AYP, Kriya Yoga and self-pacing

07.Discussions on AYP Pranayama, Mudras + Bandhas
1

Namaste everyone :slight_smile:
After a few months of AYP practice my brother joined Ananda Sangha here in India and became a kriyaban. He is following the Kriya yoga tradition. I have heard him quote Mahavtar Babaji several times that “Kriya never harms”. To the best of my knowledge, they don’t seem to have the concept of self-pacing.
My experience is clearly not that, especially with practices like spinal bhastrika and YMK. I can very easily observe the effects of overdoing it even if it is done for a single session. And so it is, I believe with all of us here.
Could it be true that one could practise kriya as much as his bhakti calls him to do without experiencing any unpleasant symptoms?

2

Hello Umang

It could be true, coming to our practices inhabiting bodies in various levels of readiness for internal flow of prana. It is safe to assume a majority of practitioners need to be prudent, especially with the powerful practices of YMK and bhastrika, less they suffer unnecessarily. It is like the saying “guns don’t kill, people do” which does not address the problem of the misuse of guns, or in this case, yoga practices. One must always respect the proper use of powerful tools, or suffer the consequences.

3

Namaste Umang,
I think Dogboy makes a good point. I will add my observation to it.
I was initiated into Kriyayoga and practiced prior to finding AYP. Although I did not experience any difficulty myself, I have known other initiates (who were unfamiliar with the concept of overloading) who did experience energetic difficulties.

4

Self pacing is one of the big reasons why I love AYP. Its a very wise emphasis.
Even if less-is-more can ‘bore’ my mind to meditate MERELY 10 minutes :')