Kriya Blog #3 - Sanskrit Origins & Its Place in Yogic Text, Classical Yoga & Ayurveda

Kriya Blog #3 - Sanskrit Origins & Its Place in Yogic Text, Classical Yoga & Ayurveda 

Section 3 - Yoga Therapy and Kriya Practices

General Groupings of Yoga Therapy

Before specifically exploring the relationship of Yoga Therapy and Kriya practices first we must clearly define Yoga Therapy in its various manifestations.

Ayurveda: India’s traditional medical system that uses herbs, diet, exercise, detoxification programs, gems, essential oils, and various lifestyle practices to bring balance to the individual. Ayurveda takes into account all life-phases putting the importance on spiritual healing and Self-Realization. Ayurveda has specific suggestions for exercise based on body type.  Ayurveda is considered Yoga's sister science. Today many are sharing therapeutic and spiritual Yoga practices in light of Ayurvedic mind-body theory.  Ayurveda has a comprehensive system of diagnostics based on Vedic Self Revealed Knowledge or Spirit’s (Purusha) relationship with Nature (Prakriti). Ayurveda explores Universal Prakriti as well as the individuals (nature) Prakriti.

Ayurveda is a vast and massive body of information.  Its treatments are detailed and very specific. My feeling is all Modern Yoga therapists should have a basic understanding of Ayurveda to grasp Yoga's full healing potential.

Modern Yoga Therapy: This is a new and cultural hybrid approach to Yoga used for overall wellness and treating specific ailments based on assessment. A heavy emphasis is placed on modern research methodologies to validate the use of Yoga and its various branches of practice.  The practices vary drastically from practitioner to practitioner.  Some draw heavily on Hatha Yoga while others have completely hybridized it with Physical Therapy (aka physiotherapy).  Mantra and meditation are also getting substantial focus in this field.  Yoga Therapy uses assessment techniques and understanding of pathology from a Western medical science view.  While this is an excellent modern hybrid we should look to keep Yoga Therapy connected to Ayurveda. Yoga and Ayurveda are known as the sister sciences and we don’t want to split up the family in the name of modernities endless pursuit of progress.

Guru Based Yoga Therapy: Guru Based Yoga Therapy is a category I have coined to help bring clarity to Yoga and its Therapeutic approaches. Often we find a charismatic teacher giving health advice to students. Sometimes this is influenced by Ayurveda or other local folk medicines.  In some cases, it is also highly informed by Western forms of folks healing.  We see this both in India and anywhere in the world Yoga is being taught. We see many examples of the teacher giving health advice involving fasting, omitting certain foods, taking herbal concoctions, and using certain physical yoga practices for healing. Often this kind of advice is not in alignment with other medical professions or Ayurveda yet it often brings miraculous healing to the students.

The validity of these therapeutic practices is often difficult to be proven via Western medical sciences. Often this kind of healing would be explained as a placebo. While this could very well be true I personally feel the placebo is inadequate to explain spiritual healing.  Faith in the teacher, and in some cases the energy transmission from the teacher as well as our own faith are a powerful triad that can bring miraculous and powerful physical healing.  When our Prana becomes balanced miracles can happen.  Placebo does not have a place to understand the healing power of Prana and Shakti's inherent intelligence. 

Guru Based Yoga Therapy is unique in that it is lacking an assessment methodology.  Pathbi Jois called the standing postures in his yoga asana flow Yoga Chiktsa, which translates as Yoga Therapy. He was working upon the theory that abdominal twisting would increase elimination which brings overall wellness to the body. This theory is an alignment with basic Ayurvedic theory. It certainly is not Ayurveda as a full system.  It does not have an assessment module attached to it.  Yogi Bhajan had copious amounts of therapeutic claims around his yoga sets. Yet, he did not offer a full system of assessment.  I could continue listing off many of the well-known teachers and interesting suggestions they gave their students in the name of therapeutic healing. Many teachers have given health and wellness advice. And it was often useful but it was not based upon assessment and pathology.

What is Therapy without a clear diagnostic or assessment method?  How can therapy be applied, and reproduced by other therapist without assessment of pathology?  It can not, and this is why Guru Based Yoga Therapy needs its own classification. It is primarily a form of spiritual healing based upon psychic knowing, energy transmission from the teacher, and the student's powerful faith.

Pranic Awakening & Spontaneous Kriya:  In many Kundalini based Yoga traditions we find people entering into altered states of consciousness where they lose control of their body and begin making involuntary movements.  This is a very powerful experience. These movements of energy can appear dramatic or very subtle.   Personally, my case of Lyme Disease was miraculously cured after an intense and powerful movement of Shakti.  This mostly happens from an energy transmission from teacher to student, the power (Shakti) in mantras but can also happen from willful breath work practices.  Drugs can also cause Shakti Kriyas. See Yoga Sutra Pada 4 Sutra 1.  

Mantra is considered a powerful means to open the body to Shakti Kriayas.  Spontaneous Kriya/Kundalini awakening has various names and is also difficult to say when it will take place or not.  God's grace is extremely important in this kind of healing.  Shakti Kriyas and Pranic healing are accepted in Guru Based Yoga Therapy and Ayurveda but it is hard to verify and explain in Western Scientific terms. This makes the reality of its existence difficult for Modern Yoga Therapy, which is based upon Western sciences. This reiterates my point that for Yoga to stay connected to its full spiritual potential and be a therapy that it must remain connected to its sister science Ayurveda.  Ayurveda has room for spiritual healing while also having a logical and systematic method of assessment. 

