Preparing the tongue for Kechari Mudra.

Monkey · January 5, 2010, 6:43pm

Hi,
In the early part of the 20th Century Aleister Crowley published his first lot of yoga instruction which included a method which sounds like Kechari Mudra. He says that the lingual frenulum (webbing under tongue) should be cut (by a competent surgeon) to assist in rolling the tongue back. I’ve also come across instruction where one should stretch the tongue my massaging ghee into it. Can anyone comment on these types of preparation, and whether they are necessary?
It is possible to get the webbing cut in some piercing studios, but it isn’t legal in every country.
Cheers,
Giles.

Shanti · January 5, 2010, 7:35pm

Welcome to the AYP forums.
If you have not already done so, please read
Lesson 108 - Kechari mudra – A giant leap for humankind
In there Yogani explains the process of gradual frenum reduction.

It is done with very tiny snips. Tiny snips, each as small as a hair or a very thin string. A sterilized, sharp cuticle snipper (like a small wire cutter) can be used to do the job, bit by bit. When we lift our tongue up, we can see right away where the point of greatest stress on the frenum is. If we take a tiny snip there, not bigger than a hair, it probably won’t even bleed. Maybe one drop. If more than one drop, we did too much. The tiny snip will heal in a day or two. The tissues of the mouth heal very quickly. Then maybe in a week or a month, whatever we are comfortable with, we will be ready to do it again. And then, in another week or more, do it again. If we are sensitive, a little ice can be used to numb the edge of the frenum, and we won’t even feel a little pinch when we snip. Don’t use ice to take a big snip though. That is too much, and brings in some risk of infection. We should not snip if we have any kind of infection in the body. With tiny snips, the frenum will be allowing the tongue to go further back in no time, and before we know it we will be using our finger to push our tongue behind our soft palate.

Some other topics that may help:
‘milking the tongue’ and ‘tooled talavya’
“tooled talavya kriya”
Are any of these necessary to reach Kechari?
Every person is different. Many here have reached Kechari stage 2 and higher without ever snipping. Whereas some have had their frenum removed by a dentist and the last I had heard, had still not reached kechari stage 2. So, it will be your own personal choice.