Pacing with Spontaneous Kriyas

[CarsonZi]

Hello Friends...

This past month has shown a huge increase in spontaneous kriyas for me.  I haven't talked to many about this as I don't see it as a big deal in general, but yesterday I had my first "outburst" while in the middle of a Kundalini Yoga class and this has me a little concerned.  I was fine throughout the whole class, and didn't have any feelings of overload even though we did several postures that included about 3 minutes of Breath of Fire in each posture.  Usually I have to stop because I start to get obvious overload symptoms, but yesterday it didn't seem to be a problem so I did every posture fully.  Things were fine up until we went into savasana and the teacher led us through a short guided meditation, a little similar to Yoga Nidra.  She told us to picture a ball of bright white light, filled with all the colors of the rainbow, up above the crown, and to slowly pull that light into the body through the crown, and into the forehead slowly spreading the light down the body and circulating it through every part of the body.  But as soon as the white light hit my crown I started having seriously violent kriyas happen.  Doing crazy sign language like mudras with my hands (and the class is in a very small space with only a few people, and people on either side of me had to scatter to avoid getting hit with my flailing arms.  At the same time I went into LOUD bastrika pranayam, much faster then I have ever done it before and much faster then I think I could ever do it on purpose, my head started making these CRAZY movements, jerking all over the place, and my feet and legs were twisting and shaking and I pretty much looked like I was having an epileptic seizure or something I think.  I TOTALLY disrupted the class to the point where the teacher had to stop, I had to stop (with the white light thing) and they all had to take time to regroup, while I flopped around for another 5 minutes or so until things started to calm down.

My dilema is this....to me it seems as though I could fight these kriyas from happening, but I don't know how successful I could be at this and I don't know if this will cause some bad obstructions in my system....that or I have to stop going to these classes as these kriyas are getting gradually more and more severe and disrupting.  I have had minor kriyas happen in these classes, but I have never disrupted the class to the point that they had to stop to let me wind down.  I feel bad.  

And one last question....
Does the increase in spontaneous kriyas indicate that I should be pacing more?  Are these considered an overload symptom or is this just heavy purification and I am safe to continue as usual?  Thanks for any advice, I'm a little lost here.

Love,
Carson[^]

[Lacinato]

Sometimes I feel that doing automatic yoga releases junk, preventing overload symptoms. And sometimes I feel they will accelerate things too much, causing overload. So I can only go with how I feel at any given time. In your case, maybe get it out before the class? I can restrain myself, but I really feel like stuff is getting stuck when I do so--it's uncomfortable.

I personally tended towards automatic yoga even before AYP, so I don't know if it can be a symptom of purification. Really good questions.

[emc]

This sounds very much like my premature crownopenings. It's not a good thing to do ANY practices involving the crown prematurely - in my experience, exactly those kinds of guided meditations on the crown chakra and yoga classes can be devastating and cause severe overload.

After I had a few of those forceful smashes through the crown with the body in jerks in Fiji in November... I haven't started to get balanced again until... now! Several months of a mindy state and boring self-pacing.

If I were you I would do no more fire breathing! I would go into heavy self-pacing diminishing all types of spiritual practices!

But that's only me, from my experience... You may not be as sensitive as I am.

I have found no way of fighting the kriyas in the moment when they come so violently. It's just a matter of smoothing the occurence of it out with more self-pacing and make sure you don't end up in situations where crown openings might be triggered.

PS - remember the topic where I discussed kriyas and posted a lot of youtube videos to show what they may look like? Well, what you describe is what was on some of the videos!

[CarsonZi]

Hi emc...thanks for your input.....

quote:Originally posted by emc

This sounds very much like my premature crownopenings. It's not a good thing to do ANY practices involving the crown prematurely - in my experience, exactly those kinds of guided meditations on the crown chakra and yoga classes can be devastating and cause severe overload.

Yeah, I was kinda iffy about it at the time, but I am not very good at predicting when these things are going to happen and I hadn't had any indications of overload before this meditation DESPITE all the Breath of Fire stuff so I figured I would be ok to try it.  I was wrong.

quote:Originally posted by emc

After I had a few of those forceful smashes through the crown with the body in jerks in Fiji in November... I haven't started to get balanced again until... now! Several months of a mindy state and boring self-pacing.

Uh oh...I'm not good with "boring'.... Haha...

quote:Originally posted by emc

If I were you I would do no more fire breathing! I would go into heavy self-pacing diminishing all types of spiritual practices!

You really think so?  Wow...crappy[]....  The Breath of Fire exercises were always a bit much for me, and I will occasionally get "small" kriyas from this, (lots of "head thrown back into some kind of lock" and a little bouncing, but nothing too distracting) but the overload from this doesn't seem to last long....a day at most.  On Tuesdays I do three session, my regular AYP sessions and my kundalini yoga classes, so perhaps I could just give up my afternoon session instead of giving up ALL types of spiritual practices?  (I know I know, less is more[)])

quote:Originally posted by emc

But that's only me, from my experience... You may not be as sensitive as I am.

