Kriya yoga practices dangerous without the guidance of a master ?

[knakoo]

Hello everyone,

After watching the following video, I started doing daily one of the Kriya explained in this video (starting 10 min 25 sec). This gives me a lot of energy, better focus and I love it, but I can feel that it has a major effect on my kundalini energy (which started waking up these last few months). I am not at ease with that. Can someone tell me if this specific Kriya can be dangerous or not recommended ? For now I have stopped doing it.

Several people in the comment talk about the potential dangers of Kriya yoga practices without the guidance of a master.  For instance this very detailed and interesting comment :

"Let's start with one simple consideration: human organism is the most complex machine on earth, and we lack the instructions manual, so to speak. Let's use a metaphor here: this is an extremely sophisticated computer with enormous potential. Yoga is literally the programming language, low-level powerful coding to make the machine go beyond its superficial capabilities. It's like hacking, if you like - Yogis are hackers. Now, if you don't know what you're doing, and you're just putting together a lot of different chunks of code lines, chances are that your machine is going to crash. You can actually burn down a whole motherboard just writing the right kind of code.

So, Kriyas are exactly that - "programs" you're using to re-program your "human machine". It takes an enlightened being - one who can actually see the nuts and bolts of the human machinery (on all levels - physical, pranic, causal, etc etc) to design a Kriya. This is why Kriyas are always teached in closed schools and programs, where there is maximum control over the delivery. The same process is repeated over and over again tens of times until everyone is sure he understands correctly the sequence and what is required. Other forms of transmissions are extremely dangerous, given the tendency of many people to be "creative" with things they don't know nothing about (see how different "yoga teachers" teach Surya Namaskar in thousands different "variants").

The very video here is made in such a way (not her fault) that 10 people will interpret the steps in 10 different ways. For example, Kriyas require VERY specific forms of breathing that need to be done in VERY specific ways (intervals, number sequences, chakra focus, sound activation, and so on). A video teaching a Kriya must be a LOT more specific than this. If that is not already enough, many Kriyas require Tantric processes to be properly "implanted", and the use of Yantras and energy forms is often required. So even if I teach you the exact sequence of - say - Shambavi Mahamudra, and you haven't been initiated properly, you will not be able to perform it in the way it's been designed for, and that will ultimately damage you (it will also damage me, but then we're going into very complex conversations about karmic structures). So, unless we're talking about extremely innocuous (and ineffective) kriyas, you shouldn't trust nobody to give you a kriya ever, unless he/she is a teacher in a structured lineage, a.k.a. Guru-Shishya tradition.

Now - what happens if you do a kriya wrong? A lot of different things, from physical ailments to mental illness. It's not as simple as just "awakening the kundalini", although awakening the kundalini in a "body" that can't manage it can lead to death. It's about a lot of other things too: e.g. you do a Kriya that's designed for Bramacharys that focuses on empowering the Anahata chakra, and you're not strong in the other chakras, you will get mad for sure, as you will start seeing things that you can't handle. In India, where a lot of people are exposed to Yoga but some just learn it from books or friends because they don't want to enter a school, 15% of the patients of the NIMH are diagnosed with "wrong yoga practice". Summing up: look for a serious school, which means avoid any "teachers" who do not belong to a very specific and demonstrated Guru-Shishya tradition."

 

I remember @Leo Gura advising to read a book about Kriya and starting to do the practices. So is that ill advised ?

Edited October 23, 2020 by knakoo

[reves]

You can find a lot of information about Kriya Yoga in its mega-thread. I have been doing it daily for more than two years now and I haven't had any problems. I really like it, for me it is like micro dosing psychedelics and I feel very a lot of energy. But everyone is different, so the only way to really know is trying it!

[mmKay]

Buy the book. Listen to your intuition also called " Inner Guru" In the Kriya book Leo recommends. 

Anything done unconsciously can be dangerous : cooking, relationships, walking, speaking. . . 

Purchase the book from the booklist, listen to your intuition and you should be good.