Sat Kriya breathing

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Dear Debbie,

 

There are several ways in which you can do the breathing depending on whether the Sat Kriya is done in a whisper or out loud, and if it is part of another mantra chant, such a the introduction of Dya Singh to Japji, where there is a 31 minute remix available.

 

Here is one version.

Whispering:

You are sitting in rock pose on your heels, arms stretched upwards close to the ears with the palms together or in Venus lock with the index fingers pointed up and pressed together, shoulders pressed back. Now, with whispering you start the sound Sat pressing the lower abdomen up and in with the tongue creating a resistance to the air coming out. When the air pressure releases, because most of the air is out, you also release the "Ssssss..." sound into a forced "at" whereupon you will notice that the navel goes in forcefully and the root lock comes up, which you hold for a split second, while stretching your shoulders up and pressing palms together to let the energy come up through the spine. Now, having squeezed the breath out, the air will naturally come back in, and as it does, you inhale the whisper sound of "naaaam" again stretching the shoulders up and again pressing the palms together, the air will fill the lungs. And you repeat at the rhythmic speed you want. This is also a very powerful form of Sat Kriya, as the whisper will take you deep into the awareness of the subtle flow of energy that lead to jagrat-sushupti. Try it.

 

The other is with sound.

In this case again your arms are stretched up, palms together. Again, using the pressure of the sound of "Sssss..." but faster so that you come to the release of "at" sooner, with the root lock, etc as above, but when the air is out, you sniff in air through your nostrils, stretching the shoulders up and pressing palms together so that the air flows in. Then start the sound "Naaaam" letting it vibrate all the way through you, until the air is half way out, then shift into "Ssss...at" again, and continue at a slow, medium or faster rhythm for different effects, which are also all quite powerful, because of the steady interjections of breath Prana.

 

However, it can also be dome, as you mentioned, with a count of 8 times exhaling Sat (rootlock) Nam in rapid succession, again each time shoulders go up and palms press, until the breath is out, then inhaling and repeating.

 

What is the purpose of Sat Kriya? How does it work? What does it do? The short answer is that there is a subtle nerve, which in Kundalini Yoga is the "reverse channel" from the Kundal or nabhi chakra to the 4th vertebra. Yogis also call this the Saraswati nadi. When you are doing Sat Kriya, you are rhythmically beating on this nadi, bringing about its stimulation and activation, which leads to a charge from the Kundal (between the navel and 4th vertebra) to the 4th vertebra and a searing radiance at the base of the spine, like a flash of lightning that remains, straightening your spine and entirely riveting your attention, so that you have this same riveting effect in the spiritual heart that pulls the spine forward, as well as all along the gold cord from the ajna to the crown.. Attention disengages and you remain transfixed as non-dual single spatial consciousness, breath suspended in a state of absorption and overarching penetrative radiance

 

So, practice Sat Kriya in these several ways every day, and see what happens.

 

Pieter

 

 

 

Sat Kriya breathing

Posted by: "dlm909" dlm909 dlm909

Thu Jun 14, 2007 6:05 am (PST)

I have been doing the Sat kriya with various books and DVD classes, and I still do not understand how the breathing is supposed to work. When I watch yogis do it, it seems that they are not even taking a breath, and when I do it myself, I take a breath after every 8th "sat nam." Any ideas?Sat nam.Debbie