Leo's Blog Discussion Mega-Thread

[Leo Gura]

@Mondsee Yogananda's technique manual suggests doing Kriya from a chair. That's where I got the idea.

You are right, I don't adhere to anything out of conformity. If a chair works, then cross-legged is unnecessary. And it is bad for your knees. You will have fucked up knees once you get older.

I don't claim to be any yoga master, but it is obvious to even a noob that Kriya works from a chair. This ain't rocket science.

And yeah, I will never trust any guru. I will sooner invent my own yoga.

I am very open to not knowing much about yoga. But one thing I know is that sitting cross-legged is not necessary and even harmful.

I know sitting in a chair works because I've been doing it for months and getting results. So there is nothing to debate here.

Edited February 27 by Leo Gura

[Mondsee]

@Leo Gura Yogananda’s books were also written with Westerner readers in mind who cannot comfortably sit in a crosslegged position for long periods of time without aching …probably because they started believing sitting on the ground is for the poor and stuck to chairs and elevated furniture instead including toilets btw, which in turn led to less squatting and even less flexibility.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

edit: just for the record, I haven’t read Yogananda’s books.

Edited February 27 by Mondsee

[Leo Gura]

3 minutes ago, Mondsee said:

@Leo Gura Yogananda’s books were also written with Westerner readers in mind who cannot comfortably sit in a crosslegged position for long periods of time without aching …probably because they started believing sitting on the ground is for the poor and stuck to chairs and elevated furniture instead including toilets btw, which in turn led to less squatting and less flexibility.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well, who am I teaching here? Poor Hindus from Kolkata?

Sitting on the ground is literally for the poor.

There are so many children in India that if each of them got a chair, India would go bankrupt. Lol

Edited February 27 by Leo Gura

[Mondsee]

I’m not saying anything against you offering practical advice to your westerner followers. I’m just inviting you to reconsider your bold statement that “Cross-legged meditation is stupid, unhealthy, and done out of mindless conformity”

[Leo Gura]

@Mondsee I appreciate your feedback.

I have yet to see my statement is false.

[Mondsee]

@Leo Gura will be hard to see without the counterfactual of crosslegged sitting, but again, if sitting on a chair is currently working better for you, by all means go for it. Like I already said, I do consider brute-forcing a crosslegged position while in pain to be actually stupid.

[Leo Gura]

The reason I made that statement is because I wasted so much time trying to sit cross-legged and it never worked out for me. I wish someone just told me from day 1 that I should use a chair. How much crap that would save me.

[Mondsee]

@Leo Gura fair enough, fair enough, I just think it would be wise to reframe your advice such that it reflects that it comes from your own personal frustrating experience, which is not universal, nor superior.

[Leo Gura]

@Mondsee Oh, hey, your guru told me to tell you: It's okay. You can sit in a chair. We ain't poor anymore.

[Mondsee]

Hahaha ooooooh @Leo Gura! I respect you, but when it comes to yoga, you truly have no clue what you’re talking about 🤭

[Leo Gura]

3 minutes ago, Mondsee said:

Hahaha ooooooh @Leo Gura! I respect you, but when it comes to yoga, you truly have no clue what you’re talking about 🤭

Don't disobey your guru! Do as he tells you.

Edited February 27 by Leo Gura

[bazera]

@Leo Gura Hey, I don't understand one thing, maybe you could clarify.

You've mentioned elsewhere and also in the latest podcast that you're constantly aware of God, that when you're walking down the street you have that awareness with you. So my question is, why are you doing Kriya Yoga at this point?

Isn't the whole point of Yoga to get to a place where you get consciousness of God?

You want to deepen your current experience? Or you still think there are some facets that Yoga will reveal that you might have missed. What's your motivation for doing Pranayamas.

Edited February 27 by bazera

[Magnanimous]

@Leo Gura how long would it take to reach Sahaja Samadhi?

