What is a KRIYA?
What are Kriyas?
Kriyas, in the simplest explanation are cleansing practices used in the discipline of yoga as a way to create a clear channel in the body for life force/ Prana to move through it.
Think back to a time when you had the flu – where your nose was all clogged up, and every time you *tried* to take a breath it felt like trying to suck a watermelon through a straw…
Since oxygen (your breath) is needed to convert food and liquid into energy – NOT getting adequate oxygen into the system can, in part, be responsible for the body feeling lethargic, lack lustre and energy deficient. (Of course there are obviously *always* other systems in play!) But lack of oxygen can be a big part in the resulting symptoms of foggy brain, stuffy head and the feelings of frustration that accompany it.
Kriya practices in essence help to “FLUSH OUT THE GUNK” – so that you can allow for a more robust pathway for this energy or life force to travel through the body.
Whether you are in a full-blown, bunged-up flu state or not – we all have a varying degree of “GUNK” that we need to flush out!
This “GUNK” can be found in the respiratory system, the digestive system, the ocular system and to some degree the nervous system – and Kriya practices help to clear this shit out!
These cleansing practices range from the more basic – such as Neti Pot cleansing where saline solution is flushed through one nostril and flows out the other (as I’ve shown in the first illustration), to more “extreme” forms of Kriya. It has been said that in some yogic texts there are records of ancient Yogis taking the “purification” of the body to the extreme – such that they were removing their colons from the body through the anus, washing it in the Ganges and then reinserting through the rectum back into the body (!!)
It is not difficult to correlate that what we DO with or to the body is in direct relationship to how we feel. If we over consume dense/heavy/sugary foods we feel lethargic and unmotivated. If, on the other hand, we consume good quality foods that are full of vitality, freshness and nutrients – we feel alive, energised and light. If you’ve ever had a big boozy night out and woken up the next morning with a head that feels very foggy and UNCLEAR – you can definitely attest to the relationship between things IN and THROUGH the body, relating to how the body feels. Kriyas are, in essence, taking the feeling of being CLEAR to the next level – so that energy/oxygen/food/liquid can pass easily through to support and nourish the system.
In some ways the body is doing quite a lot of this “CLEARING” process on its own. If, for some reason we find ourselves filled with a chest of phlegm, or ourselves caught with some secondary smoke in our lungs – the body might cough or splutter to get the obstruction to the respiratory system out – in order to CLEAR the pathway again.
Coughing, gagging, sneezing, exhalation, diarrhoea, vomiting, eyes watering, menstruation are all natural ways for the body to remove what it does not need so that it can function at in its clearest state. Kriyas are in essence – aiding this process and taking it to the next level – so that we can feel CLEAR, energised and connected to what is moving through us.
If this of interest to you – there are two ways that you can dive deeper in this with me –
- The content currently on Move Breathe Create platform is all inspired by Kriya practices – 4 different practices focusing on the respiratory system, the digestive system, visualisation + goal setting and the nervous system.
YOU CAN JOIN THE PLATFORM HERE. - If you are in London, I am running a 4 week Kriya course at Revive Yoga in Tooting. Classes are on a Monday morning – we start at 6:10 – 6:50am and you can join my Hatha Yoga session straight after at 7am to REALLY start your week off right!
THE COURSE BEGINS JAN 13 AND YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE – you will also receive your own Neti pot!
It will be a great opportunity for you to “re-set” the body and get clear on what lies ahead for you!