I don't just mean gross as in "external" or "most visible" I also mean gross as in disgusting. Yoga techniques of purification can indeed be, well, gross.
I remember our days in Thailand, during the five weeks of teacher training, waking up at 4:30 together with the other 34 lucky participants of our program, and to drinking and throwing up salty warm water (half a gallon if you could) while the kettle was getting to boiling point so we could make coffee for the enemas, then using the neti string and pot to clarify the passages of the nostrils.
You could hear a symphony of people having stomach reflexes or right out vomiting in the nearby rooms. And that was just at day-break.
It was hell, and it was beautiful. I've never felt more clear or centered in my life than right after those five weeks in Ko Samui.
Even weeks after returning people still commented on how clear my eyes seemed, how I looked "radiant", and perhaps the biggest proof of the effect of all this torture was that I was fired from my job and had to sell my house right after landing, pretty much, and it did not affect me in a bad way.
Something in me had gathered enough energy to face things with a calm and detached attitude. I was pure. I was a lucky girl.
This is the series I've come to call Claudia's Book Club in which we are starting with a very timely book: "Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga".
Kapalabhati - Skull Shinning Breath
Here is a post on "everything you need to know about kapalabhati" which is the scull shinning technique of exhaling forcefully, from the belly, not moving any other part of the body and letting the inhale happen.
Gregor mentions that the most common mistake he sees on students learning kapalabhati are:
a) They move other areas of the body rather than just isolating the belly part
b) They force the inhale, which is wrong, only the exhale is forced, the inhale happens.
c) They go beyond capacity meaning they do too many
d) I would guess posture is an issue with this one too. The lotus pose is the recommended pose for it, but if not available for long practices then proper checks have to go into the sitting position being right, with a straight back while respecting the curvature of the lower back with proper support.
Here is a video of me practicing Kapalabhati. It's gotten over 3000 views in YouTube. Wow.
After watching it when I made it, I noticed that I fell into one of the traps that Gregor mentions in the book, I was getting tired, so to speak, at around count number 29 or 30.
Since watching the video I slowed it down by doing less counts, and built up over time instead.
Have you read the book? Did you like the explanation on nauli and how it was divided into four stages? What did you learn that you did not know?
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I remember our days in Thailand, during the five weeks of teacher training, waking up at 4:30 together with the other 34 lucky participants of our program, and to drinking and throwing up salty warm water (half a gallon if you could) while the kettle was getting to boiling point so we could make coffee for the enemas, then using the neti string and pot to clarify the passages of the nostrils.
You could hear a symphony of people having stomach reflexes or right out vomiting in the nearby rooms. And that was just at day-break.
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| In Thailand, after all those morning kiyas, taking a rest day on a Saturday with friends from the program |
Even weeks after returning people still commented on how clear my eyes seemed, how I looked "radiant", and perhaps the biggest proof of the effect of all this torture was that I was fired from my job and had to sell my house right after landing, pretty much, and it did not affect me in a bad way.
Something in me had gathered enough energy to face things with a calm and detached attitude. I was pure. I was a lucky girl.
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This is the series I've come to call Claudia's Book Club in which we are starting with a very timely book: "Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga".
This week we are observing the chapter called: "Kriyas" (purification) which is one of the preparations for pranayama.
Pranayama is the fourth limb of yoga, the one that we venture into once we have a certain level of peace in our lives and once we are somewhat established in daily practice of asana or poses.
The discussion of pranayama in this book is directed towards the serious yogi rather than the casual observer, and contains treasured secrets and fantastic revelations for anyone who is willing to keep investigating and slipping down the rabbit hole of this beautiful practice.
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Is it really necessary for us to do all of these purifications?
Do we really need to wake up every day to enemas and vomiting water and cleaning the nostrils and doing kapalabhati and nauli? Not necessarily comes bakc the agreement of countless of yogis who came before us and that Gregor mentions with detail in the chapter.
To illustrate let me tell you about Paul. He was the (amazing) teacher in Thailand and a very senior student of yoga. While he was doing the program with us, in spite of being in top physical shape and radiance, he sometimes coughed. He explained to us that every time he began feeling a cough throughout the day he would start doing Vaman (the vomiting of warm salty water in the morning from an empty stomach) daily for a week or so, until it cleared. The reasoning behind this was that he would purify his body of phlegm, which would help him attain higher states of yoga through pranayama.
Taking a cue from Paul we could all see that we were going through as many Kriyas as possible because we were learning them, and as new teachers it would be good for us to experience them, but clearly they were not all necessary, not every day. Gregor agrees with this view as the chapter unfolds.
Sharath is known for saying that the practice of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga in particular, with its six series growing in difficulty, is so intense that it requires no purification on the side, all the clearing that is necessary happens as we get on the mat every day regardless of what series we are on.