No, I kinda doubt I am sensitive as you.  I seem to go through spurts of sensitivity.

quote:Originally posted by emc

I have found no way of fighting the kriyas in the moment when they come so violently. It's just a matter of smoothing the occurence of it out with more self-pacing and make sure you don't end up in situations where crown openings might be triggered.

I stay well away from the crown I promise!  (other then yesterday[])  In fact on Wednesday last week during my accupuncture treatment, I was told that there was some new activity going on at the crown that wasn't there in my last treatment.  I told her just ot forget about it cause I don't want anything to do with the crown and I had to explain the whole AYP standpoint on crown chakra practices.  She didn't do any work on the crown (or talk about it) after that.

quote:Originally posted by emc

PS - remember the topic where I discussed kriyas and posted a lot of youtube videos to show what they may look like? Well, what you describe is what was on some of the videos!

Haha...if only I could watch youtube videos then I could do my kriyas better![] kidding[)]

Love,
Carson[^]

[krcqimpro1]

arson,

 Has this happened to you often before this?

Krish

[CarsonZi]

Hi Krish...

I have had spontaneous kriyas before yes..... but never as violent as this particular time.  The kriyas that happen to me are generally small, jerky head movements and automatic breathing stuff.  This time there was violent flailing/shaking/twitching of my arms, legs and hands and my head was doing wierd stuff like pushing my crown in to the floor and arching my back like in "bridge" posture and also twitching/shaking back and forth (mostly to the left though). The bastrika pranayam that happened was so unbelievably loud and fast that it was quite unnerving.  I didn't "sound" human at all[].  I sounded like some kinda beast that had just run a marathon or something. Haha.  Why do you ask?

Love,
Carson[^]

[Ananda]

namaste brother Carson, the answer to your dilema is plain and simple: just self pace; stay away from kumbhakas and stay away from the crown.

since the occasion is present i'll shat one hell of a very strange scenery which happened with me 2 weeks ago or maybe less during deep meditation.

i was in a very deep state of emptiness but with ego present during DM, and the mantra was lost at the time when suddenly out of nowhere i saw one hell of a humongous elephant coming right at me from the back and pushing me from the beginning of the bed till it's end.

and i am a tall fellow with a big bed hehehe and i jumped like a kangaroo on it[]; but i must admit that after that experience i felt like i did some huge releasing of smthg(s).

light and love,

Ananda

 

[CarsonZi]

Good day Brother Ananda....

quote:Originally posted by Ananda

the answer to your dilema is plain and simple: just self pace; stay away from kumbhakas and stay away from the crown.

Yeah, that's an easy answer....BUT, it isn't quite that simple.  I don't do anything with the crown.  This kundalini yoga class doesn't usually either.  This was the first time there was any crown practice involved.  I won't follow along next time there is one either.  I also don't do any kumbhakas (not unless they happen on their own).  Perhaps you meant don't do any Breath of Fire (basically bastrika pranayam) exercises, but I also don't usually participate fully in those (I only do this once a week during these classes, my daily rountine doesn't include bastrika) if I am feeling close to overload.  This week I wasn't feeling overloaded at all, and in fact was feeling quite stable, so I participated in bastrika.  Had I started to get the "spine sweats" or started having kriyas then, I would have stopped, and likely would not have participated in the meditation that ended up pushing me over.  But since none of that happened I did all the exercises and started the meditation too.  Now I realize that I should not have participated in the meditation for sure, and I was kinda silly thinking it would be ok.  I know better.  But I guess my real dilema is that these kriyas seem to be ramping up in general frequency.  I would maybe get them happening once a month at most about 6 or so months ago, and then maybe twice a month the past couple of months, but this month I have had them happening with increasing frequency.  And you are saying that this is a sign of needing to pace correct?  If everything was stable I wouldn't be having this happen right?  Should I ask for my money back for the rest of the kundalini classes and stop going?

quote:Originally posted by Ananda

since the occasion is present i'll shat one hell of a very strange scenery which happened with me 2 weeks ago or maybe less during deep meditation.

i was in a very deep state of emptiness but with ego present during DM, and the mantra was lost at the time when suddenly out of nowhere i saw one hell of a humongous elephant coming right at me from the back and pushing me from the beginning of the bed till it's end.

and i am a tall fellow with a big bed hehehe and i jumped like a kangaroo on it[]; but i must admit that after that experience i felt like i did some huge releasing of smthg(s).

