also Sat Kriya

[Guest guest]

Dear Jessie,

 

> My second question is this: I have been adding 2-3 minutes of Sat

> Kriya to my practices, and feel wonderful. This morning, however, I

> began to feel the rise of something very powerful--not an energy, per

> se, but an emotional wave, almost. i had to stop after a while,

> because it felt so strong that I began to feel overwhelmed. Is this

> something that simply happens with practice of Sat Kriya? Also, is

> feeling an inordinate amount of heat also common?

 

Yes this very much happens. If you feel overwhelmed it is ok to stop, but in

any case don't be afraid. These are the signs of the rising Kundalini, and

there is really nothing to be afraid of here. It may at times feel like your

spine is plugged into an electric socket. This is a temporary stage though -

it is just the Kundalini clearing up the way through the sushumna (the

subtle channel related to the spine). It is said the sushumna is where your

samskaras reside. This term includes old habits, subconscious patterns,

karmic seeds from your previous lives and all sorts of other past

impressions. Imagine your sushumna like a dirty attic and the Kundalini

going in with a high-powed vacuum to clean it up. For a while all sorts of

things may come up, but only to be burned in the fire of Kundalini.

 

Talking about heat, there is a Tibetan yoga practice called Tummo where

practicants prove their attainment to the master by going out on chilly

winter nights to the banks of a river where they sit on the ground wearing

nothing but a loincloth, soak a wool blanket into the frozen water and then

wrap it around themselves. The test is to be able to dry the blanket with

their own body heat, and then the blanket is soaked again and this goes on

until the morning. I don't recommend trying this! It would spell certain

death for anyone who doesn't have a blazing Kundalini fire. Kundalini is the

energy of blazing stars, the energy of creation.

 

Sensations of heat are very common, and many yoga practitioners note even

burning sensations - not so much physical as mental. It is the Kundalini

burning up your accumulated samskaras. It is a very beneficial process, even

though it may not be very pleasant at times. "Burning in the fire of yoga"

is a phrase often repeated. Let us remember that this is how gold is

separated from dirt, and this is how stars give light.

 

Many blessings,

Satsang Kaur