The key here is to be clear that an intense practice of asana means exactly that: An intense practice. Not just a casual class here and there but rather a dedicated every-day type of commitment. A personal dedication.
One important distinction
An important difference however is brought up by an ancient text called the Hatha Tatva Kaumudi, Gregor says:
"The HTK gives us a different view of the importance of the kriyas. It proclaims that the gross body gets purified through the kryias whereas the subtle (energetic) body is purified through pranayama". Page 174
Aha!
So through asana and through the kriyas we clean the body, the level ground, the base, then from that we can purify the higher states, the subtle energies by the practice of pranayama.
That probably answers the question on the title of the post, it is by purifying the gross body first that we can even get to the more subtle purification brought about by the deep practices of pranayama.
That probably answers the question on the title of the post, it is by purifying the gross body first that we can even get to the more subtle purification brought about by the deep practices of pranayama.
The Most Important Kriyas
Many of the Kriyas (there are 40 if you count the subdivisions says Gregor) are part of the Ayurvedic system of Eastern Medicine, but Gregor says that
"The most important kriyas, however, Nauli and Kapalabhati, are not cotained in Ayurveda, and it is these two processes that are very important for modern pranayama practitioners." Page 175.
The book covers both of them in detail as well as the practice of neti, to counteract air pollution that comes to all of us living in major metropolitan areas.
Nauli
Gregor breaks Nauli (stomach churning) into four parts. I have been going back to the drawing board with it and paying close attention to his words. I find myself still in the first stage after months of practice. I feel that explaining Nauli is beyond the scope of the post and that a thorough reading is in order for anyone interested as it will illuminate things in a way I probably cannot do justice to.
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| Gregor in Nauli I |
I will say that the level one does not go that far.
All you do is (on an empty stomach of course) bend your knees and put your hands on them, then breathe out, breathe out some more, then lock the throat so the air cannot come in or out and do a fake breathe in, the stomach is then sucked in, diaphragm massaged. Then push the stomach down and up. It is recommended to build up until where we can do 20 sets in one breath retention.
All you do is (on an empty stomach of course) bend your knees and put your hands on them, then breathe out, breathe out some more, then lock the throat so the air cannot come in or out and do a fake breathe in, the stomach is then sucked in, diaphragm massaged. Then push the stomach down and up. It is recommended to build up until where we can do 20 sets in one breath retention.
I am still building up to that.
Kapalabhati - Skull Shinning Breath
Here is a post on "everything you need to know about kapalabhati" which is the scull shinning technique of exhaling forcefully, from the belly, not moving any other part of the body and letting the inhale happen.
Gregor mentions that the most common mistake he sees on students learning kapalabhati are:
a) They move other areas of the body rather than just isolating the belly part
b) They force the inhale, which is wrong, only the exhale is forced, the inhale happens.
c) They go beyond capacity meaning they do too many
d) I would guess posture is an issue with this one too. The lotus pose is the recommended pose for it, but if not available for long practices then proper checks have to go into the sitting position being right, with a straight back while respecting the curvature of the lower back with proper support.
Here is a video of me practicing Kapalabhati. It's gotten over 3000 views in YouTube. Wow.
After watching it when I made it, I noticed that I fell into one of the traps that Gregor mentions in the book, I was getting tired, so to speak, at around count number 29 or 30.
Since watching the video I slowed it down by doing less counts, and built up over time instead.
Have you read the book? Did you like the explanation on nauli and how it was divided into four stages? What did you learn that you did not know?
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CLAUDIA'S BOOK CLUB:
"PRANAYAMA THE BREATH OF YOGA"
Chapter One: How Many Breaths Do You Do Per Minute?
Chapter Two: Part I: Who Is An Expert In Yoga?
Chapter Two: Part II: How To Get Your Body To Be 16 Years Old Again
Chapter Three: Meditation is Useless Unless Both Nostrils Are Active
Chapter Five: How Do I Know If I Am Ready For Pranayama?
Chapter Eight: Pulling Your Brain Updwards. On Bandhas and Pranayama
Chapter Nine: Why Gross Purification Is Critical To Yoga
Chapter Ten: The Breathing Exercise That Gets Rid Of Our Fears
Chapter Eleven: How Not To Be An Idiod In Pranayama. Nerve Purification
Chapter Twelve: Bhastrika Pranayama - Life Force on Steroids
Chapter Thirteen: What The World Needs Now Is More Left Nostril Breathing
Here is a link to the book in Amazon. Join me in reading!
Thanks for this post Claudia. I should really try out the salt water cleanse as I feel like all day long my body is trying cough my lung out of my mouth. Now, if it'll only stop pouring rain so I could go out and buy some salt....
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