediator between the sense organs and the mind. All our physical actions are reflected on our sense organs through the intermediary of the lower part of the brain located in the spinal cord. From this lower part of the brain where the lower mind is situated, we pass to the higher mind, then to breath, and lastly from breath to Soul (and then inversely).

The brain is connected to the mind and the mind is connected to chitta. Chitta (the higher mind) is composed of five actions, or five minds which have twenty-five qualities or natures, each creating two results which are called vrittis. This gives fifty types of different inner and outer results - fifty vrittis, which are manifestations of chitta. The vrittis are created by chitta, the higher mind, directly from the Soul through the means of breath. The object of yoga is to control the actions of chitta - Yogâshchittavrittinirodhah (Pâtanjali's Yoga Sûtra I, 2).

The mind is in constant motion. Our inner and outer actions change constantly and this is reflected by our breath. When we are afraid our breath is agitated, when we feel joy our breath is different, it is also different when we are angry or have any other type of emotion. When the breath is calm, the mind is calm. So, it is only through breath that we are able to control chitta and come to the state called nirodhah. Nirodhah means to close, to lock with a key - which means to stop all actions (vrittis) of chitta and thus have easy access to the meditation state of yoga. The control of chitta, stopping the actions of the mind is obtained by controlling the breath.

Since Kriya Yoga is based on breath, you can practice this special technique during the whole day and in whatever activity you do. When it comes to sitting for meditation, it may be practiced whenever you have time.

Kriya Technique

The teaching of Kriya Yoga is done gradually. It is sectioned into six stages referred to as First Kriya, Second Kriya and so on. The beginner starts with First Kriya. First Kriya is the root, the very foundation which allows for progress through the spiritual path for followers of any religion. It gives access to knowledge of the body, of the Soul and the chakras. It allows for comprehension of the gross body, the astral body and the causal

body. Later, after having practized regularly over a period of time and achieved the necessary demanding level of mastery, one can receive second Kriya, and thus progress towards the higher Kriya levels.

Describing Kriya Yoga in words has little meaning. A person may truly understand only through practice. If you wish to know what an apple is, a simple description is not enough. Take the fruit, touch it, taste it, then you will really and immediately understand what an apple is. The same goes for Kriya Yoga.The Ultimate Goal

The constant practice of iswara pranidhana (practice of breath control in every moment) gives the siddhi (perfection) of samadhi. The incoming breath is î - power, outgoing breath is ra - light, sva - yourself, is between these two. isvara gives life and will fill yourself.

Iswara pranidhana means that by constantly observing the breath which enters and leaves the body, through practice one will come to the formless state. Then you remain in the divine light enabling yourself to achieve constant nirvana or liberation in your life time. As Jesus Christ said in the Bible: "You can’t see, feel or realize God, but you can be".

Effects on Life

Prana shakti (life force) flows from the top to the bottom, then inversely from the bottom to the top, of the spine. In this way all the chakras (centres) are touched by life force and by vacuum. The first and second techniques are called pranam and correspond to Yama in Patanjala’s Yoga Sutra. Yama means to obtain inner control or sâmyam. Nothing can be controlled from without because the root is found in our spine. This is why we during the practice of Kriya Yoga bend the spine forward allowing the magnetic life force to flow in the spinal cord. The vacuum is always at the top of our body, this is why we retain equilibrium. So when we bend our spine, the vacuum magnetizes the spine.

Shûnya dhaur bhavet prâna: The vacuum element is our life force. When the vacuum leaves the body, life also leaves.

By practicing Kriya Yoga, we create an inner fire called tapa agni. In the same way that the outer fire, drabya agni, burns whatever we put into it, the inner fire, tapa agni, allows the practitioner to burn his karmas, the results of his past actions, his thoughts as well as all his mental or psychological problems.