Four Exercises to Welcome Success and Happiness and Expel Grief and Guilt
(K.R.I. Level One, Teacher Training Manual, pp. 3-4)
Sit in Easy Pose with a straight spine or in a chair with your feet flat on the floor. Keep the eyes wide open. Rest the back of the hands on the knees with the elbows relaxed by the sides. In a single motion, raise the hands in an arc to bounce off the tops of the shoulders as you exhale and stick the tongue out and down as far as you can. Inhale powerfully as you return to the original position and pull the tongue in. Alternate between these two positions with a strong rapid breath for 6-11 minutes. At the end, inhale deeply and hold the breath as you press the tongue up on the roof of the mouth. Hold for 20-30 seconds. Repeat the breath suspension a total of three times. (The tape, “Say Saraswati” was used originally.)
Sit in Easy Pose with a straight spine or in a chair with your feet flat on the floor. Extend both arms over the head, elbows straight, palms forward and thumbs extended stiffly toward each other. Press the eyes upward (look at the mid-point between your brows). Begin to rotate both arms from the shoulder and armpit areas. Move the left arm in a clockwise direction (if you are looking up) and the right arm in a counterclockwise direction. The movements of the two arms are not necessarily synchronized, but they do move continuously. Continue for 11 minutes. Inhale at the end and stretch the spine and the arms up. (“Heal Me” tape was played during class.)
Sit in Easy Pose with a straight spine or in a chair with your feet flat on the floor. Inhale through the left nostril and block the right nostril with the thumb of the right hand, other fingers are straight up. Exhale through the right nostril and block the left nostril with the right index finer curled across. [Look at the tip of the nose.] Continue 3-11 minutes. (“Whahay Guru Sat Nam-ji” tape is good.)
Sit in Easy Pose with a straight spine or in a chair with your feet flat on the floor. Place the palms face down on the knees. Grasp the knees firmly. Keep the spine straight as you sway forward and then back in a steady, powerful rhythm. Inhale back and exhale forward. [Keep the eyes 9/10th closed, i.e., drunk eyes.] Continue for 3-11 minutes. Then inhale, tighten the body and shake for 15-30 seconds. Repeat the breath suspension and shake for a total of five times. (“Humee Hum Tumee Tum” tape was played.)
Comments: This kriya is for healing the body and for ridding the mind of old emotional blockages. To create the greatest impact with this kriya, the diet should be light and many melons eaten during the day. Practice this kriya only at night. Practice it each day for 40 days.
Exercise 1 is “Siddh Shiva Kriya.” It opens the lungs and improves digestion. Emotionally, the exercise releases “centuries of old grief” and mourning. There are many things that pass on and which we long for. The loss that is unresolved, unexpressed and painful can hold us back from the full commitment to the present. It’s as if we honor the past by denying the present and betraying the future. This exercise centers you into the present with a vision toward the future as the old patterns are changed.
Exercise 2 creates a change by altering the balance of the tattvas. (“Tattvas” are the five elements of which everything is composed: fire, air, earth, ether and water.) This creates emotions with lightness and perspective. It allows the aura to hold great waves of joy, happiness and pleasure. If you ever felt guilty for success or pleasure, this exercise adjusts your ability to welcome those positive experiences.
Exercise 3 integrates the functions of the two hemispheres of the brain, increases your lung capacity, creates deep calmness and focus and balances the subtle energy in the ida and pingala, the main energy channels in the spine and chakras.
Exercise 4 distributes the energy of the breath all through the central channel of the spine, the shushmuna. It resets the body’s image of itself and activates the body’s healing resources.
(Practice each exercise for the same length of time, not to exceed 11 minutes per exercise.)