What would you have to do?

[Leo Gura]

17 minutes ago, bazera said:

@Leo Gura Hey, I don't understand one thing, maybe you could clarify.

You've mentioned elsewhere and also in the latest podcast that you're constantly aware of God, that when you're walking down the street you have that awareness with you. So my question is, why are you doing Kriya Yoga at this point?

Isn't the whole point of Yoga to get to a place where you get consciousness of God?

You want to deepen your current experience? Or you still think there are some facets that Yoga will reveal that you might have missed. What's your motivation for doing Pranayamas.

I could be way, way, way more conscious than I currently am.

My daily consciousness of God is mild. I want it much stronger.

5 minutes ago, Magnanimous said:

@Leo Gura how long would it take to reach Sahaja Samadhi?

What would you have to do?

I don't know. There isn't a simple answer.

100,000+ pranayama

Edited February 27 by Leo Gura

[Mondsee]

@Leo Gura best to stop making a fool out of yourself while you’re chair-dependent.

Recognizing what your entry level is, and doing whatever works at that point is very valid for a start, but If you’re serious about going deeper in the yoga path, my sincere advice to you would be to make a progressive effort to improve your physical condition, such that you may one day know the privilege of sitting on the ground in bliss for hours on end, without your back / knees pulling you out of it. Godspeed!

Edited February 27 by Mondsee

[bazera]

@Mondsee

https://www.youtube.com/@KriyaYogaOnline

Do you know this guy? He has like 25+ years of Kriya Yoga experience, and I remember in one video (can't find it now) he mentions that he practices just sitting on his chair because it's more comfortable (as I remember him saying). I'll try to find the exact video.

So what's the problem with that?

[Leo Gura]

6 minutes ago, bazera said:

So what's the problem with that?

The problem is it don't conform.

Gotta conform.

Gotta wipe ass with hand the traditional way or no enlightenment for you.

Edited February 27 by Leo Gura

[Natasha Tori Maru]

9 minutes ago, Mondsee said:

@Leo Gura best to stop making a fool out of yourself while you’re chair-dependent.

Christ almighty, makes it sound like a geriatric with a walker 💀

[Mondsee]

@bazera I’m not demonizing chairs. They’re surely better than nothing for those with any physical impediments that make sitting crosslegged hard. Yoga doesn’t discriminate and offers modifications to meet anyone at their current level. But in my own experience, I’ve come to experience that the “full poses” are the way they are for a good reason. And no, the reason is definitely NOT that “that’s how we’ve always done it”, though it may seem so for those with little experience. Remember that more often than not, correlation doesn’t mean causation.

[Ajay0]

 

Most yoga asanas were developed watching animals and birds relax themselves.

You can clearly see a dog performing yoga after getting up from a nap and stretching its legs.

Also sitting in an asana is also stated by yogis to stabilize the mind quickly and thereby bring clarity of mind faster.

I had created a thread in this regard as well here.

I personally use chairs myself, but after realizing the effect of yogic asanas in clearing up the mind swiftly through my own experiences, I now mostly sit in padmasana as much as possible, and have bought mats for the same. 

There were times when I was in a brooding binge, thinking incessantly over unnecessary stuff.  When I sat down in padamasana or lotus position, I found that the thoughts and emotions, often of a negative character, slowed down tangibly. 

So I would say that being in a meditation posture is a kind of meditation in itself. 

I also know of Japanese managers who have a room for themselves to sit in cross-legged position, perhaps to ensure better mental clarity and clear thinking.

Considering the lack of mental clarity as well as large-scale emotivity and reactivity these days , I would say that sitting in a cross-legged or lotus position or padmasana is an excellent tool in  one's mental hygiene tool kit with zero expense.

I would exhort people here to practice siting in lotus position if they are disturbed or agitated and see if they calm down faster.  If they do, they can obviously use it . If not, they can forget it.

Edited February 27 by Ajay0