Kriya Yoga Breath

Kriya Yoga is a very precise form of Yoga. Although always in existence, for a long while it lay dormant and was later revived in modern times by Lahiri Mahasaya, in around 1861. Sri Yogananda Paramahansa brought it widespread public awareness in his book “Autobiography of a Yogi.” The Kriya Yoga system comprises of quite a lot of Yoga techniques, which speed up a practitioner's spiritual development. They also help to produce a deep stillness, calm, quiet and a state of God-communion.

Kriya Yoga practitioners say that man is made up of two other bodies; besides the gross one we can see and touch. Those are the astral body and the causal body and are apart from the physical body. Breath (called Prana, in Sanskrit) is the crucial link between man’s astral and physical bodies. Breath flows mainly through our Nadis (subtle channels) and exists both as a positive and negative energy when it is known as "Apana". Breath itself is a sensory impulse. Its nature is to move upwards. On the other hand, Apana is efferent and, as a result, it progresses downwards. When the two meet in the Muladhara Chakra, the Kriya Yoga practitioner’s Kundalini energy is awakened.

So, it all boils down to breath. The Kriya Yoga practitioner first establishes the basics of proper breathing. Breath awareness is so vital to Kriya Yoga that, in a manner of speaking, you may say that the whole science of breath starts with alertness, and ends in right perception. All else, in the middle, is nothing but a training ground for consciousness. The whole science – and art – of breathing, starts with awareness of what we are doing. To do this means to know what the breath is doing. We must have an attitude of surrender, of being a witness, an internal researcher. Kriya Yoga has to do with developing an attitude of curiosity which lets you wander around the inside of yourself observing the way your breath operates.