I’ve been a Coffee drinker for 20 years and over time I have grown to be more sensitive to it. When i was in my early 20’s I could drink a pot easily, now I have a rough time drinking 2 cups of half caffeine. I know for me it is time to give up this attachment.
Coffee and oxygen
Geetananda (disciple of Ram Gopal Muzumdar, “The Sleepless Saint” in Yogananda’s “Autobiography of a Yogi”) used to drink coffee regularly. I studied with an early student of Geetananda who uses coffee before doing Pranayama. He, just like Geetananda, sleeps only 4 hours every day and is very energetic and productive, while also poised and balanced ;). I believe on top of his regular practices he does a short (10 mins or so, probably less) invigorating Pranayama session twice a day, after taking a cup of coffee to remain energetic and fresh throughout the day.
He explained coffee is not necessarily bad, depending on how it is used. If it is used to pep oneself up like people do in offices, it only drains more later. If it is used in combination with increased oxygen supply, it needs not be harmful at all and empowers the practice.
I do not remember the explanation he gave for the oxygen argument. In any case, he always emphasizes the importance of abundant oxygen for health. Neither do I remember whether he mentioned which pranayama he performs. (I do not drink coffee myself, so I was not that curious on this topic. Sorry about that.)
If you are very eager to know more, I can try contacting him and let you know. Feel free to send me a personal message in case I do not come back to this topic.
I’ve done quite a lot of looking into the health effects of coffee, and almost all of what I’ve read indicates that researchers are very nearly certain that coffee is, in general, beneficial.
Update to my progress. I failed miserably, I quit for a week though.
what reason makes you consider removing coffee?
spiritually speaking, coffee is not itself intrinsically bad or good, however, the ‘clinging’ to it is very bad. if your mind is constantly thinking of coffee, then that karma must be dissolved both by renunciation and by meditation. if you’re not addicted, then why quit?
Moderator note: Topic moved for better placement
Coffee 
I must admit i’ve been drinking a lot of coffee lately. It seems to offer a more hazy ecstasy to the kundalini i am experiencing.
Its kind of like a flame which has less oxygen so it burns and moves slower.
i like that drunken state of kundalini/caffeine high. This is why i am trying to renounce and be a little more conservative. just practicing gentle mindfulness and bhakti yoga (which seems automatic now) and not getting caught up in the addiction to amrita which is causing chaos in my cluttered mind.
peace
joe
I have been doing ayp practices for about 4 months and I have experienced a natural decrease in my intake of coffee. Before practices i use to drink 3 cups of coffee everyday now on most days I am down to 1 cup of coffee.
I think yoga practices will naturally decrease the need for external stimulation of our nervous system.
I drink 1 to 2 cups of Colombian coffee daily and have been doing so for several years. Not that long ago I came across articles on the benefits of drinking one or two cups a day. Claims are coffee has anti-oxidant properties and may aid in warding off Alzheimer’s disease. Over 2 cups is not recommended as it goes into caffeine overload may cause insomnia, nervousness, increased heart rate and or blood pressure.
hello Indigo
you can check this lesson http://www.aypsite.org/319.html
i have done it for several months, really powerful practice
Hello Maheswari,
Thank you kindly for the lesson link.
It has answered all of my questions regarding this practice. Very informative.
Peace and Blessings,
Indigo
I’ve been reading about the “water cure” which involved taking sea salt and water multiple times a day. One of the recommendations was to limit or avoid caffeine because it dehydrates the body.
http://www.watercure2.org/critical_wc_info.htm
http://www.watercure.com/index.html
Hello everyone,
I thought I’d weigh in with my personal experience regarding yoga, meditation, and coffee. Years ago I was incarcerated for quite some time (several years), and I made use of almost all my time by doing asanas, pranayama, and meditation on the chakras. Before incarceration I had been a regular coffee drinker, but now I only had access to it once a week - on weekends - assuming someone came to visit me. Gradually I discovered that by drinking coffee a few hours before meditation, I would later have much greater control over my ability to concentrate, and seemingly an exponentially greater ability to access and manipulate my prana. I want to really stress that it seemed as if my control over the pranas was multiplied several times over when I drank coffee. This occurred consistently over a period of at least four years. I believe it greatly facilitated the occurrence of some very profound experiences I had. As stated however, I only drank coffee once per week, which may be a factor in why it was so effective.
Then as now, yoga was very important to me, and I always looked forward to my weekend meditation sessions. Hope my input is helpful. 
That’s very interesting, thanks for posting.
I like to have big cup of masala chai in morning.Doesn’t seems it has any adverse effect on this body-mind,thou it’s black tea.As with anything else,moderation is important.
I’ve drunk a lot of espresso and after caffeine addiction (see here about it - http://coffeehealtheffects.com/caffeine-dependence-coffee-addiction) I stop to consume coffeine. Well, it is very unhealthy and dangerous. Who can recommend me something different, with small amounts of caffeine? Thank you!
Hi coffeegeek,
Have you tried green tea? You can find caffeinated and De-caffeinated.
Yesterday I was reading in the FAQ about the effects of drugs/alcohol/tobacco on Yoga practice.
I found a section in Lesson 307 : Hallucinogens and Yoga which also mentions caffeine:
This answers my original questions about caffeine and whether it is “good” for me or “bad”. From reading this, I find that for me it will be better to avoid caffeine and keep up the 2x daily practice, so that I can purify my nervous system more, and avoid creating obstructions with caffeine.
Any thoughts?
Hi Godslave,
You probably have read that food/diet only aid spiritual progress. Twice daily practices is the way to progress. It’s up to you, to quit cold turkey or wean off slowly.
Any desires suppressed will sprout sooner or later. Do your practices and let things fall off on their own. In time with practices coffee, wine starts interfering with the natural bliss that arises after practices. Listen to your inner guru. Hope this helps.