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What Is Kriya Yoga? 6 Fun Facts About This Powerful Practice

Kriya Yoga: You may have heard this term in Kundalini Yoga or in a Tantra style yoga class. Maybe you heard about it from the book The Autobiography of a Yogi, where Paramahansa Yogananda speaks to his wildly beautiful, spiritual experiences through kriya.

Maybe you may have never heard of it at all.

What you can be sure of, is if you are involved in the yoga world on some level, you will 100% hear this term pop up in the years to come.
 
 

So What Is Kriya Yoga?

Kriya Yoga is quickly growing as one of the most effective techniques to clear the mind, shift one’s energy and create a rapid pattern disruption in our nervous system.

It’s hard to give you an easy answer on what kriya is, because you can’t really generalize kriya. There are so many different kinds of kriya’s, and each one gives you such different results.
 

Kriya Yoga can be many different things, but usually the techniques consist of breath, mantra, repetitive movement, or a combination of them all.

 
The techniques vary depending on what lineage they come from, and there are hundreds of different kriya techniques.

But their common denominator, and the main thing you need to know is that kriyas create a rapid shift in your state of consciousness.
 

 
 

Here Are 6 Fun Facts About Kriya Yoga:

Read on to learn more about the Kriya Yoga practice.
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1. Kriya Can Be Many Different Things

Kriya Yoga can be many different things, but usually the techniques consist of breath, mantra, repetitive movement, or a combination of them all.

Each kriya has a different purpose. Some kriyas are more calming, while others are energizing. Some kriyas are specific to balance or stimulate a certain energy in the body – whether that means cleansing your traumas from your root chakra, or cultivating more love in the heart, there’s a kriya for it all.
 

Each kriya has a different purpose. Some kriyas are more calming, while others are energizing.

 
I practice Kriya Yoga every single day because I’ve noticed such a profound shift in every aspect of my life since I began this practice.

Typically, I start my morning with more meditative kriyas as I allow my body to wake up, and then I’ll finish with some more energizing breath kriyas to get me feeling excited and activated for my day.

Practice These 7 Kundalini Yoga Poses and Kriyas to Focus Your Mind and Balance Your Body
 

2. The Translation of “Kriya” Embodies the Purpose

Kriya, like all yoga terminology, comes from the ancient language of Sanskrit. Sanskrit is known to be the oldest language in the world (now a dead language), and is the language in which The Vedas were written (the ancient text where yoga comes from).

Kri-ya in Sanskrit means in layman’s terms ‘to expand one’s energy.’ Basically, kriya’s are tools you can use to expand your energy.

Here Are 30 Sanskrit Words Commonly Used in Yoga Defined and Explained
 

3. Kriya Yoga Might Look and Feel Weird at First

I’m not going to lie to you. Kriya’s can look a bit strange. BUT, my point in telling you this is because it’s totally normal to feel weird doing kriya’s at first.

In fact, the weirder it feels, the better, because ‘weird’ means you’re experiencing something you’re not used to – and this is always how we expand ourselves; doing something in the unknown!

And yes – while some of the kriyas will look and feel super strange – after just a couple minutes of practicing kriya, I promise you will feel a dramatic shift.

It’s one of those things where you can’t really understand it until you try it – but it works. It just does.
 

 
 

4. Most Kriyas Are Practiced for an Extended Amount of Time

Some kriyas take just a few minutes to receive the effects, whereas other kriya’s are practiced for longer amounts of time.

You might take a Kundalini Yoga class where you’ll practice one kriya for 11 minutes, maybe longer. The reason for this is because what we are doing is creating a new neural-pathway in our brains.

We are literally reprogramming ourselves, and creating a new habit or pathway within the mind using the kriya technique as our tool to do this.

Some of this can sound weird. Trust me, I have done the practices enough now myself to know it really works.

Relieve Stress with Kundalini Yoga Kriyas: Here’s How (Tutorial)
 

5. Kriya Yoga Is Meant to Be a Part of Your Daily, Long-Term Routine

It’s ideal to bring one to two kriya’s into your daily routine to practice for a minimum of 40 days. The reason for this is similar to the reasons we practice kriyas for an extended length of time (see #4), where we are creating new neuro-pathways in our minds.
 

We are literally reprogramming ourselves, and creating a new habit or pathway within the mind using the kriya technique as our tool to do this.

 
It takes about 40 days to set a habit, so when we practice the same kriya’s for this amount of time, we truly do see a more profound shift within ourselves.
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6. You Have to Try It to Truly Understand

Lastly, I’ll let you know that kriya is one of those anomalies where from the outside looking in, you can’t understand it.

And from the inside looking out, you can’t explain it . . .
 
 

Now You Know What Kriya Yoga Is – Try It For Yourself!

There is absolutely no possible way to understand ‘kriya’ from a scientific or linear perspective. Even after reading this article, if you haven’t tried it for yourself, you’ll be absolutely clueless as to what it really is and what it can do for you.

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Brooke Nally

Brooke is a freelance writer focusing on the health and wellness sphere. She has been traveling the world for over three years now, working with YogaTrade and teaching yoga everywhere she lands.

themorphomovement.com

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