Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Kriyas & Pranayama

Don't forget...Steve is providing a session on Kriyas and Pranayama this weekend. Your homework during the two weeks prior to the training was to do research on each of these topics. It is important to be able to engage in constructive dialog, ask questions, challenge the information being provided (respectfully of course). We are jumping forward a bit in the Yoga Sutras to accomodate this class, so take a look at Sutras 2.1-2.9.

In Sutras 2.40-41, "Through its effective practice of teh physical purity, attachments to toxins and corruptive forces disappear naturally as natural instinctual or intuitive catharsis or revulsion and as such one rids onself of their noxious influence directly prortionately as to the development of the inner wisdom..."

"Purification of body, speeck and min is a central practice of ancient Yoga."

Ask yourself on Kriyas:

  1. What is Kriya?
  2. Why do any or all of the Kriyas?
  3. How do they apply to our lives now versus when they were invented/created?
  4. Look at the Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali, 2.1 Tapah svadhyaya isvara-pranidhana kriya yoga. How does this fit into what Steve is going to be teaching?

Websites to visit:

www.rainbowbody.net/purity/kriya.htm

http://www.anmolmehta.com/blog/2007/11/19/free-online-kundalini-yoga-kriyas-e-book/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriyas

On Pranayama:

  1. What is Pranayama?
  2. Look up types of pranayama? Are there any that you are particularly interested in learning or discussing?
  3. Guruji believes that the introduction of pranayama too soon can make one crazy...what do you think?

Some websites:

http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/pranayama/

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=pranayama&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title (this is Iyengar on pranayama)

http://holisticonline.com/Yoga/hol_yoga_breath_home.htm

Be curious...ask questions...challenge your teacher. But, remember to be respectful of the information and the messenger.

See you Friday!

Linda

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Howdy y'all,

I know we didn't have a full house for this discussion and I think there are some more good opinions among us so I thought I'd share my thoughts (sorry for those of you that hear enough out of me as it is). There are a ton of kriyas out there and some of them seem a bit out there, but there are a lot of modern diet and cleansing techniques since the hatha pradipika days. Those of you with the discipline for fasting and modern cleanses may have some experiences to add...

I've personally tried neti, nauli, tratak, and kapalbhati. As someone that has had allergy issues as long as I can remember I can strongly recommend using a neti pot. It is a little strange at first and burn a little with improper salinity or when you're cleansing extra funk like a head cold... That being said, I still took my sudafed before leaving for work this morning.

The others I think of more as prana exercises, but as Steve said they are all so closely related. I also remember doing a "release breath" in my kundalini days and I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts on that. The idea being that as postures like camel (pardon the lack of Sanskrit) can unleash emotions/nadis you exhale through the mouth with kind of an in with the good- out with the bad approach. Not far from the three deep sighs that help us melt away after an ashtanga practice...

Also, we discussed diet a little and I think there are so many points of view I'm curious what you all think. I remember the pradipika saying that plums, garlic, onion, and spicy foods were to be avoided, but milk and ghee are good. Naturally, that was before bovine growth hormones... and you are out of your mind if you think I'm giving up garlic. Any thoughts?