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thenondualtankie

Kriya breathing practices way too straining: Any ideas?

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I had started doing Kriya yoga daily for around 2-3 months, but ultimately ended up quitting / taking a break from it. The main reason for this was that the breathing practices caused me too much strain and discomfort. My tipping point was that Maha mudra was literally impossible for me to do without intense strain.

Besides Maha mudra, it's not like I felt the practices were damaging my body or that the discomfort was super intense; moreso that it was subtle but there enough that it totally distracted me from the meditative results that these practices aim for.

The main source of discomfort with breathing practices was that I constantly felt like there wasn't enough oxygen in my lungs. Take spinal breathing for instance, also known as First Part of Kriya Pranayama. The instructions tell you to breath in for a whopping 10 to 20 seconds, hold for 2-3 seconds, and then exhale for the same duration as the inhalation. How is a 40 second breath even possible without feeling like shit? It's just such a slow breath. I always tried the lower end of the given range (so roughly a 20 second breath), but even this caused me too much of the "out of breath" feeling.

One possibility is that I wasn't putting in enough effort into the breath, i.e. not really fully filling up my lungs. But the reason I wasn't doing that is that this in and of itself is also straining in my opinion. However if you guys say this is probably the reason then I'll stop being lazy with my breathing.

So my question is, is this actually normal? Otherwise, what should I do to make breathing practices more physically comfortable?

Edited by thenondualtankie

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Try Holden Qigong 

mans go slow with Krya IMO. Krya is very painful. I have been doing a basic holding of the breath for 2 minutes followed by Krya Bow. I find it’s hard but seems to increase my body state overall. 

Edited by Thought Art

 "Unburdened and Becoming" - Bon Iver

                            ◭"89"

                  

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10 hours ago, thenondualtankie said:

I had started doing Kriya yoga daily for around 2-3 months, but ultimately ended up quitting / taking a break from it. The main reason for this was that the breathing practices caused me too much strain and discomfort. My tipping point was that Maha mudra was literally impossible for me to do without intense strain.

Besides Maha mudra, it's not like I felt the practices were damaging my body or that the discomfort was super intense; moreso that it was subtle but there enough that it totally distracted me from the meditative results that these practices aim for.

The main source of discomfort with breathing practices was that I constantly felt like there wasn't enough oxygen in my lungs. Take spinal breathing for instance, also known as First Part of Kriya Pranayama. The instructions tell you to breath in for a whopping 10 to 20 seconds, hold for 2-3 seconds, and then exhale for the same duration as the inhalation. How is a 40 second breath even possible without feeling like shit? It's just such a slow breath. I always tried the lower end of the given range (so roughly a 20 second breath), but even this caused me too much of the "out of breath" feeling.

One possibility is that I wasn't putting in enough effort into the breath, i.e. not really fully filling up my lungs. But the reason I wasn't doing that is that this in and of itself is also straining in my opinion. However if you guys say this is probably the reason then I'll stop being lazy with my breathing.

So my question is, is this actually normal? Otherwise, what should I do to make breathing practices more physically comfortable?

Try hyperventilation / holotropic breathing for 20 minutes beforehand. 


Apparently.

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Try learning meditation.  Kriya amounts to an attempt to squish concentration, insight, and energy work into a single practice, while doing none of them well.  I think you're much better off with any of the Buddhist traditions.  Kundalini will rise when it is ready.  Forcing it is a terrible idea.

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It sounds like you're just jumping the gun my dude, start with much more basic breathing exercises like Sama Vritti and work your way up; breathing exercises are literally akin to a sport, you're not going to be able to run a marathon after a few 10 minute jogs it simply isn't possible. 

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