Overview
WEEK 18 – Total Balance Kriya – This Kriya begins strong with 20 minutes of arm holds, held up at 60 degrees. The breathing pattern is long and steady, of course all breath work is only through the nose. This Kriya balances energy and increases energy. In these opening postures I feel as though I am running up the mountain and I have an excellent opportunity to observe my mind. After a few minutes of the arm holds, our ego mind begins to chatter. We can always do more than our ego mind tells us. It is such a feeling of accomplishment when you reach your goal. And the 60 second rest between poses feels so sweet.
CHANTS in this Kriya include:
Adi Mantra – I bow to the Creative Wisdom. I bow to the Divine Teacher within. This mantra is used to access the divine flow and self knowledge within each of us. We chant it three times. Once for ourselves, once for the people in your class and once for the greater world.
Closing song of all Kundalini Yoga classes worldwide.
May the long time sun
Shine upon you
All love surround you
And the pure light within you
Guide your way on
PRANAYAMA – BREATHING in this Kriya includes:
There are two interesting pranayamas built into this Kriya for Total Balance.
While lying on our stomach in a high or low cobra pose or Sphinx pose. Our mouth is open, tongue out, chin lifted, inhaling through the open mouth and exhaling through the open mouth. No nose breathing. This is the opposite of most all Kundalini Yoga breathing patterns. We normally only breathe through the nose. Moisten your lips during the two minute breathing pattern. Have some water close by when you finish both pranayama exercises.
This “cooling breath” is a well known breathing pranayama. It is indeed proven to be a cooling breath when we curl our tongue and stick it out. We inhale through the curled tongue and exhale though the nose. If you cannot curl your tongue, it might be a genetic marker, then just stick your flat tongue out and inhale over the top of it and exhaling through the nose. The last 60 seconds of this breathing pattern you may feel some magic. As we inhale longer and take in more oxygen and engage a lighter exhale through the nose, sometimes we exhale less carbon dioxide. This can create some slight lightheadedness.
ROCKY’S TAKEAWAY
Total Balance Kriya
Lifting the arms for 20 minutes is a mental and physical workout. This combined with the Pranayamas and Yoga Mudra makes for a meaningful Kundalini Yoga experience. And any Kriya that has Yoga Mudra, where we bring our forehead, and rest our third eye on the mat is instructive. How can I not think about my sixth chakra, my third eye, my seat of intuition when my forehead is resting on my mat? This is my internal GPS and is always communicating with me. I just don’t always know it. Sat Nam.
Kriya Illustrations & Detailed Instructions