Kriya Yoga and Yoga Therapy

Now that we have laid out details about Yoga Therapy we can get back to the main point, Kriya. 

Kriya Yoga, while being a diverse term,  in most all cases includes practices used to quicken the process of Samadhi. Kriya Yoga Practices are not stand-alone forms of Yoga Therapy or a method in Ayurveda.  Shat Kriya in the Hatha Yoga is a therapeutic practice, which we could call a form of Yoga therapy.  Kriya Yoga practice is usually considered the pinnacle of asana, pranayama, mudra, and bandha used in a synergistic approach with mantra given in alignment with the particular tradition.  While these practices aim toward samadhi they also have health benefits as a secondary effect.  Kriya practices vary from tradition to tradition but have similar systematic methods working with the higher limbs of yoga.  This is different than Shat Kriya which we will explore in the next section. Shat Kriya is purely therapeutic in its application.

Yoga Therapy and Kriya in Light of Yogi Bhajan’s Body of Teachings

Most all Kriya Yoga traditions share the similarity, that Kriya practice is a means of Self- Realization, not Yoga therapy.  Any health benefits from Kriya Yoga practice is considered a positive byproduct of the method of Self-Realization.  The health benefit is not the primary objective.

Yogi Bhajan’s approach to Kriya is unique.  It takes what I call Guru Based Yoga Therapy (see above) to the next level.  He perhaps has the most extensive claims of Yoga for self-help on all levels of human life from entering shunia (zero point) to the cultivation of physical beauty, controlling premature ejaculation, mending the aura from various traumas, to calming the heart and almost anything else you can think of. 

Most of his claims are not validated by Ayurveda, the Hatha Yoga text, or Western sciences.  Most of his claims are based upon his authority alone. Yogi Bhajan and those who printed his manuals often used a variety of healing systems to explain his work.  Their claims around practices were often more poetic than scientific.  The language used to explain the claims made in Yogi Bhajna's work uses the meridian system as well as some traditional Yoga and Ayurveda language.  He also uses various New Age terminology mixed with Western psychological teachings. Needless to say, this is a rather confusing system of Guru Based Yoga Therapy that has not been put under peer review or validated by ancient standards of Ayurveda and Hatha Yogas healing branches.  There is no clear assessment or diagnostic teaching in Yogi Bhajan's claim based system of yoga, yet there are many yoga sets that say they address various ailments.      

That being said I AM NOT claiming Yogi Bhajan’s system does not live up too many of its claims. To draw a conclusion for or against his claims (I feel) we would need to study each practice he taught individually.  The methodology of study will need to be clearly defined and transparent.  I suggest Western anatomy and physiology along with Western pathology in integration with Ayurveda to understand the validity of Yogi Bhajan’s claims.  On a personal level, I have used many of Yogi Bhajan’s Kriyas and do feel that there is a layer of validity to them, despite all the confusion surrounding them.

While Yogi Bhajan has made thousands of therapeutic claims about Yoga sets, Kriyas and meditations many feel that Yoga therapy in its most thorough and powerful expression is found in Ayurveda, not Yogi Bhajan's system.  Classical Yoga's healing practices and Ayurveda share detailed language and methods. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika uses many of the Ayurvedic terms such as Dosha, Agni, and Dhatu (tissues) and Guna.  Healing in Hatha Yoga and Ayurveda are well suited to each other.  Hatha Yoga is more general and Ayurveda more specific and pointed in its applications. 

Yoga has been primarily a spiritual practice throughout the millenniums, not so much a therapy.  In the modern time period Yoga has become associated with wellness and physical healing. In the traditional Yoga system, wellness and physical healings are a first step and a byproduct of practice. The primary goal of Yoga was and still is the direct perception of indwelling Divinity.  The byproducts of physical healing from Yoga as a spiritual practice is explained in Ayurvedic terms.

Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan and Classical Yoga

Yogi Bhajan’s system of Kriya uses many tools found throughout Classical Yoga practices. Many of the benefits received from the practices he taught could be reframed to fit into the broader Classical Yoga and Ayurveda teachings. In the next section, I introduce Shat Kriya from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. I have reframed three of Yogi Bhajan’s practices to fit in with the Shat Kriya system. They are Sat Kriya, Breath of Fire and Vatskar Dhouti Kriya. I have also laid out a detailed break down of Sat Kriya in light of Ayurveda.

My personal critique of Yogi Bhajan's claims based Yoga system is simultaneously mixed with a lot of appreciation and speculation of its validity.  I feel that any Kriya that he claims has therapeutic benefit needs to be investigated. His Authority alone is not substantial to back his claims, especially since it appears that he had major issues with ethics, morality and honesty.   Ayurveda and Western Anatomy are perfect systems to explain any of his claims.  If his claims are accurate, will they work for every person all the time? Based upon the tri-dosha approach laid out in Ayurvedic Yoga each practice would be custom-tailored to the individual.  This leaves Bhajan's system making too broad of claims.  This is one of many reasons I discontinued using his system, in a slow and complicated unwinding from 2004 to 2010.

In my soon to be released e-course Kundalini Yoga Beyond Branding, we will explore practices Yogi Bhajan taught that are also in Classical Hatha Yoga and Kriya Yoga traditions, grounded in Ayurveda and Yoga Therapy.  We will explore this comparative teaching in light of Classical Text and modern yoga schools.