Kriya Yoga as prescribed by Patanjali consists of:
self observation
connection to the divine
discipline
respectively the niyamas:
Swadyaya,
Isvara Pranidhana and
Tapas
Taking on these practices purifies the small self, egocentric conditioning, karmic patterning. In doing so the True Self, Intrinsic Purity, Whole Mind, is experienced. Awareness of True Nature occurs in little blips. Brief moments of connection to the Divine open into your experience. Quickly, karmic patterns reappear and cover up the opening. We practice. Then - boop - another little blip. We experience IT again. Perhaps we can cultivate IT and breath IT. If you have been practicing with me for a while, I always emphasize that the experience of the Divine is a BODY thing, not just a mind thing. Asana fashions a strong, sound healthy container that is sensitive, responsive and resilient.
This can sound esoteric, strangely religious and weirdly Eastern. But it’s not. It happens all the time, it’s just we don’t pay attention to it. Let’s say you are in a sour mood after a bad day with the work you do. You’re kevetching and replaying situations. You pull in the driveway, get out of your car and the sunset catches your eye. You pause a moment. The beauty of the scene stops you cold. Your mind is clear. The heart opens and you feel, throughout your body, at peace with all that is. You’re even smiling! Then, yes, the voice of discontent chimes back in and you jump back into the ring with it. Time spent in karmic pattern - hours. Time connected to the divine - 10 seconds. But that 10 seconds matters! A lot!
We begin to observe our minds. Swadyaya. We become familiar with the pattering, the stories, the voices, and the flavor of the minds’ conditioned disposition. By doing so we create space for those little blips of the divine to pop through and be experienced and embodied. Iswara Pranidhana. The more we intend to observe and embrace ourselves as we are, the more space we create for the organic, natural experience of True Nature to show itself. Once we get it on a cellular level that divinity is available beyond the small mind, we up the game and make the practice a discipline - Tapas. At this point we use every experience to see the small mind, make space and cultivate our connection to the Self. Ishwara Pranidhana.
Karma is strong. It doesn’t just skulk off down the road. It reasserts its position and its stories. As a practitioner it’s often the case we are caught in the friction of Tapas - knowing that the karmic patterns aren’t “real” yet believing them anyways; not sure where divinity is or if we ever really knew what it was in the first place - were we just fooling ourselves all along??? Cognitive dissonance rules. We stay firm but gentle with ourselves and our resolve. Sutra 2.11 states that the patterns of karma are reduced through meditation. This whole process of kriya yoga: observing karma, not believing it, experiencing an embodied sense of Self and cultivating that Self are accelerated in meditation practice. By sitting with intention, we bring the whole process to the forefront of conscious awareness on the meditation cushion. Those 20 minutes on the cushion can wipe away kalpas of karma.
By using every experience as an opportunity we gain momentum and force in our practice; potent and moving in a single concentrated direction.