Wow....crazy.  Gotta watch out for those elephants!  I gotta watch out for polar bears[)]

Love,
Carson[^]

[Ananda]

my good friend, just take it easy for a week or so then come back to action again and again and try things out this is what i usually do and sooner or later you'll integrate the new practices in a safe manner.

consider lowering the duration of new practices at first just climb them stairs little by little.

and i have it in mind that you already know most of what i'm saying but just in case consider them as a reminder; a hint here or there might save you from becoming dependent on others.

about spontaneous kriyas, i used to have them to an extreme extent during my samyama practice and to my surprise i used to experience kundalini heat as well during samyama and i say to my surprise bcz i read somewhere that this practice is supposed to quiet things down concerning kundalini overloads bcz of the expension of inner silence.

but now after 2 months or so i am back into a steady daily practice of samyama with gentle blissful waves instead of kundalini heat but the kriyas are still there to a certain degree.

best of luck on your path my brother.

kindest regards,

Ananda

[CarsonZi]

Thanks my friend for your advice....I will take it all to heart.

It is neat that you get kriyas during samyama.  I still don't practice samyama with any regularity (occasionally it will kinda just start and I won't stop it, but I don't actively practice it) because it is too much for my system.  I don't get kriyas or heat, but I get "lost" in the silence sometimes and it often will take me a half hour to get through half of the sutras before I just stop cause I run out of time, haha.  And this usually causes overload that takes me at least a few days to a week to recover from.  

Thanks again for your advice my brother.  

Much Love,
Carson[^]

[Goddessinside]

Elephant, polar bear, kangaroo, beast... sounds like a jungle here

Hi Carson..
Little sister will tell brother Carson simple words:

go on with what feels good..stay away from what causes bad feelings, doubts and crowdy mind..

Trust your inner guru..

Much Love...

[Ananda]

hi Goddess, it's nice of you to drop by.

just wanted to add 2 points regarding my out of the ordinary experience.

first: i thk God for giving me a beautiful scenery like that every now and then with the awareness of not clinging on to any of them and even to the fact of experiencing a scenery bcz simply put they are sweet and they make the path more fun[].

scd: i consider the presence of that elephant as a sacred thing and there is smthg in the hindue religion which i should've shared with you b4.
i google this a few minutes back take a look at it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha

now my experience remains in the realm of scenery and i am aware that it doesn't have to be the real deal... like experiencing pure bliss consciousness everyone can go through that but not everyone can stay there 24\\7 until after a serious amount of spiritual practice and a life dedicated to truth.

namaste to mother jungle, beast, donkey..... pig, and finally to us humans for we are the most harmful and least natural of beings in creation but there is hope[].

light and love,

Ananda

[krcqimpro1]

Hi Carson,

 The violent kriyas could be owing to the Shaktipat Diksha you recently had. I have seen many of my new acquaintances who have taken diksha, experiencing such violent kriyas. If these happen when you are alone or with other sadhaks, you should let them happen. If they happen when you are out in "public", you should stop them. This is what Kakaji Maharaj says
Krish

[emc]

Krish, that was interesting advice from Kakaji Maharaj. Thanks for that. My experience is that you also have to be very careful expressing them among sadhaks (I guess that means other spiritual practitioners) since many are not aquaintant with kriyas and start projecting a lot of stuff on you about it, for example that you do it do "show off" or "want to be special" or signal "stay away, I'm a freak" or that you fabricate them all together and make them up or really can control them as if you had an "on/off" button hidden somewhere, and I don't know what else I've been subjected to...

I think you have a great point also, Krish, in that deeksha may open up the crown chakra so that one becomes more sensitive afterwards. Then you have to become more careful about any crown activity.

Carson, just wanted to remind you of the "sleeping effect" of kundalini. You describe that you have had no sense of overload up until this happened... well, that's how it is! We boost with spiritual practices and get the "milk warming up"... and then you feel ok, forget about the milk and *wwoooofff* it boils over! And it's pretty hard to get it to calm down for a while... and it smells burnt and gets messy all around... We learn to find our balance by going over the edge a few times, then we begin to sense the "warning signals" quicker and quicker and can start self-pacing before it boils over...

[chinna]

That's a very helpful (for me) analogy about the milk, thank you emc, it is exactly like that.  It is a good one to remember when we get anxious (as I do sometimes) that maybe whatever k-effect we are having won't simmer down and we're stuck and will have to give up work!   We only have to cope for a short time for balance to return.  I feel calmer already!

My experience with kriyas and automatic yoga is only occasional, and I am never sure why it comes, since I haven't done anything yogically strenuous (I am a lazy practitioner and almost never do any asanas......which is perhaps why it comes!).  Last week I had a visionary episode of kriya in meditation that did, I am afraid, make me feel special, and it is good to be reminded that it is not a sign of any such thing.   It occurred quite soon after starting meditation, which went deep very quickly.  It was wild to start with but became a pattern which traced the vision of Durga, with many arms and characteristic mudras, and was accompanied by the vision of her. I eventually merged with the vision of Durga and became her, and the kriya then stopped in her pose, for a long time, with great peace.  It seemed to resolve something about the constant overwheming bliss that had been troubling me, which has since simmered down.  Please Durga, may it stay so!

So perhaps we can say that the kryas and automatic yogas occur to resolve something, are a sign of progress, however pleasant or distressing.

Thank you Carson for sharing and emc for your wisdom.